The Cleanest Race (24 page)

1.
See for example Thomas Hosuck Kang’s
Why the North Koreans Behave as They Do
(1994), and Selig Harrison’s
Korean Endgame
, 21-24. Cumings advances much the same message in
Korea’s Place in the Sun
, 415-418. Typical journalistic references to North Korea’s Confucian tendencies: McCormack, “Book Talk,” ABC Radio National, March 1, 2003.

2.
Mark Clifford, “A Nation of Famine and Adulation: Letter from Pyongyang,”
Business Week
, December 18, 2000; Erik Cornell, “An Oddly Troublesome Couple,”
The Daily Times
(Australia), January 29, 2003.

3.
Harrison,
Korean Endgame
, 21.

4.
My main source for this summary is the entry on Kim Il Sung in
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 1:3-17. For part of the paragraph on his childhood, I drew from Han Sǒrya’s
Man’gyŏngdae
(1955) 362-491; for Kim’s early rising, see
Yŏngsaeng
, 1997, 7. For the ash tree reference, see Choe,
Kim Jong Il
, 9.

5.
In 2007 the seventieth (!) volume of the
Among the Masses
(Inmindŭl sok esǒ, 1962–) series of “on-the-spot guidance” story anthologies was published.

6.
“Myǒng’ǒn haesǒl,”
Ch’ǒngnyǒn munhak
, September 2004, 18.

7.
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 18:154.

8.
Myers,
Han Sŏrya
, 136-137.

9.
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 18:193.

10.
Han Sǒr-ya,
Hyŏllo
, 24.

11.
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 18:194.

12.
Choe,
Kim Jong Il
, 21.

13.
Kim Jong Suk, Mother of Korea
, 92.

14.
See a famous “photograph” of Kim and his wife during the guerilla years, ibid., 18:195.

15.
Han Sŏrya,
Ryŏksa
, 114.

16.
See Chŏng Kwan-ch’ŏl’s canonical painting, “Poch’ŏnbo ǔi hwappul,” on the frontispiece of Yi,
Pukhan misul ǔi 50 nyŏn
.

17.
4
ch’ŏnman ǔi t’aeyang, 2:23
.

18.
Kim Kyu-hak, Kim Ki-ch’ŏl, “10 wŏl ǔi hwanho,”
Pukhan misul ǔi 50-nyŏn
, 116.

19.
See, for example, Han Sŏrya’s short story “Kaeson” (1948).

20.
See for example the cartoon “Wihŏmhan pul changnan,” on page 59 of
Ch’ ŏllima
, June 1998, or the illustrations of the American missionary in the short story
Jackals
(Sŏngnyangi), in
Adong munhak
, August 2003, 48.

21.
In
My Happiness
(Na ǔi haengbok, 1988), a KPA soldier shouts these words before blowing up herself and a South Korean gunship. “Suryŏngnim, ap’ e nŭn ch’oichŏnsŏn imnida” in
Chosǒn yesul
, July 1982, 18.

22.
“Suryŏngnim, ap’ e nŭn ch’oichŏnsŏn imnida” in
Chosǒn yesul
, July 1982, 18.

23.
“Lots of Literary Works Praising Kim Jong Il Created,” KCNA, August 23, 2007.

24.
See
Pukhan misul ǔi 50 nyŏn
, 7 and 124.

25.
Kang Ch’ǒr-wŏn, “3-dae rŭl io angyŏ chusin sarang kwa ŭnjŏng,” 181.

26.
See the painting, “Kwan’gae kongsajang ǔl hyŏnji jido hayo chusinŭn Kim Il-sǒng tongji,” in
Chosŏn yesul
, March 1982, front matter.

27.
So Kwang-sŏn, “Yŏnp’ung chunghakkyo e saegyŏjin sarang ǔi chǒnsol,” 159.

28.
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 26:353.

29.
For a recent example, see “Ch’ǒngnyon i kŏrŏon sŭngni wa yŏnggwang ǔi 50-nyŏn,”
Rodong sinmun
, May 25, 2005.

30.
“Saram ǔi maŭm ǔl umjigil chul anŭn il’ggun i toeŏya,” 454.

