"Mostly Propaganda in Nature:" Kim Il Sung, the Juche Ideology, and ...

"Mostly Propaganda in Nature:" Kim Il Sung, the Juche Ideology, and the Second Korean War
NKIDP Working Paper #3
factory, street, bus, train, and subway station. Children called him "our father" and thanked him
at the beginning of each meal. Brides and grooms swore allegiance to him at their weddings. "All
people of North Korea are required to worship Kim Il Sung with all our hearts and might,"
recalled one who escaped into China. 27 Kim's self-glorification reached such extremes that even
some of his communist allies found it troubling. The personality cult, noted Czech officials in
1968, had "reached unprecedented magnitude…Kim Il Sung is credited with all successes and
victories past and present without regard to historical facts." 28 At the same time, the government
controlled all media, and repressed those sources of information that might contradict him. In the
end, these conditions allowed Kim to spread his ideas more effectively than almost any other
modern leader. "The North Korean people have no alternative but to accept propaganda as true,
given lack of access to outside reporting or information," recalled Hwang Jangyeop, a close
advisor to the Kim family. 29 Juche thus became almost a mandated aspect of North Korean life.
Everyone was required to memorize the "Ten Principles for the Establishment of the One-
Ideology System of the Party," and to visit regularly any of the estimated 45,000 "Kim [Il Sung]
Revolutionary Research Centers" for instruction and inspiration about the basic principles Kim
championed. In such an atmosphere, it is no surprise that he was successful in forcing the
construct into the heart of DPRK ideological life. "Juche," recalled one defector, "is the only
religion North Korean people can have." 30
27
Interviewee 17, quoted in "Thank you Father Kim Il Sung," a report prepared by the U.C. Commission on
International Religious Freedom," p. 34, at:
http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/region/east_asia/northkorea/NKwitnesses.pdf#search=%22cumings%20bruce%20ju
che%20confucianism%22 (accessed August 24, 2006). 28
"Information about the Situation in Korea," p. 5.
29
From "Testimonies of North Korean Defector: North Korean Foreign Relations," reprinted at:
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/rok/nis-docs/hwang6.htm (accessed October 17, 2006).
30
Quoted in "Thank you Father Kim Il Sung," a report prepared by the U.C. Commission on International Religious
Freedom," November 2005, p. 33.
www.wilsoncenter.org/nkidp 12