| Chapter 1: | The Culture and Ideology of the DPRK |
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it cannot do. In this respect alone, it is wrong to understand juche as a variation of the Marxist perspective, which is predicated upon material determinism. As already observed, juche is thoroughly consistent with the age-old Confucian beliefs. The second fundamental doctrine of juche is collectivism in which the boundary of the collectivity is the nation. What is good for the nation is also good for its members—not the converse. In contrast to Confucianism, however, here loyalty to the head of the household is only secondary to loyalty to the head of state. Yet the state in the political beliefs of North Koreans is an extended version of the family. Thus, juche avoids any conflict with Confucian familism.2 In fact, in North Korea the head of state is referred to as the father.
In order to realize these two principles, juche advanced three policy goals: (1) military self-defense, (2) economic self-subsistence, (3) political self-rule (sovereignty). Since the advent of the juche doctrine during the pre-1945 era, the concept has evolved continuously, the ideology being adapted to the changing environment in domestic and foreign domains alike. In order to capture the full spectrum of the ideology, one must examine the way it has evolved in response to the changing domestic and external political context. The following paragraphs describe a series of phases in the evolution, along with the conditions that might have prompted a particular path of change.
The North Korean foreign policy orientation has also evolved in such a way that its national objectives are to be pursued appropriately. One must realize that North Korea, as odd as it often seems to critical observers around the world, has been exceedingly consistent in pursuing its systematic objectives of national security, ideological identity, and economic prosperity. In this regard, North Korea is hardly a deviant political system.
Juche as Anti-Japanese (Mid-1920s to early 1950s)
Kim Il Sung, credited with having created juche, employed this ideology in his deeply felt anti-Japanese colonial politics and used it against those