At the same time the time of the famine and the death of kim il sung, existing mutualhelp relations became strained and in many cases broke down, leaving the vulnerable and weak helplessly exposed to great hardship to the extent that in one home, at the height of the crisis, the desperate mother of a child struggling with hungercaused illness pleaded with and prayed to the portraits of kim. His parents took the family to manchuria in the 1920s to flee the. North korea says kim jong il was born on mount paektu, an important place in north korean mythology, but theres evidence to show he was. Learn more about kims life and career in this article. Its well established that north koreas founder and eternal president kim il sung grew up in a christian home with a pastor for a grandfather and a church elder for a father. During his leadership of the country, kim built on the mystique already surrounding his family. Juche is a fullfledged religion that worships kim il sung as god, and his son, kim jong il as the son of god. Kim ilsung was the founder and first supreme leader of north korea, which he ruled from the. Jun 18, 2018 domestically, juche served to connect kim il sung and the nascent north korean state to ideas that would resonate with ordinary koreans.
Juche teaches north koreans that upon death, they will be reunited with kim il sung and live with him forever. He was the countrys premier from 1948 to 1972, chairman of. Kim ilsungs attack on religion was strongly based on the idea that religion had been used as a tool for imperialists in the korean peninsula. People could make a case of him having to be that way to do what he did in north korea. Apr 10, 2001 kim il sung ism is seen as a religion, and they oppose any other ideology, said lim soon hee, who studies human rights at the korea institute for national unification in seoul. Even though kim ilsungs was very close to his parents, he was convinced by stalin to crack down on their religion. When kim il sung was 8 years old, his family moved north to manchuria in northeast china. In north korea, kim il sung and kim jong il are demigod the father and demigod son.
In reality, juche is a religion, and north koreas 25 million adherents make juche the worlds fifth largest religion after christianity, islam, buddhism and hinduism. Every week, we ask a north korean your questions, giving you the chance to learn more about the country we know so little about. Kim ilsung var premierminister fra 1948 til 1972 og pr. Brutal and inhumane laws north koreans are forced to live under. However, those familiar with cults would again posit that juche bypasses the tenets of religion.
The word juche is translated to selfreliance in the korean language. Kim ilsung criticized religion in his writings, and north korean propaganda in literature, movies and other media have presented religion in a negative light. North korea religion juche is no longer just an ideology. He created a political cult around his familys political ideology and the veneration of it. Leader of north koreas workers party, he was the countrys supreme leader, prime minister, and president for nearly three decades. The parallel relationship structure between kim il sung and his people to religious founders or leaders and their followers has led many scholars to consider juche a religious movement as much as a political ideology. Falsche christen in nordkorea inszenieren gottesdienste faz. Kim wasnt the first warrior to pick that name there were 16 wellknown kim il sungs in the previous decade with a reputation as fierce fighters, historian song said. Feb 16, 2015 the fact the dprk still exists at all is, in no small part, testimony to the genius of the hagiographies of kim il sung and kim jong il, and the men and women who wrote them. Juche, the state ideology that makes north koreans revere kim. For starters, north korea is keenly aware that the rest of the world would regard such a belief as ridiculous. He ruled from the death of his father, kim il sung, the first leader of north korea in 1994 until his own death in 2011. Often called the supreme leader by his government and media, kim inherited the office following the death of his father, kim jong il, in 2011. To this day, the childhood hagiography of kim ilsung remains one of.
Juche religion north koreas juche religion explained. Kim ilsung april 15, 1912july 8, 1994 of north korea established one of the worlds most powerful cults of personality, known as the kim dynasty or mount paektu bloodline. Explaining the transition from kim il sung ism to christianity. Jul 02, 2014 so while north korea refuted marxist materialism its official ideology made kim ilsung a god and in a way, it left its people to be captivated by folk religion. Instead of god the father, juche worships kim il sung, the founder of north korea who died in 1994 yet continues to rule today as north koreas eternal president and official head of state. Sep 19, 2017 the nations official ideology is juche, a fusion of marxism and korean nationalism created by kim ilsung, and the regime views any practices outside this doctrine with deep suspicion. Keeping the faith, underground the washington post. The bodies of kim il sung and kim jong il are embalmed and on display at pyongyangs kumsusan memorial palace, a site known at the palace of the sun and treated like a shrine. It came into existence when kim jong il insisted on integrating the juche idea. Jang ki ryu, who served as dean of medical school at kim il sung university, performed surgery to examine a lump on the back of kim il sungs neck.
Our knowledge of kim ilsungs early life is confused by conflicting accounts and layers of communist propaganda. Deviations from the established tenets of juche can still be as lifethreatening as they were under kim ilsung, despite the initial reluctance of most nations to believe such things can happen in the 21 st century. His first wife died in 1947 while giving birth, and he married his second wife in 1962. Although succession in communist regimes usually passes between members of the top political echelons, north korea has become a hereditary dictatorship, with kims son. Muchmythologised biographies of kim dynasty leaders a crucial tool in controlling the people and ensuring their loyalty. Aug 30, 2019 kim il sung was born kim songju in mangyondae, near pyongyang, the presentday capital of north korea, on april 15, 1912.
