<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I
wonder if scholars and other folks who follow Saudi Arabia or Iran or
Afghanistan or Egypt, wring their hands and get all worked up about thieves
getting their hands cut off, or Ayatollahs who declare American “spies” to be “</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:Verdana;color:#3A3939">corrupter[s] on Earth waging
war on God</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line">,” or Taliban who cut off the ears and nose off a
teenager who would not marry on octogenarian, or Salafis who want women to be
blanketed in the streets and otherwise shut up in the home. There is nothing
surprising in what the North Koreans are saying about Kim Jong-eun. In fact, so far it
is not nearly as obnoxious as the unmitigated blather about Kim Jong Il being a
“genius,” getting straight A grades at Kim Il Sung University, being the
pulsating “heart” of the “Mother Party,” etc. that went on for years in the
1980s. Most important, perhaps, is the anachronism of people getting “deeply
depressed” about a practice that is now 65 years old, and which mimics in
“modern” form the paeans of glorification laid down for a millennium of
successive Korean kings. Yes, North Korea should democratize tomorrow morning
(and so should Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia). But in the meantime, try not to
be so ahistorical. Below is an excerpt from my 1990 book (<i>Origins of the Korean War</i>, vol. 2, Princeton University Press):<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;layout-grid-mode:line">In an important interview in 1947 with Kim's
first biographer, an unnamed member of his guerrilla unit promoted a Kim Il
Sung line that remains the official history today. Kim set the following sort
of example:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; "><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This sort of person
naturally has an extremely strong power of attraction to others.... And it goes
without saying that a guerrilla organization with such a person at the center
is incomparably strong. The sublime good fortune of our guerrilla detachment
was to have at our center the Great Sun. Our general commander, great leader, sagacious
teacher, and intimate friend was none other than General Kim Il Sung. Our unit
was an unshakeable one, following General Kim and having General Kim as the
nucleus. The General's embrace and love are like the Sun's, and when our
fighters look up to and receive the General, their trust, self-sacrifice and
devotion are such that they will gladly die for him.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line">The detachment's "philosophy of life" was
their willingness to follow Kim's orders even to the death; "its strength
is the strength deriving from uniting around Kim Il Sung ... our guerrillas'
historical tradition is precisely that of uniting around Kim as our only
leader." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Kim loved and cared for his followers, and they responded with an iron
discipline for which "a spirit of obedience is needed, and what is needed
for that is a spirit of respect . . .</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><o:p> a</o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; ">bove
all, the spiritual foundation [of our discipline] was this spirit of respect.
And the greatest respect was for General Kim Il Sung. Our discipline grew and
became strong amid respect and obedience for him.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line">This officer then went on to recommend the guerrilla
tradition as a good principle for party and mass organizations; he might have
added that it would be the principle for the organization of the entire North
Korean state. ["General Kim Il Sung is the Leader of the Korean
people," <u>Podo</u>, no.3 (August 1947), pp. 18-21.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The language used by this man is fascinating. It is all moral<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>language, bathing Kim in a hundred
virtues, almost all of which are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Confucian
virtues--benevolence, love, trust, obedience, respect, reciprocity between
leader and led. It is a language of circles: the phrase "uniting around
Kim" uses a term, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">chuwi</i>, that
literally means circumference; in a neighborhood it means living around a
center or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">chungsim</i>, which literally
means a "central heart." Synonyms for this, widely used in the North
Korean literature, are "core" and "nucleus." The Party
center was also a euphemism for Kim and his closest allies, just as it became
the euphemism for Kim's son in the 1970s when the succession was being
arranged.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This
is also a language with religious resonance, both Shamanist and Christian. The
term that the North Koreans translate as "to hold [Kim] in esteem," <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">urôrô patta</i>, literally means "to
look up to and receive," and is used religiously for receiving Christ. It
is also used in the sense of esteeming one's father. The term "Great
Sun" resonates with Western usages placing a king in communion with the
