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North Korean cult of personality

December 20, 2023

The North Korean cult of personality surrounding its ruling family, the Kim family,[2] has existed in North Korea for decades and can be found in many examples of North Korean culture.[3] Although not acknowledged by the North Korean government, many defectors and Western visitors state there are often stiff penalties for those who criticize or do not show "proper" respect for the former leaders of the country, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il,[4][5] officially referred to as "eternal leaders of Korea". The personality cult began soon after Kim Il Sung took power in 1948, and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994.

The Mansudae Grand Monument in Pyongyang in 2014 depicting Kim Il Sung (left) and Kim Jong Il (right), with visitors paying homage to the statues.[1]

While other countries have had cults of personality to various degrees, the pervasiveness and extreme nature of North Korea's personality cult surpasses that of even Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong.[6] The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people's feelings for and devotion to their leaders,[7] and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself. The North Korean cult of personality is a large part of Juche, the official ideology of the country.

Background edit

 
Murals of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Jangdae hill in Pyongyang

According to Dae-Sook Suh, the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family requires total loyalty and subjugation to the Kim family and establishes the country as a one-man dictatorship through successive generations.[8] The 1972 constitution of North Korea incorporates the ideas of Kim Il Sung as the only guiding principle of the state and his activities as the only cultural heritage of the people.[9] According to New Focus International, the cult of personality, particularly surrounding Kim Il Sung, has been crucial for legitimizing the family's hereditary succession,[10] and Park Yong-soo said in the Australian Journal of International Affairs that the "prestige of the Suryong [Great Leader] has been given the highest priority over everything else in North Korea".[11]

Kim Il Sung developed[when?] the political ideology of the Juche idea, generally understood as self-reliance, and further developed it between the 1950s and the 1970s. Juche became the main guide of all forms of thought, education, culture and life throughout the nation[12] until Kim Jong Il introduced the Songun (military-first) policy in 1995, which augments the Juche philosophy[13] and has a great impact on national economic policies.[14]

At the 4th Party Conference held in April 2012, Kim Jong Un further defined Juche as the comprehensive thought of Kim Il Sung, developed and deepened by Kim Jong Il, therefore terming it as "Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism" and that it was "the only guiding idea of the party" and nation.[15][16][17]

According to a 2013 report by New Focus International, the two major North Korean news publications (Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency) publish around 300 articles per month relating to the "cult of Kim".[18] The report further suggests that with the death of Kim Jong Il, the average North Korean citizen is growing weary of the vast amount of propaganda surrounding the Kims.[18] Daily NK likewise published in 2015 that the younger generation is more interested in the outside world and that the government is finding it difficult to secure the loyalty of the "jangmadang" (marketplace) generation and promoting the idolization of Kim Jong Un.[19]

The North Korean government claims there is no cult of personality, but rather genuine support not only for their nation's leadership but also the philosophy of Juche socialism.[20]

Kim Il Sung edit

See also: List of things named after Kim Il Sung
 
Image shown during an Arirang Festival
 
A mural of Kim Il Sung giving a speech in Pyongyang
 
A mural with an idealised image of Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang and the hammer, brush and sickle (the symbol of the Workers' Party of Korea)

The personality cult surrounding Kim Il Sung is by far the most widespread among the people.[21] While there is genuine affection for Kim Il Sung, it has been manipulated by the government for political purposes.[22]

The personality cult had its beginnings as early as 1949, with the appearance of the first statues of Kim Il Sung.[23] The veneration of Kim Il Sung came into full effect following a mass purge in 1953.[24] In 1967, Kim Jong Il was appointed to the state propaganda and information department, where he began to focus his energy on developing the veneration of his father.[25] It was around this time that the title Suryong ('Great Leader') came into habitual usage.[26] However, Kim Il Sung had begun calling himself "Great Leader" as early as 1949.[23]

Hwang Jang-yop, the second highest level North Korean defector, has said that the country is completely ruled by the sole ideology of the "Great Leader". He further said that during the de-Stalinization period in the USSR, when Stalin's cult of personality was dismantled in 1956, some North Korean students studying in the Soviet Union also began to criticize Kim Il Sung's growing personality cult and when they returned home they "were subject to intensive interrogation that lasted for months" and "Those found the least bit suspicious were killed in secret".[27]

According to official biographies, Kim Il Sung came from a long lineage of leaders and official North Korean modern history focuses on his life and activities.[24] He is credited with almost single-handedly defeating the Japanese at the end of the occupation of Korea (ignoring Soviet and American efforts)[28] and with rebuilding the nation after the Korean War. Over the course of his life he was granted titles of esteem such as "Sun", "Great Chairman", "Heavenly Leader" and many others, as well as awards like the "Double Hero Gold Medal".[24][29][30] These titles and awards were often self-given and the practice would be repeated by his son.[30] The Korean Central News Agency (the official government news agency) continually reported on the titles and perceived affection granted to Kim Il Sung by world leaders including Mao Zedong of China, Fidel Castro of Cuba and Jimmy Carter of the United States.[29]

 
Large portraits on the wall of the Grand People's Study House, facing Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea

All major publications (newspapers, textbooks etc.) were to include "words of instruction" from Kim Il Sung.[24] Additionally, his name must be written as a single word in one line, it may not be split into two parts if there is a page break or the line of text runs out of room (for example: Kim Il Sung, not Kim Il...Sung).[31]

North Korean children were taught in school that they were fed, clothed and nurtured in all aspects by the "grace of the Chairman".[24] The larger elementary schools in the country have a room set aside for lectures that deal specifically with Kim Il Sung (known as the Kim Il Sung Research Institute). These rooms are well taken care of, are built of high quality materials, and have a model of his birthplace in Mangyongdae.[32] The size of the images of him which adorned public buildings are regulated to be in proportion to the size of the building on which they hang.[33] His place of birth has also become a place of pilgrimage.[24]

Kang Chol-hwan wrote of his childhood in North Korea:

To my childish eyes and to those of all my friends, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il were perfect beings, untarnished by any base human function. I was convinced, as we all were, that neither of them urinated or defecated. Who could imagine such things of gods?[34]

In his memoir With the Century, Kim Il Sung tells an anecdote involving his father and grandfather that gives the rationale for this sanitized presentation of North Korean leaders to their followers. The memoir says that as a young pupil, Kim Il Sung's father was often sent to fetch wine for one of his teachers, who drank frequently, until one day his father saw the drunken teacher fall face-first into a ditch. This led to a confrontation in which the young pupil shamed the embarrassed teacher into giving up wine altogether. Kim Il Sung's grandfather draws the moral of this story:

My grandfather's opinion was this: If pupils peep into their teacher's private life frequently, they lose their awe of him; the teacher must give his pupils the firm belief that their teacher neither eats nor urinates; only then can he maintain his authority at school; so a teacher should set up a screen and live behind it.[35]

Biographer Dae-Sook Suh notes:

The magnitude of adulation often borders on fanaticism. His photograph is displayed ahead of the national flag and national emblem; the song of Marshal Kim Il Sung is played ahead of the national anthem; the best institution of higher learning is named after him; the highest party school is also named after him; and there are songs, poems, essays, stories, and even a flower named after him.[36]

 
The official portrait of President Kim Il Sung as put on the Kim Il-sung Square main ministerial building.