It is less well known that when kim il sung wrote about christianity and christians, he did not write with hostility but rather with a bland and dismissive nonchalance. It paired the marxist language of the countrys communist. This bloodline was inaugurated by the dynastys founder kim ilsung 19121994. This is a political ideology created by the previous ruler and kim jongils father, kim ilsung. North korea the family of dictator kim ilsung were devout. The religion was originally created by kim ilsung, a korean communist politician, in 1956. Kim il sungs maternal grandfather was a pastor and both of his parents were active members of their church. The name marks the beginning of his bid to build for himself an aura of primacy. Like his father, kim jong il is also revered with an immortal status and carries the title eternal leader. The surprising reason kim il sung rejected christianity and. Kim ilsung born april 15, 1912 is famous for being world leader. As in other totalitarian countries, the kim family regime enforces its power through a practice of arbitrary arrest and detention. Instead of god the father, juche worships kim ilsung, the founder of north korea who died in 1994 yet continues to rule today as north koreas eternal president and official head of state.
May 26, 2014 the question of whether north koreans regard kim il sung as god isas with many subjects in north korean studieshardly as straightforward as it appears. This is a political ideology created by the previous ruler and kim jong il s father, kim il sung. Biography of kim ilsung, first north korean president. May 19, 2014 in kim il sungs mind, what best advanced the state was cherishing the god of korea in ones heart. During the 1930s, kim, who mastered chinese, would become a korean freedom fighter, working against the japanese and taking the name ilsung in honor of a famed guerilla fighter. Kim ilsung 19121994 was a communist soldier, revolutionary and the self styled great leader of north korea. Kim il sung was born to a christian family on april 15, 1912 in south pyongan province in todays north korea, which was then under japanese occupation. The surprising reason kim il sung rejected christianity. Kim ilsung auch kim il sung, koreanisch, nach alter transkription kim ir sen. Kim ilsung, communist leader of north korea from 1948 until his death in 1994. Kim jong il and religious imagination in north korean. They say kim jongil has continued his fathers system of control, using the threat of hard labor and concentration camps. Explaining the transition from kim il sung ism to christianity jimin kang september 25, 20. They have what we would know as the apostles creed thats changed to worship the kim dictatorship.
Juche was originally more of a political ideology than a religious one. It is permeated by an atmosphere of religiosity and fanaticism. Its a country where thousands of people celebrate their weddings in front of a statue of its first leader, kim il sung, as a kind of quasireligious. Kim il sung s maternal grandfather was a pastor and both of his parents were active members of their church. May 14, 2019 the sacred tenets of juche concerning the great leaders. How north koreas political ideology became a defacto religion. He fathered at least 9 children, including some who were illegitimate, and died of a heart attack in 1994 at 82 years of age. How the personality cult of kim il sung shaped a nation. Jul 09, 2018 kimilsungism kimjongilism means the party of kim il sung and kim jong il. Juche, the state ideology that makes north koreans revere kim jong. Thank you, father kim il sung reports on the forceful suppression of north koreas once vibrant religious and intellectual life, the establishment of a quasireligious cult of personality centered on kim il sung and his son kim jong il, and the survival of very limited religious activity in north korea. He was the countrys premier from 1948 to 1972, chairman of its dominant korean workers party from 1949, and president and head of state from 1972. Kim ilsung april 15, 1912 july 8, 1994 was the leader of the democratic peoples republic of korea dprk or north korea from late 1945 prior to the states 1948 founding until his death, when his son, kim jongil, succeeded him.
Since 1955, the official religion of north korea has been juche. Kim il sung was a brutal dictator in the communist caste maybe not as brutal as some. This jucheoriented theory of revolution and jucheoriented leadership formed one major idea to guide the workers party, and in turn the nation, of north korea. When kim il sung was 8 years old, his family moved north to manchuria in northeast. He governed as north koreas founding ruler and stalinist leader for almost five decades. Kim jong il, north korean politician, son of the former north korean premier and korean workers party kwp chairman kim ilsung, and successor to his father as ruler 19942011 of north korea. Top secret for north koreans, royal family was christian family. The parallel relationship structure between kim ilsung and his people to religious founders or leaders and their followers has led many scholars to consider juche. However, there is evidence suggesting that kim il sung, who harshly suppressed religion, prayed with a doctor before receiving the surgery. Eyewitness accounts of severe violations of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion in north korea. Real lives in north korea, granta, page 45, isbn 9781847081414 stalin and kim made human idols of themselves because they believed as utopian idealists always do in the ultimate goodness of themselves and the unchallengeable rightness of their decisions.
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