Juche, officially the Juche idea (Korean: 주체사상), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and first leader. Juche was originally regarded as a variant of Marxism–Leninism until Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung's son and successor, declared it a distinct ideology in the 1970s. Kim Jong-il further developed Juche in the 1980s and 1990s by making ideological breaks from Marxism–Leninism and increasing the importance of his father's ideas. Juche incorporates the historical materialist ideas of Marxism–Leninism but also strongly emphasizes the individual, the nation state, and national sovereignty. Juche posits that a country will prosper once it has become self-reliant by achieving political, economic, and military independence. As Kim Jong-il emerged as Kim Il-sung's likely successor in the 1970s, loyalty to the leader was increasingly emphasized as an essential part of Juche, as expressed in the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System. Juche has been variously described by critics as a quasi-religion, a nationalist ideology, and a deviation from Marxism–Leninism.

Juche - Wikipedia