The Kimilsungia is an orchid named after Kim Il Sung by Indonesian former president Sukarno.[37] It was named after him in 1965 during a visit to the Bogor Botanical Gardens. According to a 2005 speech by Kim Jong Il, Sukarno and the garden's director wanted to name the flower after Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung declined, yet Sukarno insisted, "No. You have rendered enormous services to mankind, so you deserve a high honour."[38] Domestically, the flowers (and the Kimjongilia, described below) are used in idolizing the leadership.[39]

When Kim Il Sung died in 1994, Kim Jong Il declared a national mourning period for three years.[40] Those who were found violating the mourning rules (such as drinking) were met with punishment.[41] After his death he was referred to as the "Eternal President". In 1998 the national constitution was changed to reflect this.[42] When his father died, Kim Jong Il greatly expanded the nation's cult of personality.[43]

In 1997, the Juche Era dating system, which begins with the birth of Kim Il Sung (April 15, 1912) as year 1, was introduced and replaced the Gregorian calendar.[44][45] The year 2023 would thus correspond to Juche 112 (there is no year 0).

July 8, 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's death. North Korean authorities declared a ten-day mourning period which ran from July 1 to July 10.[46] The anniversary involved lectures, study sessions, local choirs, etc., with children and workers being mobilized to take part in the various events. According to a resident of Hyesan, "Nowadays people are having a hard time... as events related to the passing of the Suryeong are going on every single day in the Democratic Women's Union and workplaces alike". Nevertheless, the resident said, "Nobody is complaining about it, maybe because ever since the purge of Jang Song-taek last year, if you picked a fight they'd just drag you away".[46]

Kim Jong Il edit

 
A painting of Kim Jong Il at Mount Paektu, his alleged birthplace

In keeping with the modern mythologies that pervade North Korea's version of history, which is seen as crucial to the cult of personality and political control,[47] it is alleged that Kim Jong Il was born on Mount Paektu at his father's secret base in 1942 (his actual birth was in 1941 in the Soviet Union) and that his birth was heralded by a swallow, caused winter to change to spring, a star to illuminate the sky, and a double rainbow spontaneously appeared.[48] These claims, like those surrounding his father, continued throughout his life.[43][49]

Starting in the early 1970s Kim Il Sung began to contemplate the succession question, albeit surreptitiously at first, but by 1975 Kim Jong Il was referred to as the "party center", or in connection with his father with references to "our great suryong and the party center". In 1977, the first confirmation of Kim Jong Il's succession by name was published in a booklet which designated the younger Kim as the only heir to Kim Il Sung, that he was a loyal servant of his father and had inherited his father's virtues, and that all party members were to pledge their loyalty to Kim Jong Il. They were also urged to support his absolute authority and to obey him unconditionally.[50]

Prior to 1996, Kim Jong Il forbade the erection of statues of himself and discouraged portraits.[51] However, in 1996, schools were required to build a separate room for lectures dealing specifically with Kim Jong Il known as the Kim Jong Il Research Institute. They include a model of his birthplace.[32] There are approximately 40,000 "research institutes" (total includes both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il's) throughout the country.[52]

Between 1973 and 2012, Kim Jong Il accumulated no fewer than 54 titles, most of which had little or nothing at all to do with real political or military accomplishments since he never had any military training.[53][54] His most common title was "Dear Leader."

Over the course of his life, the government issued numerous propaganda reports of the great accomplishments achieved by Kim Jong Il, such as that he could walk and talk before the age of six months.[55] The North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported that an "unidentified French fashion expert" said of Kim's fashion, "Kim Jong Il mode, which is now spreading expeditiously worldwide, is something unprecedented in the world's history."[56] The Korean Central News Agency has also reported, among other things, that according to eyewitness accounts "nature and the sky unfolded such mysterious ecstasy in celebration of the birthday of Kim Jong Il."[57]

To commemorate Kim Jong Il's 46th birthday, Japanese botanist Kamo Mototeru cultivated a new perennial begonia named "Kimjongilia" (literally, "flower of Kim Jong Il").[58]

After Kim Jong Il's death edit

 
Rodong Sinmun carrying articles on Kim Jong Il's revolutionary exploits

After his death on December 17, 2011, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that layers of ice ruptured with an unprecedentedly loud crack at Chon Lake on Mount Paektu and a snowstorm with strong winds hit the area.[59] A political paper by his son, Kim Jong Un, sought to solidify his father as the "Eternal General Secretary of our Party."[60] Many had been seen weeping during the 100-day mourning period, which is typical of Korean Confucian society, and an analyst at South Korea's Korea Institute for National Unification determined that much of the public grief evidenced during the mourning period was a genuine expression of sorrow.[61] Yet, a journalist from the West questioned the sincerity of the displays of grief.[62]

Similar to the mourning period of Kim Il Sung, individuals who did not follow the 100-day mourning period regulations[63] or were thought to be insincere in their grief[64] were subject to punishment and in some cases may have been executed.[65] A notable example of this was the alleged death of Kim Chol and other high-ranking officials.[66] However, in the case of Chol, doubts have been raised as to the credibility of the original account with Foreign Policy stating that stories about violent deaths of North Korean elites tend to be "exaggerated" and observing the version of events disseminated by South Korean media was likely based on "gossip".[67]

Several large-scale bronze statues have been erected alongside statues of Kim Il Sung. They include a 5.7-meter (19-foot) statue of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung each riding a horse (the first large monument built after Kim Jong Il's death)[68] and a 23-meter (75-foot) tall statue at Mansudae, Pyongyang.[69] The government has also been replacing statues of Kim Il Sung with updated versions along with new statues of Kim Jong Il beside the ones of his father in each of the provincial capitals and other sites.[70]

Following his death, numerous commemorative stamps and coins were made and slogans have been carved on the sides of mountains in honor of his 70th birthday anniversary.[68]

Kim Jong Un edit

 
An inscription with names of all three leaders

Kim Jong Un, the grandson of North Korea's founder, was largely absent from the public and government service until the mid-2000s. In 2010 he began being referred to as the "Young General" and by late 2011 as "Respected General".[71] Like his father, he lacks any formal military training or service. With the death of his father, state media began to refer to him as the "Great Successor."[72] He is also called "Dear Respected"[73] or "Supreme Leader." When he was still a new ruler, the development of his own personality cult was well underway, with large numbers of posters, signs, and other propaganda being placed all over the country.[74][75] A journalist from Japan's The Asahi Shimbun said that his striking likeness in appearance to Kim Il Sung has helped solidify him as the undisputed ruler in the minds of the people.[71]

Kim Jong Un marks the third generation of Kim family dynastic leadership. According to Daily NK, people who criticized the succession were sent to re-education camps or otherwise punished and, after the mourning period of Kim Jong Il, government authorities began to increase their efforts on building the idolization of Kim Jong Un.[64]

After Kim Jong Il's death the president of the Presidium announced that "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is our party, military and country's supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong Il's ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage."[76]

