Today might be the
day war breaks out in East Asia, for this is the “Day of the Sun,” the most
celebrated holiday of the year in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North
Korea). Day of the Sun commemorates the birth of “Eternal President” Kim
Il-sung on April 15, 1912.
Some have
speculated that on this auspicious day Kim Jong-un, the young dictator of North
Korea and grandson of Kim Il-sung, will make a daring show of power, following
up on recent threats hurled at South Korea, Japan and the United States.
But as it is
already evening in Pyongyang, which is 14 hours ahead of where I am posting
this (in CDT), perhaps Supreme Leader Kim (b. 1983/4) has decided not to carry
out his threats, at least not today. And if not today, maybe not at all. Maybe
it has all been bluff and bluster after all. Let’s hope so.
Kim Il-sung’s
birthday marks the beginning of the first year in the current North Korean
calendar, so today is New Year’s Day, Juche 102. Actually, the beginning of
Juche 102 was also celebrated on January 1, as the country uses both the
Gregorian and their own unique calendar. But April 15 is celebrated more
elaborately.
“Juche” is the Korean name for Kim Il-sung’s political thesis,
which declares that the Korean masses are the masters of the country’s
development. According to Kim, the Juche idea is based on the belief that “man
is the master of everything and decides everything.” That doesn’t sound very
religious, at least in the usual (Western) sense of the word.
Yet,
“Just one more religion?” is the title of an April 7 online posting of The Economist. That article points out
that according to www.adherents.com, Juche is the 10th most widely
followed religion in the world, with 19 million adherents. (By comparison,
Judaism is 12th with 14 million adherents worldwide.) But Juche is likely
the largest religion most people have never heard of.
Those
who follow The Economist closely may
know a little about Juche. And some few may have heard of the book “Juche: A
Christian Study of North Korea’s State Religion” (1999) by Thomas J. Belke. As
quoted in The Economist, Belke states
that Juche is a religion because it “has a comprehensive belief system, holy
places, distinctive customs” and also because “it displaces other religions.”
Juche
is certainly not a religion in the same sense that the so-called “world
religions” (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) are. But it can be argued that
it is a religion in the same way that Marxism, Stalinism, Maoism are, or have
been, religions.
As the picture
shows, Kim Il-sung and his family are highly venerated in North Korea. But
ancestors are widely venerated in East Asia, and deep bowing is common even before
living people, especially those of high rank. But does veneration and bowing
indicate the existence of a religion, or religious worship?
If Juche is a
religion at all, it is what might be called a secular religion, for it seems to
lack any sense of the transcendent. It is much more like an ongoing personality
cult, one that demands loyalty and subservience to Kim Il-sung and his
descendants by the North Korean people. As such, it is a powerful ideology that
elicits legitimate concern by the nations of the world—for it might not be all
bluff and bluster.
Let’s pray that
today’s Day of the Sun celebration does not include the launching of missiles
aimed at South Korea, Japan or U.S. territories, which would likely start a war
in East Asia.
What a remarkably informative column! Thanks, Leroy.
ReplyDeleteI confess I find Kim Jong-un much as cartoonists are depicting him...a spoiled, bully of a boy lacking the emotional maturity to lead a country. On television, he looks like a boy playing army.
ReplyDeleteHe may boy to his grandfather, but he strikes me as someone who also wants to be bowed to...and the deeper, the better.
I don't envy the likes of John Kerry and our military leaders, as well as other SE Asian leaders trying to calm the situation and be prepared for a potentially frightening situation.
David
P.S. It occurs to me Kim Il-sung was born the same day the Titanic sank
Thanks for your comments, David -- and thanks for pointing out the Titanic sank on the same day. I had forgotten that, although a year ago today my blog posting was about the Titanic sinking exactly 100 years earlier.
DeleteLeroy: Thanks for you blog. It was very informative. I share your concern that Kim Il Sung not precipitate a conflagration.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to undertand how the world looks through North Korean eyes.
Bob, thanks for your comments. It certainly increases problems when we as individuals and especially as a country seldom try to see what the world looks like through the eyes of those who are the "enemy."
DeleteThinking Friend Daniel O'Reagan writes from Louisiana:
ReplyDelete"You can trust the communists to be communists. This is all a propaganda show for local consumption so the young Kim Jong-un can show himself a great military leader to replace his father, and all of the military generals he fired, and replaced with his own yes men. He stood up to the United States. That makes him a great leader in the eyes of the North Koreans.
"However, the United Sates and South Korea are going to have to modify their strategy. Having all kinds of American military hardware on his border is provocative, no matter how you slice it."
Thanks, Dan. I think especially your second paragraph emphasizes an important point.
DeleteWell, April 15 was also the 100th anniversary of the US income tax, Patriots Day in Boston, and the latest running of the Boston Marathon. Here we are worrying about what North Korea would do with its missiles, while something far more prosaic wrought terror in Boston. Then an old-fashioned industrial accident in West, Texas killed and maimed even more. Meanwhile the US Senate decided doing absolutely nothing was the right policy for gun control, Gabby Giffords and Sandy Hook notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteMy mind is numb. Apparently North Korea is feeling that way, too, because they now are hinting they might talk. Perhaps when we are all feeling down would actually be a good time to try it.