Since its formation in 1948, North Korea has
been under the control of the Kim Family.
Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il and today, Kim Jong-Un,
have each, in their own way, made North Korea
the most secretive and repressive country
in the world.
But, little has been publicly confirmed about
North Korea’s ruling family, so what exactly
do we know about the Kim Dynasty?
Well, all three leaders are marked by their
extreme cult of personalities.
Portraits of Kim il-sung and Kim Jong-Il hang
side-by-side in every North Korean home, office,
factory and public space, along with an estimated
35,000 statues of Il-Sung alone.
In school, North Korean children are taught
that they were clothed, fed and nurtured by
Il-Sung’s god-like grace, and that he liberated
the country from Japanese aggressors by singlehandedly
shooting down warplanes.
But in reality, Kim Il-sung didn’t fight
in Korea’s anti-Japanese resistance or in
the Korean War.
This propaganda was created by the Soviet
Union after World War II when they instituted
Kim as the first leader of what would soon
become North Korea.
Kim continued this propaganda war for decades,
solidifying his position as the country’s
“Great Leader”.
As such he slowly shifted away from Soviet
socialism and replaced it with his own political
philosophy called “Juche”.
Juche, which means “self-reliance” is
the idea that a country can succeed without
any military or economic help from foreign
powers, and has been North Korea’s defining
policy since 1972.
In 1994, after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim
Jong-Il came to power.
The second Kim is often described as North
Korea’s most secretive and ruthless leader.
He believed that the less was known about
him, the less could be used to undermine him.
Kim didn’t make a single public speech during
his 17-year tenure and even spread false rumors
about himself in an effort to remain elusive.
To this day, major details about his life,
including his date and place of birth, remain
unconfirmed.
The so-called “Dear Leader” strictly limited
North Korean’s access to information and
freedom of movement, and exacerbated the effects
of a drought that killed as many as three
and a half million people.
He also expanded a system of political prison
camps characterized by torture, hard labor
and sexual abuse.
When Kim Jong-Il died in 2011, his third son,
Kim Jong-Un, became Supreme Leader.
Kim Jong-Un is best known as the dynasty’s
spoiled young prince.
He is thought to be in his early 30’s and
has reportedly spent millions of state-dollars
on imported luxuries, including designer cigarettes,
expensive cognac, Japanese kobe beef and a
custom-designed yacht.
The third Kim has introduced some economic
and political reforms, including allowing
limited foreign tourism, reducing punishments
for returning defectors and allowing a handful
of media organizations to open North Korean
bureaus.
However, Kim has largely continued his father’s
and grandfather’s oppressive policies, and
most unsettlingly, aggressively expanded the
country’s nuclear weapons program.
So how did the Kim Family become such a powerful
dynasty in North Korea?
And what factors allow them to stay in power?
Find out in this video.
North Korea goes through all the motions of
a parliamentary democracy while operating
as a theocratic dictatorship.
Clearly one does not disagree with the divine
rights of the leader of a theocracy.
In this case, Kim-Il-Sun.
While North Koreans want to put a stop to
the countless human rights abuses, mass incarceration
and widespread famine, there is no political
method of doing so.
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