Juche: A Christian Study of North Korea's State Religion
- Book Review,
by Thomas J. Belke
Rev. Bahn-Suk Lee M.Div, Fuller Theological Seminary Ph.D Candidate studying the theology of underground Christians in North Korea.
When I first met Tom Belke at Regent University, I was surprised at his interest in studying North Korea's Juche ideology. I thought it was rather odd. Now I realize that God revealed to him that the Juche philosophy was the real religion of North Korea. The Juche mentality is Satan's fetter, blinding people's minds. Juche must be broken, so that the people can be truly free. Tom has spent years researching this truth and shining God's light on the great darkness oppressing North Koreans. Rebellion separates man from the true God. Self-Dependence, Juche-ism, is the epitome of rebellion. God created us in His image to be fully dependent on Him. Juche holds the direct opposite. Through Tom's efforts, we learn more about this philosophy and the strategies that the devil has used to gain rights over the North Korean people.
Book Description
Embark on an illustrated journey into one of the world's most isolated nations - North Korea. Juche: A Christian Study of North Korea's State Religion takes you on a journey into North Korea to view what is possibly the most rigidly controlling religious system on the planet - Juche. Through the use of unchallengeable totalitarian power, North Korea's ruling elite enforces Juche ideology in every aspect of the culture. No competing ideologies are permitted. Under the Juche belief system, man is proclaimed God in a nation whose government has officially decided against Christianity for all of its citizens. The majority of North Koreans today have never heard the name of Jesus. This book explores the various aspects of Juche, including its origins, central teachings, spiritual dimension, and holy sites. It also considers the Juche worldview, propagation of the Juche culture, and Juche as a religion in transition. The journey into North Korea's state religion c!oncludes by considering a biblical view of the future of Juche.
From the Publisher
Living Sacrifice Book Company is the publishing arm of Voice of the Martyrs, Inc. (VOM). VOM is an evangelical, non-denominational faith mission, committed to serving the Persecuted Church worldwide. With offices around the world, VOM has been active for over 30 years in more than 50 countries. As an international organization, VOM is committed to the vision of remembering those who are persecuted for their faith, raising a voice in their defense, and running to their aid, however possible.
From the Author
This book aims to provide the reader with a window into North Korea's totalitarian culture and their state religion, Juche (joo-chay), which guides it. Contrary to contemporary notions, Juche, which literally means "self reliance," is not just a North Korean version of Marxist atheist philosophy, rather it is a highly developed religion - the eighth largest religion in the world in terms of numbers of adherents. Numerous illustrations and figures include satellite imagery of a suspected North Korea nuclear weapons facility, drawings from concentration camps, and numerous startling photos from sources ranging from the North Korean underground church, propaganda films, North Korean publications, and the North Korean government. Step into a corner of this planet: -- where the government tells the people they live in "paradise-on-earth;" -- where the endemic famine and suffering of millions are of little concern to their dictator-god, Kim Jong Il who lives in luxury and rules the nation as a brutal despot; -- where multitudes gather to worship and pray before the giant bronze statue of the deceased dictator, Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) in much the same manner as the ancient Babylonians worshipped before a similarly sized statue of King Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 3:1); -- where being exposed as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a death sentence. -- where kamikaze units exist in the world's fourth largest military; and -- where, being "Juche-correct" in every aspect of life is a necessity, lest the state decide you are a non-person and send you to a concentration camp. Reassessment of Juche as a religion calls for a paradigm shift to truly understand North Korea. This new assessment has significant implications for Christian missionaries, international policy makers, military analysts, economists, businessmen, and even would-be tourists, as they consider future interactions with North Korea.
About the Author
Thomas Julian Belke (1958 - ) is a technology consultant for an international business consulting firm. He has a Bachelor of Science in history from the U.S. Naval Academy, and is pursuing a Master of Arts in missiology (global evangelism) at Regent University. He served several sea tours in submarines as a strategic weapons and nuclear engineering officer, and is currently a Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Mr. Belke resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, Lorrie, and their son, Benjamin.
