AN ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS FORMS OF JUCHE
IDEOLOGY IN COMPARISON WITH CHRISTIANITY
Philo Kim
It has become nowadays persuasive that North Korean
society uniformed by juche ideology and worship for the Great
Leader Kim Il Sung, contains sort of religious nature. It has
developed juche ideology into a sort of world or personal view
of life, and designated the birthplace of Kim Il Sung as sacred
precincts. North Korean Workers’ Party formulated the phrase of
propaganda, “The great leader comrade Kim Il Sung shall be
with us forever,” so that it attempts to carve him an immortal
being based upon juche theory of socio-political organism. Kim
Il Sung has now been praised not only as a historical hero and
national leader, but as an object of godly worship. The sacred
worship for juche ideology and Kim Il Sung is expressed in
various forms of behavior and rituals in North Korea. It was in
post-socialism era that the religious characteristics became
salient in North Korea. North Korea suffered from serious economic and military crisis at the times of the collapse of socialist
countries in the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, North Korea suffered an extreme food crisis followed by mass starvation. Nevertheless, people’s discontent did not bring about any revolt in an
extremely difficult situation, rather they were led to overcome
the crisis by launching what so called “Arduous March.” From
International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2002, pp. 127-144.
Copyright © 2002 by KINU
all of these phenomena, many think that North Korean society
has now without doubt evolved into a sort of religious sect. In
particular, visitors to North Korea or North Korean defectors
often have often pointed out that the life style and values of
North Korean people are very similar to those of Christianity.
However, no systematic study has been performed regarding
the issues of religious property or Christian similarities of North
Korean society. In this sense, this study explores to compare
juche ideology with Christian religious forms, and tries to examine religious characteristics soaked in North Korean society.
I. Opening Remarks
It is a uniformly credible idea nowadays that the ideology of juche
and worship for the Great Leader Kim Il Sung, by which North Korea
is run, contain a sort of religious nature. North Korea has developed
juche ideology into a sort of worldview or personal view of life, and
designated the birthplace of Kim Il Sung as sacred grounds. On the
third anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death North Korea proclaimed the
so-called “Juche Era” which counts the year of 1912, the birth year of
Kim Il Sung, as the first year, and enacted April 15, the birth day of
Kim Il Sung, as the Day of the Sun. The North Korean Workers’ Party
formulated the following propaganda, “The Great Leader Comrade
Kim Il Sung shall be with us forever,” attempting to carve him into an
immortal being based upon the juche theory of socio-political organism.
Kim Il Sung has now been praised not only as a historical hero and
national leader, but as an object of godly worship.
Worship of the juche ideology and Kim Il Sung as sacred is
expressed in various forms of behavior and rituals in North Korea. All
the people in North Korea hang portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong128 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
il in the best room in their houses and clean these photos every day.
The people take good care of each portrait and statue related to Kim Il
Sung and Kim Jong-il. Many people pay homage to the statue of Kim Il
Sung in the early morning every day. They usually decorate with
flowers and make a ceremonial bow to the portraits on the birthday of
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il. They do the same rituals on New Year’s
Day.
It was in the post-socialism era that the religious characteristics
became salient in North Korea. North Korea suffered from serious
economic and military crises at the times of the collapse of the socialist
countries in the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, North Korea suffered an
extreme food crisis followed by mass starvation. Nevertheless, people’s
discontent did not bring about any revolt even in such an extremely
difficult situation. Rather they were led to overcome the crisis by
launching the so-called “Arduous March.” The former secretary of the
North Korean Workers Party, Whang Jang Yup, pointed out correctly
in his press conference in 1997 that “North Korea is currently suffering
an economic crisis, but there is no danger for North Korea to collapse
because it is well solidified politically.” Through these phenomena,
many think that North Korean society has now without doubt evolved
into a sort of religious sect.
Most North Korean defectors realized North Korea had strong
religious characteristics only after they did leave their society. It is very
common for North Korean defectors in South Korea to feel uncomfortable when they say the name of Kim Il Sung without the lording word,
“great leader” for many years. Some of them say, “Kim Il Sung shall
not be forgotten forever in my heart,” or “I shall not be completely free
from Kim Il Sung until I die.” It usually takes one to two years at the
shortest to come out of the feeling of Kim Il Sung’s godly authority
even for the defectors who have converted to liberal democracy by
deserting the North Korean system. One defector confessed from
his experience that it is not possible for North Korean defectors to
Philo Kim 129
overcome “Kim Il Sung” in their truest heart. This implies that Kim Il
Sung is carved as an absolute god to the people in North Korea.
