BOOKSLiving the Juche Lie
North Korea is a perpetual black hole set within a time warp that appears to the democratic West as almost a "theme park" of man's inhumanity to man.
Other books by Jim Zumwalt:
"Juche" translates as self-reliance and independence in each and every aspect of North Korea's day to day life. In truth, Juche
is nothing but an all-pervasive drone of crippling lies that the deeply subjugated and implacably abused people of North Korea are forced to believe or forced to pretend
to believe. The only real purpose of Juche is to help keep the masses blind and deaf.
Although this book was published in 2012, the observations of the author are no less timely now as back then. His core insights shine an unmerciful light on the methods and motivation that remain the necessary bricks and mortar of the Kim dictatorship. The Juche Lie
is at the empty center of this bizarre regime that rules by a weird combination of mind control and naked force.
Kim Il Sung, the god-like father of North Korea, died in 1984. Kim Jong Il, his son, died in 2011. Living The Juche Lie
is author Jim Zumwalt's clear-eyed view of "the next son up" in the batting order of the Kim family, Kim Jong Un. But Zumwalt cautions that Kim Jong Un's sudden ascent to semi-divine power is not yet a done deal. The latest Kim has a lot of reassuring to do.
In other words, Kim Jong Un won't be hailed as the new sheriff in town until he gains the support of the most elevated figures in North Korea's inner circle.
But none of the ruling class is secure in either their
status, their
safety, or the safety of their
family. This is why the latest Kim has his work of reassurance cut out for him and why the situation in North Korea is (for now) both combustible and murky. Fast forward to 2020 as Kim Jong Un has turned into a picture on a carton of milk. Where is he? Has he died? Tick, tick. Stand by.