Excerpted from Juche : A Christian Study of North Korea's State Religion by Thomas J. Belke. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
From Chapter 1: Welcome to Juche ("Joo-chay"), the world's newest major religion. If you have never heard of Juche before, you are not alone. Few people outside of North Korea have. Most general vol-umes on world religions mistakenly state that North Korea is a "Marxist-Leninist dictatorship" where religious practices are virtually non-existent. Any such notion falls widely short of reality. In fact, its estimated 23 million practitioners, who worship their former and current dictators, places Juche, in terms of numbers of adherents, ahead of more well known world religions such as Judaism, Sikhism, Jainism, Bahaism and the Parsi religion (Zoroastorianism). In the chapters that follow, we will take a look inside the Hermit Kingdom to explore the highly developed religious system of Juche. In the process, this investigation will answer the classic question "How did or could Kim Il Sung, a Communist, create a religion? In the mind of the average North Korean, Juche is not viewed as a religion. Instead, Kim Il Sung (and now Kim Jong Il) are not thought to be "god" so much as being super leaders or kings supernaturally anointed by heaven. The North Korean people's entire way of viewing the world is different than that of the Western world's concept of "religionized faith." For example, in North Korea, every individual is owned by the nation. In one sense, this view is a close surrogate parallel of Christianity in that Christians also are not their own, but belong to Jesus Christ. Another difference is the cultural use of common terms. For example, the Korean concept of "father" is different. One may prop-erly address an old man on the street as "grandfather." Likewise, you might call a man who is nice to you "uncle." You would address your good friend's father as "father" to show respect. However, when the North Koreans, under Juche, look to Kim Il Sung as "Father" in the sense of provider, sustainer, savior, and worship him in the place of Almighty God, then they are truly begging the question as to whether Juche is a religion. Though the best and clearest definition of Juche will await later discussion, at this point it is sufficient to state that Juche is a belief system where man is proclaimed God in a nation whose government has offi-cially decided against Christianity and the Gospel for the entire nation. Under the Juche religion, North Korea's people are told that they live in "paradise on Earth" while, according to the United Nations, they are in the midst of the greatest famine since Ethiopia's in 1984. Such practices are only possible because the "big brother" society of George Orwell's science fiction novel, 1984, truly has become a reality. Today "big brother" has a name. His name is Kim Jong Il. Juche is the religion of North Korean extreme self-reliance personified in the deification of the former dictator Kim Il Sung and his son, the current dictator Kim Jong Il (Kim Chong-Il). Juche ideology is the supreme symbol of North Korea and serves as mechanism to tame the people to become blind followers of the Leader. The idolized leader's personality cult is referred to as "Kim Jong Il-ism." Within North Korea, the Juche religion has so permeated that Korean culture over the last five decades that Kim Jong Il, as his father before him, is lauded, idolized and even worshipped. The majority of North Koreans have never heard the name of Jesus. The knowledge of God has been obliterated for most by an Orwellian nightmare of repression, demands for total conformity, and isolation from the outside world. As we begin to explore the Juche religious system, it is essential to remember that Juche represents a radical departure from Korea's pre-1945 religious system. Before 1945, Korean religion was dominated by a mixture of Confucian thought, Buddhism, and shamanism (belief in an unseen world of gods, demons, and ancestral spirits). There was also a smattering of Chondokyo (discussed later) and a vibrant growing Christian community. However, under Juche, these competing religions were systematically either eliminated, suppressed or persecuted through a totalitarian system of fear and thought control. Under the Juche belief system, the former North Korean ruler, the "Great Leader" Comrade Kim Il Sung, was held in high regard and worshipped by the Koreans. He was presented as omniscient and omnipresent. The new regime under his son, the "Dear Leader" Comrade Kim Jong Il is as oppressive as the former. Surprisingly, Kim Il Sung, the founder of Juche, had a Pentecostal Christian mother, Kang Ban Sok. The dictator's family background might help to explain the strange mixture of Christian and Communist terminology used within the Juche religious system. Far from being a passing philosophy or minor cult, Juche (or Chuch'e) religious ideology is the basic cornerstone of North Korea's present totalitarian society. It holds sway over the entire population through a stifling system of party and government organizational controls. North Korea's leaders advocate Juche ideology as the only correct guiding standard of morality in their ongoing revolution against all foreign and domestic enemies (real or imagined). For the two decades between April 1974 and the death of Kim Il Sung in May 1994, Juche was sanctified as the essence of what has officially called Kim Il Sung Chuui (Kim Il Sung-ism). Recent propaganda has progressively promoted Kim Jong Il Chuui (Kim Jong Il-ism) as the new god-man who reveals the will of Kim Il Sung.
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