Kim Il Sung Research Articles

The Art of Monument Politics: The North Korean State, Juche and International Politics

ABSTRACT This article examines North Korea’s political monuments as sites of domestic and international politics. It uses feminist and postcolonial concepts and critical methods to attend to what most prevailing approaches to Korean studies neglect: the problem of international hierarchy and how the patriarchal North Korean state negotiates the hierarchical, gendered and racialised structures of international politics. In doing so the article focusses on two structures built in the 1970s: the Mansu Grand Monument, which was built to commemorate the head of state, Kim Il Sung, and The Non-alignment Movement is a Mighty Anti-imperialist Revolutionary Force of Our Times, a book published to mark North Korea’s entry into the Non-Aligned Movement. Historical studies commonly present the 1970s as a period when juche as North Korea’s principle of self-reliance and its role in Third World inter-state politics solidified. Reading the two cultural artefacts together as interlinked monuments, I make two main arguments that critically expand this historical view: rather than simply a fixed political principle, juche is a visual-textual process; and these monuments are artefacts that not only legitimise domestic “authoritarian” rule – as is widely acknowledged – but also help us (to) better understand the North Korean state’s relationship to the international.

The Rent-mechanism and North Korea’s Political Regime: Focusing on Comparative of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jung-il and Kim Jung-eun

The Rent-mechanism and North Korea’s Political Regime: Focusing on Comparative of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jung-il and Kim Jung-eun

Pronoun Usage as a Measure of Power Personalization: A General Theory with Evidence from the Chinese-Speaking World

AbstractHow can the growing personalization of power be identified and measured ex ante? Extant measures in the authoritarian literature have traditionally focused on institutional constraints and more recently on individual behaviour – such as purging opposition members from (and packing allies into) government bodies. This article offers a different strategy that examines leaders’ individual rhetoric. It focuses on patterns of pronoun usage for the first person. The author argues that as leaders personalize power, they are less likely to use ‘I’ (a pronoun linked to credit claiming and blame minimizing) and more likely to use ‘we’ (the leader speaks for – or with – the populace). To test this argument, the study focuses on all major, scheduled speeches by all chief executives in the entire Chinese-speaking world – that is, China, Singapore and Taiwan – since independence. It finds a robust pattern between first-person pronouns and political constraints. To ensure the results are not driven by the Chinese sample, the rhetoric of four other political leaders is considered: Albania's Hoxha, North Korea's Kim Il Sung, Hungary's Orbán and Ecuador's Correa. The implications of this project suggest that how leaders talk can provide insights into how they perceive their rule.

관동군 밀정 염동진과 독립투사 김혁 - 낙양군관학교 동기생의 엇갈린 운명과 백의사의 기원

Lyom Dongjin was a founder of White Shirts Society, extreme-right terrorist organization. There were many assumption on his background during the Japanese colonial period. Lyom was a graduate of Korean special class, Louyang Military Academy and related with Korean independence movement at that time. But Lyom was captured by Tong Hua Kempeitai branch of Japanese Kwantung Army in March 1936 and became spy for the Japanese Kempeitai. He served as professional spy for Tong Hua Kempeitai over eight years and received total 2,418 yen from Kwantung Army Kempeitai till March 1944. He was a professional spy and his spy activity was overt one. After Korea liberation, Lyom assassinated Hyun Joonhyuk, moderate communist in Pyongyang and fled to Seoul. He hide his Japanese spy career and disguised as extreme-right anti-communist fighter.<BR>In Seoul, Lyom assassinated Kim Hyuk, an independence fighter as well as his alumnus of Louyang Military Academy who knew Lyom’s back ground and spy activities precisely. Kim Hyuk was apprehended for his independence movement activities and put into Japanese prison for three years. After liberation, Kim assassinated the notorious Japanese detective with the help of Special Squad of Korean Police. Kim Hyuk’s story as well as truth of his assassination fade away from forefront of history. Lyom involved in several important assassinations including Kim Ilsung (March 1, 1946), Lyuh Woonhyung (July 19, 1947), and Kim Koo (June 26, 1949) cases.

