JUCHE:
Juche. This single word, which is literally translated to mean “main subject,” represents an ideology that continues to have a profound influence on nearly every sector of North Korean life. Not only is Juche the official state ideology of North Korea, it has also shaped political policy, military strategy, economics and is even considered by some to be a religion.
HISTORY:
As one Korean Times reporter explains, the true meaning and history behind the Juche philosophy is muddled. Kim Il-Sung reportedly first spoke about the Juche idea in December of 1955, while addressing high-ranking members of the Korean Worker’s Party and denouncing North Korea’s dependence on Soviet culture and ideology. With the underlying context of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, Juche began to develop from a concept of aggressively asserting North Korean national identity and independence into a uniquely tailored form of Marxism-Leninism that eventually became the country’s official political ideology after the fall of the Communist bloc.
However, the definition of Juche continued to grow to encompass more aspects of North Korean policy, including self-reliance and self-defense. According to the official Democratic People’s Republic of Korea web page, the Eternal President Kim Il-Sung applied the Juche philosophy to three specific areas of the state: politics, military and economics. The Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs report titled “The Political Philosophy of Juche,” references the following portion of Kim Il-Sung’s famous Juche speech.
“ The Government of the Republic will implement with all consistency the line of independence, self-sustenance and self-defense to consolidate the political independence of the country, build up more solidly the foundations of an independent national economy capable of insuring the complete unification, independence and prosperity of our nation and increasing the country’s defense capabilities, so as to safeguard the security of the fatherland reliably by our own force, by splendidly embodying our Party’s idea of Juche in all fields.”
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| The North Korean capital city of Pyongyang features a monument to this fundamental ideology, called the Tower of the Juche Idea. The tower, which stands over 500 feet tall was created to commemorate Kim Il-Sung's 70th birthday. |
POLITICS:
In the political sphere, the Juche philosophy emphasizes independence so that the government can “protect the dignity of the nation.” In North Korea, this deep-seated fear of imperial control manifests itself into the extreme isolationism and an intolerance of outside influence that earned the nation its infamous nickname: The Hermit Kingdom. This rejection of the outside world does not only apply to foreign ideas, but also foreign people. Tourism was only recently allowed in North Korea, most speculate because the nation is in need of the money that tourism brings. However, according to recent news broadcasts from Chinese New Tang Dynasty Television, North Korea is already threatening to terminate their existing tourism agreement.
The few journalists that have been granted access to North Korea describe being severely restricted. A New Zealand Herald reporter Jim Eagles recounts his time spent as a tourist in North Korea in the article titled “Secrets of the Hermit Kingdom." Eagles describes visiting tourist sites devoid of locals because “the regime doesn’t want visiting foreigners having contact with ordinary people, lest they pollute the purity of the way of life created by Great Leader Kim Il Sung…” The article also outlines the stringent rules tourists must obey to avoid being detained. Foreigners are forbidden from taking mobile phones, laptops, MP3 players, binoculars, South Korean newspapers or magazines and camera lenses bigger that 150mm. Furthermore, visitors cannot take photos of North Korean people or buildings unless at a designated tourist spot. Eagles recalls a “minder” checking hundred of pictures on his camera before he was allowed to leave the country.
The North Korean government has covered nearly all of its bases in terms of maintaining Juche by keeping the nation isolated and safe from political corruption and potential destruction. The country has been described as “the worst Internet black hole” and is all but completely off the grid. This New York Times article describes the extent of the technology censorship in North Korea, where television and radios are wired to receive only government-controlled frequencies and cell phones have been banned since 2004. That is not to say, however, that the government is unaware of or unable to navigate the World Wide Web. In 2000, Kim Jung-Il publicly asked the former secretary of state Madeleine Albright for her e-mail address. The government also has its own official website as well as its official news agency website, both of which are used more or less as promotional tools and platforms for distributing propaganda.
One of the fatal flaws of the Juche political approach is the risk that political propaganda will be identified and rejected. Propaganda is not a new development in North Korea, but despite the government’s best efforts, many citizens are now beginning to recognize films and artwork as propaganda. One such defector turned artist named Sun Mu has won fame in South Korea for his propaganda style parodies of the North Korean regime. He describes the manufactured smile that he and his classmates were taught as small children, citing this memory as inspiration for his “Happy Children” series.
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| This painting, which is part of Mu's "Happy Children" collection, is meant to satirize the propaganda art and manufactured happiness if North Koreans. Mu hopes that those who view this painting can hear the children asking "Do you really thing we're happy?" |
Another way in which the government upholds the Juche ideal to the extreme is by censoring the news. An analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists declared North Korea to be the most censored Country in the world, with no independent journalists and only government-specified frequencies for radio and television. The 2010 Reporters Without Borders “World Press Freedom Index” ranks the country in second to last place, making it only slightly more free that Eritrea. Given these circumstances it is not uncommon for foreign journalists to be detained and even imprisoned for minor offenses, including accidentally following a tour guide over the border on a frozen lake, as was the infamous story of Euna Li and Laura Ling.
