Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2002

The Cult That Is North Korea

Christopher M. Centner
Defense Intelligence Agency

Abstract

World policymakers are puzzled by North Korea’s erratic and violent behavior, failing to understand that North Korea is not a traditional nation-state, but a cult that possesses territory. As a cult, North Korea needs to maintain tensions with the outside world and resist reforms that would seem to others as rationally necessary. Moreover, Pyongyang seems to be slipping more and more toward a totalistic cult model that mirrors the behavior of groups that have, in the past, used weapons of mass destruction, murdered outsiders, and committed group suicide. By viewing North Korea not as a rational nation-state but as a religious cult, policymakers will have a better model to understand and predict Pyongyang’s behavior. Some attributes of South Korea’s Sunshine Policy appear to correctly focus on weakening Kim Jong Il’s absolute control over the North Korean population.

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