Shortly after the new leader came to power, a 560-meter (1,840 ft)-long propaganda sign was erected in his honor near a lake in Ryanggang Province. The sign, supposedly visible from space, reads "Long Live General Kim Jong Un, the Shining Sun!"[77]

In 2013, the Workers' Party of Korea amended the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System, which in practice serves as the primary legal authority and framework of the country,[78][79] to demand "absolute obedience" to Kim Jong Un.[80]

Kim Jong Un's uncle, Jang Sung-taek, was executed on December 12, 2013. His death was attributed, in part, to undermining the Kim family personality cult.[81] His death has also been seen as a move by Kim Jong Un to consolidate his own cult.[82]

In 2015, at the end of the formal three-year mourning period for the death of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un ordered the construction of new monuments to be built in every county of North Korea. Extensive renovations to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace have also been ordered. According to The Daily Telegraph, analysts "say the order to erect more statues to the Kim family will be a heavy financial burden on an economy that is already struggling due to years of chronic mismanagement and international sanctions".[83]

The first monument to be at least partially dedicated to Kim Jong Un was announced in January 2017.[84] It is to be constructed on Mt. Paektu and also includes monuments dedicated to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Additionally, stand alone "mosaic murals" of Kim Jong Un are being planned for major cities in each province.[85]

Others edit

The personality cult extends to other members of the Kim family,[9] although to a lesser degree.

Kim Ung-u edit

According to the official North Korean history, Kim Ung-u, Kim Il Sung's paternal great-grandfather, fought against the American schooner USS General Sherman in the 1866 incident and was also an anti-Japanese activist; North Korea won the battle and captured the ship which is now on display in a museum. However, these claims remain unsubstantiated and many historians outside of North Korea doubt their legitimacy.[86]

Kang Pan-sok edit

Kang Pan-sok, the mother of Kim Il Sung, was the first member of the Kim family to have a cult of personality of her own to supplement that of her son's, from the late 1960s onwards.[87] In addition to a museum and statue in Chilgol, her birthplace, she has been given the title "Mother of Korea" and has had songs and articles written in praise of her.[26]

Kim Hyong-jik edit

Kim Hyong-jik, the father of Kim Il Sung, is venerated by official North Korean historiographies for having been a prominent leader of the anti-colonial Korean independence movement.[88][89] In fact, official sources claim that Kim not only led the March 1st Uprising of 1919, but also that it took place in Pyongyang—both blatant fabrications. While in reality Kim was at one point briefly detained for anti-Japanese activities,[90] most outside scholars do not support claims of anything further.[91] In fact, according to biographer Dae-Sook Suh, efforts to describe Kim Hyong-jik as playing a major role in the anti-Japanese struggle "seem to be directed more toward upgrading the attributes of Kim [Il-sung] as a pious son."[92] This attribution became important as Kim Il Sung used these stories to aid his ascent to power.[89]

Kim Hyong-jik currently has a museum and statue dedicated to him in his hometown of Ponghwa.[93][94]

Kim Hyong-gwon edit

Kim Hyong-gwon, paternal uncle of Kim Il Sung and brother of Kim Hyong-jik, is honored in North Korea as an anti-Japanese activist because he skirmished with local police, for which he was arrested and later died on January 12, 1936, during internment in Seoul. There is a statue in his honor in Hongwon, the site of the skirmish.[86] Kim Il Sung later renamed a county in southeastern Ryanggang Province after his uncle. It is called "Kimhyonggwon County".

Kim Jong-suk edit

 
A painting of both Kim Jong-suk, the mother of Kim Jong Il, and Kim Il Sung

Kim Jong-suk, mother of Kim Jong Il, is described as "a revolutionary immortal" and "an anti-Japanese war hero [who] upheld the original idea and policy of Kim Il Sung and performed distinguished feats in the development of the movement for the women's emancipation in Korea."[95] She is typified as a model revolutionary, wife, and maternal figure, and North Korean society looks to stories of her as examples of how to live life.[96]

Although she was first lady of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the first year of its founding in 1948, she died in 1949, and starting in 1974, in conjunction with her son Kim Jong Il's rise to position as the heir apparent, she was increasingly praised and her accomplishments memorialized throughout the nation. A museum and statue was built in her home town in her honor and she was called an "indomitable Communist revolutionary" by Kim Sung-ae who was Kim Il Sung's then present wife, despite being largely ignored until this point.[97] Thus, originally she was honored as a guerrilla, but not necessarily as a mother or wife.[86] In the 1990s, Kim Jong-suk's portrait was even added to those of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, which were displayed in every household and building and treated as sacred objects of veneration and worship.[90] Furthermore, when referring to the "three Great Generals of Paekdu Mountain," a sacred dormant volcano on North Korea's northern border with China, North Koreans understand this to mean Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-suk, and their son Kim Jong Il.[90]

There is a wax replica of her in the International Friendship Exhibition.[98]

Ko Yong-hui edit

Ko Yong-hui, the third wife of Kim Jong Il and mother of Kim Jong Un, had three attempts made to idolize her in a style similar to that associated with other female members of the family.[99] These attempts either failed or were ceased after 2012. In 2010, an internal propaganda film was produced about her and her activities with Kim Jong Il during his leadership. It also touched on her important role in raising her son. She is mentioned in North Korean biographies about Kim Jong Un and in some North Korean monuments and texts.[100] She is referred to as "Mother of Great Songun Korea" or "Great Mother", with her name not being public knowledge.[99]

The building of a cult of personality around Ko encounters the problem of her bad songbun (social class status), as her Korean-Japanese heritage would make her part of the lowest "hostile" class, a possible issue for the pure Kim family mythology.[101]

In 2012, Kim Jong Un built a grave for Ko on Mount Taesong.[102][103]

Familism in the personality cult edit

Familism is a type of collectivism in which the one is expected to prioritize the needs of the greater society or family over the needs of the individual. This plays out on a large scale in North Korea, where the Great Leader Kim Il Sung is Father and the Worker's Party is Mother. Thus, not only are the people expected to cherish their birth parents and treat them with all the respect demanded of traditional Confucian filial piety, but they must cherish and adore the ruling Kim family and the Mother Party even more so.

Familism in North Korea stems from a combination of the traditional East Asian Confucian value of filial piety, the communist system of collectivism, and the Kim cult of personality. As a traditional East Asian and Confucian value, the importance of family has come to resonate through all aspects of North Korean life, from politics to the economy to education and even to interpersonal relationships between friends and enemies.

When the Soviet Union first entered North Korea in 1945 to start its occupation, it had to start almost from scratch in establishing a communist base in the capital region of Pyongyang.[104] In fact, the Soviets' ideologies of communism and socialism were likely as foreign to the Koreans of Pyongyang as the Soviets themselves. However, by emphasizing family and a father-child relationship between the Soviet Union and Korea, and later between Kim Il Sung and the North Korean people, Kim not only managed to apply Western Marxism to an Asian state, but also to secure his own personality cult, thereby constructing a sense of unquestioning loyalty toward him amongst the North Korean people when North Korea was at its most vulnerable to unwelcome western influences.

