[KS] Juche Thought

[don kirk]

There were still more practical considerations. North Korea exported missiles to Iran and also shared technology and possible components for their respective nuclear programs. AQ Khan, the father of the Pakistan A-bomb, sold expertise and technology to both North Korea and Iran. Of course, the ability to produce missiles -- and nuclear devices or warheads -- would count as an essential element of juche.
Don Kirk

--- On Wed, 5/30/12, Balazs Szalontai <aoverl at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:


From: Balazs Szalontai <aoverl at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [KS] Juche Thought
To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Date: Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 1:18 AM






Another, particularly interesting case was the Islamic Republic of Iran, which established close contacts with the DPRK in the 1980s. Some practical implications of chuch'e sasang, such as independence in foreign policy, anti-imperialism, self-reliant national defense, and economic self-reliance, were enthusiastically welcomed by the Iranian leaders, who had their own reservations about both China and the Soviet Union, regarded the United States as their mortal enemy, and made the principle of "neither East nor West" the main doctrine of their foreign policy. For them, North Korea was a country which stayed independent from both Communist giants, approved the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran (which very few governments did), provided them with massive military assistance during the Iran-Iraq War, and from whose experiences in post-war reconstruction they could learn a lot. At the same time, the Iranians, for obvious reasons, had no interest in the
 all-too-secular philosophical base of chuch'e sasang, whereas the North Korean media consistently ignored the religious aspects of Khomeini's domestic policies, and mentioned only such measures as acts of economic nationalization. That is, the Iranians deliberately ignored the atheist core of chuch'e sasang, while the North Koreans spoke and acted as if the Islamic Republic had not been Islamic at all.

All the best,
Balazs Szalontai 

--- On Tue, 29/5/12, Andre Schmid <andre.schmid at utoronto.ca> wrote:






Dear Prof. Boyton,
On the appeal of Juche in the 1970s, one might look at the case of Guyana, which in the 1970s under the leadership of Linden Burnham developed a close relationship with North Korea. I once had a student write a senior thesis on this topic; he showed quite convincingly that the north Korea model appealed greatly to a leadership that faced social unrest, a failing economy and a military threat from next door (Venezuela). North Korea in that period appealed as a postcolonial country that had developed rapidly, ostensibly through its 'self-reliant' policies. What is most remarkable is that among the many advisors that arrived to Guyana were experts in the mass-games  - this was precisely the type of popular discipline they hoped to instill in their population. Apparently, many Guyanese of a certain generation recall -- fondly or not, I'm not aware -- the childhood experience of spending hours drilling for their own mass games.


Perhaps the gruel was not so thin as we often think today.


Andre Schmid




 


On 28-May-12, at 1:52 AM, Robert S Boynton wrote:

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


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