| Chapter 1: | The Culture and Ideology of the DPRK |
|
|
particularly resentful of the hegemonic expansion of US military influence.
Coupled with the presence of the United States in Korea, the growing Sino–Soviet dispute in 1960, which drove the two communist giants to the brink of war, and Soviet involvement in Eastern Europe and Vietnam were instrumental in the growth of antihegemonistic feeling in the North Korean political and diplomatic spheres. Pyongyang was put in a precarious position between the two super powers of the communist bloc, for it did not wish to antagonize either of them by maintaining intimate relations with one at the expense of the other. This forced the Pyongyang government to declare a path of equidistance—and thus self-reliance. But it was the Soviet Union that became a more convenient target of North Korean criticism because of Moscow’s expansionist policy. By contrast, China provided a role model of sorts by indulging in the massive indigenization of Marxism and Leninism during the fanatic phase of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. Though North Korea did not express great enthusiasm for the Cultural Revolution, it refrained from publicly denouncing the Chinese campaign to create a personality cult around Mao Zedong. In fact, North Korea followed the footsteps of Mao, instigating concerted efforts to develop an indigenous ideology and creating charismatic leadership for Kim Il Sung himself. Just as Mao criticized Moscow for its hegemonic policies, Kim too expressed displeasure with the Soviet Union’s interventionist policies. As just pointed out, this doctrine of antihegemonism was further reinforced by Pyongyang’s interest in denouncing the American influence in South Korea. In short, the ideological insistence on political sovereignty under juche was reinforced by the political reality on the peninsula.
Pyongyang was forced to strengthen its self-reliance posture, but it was quickly arrested by its own ideology in terms of expanding its economic activities beyond the handful of socialist allies. This was the period in which South Korea broke away from a stagnant economy and embraced ambitious programs for economic development. This was done