In her numbing account of North Korea, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea , Barbara Demick observes that what set Kim Il-sung apart among twentieth-century tyrants was his sensitivity to the uses of faith: “His maternal uncle was a Protestant minister back in the pre-Communist days when Pyongyang had such a vibrant Christian community that it was called the ‘Jerusalem of the East.’ Once in power, Kim Il-sung closed the churches, banned the Bible, deported believers to the hinterlands, and appropriated Christian imagery and dogma for the purpose of self-promotion.”
On the radio, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are spoken of in the breathless manner of “Pentecostal preachers.” Miracles follow the leaders around. Seas calmed, fogs that descend to keep them from detection, trees bloom and snow melts: “If Kim Il-sung was God, then Kim Jon-il was the son of God,” his birth marked by the appearance of a star and a double rainbow and a swallow who swooped down to sing about the “general who will rule the world” (45).
When Kim Il-sung died, it was prophesied that he wouldn’t stay dead: “A propaganda film released shortly after his death claimed that Kim Il-sung might come back to life if people grieved hard enough for him” (100).
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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