The religious phenomenon of Juche ideology as a political tool

This study aims to determine the motive that led to the establishment of Juche by Kim Il Sung amidst the influence of communism and its transformation into religion in North Korea. North Korea is a communist country dictated by Kim Jong-Un of the Kim dynasty and known for its cruelty. The country underwent several changes from Marxism-Leninism to familism to determine its strength in Juche. This ideology that acts as a religion was influenced and strengthened Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong-Un and built by shifting the concept of marxism-Leninism to construct a new understanding of Juche. It will be demonstrated that this ideology was influenced by Confucianism, Christianity, Nationalism, Chinese Communism, and Russian Communism. In the modern era, imperialism was used as an ideological tool to restrict backwardness. This theory allegedly helped Kim Il-Sung establish a unitary, one-person rule over North Korea. ‘It will be examined whether Juche ideology is a tool the state has used to convince people of their government. Pronouncements, an intentional religion in which the people were to believe that their Ruler (Kim Il Sung) was a supreme human or an ideology that morphed into a religion’. It will be demonstrated that, when they started honoring Kim as their god, no other religion was permitted.Contribution: This research offers readers an understanding of the value of humanity in the binding ideology of Juche. However, the Juche Ideology can serve as a missiological bridge towards mission goals, which require the experience of spiritual, physical, and social liberation.

1950~1960년대 북한의 ‘혁명전통’ 확립과정과 역사인식의 변화

The purpose of this study is to historically analyze how North Korea’s ‘revolutionary tradition’ was ‘discovered’ and settled in the 1950s and 1960s, when the anti-Japanese armed struggle began to be deified as the ‘revolutionary tradition’ in North Korea.<BR> In order to restore Kim Il Sung’s anti-Japanese armed struggle as the only ‘revolutionary tradition’ North Korea sent investigation teams to investigate and collect related relics and artifacts while traveling to sites where Kim Il Sung staged the anti-Japanese armed struggle. In particular, in May 1959, a research team visited Yanbain, which was the main stage of Kim Il Sung’s activities, and explored more than 200 historic sites over a long period of five months. The performance of the team was actively promoted to North Koreans through exhibitions and publications of records on the expeditions. The restoration of North Korea’s domestic revolutionary sites and museums was also carried out, making the Bochonbo and Yanggang areas where Kim Il Sung’s actual combat activities took place a place of ‘revolutionary tradition,’ while the Bochonbo Museum and other museums served as schools of ‘revolutionary tradition’ culture.<BR> As invention of the history and creation of spatial sculptures were the contents of the ‘revolutionary tradition,’ these had to be used to promote the ‘revolutionary tradition.’ North Korea organized field trips and marches to anti-Japanese war sites with students and young people in order to promote them as part of sports activities focused on ‘playfulness’. Encouraging North Korean people to study Memoir and commemorate ‘revolutionary tradition,’ which had swept the entire North Korean society since 1959, played a crucial role in the everyday of people.<BR> As North Korea attached the meaning of ‘revolutionary tradition’ to Kim Il Sung’s anti-Japanese armed struggle from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, the direction of history description and education was bound to change accordingly. History of Korean National Liberation Struggle (1958) and History of Korean Modern Revolution Movement (1961) that were written based on ‘revolutionary tradition’ defined Kim Il Sung’s armed struggle against Japan as the only ‘revolutionary tradition.’ Such changes in history description were reflected in history education in schools. Teachers had to educate their students that all the anti-Japanese armed struggles were done to prepare for founding the Party after liberation. In addition, from a much earlier period than other units, ‘Research Group for Educating People about Kim Il Sung’s Revolutionary Activities’ was established in education field to train students into human being that embodied the ‘revolutionary tradition.’

Relacje chińsko-północnokoreańskie za rządów Xi Jinpinga – szorstka przyjaźń czy długotrwałe partnerstwo?

The main purpose of my considerations will be to present the most important determinants and relationships that characterize China-North Korea relations during the presidency of Xi Jinping. Based on the available literature on the subject, I would like to try to answer the question whether the relations of the two entities should be considered as rough friendship or long-term partnership. In addition, I intend to state whether mutual ties should be expected in the future.At the beginning I will describe the relations between China and North Korea during the Cold War, when both countries fought in the Korean conflict against the United States and the United Nations. In addition, it would be appropriate to look at the relations of both entities from 1955 to the fall of the USSR, when the North Korean dictator, Kim Il-sung, as part of his doctrine of independence (Juche) balanced in foreign policy between China and the Soviet Union. Post-Cold War times and Beijing’s relationship with Pyongyang will also be of interest to me until 2013, when the North Korean nuclear program became an increasingly contentious issue. In the rest of the work, it will be important to describe the relationship of both countries since Xi Jinping took power in China and Kim Jong Un in North Korea. At that time, despite official declarations of cooperation, relations between the two countries remained cool. It was only the direct negotiations between North Korea and the United States since 2018 that increased its importance in Chinese policy, as evidenced by the visit of the to Pyongyang discussed in the text in June 2019. In the article I intend to raise economic contacts between both entities.In summary, I am trying to answer the question of how relations between China and North Korea will develop in the future. I intend to assess whether the growing role of the DPRK in an international configuration it can contribute to wider, strategic ties with Beijing.

