Overthinking North Korea's Juche doctrine



Evergreen Overthinking North Korea’s Juche doctrine Lightning rod scholar Myers returns with detailed take on Pyongyang's 'official' doctrine, which Westerners consistently misinterpret Gianluca Spezza October 19, 2015 SHARE COPY LINK FACEBOOK X LINKEDIN MASTODON Kim Il Sung & Kim Jong Il Statues in Hamhung by fvfavo on 2015-09-09 10:20:03 There is a passage from a famous stand-up comedy routine by Louis C.K., which aptly sums up what has been B.R. Myers’ main argument for almost a decade now: “Think America before white men came. It was just ‘Indians.’ Except that they weren’t. We call them ‘Indians’ by accident; we still do. We knew, after a month, that it wasn’t India, that the guys there were not ‘Indians,’ and 500 years on, we still call them that way! We never corrected it! We went like: ‘you must be Indians,’ and they went ‘Uh … no, we’re not,’ and we went: © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be reproduced, distributed, or used for commercial purposes without prior written permission from Korea Risk Group. Get the Daily Update Start your day with the North Korea stories that matter most – as selected by Trending

Evergreen

Overthinking North Korea’s Juche doctrine

Lightning rod scholar Myers returns with detailed take on Pyongyang's 'official' doctrine, which Westerners consistently misinterpret

Gianluca Spezza October 19, 2015

Overthinking North Korea’s Juche doctrine

Kim Il Sung & Kim Jong Il Statues in Hamhung by fvfavo on 2015-09-09 10:20:03

There is a passage from a famous stand-up comedy routine by Louis C.K., which aptly sums up what has been B.R. Myers’ main argument for almost a decade now:

“Think America before white men came. It was just ‘Indians.’ Except that they weren’t. We call them ‘Indians’ by accident; we still do. We knew, after a month, that it wasn’t India, that the guys there were not ‘Indians,’ and 500 years on, we still call them that way! We never corrected it! We went like: ‘you must be Indians,’ and they went ‘Uh … no, we’re not,’ and we went:

About the Author

Gianluca Spezza

Gianluca Spezza earned his PhD in 2017 from the University of Central Lancashire under the supervision of Professor Hazel Smith, on the strength of research on the cooperation between UNICEF and the DPRK in education and childcare. Dr Spezza is an assistant professor of international relations and a senior researcher at the DPRK Strategy Center at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan; he is writing a monograph on education, international cooperation, and human capital in North Korea (Palgrave 2021). His work on the DPRK, articles or interviews, can be found, among others, on the websites of the BBC, The Guardian, The Diplomat, IRIN News, NK News, DR.dk, Newsweek Korea, and El Confidential.

View more articles by Gianluca Spezza Got a news tip?Let us know!

Location of your Mastodon instance:

Overthinking North Korea’s Juche doctrine

Start your day with the North Korea stories that matter most –

as selected by

One more step!

Error!

Trending

Recent Stories

About the Author

Gianluca Spezza

Start your day with
the North Korea stories that matter most –