31.
Kim Il-sǒng wŏnsunim un uri ǔi abŏji
, 110, 139, 160, 216, 223, etc.

32.
Ibid., 21, 24-25.

33.
Sin Chŏn, “Ch’oso e suryŏngnim i osyŏssne,” lyrics on
www1.big.or.jp/~jrldr/korea/c30.html
.

34.
Kim Ch’ǒl-jin, O Kwang-ho, “Namjin e kil esǒ pyŏngsadŭl ǔi haenggun ǔl tolpwa chusinŭn Kim Il-sǒng wŏnsunim,”; Kim In-hwan, Chŏng Yŏng-man, Ch’oi Sŏng-nyong, “P’yŏngyang wiwŏnhoe rŭl ch’aja chusin ŏbŏi suryŏngnim Kim Il-sǒng tongji.”

35.
Chŏng Kyu-t’aek, “Han chǒnsa ǔi kŏn’gang ǔl nyŏmnyŏ hasiyŏ.”

36.
“Odi e kyesimnikka, kŭriun changgunnim?”

37.
Kim Il-sǒng wŏnsunim un uri ǔi abŏji
, 46.

38.
Ibid., 273, 274, 275.

39.
See the painting “Samjiyŏn ǔi saebyŏk kil,”
Chosŏn yesul
, April 1982, 18.

40.
See the picture on page 472 of
Pulmyŏl ǔi yŏngsang
, Pyongyang, 1992.

41.
“Sarang ǔi yaksok,”
Ch’ǒllima
, January 2005, 30.

42.
Yŏngsaeng
, 58.

43.
The film:
Ch’inaehanŭn chidoja Kim Jŏng-il tongji ǔi t’ansaeng 50 tol
, 1992.

44.
Hirohito
, 27, 90, 195.
T’aeyang sungbae ǔi yŏngwŏnhan hwap’ŏk, 11
. A famous song in the North is entitled, “Long Live the Great Marshal Kim Il Sung” (Kim Il-sǒng taewŏnsu manmanse). See “Kim Jŏng-il ch’ongbiso inmin’gun hyŏpchudan konghun hapch’angdan ǔi kyŏngch’uk kongyŏn kwallam,” Korean Central News Agency, July 28, 1998. For recent use of the word pattŭlda, see “Ilsim tangyŏl ǔi wiryŏk ǔl him igge kwasihan taechŏngch’i ch’ukchŏn,”
Rodong sinmun
, October 19, 2005.

45.
See for example, Armstrong,
The North Korean Revolution
, 222-223.

46.
The Denial of Death
, 224-225.

47.
Think No Evil
, 65.

1.
See the pictures “Chosŏn ǔi kŭngji” (1980) by Pak Chinsu et al,
Pukhan misul ǔi 50-nyŏn
, 89; “Samjiyŏn ǔi saebyŏk kil,”
Chosŏn yesul
, April 1982, 18; “Na ǔi chǒnsadul i kidarigo isso,”
Chosŏn yesul
, September 2005, front matter.

2.
Summarized from the official encyclopaedia entry on Kim Jong Il in
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 1:18-29; Choe In Su,
Kim Jong Il, the People’s Leader; Kim Jŏng-il wŏnsunim hyŏngmyŏng ryŏksa: Kodŭng chunghakkyo: 4
, Pyongyang, 1999; “Brief History of Kim Jong Il,”
Korean Central News Agency
, February 16, 2002.

3.
Choe,
Kim Jong Il, the People’s Leader
, 4.

4.
Ibid., 50.

5.
From a teacher’s notes excerpted in the official biography: “Kim Jong Il does not want and even detests special favors.” Ibid., 86.

6.
Yŏngsaeng
, 328-9.

7.
The novel
Y
o
ngsaeng
shows Kim fretting constantly over his father’s health.

8.
Kim Kyu-hak, “Pulmyŏl ǔi chaguk ǔl chajŭsiŏ” (1982),
Pukhan misul
u
i 50-ny
o
n
, 92.

9.
Kang Kwan-ju, “Kim Jŏng-il tongji-rŭl chal pattŭrŏ nagaya hamnida,” 12, 13, 10.

10.
Ibid., 11-12.

11.
See also “Chŏlse ǔi wiin ǔl ttarŭnŭn manmin ǔi hŭmmo,”
Ch’ǒllima
, August 2004, 34.

12.
Pak Il-myŏng, “Chŏnhwan,”
Chosŏn munhak
, June 1999, 5-16.

13.
Ibid., 5.

14.
Ibid., 6.

15.
Ibid., 6.

16.
Ibid., 7.

17.
Ibid.

18.
Ibid., 8.

19.
Ibid.

20.
Ch’ǒnhwan, 9.

21.
See for example the television movie
Season’s Greetings
(Ch’ukpok hamnida, 2001).

22.
“Waejin samch’oso e kkaji ch’aja osiyŏ,”
Chosŏn yesul
, October 2006, front matter; “Paengni mulgil e ŏrin pulmyŏl ǔi cha’uk,”
Chosŏn yesul
, April 2005, front matter.