Stalinist Origin and Political-Economic Characteristics of Kim Il Sung’s Thesis on Formative Operation of the ‘Law of Value’

Stalinist Origin and Political-Economic Characteristics of Kim Il Sung’s Thesis on Formative Operation of the ‘Law of Value’

국어국문학과 조선어문학의 분단: 설립 초기 국립서울대학교 문리과대학 국어국문학과와 김일성종합대학 조선어문학부의 비교연구

국어국문학과 조선어문학의 분단: 설립 초기 국립서울대학교 문리과대학 국어국문학과와 김일성종합대학 조선어문학부의 비교연구

북한 헌법에 대한 이해와 새로운 통일교육

북한 헌법에 대한 이해와 새로운 통일교육

Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us by Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro

Reviewed by: Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us by Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro Rudolphus Teeuwen Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro. Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2021. xix + 307 pp. "Fundamentalisms" in the title of this book is the plural of a word we more often encounter in the singular, but it is the contention of Morson and Schapiro that there are two types of fundamentalism (in different varieties) and that they are at loggerheads. One kind of fundamentalism asserts truth with absolute certainty; the other denies it with just as much certainty. This means that there are two forms of folly that drown out chances for wisdom, and this brings real dangers to a democracy such as the United States. The authors want to chart a way of getting from folly to wisdom and the success of this undertaking depends in large part on readers' willingness to live and think outside of the three criteria that define fundamentalism, whether of the positive or negative kind. These criteria are "Certainty," the "Perspicuity of Truth," and adherence to a "Foundational Text or Revelation." The three criteria have a theological ring to them: the inerrant foundational text offering absolute certainty of the truth revealed in it—this suggests the positive fundamentalism of forms of Christianity or Islam (by no means the only form religions can take). But there is a secular variety of this positive fundamentalism as well: if works by Marx, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, or Kim Il Sung are read, as they demand to be, as inerrant foundational texts, forms of truth and certainty emerge that have baleful consequences for human lives. And Freud, in his claim of scientific inerrancy, knows absolutely but implausibly that there is no such thing as chance in the workings of the human mind. Apart from such positive fundamentalisms, there is the negative kind. Negative fundamentalists too believe that knowledge, to be worthwhile, must be based on something equivalent in certainty to physics or mathematics. But they also believe that such certainty, even in physics or mathematics, is ultimately unattainable and that therefore the entire project of truth must be relativized by an awareness of a purely cultural construction of knowledge. Relativists are absolutists by another name: with truth conceived of as an all or nothing proposition, they choose "nothing" where positive fundamentalists choose "all." Morson and Schapiro try to shepherd us toward a non-absolute sense of relativity: a skepticism that admits doubt, a taking on board that our convictions are shaped to an extent by cultural prejudices and happenstance and we will never know to what extent exactly. This is Morson and Schapiro as analyzers of the pass we have come to in democratic societies in general, and the United States in particular. Fundamentalists are on speaking terms only with fellow-fundamentalists of the same stripe and only sharpen the way they think and express themselves, so minds end up wide shut, and the closing of the American mind becomes irrevocable. [End Page 761] Well, nearly irrevocable. This book becomes imaginative in the remedy it suggests. Stephen Toulmin, in his 1990 book Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity, sees modernity, in its embrace of the rationalism of seventeenth-century philosophers as Descartes and Leibniz, as having discarded the earlier humanism of writers of the sixteenth century—Erasmus, Montaigne, and Shakespeare among them. It is this humanist tradition we need to return to in matters of ethics, public policy, and the practicalities of living our lives. This means that we should not rely on deductive reasoning but on practical case-based reasoning. In this way we can turn from folly to wisdom. In chapters on politics, economics, religion, and literature, Morson and Schapiro work out how such a switch can be made and what it would mean for ethical and practical decision-making in democratic societies divided by fundamentalisms. If case-based reasoning is the way forward, it is realist novels we should turn to. It is in the realist novel that casuistry is preserved while philosophy led us astray toward the logic of rationalism. Ethics in the realist novel is a matter...

North Korean Narrative of the Second World War: Why the Change?

