The Defecting Pen of Juche Ideology: A Summary of 'Hwang Jang Yop's Memoirs'

Table of Contents

• Prologue
• Hwang Chang-yop’s Background
• The First Purge
• The Transition Between the First and Second Generations
• Continuing the Purge
• Hwang Jang-yop’s Rise and Fall
• Hwang Jang-yop’s Role in the Deification and Creation of Juche Ideology
• The Only Person Who Could Earn Foreign Currency
• After Kim Il-sung’s Death
• The Arduous March and the North Korean Students’ Organization Against Kim Jong Il
• Defection

Note

The first book I read in April was Hwang Jang Yop’s memoirs. It wasn’t until the end of August that I remembered to post the summary.

Prologue

In the 1990s, Hwang Chang-yop defected from North Korea to South Korea. Theoretically, this individual held a high position and was even one of the proponents of Juche ideology. At the beginning of this book, there are multiple mentions of his desire to save his own people and his hope for unification centered around South Korea. It is worth noting that during the arduous march, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) truly believed that South Korea could make efforts to unify with North Korea.

In the book, Hwang Chang-yop repeatedly emphasizes that his family would be punished due to his defection. It is also written that the doctoral students at the Juche Ideology Academy, where he was a professor, were also purged. The fate of his family, clearly a closer relationship than that of students and teachers, is not detailed, but it can be inferred that it was likely not good.

The article suggests that the second generation wanted to eliminate him, but at that time, he was one of the few people in North Korea who could earn foreign currency.

At the end, the greater reason for his defection appears to be his disappointment with the societal collapse after the second generation’s succession and the fear of being purged.

The writing in this book is very emotional, eagerly praising South Korea, claiming that he did not betray the North Koreans but merely placed his hopes for unification in South Korea rather than North Korea. Given his experiences during the arduous march and the disintegration of North Korean rituals and music, it is completely understandable that he would express such sentiments.

Of course, as one of the creators of Juche ideology and a pen of the Kim family, he should be well aware of what he actually built. The so-called hypocrisy certainly cannot increase the people’s happiness but is meant for darker purposes. Anyone with a little conscience should not endorse such a system. It is also understandable that during the early days of North Korea, when the Yan’an faction and the Soviet faction were actively opposing the first generation’s dictatorial rule, there were also people in North Korea’s higher echelons with a conscience.

However, what I want to see is not his psychological path but his view of North Korea and some of the bizarre things North Korea did. For instance, when he had just defected to the South Korean embassy in Beijing, he was concerned that North Koreans might use their friendship with the Congolese to send snipers from the Congolese embassy across from the South Korean embassy to kill him or worry that security personnel might rush into the South Korean embassy to eliminate him.

Hwang Chang-yop’s Background

Hwang Chang-yop was born into a family of sinologists during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Not all of his relatives were from North Korea; this refers to his immediate family by birth.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula is very complex. For example, there are North Korean people living in South Korea due to various historical legacies, Korean Peninsula descendants in Japan who cannot be precisely identified by nationality (since Korea was not divided when they were in Japan), and Korean-Chinese and Chinese Koreans in China.

In 1944, as Japan was nearing defeat, Koreans studying in Japan (including Hwang Chang-yop) who did not join the military would be sent back to Korea to serve as conscript soldiers. It is quite surprising that they were not forcibly drafted to carry supplies.

After Japan’s defeat in 1945, Japanese police still maintained order in Korea. During the Soviet occupation of North Korea, discipline was not much better. According to his account, the Soviets were even worse than the American troops stationed in Japan. During this period, he was teaching while also coming into contact with communism.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s writing is really poor; it does not feel like a memoir but rather an unorganized oral account.

As he mentioned in the text, when he later went to study in Moscow, his theoretical level was still lower than that of undergraduates in Moscow. This seems reasonable, and it can only be said that North Korea’s excellent matching system allowed such mediocre individuals to attain high positions. Later, he thought that the renowned Soviet-assigned associate professor was actually just an assistant to a graduate student in the Soviet Union, who was also an assistant to one of his classmates in the Soviet Union. He suffered a lot while translating this assistant’s lecture notes, which is a piece of dark humor. There are numerous professors in North Korea whose theoretical level is even worse, and who still lecture without understanding Marxism.

He then attended the official North Korean cadre training camp, learned related theories, and was sent to study in Moscow. Due to the war, many people did not follow a standard path; they did not study and then enter the workforce but rather had varied ages within the same grade.