However, in the late 1960s after the establishment of Juche as official North Korean ideology, through the cult of personality North Korea began to prominently focus the family ideology more on the North Korean nation itself, with Kim Il Sung himself as the new pater familias.[citation needed]

The cults of personality also promote the idea of the ruling Kims as a model family. In grief over the death of his second son, Kim Man-il in 1947, Kim Il Sung returned to the very same spot a decade later with a Korean shaman to perform rituals to "assuage his loss and pain."[105] There was particular stress on the Confucian filial love of the son for his parents. After their deaths Kim dedicated monuments to his father and mother, respectively.

However, biographer Dae-Sook Suh doubts the sincerity of Kim's displays of reverence of his parents. In considering Kim's relatively independent childhood, Suh does not believe that Kim held any special love for his parents that would necessitate separate museums and statues for each. Instead, Suh says that "his purpose, rather, seems to be more self-serving: an effort to build his own image as a pious Korean son from a revolutionary family."[86] By publicly portraying himself as a loyal son who loved his mother and father, Kim positioned himself to demand the same filial loyalty from his subjects.

Likewise, in celebration of his father's 60th birthday, Kim Jong Il produced three operas for him,[citation needed] built three monuments, including North Korea's Arch of Triumph, for his 70th birthday in 1982,[106] and upon Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, Kim Jong Il declared three years of mourning before fully claiming leadership of North Korea.

Monuments, images and cost edit

 
One of the many Towers of Eternal Life

By 1992, according to Victor Cha, there had been nearly 40,000 statues of Kim Il Sung erected throughout the country,[107] and with his death in 1994 the government began erecting 3,200 obelisks, called "Towers of Eternal Life [ko]", in every town and city.[108] These obelisks espouse the virtues of the "Great Marshal" and, like the other monuments, citizens (and tourists) are required to present flowers and other tokens of respect to the statues during certain holidays and when they visit them.[109][110] A 2018 review of satellite imagery revealed the existence of fewer than 11,200 outside monuments and murals.[111]

After the death of Kim Jong Il the government began to inscribe his name on each of the obelisks and build new statues in his image.[69]

 
Portraits on the Mangyongdae Children's Palace
 
A Kim Il Sung lapel pin

Images of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are prominent in places associated with public transportation, hanging at every North Korean train station and airport.[54][112] Every North Korean household is required to have a picture of both Kims hanging on a wall. Nothing else may hang on that wall and they are given special cloths to clean the images daily.[113] Party members in neighborhoods are assigned to inspect houses for dusty portraits. If dust is found, a fine has to be paid, its amount depending on the thickness of the layer. The portraits have to be hung high up, so that people in the room may not stand higher than them.[114] Party cadres and military officials must keep three portraits, that of the two deceased leaders and one of Kim Il Sung's wife, Kim Jong-suk.[54] The images are only allowed to be made by government approved artists at specific Mansudae workshops.[54] Images found within newspapers or other publications are to be respected and one must not throw away, deface or otherwise misuse a page that contains an image.[31] They are to be collected and returned. Adult North Koreans are also required to wear a lapel pin that features their image on the left side, above their heart.[113]

There have been sporadic stories of people risking their lives to save the portraits from various disasters but few accounts have been verified.[115][116] In 2012, a 14-year-old girl drowned while trying to save the images from her family's home during a flash flood. The North Korean government posthumously bestowed upon her the "Kim Jong Il Youth Honor Award" and her school was renamed after her.[117][118]

The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun was built as the official residence of Kim Il Sung in 1976. After his death it was converted into his mausoleum (and then that of his son).[119] It is reported to have cost between $100 million and $900 million.[120][121] Kumsusan is the largest mausoleum dedicated to a communist leader.[122]

The overall estimated cost of maintaining the personality cult varies greatly between published sources. A white paper by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy placed the cost at 38.5% of North Korea's budget in 2004, up from 19% in 1990.[52][123] However, other sources such as South Korea's Chosun Ilbo and the United Kingdom's Daily Telegraph estimate the cost in 2012 at between $40 million[69] and $100 million respectively.[124] Large scale construction projects for the Kim family have been blamed for the country's economic downturn in the 1980s.[125]

Holidays edit

Further information: Public holidays in North Korea

In 2013, a new holiday was announced to be celebrated on February 14, which commemorates the date that Kim Jong Il assumed the title "Generalissimo of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".[126] Unlike celebrations surrounding other important figures throughout the world, the celebrations are mandatory, with numerous events planned (such as dances, sporting events and parades),[127][128] and citizens will place gifts of flowers at the foot of monuments.[129][130] Birthday celebrations for the Kims also involve state media broadcasts of films about the lives and accomplishments of the leaders the night before the actual holiday.[131] People are not allowed to talk or fall asleep until the broadcasts are over.[131]

International inspirations edit

Between 60,000 and 220,000 gifts to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il from foreign leaders, businesspersons and others are housed in the International Friendship Exhibition.[132] The museum is a source of pride for the North Korean government and is used as evidence of the greatness and popularity of their leaders.[133][134] The North Korean government places a large emphasis on international recognition in order to legitimize their rule in the minds of the population.[135] Tours are arranged to the Exhibition Hall whereupon entering and leaving visitors must pay homage by bowing before images of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, as per Korean manners and tradition.[136]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "North Korea pays homage to the Kim dynasty, past, present (and future?)" Justin McCurry. The Guardian. London. 17 December 2012. Accessed 18 August 2017.
  2. ^ Lucy Williamson (December 27, 2011). "Delving into North Korea's mystical cult of personality". BBC News. from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  3. ^ Choe, Yong-ho., Lee, Peter H., and de Barry, Wm. Theodore., eds. Sources of Korean Tradition, Chichester, NY: Columbia University Press, p. 419, 2000.
  4. ^ Ben Forer (January 12, 2012). "North Korea Reportedly Punishing Insincere Mourners". ABC News. from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  5. ^ . US State Dept. December 2, 2011. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  6. ^ Armstrong, Charles K. (2013). The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0801468797.
  7. ^ Hunter, Helen-Louise (1999). Kim Il-song's North Korea. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 25. ISBN 978-0275962968. from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  8. ^ Suh 1988, p. 314
  9. ^ a b Suh 1988, p. 315
  10. ^ Staff (December 27, 2013). . New Focus International. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  11. ^ Park, Yong-Soo (2009). (PDF). Australian Journal of International Affairs. Australian Institute of International Affairs. 63 (4): 542. doi:10.1080/10357710903312587. S2CID 154841975. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 19, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  12. ^ Cumings, Bruce (2005). Korea's Place in the Sun: a Modern History. United States: W.W. Norton. pp. 414–446. ISBN 0393327027.
  13. ^ "Juche". GlobalSecurity.org. from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  14. ^ Han S Park (September 2007). "Military-First Politics (Songun)". Korea Economic Institute/Academic Paper Series. p. 6. from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  15. ^ Rüdiger 2013, p. 45.
  16. ^ Alton & Chidley 2013, p. 109.
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Bibliography edit

