Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea: Difference between revisions

Officially, the [[Workers' Party of Korea]] (WPK){{snd}}the ruling party of [[North Korea]] (Democratic People's Republic of Korea){{snd}}is a [[communist party]] guided by Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, a synthesis of the ideas of [[Kim Il Sung]] and [[Kim Jong Il]].{{sfn|Kim|2021}} The party is committed to ''[[Juche]]'', an ideology attributed to Kim Il Sung which promotes national independence and development through the efforts of the popular masses. Although ''Juche'' was originally presented as the Korean interpretation of [[Marxism–Leninism]], the party now presents it as a freestanding philosophy of Kim Il Sung. The WPK recognizes the ruling [[Kim dynasty (North Korea)|Kim family]] as the ultimate source of its political thought. The fourth party conference, held in 2012, amended the party rules to state that Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism was "the only guiding idea of the party".{{sfn|Frank|Hoare|Köllner|Pares|2013|p=45}} Under Kim Jong Il, who governed as chairman of the [[National Defence Commission]], communism was steadily removed from party and state documents in favour of {{lang|ko-latn|[[Songun]]}}, or [[militarism|military-first]] politics. The military, rather than the working class, was established as the base of political power. However, hisKim Jong Il's successor Kim Jong Un reversed this position in 2021, replacing {{lang|ko-latn|Songun}} with "people-first politics" as the party's political method{{sfn|Yonhap News Agency|2021}} and reasserting the party's commitment to communism.{{sfn|Kim|2021}}

[[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] did not clarify the differences which existeddifference between statesthe state and laws; insteadlaw, they focusedfocusing on the class divisions which existed within nations.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=139}} They argued that nationsnation and lawslaw (as they thenit existed then) would be overthrown and replaced withby [[proletariat|proletarian rule]].{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=139}} This was the mainstream view of Soviet theoreticians during the 1920s; however, with Stalin at the helm in 1929, it was under attack.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=140}} He criticized [[Nikolai Bukharin]]'s position that the proletariat was hostile to the [[Marx's theory of the state|inclinations of the state]], arguing that since the state (the Soviet Union) was in transition from [[Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalism]] to [[Socialism (Marxism)|socialism]] the relationship between the state and the proletariat was harmonious.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=140}} By 1936, Stalin argued that the state would still exist even if the Soviet Union reached the [[communist mode of production]], so long asbut the socialist world was encircled by capitalist forces.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=140}} Kim Il Sung took this position to its logical conclusion, arguing that the state would exist after North Korea reached the communist mode of production until a future [[world revolution]].{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=140}} As long as capitalism survived, even if the socialist world was predominantpredominated, North Korea could still be threatened by the restoration of capitalism.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=141}}

From then on, he and the WPK stressed the roles of "revolutionary tradition" and Korea's cultural tradition in its revolution.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=141}} At party meetings, members and cadres learned about North Korea's national prestige and its coming rejuvenation.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=141}} Traditional customs were revived, to showcase Korean-ness.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=141}} By 1965, Kim Il Sung stated that if communists continued to opposeopposing [[Individualism|individuality]] and [[sovereign state|sovereignty]], the movement would be threatened by [[dogmatism]] and [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionism]].{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=142}} He criticized those communists who, he believed, subscribed to "national [[nihilism]] by praising all things foreign and vilifying all things national" and tried to impose foreign models on their own countriescountry.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=142}} By the 1960s, ''Juche'' was a full-fledged ideology which calledcalling for the pursuance of a distinct path for North Korean socialist construction without anyand non-interference in North Korea'sits affairs; however, a decade later, it was defined as a system whose "fundamental principle was the realization of sovereignty".{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=142}}

Although WPK theoreticians were initially againsthostile the use oftowards the terms "nation" and "nationalism" because of the influence of the Stalinist definition of "state", by the mid-1960s their definition that a nation was a [[Marxism and the National Question|Stalinist definition of a "state"]] ("a stable, historically formed community of people based on a common language, territory, economic life, and culture");]] however,was byrevised and the 1970s, their definitioncharacteristic of a state had expanded to include"shared bloodline"a communitywas ofadded peopleto withthe a shared bloodline"definition.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=142}} During the 1980s, a common economic life was removed from the definition, with "a shared bloodline" receiving increased emphasis.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=143}} InThe WPK revised the meaning of nationalism in response to the democratic transition in South Korea and the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], the WPK revised the meaning of nationalism.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=143}} Previously defined in Stalinist terms as a bourgeois weapon to exploit the workers, nationalism was changed from a [[reactionary]] to a [[progressivism|progressive]] idea.{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=143}} Kim Il Sung differentiated "nationalism" from what he called "genuine nationalism"; while genuine nationalism was a progressive idea, nationalism remained reactionary:{{sfn|Cheong|2000|p=143}}

{{quote box|width=25em|align=right|bgcolor=ivory|quote=Whatever the name and however elaborate his claim, Kim's ''Juche'' idea is nothing more than [[Xenophobia|xenophobic]] [[nationalism]] that has little relevance to [[communism]].|source=— [[Suh Dae-sook|Dae-Sook Suh]], author of ''Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader''{{sfn|Suh|1988|p=313}}}}

During the 1960s, the WPK began to forceforcing ethnic Koreans to [[divorce]] their European spouses (who were primarily from the [[Eastern Bloc]]), with a high-ranking WPK official calling the marriages "a crime against the [[Koreans|Korean race]]" and, in response, [[Eastern Bloc]] embassies in the country beganbeginning to accuse the regime of practicing [[fascism]].{{sfn|Becker|2005|p=66}} In May 1963, a Soviet diplomat described Kim Il Sung's political circle as a "political [[Gestapo]]".{{sfn|Becker|2005|p=66}} Similar remarks were made by other Eastern Bloc officials in North Korea, with the East German ambassador calling the policy "Goebbelsian" (a reference to [[Joseph Goebbels]], [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler's]] [[Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|minister of propaganda]]).{{sfn|Becker|2005|p=66}} Although this was said during a low point in relations between North Korea and the Eastern Bloc, it illustrated a perception of racism in Kim Il Sung's policies.{{sfn|Becker|2005|p=66}}

In his book ''[[The Cleanest Race]]'' (2010), [[Brian Reynolds Myers]] dismisses the idea that ''Juche'' is North Korea's leading ideology. He believesviews that the WPK'sits public exaltation of ''Juche''as isbeing designed to deceive foreigners; it exists to be praised rather than followed.{{sfn|Rank|2012}} Myers writes that ''Juche'' is a sham ideology, developed to extol Kim Il Sung as a political thinker comparable to [[Mao Zedong]].{{sfn|Marshall|2010}} According to Myers, North Korean [[military-first policy]], racism and xenophobia (exemplified by race-based incidents such as the attempted lynching of [[Afro-Cuban|black Cuban]] diplomats and [[forced abortion]]s for North Korean women pregnant with [[Han Chinese|ethnic Chinese]] children) indicate a base in [[far-right]] politics (inherited from [[Imperial Japan]] during its colonial occupation of Korea) rather than the [[Far-left politics|far-left]].{{sfn|Rank|2012}}{{sfn|Hitchens|2010}}