I found myself alternately wowed and charmed by the precision and balance of McEachern’s hundred-plus precis. Yes, one could challenge some questionable absences. For me that would mean no mention of the vexed problem of the reliability or the unreliability of North Korean defectors’ testimonies. For someone else it would mean McEachern’s apparent side-stepping of psychological weaknesses as determinants in the three Kims’ policy mandates. On the other hand, for yet a third reader, oversight might not be the problem so much as over-emphasis. Why, for example, is the section that he devotes to nuclear weapons treaties longer by a third than its next longest section, given the dismal outcome of all those negotiations and agreements? Yes, for sure, McEachern’s What Everyone Needs to Know is not the perfect North Korean primer. However, it’s a darn good one. And, yes again, everyone should read it.

中文翻译：

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美国、东南亚和历史记忆

我发现自己时而被 McEachern 的一百多个精确度的精确度和平衡性所震撼和着迷。是的，人们可以挑战一些有问题的缺席。对我来说，这意味着不会提及脱北者证词的可靠性或不可靠性这个令人烦恼的问题。对于其他人来说，这意味着 McEachern 明显回避心理弱点，将其作为三个金氏政策任务的决定因素。另一方面，对于第三位读者来说，疏忽可能不是问题，而是过分强调。例如，考虑到所有这些谈判和协议的惨淡结果，为什么他专用于核武器条约的部分比下一个最长的部分长三分之一？是的，可以肯定的是，McEachern 的《每个人都需要知道的东西》并不是完美的朝鲜入门读物。然而，这是一个很好的。而且，是的，每个人都应该阅读它。