  • Alton, David; Chidley, Rob (2013). Building Bridges: Is There Hope for North Korea?. Lion Books. ISBN 978-0745955988.
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External links edit

  • NK News: How the Kim Cult of Personality Came to Dominate North Korean Life
  • Historical perspective on the cult of personality

December 20, 2023
north, korean, cult, personality, surrounding, ruling, family, family, existed, north, korea, decades, found, many, examples, north, korean, culture, although, acknowledged, north, korean, government, many, defectors, western, visitors, state, there, often, st. The North Korean cult of personality surrounding its ruling family the Kim family 2 has existed in North Korea for decades and can be found in many examples of North Korean culture 3 Although not acknowledged by the North Korean government many defectors and Western visitors state there are often stiff penalties for those who criticize or do not show proper respect for the former leaders of the country Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il 4 5 officially referred to as eternal leaders of Korea The personality cult began soon after Kim Il Sung took power in 1948 and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994 The Mansudae Grand Monument in Pyongyang in 2014 depicting Kim Il Sung left and Kim Jong Il right with visitors paying homage to the statues 1 While other countries have had cults of personality to various degrees the pervasiveness and extreme nature of North Korea s personality cult surpasses that of even Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong 6 The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people s feelings for and devotion to their leaders 7 and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself The North Korean cult of personality is a large part of Juche the official ideology of the country Contents 1 Background 2 Kim Il Sung 3 Kim Jong Il 3 1 After Kim Jong Il s death 4 Kim Jong Un 5 Others 5 1 Kim Ung u 5 2 Kang Pan sok 5 3 Kim Hyong jik 5 4 Kim Hyong gwon 5 5 Kim Jong suk 5 6 Ko Yong hui 6 Familism in the personality cult 7 Monuments images and cost 8 Holidays 9 International inspirations 10 See also 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 External linksBackground edit nbsp Murals of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Jangdae hill in PyongyangAccording to Dae Sook Suh the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family requires total loyalty and subjugation to the Kim family and establishes the country as a one man dictatorship through successive generations 8 The 1972 constitution of North Korea incorporates the ideas of Kim Il Sung as the only guiding principle of the state and his activities as the only cultural heritage of the people 9 According to New Focus International the cult of personality particularly surrounding Kim Il Sung has been crucial for legitimizing the family s hereditary succession 10 and Park Yong soo said in the Australian Journal of International Affairs that the prestige of the Suryong Great Leader has been given the highest priority over everything else in North Korea 11 Kim Il Sung developed when the political ideology of the Juche idea generally understood as self reliance and further developed it between the 1950s and the 1970s Juche became the main guide of all forms of thought education culture and life throughout the nation 12 until Kim Jong Il introduced the Songun military first policy in 1995 which augments the Juche philosophy 13 and has a great impact on national economic policies 14 At the 4th Party Conference held in April 2012 Kim Jong Un further defined Juche as the comprehensive thought of Kim Il Sung developed and deepened by Kim Jong Il therefore terming it as Kimilsungism Kimjongilism and that it was the only guiding idea of the party and nation 15 16 17 According to a 2013 report by New Focus International the two major North Korean news publications Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency publish around 300 articles per month relating to the cult of Kim 18 The report further suggests that with the death of Kim Jong Il the average North Korean citizen is growing weary of the vast amount of propaganda surrounding the Kims 18 Daily NK likewise published in 2015 that the younger generation is more interested in the outside world and that the government is finding it difficult to secure the loyalty of the jangmadang marketplace generation and promoting the idolization of Kim Jong Un 19 The North Korean government claims there is no cult of personality but rather genuine support not only for their nation s leadership but also the philosophy of Juche socialism 20 Kim Il Sung editSee also List of things named after Kim Il Sung nbsp Image shown during an Arirang Festival nbsp A mural of Kim Il Sung giving a speech in Pyongyang nbsp A mural with an idealised image of Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang and the hammer brush and sickle the symbol of the Workers Party of Korea The personality cult surrounding Kim Il Sung is by far the most widespread among the people 21 While there is genuine affection for Kim Il Sung it has been manipulated by the government for political purposes 22 The personality cult had its beginnings as early as 1949 with the appearance of the first statues of Kim Il Sung 23 The veneration of Kim Il Sung came into full effect following a mass purge in 1953 24 In 1967 Kim Jong Il was appointed to the state propaganda and information department where he began to focus his energy on developing the veneration of his father 25 It was around this time that the title Suryong Great Leader came into habitual usage 26 However Kim Il Sung had begun calling himself Great Leader as early as 1949 23 Hwang Jang yop the second highest level North Korean defector has said that the country is completely ruled by the sole ideology of the Great Leader He further said that during the de Stalinization period in the USSR when Stalin s cult of personality was dismantled in 1956 some North Korean students studying in the Soviet Union also began to criticize Kim Il Sung s growing personality cult and when they returned home they were subject to intensive interrogation that lasted for months and Those found the least bit suspicious were killed in secret 27 According to official biographies Kim Il Sung came from a long lineage of leaders and official North Korean modern history focuses on his life and activities 24 He is credited with almost single handedly defeating the Japanese at the end of the occupation of Korea ignoring Soviet and American efforts 28 and with rebuilding the nation after the Korean War Over the course of his life he was granted titles of esteem such as Sun Great Chairman Heavenly Leader and many others as well as awards like the Double Hero Gold Medal 24 29 30 These titles and awards were often self given and the practice would be repeated by his son 30 The Korean Central News Agency the official government news agency continually reported on the titles and perceived affection granted to Kim Il Sung by world leaders including Mao Zedong of China Fidel Castro of Cuba and Jimmy Carter of the United States 29 nbsp Large portraits on the wall of the Grand People s Study House facing Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang North KoreaAll major publications newspapers textbooks etc were to include words of instruction from Kim Il Sung 24 Additionally his name must be written as a single word in one line it may not be split into two parts if there is a page break or the line of text runs out of room for example Kim Il Sung not Kim Il Sung 31 North Korean children were taught in school that they were fed clothed and nurtured in all aspects by the grace of the Chairman 24 The larger elementary schools in the country have a room set aside for lectures that deal specifically with Kim Il Sung known as the Kim Il Sung Research Institute These rooms are well taken care of are built of high quality materials and have a model of his birthplace in Mangyongdae 32 The size of the images of him which adorned public buildings are regulated to be in proportion to the size of the building on which they hang 33 His place of birth has also become a place of pilgrimage 24 Kang Chol hwan wrote of his childhood in North Korea To my childish eyes and to those of all my friends Kim Il sung and Kim Jong il were perfect beings untarnished by any base human function I was convinced as we all were that neither of them urinated or defecated Who could imagine such things of gods 34 In his memoir With the Century Kim Il Sung tells an anecdote involving his father and grandfather that gives the rationale for this sanitized presentation of North Korean leaders to their followers The memoir says that as a young pupil Kim Il Sung s father was often sent to fetch wine for one of his teachers who drank frequently until one day his father saw the drunken teacher fall face first into a ditch This led to a confrontation in which the young pupil