In particular, visitors to North Korea or North Korean defectors
often have pointed out that the lifestyle and values of North Korean
people are very similar to those of Christianity. Kim Hyun-hee, who
was arrested for the terrorist act of blowing up a KAL airplane,
confessed that she worshiped Kim Il Sung as God in North Korea, and
that her life would be meaningless if the existence of Kim Il Sung were
taken from her life, in the same way that Christians would be without
God. She says that it is not an exaggeration to compare the relationship
between Kim Il Sung and the people of North Korea to that of ‘God
and men.’ When she read the bible she was surprised, saying “The
bible is just like juche ideology. Juche ideology can be understood much
faster after studying the bible. It is possible to put the name ‘Kim Il
Sung’ instead of Jesus in the Bible.”1 She mentioned that she was forced
to memorize ten principles which are similar to the Ten Commandments; she performed weekly life-summation sessions just like Sunday
worship service; and she learned the concept of unity of the Party,
people, and the Great Leader, similar to the idea of trinity.
However, no systematic study has been performed regarding the
issues of the religious properties of Juche or similarities with Christianity
in North Korean society. In this sense, this study attempts to compare
juche ideology with Christianity in its religious forms, and tries to
examine religious characteristics saturated within North Korean
society.
130 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
1 Kap-jae Cho and Ho-seung Chung, The God of Kim Hyun-hee (Seoul: Kosikae, 1990),
pp. 71, 103.
II. Religious Phenomena in Socialist Society
and Religionization of Juche Ideology
A religion has at least three general characteristics; a worship for
“the sacred,” performance of religious rituals, and maintenance of
social community.2 In other words, religious experience is always
revealed through thought and ideology; it expresses itself through
rituals and ceremonies well-framed with words and behaviors; and it
takes the form of an organization or community in which acceptance of
membership, occupancy of status, and division of roles are mandated.3
Despite differentiation in the degree of complexity and institutionalization of the three forms in each religion, it has to have all the three
forms, that is, dogma which is a theory form, ritual which is a practical
form, and community which is a social form, if it is to be called as
religion.
In this sense, it is not a recent phenomenon to regard socialism
itself as a kind of religion. Socialists and communists expelled religion in socialist society by accusing it to be the ‘opium of the people.’
Ironically, however, ideologies of socialism and communism occupied the same place instead where a religion once resided. Karl Marx
himself believed that the positive values realized in a religion could
be a guiding idea to reform human destiny.4 In this respect, socialism,
which is a positive self-awareness of mankind, functions as a religion.
The ideology contains religious characteristics in that it demands
commitment to a political leader or ideology or any membership
group.
Juche ideology has also consolidated its religious nature over time. It
Philo Kim 131
2 Joachim Bach, “Universal elements of religion,” Seung-hae Kim, ed., Understanding
of the Study on Religion (Seoul: Boondo Press, 1986), pp. 115-141.
3 Kyung-whan Oh, Sociology of Religion (Seoul: Seokwangsa, 1990), p. 49.
4 Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd Edition (New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, 1978), p. 93.
developed from the principles of independence and a revolutionary
mass line in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Since 1967, when a personality cult campaign for Kim Il Sung was carried out nationwide, juche
developed into a political discourse of a ‘monolithic ideological system’
to rationalize a theoretical system of dominant political leadership. This
brought about “Kimilsungism” and a revolutionary attitude toward
the great leader, emphasized beginning in the early 1970s. From the
mid-1970s, socialist collective values and norms in social relations
began to be stressed by the launching of ‘the human remolding
project,’ which was aimed at revolutionary comradeship and obligation, collectivism and heroism. After the philosophical dimension of
juche ideology was theorized in 1982, the man-centered juche philosophy was furthermore underlined. Then, in 1986, it developed into a
socio-political organism theory coupled with the theory of the great
leader and a collective social organization. Since the post-Cold War era,
it emphasizes the concept of ‘nation’ and ‘Chosun nationalism,’ so that
it theorizes the supremacy of ‘our style of socialism’ as different from
other socialist system.