Sun [as in “Sun King”], or by extension with God, and with Japanese usages
regarding the Emperor. To my knowledge, the first statue of Kim erected in the
North was unveiled on Christmas Day 1949, something that suggests a conscious
attempt to present him as a secular Christ, or Christ-substitute. [See for
example E.M.W. Tillyard, <u>The Elizabethan World Picture </u>(New York:
Vintage Books, 1942). On the statue, set up in Hûngnam, see <u>Sun'gan
t'ongshin</u>, no. 3 (46) (January 1950), daily record for December l949.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The style is also paternal, with Kim depicted as the benevolent father
of the nation, and the nation compared to one large family. The strongest of
emotional bonds in Korea is that of filial piety, and Kim and his allies sought
to weld the nation together by drawing on vast reservoirs of duty and
obligation toward one's parents, seeking to have them transferred to the state
through Kim's auspices. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The process of burnishing Kim's image and uniting around him also
suggests an element of chivalry, of men and women bound together by oaths of
fealty, duty, obligation, and possessing amongst them uncommon virtues of
courage, daring and sacrifice. It is the language of feudal warlords, and
indeed Kim in the early period always used the title <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">changgun</i>, translated as "General," but using the same
characters as the Japanese term <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">shogun</i>.[Kim
Jong Il was also called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">changgun</i>, a usage especially noticeable after he died.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The dynamic of this politics is centrifugal-centripetal, concentric
circles radiating outward from the core, embracing first the Manchurian
guerrillas and their families, then the Party hierarchy, then the Army, then
the people; it then falls back upon itself as each outer circle returns trust
and loyalty to the center. Somewhere in between there arose a plodding, dense
bureaucracy that does the day-to-day administration. But at the commanding
heights this was a charismatic politics, its legitimacy resting in an overblown
history and a trumpeted mythology about men with super-human qualities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It is so characteristic of the North Koreans, then and now, that they
simultaneously paper the walls with hagiography and mythology about Kim and his
guerrillas, while caring little to provide any evidence that would convince an
independent observer. This speaks to another characteristic of the Kim
leadership, a profound solipsism, indeed a <i>national solipsism </i>that is
also connected to the theme of concentric circles.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Kim's legend and mandate would seem to stop at the national
border; non-Koreans cannot be expected to appreciate its virtues. Even pre-war
Japan did not try to sell <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">kokutai</i> to
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">gaijin </i>(foreigners). But the
circles keep on extending, to encompass foreigners and get them to see the
virtues so obvious to North Koreans. This is far more pronounced today, when
the regime organizes and funds "Juche study groups" all over the
world, treating group leaders like heads of state, but it existed in the 1940s
in a solipsism which seemed to think all eyes were on Korea as the Kim
leadership blazed a trail for post-colonial revolution, providing a model to
emulate. It is a Korean microcosm of the old Chinese world order, radiating
outward from the Middle Kingdom or central source. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;
mso-pagination:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
layout-grid-mode:line"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Another interesting element in the 1947 interview is implicit, the
suggestion that Kim Il Sung is being put forward as "Kim Il Sung," a
figure larger than life, as an example for all to emulate. If all are to
emulate him, he cannot put his pants on one leg at a time like anyone else, he
has to be perfect. But in the conjuring of that perfection, the real man Kim Il
Sung, <u>nee</u> Kim Sông-ju, runs the risk of being himself a symbol of power
rather than holding it, being put forward by shadowy figures as the source of
everyone's legitimacy. There is a hint of an Emperor system here, a figure