shamed the embarrassed teacher into giving up wine altogether Kim Il Sung s grandfather draws the moral of this story My grandfather s opinion was this If pupils peep into their teacher s private life frequently they lose their awe of him the teacher must give his pupils the firm belief that their teacher neither eats nor urinates only then can he maintain his authority at school so a teacher should set up a screen and live behind it 35 Biographer Dae Sook Suh notes The magnitude of adulation often borders on fanaticism His photograph is displayed ahead of the national flag and national emblem the song of Marshal Kim Il Sung is played ahead of the national anthem the best institution of higher learning is named after him the highest party school is also named after him and there are songs poems essays stories and even a flower named after him 36 nbsp The official portrait of President Kim Il Sung as put on the Kim Il sung Square main ministerial building The Kimilsungia is an orchid named after Kim Il Sung by Indonesian former president Sukarno 37 It was named after him in 1965 during a visit to the Bogor Botanical Gardens According to a 2005 speech by Kim Jong Il Sukarno and the garden s director wanted to name the flower after Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung declined yet Sukarno insisted No You have rendered enormous services to mankind so you deserve a high honour 38 Domestically the flowers and the Kimjongilia described below are used in idolizing the leadership 39 When Kim Il Sung died in 1994 Kim Jong Il declared a national mourning period for three years 40 Those who were found violating the mourning rules such as drinking were met with punishment 41 After his death he was referred to as the Eternal President In 1998 the national constitution was changed to reflect this 42 When his father died Kim Jong Il greatly expanded the nation s cult of personality 43 In 1997 the Juche Era dating system which begins with the birth of Kim Il Sung April 15 1912 as year 1 was introduced and replaced the Gregorian calendar 44 45 The year 2023 would thus correspond to Juche 112 there is no year 0 July 8 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of Kim Il Sung s death North Korean authorities declared a ten day mourning period which ran from July 1 to July 10 46 The anniversary involved lectures study sessions local choirs etc with children and workers being mobilized to take part in the various events According to a resident of Hyesan Nowadays people are having a hard time as events related to the passing of the Suryeong are going on every single day in the Democratic Women s Union and workplaces alike Nevertheless the resident said Nobody is complaining about it maybe because ever since the purge of Jang Song taek last year if you picked a fight they d just drag you away 46 Kim Jong Il edit nbsp A painting of Kim Jong Il at Mount Paektu his alleged birthplaceIn keeping with the modern mythologies that pervade North Korea s version of history which is seen as crucial to the cult of personality and political control 47 it is alleged that Kim Jong Il was born on Mount Paektu at his father s secret base in 1942 his actual birth was in 1941 in the Soviet Union and that his birth was heralded by a swallow caused winter to change to spring a star to illuminate the sky and a double rainbow spontaneously appeared 48 These claims like those surrounding his father continued throughout his life 43 49 Starting in the early 1970s Kim Il Sung began to contemplate the succession question albeit surreptitiously at first but by 1975 Kim Jong Il was referred to as the party center or in connection with his father with references to our great suryong and the party center In 1977 the first confirmation of Kim Jong Il s succession by name was published in a booklet which designated the younger Kim as the only heir to Kim Il Sung that he was a loyal servant of his father and had inherited his father s virtues and that all party members were to pledge their loyalty to Kim Jong Il They were also urged to support his absolute authority and to obey him unconditionally 50 Prior to 1996 Kim Jong Il forbade the erection of statues of himself and discouraged portraits 51 However in 1996 schools were required to build a separate room for lectures dealing specifically with Kim Jong Il known as the Kim Jong Il Research Institute They include a model of his birthplace 32 There are approximately 40 000 research institutes total includes both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il s throughout the country 52 Between 1973 and 2012 Kim Jong Il accumulated no fewer than 54 titles most of which had little or nothing at all to do with real political or military accomplishments since he never had any military training 53 54 His most common title was Dear Leader Over the course of his life the government issued numerous propaganda reports of the great accomplishments achieved by Kim Jong Il such as that he could walk and talk before the age of six months 55 The North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported that an unidentified French fashion expert said of Kim s fashion Kim Jong Il mode which is now spreading expeditiously worldwide is something unprecedented in the world s history 56 The Korean Central News Agency has also reported among other things that according to eyewitness accounts nature and the sky unfolded such mysterious ecstasy in celebration of the birthday of Kim Jong Il 57 To commemorate Kim Jong Il s 46th birthday Japanese botanist Kamo Mototeru cultivated a new perennial begonia named Kimjongilia literally flower of Kim Jong Il 58 After Kim Jong Il s death edit nbsp Rodong Sinmun carrying articles on Kim Jong Il s revolutionary exploitsAfter his death on December 17 2011 the Korean Central News Agency KCNA said that layers of ice ruptured with an unprecedentedly loud crack at Chon Lake on Mount Paektu and a snowstorm with strong winds hit the area 59 A political paper by his son Kim Jong Un sought to solidify his father as the Eternal General Secretary of our Party 60 Many had been seen weeping during the 100 day mourning period which is typical of Korean Confucian society and an analyst at South Korea s Korea Institute for National Unification determined that much of the public grief evidenced during the mourning period was a genuine expression of sorrow 61 Yet a journalist from the West questioned the sincerity of the displays of grief 62 Similar to the mourning period of Kim Il Sung individuals who did not follow the 100 day mourning period regulations 63 or were thought to be insincere in their grief 64 were subject to punishment and in some cases may have been executed 65 A notable example of this was the alleged death of Kim Chol and other high ranking officials 66 However in the case of Chol doubts have been raised as to the credibility of the original account with Foreign Policy stating that stories about violent deaths of North Korean elites tend to be exaggerated and observing the version of events disseminated by South Korean media was likely based on gossip 67 Several large scale bronze statues have been erected alongside statues of Kim Il Sung They include a 5 7 meter 19 foot statue of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung each riding a horse the first large monument built after Kim Jong Il s death 68 and a 23 meter 75 foot tall statue at Mansudae Pyongyang 69 The government has also been replacing statues of Kim Il Sung with updated versions along with new statues of Kim Jong Il beside the ones of his father in each of the provincial capitals and other sites 70 Following his death numerous commemorative stamps and coins were made and slogans have been carved on the sides of mountains in honor of his 70th birthday anniversary 68 Kim Jong Un edit nbsp An inscription with names of all three leadersKim Jong Un the grandson of North Korea s founder was largely absent from the public and government service until the mid 2000s In 2010 he began being referred to as the Young General and by late 2011 as Respected General 71 Like his father he lacks any formal military training or service With the death of his father state media began to refer to him as the Great Successor 72 He is also called Dear Respected 73 or Supreme Leader When he was still a new ruler the development of his own personality cult was well underway with large numbers of posters signs and other propaganda being placed all over the country 74 75 A journalist from Japan s The Asahi Shimbun said that his striking likeness in appearance to Kim Il Sung has helped solidify him as the undisputed ruler in the minds of the people 71 Kim Jong Un marks the third generation of Kim family dynastic leadership According to Daily NK people who criticized the succession were sent to re education camps or otherwise punished and after the mourning period of Kim Jong Il government authorities began to increase their efforts on building the idolization of Kim Jong Un 64 After Kim Jong Il s death the president