Juche ideology has been developing from a simple ideology to a
religious belief. The religious dimension in juche ideology began to
form with the advent of the theory of the great leader, and further
intensified with advancement in its philosophical study.5 The crucial
moment when juche ideology was transformed into a religious faith
was, however, the time when the socio-political organism theory had
been completed. The fact that socio-political life was separated from
the physical aspect of human life decisively contributed to the evolution of juche ideology into a religion. The advent of spirit has become
very important in the process of religious evolution because it transformed divided souls into a collective object which can be owned and
132 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
5 Myung-sae Kim, “An Evaluation from Christian Perspective on Human Remolding
Theory of Juche Ideology,” Master’s Thesis, Graduate School of Theology, Baptist
Theological University, 1996, pp. 32-36.
worshiped in turn by individuals.6 As it changed to the theory of the
great leader, philosophy, and socio-political organism, juche ideology
evolved into a religious belief.
III. Dogma and Belief System
Christian dogma and its belief system are outlined in systematic
theology which includes theories of God, Man, Christology, Church,
Salvation and eschatology.7 Juche ideology can be also explained by
dividing it in the same way as mentioned above. First of all, juche
ideology rejects the abstract concept of God transcending the realm of
human experience because it is based upon the values of Materialism
and the theory of evolution. Instead, the belief and confidence in the
coming of the ultimate communism replaces the metaphysical God.
Moreover, Kim Il Sung is regarded both as a mediator who realizes the
absolute value, communism, on this earth as the Supreme Being, just as
in Christianity metaphysical God is incarnated into a human being,
Jesus. Kim Il Sung is not recognized exactly the same as God is in
Christianity so far, but the possibility cannot be ruled out that in the
future Kim Il Sung, who is now ‘invisible’ since his death, will secure a
divine status like God in Christianity, if the theological aspect of juche
ideology is further developed. After the 1980s it has been especially
emphasized that Kim Jong-il possesses legitimacy and a divine nature
as the ‘son of the father.’ Just as Jesus secured divinity to succeed and
achieve the covenant between God and man in the Old Testament,
Kim Jong-il is endowed with a divine authority to succeed and realize
the great task achieved by his father.
Philo Kim 133
6 Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: The classic sociological study
of primitive religion (New York: Collier Books, 1961), pp. 309-333.
7 Louis Berkhof, translated by Soo-kyung Kwon and Sang-won Lee, Systematic
Theology (Seoul: Christian Digest, 1998).
The monolithic ideological system and ‘the great ten principles’ in
North Korea have something in common with Christian monotheism,
demanding that believers serve only God, and this has even been
stipulated in the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments,
which are indisputably accepted as God’s words, provide the basic
laws for all Christians to obey. Likewise, it is ‘The Ten Great Principles
to Consolidate the Monolithic Ideological System’ that regulate and
judge every word and action of the people in North Korea. In this
context, it is understandable that the juche ideology exists in the subform of Kimilsungism stipulated as ‘The Revolutionary Ideas of
Comrade Kim Il Sung.’ Juche ideology cannot be separated from Kim Il
Sung and/or Kim Jong-il himself, who maintains an absolute divine
position commanding stricter codes of behavior than Christianity.
Second, the nature of man is likely to be the most similar area that
can be compared between juche ideology and Christianity. When
Christianity focuses on man, leaving alone the theory of God, the
Christian theory of man in the views of man and human life has
marked common features with juche ideology. Juche ideology does not
regard man as a sheer biological being, nor a unique characteristic
according to the way individuals are organized, but as a special being
which has a consciousness.8 It does not analyze man into a physical
body and consciousness - rather it grasps him as a whole entity which
retains the two simultaneously. However, the post-materialistic view
of man has been theorized recently, so this view seems to be not shared
by most of the ordinary people in North Korea, particular those of the
older generation.