being created who would have to be mysterious and remote [something Kim Jong Il practiced much more than his father, who was always out pressing the flesh].<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Bruce Cumings, January 12, 2012</span></font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br></o:p></p><div apple-content-edited="true"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br><div><div>On Jan 12, 2012, at 12:00 PM, <a href="mailto:koreanstudies-request@koreaweb.ws">koreanstudies-request@koreaweb.ws</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Send Koreanstudies mailing list submissions to<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a><br><br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>http://koreaweb.ws/mailman/listinfo/koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws<br>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>koreanstudies-request@koreaweb.ws<br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>koreanstudies-owner@koreaweb.ws<br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of Koreanstudies digest..."<br><br><br><<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>><br><br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can now be<br> seen in full by all (Michael Rank)<br> 2. Re: KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can now<br> be<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>seen in full by all (????)<br> 3. Re: KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can now<br> be seen in full by all (Charles La Shure)<br> 4. Re: KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can now<br> be<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>seen in f... (Afostercarter@aol.com)<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Message: 1<br>Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:11:39 +0000<br>From: Michael Rank <rank@mailbox.co.uk><br>To: koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws<br>Subject: [KS] KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can now<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>be<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>seen in full by all<br>Message-ID: <C64812CD-FA11-49DF-BD27-A2DA506A788D@mailbox.co.uk><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes<br><br>I have heroically viewed the entire thing, and found it a deeply <br>depressing experience. One of the bizarre things about it is that it <br>is in effect silent, and we never hear the voices of the three <br>geniuses. If they are so brilliant why won't the govt let the people <br>to hear them impart their wisdom at first hand? I believe KJI's voice <br>has only been heard a couple of times, once during the Albright visit <br>and once on an official tape, can anyone confirm? But coming back to <br>the above paean I noticed that it includes a genuine (insofar as <br>anything is genuine in DPRK) KJE (or KJU if you insist) quote, at <br>22.04, his very first I think. Could anyone be so kind as to translate <br>his words of wisdom? For what it's worth I also spotted Supreme <br>People's Assembly head Choe Thae Bok at 33.51, he has visited UK twice.<br><br>Best wishes,<br><br>Michael Rank<br><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 2<br>Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:04:09 +0900<br>From: ???? <joe.litt83@gmail.com><br>To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br>Subject: Re: [KS] KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>now be<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>seen in full by all<br>Message-ID: <7ABE09BE-48BC-4A81-AB5D-C82B2EE75D68@gmail.com><br>Content-Type: text/plain;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>charset=us-ascii<br><br>Michael,<br><br>KJI's voice was also recorded during both inter-Korean summits. The last recording was when he met Dmitry Medvedev in August of last year. I'm sure there a couple of other times I'm missing. <br><br>Here's the final recording:<br><br>http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/08/24/kim-jong-il-medvedev-meet-in-russia?&videoId=218631784<br><br>Best,<br>Joe<br><br>Sent from my iPhone<br><br>On 2012. 1. 12., at 4:11, Michael Rank <rank@mailbox.co.uk> wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">I have heroically viewed the entire thing, and found it a deeply depressing experience. One of the bizarre things about it is that it is in effect silent, and we never hear the voices of the three geniuses. If they are so brilliant why won't the govt let the people to hear them impart their wisdom at first hand? I believe KJI's voice has only been heard a couple of times, once during the Albright visit and once on an official tape, can anyone confirm? But coming back to the above paean I noticed that it includes a genuine (insofar as anything is genuine in DPRK) KJE (or KJU if you insist) quote, at 22.04, his very first I think. Could anyone be so kind as to translate his words of wisdom? For what it's worth I also spotted Supreme People's Assembly head Choe Thae Bok at 33.51, he has visited UK twice.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Best wishes,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Michael Rank<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 3<br>Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:29:15 +0900<br>From: Charles La Shure <clashure@gmail.com><br>To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br>Subject: Re: [KS] KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>now be seen in full by all<br>Message-ID:<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><CANguMmw5vAMvR_M1ZjmdtPgQsC2yr9RT42CF1r8eQ83WNnOaNw@mail.gmail.com><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"<br><br>Alas, the words of wisdom are not as profound as one might hope. I humbly<br>offer a quick and rough translation:<br><br>"I am accustomed to working through the night and so am not bothered by it.