Customer Reviews

Juche: A Christian Study of North Korea's State Religion

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the compiler of world religion statistics at Adherents.com I was aware of the existence of Juche, but not many details. Tom Belke reveals the details about North Korea's Juche system - something that is as bizarre and fascinating in a perverse way as the best alternate reality science fiction I've read by Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, Asimov, or William Gibson. But North Korea is not some far-off planet of alternate history - it really exists in 1999.

This book is a must-have for anybody interested in the region. But be aware that Belke writes from an Evangelical Christian perspective. The book makes no apologies for criticizing the Orwellian regime in North Korea. In places, the result is an odd juxtaposition of two viewpoints which are both alien to most academic researchers - North Korea's strange system is seen through Belke's unstinting Evangelical eyes. It's not enough to describe how North Korean prison guards are told that they won't be punished for killing prisoners. Belke goes further by explaining that this is bad and un-Christian.

Anybody who enjoys reading history, religion, politics, or science fiction will not be able to put this book down - it's compelling in a morbid way - like watching a cultural train wreck.

Tom Belke has greatly assisted researchers and policymakers by writing the first U.S. authored analysis of the philosophy of Juche. The book clearly demonstrates that the philosophy is a religion, not a traditional Communist ideology.

The book covers the numerous aspects critical to understanding North Korea's doctrine: history, goals, holy places, and concepts behind Juche. The text contains many easy-to-read tables which were welcome by this reviewer. Photographs selected are excellent. The book is heavily footnoted, but this reader would have appreciated even more footnotes. This reader also greatly missed an index, which is critical to researchers and scholars.

Mr. Belke's faith helped him to more clearly see the mystical aspects of Juche, something traditional scholars overlook or amazingly dismiss. This reviewer, a non-theist (one that has no concept of God), did not mind the biblical thrust of the book. Unfortunately, the "Christian" tag will no doubt limit the readership. A pity. This reviewer believes that Mr. Belke's desire to paint Juche as "humanist" did somewhat cloud his arguement. I believe he would find humanists to be allies against what is clearly a horrible evil. A small flaw, in an otherwise terrific accomplishment.

This book is recommended for those who study North Korea, religion, cults, and foreign policy in general. It should be read as a warning by all policymakers who believe that foreign countries share the goals of peace and properity. "Juche: A Christian Study of North Korea's State Religion" suggests that, sadly, that it is just not so.

Tom Belke has done a great service for those concerned about cults by taking the lid off one of the world's largest aberrational religious groups and perhaps the least known of all world cults. Because of this book the Western world can now understand the cultic and spiritual dimensions of a belief system that previously was thought to have only political consequences.

Five stars... yes. I recommend this book for anyone who may have the heart or the desire to learn of North Korea and the forces which shaped its present day existence. I have gazed over the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and seen the devastation in the land of the North and then by turning slightly to the right seen the prosperity of the South. At that time it became apparent who was walking in the blessing and whom in the curse. This book is an excellent aid to those who feel called to pray for N.K. It covers Juche, the architects of Juche, Korean history, those who have seen the inside of N.K. and the spiritual dimensions of this religion. The most challenging part of reading through the book was not the length but how draining and tedious the N.K. government propaganda is. The author hit the nail on the head when he called it "psycho-babble". I commend Commander Belke for writing this book and Living Sacrifice Books for publishing it.

-- Quite intriguing to read varying Amazon reviews of "JUCHE."

One reviewer (from NC) seemed to have an anti-Christian "axe to grind" -- which is not surprising given the inherently HOT ideological/spiritual conflict associated with this topic.

Ironically, had any reviewer in North Korea (Christian or otherwise) adversely commented on a pro-Juche book, he/she would end up in a concentration camp!

As one considers the spiritual map of the Korean peninsula, one cannot help but note the dramatic contrast between the North (heavily dominated by the Juche faith) and the South (heavily influenced by the Christian faith).

On his www.adherents.com website, Preston Hunter states, "But today's Juche has developed into a distinct, unique system, and has officially repudiated its Marxist-Leninist roots. While we recognize there may be validity in continued classification of Juche as a highly "heretical" subset of Communism or general secularism, it seems that, on balance, to do so today is no more accurate than continuing to classify Buddhism as a Hindu sect." Ref: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Juche

NOTE: The ADHERENTS website currently ranks Juche as the 10th largest religion in the world.

One might ask, "So what!?" Why is this significant? My answer is that every North Korean's worldview is heavily influenced by the Juche ideology since he/she has been systematically brainwashed with since age 3. Thus, whether one is a diplomat, an international businessman, student, policy analyst, missionary or humanitarian aid worker, etc., one lacks the basic knowledge necessary to understand this radically different way of viewing the world.

For even more detailed (and controversial) information on the spiritual principalities/occult/origins/background of Juche, see my 657-page master's thesis entitled, "JUCHE: The State Religion of North Korea" (available via either the University of Michigan Library or the Regent University Library (www.regent.edu).

For example, there are amazing "coincidences" such as the "Tower of Juche Idea" [555 ft tall obelisk -- pagan (Juche) origins located at 39 degrees N. Latitude] and the "Washington Monument [also 555 ft tall obelish -- pagan (Free-Mason) origins also located at 39 degrees N. Latitude.]

Many specifics regarding the North Korea's spiritual principalities (and origins thereof) are included in the unabridged version of JUCHE. For Korean researchers, Both Rev. Dr. Cho (Senior Pastor, Yoido Full Gospel Church) and the Institute for East Asian Studies (Seoul) also have a copy of the (larger) unabridged version of JUCHE.

