Kim Il Sung and His Personality Cult

Still on The Complete Idiot's Guide To Understanding North Korea by Dr. C. Kenneth Quinones and Joseph Tragert (Alpha Books, 2003).

The authors suggested that the survival of Kim Jong Il's regime is due to "a keen sense of nationalism, a pervasive fear of foreigners, and a strong desire for national unification and for individual survival, plus some respect for their leader."

Noting that the North Koreans reverence for their Great Leader Kim Il Sung (pictured, in his younger days) is compared by outsiders "to that of a religious cult", the writers concurred - rightly, in my view - that "this is somewhat misleading."

"Kim II Sung, like Japan's emperor, came to personify Korean nationalism and the Korean nation, at least in the minds of North Koreans. They do not distinguish between love of nation and respect for their Great Leader."

"Rather than propagating a personality cult, Kim used history to fuse himself with the Korean nation and its independence. Any (one) who attacks him is seen as assaulting the beloved nation."