In Moscow, Hwang Chang-yop had quite an exciting experience. The widow of a Soviet patriotic war hero, who was also his teacher, confessed her feelings to him. He also had relationships with the mistress of a high-ranking Korean official in the Soviet Union. Reading about these lowly aspects of his life was quite fast-paced.

His relationship with his wife was also unusual, as she was his subordinate. I dislike such hierarchical relationships being framed as love, as there is always a sense of coercion and deception. I find it hard to tolerate someone using their status to deceive others.

Perhaps my impression of this person is so negative that, after reading his memoir, I think he must lack personal charisma and be someone who always does things wrong, leading me to have a biased view of the above recollections.

Another point is that this person is very pro-China, at least in terms of admiring the leadership of the CCP.

The First Purge

From Japan’s defeat until 1947, Korea had already begun idolizing Kim Il-sung, which was quite absurd.

He mentions that Kim Il-sung was inadequate, and under Stalin’s support, Kim Il-sung established a system of idol worship. When the Soviet Union later shifted to criticize Stalin’s idol worship, North Korea also had to follow the big brother’s lead and criticize Kim Il-sung’s idol worship. Kim Il-sung then immediately began political purges, using this opportunity to eliminate all opposition.

At that time, North Korea was divided between the Soviet faction and the Yan’an faction. The Southern Labor Party, which had already been completely purged, is not worth mentioning. He describes himself as not belonging to any faction, being relatively neutral and courted by both sides. The Soviet faction, the Yan’an faction, and even the Southern Labor Party all opposed Kim Il-sung’s personality cult. Some members of the Yan’an faction, when their attempt to overthrow Kim Il-sung failed, defected to China, while others were sacrificed.

After this event, the author(Hwang Chang-yop), as a neutral party, rose to prominence and began contributing to the development of Juche theory as it exists today. Clearly, he did not participate in the attempt to overthrow Kim Il-sung, which is also why I think his defection was not only about North Korea’s future but also about his own survival. Later, he joined Kim Il-sung’s secretariat, actively participating in Kim Il-sung’s dictatorial regime, writing articles, issuing red-headed documents, and drafting speeches. The works created by these writers were eventually compiled into Kim Il-sung’s collected works. His initial attempt to solve class issues with class positions and perspectives led to even greater problems. In the early days of the country, such issues, including Stalinism, were not problematic. However, over time, as the author(Hwang Chang-yop) reveals, this resulted in the death of a million people each year from starvation. This figure is hard to believe given North Korea’s population size.

The Transition Between the First and Second Generations

A particularly dark anecdote involves Kim Il-sung’s visit to China during the Great Leap Forward. He was informed that the yield of wheat per hectare was 70 tons. Upon returning to Korea and conducting his own experiments, he found that the yield was only 4 tons. The following year, Chinese officials revisited Pyongyang and informed Hwang Chang-yop that China’s grain production in 1958 was not 500 million tons, but 180 million tons, and that many people had starved to death.

In the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s view, Kim Jong-il, the second-generation leader, displayed a desire for power from a young age, mainly through his efforts to serve Kim Il-sung diligently.

It is ironic that such a high-ranking writer could be deceived by the glorified narrative of the first generation. This reminds me of a North Korean song titled “The General Uses the Art of Shrinking the Land (장군님축지법쓰신다/將軍님縮地法쓰신다),” suggesting that he might have also embellished many aspects of his own story.

During the ideological struggle between China and the Soviet Union, Khrushchev, who succeeded Stalin, mocked China’s Great Leap Forward. China actively engaged in the debate, while Kim Il-sung sought to exploit the rift between the two major powers to consolidate his own position by promoting the so-called Chollima Movement, which emphasized economic and cultural independence. This movement was derived from China’s mass line, aiming to improve the connection with the masses. According to the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s analysis, Kim Il-sung favored the Chinese approach. In October 1960, at the Moscow National Communist Party Congress, there were two factions: one supporting China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Albania, and the other supporting the Soviet Communist Party as the banner of the international communist movement, with a ratio of 1:7.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) notes that Kim Il-sung was fully aware that international phone calls between communist parties were being eavesdropped on by the Soviets. Nevertheless, he continued to issue instructions over the phone and refused to succumb to Soviet chauvinism, even if it meant being forced back to the Changbai Mountains to fight guerrilla warfare.