Third, the role of suryong, the great leader, is imperative to the
dogma of juche ideology, just as the being of Jesus is indispensable in
Christianity. It is said that it is necessary to have a suryong in juche
134 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
8 Kim Jong-il, “On the Need to Maintain Proper Perspective and Correct Understanding on Juche Philosophy,” Selective Works of Kim Jong-il, Vol. 10 (Pyongyang: North
Korean Worker’s Party Press, 1997), pp. 296-304.
ideology who leads people and unites popular strength in order to
achieve socialist revolution and construction.9 It espouses that the
ordinary popular masses, including the working class, can succeed in
revolution and construction only when they serve suryong and fight
under his tested leadership. The necessity of suryong is said to be
the revolutionary truth, which is the objective characteristics of revolutionary struggle and construction of a working class and is verified by
the hundred year-long international communist movement. Juche
ideology can be understood as the religion of suryong in the sense that
suryong occupies the absolute position like God in Christianity.
Fourth, the notions of salvation and everlasting life in Christian
belief can also be found in juche ideology. North Korea has kept a sort
of myth that the suryong Kim Il Sung liberated and delivered their
people from Japanese colonial rule. It is said that he delivered, through
the anti-Japanese military struggle, the people of ‘our nation Chosun’
who were suffering under Japanese colonial oppression. Juche ideology
endows people with not only a past deliverance, but also a future
salvation, that is an everlasting life. It divides human life between the
physical and the socio-political, and maintains the eternity of the sociopolitical life. The theory of a socio-political organism is the driving
force in transforming the political ideology into a religious belief and a
life-view in the sense that it deals with the life and death of individuals,
something that had not been touched upon by Marxism-Leninism.10
Fifth, the collectivist principle of “one for all and all for one” in
North Korea is consistent with the communitarian doctrines of
Christian church. In the doctrines of Christianity the church, comprised
of Christian believers, is expressed as ‘the body of Jesus Christ,’ so that
man can exist only within the Christ’s body, that is, within the body of
Philo Kim 135
9 Social Science Publishing House, Dictionary of Philosophy (Pyongyang: Social Science
Publishing House, 1985), p. 376.
10 Yong-kon Park and Wha-hyo Kim, Introduction to Juche Ideology (Tokyo: Kooweolseobang, 1989), p. 257.
God’s people. According to the theory of socio-political organism, the
suryong Kim Il Sung is the brain of the body, the party is the blood
vessels, and the people are individual parts of that body. Suryong, the
party, and the people compose a trinity, a unified and indivisible
whole. The theory of socio-political organism is identical with the wellknown theory of body and parts stated by the apostle Paul.
Sixth, the Christian belief maintains that the present world is to be
terminated and it will come to an end with a great calamity when
Jesus’ second coming happens: with the second coming of Jesus the
entire resurrection takes places; it brings with it the Last Judgment;
and ‘the kingdom of God’ is completed. Likewise, juche ideology
espouses the ultimate victory of socialism and communism and the
realization of a communist paradise on earth. These eschatological
ideas helps endure the current suffering while it gives us a hope for
the coming of paradise some day and makes us anticipate the final
triumph of the belief. North Korea teaches their people to overcome
their current ordeals by anticipating the realization of communist
society. In this regard juche ideology emphasizes the building of ‘the
strong and prosperous nation’ which suggests the communist
paradise, so that people should be patient during the present hardship. At the same time, it stresses that paradise has ‘already’ been
realized on this earth, just the full-realization of the communist
paradise is delayed. And also, just as Christianity stresses the fighting
against the power of sin and Satan, juche ideology encourages a
combat spirit to overthrow Satan’s power, which is identified with
capitalism and imperial power.
IV. Religious Rituals and Behavioral Norms
North Korea performs worship services of meeting and study in,
what they call, ‘Rooms for the Study of the Revolutionary Ideology of
136 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
Kim Il Sung,’ which is like a church building in Christianity. It is said
that the Study Room for the Revolutionary Ideology of Kim Il Sung is
the place to learn the revolutionary ideology, juche ideology, and the
high morality of Kim Il Sung, and that is established in all areas of
people’s lives such as the “Party, state departments, factories, enterprises, cooperative farms, education, culture and science departments,
People’s Army and security forces in North Korea.”11 It is estimated
that there are about 450 thousand Study Rooms for the Revolutionary
Ideology, including those held by administrative and industrial units
and armies nationwide.12 Various swearing-in ceremonies, meetings
to delivery the letter of loyalty, and so forth, as well as study activities
are held in the Study Room. The place is regarded as solemn and
sacred location distinguished from ordinary or profane locations
because the place is believed to be deeply related to Kim Il Sung.
