Howdy y'all!
A few years back, I did a deep dive into the history and politics of the DPRK, but the one thing that I struggled to wrap my head around was The Juche Idea, and I'm wanting to jump back in and try again!
So, what are the main principles of Juche?
How does it compare to other ML variants in the rest of East Asia/in general?
I once saw Juche compared to existentialism. Is that accurate?
Any resources to help me learn more? Most of what I've found has either been old, difficult to understand, translations of old DPRK books, and uncritical regurgitations of those old books with little in the way of commentary.
Hopefully someone comes with a more thorough answer and theory, but just to get started: it just means self-sufficiency. The DPRK has always been in a particularly brutal position, and has been ostracized thoroughly. Self sufficiency and the sacrifice necessary to achieve it have therefore been the guiding forces for the development of their socialist experiment.