{"id":38076,"date":"2018-10-17T13:17:29","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T04:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=38076"},"modified":"2026-05-29T12:54:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:54:53","slug":"the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\/","title":{"rendered":"The nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image: Pyongyang Press Corps Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following the third inter-Korean summit on September 19, Kim Jong Un made the following statement at the summit\u2019s joint press conference. \u201cWe have agreed to proactively work to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace without nuclear weapons or the threat of nuclear weapons.\u201d On September 20, KCNA reported on the inter-Korean summit and the content of Kim Jong Un\u2019s speech was repeated by the channel\u2019s anchor, although the actual video of Kim Jong Un\u2019s speech was not shown. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the same day, the Rodong Sinmun reported on Kim Jong Un\u2019s speech regarding North Korea\u2019s nuclear program in an article entitled \u201cThe Dear Respected Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong Un and President Moon Jae In held a joint press conference regarding the September \u2018Pyongyang Joint Declaration,\u2019\u201d which said: \u201c[Kim Jong Un] emphasized the solid promise to proactively work to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace free of nuclear weapons and nuclear threat.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The publication also posted the full text of the September 9 Pyongyang Joint Declaration. Its fifth section read as follows: \u201cThe two sides shared the view that the Korean Peninsula must be turned into a land of peace free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threats, and that substantial progress toward this end must be made in a prompt manner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The fifth section of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration quoted above and the fourth clause of the second section of the April Panmunjom Declaration, which stated that \u201cNorth and South [Korea] [agree to] realize a Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons through complete denuclearization,\u201d have a clear gap [in meaning] between each other. The \u201ccomplete denuclearization\u201d stated in the Panmunjom Declaration that implicitly places precedence on [the removal of] South Korea\u2019s US nuclear umbrella and [a focus on] nuclear electricity generation was made in a conditional sense, while the Pyongyang Joint Declaration\u2019s \u201cabsence of nuclear weapons and the nuclear threat on the Korean Peninsula\u201d placed the \u201cnuclear threat,\u201d which is synonymous with denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as a lower priority than \u201cthe absence of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This can be seen as saying that North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons first before everything else. Perhaps because of this, President Moon Jae In, during his report to the South Korean citizenry after the inter-Korean summit, said that his discussion with Kim Jong Un about denuclearization had changed greatly since last month. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem rests, however, in whether Kim Jong Un\u2019s September 19 speech was targeted at the North Korean people or not. North Korea\u2019s Suryong system places the \u201cteachings\u201d of the leader above the constitution and Party-mandated laws. North Korea referred to itself as a nuclear state in the 2012 revision of its constitution, but during the Seventh Party Plenum in 2016, which saw revisions to Party-mandated laws – which have more legal authority than constitutional revisions – North Korea did not clearly state that it was a nuclear-armed state. <\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, in his general briefing, Kim Jong Un announced that, \u201cThe great successes of the hydrogen bomb test and the Kwangmyongsong-4 launch displayed the dignity of Juche Korea and our national power at its highest point,\u201d and that, \u201cAs a responsible nuclear-armed state, we will not, as already clearly stated, use our nuclear weapons first unless our sovereignty is violated by the nuclear weapons of invading enemy forces.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea proclaimed the revisions to the Party-mandated laws, but on April 20, 2018, it announced the weaponization of its nuclear arsenal at the Party Central Committee General Plenum. Before that, Kim Jong Un had handed down several \u201cteachings\u201d that mentioned North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. As mentioned above, he had already made an introductory speech at the Party Plenum in 2016 stating that North Korea is a \u201cresponsible nuclear-armed state.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It could be said, accordingly, that the mention of a \u201cKorean Peninsula without nuclear weapons\u201d during the third inter-Korean summit this year displayed some degree of nuance pointing to North Korea\u2019s \u201cabandonment of nuclear weapons,\u201d which would then, however, be contrary to Kim Jong Un\u2019s \u201cteachings\u201d in the past that North Korea is already a \u201cnuclear-armed state.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The issue is that in North Korea there is a higher authority that exists apart from Kim Jong Un\u2019s teachings: Kim Il Sung\u2019s teachings and his \u201clegacy.\u201d It is clear that the \u201clegacy rule\u201d still has a stronghold on the country. The central point of the \u201ctheory of the socio-political organism,\u201d which sees North Korean society as a singular living organism, is that the Suryong is the control center of this organism. However, the Suryong in today\u2019s North Korea is Kim Il Sung, not Kim Jong Un. <\/span><\/p>\n