Just as Christians hold weekly services and meetings such as
Sunday service, Wednesday worship, early-morning prayer, Friday
District meeting, quiet time meditation, and family worship, North
Korea performs various weekly meetings and study sessions including
weekly lifestyle summation review, Wednesday Lecture Meeting,
Morning Reading Session, Monday study session, neighborhood units
study session, all-night work, and early-morning worship. Through
these systematic study sessions and meetings North Korea maintains
faith in juche ideology. Among them, the lifestyle summation review
which meet in every company and organization on Saturday, is the
most important religious ritual in that it fulfills a sort of reflective
religious ceremonial function.13
Lifestyle summation review is performed in every unit of the JuvePhilo Kim 137
11 Social Science Publishing House, Dictionary of Politics (Pyongyang: Social Science
Publishing House, 1973), p. 156.
12 An interview with a defector, September 29, 2000.
13 Philo Kim, Religious Nature of North Korean Society (Seoul: Korea Institute for
National Unification, 2000), pp. 113-124.
nile Corps, Youth League, Trade Union, Union of Farmers, Women’s
League, and the Party in all departments and organizations nationwide
including factories, government, companies, schools, and the army.
The lifestyle summation review is basically held in units of primary
organizations. Usually, in the case of ordinary workers, it is held by
work teams in companies or workshops. The summation is classified
by period into daily, weekly, monthly, half-year, and yearly reviews. In
summation review, the way it proceeds is like a church worship in that
people first quote the words of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il, followed
by self-criticism on the basis of the words. It is similar to a church
sermon where a pastor first reads the words of Jesus from the Bible
before he gives lessons about the people’s daily lives based upon the
words. Self-criticism is comparable to prayer to God with repentance
and resolution, which is the root to maintain the religious nature in
North Korean society, distinguishable from other socialist systems.
Just as Christians cherish the Bible, that is the words of Jesus, and
try to find every direction of behavior from the Bible, North Koreans
have the scripture of juche ideology, that is, the directions of Kim Il
Sung and the words of Kim Jong-il, so that they think and behave
based upon their directions and words. As a hymn is an important
means to powerfully motivate Christian faith, praise songs for Kim Il
Sung and Kim Jong-il are mobilized in formal and informal events in
North Korea. Like in Christianity, where words of the Bible are quoted
in daily conversation and academic literature, in North Korea it is the
same. Words like ‘consent’ and ‘proclamation,’ which are requirements
for religious rituals, are used; such religious words as ‘grace,’ ‘love,’
‘faith,’ ‘atonement,’ ‘salvation,’ ‘eternity,’ and so forth are frequently
used14; and buttons of Kim Il Sung’s portraits are worn like a cross for
Christians. All these phenomena reveal the religiosity contained in
138 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
14 Richard Tait, “Hidden Christian Doctrinal Concepts in North Korean Ruling Techniques,”
Master’s Thesis, Graduate School of Public Policy, Sogang University, July 1994, pp.
47-57.
juche ideology. And both Christianity and juche ideology have set kinds
of formal and public procedures to admit new members.
V. Ethics and Organization of Community
Religion exists in the form of a community in which members have
shared values, feelings of attachment, and social solidarity. Juche ideology devised norms of behavior, so-called ‘guiding principles’ which
are suggested as practical guidelines. The fact that juche ideology
attaches great importance to such practical values as morals and ethics
shows a strong religious nature. It also has common points with
Christianity in that both evaluate the moral traits of man by the standard of goodness and evilness. Juche ideology calls for various practical
activities such as ‘good-conduct campaigns’ and ‘movements for
“modeling after”’ and an emphasis on a practical movement which
composes a crucial part of communist moral education, and is an
important aspect of the religious inclination of juche ideology.15 Collectivism in North Korea is emphasized as a “mass line” in the area of
political economy, and it gives full play to ‘communist laudable
customs’ in social life. The practice of asceticism and abandoning
material greed is a very similar religious ethic to Christianity. Christianity in North Korea, in fact, underlines the ethical and practical
aspects of Christian belief rather than the theological dimension,
revealing that religion is recognized as a moral community in North
Korea.
