Juche faction | |
Chosŏn'gŭl | |
---|---|
Hancha | |
Revised Romanization | Juche sasang pa |
McCune–Reischauer | Chuch'e sasang pa |
Abbreviation | |
Chosŏn'gŭl | 주사파 |
Hancha | 主思派 |
Revised Romanization | Jusapa |
McCune–Reischauer | Chusapa |
The Juche faction, [1] [2] also known by its Korean name Juchesasangpa [3] and Korean abbreviation Jusapa, [4] was a political faction within South Korea's student movements that supported the North Korean political ideology known as Juche . It reached peak prominence during the pro-democracy demonstrations of the 1980s and was part of the wider National Liberation Faction.
After the division of Korea and the Korean War,most left-leaning political groups went underground. [5] However,as the government suppressed democratic protests and the "Seoul Spring" fell in the 1980s to the rise of military general Chun Doo-hwan's reign,the influx of Juche ideology occurred. The dominance of Jusapa became apparent after a fight between groups with opposing views. [6]
The movement started in early 1986 with Undongkwon participating in student movements and labor movements. [6] A book written by Kim Young-hwan called "The Letter of One Labor Activist Sending to All Our Fellow Young Students" (한노동운동가가청년학생들에게보내는편지) with the pseudonym "Kang Chol" (강철),also known as "kangcholsoshin" (강철서신,Kang cheol's letter),was considered as the textbook of the movement among participants. [7] The movement was also called the National Liberation faction (NL) because it emphasized the "national liberation" of South Korea based on the theory of North Korean revolution called "The Theory of Revolution of National Liberation and People's Democracy" (민족해방민중민주주의혁명론). [8] However,the term "National Liberation faction" can also refer to groups who did not accept Juche but held the same perception that the people of South Korea should be liberated. [6]
The anti-communist laws in South Korea have had—and continue to have—a negative effect on the perception of Juche ideology in South Korea. However,after constitutional democracy was established after mass demonstrations in 1987,the focus of the movement shifted to encouraging the unification of the two Koreas. This led "National Council of Student Representatives " (Jeongukdaehaksaengdaepyojahyopuihoe,often shortened to jeondaehyop) to send representative Lim Su-kyung to the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1989 in Pyongyang. [8] [lower-alpha 1] [9] After the fall of the Soviet Union,the death of Kim Il Sung and the news reports of famines in North Korea in 1995,the movement faced a subsequent decline. [6] [8] However,in 1994,Park Hong,who was the president of Sogang University at the time,held a press conference claiming North Korea was running a terrorist organization in schools citing jusapas and sanomaeng (South Korean Socialist Workers' Alliance) as examples,which renewed interest in the movement. [10] The statement was made in the context of incidents of students being arrested for making a place to mourn the death of Kim Il Sung. [10]
Certain leftist movements in South Korea are often referred to as "chinbuk" (Korean : 친북; Hanja : 親北;lit. pro-North),"Jongbuk" (Korean : 종북; Hanja : 從北;lit. pursuant to North) and "Jusapa" (Juche proponent) by Korean conservatives,anti-communists and others critical of the North. This perception is reinforced by cases such as Lim Su-kyung,who is best known for attending the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students,held in North Korea and praising President of North Korea Kim Il Sung in 1989. [11] She attended the festival representing the student organization Jeondaehyop,now known as Hanchongryun. In April 2012,she was elected as a member of the 19th National Assembly as the Democratic United Party's 21st proportional representative. In June 2012,in a confrontation with a North Korean defector in a bar,Lim hurled insults and referred to a ruling party lawmaker as a "son-of-a-bitch betrayer" and another as a "traitor" in what has been described by Korea JoonAng Daily as "an alcohol-fueled tirade at a Seoul restaurant",questioning their legitimacy to challenge her as a lawmaker. [12] This led to public protests. [12]
The national flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, consists of a wide horizontal red stripe bordered above and below by a thin white stripe and a broad blue stripe. The red stripe is charged near the hoist with a five-pointed red star inside a white circle. The design of the flag is defined in the North Korean constitution and regulations regarding the use and manufacture of the flag are outlined in the country's national flag law. The North Korean government credits Kim Il Sung, the country's founder and first leader, as the designer of the flag. The flag was officially adopted on 8 September 1948, with the passing of North Korea's first constitution by the Supreme People's Assembly. The North Korean flag is banned in South Korea by the National Security Act.
Juche, officially the Juche idea, is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il Sung, the country's founder and first leader. Juche was originally regarded as a variant of Marxism–Leninism until Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung's son and successor, declared it a distinct ideology in the 1970s. Kim Jong Il further developed Juche in the 1980s and 1990s by making ideological breaks from Marxism–Leninism and increasing the importance of his father's ideas.
The contemporary culture of North Korea is based on traditional Korean culture, but has developed since the division of Korea in 1945. Juche, officially the Juche idea, is the state ideology of North Korea; It is considered a variation of Marxist-Leninism. Juche displays Korea's cultural distinctiveness as North Korea is the creator and sole adopter of the ideology.
Kim Il Sung University (Korean: 김일성종합대학) is a public university in Taesong, Pyongyang, North Korea. Founded on 1 October 1946, it is the first institution of higher learning in North Korea since its foundation.
Hanchongnyon, also known as the Confederation of Korean Students' Union or the South Korean Federation of University Students Councils, is a pro-North Korea leftist student organization in South Korea. It was founded in 1993 as a successor to the Jeondaehyop (전대협) student organization, inheriting its activist legacy from the National Liberation faction (민족해방) of the South Korean student movement.
The Down-with-Imperialism Union was allegedly founded on 17 October 1926 in Hwatian County, Kirin, China, in order to fight against Japanese imperialism and to promote Marxism–Leninism. It is considered by the Workers' Party of Korea to be its root and foundation and its creation is celebrated every year.
