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

Mitchell Lerner
NKIDP Working Paper #3 December 2010
campaign aimed at improving public mood and increasing the trust of workers in middle-level
cadres." 135 Accordingly, Kim turned to foreign affairs and self-defense, the one realm still
available to him to obtain signs of his successful pursuit of Juche that might rally the people
behind him.
Kim's actions throughout the Second Korean War support the idea that his intention was
to remind his people of the constant threat presented by the imperialists and the strong and
dramatic actions he was taking in response. In 1966, rations started to be stockpiled and the
training period for militias was extended, in preparation for the impending US attack that North
Korean officials regularly predicted. 136 Factories were relocated, street patrols were intensified,
and the resettlement of families outside of the capital began in 1967. By the end of that year,
North Korean citizens were not permitted to go more than 2 kilometers from their homes without
official permission. 137 Pro-government and anti-American rallies were organized to unify the
people against the external threat. 138 Allegations of impending American attacks were raised
with increasing frequency throughout 1968. In February, Pyongyang was placed on high alert to
prepare for an attack, students were taken out of schools, and many residents were ordered to
relocate to the countryside. All Koreans older than four were required to carry backpacks of
necessities in case of emergency evacuation, and the government started assigning people to the
mountain regions to dig protective bunkers. 139 Air raid alerts were run regularly; air raid shelters
135
Report from Hungarian Embassy, February 25, 1966, in North Korean International Documentation Project
(NKIDP) electronic archives, at:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics.home&topic_id=230972. 136
See, for example, December 12, 1966 letter to Secretary of State Hegen from Embassy of the GDR in the DPRK,
Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin, Collection MfAA, G-A 316.
137
Letter from GDR Ambassador to DPRK, December 8, 1967, to State Secretary and First Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs. [Document 5]
138 st
"Note on a Conversation with the Director of the 1 Department of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK, Comrade
Ri In-gyu, on 15 June, 1968, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.," from GDR Embassy, Pyongyang, 18 June, 1968, MfAA
C 1091/70.
139 "Memorandum on an Information of 1 February 1968," Embassy of the GDR in Pyongyang, 2 February 1968.
www.wilsoncenter.org/nkidp
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