AHC : Juche outside North Korea

Cook

Banned
The challenge is about having Juche ideology being present, at a point worth of mention, outside North Korea.

Bonus point if it becomes the official ideology of such a country
The three key points of Juche ideology are political independence, economic self-reliance and defence self-reliance and strength. Well in Nazi Germany that was called Autarky and under Mussolini it was Autarchia. It didn’t work back then either.
 
From the political perspective, South Korea, presented as an imminent threat actually helps maintain the militant regime.
A united Korea, even with Japan/US nearby, isn't as locally threatened (by land certainly), therefore its hard to explain as being s much of an imminent threat, which in turn puts pressure on the need to have such a heavy military, which, of course, props up the regime.

Given Japan's horrible history re: Korea, I don't think substituting Japan for South Korea will be that difficult.
 

whitecrow

Banned
Question: If Vietnam War for some reason goes better for U.S. & South Vietnam resulting in the 2 Vietnams staying divided, could North Vietnam adopt Juche?
 
Question: If Vietnam War for some reason goes better for U.S. & South Vietnam resulting in the 2 Vietnams staying divided, could North Vietnam adopt Juche?

Doesn't seem very likely. Of all the places suggested, only all Korea or Soviet northern, or more properly, eastern Japan seem likely.
 
Doesn't seem very likely. Of all the places suggested, only all Korea or Soviet northern, or more properly, eastern Japan seem likely.
Again, why not Romania, even when Romania IOTL expressed great interest in it and was similarly estranged from the rest of the Eastern Bloc as a result of being especially repressive and run-down? They seem like a good candidate.
 
I'm a little surprised nobody's mentioned Turkmenistan...

Probably the most likely choice. Just for the crazy!

As far as I can tell there really isn't much to Juche as an ideology. Once you get past the dross that nobody pays any attention to(rightly), it basically just comes down to whatever Kim is currently in charge does what he wants and gets the fawning "adoration" of his followers. That is both universal to autocracies and inherently specific to this particular bag of nuts.
 

whitecrow

Banned
The thing is you really can't have Juche anywhere else, since it'a system developed in and for North Korea and its specific situations, hell Kim Il-sung himself bluntly said that other countries should not try to imitate Juche, but come-up with solutions that fit their own specific situations.
Juche is a racist Korean-supremacist philosophy, so I don't see it as easily exportable.
According to wikipedia, this isn't entirely true:
Wikipedia said:
According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:

1. The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
2. Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
3. Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
4. The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.

The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the revolutionary party and leader. In North Korea, these are the Workers' Party of Korea and the supreme commander, formerly Kim Jong-il.
...
During the Cold War, North Korea promoted Juche and the principle of "self-reliance" as a guide for other countries, particularly third world countries, to develop their economies. Indonesian president Sukarno visited North Korea in 1964 and attempted to implement the North Korean economic program in his country,[29] but it resulted in a military coup. Romanian president Nicolae Ceauşescu was impressed by ideological mobilization and mass adulation in North Korea during his Asia visit in 1971, and began his systematization campaign shortly afterward with those features.

The North Korean government hosted its first international seminar on the Juche Idea in September 1977. Juche study groups might exist in several countries around the world...Kim Jong-il emphasized that other countries should not apply Juche formulaically, but should use methods suitable to the situation, consistent with criticisms that Juche ideology is flawed.
 
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