Legendary Leaders In North Korea

North Korea has been the most mysterious country in the world for the past decades, due to its isolationism and legendary leaders, Kim Il Sung, the father, and the son, Kim Jong Il. The “Great Leaders” (Hyun-Sik, 2008, P.22) professed themselves as sacred figures, and force the entire nation worship them through brainwashing to gain the superior power. Hyun-Sik (2008) discusses how the leaders adopted “personality cult” (Kim, 2008, P.24) into their military government system. North Koreans were trained by the government to worship and believe the leaders as the only god. Since 1975, the regime began to infuse the idea of leader adoration from kindergarten throughout university. The government even hung the portraits of the leaders on all the

In the North Korea case, there is a system of laws and regulations to rule the people. However, it is not an impersonal system, the subordinates obey the law because the leader or the “god” said so. It is the worship or even the fear for the leader that create a coherent system of rules. Subordinates who failed to comply will be executed. Secondly, traditional Domination is the legitimacy comes from the tradition or customs. In this type of domination, power hold by the traditional dominant figure shall not be questioned just like the power of the North Korea leader should not be challenged. In addition, Patrimonialism in North Korea further reinforce the traditional authority, power is passed from father to son, domination preserve by the Kim’s become the sanctity of age old rules. Thirdly, the charismatic authority is created by a gifted person who has an extraordinary power. It is a irrational authority and there is no formal rule. The subordinates do not obey the charismatic figure by the rules or statute, they believe in the figure due to his exceptional capability or power. In North Korea, the charismatic authority is the most salient ideal type. North Koreans are trained to believe that their leaders are sacred; they must obey everything that the leader said. From the examination of North Korea by using the three ideal types of legitimate domination, it is clear that the interconnections between the three ideal types help the Kim’s preserve the domination. Interconnected method adopted by the Kim’s make their power even more substantial and stable, and cannot be