Happy holidays! The Christmas celebrations in the western world prompted me to take a short break from recounting experiences on the ground, and instead compile some thoughts on the parallels between Juche, the DPRK’s philosophy (which involves a cult of personality supported by propaganda) and religion.
Traditional religions have never fared well in Communist countries, typically because they prescribe or support a value system that is not endorsed by the regime, encourage individuals to work towards spiritual goals that may conflict with (or detract individuals from) the system’s ideology of an all-powerful leader, and in some cases may also encourage critical thinking.
The DPRK is no exception to this rule. It effectively shuns all religions, on the one hand simply by claiming that a majority of the population has no religion—something that our guide on my last trip summarized in a swift phrase: “we’re not a very religious people”—and on the other hand by prosecuting to a certain extent those who practice, especially Christians. Numerous defectors have reported that the DPRK fears Christian groups along the Chinese border, and that punishments are typically more severe for repatriated defectors who admit to having been in contact with such groups. Mike Kim’s book, Escaping North Korea: Defiance and Hope in the World’s Most Repressive Country provides a glimpse into Christian activity next to the border and how the DPRK deals with it.
Officially, however, the Constitution of the DPRK grants freedom of faith to its citizens. The government stresses this fact by running a number of churches and temples in Pyongyang of the Catholic, Protestant, Russian Orthodox and Buddhist denominations. These showcase facilities are open to tourists. I have not had a chance to visit them so far, but some visitors have suggested that the well-oiled tours appear to be rather staged and that the official Korean representatives of various religions seem to know at times surprisingly little about their own faith.
Since I do not have any first hand experiences to report, I will reserve judgment. However, I can comment, based on my own observations, on how Juche, the DPRK’s philosophy of self-reliance, loyalty, determination, and devotion to state, which drives the official history and policies of the DPRK, often borrows from Christianity, drawing many elements, stories and rituals from the Christian faith.
In the words of Barbara Demick, in Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Kim Il-sung understood the power of religion. His maternal uncle was a Protestant minister back in the pre-Communist days when Pyongyang had such a vibrant Christian community that it was called the “Jerusalem of the East.” Once in power, Kim Il-sung closed the churches, banned the Bible, deported believers to the hinterlands, and appropriated Christian imagery and dogma for the purpose of self-promotion.
While many documents and articles on the web note the similarities between North Korean propaganda and Christianity or religion in general, none that I could find provide a complete list of parallels. Here is therefore my attempt at such a list. Continue reading
