The Kim Family—Gods in North Korea

 

    This image is a screenshot from a video uploaded by a youtuber from China. The video records the youtuber's five-day trip to a special economic zone in North Korea during the short border opening. In the video, they toured schools, orphanages, neighborhoods, and the beer industry—which sounds more like a reporter's journey than a tourist's. The image happened when the youtuber's tourist group was being shown around a school, and they audited a class that was doing a group performance on the theme "We are Happy." The three students were performing in Mandarin, saying that they were happy because their great father, Marshal Secretary Kim Jung Un provided them with free notebooks, backpacks, and beautiful uniforms that help them study, which makes North Korean students the happiest in the world. The students finally concluded that they should study hard for their country and repay the loving-kindness of Marshal Kim (Dan 2025: 17:45).

    The image demonstrates a classroom setting. The class is watching three of the students performing on the stage. The students are all wearing the same school uniforms and red scarves, which "symbolizes the communist regime" (Kim 2018).  The students are all in similar hair styles and the same hair color. On the front wall of the classroom, two portraits are hanging above the blackboard—they are portraits of members of the Kim family. On the left is the portrait of Kim Il Sung, who is the founding father of North Korea. On the right is the portrait of his son, Kim Jong Il, the second supreme leader of North Korea. On the blackboard, English characters state the theme of the class, which says "We are Happy (role-play)." On the projector, it shows a picture of the whole class in the same uniform as complementary materials for students' performance (Dan 2025: 17:49).

    American sociologist Robert N. Bellah raises the concept of "civil religion," which acts as a great tool to help make sense of this image. Bellah, through analyzing the speeches of American presidents, concludes that there is a recurring phenomenon of mentioning the concept of God, which could be understood within the framework of civil religion. Civil religion is the idea that there is always "a religious dimension in political life" and that the society's solidarity is generated through collectively believing and exercising certain religious rituals and practices (Bellah 1967:4). Bellah concludes that civil religion is "selectively derived from Christianity, but clearly not itself Christianity" (Bellah 1967: 7). Similar to Christianity, civil religion has a God, contains symbolism and rituals that pass down the belief and inspire respect, and obligates its believers to carry out the principle of civil religion. Different from the idea of God as a watchmaker, the God of civil religion "is actively interested and involved in history, with a special concern for America," and can bring light to all nations by leading a new social order (Bellah 1967: 7). Moreover, different from the exclusivity of traditional religion that once an individual commits to one, they are not allowed to commit to another, civil religion does not interfere with a personal choice of private religion, but obligates individuals to be “under the rubrics of the civil religion as long as one is in their official capacity” (Bellah 1967: 8). By participating in utilizing the set of shared symbols and rituals, and affirming the principles of civil religion, the the civil authority is justified and the group of people is united and solidarized.

    Moving from America to North Korea, the idea of civil religion still stands. As depicted in the image, North Korean students wearing similar uniforms and having similar hairstyles are the symbolic expression of the unity of students—the future citizens. The students also wear red scarves to school every day, and the procedure of tying the scarf every morning is a ritual that enforces respect towards the leading communist working party in North Korea and reaffirms its authority. Moreover, as presented in the vlog, the students treat Kim Jong Un as a guide and a father figure, and they thank him again and again for offering them resources and education (Dan 2025: 17:45). With the idea that Marshal Kim is the sole provider of their living and education in mind, ordinary usage of backpacks, notebooks, and uniforms reinforces students' belief in their civil religion and the authority of their leader. The education students receive puts Marshal Kim on a pedestal and praises his generosity, benevolence, and greatness. Marshal Kim in North Korea, just like President Lincoln, can be symbolically equated to Jesus, representing sacrifice and rebirth. In the eyes of North Korean students, Marshal Kim sacrificed himself and worked hard for the country, leading North Korea to be the happiest country in the world. Therefore, students feel they need to study to contribute to the country and make it a better place. Through either studying or working, North Koreans feel obligated to help the nation complete its agenda and "repay the kindness of their dear commander Marshal Kim Jong Un" (Don 2025: 18:48). Such cultivated communal feeling of obligation to contribute to the country among the North Korean students, as well as the rituals of wearing school uniform and red scarf unites the students, and even citizens, of North Korea.

    Furthermore, the portraits of the founding fathers hanging high on the walls of classrooms in North Korea, instead of national flags as seen in American classrooms, appear to symbolize a more authoritarian transformation of civil religion, where political leadership itself becomes the object of devotion and the leaders' will is the will of the nation. Unlike the founders of America, who "shaped the form and tone of the civil religion" and left it open for revision by their successors, the founders of North Korea appear to be deified, blurring the line between political leadership and religious devotion (Bellah 1967: 7). There have not yet been any successors as the leaders all belongs to a single family and hold similar ideologies. The presidents of America possess obligation to act in accords with God's command, while the Kims appear to take over the position of God. With such realized, specific, and living figure of God, civil religion in North Korea leaves little to no room for the diversity of private religious beliefs that allows different conception of Gods. Their civil religion then operates in both public and private spheres. All citizens' mundane activities can count as sacred rituals that reassure them of the greatness of the Kim family and generate respect and feelings of obligation in them, which allows the solidarity of North Korean society.

References:

Bellah, Robert N. 1967. Civil Religion in America. Daedalus 96(1):1–21.

Dan, Zhong. 2025. "探索朝鲜，全世界最幸福的国家 [Exploring Korea, The Happiest Country in the World]." YouTube. Retrieved March 28, 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYXAdweulJ0).

Kim, Hye-soo. 2018. "Inside a North Korean Classroom." NK Hidden Gulag. Retrieved March 28, 2025 (https://www.nkhiddengulag.org/blog/inside-a-north-korean-classroom).