Many scholars have given Kim Jong Un the status of the Suryong, but North Korean official Party documents and the state-run media have continued to refrain from placing the title \u201cSuryong\u201d in front of Kim Jong Un\u2019s name. Even Kim Jong Il, who was named the \u201cEternal Suryong\u201d in 2012 has never been called \u201cSuryong Kim Jong Il\u201d by the state-run press. The state media just calls the Kims the \u201cGreat Suryongnims\u201d or the \u201cPrevious Generation Suryongnims.\u201d This means that North Korea\u2019s \u201ccontrol centre\u201d is still Kim Il Sung, and that the deceased leader is still ruling North Korea. <\/span><\/p>\n

The North Korean nuclear issue is closely related to this state of affairs. Just like during the Kim Il Jung-era, the South Korean delegation that visited North Korea recently told the media that Kim Jong Un clearly showed an intention to denuclearize in accordance with the \u201clegacy of Kim Il Sung.\u201d While it\u2019s important to confirm Kim Jong Un\u2019s intention to denuclearize, I think we need to focus on whether Kim Il Sung really had any intention to denuclearize and whether he left teachings or a legacy regarding denuclearization. <\/span><\/p>\n

On July 6, 2016, North Korea\u2019s spokesman for the State Affairs Commission announced the following statement: \u201cThe denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the legacy of the Great Suryongnim and the Obui (father-mother) General, and is the unceasing intention of the Party, military and people under the guidance of the Dear Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, on January 1, 2018, Kim Jong Un stated the following during his New Year\u2019s Address: \u201cWe have realized the wish of the great leaders who devoted their lives to building the strongest national defense capability to reliably safeguard our country’s sovereignty, and we have created a mighty sword for defending peace, as desired by all our people who had to tighten their belts for long years.\u201d The \u201cmighty sword for defending peace\u201d mentioned here is a symbolic way of referring to nuclear weapons. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is clear, when reading Kim Jong Un\u2019s speech, that the legacies of his father and grandfather are clearly focused on North Korea\u2019s status as a nuclear-armed state. To quote the words of a [former] North Korean nuclear scientist, Kim Il Sung said in a secret \u201cteaching\u201d that \u201cNuclear weapons are a must for the unification of the motherland.\u201d Kim Jong Il also reportedly said that \u201cThe unification of the motherland starts with nuclear weapons and is completed with nuclear weapons.\u201d It is clear from these statements that making North Korea a nuclear-armed state was part and parcel with Kim Il Sung\u2019s teachings and legacy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Considering that Kim Jong Un cannot override the authority of Kim Il Sung in his current status, and looking again at his speech following the September 19 summit, it appears that the real focus of his words are on \u201cthe absence of a nuclear threat\u201d rather than a \u201cKorean Peninsula without nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on this secretive family, check out our\u00a0comprehensive article on the Kim family.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the third inter-Korean summit on September 19, Kim Jong Un made the following statement at the summit\u2019s joint press conference. \u201cWe have agreed to proactively work to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace without nuclear weapons or the threat of nuclear weapons.\u201d On September 20, KCNA reported on the inter-Korean summit and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":38077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nThe nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the third inter-Korean summit on September 19, Kim Jong Un made the following statement at the summit\u2019s joint press conference. \u201cWe have agreed to proactively work to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace without nuclear weapons or the threat of nuclear weapons.\u201d On September 20, KCNA reported on the inter-Korean summit and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-17T04:17:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T03:54:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/PKSKO2018091800366-min.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"797\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jung Kyo-jin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jung Kyo-jin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jung Kyo-jin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e62d4ddd732423c56cb19496bf1bd5af\"},\"headline\":\"The nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-17T04:17:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-29T03:54:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1309,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/PKSKO2018091800366-min.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis & Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\\\/\",\"name\":\"The nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il - 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Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e62d4ddd732423c56cb19496bf1bd5af\",\"name\":\"Jung Kyo-jin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/temp_1720657632672100-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/temp_1720657632672100-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/temp_1720657632672100-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jung Kyo-jin\"},\"description\":\"Jung Kyo-jin is a visiting research fellow at Korea University's North Korea\u2013Unification Research Center, where he previously served as a research professor. 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