How exactly does Juche differ from other Marxist branches? What are the differences? Do Koreans in the DPRK really see the Kim family as “gods” like western documentaries tell? And can someone explain the laying down the flowers in front of the statue thing? I dont really understand it and want to learn about it. Also I learned that the DPRK was way richer than the south in the 70s, but why are people making fun of the nation now because it is alledgedly poorer and had a hunger crisis? I find it disturbing tbh to make fun of people starving.
What I concluded myself is that it has something to do with the war they are still in that has only a truce but never really ended.
Juche is an separated ideology from Marxism-Leninism. It was created by Kim Il-sung to serve early on as an application of ML to the Korean reality, but later it became its own ideology. In the 1972 Constitution, it replaced ML as the country’s official ideology (with all mentions to Marxism-Leninism in the Constitution being removed in 1992). I’m not well-versed enough to talk about the philosophy of Juche, so you gotta read their texts and make your own conclusions.
addition: Caution is needed when criticizing Korea to avoid making chorus with reactionaries and trotskytes that say smiling is banned there. It’s a victim of imperialism in the end, with half of the country being under military occupation, but some things, like the removal of ML from the Constitution need to be criticized.