Without apology, I do not present JUCHE as a "neutral" book. One candidate (Christian) publisher's CEO asked me if there was any way that I could edit the manuscript such that it "would NOT be offensive to the government of North Korea" (NOT Voice of the Martyrs). Such a request was like asking the Simon Wiesenthal Center to write a book on th Holocaust that would not be offensive to Nazis, neo-Nazis, or Hitler!

Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) was the one publisher that did not find the topic "too hot to handle." Remarkably, VOM had already been scathingly denounced in official North Korean propaganda for anti-totalitarian protests against North Korea that occurred in Europe. So, VOM's decision to publish JUCHE is just another step in their uncompromising dedication to support the persecuted church worldwide and to the uncompromising propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered his American soldiers to march through, view and film the concentration camps in person so that people could NOT someday claim that, "such a thing did not happen." Eisenhower was NOT neutral about the Nazi's, their regime and their concentration camps -- neither am I regarding Juche, the North Korea regime and their concentration camps.

JUCHE includes a history of North Korea's concentration camps including drawings, policies, etc. For more recent firsthand accounts from North Korean concentration camps, see the new VOM book, "Eyes of the Tailless Animals" (see either Amazon.com or the publisher's (VOM) website (www.persecution.com).

Kindest regards,

Tom

Juche is just another form of atheism. It is based on evolution and socialism. Its philosophy is made up of recycled cliches borrowed from secular Western ideas, but it tries to portray itself as an original. The bad thing about Juche is that all North Koreans are forced to believe in it against their will. Self-reliance has turned to self-destruction for North Korea, which completely discredits Juche. The lesson of North Korea is that it is better to be a friend of God than to be an enemy of God.

As the title of this book suggests, Thomas Belke's analysis of the world's most enigmatic state, North Korea, is based on religious one. While this approach is a refreshing method, Belke fails in delving deep into fundamental basis of Juche, the subject of his book. In other words, Belke's interpretation of Juche within a strict confines of religious and moral perspective leads to a very distorted desceription of North Korea and its ideology. True, Juche Idea is full of religious, even Christian, rhetoric and values, but it is more of a coincidence than a plan. Belke's lack of Korean history and issues also is a source of annoyance. For example, North Korea's chief ideologue Mr. Hwang, Chang-hyop is called by his middile name "Yop," instead of his surname Hwang on page 22. On page 35, Belke writes "the first 'unification' of the peninsula did not occur until 668, when Shilla in the south conquered Koguryo in the north to form the kingdom of Koryo." In fact, unpon conquering the northern kingdom with the aid of China, Silla established a Unified Silla. Koryo is an entirely new dynasty with a new ruling house. These minor mistakes aside, the most significant flaw in Belke's analysis is his use of North Korean propaganda as the source of his "Christian" analysis of Juche. Propaganda is tool by which a regime justifies its control and rule. The Soviet Union and People's Republic of China at one time or another have expereinced similar "deification" of their national leaders--namely, Stalin and Mao--through propaganda. Analysis of propaganda alone can not the source of one's understanding. Any reader interested in learning more about Juche or North Korea's ideology should instead turn to Han S. Park, et. al.,"North Korea: Ideology, Politics, and Economy," and Adrian Buzo, "The Guerilla Dynasty: Politics and Leadership in North Korea."

Tom Belke's book brings to the American reader some very disturbing news about a society which most American's know nothing. But with whom we fought a major war only fifty years ago. And may well again. Tom, who has conducted an enormous amount of research for this text and compiled a truly impressive bibliography, gives readers almost an insiders view into a totalitarian state which has transformed Marxist communism into a system of religion with Kim Il Sung and his son as the objects of worship. Truly fascinating.

I suppose the information in this book would shock me much more if I were a really hard core Christian, so the parts about "worship" of Kim il-Sung don't really offend me. The description of the labor camps and everyday life in North Korea is the most shocking part of the whole book. It sounds just like Stalin's Soviet Union, and maybe worse. The persecution of Christians in North Korea represents just a small part of what's going on there...I wonder if its the same for all people who are "different" that live in that country. Unfortuanatly, its hard to tell if ALL the information is true, as is the case with any sort of book on a rogue nation. Hardly any of us have visited these countries, and even those who have have been limited in what they see. Luckily, they do provide a good deal of information from defectors and other people who have left North Korea. Pretty frightening material...

Mr. Belke's book is one of the few book-length analyses of the North Korean ideology of Juche. Although not a work of scholarship, this book contains much useful information. Its premise is quite possibly correct: that Kim il Sung and his subordinates created a new religion, with Kim himself as a god and his son Kim Jong Il as some kind of messiah. There's more resemblance to ancient history with its of cult worship of emperor-gods than anything in modern times. What North Korea most definitely is not is a communist or Marxist country. It has morphed into something entirely different, and Belke does a good job of providing background and explanations of this extremist ideology and its results.

Belke however is a Christian fundamentalist and is in the farthest realm of extremism himself. He is a follower of Francis Schaeffer, a protestant minister on the fringes of the Christian Reconstruction movement and Dominionism, which holds that Christians (by their very narrow definition) are destined to rule the earth, and not in a very nice way for non-Christians... The last chapter of the book tries to equate Juche with western humanism, and these pages are useless drivel. If you can ignore the frequent lapses into the fundamentalist Christian ideology of the writer, the book is well worth reading.