[KS] Juche Thought

Robert S Boynton robert.boynton at nyu.edu
Mon May 28 01:52:57 EDT 2012


I've been an enthusiastic consumer of this listserv for the past two years,
and although I
have found it extremely helpful and informative, I've never posted before.
I'm finishing writing
a book about North Korea's abduction project in the 1970s and 1980s, and am
having trouble
writing a chapter having to do with the Yodogo hijackers, juche study
groups and juche thought.

My problem is that I can't find a way to explain the allure that juche has
for some people, especially
young Japanese in the 1970s. I'm sure that leftist enthusiasm for the North
Korean experiment played a role,
but it couldn't have been that entirely. The juche ideas I've encountered
have seemed like pretty thin gruel, and
I was hoping someone could direct me to literature or individuals who could
hep me understand why some
people have felt compelled to change their lives and become followers of
juche.

I'm familiar with BR Meyers argument that juche is little more than
philosophical nonsense produced purely
for export. Perhaps it is, but I'd like to understand why some have found
it worth importing. Thank you. I welcome any
responses either via the listserv, or to my email, which is bellow.
-- 
Robert S. Boynton
Director of Literary Reportage Concentration
Associate Professor
Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
New York University
20 Cooper Square
New York, NY 10003
robert.boynton at nyu.edu
212-998-7594

*TOKYO CELL NUMBER: 080-3413-2370*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20120528/458a6216/attachment.html>


More information about the Koreanstudies mailing list