Kim Il Sung
Kim Il Sung is held as a hero in the eyes of the North Koreans. He was the mastermind behind the Juche Idea and the North Korean's ascent to communism, and his son, Kim Jong Il, and grandson, Kim Jong Un, have ruled over North Korea since.
“My God is none other than the people. Only the popular masses are omniscient and omnipotent and almighty on earth. Therefore my lifetime motto is: ‘The people are my God.’” |
"Kim Il Sung not only presided over the birth of a new nation in an old land, he was inextricably bound to the fate of North Korea. Perhaps to a greater degree than any other modern political leader, he may be seen as the full embodiment of the state. Indeed, Kim was more integral to state and society in North Korea than Stalin in the Soviet Union, or Mao in China." |
Although North Korea is an atheist state, worship of the late Kim il-Sung and Kim Jong-il has effectively replaced religion. “Famous U.S. preacher Billy Graham visited us in the 1990s,” our guide told us. “And he said ‘I bow to no man, only to God. But before the great leader Kim il-Sung I cannot but bow my head.'” "Stalin and Kim made human idols of themselves because they believed - as utopian idealists always do - in the ultimate goodness of themselves and the unchallengeable rightness of their decisions. There was no higher power and so there could be no higher law. ... They could not tolerate actual religion because they could not tolerate any rival authority or any rival source - or judge - of goodness, rectitude and justice." |