UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles
From Soviet Origins to Chuch’e:
Marxism-Leninism in the History of North Korean Ideology, 1945-1989
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy
in Asian Languages and Cultures
by
Thomas Stock
2018
© Copyright by
Thomas Stock
201
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION
From Soviet Origins to Chuch’e:
Marxism-Leninism in the History of North Korean Ideology, 1945-1989
by
Thomas Stock
Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures
University of California, Los Angeles, 2018
Professor Namhee Lee, Chair
Where lie the origins of North Korean ideology? When, why, and to what extent did
North Korea eventually pursue a path of ideological independence from Soviet MarxismLeninism? Scholars typically answer these interrelated questions by referencing Korea’s
historical legacies, such as Chosŏn period Confucianism, colonial subjugation, and Kim Il
Sung’s guerrilla experience.
The result is a rather localized understanding of North Korean
ideology and its development, according to which North Korean ideology was rooted in native
soil and, on the basis of this indigenousness, inevitably developed in contradistinction to
Marxism-Leninism.
Drawing on Eastern European archival materials and North Korean
theoretical journals, the present study challenges our conventional views about North Korean
ideology. Throughout the Cold War, North Korea was possessed by a world spirit, a MarxistLeninist world spirit. Marxism-Leninism was North Korean ideology’s Promethean clay. From
iii
adherence to Soviet ideological leadership in the 1940s and 50s, to declarations of ideological
independence in the 1960s, to the emergence of chuch’e philosophy in the 1970s and 80s, North
Korea never severed its ties with the Marxist-Leninist tradition. On the contrary, this tradition
constituted the basic and most fundamental raw material from which North Korean ideology was
shaped and developed. The evolution of North Korean ideology was not predetermined by
Korea’s historical legacies. Rather, a convergence of historically immediate domestic and
international factors led to the emergence of an independent ideology, an ideology that despite its
independence from Soviet ideological suzerainty remained situated within a global MarxistLeninist intellectual space. Though many scholars have argued otherwise, even chuch’e
philosophy, the apex of North Korean ideological particularity during the Cold War, was hardly
an idealism and instead quite reminiscent of a good old-fashioned Marxist-Leninist materialism.
문성희 박사(사진 제공:문성희)문성희 네, 유엔인구기금의 보고서에 따르면 북한의 합계출산율은 1.9명으로 집계됐다고 하네요. 이는 말씀하신데로 북한 여성 1명이 평생 자녀를 채 2명도 낳지 않는다는 것을 뜻합니다. 인구 유지를 위해 필요한 합계출산율이 2.1명에도 도달하지 못하고 있습니다. 유엔인구기금 보고서에 따르면 전 세계 합계출산율이 2.4명, 특히 최빈개발도상국의 출산율이 3.8명이기때문에 그것보다도 한참 낮은 숫자이지요. 2020년부터 2025년까지 북한 인구 증가율은 연평균 0.4%에 그칠 것으로 추산된다고 하네요. 정말 심각하다고 생각합니다.
평양 외곽의 한 유치원에서 어린이들이 놀고 있다.
