What is "juche"

Juche (; ), usually translated as "self-reliance", is the official political ideology of North Korea, described by the regime as Kim Il-sung's "original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought". It claims that an individual is "the master of his destiny" and that the North Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction".

Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) developed the ideology – originally viewed as a variant of Marxism–Leninism – to become distinctly "Korean" in character, breaking ranks with the deterministic and materialist ideas of Marxism–Leninism and strongly emphasising the individual, the nation state and its sovereignty. Consequentially, Juche was adopted into a set of principles that the North Korean government has used to justify its policy decisions from the 1950s onwards. Such principles include moving the nation towards claimed "chaju" (independence), through the construction of "charip" (national economy) and an emphasis upon "chawi" (self-defence), in order to establish socialism.

The Juche ideology has been criticized by scholars and observers as a mechanism for sustaining the dictatorial rule of the North Korean regime, justifying the country's heavy-handed isolationism and oppression of North Koreans. It has also been described as a form of Korean ethnic nationalism, but one which promotes the Kim family as the saviours of the "Korean Race" and acting as a foundation of the subsequent personality cult surrounding them.