The Juche ideology celebrates the greatness of the Korean race as embodied in the figures of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung, and in that of his successor the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il. According to the testimonies of North Korean defectors, starting from their childhood people are taught to look at the two Kim as semi-divine infallible heroes which devoted their life in the struggle against Western and Japanese imperialism. Consistent with these findings, C. Richardson provided some precious insight in “Hagiography of the Kims & the Childhood of Saints: Kim Il-sung”,published on Sino NK on January 31, 2015.For instance he reported the testimony of Kim Myung Hun, who defected in 2013: "In North Korea, there are the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System. The fourth of which stipulates that we must make the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung's revolutionary ideology our faith and make his instructions our
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First, allowing religious freedom to North Korean would mean challenging the authority of the deified Kim Il Sung. Given the mystification of Korean history, the rituals, and the centrality of the Smiling Sun as an infallible hero to be emulated, Juche, or Kimilsungism, can be considered a political religion. Hence, whenever the DPRK government would allow North Korean to embrace Christianity, the latter might divert from the veneration of the Leaders.
Furthermore, the Party itself is well aware that the principal cause of people’s admiration toward the regime is the scare of persecution, rather than an innate love for the Leaders. Indeed, given the history of Christianity in North Korea, the spread of this religion could be detrimental to the regime authority. Christian mission could show North Korean how the world outside their country is, and so make them acknowledge that what they are told by the propaganda is constituted by
First, allowing religious freedom to North Korean would mean challenging the authority of the deified Kim Il Sung. Given the mystification of Korean history, the rituals, and the centrality of the Smiling Sun as an infallible hero to be emulated, Juche, or Kimilsungism, can be considered a political religion. Hence, whenever the DPRK government would allow North Korean to embrace Christianity, the latter might divert from the veneration of the Leaders.
Furthermore, the Party itself is well aware that the principal cause of people’s admiration toward the regime is the scare of persecution, rather than an innate love for the Leaders. Indeed, given the history of Christianity in North Korea, the spread of this religion could be detrimental to the regime authority. Christian mission could show North Korean how the world outside their country is, and so make them acknowledge that what they are told by the propaganda is constituted by