The History of Juche

The Juche Idea was improvised in the 1950s by Kim, Il-Sung, and became the official state ideology of the Democratic People’s Rebublic of Korea (DPRK) in 1972.

Juche is often described as “self-reliance”. When applied to an individual this can be interpreted as meaning that man is the master of his own self, his own world and his own destiny. The true meaning of Juche is more nuanced, however, as it was devised as a political rather than a personal philosophy. Kim, Il-Sung explained:

“Establishing Juche means, in a nutshell, being the master of revolution and reconstruction in one’s own country. This means holding fast to an independent position, rejecting dependence on others, using one’s own brains, believing in one’s own strength, displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, and thus solving one’s own problems for oneself on one’s own responsibility under all circumstances.”

The Juche philosophy carries a great deal of controversy with it due to its political purpose and application in North Korea by Kim, Il-Sung and subsequently Kim, Jong-Il, and full understanding of it would require extensive exploration of its many aspects. This, unfortunately, goes far beyond the remit of this website.