The God of Pyongyang: How Christianity Built North Korea | #125

How was North Korea, a state that famously mandates atheism, built on a foundation of Christian fervor? In this episode, I sit down with Jonathan Cheng, the Wall Street Journal's China Bureau Chief, to discuss his new book, Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult.

We trace the journey of Pyongyang from the "Jerusalem of the East" to the center of the world's most rigid cult of personality. From the collapse of the Joseon Dynasty's caste system and the arrival of missionaries like Samuel Moffett to Kim Il Sung's own Christian upbringing, we explore how the linguistic and structural tools of the church were co-opted to create a "God on Earth." We cover the Pyongyang Revival and the "Mystical" texts of early Korean Christianity. How the oppression of the Joseon era made the peninsula fertile ground for a new faith. The "Exodus South" and the influential figures like Cho Man-sik. Why Kim Il Sung remains the most pivotal—and misunderstood—figure in modern Korean history.

The Book: https://koreanmessiah.com/

Find Jonathan onlie

Twitter: @jchengwsj

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-cheng-546b703/

Discussion Outline

0:00 Introduction

5:15 The Joseon Dynasty

11:25 The Erasure of Kija

14:45 Christianity's Arrival in Korea

19:25 Samuel Moffett and the Jerusalem of the East

30:00 The Figures of Pyongyang's Church

37:15 Jeonggamnok (정감록, 鄭鑑錄)

43:50 Kim Il Sung's Christian Upbringing

50:00 Cho Man Sik (조만식) - the Gandhi of Korea

56:00 The Legend of Kim Il Sung

59:40 The Christian Exodus South

1:04:25 Cults in Modern Korea

1:16:25 Recommendations

Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell, Sara B Cooper, Anne Brennels, Ell, Johnathan Filbert, Daniela Körppen

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David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at datizzard@swu.ac.kr.

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