Christianity Shaped North Korea’s Cult of Personality

Kim Song Ju, the man who would become Kim Il Sung, was born to devout Presbyterian parents. Billy Graham’s wife was born to christian missionaries in China and went to high school in Pyongyang. American protestants once spread the gospel in northwest Korea and found fertile ground for their gospel message. Kim listened, learned, and used those teachings to shape a cult of personality that rules North Korea to this day. On this episode of Angry Planet I’m joined by Wall Street Journal China bureau chief Jonathan Cheng to talk about his new book Korean Messiah . Cheng’s work is an exploration of the origins of North Korea and Kim’s deep ties to American Christianity. Share Angry Planet as dress rehearsal Billy Graham in the Hermit Kingdom 19th century Protestant missionaries in Korea Presbyterians in the untamed northwest Untangling the history of a self-made godking The Kim Song Ju nativity Women without names Attending church during the Fire and Fury period The Soviet era Leading from beyond the grave Kim bombs his first public appearance Buy Korean Messiah Support this show . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Christianity Shaped North Korea’s Cult of Personality is an episode from War College by Matthew Gault.

This episode is 1:00:17 long.

This episode was published on May 8, 2026.

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