The death of infamous North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been on the worlds radar as of late. Born as Yuri Irsenovich Kim in 1941, Kim was viewed in America as an annoyance, source of comedy, and potential threat of international proportions. But in his own home of North Korea, Kim was a God on Earth.
Referred to with such high titles as "Supreme Leader", "Our Father", and the ever so humble "Glorious General Who Descended From Heaven and the Ever-Victorious Iron-Willed Commander", Kim, through indoctrination and flexing of warfare aptitude, managed to achieve an apotheosis. Now given the title of "Eternal President", even in death his legacy of Godhood stands tall. But this legacy was not generated by Kim alone. It has historical roots dating back to his father Kim Il-sung, the first to establish the pervasive Cult of Personality now a part of North Korean Socio-Politics.
Adopting a philosophy of "Juche" (Korean for self-reliance), Kim the second inherited the Communist ideology infused North Korea with the intentions of turning it into a superpower. After economic struggle and famine, Kim Jong-il managed to do just that by adopting a military first policy which allocates the greatest priority of resources to the North Korean military. In North Korea God is only rivaled by his war dogs kept under thumb, and woe to any who challenges the combined force of God sanctioned state power. Also, what God wants he gets; as South Korean film director Shin Sang-ok found out after a 1978 kidnapping. The kidnapping orders were given by movie buff Kim to kick start a North Korean film industry. It's good to be the king, no?
North Korea, and perhaps all historic oriental dictatorships and superpowers, offer a shining example of evolutionary psychology and religious symbolism gone awry, as well as a peak into the fundamental ease the human mind can be manipulated given the proper fact deficit stimuli. Among many of Kim's attributes purported by the North Korean media were his abilities to control the weather with his mood. But what would you expect from a man whose birth itself was a divine act? Jesus-er...I mean Kim Jong-il, also reportedly learned to walk at three weeks of age and was capable of speaking by eight weeks. He also appears to be one of the most prolific men of artistic genius ever, completing 1,500 manuscripts in the course of three years as well as six operas. Always the humble God, Kim's autobiography states that his operas are only "better than any in the history of music." But perhaps Kim's most God-like attribute was his miraculous ability to circumvent bathroom breaks. That's right, Kim Jong-il didn't poop nor peep.
With the death of North Korea's very own deity now looming over the social and political realm, the question to be answered is what's next for North Korea? The idea is Kim's son, the "Great Successor" Kim Jong-un will take over his fathers Godly duties as the new supreme leader just as he was groomed to be. But there is some fear that a power vacuum now exists and North Korea may become destabilized in light of a power grab by ambitious usurpers. Chances are Kim the third will obtain his post, if things are the be kept running smoothly. Surely any ambitious power grabbers are aware they live in a nation of Stockholm Syndrome afflicted Kim Jong-il loyalist.
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