Merry Korean Christmas

By Jasu Diaz —

Kim Jong-il’s birth was announced by a swallow. He was miraculous born in a cabin on the slopes of Paektu Mountain. On the day of his birth, a double rainbow formed in the sky and a new star appeared in the heavens.

In fact, the former leader of North Korea’s birthday is celebrated every year as the Day of the Shining Star.

Miracles followed Kim Jong-il everywhere he went. Just three weeks after birth, he was walking; after eight weeks, he was talking. He chastised his teachers in Pyongyang for errors in history lessons and wrote 1,500 books in college.

The first time he played a round of golf, he made 11 holes in one. He wrote six operas in two years and invented the hamburger.

If the legend surrounding the life the “Dear Leader” sounds reminiscent of Jesus Christ, that may be because his father was born to Christian parents. Kim Il-sung‘s father was a Presbyterian Christian and he went to missionary schools. It seems he got bored of the gospel and was drawn to Marxism.

Kim Il-sung, known as the “Great Leader,” was installed by the Soviet Union and propped up with larger-than-life propaganda — he played a central role of liberating Korea from the invading Japanese of WW2.

Once he assumed power, he demanded extreme reverence: every home had to have his portrait and bow down before it daily. He stamped out the Christianity of his childhood because it conflicted with the personality cult he instituted in his extreme police state.

“We could not turn into a communist society along with religious people,” Kim Il-sung said. “We learned later that those of religion can do away with their old habits only after they have been killed.”

From 1948 to ’87, Kim Il-sung murdered 10% of his population in an effort to eradicate Christianity. Another estimate says 700,000 Christians were liquidated in prison camps under his leadership. If he fashioned state worship on the pattern of Christianity, he made himself into an Anti-Christ.

The Great Leader’s wife became revered when his son, Kim Jong-il, took over. She is called “Mother of Korea.” Where once Kim Jong Sook attended church in Pyongyang, now SHE is worshiped like Mother Mary in Chilgol Church, which still has a cross on top.

When people die, their hope is to join the Eternal Leader Kim Il-sung and be with him and his mother.

The state’s ideology is called Juche, which means self-reliance but entails nationalism, justification of the dictatorship and substitute for religion. Juche doctrine requires North Koreans to confess and repent of their short-comings daily in front of the pictures of Kim Jong-il and his father.

Today’s leader of North Korea is the grandson, Kim Jong-un, the “Supreme Leader.” In his first term, U.S. President Donald Trump called him Rocket Man because he kept threatening to launch ballistic missiles against the U.S. — an irreverence for the Benevolent One, the Infallible One, the Rightful Heir to the Revolution.

Sources: Jesus in North Korea by Eugene Bach, others.