Despite his penchant for authoritarianism, South Korea's President Park Chung Hee seems positively Jeffersonian compared with his counterpart north of the Demilitarized Zone. No other country can rival North Korea in its thoroughgoing control over every aspect of the lives of its 15 million citizens, or in the total deification of its leader, President Kim Il Sung, 63.
In nearly three decades of totalitarian rule, the Korean Workers' Party (as the Communist Party is called) has eliminated all traces of political opposition and most private property. The state owns and operates all manufacturing and service enterprises, while peasants have been forced to surrender all but a tiny portion of their land to collective or state farms.
The practice of Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity and animism has been suppressed. Movement about the country is impossible without a travel permit. Every forum for publicly criticizing the government or party has been destroyed. To break down the traditional Korean family structure, the Communist leadership ordered that lineage records be burned. Neighborhood mutual-surveillance teams have been established with the right to poke into the most private family affairs.
At the center of North Korean life looms Kim, head of both government and party and the most durable Communist leader except for Albania's Enver Hoxha (32 years in power to Kim's 30) and Yugoslavia's Tito (32 years). Pictures of the grinning, moonfaced leader are everywhere. Children reverently call him "our father," party officials refer to him as "the sun of our nation" and brides and grooms vow loyalty to him at wedding ceremonies. In Pyongyang, the 95 rooms and 2½ miles of exhibits at the Museum of the Korean Revolution glorify every aspect of Kim's life. All North Koreans are required to devote two hours daily and four on Saturday to the study of Kim's philosophy—an amalgam of Marxist classics and chuch'e—an emphasis on national self-reliance and independence.
Kim originally derived his power from the Soviets. Until the Japanese surrender ended World War II, Kim had been a relatively minor figure in the Korean nationalist movement. But with Soviet backing, Kim easily eliminated rivals within both the nationalist and Communist organizations—often by having them shot.
Cronies and Aunts. Today, Kim still appears to retain absolute power. Top government and party posts are dominated by trusted old cronies and relatives. His brother sits in the Politburo, while his wife is chairwoman of the Central Committee of the Women's League. A host of nieces and aunts hold high posts in that organization. The only challenge to Kim may be health: there have been rumors that he suffers from a malignant tumor in his neck.