In Kim Jong Un’s speeches, Marx returns to North Korea

Analysis

In Kim Jong Un’s speeches, Marx returns to North Korea

Reappearance of communism in country's discourse suggests regime's loss of ideological control due to pandemic

Benjamin R. Young July 7, 2021

In Kim Jong Un’s speeches, Marx returns to North Korea

About a decade ago, North Korea took down the portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin from Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, and the last vestiges of Marxism-Leninism in the country were suddenly gone.

The disappearance of the portraits followed the 2009 removal of all references to communism from the North Korean constitution, as the DPRK’s cultish leader worship system, known as Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, became “the only guiding idea of the Party.”

About the Author

Benjamin R. Young

Benjamin R. Young is an Assistant Professor of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). He is the author of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World (Stanford University Press, 2021). He received his Ph.D. from The George Washington University in 2018. He has previously taught at the U.S. Naval War College and Dakota State University. He has published peer-reviewed articles on North Korean history and politics in a number of scholarly journals and is a regular contributor to NK News.

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