Some minor parties were concerned about the split in the communist movement, but ultimately, China and the Soviet Union signed a joint statement, despite covertly opposing each other.

During this period, up until the Soviet Union’s collapse and before the Arduous March, North Korea’s economy was relatively strong. The author(Hwang Chang-yop) repeatedly hints that Kim Jong-il was ineffective and would ruin the country. It seems that if the Soviet Union had not collapsed or if the Arduous March had occurred later, his evaluation of Kim Jong-il might have been different, reflecting hindsight.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) believes that part of the reason he became the president of Kim Il-sung University was due to Kim Jong-il’s recommendation of him.

Kim Jong-il and his circle, including his brother-in-law Jang Song-thaek, his sister, and himself, were admitted to the university together.

Kim Il-sung opposed Jang Song-thaek and sought to influence others’ thinking on this matter. He also wanted the author(Hwang Chang-yop), as president, to separate Jang Song-thaek from the Kim family. After receiving the directive, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) sent Jang Song-thaek to another school. However, despite these obstacles, Jang Song-thaek and the Kim family members still ended up together.

Of course, when the third generation came to power, Jang Song-thaek was eventually executed.

Continuing the Purge

In 1966, the Cultural Revolution erupted in China, but Kim Il-sung did not support it, leading to criticism from within China. This reminded me of the time when China initiated the Great Leap Forward, which Kim Il-sung believed in, only to be deceived. However, the true historical fact in North Korea is that under the slogan of opposing the Cultural Revolution, Kim Jong-il and his brother, Kim Yong-ju, engaged in a power struggle. The result of this struggle was that Kim Il-sung further strengthened his personal cult.

As for this individual as a writer, I am uncertain whether his ideas are worth reading. I cannot judge the quality of his work, but it is clear that he strongly supported China’s line and opposed the Soviet line.

Even at this point, Kim Il-sung was still purging opposition factions, including the South Korean Workers’ Party, the Yan’an faction, and the Soviet faction. He even began targeting those who had fought alongside him as guerrillas. It was during this time that Kim Jong-il, eager to curry favor, used an interesting method: he would artificially create opponents for the person he sought to flatter, then denigrate these opponents. The author(Hwang Chang-yop) was considered by Kim Jong-il as someone close to Kim Il-sung, and thus he became a target of attack by the second-generation leader, Kim Jong-il. Simultaneously, during this period, the first-generation leader found opportunities to criticize the author(Hwang Chang-yop), possibly as part of the larger purge. As a result, a significant number of people in Kim Il-sung’s secretariat were exiled. What I’ve described reflects the situation among North Korea’s upper echelons at the time. On the ground level, Kim Il-sung demanded that all North Koreans wear badges bearing his image.

Hwang Jang-yop’s Rise and Fall

Here’s a key point: the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s father-in-law attempted to escape to China but was captured, adding to the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s already difficult circumstances.

By August 1967, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) experienced the great flood in Pyongyang and spent time living with teachers and students. During this period, under the guidance of an influential figure, he wrote articles, attempting to resolve theoretical issues with theory, hoping to return to the center of power.

He was quite successful in this endeavor. His articles caught the attention of Kim Il-sung, who scolded him but also reinstated him and his colleagues in the Secretariat. The author(Hwang Chang-yop) once again became a key speechwriter for the first-generation leader. The author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s own words were, “I couldn’t help but be moved; loyally assisting Comrade Kim Il-sung is my only path to survival.”

It is worth noting that the book written by the author(Hwang Chang-yop) also reflects his personal understanding of Marxist philosophy, perhaps a result of his extensive experience as a speechwriter.

By October 1970, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) convinced Kim Il-sung to support his initiative to philosophically formalize the Juche ideology, marking the beginning of North Korea’s indoctrination process. The author(Hwang Chang-yop), accompanied by two assistants, began drafting Kim Il-sung’s ideological works at a resort. Though not directly involved in politics, he was nonetheless appointed Chairman of the Standing Committee and President of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea. This position led to the foreign media mistakenly perceiving him as the head of state of North Korea, which was not the case.

After this, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) started to participate more frequently in parliamentary meetings.

By 1961, as Kim Jong-il gradually took power, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) realized that North Korea was preparing for a personal dictatorship, which indeed turned out to be true.

