Why Did Kim Il Sung Use Of Chinese Propaganda
How did Kim Il Sung use Stakhanovite propaganda to consolidate the Kim Dynasty’s control over the Democratic Republic of North Korea in the face of the economic decline of the 1960s?
Kim Il Sung became the leader of North Korea in 1948, when the Republic was first established. Throughout his rule, Kim Il Sung pushed for increased military spending at the cost of economic development, a situation that was furthered by a drop in Soviet and Chinese aid in 1964 as well as the sluggish bureaucracy engrained in the command economy of the time. In order to maintain the morale and support of the people, and originally to reinvigorate his country’s economy, Kim Il Sung created a series of nationalist propaganda campaigns that targeted the working class, …show more content…
Kim Il Sung visited a factory in Kangsong and asked factory worker with the materials and abilities to produce 60 000 tons of steel to produce 70 000 for him. When they surprised him by making 120 000 tons, he honored them with the title “Chollima riders” and sparked the Chollima Movement in 1956, alluding to mythical winged horses said to be too fast to be ridden.
Kim encouraged workers to compete for ornamental titles, such as “Chollima Work Team”, and by 1957 had more than 180 000 workers join the Chollima movement.
Workers were told in speeches and on flyers that they were helping their already-prosperous country grow, when in reality the nation was in economic decline.
“Chollima work team” was a title awarded to teams that set ambitious production targets, but winners would be awarded with honorific items, such as banners, flags and notebooks, instead of food or money
By the mid 1960s, most of the public was convinced and distracted by these nationalistic messages, and DPRK stopped publishing economic statistics, further highlighting the “Strong North Korea” rhetoric of the
Kim Il Sung became the leader of North Korea in 1948, when the Republic was first established. Throughout his rule, Kim Il Sung pushed for increased military spending at the cost of economic development, a situation that was furthered by a drop in Soviet and Chinese aid in 1964 as well as the sluggish bureaucracy engrained in the command economy of the time. In order to maintain the morale and support of the people, and originally to reinvigorate his country’s economy, Kim Il Sung created a series of nationalist propaganda campaigns that targeted the working class, …show more content…
Kim Il Sung visited a factory in Kangsong and asked factory worker with the materials and abilities to produce 60 000 tons of steel to produce 70 000 for him. When they surprised him by making 120 000 tons, he honored them with the title “Chollima riders” and sparked the Chollima Movement in 1956, alluding to mythical winged horses said to be too fast to be ridden.
Kim encouraged workers to compete for ornamental titles, such as “Chollima Work Team”, and by 1957 had more than 180 000 workers join the Chollima movement.
Workers were told in speeches and on flyers that they were helping their already-prosperous country grow, when in reality the nation was in economic decline.
“Chollima work team” was a title awarded to teams that set ambitious production targets, but winners would be awarded with honorific items, such as banners, flags and notebooks, instead of food or money
By the mid 1960s, most of the public was convinced and distracted by these nationalistic messages, and DPRK stopped publishing economic statistics, further highlighting the “Strong North Korea” rhetoric of the