Juche

The Juche Idea (pronounced // in Korean, approximately "joo-cheh") is the official ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. The state doctrine is also known as Kimilsungism after its founder Kim Il-sung. The core of Juche is that the masters of the North Korean revolution are the Workers' Party of Korea and the Korean people, who must remake themselves, under its leadership. Juche literally means "main body" or "subject"; it has also been translated in North Korean sources as "independent stand" and the "spirit of self-reliance".

Theory

Kim Il-sung advanced Juche in a December 28, 1955, speech titled "On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work" as a rejection of the policy of de-Stalinization (bureaucratic self-reform) in the Soviet Union. The Juche Idea itself emerged as a systematic ideological doctrine under the political pressures of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. Current leader Kim Jong-il has final authority in North Korea over the interpretation of Juche. In its theoretical composition, the Juche Idea is an amalgam of Neo-Confucianism, Soviet Stalinism and Maoism.

Practical Application

According to Kim Jong-il, the application of Juche to state policy produces the following principles:

The people must have independence (Chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.

The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the party and leader. In North Korea these are the Workers' Party of Korea and Kim Jong-il.

The Five-Year Plan of 1956-1961 dubbed the Chollima Movement (which led to the Chongsan-ri Method and the Taean Work System) involved rapid development of the North Korean economy and growth to strengthen its political independence from the Soviet Union and China. The Chollima Movement coincided with the Chinese First Five-Year Plan and Great Leap Forward.

The North Korean government has promulgated Juche as a political alternative to traditional religion. The doctrine advocates a strong nationalist propaganda basis and is fundamentally opposed to Christianity and Buddhism, the two largest religions on the Korean peninsula. Juche theoreticians have, however, incorporated religious ideas into the state ideology. According to government figures, Juche is the largest political religion in North Korea. The public practice of all other religions is overseen and subject to heavy surveillance by the state.

Relation to Socialism, Stalinism and Maoism

The goal of revolution and construction under Juche is the establishment of socialism and communism within the national borders of North Korea. The North Korean government admits that Juche addresses questions previously considered in classical Marxism, but distances itself from and even repudiates aspects of this political philosophy. The official position is that Juche is a completely new ideology created by Kim Il-sung, who does not depend on the Marxist classics.

In 1972 Juche replaced so-called Marxism-Leninism in the country's constitution as the official state ideology. Commentators outside North Korea often equate Juche with Stalinism and call North Korea's government Stalinist. North Korea indeed upholds Stalin's theory of "socialism in one country". But the government no longer admits any connection between Juche and the ideas of Stalin.

Although the influence of Mao is also not formally acknowledged, North Korean ideologists and speechwriters began to openly use Maoist ideas in the 1950s and 1960s, under the influence of the Chinese Army's five-year occupation of the North after the Korean War, as well as during the Sino-Soviet split when Kim Il Sung sided with Mao against Soviet de-Stalinization. Kim had been a guerrilla partisan in the Chinese Communist Party from about 1931-1941.

While advocating national socialism, as opposed to international socialism, the North Korean government does make some reference to the internationalists Marx, Engels and Lenin as creditable leaders of the socialist movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before Juche. But the writings of classical Marxism are generally forbidden for lay readers in North Korea.

Criticism

Human rights monitoring organizations and political analysts in several parts of the world continually report that the actual situation in North Korea bears no resemblance to Juche theory. The country's economy has depended heavily on imports and foreign aid before and after the collapse of the Communist trading block. They also claim that the opinions of the people have no actual weight in decision-making, which is under Kim Jong-il's autocratic control. Leading Juche theorist Hwang Jang-yop has joined these criticisms since defecting to South Korea, although he maintains his belief in the Juche Idea as he understands it.

Political scientist Han S. Park and theologian Thomas J. Belke liken Juche to a religious movement. ^*

Juche in other countries

During the Cold War North Korea promoted Juche as a guide for other countries, particularly third world countries, to build socialism. Romanian president Nicolae Ceauşescu became especially interested in Juche after a visit to North Korea and sought to base his program of systematization on it. North Korea no longer promotes Juche in this manner and now teaches that Juche is only for Koreans. However, Juche study groups exist throughout the world. The Korean Central News Agency regularly refers to statements by these groups commemorating the discovery of Juche, but does not mention them developing the idea further or putting it into practice.

Juche calendar

The North Korean government and associated organisations use a variant of the Gregorian calendar with a Juche year based on 1912 A.D., the birthdate of Kim Il-sung, as year 1. There was no Juche year zero. The calendar was introduced in 1997. Months are unchanged from those in the standard Gregorian calendar. In many instances the Juche year is given after the A.D. year, for example 27 June 2005 Juche 94. In Korean texts, the Juche year is usually put in front of the corresponding A.D. year instead, for example Juche 94 (2005).

Coincidentally, the year numbering is the same as that for the "Minguo" year numbering used in the Republic of China (Taiwan).

References

Kim Jong-il. On the Juche Idea. 31 Mar 1982.
Seong-Chang Cheong. "Stalinism and Kimilsungism: A Comparative Analysis of Ideology and Power." Asian Perspective 24.1 (2000): pp. 133-161.
Kwang-Shick Kang. "Juche Idea and the Alteration Process in Kim Il Sung's Works: A Study on How to Read Kim Il-Sung's Works."Monash University: KSAA Conference 2001. 25 Sep 2001. pp. 363-374.
Andrei Lankov. "The Official Propaganda in the DPRK: Ideas and Methods." North Korean Studies. 2006.
Colin MacKerras. "The Juche Idea and the Thought of Kim Il Sung." Marxism in Asia. Eds. Colin MacKerras and Nick Knight (London: Croom Helm, 1985; ISBN 0312518528). pp. 151-175.
Han S. Park, North Korea: The Politics of Unconventional Wisdom (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002; ISBN 1-58826-050-X).

External links

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