The Juche Ideology

-JSH

On February 18th and 19th, 2008, Dr. Kim Hyun-sik, who was a former professor at Pyongyang University and a tutor to the dictators' family, came to educate the UNC-Duke student body on North Korea -- an isolationist regime defined by the complete indoctrination of its citizens and the torture and execution of those who fail to obey the State. Particularly on the second night of his presentation, Professor Kim interestingly focused on the totalitarian nation's Juche Ideology and the effects of such an indoctrination on an entire populace. The ideology's inculcation of complete submission to the State, the credence of Kim Il Sung as the Father and Kim Jung Il as the Son, the government's ubiquitous propaganda, and nearly perfect isolationist efforts, put its citizens under a deep spell. To this day, North Koreans are illusioned about the outside world, and their hermit kingdom remains their only reality.


At the presentation, Professor Kim cited the Ten Principles of the Juche Ideology. They are the following:

1. We must give our all in the struggle to unify the entire society with the revolutionary ideology of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.

2. We must honor the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung with all our loyalty.

3. We must make absolute the authority of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

4. We must make the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung? revolutionary ideology our faith and make his instructions our creed.

5. We must adhere strictly to the principle of unconditional obedience in carrying out the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung's instructions.

6. We must strengthen the entire partys ideology and willpower and revolutionary unity, centering on the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

7. We must learn from the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung and adopt the communist look, revolutionary work methods and people-oriented work style.

8. We must value the political life we were given by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung, and loyally repay his great political trust and thoughtfulness with heightened political awareness and skill.

9. We must establish strong organizational regulations so that the entire party, nation and military move as one under the one and only leadership of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

10.We must pass down the great achievement of the revolution by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung from generation to generation, inheriting and completing it to the end.

One of Professor Kim's most salient anecdotes from amongst a stream of startling experiences was one that underscored the bizarreness of the Juche Ideology -- bizarre at least to the rest of the world afar from North Korea's totalitarian paradigm. Where Professor Kim taught at Pyongyang University, student leaders were selected by the Worker's Party according to generational loyalties. The student chosen for Class President had a father extremely loyal to the State. Being awarded the occupation of fisherman (which is one of the country's most prestigious civilian occupations), the father had the Worker's Party's trust in frequenting outside of the country's borders yet not venturing to other lands, and also had fish to eat in an isolated land riddled with starvation.

On one unfortunate day, the class president was stripped of his title and subjected to much humiliation by the entire school. The reason: his father was reported to be missing, to have allegedly run away. This was just one example of the norms created by the Juche Ideology. The Juche Ideology creates a single-minded society, in which it is everyone's goal and purpose in life to serve the State and bring as much glory to Kim Jung Il as possible. Behind every action and motivation are the Juche principles. One's application of the Juche principles affects himself, his children, and grandchildren. Disloyalty is punishable for up to three generations.

This true story ends with the son of the fisherman reclaiming his position as class president. A dead body was washed ashore some time later and wrapped around his wrist was a ball of tape tightly wound. Cutting the ball of tape to its very center appeared a picture of Kim Il Sung. Though the body was decayed, the picture remained well-preserved. This dead man was found to be the student's father, and the boy was immediately exalted back to his position as class president. Professor Kim also recounted a similar story in which during a flood, the mother chose to save a painting of Kim Jung Il from the waters instead of her drowning child. The Juche Ideology embodies the deification of the dictators, and even the iconification of them. Taught from birth, it is their life, their drive, their sole purpose.

To find out more about what it is like in North Korea, watch the National Geographic documentary Inside North Korea; it can be found on youtube. An international eye doctor is allowed inside North Korea for 10 days to perform cataract surgery on patients. Entering along with him is an American reporter (her sister is the journalist who is currently captured by the North Korean government; see previous blog entry for news article) who has hidden cameras in the doctor's equipment providing real footages of North Korea. Whether out of fear or genuineness, watch the people's unconditional praise and worship of Kim Jung Il as god.