In 1973, while the author(Hwang Chang-yop) was recuperating for more than a year, Kim Jong-il summoned him, inquiring about the progress on the Juche ideology and even asked, “Can I be considered greater than Marx and Lenin?” The author(Hwang Chang-yop) didn’t know how to respond and found it somewhat amusing. From the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s perspective, he believed that his efforts to completely rewrite the materialism and dialectics of Marxism made Kim Il-sung somewhat apprehensive.

Reading this, I find it remarkable that someone with such a theoretical background could say something like that—his confidence is truly astonishing.

In 1974, Kim Jong-il officially took control and began the deification of Kim Il-sung, while also idolizing himself.

During this period, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) truly entered the center of power and had a close relationship with the Kim family, serving as their private tutor.

Hwang Jang-yop’s Role in the Deification and Creation of Juche Ideology

The “Slogan Trees” refer to trees where, during Kim Il-sung’s time as a guerrilla fighter entering Korea from northeastern China, slogans like “Long live General Kim Il-sung” and “Long live the independence of our homeland” were carved into the bark. Despite the fact that the anti-Japanese war had ended over a decade earlier and such trees should not have existed, the Kim family fabricated the discovery of numerous such slogan trees across the country.

This sort of manufactured miracle was relatively restrained compared to later efforts, where they went to extreme lengths, such as the myth that the General could magically appear in the east one moment and the west the next.

These fabrications were part of the second-generation leader, Kim Jong-il, mythologizing the first generation. Meanwhile, Kim Il-sung began reconstructing the graves of his parents and grandparents, even leading high-ranking officials to these ancestral sites during holidays for ceremonial visits. He would frequently boast about his guerrilla experiences, even though before Korea’s liberation, he was merely a Soviet army captain, far from the rank of a general.

In the same year, on February 19, 1974, the core of the Juche ideology, conceived by the author(Hwang Chang-yop), was officially rebranded by Kim Jong-il as “Kim Il-sung Thought.”

Of course, these ideas had no real philosophical content.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) believed that while Marx established his own philosophical system, his successors only contributed unique perspectives on political strategies and tactics, without making any original developments in philosophy.

On one hand, Kim Jong-il understood that North Korea was a small country, incapable of appearing on the world stage as a political or economic superpower. On the other hand, they indulged in grand fantasies, believing that by developing Juche ideology, North Korea could become a global intellectual powerhouse.

What was truly terrifying was that, at the time, the required reading for North Korean university students included the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Kim Il-sung.

When Hwang Jang-yop was instructed to compile related textbooks, he selected students from Kim Il-sung University and the Academy of Social Sciences. The professors in these institutions were divided: some supported the effort, others were neutral, and some remained steadfast Marxists. Ultimately, the textbook project failed, not even producing a draft. Kim Jong-il then demanded that scholars engage in debates, after which he would make the final decision. The scholars from the Academy of Social Sciences lost these debates and were later forced into hard labor, accused of opposing Juche ideology.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s theoretical capabilities can be judged by his work on Juche ideology, which clearly shows his limitations. However, considering that Juche ideology became a tool for brainwashing within a country, whether by historical coincidence or political influence, it certainly blinded the author(Hwang Chang-yop), making him believe in his own significance.

On the other hand, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) was fully aware that Juche ideology was meaningless and that the ideas promoted by both the first and second generations were fundamentally flawed. Yet, he still devoted significant effort to promoting Juche ideology among pro-North Korean organizations in Japan.

He also delivered speeches in multiple countries, claiming that Juche ideology should be developed according to the specific circumstances of different nations and ethnicities. It’s evident that a normal person would struggle to understand his point.

The Only Person Who Could Earn Foreign Currency

Kim Jong-il frequently hosted lavish banquets, spending large amounts of foreign currency. While these events helped him build relationships, they also attracted criticism. To counter this, he strengthened the secret police system, arresting anyone who expressed doubt about him.

The extravagant lifestyle of other members of the North Korean royal family is hard to overstate—it was beyond imagination.

When the author(Hwang Chang-yop) was officially appointed as the head of the Juche Research Institute, it marked a new chapter in his political career. In a short time, he took on multiple significant roles, overseeing many aspects of government. However, because he was unaware that the North Korean system operated under Kim Jong-il’s directives, he didn’t even know that the secretaries recorded all conversations and reported them to Kim Jong-il.

After the author(Hwang Chang-yop) issued orders to the powerful Organization and Guidance Department as if he were instructing his own students, the department reported to Kim Jong-il that Hwang Jang-yop was too arrogant. As a result, Hwang had no choice but to submit a self-criticism to Kim Jong-il, who reportedly was very pleased with it.