of the Presidium announced that Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is our party military and country s supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong Il s ideology leadership character virtues grit and courage 76 Shortly after the new leader came to power a 560 meter 1 840 ft long propaganda sign was erected in his honor near a lake in Ryanggang Province The sign supposedly visible from space reads Long Live General Kim Jong Un the Shining Sun 77 In 2013 the Workers Party of Korea amended the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System which in practice serves as the primary legal authority and framework of the country 78 79 to demand absolute obedience to Kim Jong Un 80 Kim Jong Un s uncle Jang Sung taek was executed on December 12 2013 His death was attributed in part to undermining the Kim family personality cult 81 His death has also been seen as a move by Kim Jong Un to consolidate his own cult 82 In 2015 at the end of the formal three year mourning period for the death of Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Un ordered the construction of new monuments to be built in every county of North Korea Extensive renovations to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace have also been ordered According to The Daily Telegraph analysts say the order to erect more statues to the Kim family will be a heavy financial burden on an economy that is already struggling due to years of chronic mismanagement and international sanctions 83 The first monument to be at least partially dedicated to Kim Jong Un was announced in January 2017 84 It is to be constructed on Mt Paektu and also includes monuments dedicated to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il Additionally stand alone mosaic murals of Kim Jong Un are being planned for major cities in each province 85 Others editThe personality cult extends to other members of the Kim family 9 although to a lesser degree Kim Ung u edit According to the official North Korean history Kim Ung u Kim Il Sung s paternal great grandfather fought against the American schooner USS General Sherman in the 1866 incident and was also an anti Japanese activist North Korea won the battle and captured the ship which is now on display in a museum However these claims remain unsubstantiated and many historians outside of North Korea doubt their legitimacy 86 Kang Pan sok edit Kang Pan sok the mother of Kim Il Sung was the first member of the Kim family to have a cult of personality of her own to supplement that of her son s from the late 1960s onwards 87 In addition to a museum and statue in Chilgol her birthplace she has been given the title Mother of Korea and has had songs and articles written in praise of her 26 Kim Hyong jik edit Kim Hyong jik the father of Kim Il Sung is venerated by official North Korean historiographies for having been a prominent leader of the anti colonial Korean independence movement 88 89 In fact official sources claim that Kim not only led the March 1st Uprising of 1919 but also that it took place in Pyongyang both blatant fabrications While in reality Kim was at one point briefly detained for anti Japanese activities 90 most outside scholars do not support claims of anything further 91 In fact according to biographer Dae Sook Suh efforts to describe Kim Hyong jik as playing a major role in the anti Japanese struggle seem to be directed more toward upgrading the attributes of Kim Il sung as a pious son 92 This attribution became important as Kim Il Sung used these stories to aid his ascent to power 89 Kim Hyong jik currently has a museum and statue dedicated to him in his hometown of Ponghwa 93 94 Kim Hyong gwon edit Kim Hyong gwon paternal uncle of Kim Il Sung and brother of Kim Hyong jik is honored in North Korea as an anti Japanese activist because he skirmished with local police for which he was arrested and later died on January 12 1936 during internment in Seoul There is a statue in his honor in Hongwon the site of the skirmish 86 Kim Il Sung later renamed a county in southeastern Ryanggang Province after his uncle It is called Kimhyonggwon County Kim Jong suk edit nbsp A painting of both Kim Jong suk the mother of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il SungKim Jong suk mother of Kim Jong Il is described as a revolutionary immortal and an anti Japanese war hero who upheld the original idea and policy of Kim Il Sung and performed distinguished feats in the development of the movement for the women s emancipation in Korea 95 She is typified as a model revolutionary wife and maternal figure and North Korean society looks to stories of her as examples of how to live life 96 Although she was first lady of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea in the first year of its founding in 1948 she died in 1949 and starting in 1974 in conjunction with her son Kim Jong Il s rise to position as the heir apparent she was increasingly praised and her accomplishments memorialized throughout the nation A museum and statue was built in her home town in her honor and she was called an indomitable Communist revolutionary by Kim Sung ae who was Kim Il Sung s then present wife despite being largely ignored until this point 97 Thus originally she was honored as a guerrilla but not necessarily as a mother or wife 86 In the 1990s Kim Jong suk s portrait was even added to those of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il which were displayed in every household and building and treated as sacred objects of veneration and worship 90 Furthermore when referring to the three Great Generals of Paekdu Mountain a sacred dormant volcano on North Korea s northern border with China North Koreans understand this to mean Kim Il Sung Kim Jong suk and their son Kim Jong Il 90 There is a wax replica of her in the International Friendship Exhibition 98 Ko Yong hui edit Ko Yong hui the third wife of Kim Jong Il and mother of Kim Jong Un had three attempts made to idolize her in a style similar to that associated with other female members of the family 99 These attempts either failed or were ceased after 2012 In 2010 an internal propaganda film was produced about her and her activities with Kim Jong Il during his leadership It also touched on her important role in raising her son She is mentioned in North Korean biographies about Kim Jong Un and in some North Korean monuments and texts 100 She is referred to as Mother of Great Songun Korea or Great Mother with her name not being public knowledge 99 The building of a cult of personality around Ko encounters the problem of her bad songbun social class status as her Korean Japanese heritage would make her part of the lowest hostile class a possible issue for the pure Kim family mythology 101 In 2012 Kim Jong Un built a grave for Ko on Mount Taesong 102 103 Familism in the personality cult editFamilism is a type of collectivism in which the one is expected to prioritize the needs of the greater society or family over the needs of the individual This plays out on a large scale in North Korea where the Great Leader Kim Il Sung is Father and the Worker s Party is Mother Thus not only are the people expected to cherish their birth parents and treat them with all the respect demanded of traditional Confucian filial piety but they must cherish and adore the ruling Kim family and the Mother Party even more so Familism in North Korea stems from a combination of the traditional East Asian Confucian value of filial piety the communist system of collectivism and the Kim cult of personality As a traditional East Asian and Confucian value the importance of family has come to resonate through all aspects of North Korean life from politics to the economy to education and even to interpersonal relationships between friends and enemies When the Soviet Union first entered North Korea in 1945 to start its occupation it had to start almost from scratch in establishing a communist base in the capital region of Pyongyang 104 In fact the Soviets ideologies of communism and socialism were likely as foreign to the Koreans of Pyongyang as the Soviets themselves However by emphasizing family and a father child relationship between the Soviet Union and Korea and later between Kim Il Sung and the North Korean people Kim not only managed to apply Western Marxism to an Asian state but also to secure his own personality cult thereby constructing a sense of unquestioning loyalty toward him amongst the North Korean people when North Korea was at its most vulnerable to unwelcome western influences However in the late 1960s after the establishment of Juche as official North Korean ideology through the cult of personality North Korea began to prominently focus the family ideology more on the North Korean nation itself with Kim Il Sung himself as the new pater familias citation needed The cults of personality also promote the idea of the ruling Kims as a model family In grief over the death of his second son Kim Man il in 1947 Kim Il Sung returned to the very same spot a