"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
intended as a demonstration to the population." 148 "All these measures," officials concluded, "are
amplified through massive propaganda in the press, radio, and in newspapers propagating the
situation as so tense that an outbreak of war can be expected every day…. [even though] an
analysis of the facts we were able to obtain on U.S. positions shows that the Americans are not
interested in a major armed conflict in Korea." 149 It was the same at MAC negotiations, where
DPRK officials seemed focused above all else on publicly demonstrating the determination of
their leadership to withstand American pressures; "Speeches made by the Korean delegate are
mostly propaganda in nature," wrote the Czech Embassy, "and are used mainly for the DPRK's
internal propaganda." 150
Repeatedly, Kim's communist allies described his actions as efforts by the regime to
excuse domestic shortcomings and to rally the people behind his fervid defense of North Korea
against outside aggressors. Visiting Communist officials in Pyongyang reached such conclusions
as early as 1966. One Hungarian diplomat wrote to his superiors that year that the tension along
the DMZ was useful to the North, "since they could refer to it when they condemned US
policies." 151 A letter from the East German embassy in North Korea agreed, noting that since the
October Party Conference, "there has been a very intense campaign among the people
concerning preparation for a potential war… Probably for the DPRK," it concluded, "there are
mostly propagandistic reasons behind the present positions." 152 As the conflict intensified, this
sense that Kim was trying to impress his domestic audience increased. In 1967, the East German
148
Memo from GDR Embassy to DPRK, March 4, 1968, to State Secretary and First Deputy of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, p. 3. [Document 11]
149
Ibid.
150
"Information about the situation in Korea," p. 9.
151
December 29, 1966, summary of meeting between Hungarian and Czech diplomats, in North Korean
International Documentation Project (NKIDP) electronic archives, at:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics.home&topic_id=230972 152
Letter to Secretary of State and First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Comrade Hegen, from Embassy of the
GDR in the DPRK, December 12, 1966. [Document 2]
www.wilsoncenter.org/nkidp 44