This paper studies North Korea’s official narrative on the Second World War. The country is extremely autocratic, meaning that the only allowed vision is the one prescribed by the state. This vision was initially imprinted by the Soviet Union in the late 1940s. However, the official narrative on the Soviet-Japanese War, which led to the establishment of the North Korean state, has been rewritten: today Pyongyang credits Japan’s defeat to Kim Il-sung and his “Korean People’s Revolutionary Army”—an organization which never existed in reality. This article traces the evolution of the North Korean false narrative and concludes that each of its pages was farther away from historical truth than the previous one.

Urban development of Pyongiang under the influence of Juche idea

In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), urban planning and urban architecture reflect the interest of the working class. The goal for the working class was to develop a specific type of urban planning, as a result of which the DPRK introduced a socialist model of urban planning. Until the beginning of 1970, the DPRK depended on the influence of the USSR, it wanted to go beyond that framework, especially in the field of urban planning and architecture. In the early 1970s, Kim Il-sung presented the thesis of Juche's idea, which encompasses all aspects of society. During the 1980s, Pyongyang was promoted to the world as the socialist capital of the world. However, in the 21st century, Korean architecture has noticed many changes compared to the past. In addition to remaining faithful to rationality and monumentality, social differences were given to special groups. Since the arrival and rise of Kim Jong-un to power, the newly built parts of Pyongyang are reminiscent of the physiognomy of capitalist cities.

The Study on the Religious Characteristics and Human-centered Concept of North Korean Politics

This paper tries to analyze the process and its contents of the strongly formed religious characteristics in the North Korean political system. Therefore, I considered the emergence of Kim Il-sung, the process of acquiring state power, the substitution of Marxism-Leninism in Juche Ideology, and the process of completing the national system of Kim Il-sung s monolithic system. The “national division” of the Korean Peninsula is the background of the politicization of religion. Residents of the two Koreas, exposed to a long-term cease-fire, appear to be casual in their daily lives, but unconsciously can be seen as working on a war-related security defense mechanism. Studies have shown that North Koreans anxiety about separation from the North Korean regime. Therefore, they respond quickly to crises and cope with them. The politics of the two Koreas can be seen as an active use of this collective security defense mechanism to strengthen political power. An unconsciously operated security defense mechanism can be seen as forming a collective security defense system that responds quickly and actively to security and safety when the nation is in crisis. Such a collective security defense mechanism tends to be strengthened the more powerful it is, and through its policy of antagonizing the world s most powerful U.S., North Korea has completed its nuclear capabilities that have gathered all its national capabilities. Also, loyalty to the leader will be sanctified and easily antagonized by the refusal to recognize the North Korean regime. It can be said that the religious characteristics of North Korean politics are based on the human-centered concept of Juche Ideology. To dismantle the concept of human-centeredness formed in the religiousized political system of North Korea, the horizon of perception into subjects with universal human beings and their wills must be expanded. To be able to accept the human-centered philosophy and socialism of North Koreans in a unified country, it is necessary to dismantle the concept of “human” made in North Korea s religiousized politics and re-recognition of universal “human” and subject. This is because the unification of the concept of the “human center” of the two Koreas should precede. Besides, there is no free democratic country that can accommodate the Juche ideology without an individual ‘subject’.

로동신문을 통해 본 김일성 시기 북한의 대미 인식 연구

로동신문을 통해 본 김일성 시기 북한의 대미 인식 연구

토픽모델링과 의미연결망을 적용한 김정은정권의 관광정책 이슈 변화: 김일성종합대학교학보집 관광논문을 대상으로(2014～2019)

토픽모델링과 의미연결망을 적용한 김정은정권의 관광정책 이슈 변화: 김일성종합대학교학보집 관광논문을 대상으로(2014～2019)

Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia. A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949–1976.

How do you write a review of a book rich in new information and interpretation that has also committed the offense of lifting passages from the work of another author, sometimes word for word? First the richness; then the lifting. Ever since the end of the Cold War, diplomatic historians of Northeast Asia have been expanding our knowledge of the region’s international relations in a type of competition to reveal the latest sources emerging from archives that are often difficult to access. Given the current security concerns with North Korea, special attention has focused on the northern half of the peninsula, as historians have sought to use the archives of its neighbors and allies to learn about a country that doesn’t allow researchers within its borders, let alone inside its archives. A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949–1976 is the most detailed work taking up this challenge.