Religious community varies depending upon how fervent is the
faith to the absolute being or how strongly the social relation in the
community is oriented to collectivism. The degree of religiosity of juche
Philo Kim 139
15 Myung-sae Kim, “An Evaluation from Christian Perspective on Human Remolding
Theory of Juche Ideology,” p. 36.
believers varies by individuals, and sub-contents of juche ideology are
also recognized differently in intensity by individuals. The community
of juche believers can be classified into four categories according the
strength of their faith; a fanatic who “puts the demand of juche into
practice,” those who have both faith and doubt, “sham” believers who
are not able to speak a word without inserting words of “textbook”
juche ideology; and the unbelievers who do not accept it at all. It is
estimated that each category is composed of 25 percent of entire population.16 The juche community differs in the degree of faithfulness by
class, strata, and generation.
It is the Organization and Guidance Department and Propaganda
and Agitation Departments of the Korea Workers Party that correspond to the brain of society and control and manage the organizational
life of juche community in North Korea. As the organization of priests
and church community guide systematically the tasks of recruitment of
priests, education of believers and mission, the Organization and
Guidance Department and Propaganda and Agitation Department in
the Party are in charge of education of juche ideology so as to manage
study activities and indoctrination of the people through formal and
informal channels. “Juche” in early childhood education and school
education are systematically practiced in North Korea just as ‘Sunday
School’ for children is an important part in Christian education. Adult
education by organization and social status is stressed and the study
materials for them are renewed every year. The Central Committee of
the KWP runs special colleges to train expert cadres like seminaries in
Christian religion. All of these organizational activities contribute to
maintaining of identity of the juche community.
140 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
16 Philo Kim, Religious Nature of North Korean Society, pp. 157-161.
VI. Background of Facilitating Christian Religious Forms
in Juche Ideology
Where does the Christian influence embedded in North Korean
society come from? Many people speculate that it is because of the
Christian family background of Kim Il Sung. It is very interesting that
Kim Il Sung was born of and raised in a sincere Christian family. In this
respect, it would be mostly likely that it is from Kim Il Sung’s Christian
background that juche ideology retains Christian traits. Both his father
Kim Hyung-jik and mother Kang Ban-suk were sincere Christian, and
Kim Il Sung used to attend Sunday school regularly with his mother.17
In his middle school days, Kim Il Sung was actively involved in church
activities when he was taken care of by Reverend Son Jong-do, and
even led a students’ choir in Rev. Son’s church.18 From his father’s
experience of Christian belief, Kim Il Sung received a great influence
that is closely connected with the Anti-Japanese independence
movement. From his mother he received religious influence strongly
because he was raised with his mother’s family members like Kang
Don-uk and Kang Yang-uk, both of whom were well-known Christians in Korea. Although Kim Il Sung did not have Christian faith, he
surely had a far more profound knowledge about the content of the
Bible and church activities compared to contemporary Koreans.
Kim Il Sung had a harsh and intense experience about Christianity
when he was faced with systematic opposition from Christians in
the process of power building after liberation. He appeared to have
developed a negative attitude toward Christianity, in particular, in the
process of the ‘Boycott of the Sunday Election’ and the Land Reform.19
Philo Kim 141
17 Kim Il Sung, With the Century, Vol. 1 (Pyongyang: North Korean Worker’s Party
Press, 1992), p. 104.
18 Kim Il Sung, With the Century, Vol. 2 (Pyongyang: North Korean Worker’s Party
Press, 1992), p. 16.
19 Kim Il Sung, Collective Works of Kim Il Sung, Vol. 2 (Pyongyang: North Korean
While Kim Jong-il is well known for what he had done for religionization of juche ideology in the 1970s, few things are known about his
experience in Christianity. However, it is a wild speculation that
since he lost his mother in his young age, he was raised by relatives
who probably had Christian a background. Although Kim Il Sung
and Kim Jong-il are not Christian, they had personally experienced
Christianity and so they received a stronger influence from it than
ordinary Koreans. The ideas and values that Kim Il Sung and Kim
Jong-il had were formed through their Christian family background,
such as nationalism, priority in ideology and belief, the mission of
‘evangelization’, and the building of paradise that Kim Il Sung had,
and priority in consciousness and morality that Kim Jong-il placed.