<br>The most joyous and happiest moments for me are when I can bring joy to the<br>comrade supreme commander. Thus, though I have stayed up several nights, I<br>have worked without knowing weariness. Even when I work through several<br>nights, once I have brought joy to the comrade supreme commander, the<br>weariness vanishes and a new strength courses through my whole body. This<br>must be what revolutionaries live for."<br><br>-C. La Shure<br><br>On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 4:11 AM, Michael Rank <rank@mailbox.co.uk> wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">I have heroically viewed the entire thing, and found it a deeply<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">depressing experience. One of the bizarre things about it is that it is in<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">effect silent, and we never hear the voices of the three geniuses. If they<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">are so brilliant why won't the govt let the people to hear them impart<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">their wisdom at first hand? I believe KJI's voice has only been heard a<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">couple of times, once during the Albright visit and once on an official<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">tape, can anyone confirm? But coming back to the above paean I noticed that<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">it includes a genuine (insofar as anything is genuine in DPRK) KJE (or KJU<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">if you insist) quote, at 22.04, his very first I think. Could anyone be so<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">kind as to translate his words of wisdom? For what it's worth I also<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">spotted Supreme People's Assembly head Choe Thae Bok at 33.51, he has<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">visited UK twice.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Best wishes,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Michael Rank<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL: <http://koreaweb.ws/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws/attachments/20120112/4a5d9b74/attachment-0001.html><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 4<br>Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:53:22 -0500 (EST)<br>From: Afostercarter@aol.com<br>To: koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws, baks@jiscmail.ac.uk, members@asck.org<br>Cc: rank@mailbox.co.uk, coyner@gol.com, Philip@londonkoreanlinks.net<br>Subject: Re: [KS] KCTV's hour-long paean to Kim Jong-un yesterday can<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>now be<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>seen in f...<br>Message-ID: <a066.60cd10d.3c400792@aol.com><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<br><br><br>Adam Cathcart (again) has now kindly provided<br>an annotated commentary/guide to the whole programme:<br>_http://sinonk.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/songun-tangun-son-of-paektu-etc-kim-<br>jong-un-documentary/_ <br>(http://sinonk.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/songun-tangun-son-of-paektu-etc-kim-jong-un-documentary/) <br><br>I've seen posts on sayings by KJU, but can't immediately find them.<br><br>Cheers<br>Aidan FC<br><br><br>Aidan Foster-Carter <br>Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds <br>University, UK <br>E: _afostercarter@aol.com_ (mailto:afostercarter@aol.com) <br>_afostercarter@yahoo.com_ (mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com) W: _www.aidanfc.net_ <br>(http://www.aidanfc.net/) <br>W in Korea: <br>_http://web.archive.org/web/20090202080126/http://aidanfc.net/index.html_ <br>(http://web.archive.org/web/20090202080126/http:/aidanfc.net/index.html) <br>Address/mail: Flat 1, 40 Magdalen Road, Exeter, Devon, EX2 4TE, <br>England, UK <br>T: (+44, no 0) 07970 741307 (mobile); 01392 257753 (home) <br>Skype: Aidan.Foster.Carter Twitter: @fcaidan <br>_____________ <br><br>In a message dated 1/12/2012 09:41:28 GMT Standard Time, rank@mailbox.co.uk <br> writes:<br><br>I have heroically viewed the entire thing, and found it a deeply <br>depressing experience. One of the bizarre things about it is that it <br>is in effect silent, and we never hear the voices of the three <br>geniuses. If they are so brilliant why won't the govt let the people <br>to hear them impart their wisdom at first hand? I believe KJI's voice <br>has only been heard a couple of times, once during the Albright visit <br>and once on an official tape, can anyone confirm? But coming back to <br>the above paean I noticed that it includes a genuine (insofar as <br>anything is genuine in DPRK) KJE (or KJU if you insist) quote, at <br>22.04, his very first I think. Could anyone be so kind as to translate <br>his words of wisdom? For what it's worth I also spotted Supreme <br>People's Assembly head Choe Thae Bok at 33.51, he has visited UK twice.<br><br>Best wishes,<br><br>Michael Rank<br><br><br><br><br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL: <http://koreaweb.ws/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws/attachments/20120112/f51de89d/attachment-0001.html><br><br>End of Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 103, Issue 13<br>**********************************************<br></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>