Songun (Korean: 선군) is the "military-first" policy of North Korea, prioritizing the Korean People's Army in the affairs of state and allocation of resources. "Military-first" as a principle guides political and economic life in North Korea, with "military-first politics" dominating the political system; "a line of military-first economic construction" acting as an economic system; and "military-first ideology" serving as the guiding ideology.
Reading is a popular pastime in North Korea, where literacy and books enjoy a high cultural standing, elevated by the regime's efforts to disseminate propaganda as texts. Because of this, writers are held in high prestige.
The Communist movement in Korea emerged as a political movement in the early 20th century. Although the movement had a minor role in pre-war politics, the division between the communist North Korea and the anti-communist South Korea came to dominate Korean political life in the post-World War II era. North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, continues to be a Jucheist state under the rule of the Workers' Party of Korea. In South Korea, the National Security Law has been used to criminalize advocacy of communism and groups suspected of alignment with North Korea. Due to the end of economic aid from the Soviet Union after its dissolution in 1991, due to the impractical ideological application of Stalinist policies in North Korea over years of economic slowdown in the 1980s and receding during the 1990s, North Korea continues to nominally uphold Communism, but has replaced Marxism-Leninism with the Juche idea. References to Communism were removed in the North Korean 1992 and 1998 constitutional revisions to make way for the personality cult of Kim's family dictatorship and the North Korean market economy reform. The Workers' Party of Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong Un later reconfirmed commitment to the establishment of a communist society, but orthodox Marxism has since been largely tabled in favor of "Socialism in our style". Officially, the DPRK still retains a command economy with complete state control of industry and agriculture. North Korea maintains collectivized farms and state-funded education and healthcare.
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is the oldest active party in Korea. It also controls the Korean People's Army, North Korea's armed forces. The WPK is the largest party represented in the Supreme People's Assembly and coexists with two other legal parties that are completely subservient to the WPK and must accept the WPK's "leading role" as a condition of their existence. The WPK is banned in the Republic of Korea under the National Security Act and is sanctioned by the United Nations, the European Union, Australia, and the United States.
The 13th World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) was held from 1–8 July 1989 in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and was organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth. It was the largest international event staged in North Korea up until then.
Lim Su-kyung is a South Korean activist and politician. She is best known for attending the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in North Korea and praising President of North Korea Kim Il Sung in 1989, without first obtaining travel permission from the South Korean government. She attended the festival representing the student organization Jeondaehyop (전대협), now known as Hanchongryun. Upon her return to South Korea, she was arrested and sentenced to twelve years in prison, later commuted to five years of which she served three.
Progressivism in South Korea is broadly associated with social democracy, cultural progressivism and left-wing nationalism. South Korea's "progressivism" is often used in a similar sense to 'South Korean Left' or 'leftist'.
On the Art of the Cinema is a 1973 treatise by the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It is considered the most authoritative work on North Korean filmmaking.
The 2nd Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea was held in Pyongyang in October 1966. At the time the domestic and international situation of the Korean Workers' Party was complicated by the Sino-Soviet split, which had caused a rift among communist countries and parties. Kim Il Sung delivered the report The Present Situation and the Tasks of Our Party which emphasized unity between socialist countries and within the international communist movement, as well as directing the main blow to United States imperialism, particularly with regards to the Vietnam War. He also emphasized the need for "politico-ideological unity of the revolutionary ranks".
The Propaganda and Agitation Department, officially translated as the Publicity and Information Department, is a department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) tasked with coordinating the creation and dissemination of propaganda in North Korea. It is the highest propaganda organization in the country.
The Kapsan faction incident was an unsuccessful attempt to undermine the power of Kim Il Sung, the leader of North Korea, around the year 1967. The "Kapsan faction" was a group of veterans of the anti-Japanese struggle of the 1930s and 1940s that was initially close to Kim Il Sung. In the wake of the 2nd Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in 1966, the faction sought to introduce economic reforms, challenge Kim Il-sung's cult of personality, and appoint its ringleader Pak Kum-chol as his successor.
On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work, also known as the "Juche speech", was a speech delivered on 28 December 1955 by Kim Il Sung. The address mentioned his Juche ideology by name for the first time. It is considered one of Kim's most important works and a "watershed moment" in North Korean history. Views differ if the speech used the term juche to launch an ideology or more conservatively to assert that the Korean people were the subject of the revolution. The former believes that Juche, as a distinct ideology, was developed by Hwang Jang-yop on his re-discovery of the speech. The speech was published for the first time in 1960 and in many subsequent, heavily edited revisions since.
Officially, the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) – the ruling party of North Korea – is a communist party guided by Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, a synthesis of the ideas of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The party is committed to Juche, an ideology attributed to Kim Il Sung which promotes national independence and development through the efforts of the masses. Although Juche was originally presented as the Korean interpretation of Marxism–Leninism, the party now presents it as a freestanding philosophy of Kim Il Sung. The WPK recognizes the ruling Kim family as the ultimate source of its political thought. The fourth party conference, held in 2012, amended the party rules to state that Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism was "the only guiding idea of the party". Under Kim Jong Il, who governed as chairman of the National Defence Commission, communism was steadily removed from party and state documents in favour of Songun, or military-first politics. The military, rather than the working class, was established as the base of political power. However, Kim Jong Il's successor Kim Jong Un reversed this position in 2021, replacing Songun with "people-first politics" as the party's political method and reasserting the party's commitment to communism.
Left-wing nationalism or "Nationalist Left" in South Korea combines Korean nationalist agendas such as anti-imperialism and Korean reunification with left-wing politics.
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