23.
See the painting “Nagwŏn ǔi pompit,” ’
Chosŏn yesul
, February 2006, front matter.

24.
T’aeyang sungbae ǔi yŏngwŏnhan hwap’ŏk
, 28, 29, 30, 31.

25.
Chŏnhwan
, 14.

26.
“Kye Sun-hŭi sŏnsu rŭl wihan yŏnhoe,” Korean Central News Agency, August 7, 2001.

27.
“Kim Jong Il’s Devoted Service to People,” Korean Central News Agency, August 18, 2007.

28.
Sim Chae-hun, “Uri ŏbŏi,”
Chosŏn munhak
, December 2006, 4.

29.
“Kŭp’um ǔl ttŏna mot sara sŏjŏngsi
ŏmŏni
rŭl ŭlp’umyo,” Korean Central News Agency, October 9, 2003.

30.
See for example the television evening news of July 28, 2009.

31.
Bix, 252.

32.
“Hyŏngmyong ǔi sunoebu kyŏlsa ongwi harira,” Korean Central Television, July 18, 2009.

33.
Fenichel, quoted in Becker, 132.

1.
Yŏngsaeng
, 439.

2.
Ibid., 252.

3.
“Widaehan suhoja,”
Ch’ǒllima
, December 2006, 9. In “Angnarhan miguk ǔi simni moryakchŏn,”
Ch’ǒllima
, December 2007, 77, the USSR’s collapse is likened to that of a “wet clay wall.”

4.
Ryu Jŏng-bong, Kim Ik-ha, “Che 13-ch’a P’yŏngyang ch’ukchŏn ǔi pam” (1989),
Pukhan misul ǔi 50-nyŏn
, 105.

5.
A comparable picture, “Man’gyŏngdae ǔi kohyang chip,” depicts a radiant Korean beauty showing Kim Il Sung’s birthplace to an equally unsavory-looking group of foreigners.
T’aeyang sungbae ǔi yŏngwŏnhan hwap’ŏk
(2002), 82.

6.
Ch’ǒngddae
, 437, 462.

7.
“Sŏnmul sogae,”
Ch’ ŏllima
, August 2004, 6-7. See also the film
Ch’inaehanŭn chidoja Kim Jŏng-il tongji ǔi t’ansaeng 50 tol
, made in 1992 to celebrate Kim Jong Il’s fiftieth birthday; about ten of the film’s seventy minutes are devoted to showing gifts newly received from abroad.

8.
Ryŏksa
, 254-255.

9.
Ibid., 255.

10.
“Yesul yŏnghwa >Nae ga pon nara< (che 2, 3-bu) sisahoe,” KCNA, July 27, 2009. The film was routinely discussed on the nightly news throughout the summer.

11.
Ryŏksa ǔi taeha
, 4, 8-9, 64, 208, 225, 316; Pak Dong-jin,
Sŭngnyangi mije ǔi choi’ak; Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 18:154.

12.
See for example, Kim Su-ryŏn, “Sŭngnyangi ǔi ponsŏng un pyŏnhaji annŏnda,”
Adong munhak
, September 2003, 57.

13.
Ri Sŭng-bŏm,”Nae ka chabŭn migungnom,”
Chosŏn yesul
, May 2006, 47.

14.
So,
Inmin i sanŭn mosŭp
, 1:97.

15.
“The marks of the beast [in Japanese propaganda] were claws, fangs, animal hindquarters, sometimes a tail, sometimes small
horns … the quasi-religious demon or devil … was the dominant metaphor … A journalistic account … was accompanied by an illustration of Uncle Sam as a sharp-nailed, sharp-toothed clergyman with the tail of a fox.” Dower,
War Without Mercy
, 244-245.

16.
See the poster bearing the caption “Mije ǔi kyohwal han simnijŏk ch’aekdong ǔl kŏrŭm mada chitbusija,”
Chosŏn munhak yesul nyŏn’gam: 2005
, 343.

17.
Sŭngnyangi
, 72.

18.
T’aeyang sungbae ǔi yŏngwŏnhan hwap’ŏk
, 56.

19.
See for example the propaganda posters on the inside back covers of the January and February 1999 issues of the magazine
Ch’ǒllima
.

