Some households in North Korea are
reportedly incinerating literature and books written by the two former leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, to evade potential punishment for failure to take adequate care of material deemed sacred under state doctrine.
“In accordance with mandates recently issued by the Provincial
Party Committee, county and district officials with the Propaganda and Agitation Department have been
inspecting Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il-authored books owned by individual
households,” a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Tuesday.
“These inspections are aimed at ensuring that the images of Kim Il
Sung and Kim Jong Il in the books remain in good condition. The inspection team also confiscates any ‘impure’ books [such as foreign literature].”
She added, “Prior to the year 2000, it was compulsory
to own a large number of books or writings by Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. But
recent inspections revealed that whereas in the past households used to have dozens
of books by both father and son, most now have a scant few–or none at all.”
Residents failing to posses Kim family works were once subjected to rather severe punishments–fears of which made the literature a staple in every household across the country. Currently, however, all that generally awaits someone without the works is relatively light reprimanding.
Those still in possession of this literature, however, face a host of consequences if they fail to keep the book in pristine condition. “Every book or document about Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il contains images of these two men and there is always a high chance that the image-imposed pages could become discolored or dirty,” the source explained. “In that case, the owner of the book is summoned by the relevant Party Committee and punished for ‘damaging the highest authority,’ and in severe cases, branded a ‘secessionist.'”
Instead, most households fill their shelves with books related to other fields like technology. This, they feel, is far favorable to taking on the extra burden Kim family literature presents, due to the frequency with which the leaders’ portraits are scattered throughout.
She went on to say that vendors are constantly purchasing and reselling books at the markets, but even they “never purchase books that contain images of the Kim leaders, so individual
households are left with no choice but to get rid of any [Kim literature] themselves.”
Most North Koreans use portable
wood-burning stoves and furnaces instead of electric rice cookers
to make rice, so it is common for households to use these books as kindling. While it would be easier to simply use the pages for scrap paper, tissue, and kindling as needed–avoiding those with images of the former leaders–it is ill-advised for fears of being caught with the book in an unsuitable state. These concerns compel people to just burn the entire book to be safe, according to the source.
“Officials from the Propaganda and Agitation Department who carried
out the inspection this time around are at a loss for words because it’s not
just a few households devoid of any Kim family literature — it’s almost all of them,” she said. “Afraid that reporting this to their superiors in the Central Party will reflect poorly on their work and character, opening them up to myriad punishments, they’re all staying tight-lipped about what they’ve seen.”
*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.