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il had opportunities to contact the
doctrines, admonitions, and way of life of Christianity quite frequently
through their Christian family background, meetings with Christians
and experiences of challenges by Christian churches. Based upon his
Christian experience in his early days, Kim Il Sung was likely to utilize
Christian ways intentionally while he was in his power. Although it
was not intentional, their contact with Christianity would have powerfully influenced them in ruling and organizing North Korean society.
Therefore, it is not difficult to draw the supposition that although they
denied religion as being the “opium of the people” officially, Kim Il
Sung and Kim Jong-il could learn ways of life, organizational principles and core dogma and lessons from their Christian experiences, and
they then adapted these to their society. However, it is not easy to
verify empirically how their Christian experience influenced and what
concrete processes it was manifested in. It is furthermore difficult to
prove whether the manifestation was intentional or unintentional.
It is not reasonable to conclude that the similarities with Christianity
142 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity
Worker’s Party, 1979), pp. 513-524; Selective Works of Kim Il Sung, Vol. 1 (Pyongyang:
North Korean Worker’s Party, 1967), pp. 249-250.
that juche ideology holds through its religious forms is solely derived
from the Christian background of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il. The
similarities with Christianity that juche ideology seems to have are also
have some sort of affinity to other Korean traditional religions like
Confucianism, or to social changes like the Korean War. In particular,
the nature of the religious state of North Korea could spread in a
chaotic social environment such as the Korean War was. North Korea
continued to maintain its authoritarian military culture by stimulating
war experiences and crisis consciousness about war in its people. It is
highly likely that the strong religious nature of North Korean society
could have been expedited by critical social conditions like war in the
same way that Christian religious forms seem to be interrelated with
circumstances of drastic social change like war and revolution. It also
helps to understand the similarity of juche ideology with Christianity in
seeing that the theory of communism itself is more similar with the
Christian religion than with any other. Kim Il Sung, who had learned
the Bible and received a Christian education in Sunday school in his
early years could easily theorize through an analogy to Exodus the
‘liberation myth’ that the fatherland was liberated and delivered from
the oppression of Japanese colonial rule, and he could naturally utilize
the Christian ideas of equality and paradise toward the building of an
ideal communist society.
VII. Conclusion
Juche ideology is changing into a religion through continued and
repeated religious activities in North Korea. Considering the importance of being and the role of suryong in it, juche ideology can be called
the ‘religion of suryong.’ Since the religion of suryong has not yet been
fully developed into a world religion like Christianity, however, it is
still questionable whether it should be called as a religion or not. This is
Philo Kim 143
especially because the religion of suryong fundamentally differs from
other world religion in the object and nature of worship. Nonetheless,
the religion of suryong is strengthening in its religious color as it
intensifies idolization and deification of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il.
In this regard, juche ideology is no more a mere political ideology of
state, but it occupies a position beyond political ideology, that is, the
religion of suryong to worship unconditionally and deify Kim Il Sung
and Kim Jong-il.
It is highly probable that the religious characteristics of juche
ideology in North Korea may bring about severe social conflict and
psychological depression in the process of unification. Considering that
worship of Kim Il Sung by North Korean people is just like that of
Christians to God, North Korean people shall suffer psychological
emptiness when they would be brought to live in a world without Kim
Il Sung. These people, who think to live without Kim Il Sung is like a
life without purpose, will surely need a religious faith to give meaning
to their lives. In this process, therefore, we need to prepare to overcome
this social conflict through utilizing various fields of medical science
such as mental therapy, psychology, sociology, and counseling.
What is important here is how we can separate from juche ideology
the worship of Kim Il Sung which has become the root of the religion
of suryong while maintaining and developing communitarian life.
During times when North Korea makes endeavors for the coexistence
of the suryong worship and world religion, South Korea needs to make
a realistic evaluation of Kim Il Sung and to develop a theological
theory to countermeasure the suryong faith. We need to make great
efforts in separating juche ideas from Kimilsungism in preparing
rational critiques to advocate national liberation theory based on liberation theology while restraining the deification of Kim Il Sung. Moreover, the religious world should attempt ideological and cultural
exploration all the more including intensive study of juche ideology in
order to prepare for the era of unification.
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