20.
P’yŏngyang ǔi nŭnbora,” In
Hŭk, ppuri
, 114-145.

21.
Ibid., 134.

22.
Ibid., 132.

23.
Ibid., 144.

24.
Ryŏksa ǔi taeha
, 9. In Korean, the verb
mushi hada
has stronger connotations of contempt than the English word “to ignore”; it would not be wrong to translate it here as “to scorn.”

25.
The name change seems intended to spare Kang any awkwardness overseas.

26.
Ryŏksa ǔi taeha
, 61-62.

27.
Ibid., 62.

28.
Ibid., 63.

29.
Ibid.

30.
Ibid., 397.

31.
Ibid.

32.
Ch’ǒngddae
, 432.

33.
Hyŏndae chosŏn mal sajŏn
, 1988, 1:1547; “Chegukchuŭi ǔi ch’imnyakchŏk ponsŏng un chǒlttaero pyŏnhal su ŏpta,”
Rodong sinmun
, January 11, 2000.

34.
See the official praise for
Ryŏksa ǔi taeha
in the national yearbook
Chosŏn chungang nyŏn’gam: 1998
, 233.

35.
“Chomi kibon habŭimun,”
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 17:545.

36.
Ryŏksa ǔi taeha
, 440.

37.
Ibid., 487.

38.
Ibid., 497.

39.
Ibid., 320, 163-164, 443.

40.
Szalontai, “You Have No Political Line,” 97-98.

41.
Ibid., 72-73. Bix, 326.

42.
Ch’ǒngddae
, 434.

43.
Ibid., 107, 109, 268, 301.

44
. The poster is on the inside back cover of the June 1998 issue of
Chosŏn munhak
.

45.
A colorful poster depicting such a missile attack and bearing the caption, “Merciless punishment for US imperialism” (Mije ege mujabihan chingbŏl ŭl) was released by the KCNA to foreign news agencies on January 31, 2003.

46.
See for example, the poster entitled “We will forever sweep from the earth anyone who messes with us,” on the inside back cover of the March 1999 issue of
Chosŏn munhak
.

47.
So,
Inmin i sanŭn mosŭp
, 1:99.

48.
“Sŭngnyangi ǔi ponsŏng un pyŏnhaji annŭnda,” 57.

49.
Ch’ǒngddae
, 458.

50.
Ibid., 442.

51.
Ibid.

52.
“K’ŭllint’on miguk chǒn taet’ ǒngnyǒng ǔi chosŏn pangmun kwa kwallyŏn han podo,” KCNA, August 5, 2009.

53.
Kim Ch’ang-hun, “Arirang hwasal,”
Ch’ǒllima
, December 2007, 85.

54.
“Chomun kibon habŭimun,”
Chosŏn taebaekkwa sajŏn
, 17:545.

55.
Kim Jong Il, “Mije nŭn uri wa han hanŭl ǔl igo sal su ŏmnŭn uri inmin ǔi ch’ŏlch’ŏnji wŏnssu imnida,” a quote box printed on page 34 of the September 2006 issue of
Ch’ǒllima
.

56.
“Ch’ǒn paekpae ro poksu hari,”
Ch’ǒllima
, April 2005, 58.

57.
Na Kyŏng-ho, “Ppalli ppalli k’ŏssŭmyŏn,” excerpted in “Tongsim kwa hŭngmi,” Kim Hae-wŏl,
Chosŏn munhak
, August 2004, 15.

58.
Kim Yunsik, “Kiŏi poksu hari,”
Chosŏn munhak
, March 1999, 80; see also “P’i kaps ǔl ch’ŏnpaekpae ro pada naerira,”
Ch’
o
llima
, July 2006, 72.

59.
This message is voiced, for example, in a “man on the street” type interview on the TV news of July 25, 2009.

60.
The Korean original: “Uri ǔi chajonsim ǔl kŏndŭrinŭn cha, ŏdi e ittdŭn kyŏlp’an ǔl nael gŏsida.”

61.
Ellul,
Propaganda
, 73.

62.
See for example, “>6.25 mije pandae t’ujaeng ǔi nal< P’yŏngyang-si kunjung taehoe chinhaeng,” KCNA, June 25, 2009.

63.
Ch’ǒllima
, inside back cover, May 1999.

64.
See the increase in anti-American articles and posters in
Ch’ ŏllima
in 1998 and 1999, and the publication of
Jackals
(Sŭngnyangi, 1951) in
Chosŏn munhak, Ch’ ǒngnyǒn munhak
, and
Ch’ ŏllima
in August 2003.