Newscriticism: "North Korea bolsters leader Kim with birthday loyalty oaths" (CNA, May 6th, 2024)

[From CNA's article.]

SUMMARY

For the first time since Kim Jong Un took power in 2011, North Koreans were asked to take loyalty oaths on his birthday, marking a significant shift in the regime's propaganda efforts. These oaths, reportedly taken on what is believed to be Kim's 40th birthday, reflect a move to strengthen his political authority, according to the South and North Development Institute (SAND). Traditionally, such ceremonies were reserved for the anniversaries of his father and grandfather. Analysts suggest that this could lead to Kim's birthday being designated as an official national anniversary in the future.

Additionally, North Korea is intensifying its efforts to solidify Kim Jong Un's leadership by reducing the prominence of his predecessors' commemorative days and promoting his image through various propaganda means. This includes showcasing his daughter at official events and releasing songs praising Kim. These actions are part of a broader strategy to elevate Kim's cult of personality, further entrenching his rule. Analysts note that these efforts are part of a phased campaign to ensure Kim's leadership is continuously celebrated and reinforced among the North Korean populace.

---

NEWSCRITICISM

The current action of Kim Jong Un to issue loyalty oaths across all of North Korea is an interesting phenomenon. Suffice to say, this new action of his signifies not only the solidification of his legitimacy as a leader of North Korea and projects power by means of doing legitimacy work - such as this - but also the enthronment of Kim Jong Un as a new deified person, to redirect all focus of worship towards him by means of creating a new ritual for worshipping the new deified god: that being Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un is part of the Kim dynasty, a series of secular North Korean leaders that turned themselves into gods in order to cement not just thier rule, but as "role models" for the consolidation of a North Korean worldview not just in the Hypermaterial (Philosophy, including Political Philosophy; in the North Korean Civilization, this is Juche in its secular form), but to cement thier legacy as the "bringers"/"providers" of a new worldview to interpret the Immaterial world of its experience in existence: that is, Juche in a religious form. However, since the 1990's after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the revision of its constitution, Juche has taken over the Immaterial Worldview as the basis of its function (however, it should be noted that the essence of the Hypermaterial is still there - that being Juche as founding political and philosophical worldview of North Korea).

Thus, Juche is indeed (as exemplifed in the article) have evolved from a pure political cult of personality, to a religion that functions as a political organ evolved from its baseline philosophical ideology. This has led to a clear line of demarcation and seperaton of Juche as a Philosophy and Juche as a Religion, we can see that it penetrates the realm of the Abstract-Unseen (the Immaterial) by way of deifying the Ideology and the Person itself, evolving from a political cult of personality to unite the nation by means of projecting its power, to a Roman-style Imperial Cult with God-Building tendencies (as slated by Anatoly Lunarcharsky); in short, a Religion by itself.

If Juche is a religion, what is its nature? First and foremost, its theology is a form of Henotheistic Apotheosis: "Gods exists, and is with us in the Material World (Gods exists, and He is Physically There), but we only worship One". Second, its worship is based on ancestor veneration; that is, they venerate ancestors of the religion - but it is not just merely ancestor veneration, it is also messianic in nature - thus, a messianic form of ancestor veneration - or Messianic Ancestralism, as I would like to call it: a form of reverence and worship of a messianic figure who is believed to be a divine ancestor, acknowledging the existence of other spiritual beings but focusing devotion on this singular ancestral deity. In other words, "God is our Great Ancestor, and is too a Messiah for Our People". The Messiah in this system is none other than Kim Il Sung - thier Messianic Ancestral God. And lastly, Juche is Trinitarian in nature: first is the Supreme God-Messiah, Kim Il Sung; second is His Prophet, Kim Jong Il, who jotted down the words of God into one Supreme Scripture: that being the book On the Juche Idea. And next, the Son, who will be the last dispensation to defend and propagate the religion across society, that being Kim Jong Il.

Another form of worship to Juche is also "Sacrifice through Deeds": that is, putting ethical tenets in practice, other than simply revering and worshipping them. To serve the Gods is to do good acts that benefit society for the good of all, and to earn good favors from them in exchange of good blessings - which is exemplified in the article above: to do loyalty oaths is to serve the Gods and thier Ancestors - thereby experiencing a person's experience in existence through serving them and thier religious ideas. Thus, the loyalty oaths issued by Kim Jong Un in his birthday are not just mere powers of projection of the state and its leaders legitimacy: it is also, in fact, the strengthening of Juche as a relgious worldview.

Juche, in fact, is one of the most influential New Religious Movements of our time, more so as it was a philosophy; Juche is our modern Roman Imperial Cult, serving to deify the new gods of our time - the gods of Juche ideology, serving with a purpose to propagate the world in thier light, in thier teachings: the teachings of North Korean-style religious Communism. Since the founding of the ideology itself and made it evolve since the 1980's, the Juche religio-philosophical system of North Korea had underwent many forms of ideation in its life, first as a simple formative ideology by its messianic founder, Kim Jong Il, into its now-current mature form that serves as its full worldview encompassing all interpretations of the Three Spheres of Existence (Material, Immaterial, Hypermaterial) in Totality [see my book 'The Basic Philosophy of Joshua Rovero' for a full exposition of the concept, which can be viewed here], and as a guiding framework for the Six Pillars of Civilization [also in the same book; read it more throughly] for the North Korean Civilization's experience in existence.

We are still watching major or minor changes in the pattern and nature of Juche in North Korea today, seeing its evolution for years to come.

Joshua Kyle T. Rovero

Estado Rovero

May 18th 2024