[imText1]The sudden death of Kim Il Sung brought many changes in North Korea. The hereditary power was a ‘fait accompli’ but for the perfect heredity, last rearrangements were needed.
Drinking was forbidden or having any kind of ceremonial occasions during the period where the memory of Kim Il Sung was to be cherished. Those who did not abide by such new laws were punished for delinquency, regardless of any reasons. Countless people were expelled as a result.
The followers of Kim Il Sung came up with many new ideas for Kim Jong Il. One of the ideas was to change the name of capital city from ‘Pyongyang’ to ‘Kim Il Sung City.’ Kim Jong Il had done a lot for the nation so those brilliant achievement where to be immortalized. There are cities named after leaders such as ‘Leningrad’ and ‘Stalingrad’ in the former Soviet Union and ‘Ho Chi Minh City’ in Vietnam, so changing the name ‘Pyongyang’ to ‘Kim Il Sung City’ was a “fresh” idea that can get good marks from Kim Jong Il.
On the other hand, the idea faced opposition from the followers of Kim Jong Il. While China is inventing a false history of Goguryeo where disputes over territory thousands of years ago are still creating (academic) confrontation, some insisted they have to restore the former territory of Goguryeo before they change the city name to ‘Kim Il Sung City.’ As Kim Il Sung is ‘the chief magistrate’ who pushed for the international spread of communism, he has to be the universal chief magistrate.
Moreover, some of them also claimed that Seoul has to be called the ‘Kim Il Sung City’ after reunification. In the end, the plan for ‘Kim Il Sung City’ was put off because the idea of changing Seoul as ‘Kim Il Sung City’ and Pyongyang as ‘Kim Jong Il City’ seemed even better. Kim Jong Il decided to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to change Kumsusan memorial palace to ‘corpse palace’ and mummify the dead body for permanent conservation. While this was taking place, mass deaths occured due to starvation caused by the food crisis and people had to jump over the dead bodies on the streets at that period in North Korea.
Innumerous Universities Named by Person
North Korea set Dangun as the father of Chosun and Kim Il Sung as the father of socialist Chosun when they determined the historical era and calling it to be “years of Juche”. The name of “years of Juche” was published by the government ordinance of the North Korea central party after the death of Kim Il Sung. Senior Citizens usually had a hard time understanding the ‘10th year of Juche’ so they counted with their fingers from the birth year of Kim Il Sung(1912) to figure out that it is 1921.
There are many traces of the cult of personality wishing for ‘eternal life.’ The aim of all those lettering worships for Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Gumgang Mountain and Myohyang Mountain are desires for eternal life. Communists in North Korea rename the city, universities, and theaters after those who are dead. Kim Chaek City, Kim Jung Suk district, and Kim Hyung Jik district are the examples of the changes in name .
In the case of universities, there are innumerable examples like Cha Gwang Su university, Kim Chaek University of Technology, Kim Chul Joo Educational University, Jang Chul Gu University, and so on. There was a person who graduated from Pyongyang Business University who did not know the name of the university had changed to ‘Jang Chul Gu University,’ called the department of education and go though the whole performance.
The name of Hamkyongnam-do Younghung-gun purported Lee Sung Kye changed overnight. Kim Jong Il did not value highly the withdrawal of troops by Lee Sung Kye. As soon as Kim Il Sung knew Lee Sung Kye named his hometown as Younghung for ‘thrive for ever’ (young-won-he-hung-ha-ra : in Korean), Kim Il Sung ordered the name to be changed immediately. Younghung Gun became Gunya Gun, Ohro Gun in Hamkyung province became Young Gwang Gun, and Teojo Gun became Nakwon Gun by this reason. There is no more to be said about the fabrication of history, that the father of the Korean nation is Dangun and the father of Socialist Chosun (Korea) is Kim Il Sung.
