Abstract
Abstract This chapter covers the leadership transition in North Korea following the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994 to his son Kim Jong Il. It examines the role of the regime’s false claims about Kim Il Sung’s history as a guerrilla war hero and his actions during the Korean War to build popular support for the new leader, as well as the efforts to incorporate Kim Jong Il into that myth. This includes the fabricated story of Kim Jong Il’s purported birth at a secret guerrilla camp on Mount Paektu, the rewriting of the history to credit Kim Il Sung with liberating Korea from Japanese rule, and the creation of Kim Il Sung’s cult of personality. It also looks at how the ruling regime drew on this historical narrative in propaganda during the famine of the 1990s. This chapter covers the period 1994–2010.
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