One of the major features of North Korea’s official attitude toward history and, broadly speaking, all humanities is a very high level of politicization. In Medieval Europe, philosophy was frequently described as the “maidservant of theology.” In North Korea, history is, first and foremost, the maidservant of ideology – or, to be more frank, the perceived ideological needs of the current regime.

Politicization is not unknown to history studies worldwide, but in most cases even the most fervent politician-cum-historians usually focuses their zeal on more recent events. This is not the case in North Korea, where ancient history is also politicized to a remarkable degree, which probably is without parallel in the modern world.