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영어

This article aims to examine a North Korean children’s literary work General Ax written by Ri Wǒn U, who was one of the most influential writers in North Korean literary educational field. I argue that this literary work is the cultural origin of North Korean socialistic patriotism and Juche ideology, demonstrating historically how the indigenous legend of revolutionary ideology has perpetuated hostile martyrdom of North Korea. The General Ax published in 1954 directly after cessation of the Korean War, and extracted from an ancient hero’s legend in Imjinwaeran in 1592 to the Korean War. Ri Wŏn U’s seminal work, The General Ax shows originally how North Korean socio-political body of Juche ideology has established the reincarnation and immortality of North Korean people culturally and institutionally. Most children’s literary works after The General Ax reveal collective trauma accumulated as a result of continuous foreign invasions, and show its dominant influence to institutional education system through their dissemination under the Party’s policy. Therefore, the General Ax can be actually defined as a typical symbol of North Korean hostility outwards and is the best symbol of North Korean people’s imperishability inwards, as well as an undying symbol of victimhood in many international wars throughout the history of the Korean peninsula. In the long run, I argue that the collective socialistic patriotism from General Ax eventually has come down to the current monolithic illusionary culture of North Korea against world peace.