Lee Hyeon-seo Quotes

To a certain extent, all dictatorships are alike. From Stalin's Soviet Union to Mao's China, from Ceauşescu's Romania to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, all these regimes had the same trappings ... But Kim Il-sung took the cult of personality to a new level. What distinguished him in the rogues' gallery of twentieth-century dictators was his ability to harness the power of faith. Kim Il-sung understood the power of religion.

In 1984, George Orwell wrote of a world where the only colour to be found was in the propaganda posters. Such is the case in North Korea. Images of Kim Il-sung are depicted in vivid colours. Rays of yellow and orange emanate from his face: he is the sun.

In the city of Pyongyang, you don't have to look very far to see an image of the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung. They love the guy. He is responsible for the wonder that is North Korea.

From the moment I was born, I was fed propaganda. I viewed the Kim dynasty not only as our fearless protectors from the imperialist forces, but also as gods.

There certainly are those who worship the state much as divinities are worshipped. Not just the state but even leaders.

There are still some people who think that we have Stalin to thank for all our progress, who quake before Stalin's dirty under-draws, who stand at attention and salute them.

Psychology and economics are Stalin's favorable winds. He is also the party 'boss.' But he is, in addition, the Soviet Union's most striking personality.

Love of totalitarian propaganda is more evil than hatred.

If a mass movement turns into worshipping a particular person, that's a great problem.

Because North Korea was so totally cut off, we didn't hear anything of the outside world. We had only one TV channel, which showed only propaganda, and we believed everything.

Mao Zedong's way was to make people crazy. It was like a religious cult.

During the entire communist era, communist ideology was imposed on children. That was Bolshevism.

Endless praise and adoration, limitless abnegation and abjection of self; a celestial North Korea.

One thing that all the totalitarian states did was make the great leader's face everywhere.

If you will not have God (and He is a jealous God), you should pay your respects to Hitler or Stalin.

The film [the white Ribbon] does try to use German Fascism as an example, but not specifically Fascism... the results of German Fascism. It shows how people are prepared or indoctrinated for an ideology... people who are already in a state of repression who have been humiliated by society and who clasp at a straw that's offered to them. And how that's then developed into a form of indoctrination.

Early on I saw the repression and idolatry of Stalinism, and when it cracked, I was open to religion again.

Just after Kim Jong Il's death, the official news agency put out an article saying that under Kim Jong Il's rule, the people had been like naive children without a care in the world.

But, in North Korea, it's just the opposite. There's one story. It's written by the Kim regime. And 23 million people are conscripted to be secondary characters. There, as a youth, your aptitude towards certain jobs is measured, and the rest of your life is dictated, whether you'll be a fisherman or a farmer or an opera singer.

If children were brought up to become non-conformists it would only ruin their lives. So parents all over China who loved their children told them to do as Chairman Mao said. It was not possible to tell them anything else.

But Fascism cannot continue in a modified form.

I don't think it takes much for a cult to be a cult. Many parts of our society are cultish, and you only need a charismatic leader and some teachings, and before you know it, you have a cult.

For dynamic energy, driving force, and discipline, the Russian Communist Party is unique the world over, perhaps even throughout history.

Well, Dwight was born to be No. 2 and I don't think he would know what to do as a leader. But he loves following. He would have made a great fascist.

I had preconceived notions going in and it was even stranger than I thought it would be …. It is a total cult of personality.