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  "path": "/video/gzero-world-clips/north-korea-the-cult-that-outlasted-stalin-and-mao",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-21T13:27:01.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gzeromedia.com",
  "tags": [
    "Cult",
    "Kim jong un",
    "Nuclear weapons",
    "North korea",
    "Ian bemmer",
    "Gzero world",
    "Jonathan cheng",
    "South korea"
  ],
  "textContent": "\nNorth Korea has a flag, a military, nuclear weapons, and a UN seat. But **Jonathan Cheng** says we fundamentally misread it if we don't see it for what it is: a religious society.\n\n* * *\n\nThe Kim cult has outlasted **Stalin'** s, outlasted **Mao** 's, and is now in its third generation without any meaningful sign of fracture. The nukes protect against external threats. The cult handles everything else.\n\nNow **Kim Jong Un** has done something his predecessors never dared: he's repudiated unification with South Korea as a state goal, essentially declaring heresy against the founding promise of his grandfather. The fact that he got away with it says everything about how completely he has consolidated power. In that sense, Kim Jung Un has already rewritten the doctrine, argues Cheng. That's not a stylistic shift. It's a theological one.",
  "title": "North Korea: The cult that outlasted Stalin and Mao"
}