In the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s eyes, Kim Il-sung was already quite incompetent, but Kim Jong-il was even worse. Kim Jong-il could publicly acknowledge that he proposed the Juche idea, but everyone knew that the actual content was created by Hwang Jang-yop, so it didn’t matter. From the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s perspective, Kim Jong-il lacked any real philosophical thought and didn’t want the author(Hwang Chang-yop) to have too much power in shaping Juche ideology.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) also mentioned that if the Kim family hadn’t arranged for philosophical research, the articles attributed to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il wouldn’t have achieved anything. Thus, he didn’t consider them to be truly his work. This seems like a subtle critique, perhaps downplaying the intellectual level of the Kim family while emphasizing the political nature of these writings. Later, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) noted that these articles became credited to Kim Jong-il and were used as a theoretical basis to attack the author(Hwang Chang-yop). As a result, Hwang had to be very careful with his wording in later writings to avoid being misinterpreted.

However, the biggest issue is that if the Kim family hadn’t pushed these ideas, the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s philosophical writings would never have had such influence.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) held key positions at both Kim Il-sung University and the Juche Research Institute in North Korea. He believed that North Korean education and science were hindered by two major obstacles: the cult of personality and militarism. He thought that under such an educational system, North Korean students were far inferior to those studying abroad. This reminds me of an urban legend—possibly true or false—that North Korean university students performed quite well in international competitions. The reason, supposedly, was that North Korea would send older individuals who could be professors to compete as students.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) also mentioned that in North Korea, teachers were considered intellectuals and thus targets of the revolution. For example, at Kim Il-sung University, students who became party committee members after graduation would not show gratitude to their teachers but would instead insult them. This seems both humorous and absurd.

The Propaganda and Agitation Department and the Organization and Guidance Department are the two most powerful entities in North Korea. The former brainwashes the population for the Kim family, while the latter eliminates political opponents. Kim Il-sung had such faith in the Organization Department that any simple, unfavorable report—even if fabricated—could destroy a North Korean’s political career.

The end of a political career often led to forced labor, as noted in a joke that circulated before: the North Korean national soccer team would be sent to work in the mines if they lost a match. How could FIFA not notice that the same players appeared year after year? While this is a joke, the idea of being sent to work in the mines is mentioned in Hwang Jang-yop’s book. I suspect this joke may have originated from his memoir, just like the detailed accounts of the power struggles between the Yan’an faction and the Soviet faction.

The North Korean elite is quite interesting. Kim Jong-il kept a deputy minister of the Propaganda Department who wasn’t a formal university graduate; his sole job was to light Kim Jong-il’s cigarettes and organize banquets. Speaking of lighting cigarettes, I recall when Kim Jong-un visited Vietnam and stopped in China. His defiant sister was seen holding an ashtray, waiting for him to finish his cigarette, a scene recorded by the Japanese. It was quite amusing.

Being in the center of power allowed the author(Hwang Chang-yop) to travel around the world, although his primary mission was to promote Juche ideology. He initially wanted to be just a regular writer, but that wasn’t possible.

Previously, the nationwide and global Juche propaganda organizations had a budget of $1.2 million per year. After the collapse of the Comecon system, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) suggested that they should raise funds independently and asked Kim Jong-il to have the Ministry of State Security help them earn foreign currency.

I’ve read many claims about the Kim family’s overseas assets, and now I understand where these claims come from—Hwang Jang-yop’s memoir.

The Juche propaganda organizations were centralized into an international foundation, and a Laotian businessman lent them over a million dollars interest-free. They opened accounts in Switzerland to promote Juche ideology. The author(Hwang Chang-yop) mentioned that if these materials were inspected abroad, they would claim they were religious propaganda, which is quite darkly humorous.

They managed to raise $800,000 in foreign currency, of which $500,000 was handed over to Kim Jong-il. Kim Jong-il exaggerated this to $5 million, urging officials to earn more, which caused many problems for the author(Hwang Chang-yop). These officials wanted to bring back items that were unavailable in North Korea, such as medicine. The author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s organization knew about North Korea’s food problems, and they shipped over 100 tons of grain back to the country, distributing it to the researchers at the Juche Institute, the Ministry of State Security, and the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s wife’s colleagues.

In fact, even before the collapse of Comecon, North Korea had already established organizations within the Party at various levels to earn foreign currency. Today, these ghost companies of the North Korean central author(Hwang Chang-yop)ities still operate abroad to secure foreign exchange.

