Juche

Juche Idea
Torch symbolizing the Juche ideology at the top of the Juche Tower in Pyongyang
Chosŏn'gŭl	주체사상
Hancha
Revised Romanization	Juche sasang
McCune–Reischauer	Chuch'e sasang

Juche (Chosŏn'gŭl: 주체; Hancha: 主體; MR: Chuch'e; Korean pronunciation: [tɕutɕʰe]), usually translated as "self-reliance", is the official state ideology of North Korea, described by the government as Kim Il-sung's "original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought". It says that an individual is "the master of his destiny" that the North Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction", and that by becoming a self-reliant and strong nation one can achieve true socialism.

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) developed the ideology – originally viewed as a variant of Marxism–Leninism – until it became distinctly "Korean" in character, whilst incorporating the deterministic and materialist ideas of Marxism–Leninism and strongly emphasising the individual, the nation state and its sovereignty. Consequentially, Juche was adopted into a set of principles that the North Korean government has used to justify its policy decisions from the 1950s onwards. Such principles include moving the nation towards claimed "chaju" (independence), through the construction of "charip" (national economy) and an emphasis upon "chawi" (self-defence), in order to establish socialism.

The Juche ideology has been criticized by scholars and observers as a mechanism for sustaining the dictatorial rule of the North Korean regime, and justifying the country's heavy-handed isolationism and the oppression of the North Korean people. It has also been described as a form of Korean ethnic nationalism, but one which promotes the Kim family as the saviours of the "Korean Race" and acts as a foundation of the subsequent personality cult surrounding them.