Memories of the March First Independence Movement in the History of Korean Residents in Japan

This study reviewed the contents of memories of the March First Independence Movement through the historical narrative system of the Korean residents’ community in Japan. The description of the March 1st Movement of Mindan(在日本大韓民&#22269; 民&#22243;) and The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan(在日本 朝鮮人&#32207;聯合&#20250;) can be seen as the basis for research by South Korea, Japan and North Korea. In the case of Mindan, the understanding of the March 1st Movement, a turning point in the movement, is believed to have led to the content. The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan(在日本朝鮮人&#32207;聯合&#20250;) actively evaluated the subject and historical significance of the March First movement from depicting Kim Il-sung family to Yoo Gwan-soon in their description. In fact, the narrative system for the March First Independence Movement by Koreans in Japan is thought to be the original form of historical textbooks and research during the Japanese Federation of Korean Residents in Japan (在日本朝鮮人連盟). The draft version of the Chosun History Textbook described the preparation process, situation of the March 1st, and the subsequent situation. The book called the outcome of the March First Independence Movement was that reform of Japanase colonial strategy of Korea and the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. From The ‘Children’s History(어린이國史-下)’ introduced Wilson’s national self-determination of the people and the essence of the March first Independence Movement as a nationwide event. It also pointed the limitations of national representation. Specially, Lim Kwang-chul(林光澈)’s writings could be drawn keen attention in the research history of the March First Independence Movement of Korean residents in Japan. He tried to develop a discussion on the March First Independence Movement in a realistic demand in &#65378;三一運動 に於ける歷史的なもの－一つの方法論的考察－&#65379;. In particular, he believed that it was necessary to understand the March First Movement dialectically from a practical point of view. Lim Kwang-chol developed discussions on three topics; first was causality, second was leadership and third was historical significance. First, he noted that the cause of the March first Independence Movement was the land survey project, which resulted in forced deceptive land exploitation. Second, he cited the feudal indigenous landlord class, specifically the Cheondoist and Christian forces as his leadership. Third, the historical significance of the March first Independence Movement was that the struggle(fight) is the only way for the Korean people to live. His book, ‘The History of Chosun’, Lim Gwang-cheol defined the March first Independence Movement as a part of the ‘Chosun’s idea of independence movement’. In his article, Lim Kwang-chul left the point that it should be paid attention to continued research on land issues related to the March First Independence Movement. His study of the March First Movement revealed the causuality, leadership and historical significance that contributed to the subsequent provision of a large narrative system for the March First Movement research. It is also true that the limitations of his research on the March First Independence Movement related to land issues after his research that have failed to produce full-fledged results since then. Especially, from international point of view, Lim Kwang-chul actively attempted to evaluate the March First Independence Movement. I looked at the memories of the March First Independence Movement of Koreans in Japan through various history textbooks and research achievements by Lim Kwang-chul. Memories of the March First Independence Movement have been changed with the passage of time. However, the perception of the revolutionary contents of the March First Independence Movement and the nature of the March First Independence Movement are not been

Letters and Ping Pong: North Korean Diplomatic Offensive towards the United States in the Late 1970s

This paper unveils North Korean diplomatic offensive towards the U.S. in the late 1970s that began with the inauguration of president Jimmy Carter. Throughout 1976-1977, Chairman Kim Il Sung sought numerous attempts for indirect contacts with Carter via personal letters handed in to the American president by heads of state from Africa, Europe and Asia. At the North’s invitation, a U.S. ping pong team even went to Pyongyang to compete at the 1979 World Table Tennis Championships. All of these tactics, however, failed to pave the way for a Kim-Carter summit meeting. Following Sino-American normalization, Pyongyang abruptly agreed to revive inter-Korean dialogue and rapidly rejected Carter’s proposal for North Korea-U.S.-South Korea trilateral talks. This decision came to the surprise of Washington, Seoul and the Communist leaders worldwide who had helped to bridge between Kim and Carter. Why did North Korea, despite its hard attempts in seeking contacts with the American leadership, refuse this offer?

Trouble Brewing: The North Korean Famine of 1954–1955 and Soviet Attitudes toward North Korea

This article, based on newly available materials from the former Soviet archives, deals with the famine that struck a large part of the North Korean countryside in the winter of 1954–1955. The famine was related to the policies of crash industrialization and collectivization favored by Kim Il-sung—or at least, this is how many contemporaries, including Soviet diplomats, saw it. The famine, mentioned only once in openly available publications of the period, sparked political instability and prompted the urgent delivery of food assistance from the USSR and China. Soviet leaders, seeing the famine as another sign of the dangerous trends of Kim Il-Sung's policies, gave Pyongyang strong “advice,” demanding a moderation of policies and partial halt of the collectivization drive. The “advice” was followed, but the entire confrontation contributed to the further buildup of tensions between Moscow and Kim Il-Sung.