好的，重新翻译如下：

After Kim Il-sung’s Death

From the time he was preparing to leave the position of International Secretary until his time in the Document Compilation Room, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and North Korea, under the collapse of the Comecon system, slowly began to decline.

In 1993, due to increasing disagreements with the United States over the nuclear issue, North Korea entered a state of war. During this period, high-ranking officials in North Korea continued to die after attending Kim Jong-il’s drinking parties. At these secret late-night gatherings, officials who did not have drivers would get drunk and naturally have accidents on their way home.

By then, Kim Il-sung was already in poor health, and Kim Jong-il also had a sudden accident.

For North Korea, the fortunate thing was that during that period, the U.S. President was the only kind president, Carter.

In 1994, while the author(Hwang Chang-yop) was visiting Cuba, Kim Il-sung passed away. Five days later, when the author(Hwang Chang-yop) returned to Pyongyang, the entire country was in mourning. I am unsure if it was just kitsch and pretense or genuine sadness for the great leader, as North Korea’s propaganda was extremely intense. However, one thing is certain: a scientist from the Juche research institute was punished for repairing his bicycle instead of mourning upon hearing of Kim Il-sung’s death. During that period, crying became a competition.

In 1994, the North Korean food crisis had not yet caused mass starvation. By 1995, floods struck, and the number of people dying from hunger gradually increased, leading to social unrest.

At that time, with the collapse of the Comecon system, North Korea was also facing sanctions. The author(Hwang Chang-yop) mentioned a case where agriculture in North Hwanghae Province was doing well, but the farmers did not even have enough utensils to cook. When officials asked if they had any difficulties, the farmers only dared to say no. Meanwhile, officials were on 24-hour shifts guarding Kim Il-sung’s statue and discussing how many bouquets of flowers should be placed. North Korea needed the help of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and decided to give a large amount of rubles to the party.

The Arduous March and the North Korean Students’ Organization Against Kim Jong Il

While these individuals were promoting Juche ideology and organizing Kim Il Sung’s funeral, Kim Jong Il was strengthening his rule, and North Korea was facing a food crisis.

A key member of the Ministry of Defense approached Hwang Chang-yop and informed him that there were wiretaps everywhere and hoped that Hwang Chang-yop, as a scholar, would protect them. Seeing the signs, it was clear that North Korea was very dangerous politically and economically at that time.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) mentioned a rumor that students who went abroad after 1980 were not allowed to leave North Korea because North Korean students in Russia had formed an organization against Kim Jong Il. This rumor almost caused the author(Hwang Chang-yop) to change translators, but the author(Hwang Chang-yop) insisted on keeping the original translator, who was arrested after returning home.

Hwang Chang-yop wrote that the more accurate and truthful content of this rumor was that North Korean students in Russia were mainly from the military, and they formed an organization against Kim Jong Il, including many children of high-ranking officials. The People’s Armed Forces Security Command later executed all of these individuals without exception.

So the author(Hwang Chang-yop) decided to escape. Kim Jong Il did not like China, but Hwang Chang-yop liked China a lot, creating a bigger conflict between them. Both ordinary people and highly skilled workers in the munitions industry were starving to death. Kim Jong Il did not care and invested a lot of resources into building palaces to preserve Kim Il Sung’s body and directed the author(Hwang Chang-yop)’s Juche ideology organization to promote Juche ideology.

In 1996, a particularly humorous incident occurred. Similar to the “why not eat meat” situation, the North Korean ambassador to Switzerland at that time suggested that the Swiss feed cows with grass rather than feed. Consequently, Kim Jong Il launched a campaign to destroy cultivated fields and start growing grass so that people could eat meat. This clearly led to even more deaths.

Defection

The university the author(Hwang Chang-yop) managed also declined. He said that students openly stole, student leaders extorted money for cigarettes and alcohol from students, and professors demanded cigarettes and alcohol from students. Everyone was corrupted.

One prominent issue was that inadequate provisions led to a lack of etiquette, and insufficient clothing and food led to a lack of understanding of honor and disgrace.

The author(Hwang Chang-yop) concluded from asking students that after Kim Jong Il took control of the military, the army became loyal to the Kim family (meaning that the North Korean military had ideals before). Subsequently, those students with military backgrounds ruined the university.

In such extreme disappointment, the author(Hwang Chang-yop) defected.

It is understandable.