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

Mitchell Lerner
NKIDP Working Paper #3 December 2010
him to follow their policy line without question, thus offering a threat to his ability to exert his
cherished policymaking independence. 109 The Chinese, complained one DPRK official, viewed
the relationship with North Korea "in a way similar to the [ones] that had existed under
feudalism, when a weak man, if slapped by a strong one, was required to turn the other cheek so
as to get a second slap." 110 Kim, conditioned by a personal commitment to Juche and cognizant
of the many challenges he faced at home, was unwilling to be slapped.
The once-close relationship quickly collapsed. In early 1965, the Czech Ambassador to
Pyongyang reported that contacts between the two governments had "weakened noticeably." 111
The following year, reported the Albanian embassy in Pyongyang, students and professors at
DPRK universities began openly criticizing Chinese policies. 112 Soon, DPRK officials changed
the frequency band on which Chinese radio broadcast into their nation and the hours they were
available, making them harder for the people to access. 113 Korean servicemen studying in
Chinese military academies were recalled, and the works of Mao Zedong virtually disappeared
from the bookstores. 114 "Sino-Korean cultural exchange," reported the Soviet Embassy in
Pyongyang at the end of 1966, "have been reduced to zero." 115
Kim generally tried to avoid open condemnation of the Chinese, for fear of provoking a
response that might endanger his regime. Still, the Chinese reaction was harsh. Korean citizens
109
See, for example, "Some New Aspects of Korean-Chinese Relations in the First Half of 1965," June 4, 1965,
AVPRF, fond 0102, opis 21, papka 106, delo 20, listy 14-27; and December 2, 1966 memo, "Memorandum on Sino-
Korean relations," Soviet Embassy in the DPRK, Person (ed.) North Korea International Documentation Project
Document Reader #2, document # 6.
110
April 11, 1967, report from Hungarian Embassy in China, Person (ed.) North Korea International
Documentation
Project Document Reader #2, document # 13.
111
"On the Development of Situation in DPRK in May 1965; Political Report #8," p. 4.
112
"Information on the Korean Workers' Party," undated 1966 report.
113
"Memorandum on Sino-Korean relations in 1966," December 2, 1966.
114
Ibid; Mao in January 22, 1967 report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry,
MOL, XIX-J-1-j Korea, 1967, 61. Doboz, 1, 001200/1967.
115 "Memorandum of the Soviet Embassy in the DPRK," December 30, 1966, Person (ed.) North Korea
International Documentation Project Document Reader #2, document #7.
www.wilsoncenter.org/nkidp 35