Korea’s Kim Jong-Il and the Danger of Deifying Leaders

By R. Albert Mohler, Jr.,

(President of the Southern Baptist Theological seminary - Special to CNN)

There are no atheists in dictatorships. The death of North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il underlies a basic fact of earthly politics: when a political regime denies any transcendent supernatural reality [i.e. God], it deifies itself.

The communist regime that has been in control of North Korea for over half a century is officially atheistic… The North Koreans sought to expunge any trace of Christianity or other religious faiths. But make no mistake, this does not mean that the Pyongyang regime did not believe in worship. To the contrary, the North Korean regime mandated worship, the worship of its own supreme leader…Historian John Lewis Gaddis explained, North Korea’s founding dictator Kim Il Sung [1912 – 1994] “was allowed to build a Stalinist state, with its own cult of personality centered on himself...”

North Korea’s Founding Dictator Kim Il Sung [1912 – 1994]

The North Korean cult of personality goes far beyond anything [Russia’s] Josef Stalin could have envisioned. Kim Il Sung became known as the “Great Leader,” the nation’s protector, gifted with supernatural powers. The “Great Leader” was said to be able to control the weather with his moods. Kim was credited with saving the North Koreans from…subservience to foreign powers.

All this was backed up with an ideology…which demands total self-sufficiency and isolation for the Korean people…Indeed, Kim’s regime turned completely inward, eventually forbidding even the reading of works by Marx and Stalin. Kim Il Sung was recast at the center of cosmic history. In journalist Jasper Becker’s words, “At this point the propaganda began to veer into the realms of madness by presenting Kim as the Christ-like savior of Korea.”

Kim Il Sung came to be considered a god. He was the “iron-willed brilliant commander,” the “Fatherly Leader” and “the leader who unfolded paradise.” The calendar was reset to start with his birth year…Children were taught to give thanks to the Fatherly Leader before eating meals.

North Koreans were subjected to coerced indoctrination, especially through the schools. They were told that Kim Il Sung was immortal and would never die. Thus, they were unprepared for his death in 1994. Veteran reporter Barbara Demick recalled…the shock around the death that Kim Il Sung “wasn’t merely the father of their country, their George Washington, their Mao, he was their God.”

“Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il [1942-2011]

Next in line came Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung’s son and chosen successor. Once he had consolidated power, the cult of deification went into full swing. Kim Jong-Il was the deified “Dear Leader” whom North Koreans were commanded to adore and follow.

Like his father, Kim Jong Il constructed a cult of personality that defied imagination. His birth was claimed to have been accompanied by supernatural special effects, heralding his arrival as the infant of destiny.

What did North Koreans receive from the hands of their “Great” and “Dear” leader? Year after year of disastrous harvests followed by starvation. The North Korean regime is among the most paranoid on the planet, and human rights organizations consistently place North Korea’s regimes among the world’s most repressive.

The hermit kingdom of North Korea is largely dark at night, starved of electrical power, and yet the regime has been determined to develop nuclear weapons.

Important Lessons

There are important lessons to observe here. A big one is that officially atheistic states are never so atheistic as they appear. Something or someone will be worshipped and acknowledged as ultimate.

If the worship of God is forbidden, the state may well turn its own dictator into a deity. This transforms the leader and the regime into objects of devotion and worship. The state is then beyond all rational critique and consideration.

In other words, citizenship is transformed into idolatry. History records the tragic legacy of idolatrous states, led by despots who range from ancient kings to warlike emperors and delusional Fuhrers [e.g. Hitler]…

Now, Kim Jong Il has been revealed to be, like his father, mortal after all. Waiting in the wings is his own son and chosen successor, Kim Jong On. The North Korean regime has already started the process of deifying Kim Jong On as the third “Fatherly Leader” of the North Korean people.

I expect the consequences to be as disastrous as they were under his father and grandfather.