MILITARY:
Juche is interpreted as self-defense in the military sector. The official DPRK web page synthesizes the nation’s military strategy as follows: “It is of paramount importance to protect the country with invincible military strength, which will safeguard the revolutionary achievements of the Motherland from hostile Yankee imperialism and the action of its stooges.” Based on the nation’s history and rocky relationship with the United States it is not surprising that North Korea has kept up this Juche style military strategy of ultimate defensiveness.
It appears as though North Korean officials believe in the old adage that the best defense is a good offense and they have no qualms about violating UN Resolutions by test launching their latest missiles. In fact, just recently a South Korean newspaper reported that the North Korean forces test-fired their latest short-range missiles just last week. This is a fairly normal occurrence but South Korean officials are more sensitive to this particular missile test given that it followed the North Korean National Defense Commission’s formal threats. The primary reason for this excess military tension seems to stem from Southern anti-communist propaganda. A China Daily article explains the situation: “Pyongyang will take unspecified ‘physical actions’ against Seoul over its propaganda campaign…the DPRK also said it planned to cut off communications along the countries’ eastern border and shut down a liaison office.” The article also points out that we shouldn’t be surprised by these threats since both Koreas are still technically at war with each other; their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
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| North Korea upholds Juche in the military sector by maintaining a large army and acting self-defensively at all times so as not to appear vulnerable to foreign imperials powers. |
The North Korean military is another place that the nation may run into trouble with the Juche model. The blatant disregard for UN policy and vigilant military practices in North Korea have put the nation on thin ice with many foreign countries, especially the United States and South Korea.
ECONOMICS:
The most commonly recognized interpretation of Juche within North Korean society is self-reliance in economics. The idea is that through its own industrial capability and military self-defense, North Korea can avoid the controlling influence of imperialist powers. The North Korean government website paraphrases the Eternal President, stating: “Implementation of the Juche idea [in economics] avoids economic crises as well as dependence on outside forces…it secures the development and prosperity of the nation.”
In theory this has the potential to be a viable economic policy, but it can also be the final ingredient for creating the perfect humanitarian storm if domestic capability is not enough to produce necessary supplies to sustain North Korea’s expanding population of more than 24,000,000 people. This is the exact situation that North Korea is facing right now due to a particularly harsh winter, which reduced crop yield by up to half leaving more than 6 million North Koreans in urgent need of food aid, according to a China Post article. An Economist article titled “Let them eat Juche” describes the deteriorating conditions. Families in rural areas of North Korea are adding tree-bark and grass to their diet and foraging for food in the wild; some have already died.
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| It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million North Koreans died during the severe famine in the 1990s. Food shortages are a cyclical occurrence in this nation because of the harsh climate and Juche rejection of foreign reliance. |
This is not the first time North Korea has been in this position and without reform, it may not be the last. In the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans died in a severe famine, due in part to a strict adherence to the Juche policy of self-reliance. In 2009, Kim Jung-Il kicked all U.S. aid groups out of the country, refusing to take favors from a former imperialist power and historical enemy, despite the growing food shortages. The Economist article suggests that North Korea’s “chronic food crisis” is a result of reckless foreign policy that may deter potential foreign donors and an antiquated economic system (Juche), which leave little resources to pay for imported food aid. This time around, a U.S. delegation is going to visit Pyongyang in order to assess the situation and determine the best way to ensure that food aid will, in fact, reach the people who need it. The U.S. discontinued their delivery of rice to North Korea a few years back because of discrepancies over distribution transparency. Another red flag causing hesitation among other nations is the fact that it is difficult to trust the North Korean government, which seems to be pursuing missiles programs despite its dire food shortages.
RELIGION:
Though North Korea is technically a communist nation and therefore atheist by definition, some have argued o that Juche has all of the components to be considered a religion. A prominent U.S. religious research website, Adherents.com, named Juche as the world’s 10th largest religion. The site estimates the number of believers to be 19 million, according to the Asia Times article titled "God forbid, religion in North Korea?" The site also provides many justifications for classifying the state ideology as a religion, including the fact that it is so influential in the daily lives of so many people. While this view is not necessarily shared in North Korea, it is not absurd. North Koreans view their Eternal President Kim Il-Sung as a god-like figure, praising and worshipping his image and subsequently, his ideology of Juche.
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| This propaganda poster portrays Juche as a quasi-religion. Certain religious research sites argue that Juche is, in fact, the world's 10th largest religion. |
Though Juche is a fairly complicated ideology in that it lends itself differently to each aspect of society, there is no denying that it profoundly influences daily life in North Korea. Thus far, Kim Jung-Il has continued to conduct foreign and domestic policy according to the Juche theories that his father came up with, even to a fault in the midst of an escalating food crisis and military tension. In a time where information is readily accessible for many and technology has been used to establish connections and spark political change, it will be interesting to see whether the Juche policies of independence, self-defense and self-reliance will hold up against a population that is growing hungrier each day, but being fed nothing but propaganda. It seems difficult to imagine why a revolution like that in Egypt has not yet been attempted in North Korea; the fact that it hasn’t (or at least that we haven’t heard about it) lends further credibility to the argument that North Koreans embrace Juche with religious fervor that many foreign people will never quite understand.