decade later with a Korean shaman to perform rituals to assuage his loss and pain 105 There was particular stress on the Confucian filial love of the son for his parents After their deaths Kim dedicated monuments to his father and mother respectively However biographer Dae Sook Suh doubts the sincerity of Kim s displays of reverence of his parents In considering Kim s relatively independent childhood Suh does not believe that Kim held any special love for his parents that would necessitate separate museums and statues for each Instead Suh says that his purpose rather seems to be more self serving an effort to build his own image as a pious Korean son from a revolutionary family 86 By publicly portraying himself as a loyal son who loved his mother and father Kim positioned himself to demand the same filial loyalty from his subjects Likewise in celebration of his father s 60th birthday Kim Jong Il produced three operas for him citation needed built three monuments including North Korea s Arch of Triumph for his 70th birthday in 1982 106 and upon Kim Il Sung s death in 1994 Kim Jong Il declared three years of mourning before fully claiming leadership of North Korea Monuments images and cost edit nbsp One of the many Towers of Eternal LifeBy 1992 according to Victor Cha there had been nearly 40 000 statues of Kim Il Sung erected throughout the country 107 and with his death in 1994 the government began erecting 3 200 obelisks called Towers of Eternal Life ko in every town and city 108 These obelisks espouse the virtues of the Great Marshal and like the other monuments citizens and tourists are required to present flowers and other tokens of respect to the statues during certain holidays and when they visit them 109 110 A 2018 review of satellite imagery revealed the existence of fewer than 11 200 outside monuments and murals 111 After the death of Kim Jong Il the government began to inscribe his name on each of the obelisks and build new statues in his image 69 nbsp Portraits on the Mangyongdae Children s Palace nbsp A Kim Il Sung lapel pinImages of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are prominent in places associated with public transportation hanging at every North Korean train station and airport 54 112 Every North Korean household is required to have a picture of both Kims hanging on a wall Nothing else may hang on that wall and they are given special cloths to clean the images daily 113 Party members in neighborhoods are assigned to inspect houses for dusty portraits If dust is found a fine has to be paid its amount depending on the thickness of the layer The portraits have to be hung high up so that people in the room may not stand higher than them 114 Party cadres and military officials must keep three portraits that of the two deceased leaders and one of Kim Il Sung s wife Kim Jong suk 54 The images are only allowed to be made by government approved artists at specific Mansudae workshops 54 Images found within newspapers or other publications are to be respected and one must not throw away deface or otherwise misuse a page that contains an image 31 They are to be collected and returned Adult North Koreans are also required to wear a lapel pin that features their image on the left side above their heart 113 There have been sporadic stories of people risking their lives to save the portraits from various disasters but few accounts have been verified 115 116 In 2012 a 14 year old girl drowned while trying to save the images from her family s home during a flash flood The North Korean government posthumously bestowed upon her the Kim Jong Il Youth Honor Award and her school was renamed after her 117 118 The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun was built as the official residence of Kim Il Sung in 1976 After his death it was converted into his mausoleum and then that of his son 119 It is reported to have cost between 100 million and 900 million 120 121 Kumsusan is the largest mausoleum dedicated to a communist leader 122 The overall estimated cost of maintaining the personality cult varies greatly between published sources A white paper by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy placed the cost at 38 5 of North Korea s budget in 2004 up from 19 in 1990 52 123 However other sources such as South Korea s Chosun Ilbo and the United Kingdom s Daily Telegraph estimate the cost in 2012 at between 40 million 69 and 100 million respectively 124 Large scale construction projects for the Kim family have been blamed for the country s economic downturn in the 1980s 125 Holidays editFurther information Public holidays in North Korea In 2013 a new holiday was announced to be celebrated on February 14 which commemorates the date that Kim Jong Il assumed the title Generalissimo of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea 126 Unlike celebrations surrounding other important figures throughout the world the celebrations are mandatory with numerous events planned such as dances sporting events and parades 127 128 and citizens will place gifts of flowers at the foot of monuments 129 130 Birthday celebrations for the Kims also involve state media broadcasts of films about the lives and accomplishments of the leaders the night before the actual holiday 131 People are not allowed to talk or fall asleep until the broadcasts are over 131 International inspirations editBetween 60 000 and 220 000 gifts to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il from foreign leaders businesspersons and others are housed in the International Friendship Exhibition 132 The museum is a source of pride for the North Korean government and is used as evidence of the greatness and popularity of their leaders 133 134 The North Korean government places a large emphasis on international recognition in order to legitimize their rule in the minds of the population 135 Tours are arranged to the Exhibition Hall whereupon entering and leaving visitors must pay homage by bowing before images of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as per Korean manners and tradition 136 See also edit nbsp North Korea portal nbsp Society portalMedia coverage of North Korea Juche Imperial cult Charismatic authority Propaganda in North Korea Paektu Mountain The Great General can use teleportation Death and funeral of Kim Jong il Stalin s cult of personality Song of General Kim Il sung Mao Zedong s cult of personality Xi Jinping s cult of personality Nicolae Ceaușescu s cult of personality List of cults of personalityReferences edit North Korea pays homage to the Kim dynasty past present and future Justin McCurry The Guardian London 17 December 2012 Accessed 18 August 2017 Lucy Williamson December 27 2011 Delving into North Korea s mystical cult of personality BBC News Archived from the 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Great Leader rules from beyond the grave The Independent Archived from the original on January 22 2014 Retrieved August 25 2013 Chosun North Korea s Love Hate Relationship with History New Focus International May 31 2013 Archived from the original on December 24 2013 Retrieved May 31 2013 Holly Williams December 19 2011 Inside North Korea Cult Of The Kim Family Sky News Archived from the original on December 24 2013 Retrieved August 25 2013 Bibliography editAlton David Chidley Rob 2013 Building Bridges Is There Hope for North Korea Lion Books ISBN 978 0745955988 Burdick Eddie 2010 Three Days in the Hermit Kingdom An American Visits North Korea McFarland ISBN 978 0786448982 Demick Barbara 2009 Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea Random House LLC ISBN 978 0385523912 Hassig Ralph 2009 The Hidden People of North Korea Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 0742567184 Kim Samuel S 2001 The North Korean System in the Post Cold War Era Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978 0312239749 Martin Bradley 2004 Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader North Korea and the Kim Dynasty St Martin s Griffin ISBN 0312323220 2006 Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader North Korea and the Kim Dynasty St Martin s Griffin ISBN 0312323220 Rudiger Frank 2013 North Korea in 2012 Domestic Politics the Economy and Social Issues Brill Publishers pp 41 72 ISBN 978 9004262973 Archived from the original on October 17 2015 Suh Dae Sook 1988 Kim Il Sung The North Korean Leader Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0231065733 Tertitskiy Fyodor 2015 The ascension of the ordinary man How the personality cult of Kim Il Sung was constructed 1945 1974 Acta Koreana archived from the original on 2018 05 22 retrieved 2018 05 22External links editNK News How the Kim Cult of Personality Came to Dominate North Korean Life Historical perspective on the cult of personality Portal nbsp North Korea Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title North Korean cult of personality amp oldid 1189627248 Kim Il Sung, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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