"On-the-spot guidance" (also "guidance tours" or "field guidance") is a term used in the North Korean mass media to describe appearances by the

supreme leader A supreme leader or supreme ruler typically refers to powerful figures with an unchallenged authority, such as autocrats, dictators to spiritual and revolutionary leaders. Historic examples are Adolf Hitler () of Nazi Germany, Francisco ...

, often at sites related to the military or to industry, at which the leader gives directives. "On-the-spot" guidance is a key aspect of

North Korean propaganda Propaganda is widely used and produced by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). Most propaganda is based on the ''Juche'' ideology, veneration of the ruling Kim family, the promotion of the Workers' Party ...

and the

personality cult A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an ideali ...

of the Kim dynasty.

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

and

Kim Jong Un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

have all made use of the practice. "On-the-spot guidance" is also said to be done by Kim Il Sung's wife and mother of Kim Jong Il,

Kim Jong Suk Kim Jong-suk (; 24 December 1917Suh Dae-sook. Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. – 22 September 1949) was a Korean revolutionary, anti-Japanese guerrilla, Communist activist, the first wi ...

History and role in society

In North Korea, "on-the-spot guidance" is depicted as "a unilateral favor bestowed … by the supreme ruler," and its use is one "example of how the North Korean system is based on a paternalistic, patriarchal system." In North Korean propaganda, "on-the-spot" guidance furthers the image of a caring, omniscient, and great leader offering "benevolent guidance" to the people.Kwon & Chung, p. 28. Most instances have higher-ranking military officers and officials taking notes of what the Supreme Leader is saying or recommending. The phrase "on-the-spot guidance" was first created to describe the public activities of Kim Il Sung at some particular site. North Korea officially recognizes Kim Il Sung's "first" guidance tour as a trip to a

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

factory on 24 September 1945, but "whether this was really a guidance tour is doubtful," as Kim's local visits "were irregular and intermittent in the 1940s, rather than planned and routinized as they were in the 1950s and 1960s." The first guidance tour "as an institutionalized leadership act" came in December 1956 at the Kangson Steel Plant, at which Kim initiated the

Chollima Movement The Chollima Movement () was a state-sponsored Stakhanovite movement in North Korea intended to promote rapid economic development. Launched in 1956 or 1958, the movement emphasized "ideological incentives to work harder" and the personal guidanc ...

"mass competition campaign for rapid economic development" (1957–1961). Kim continued to use guidance tours to launch such campaigns and other new policies. Under

, on-the-spot guidance was "a very modern form of pageantry involving intimate contacts between the charismatic ruler and the ordinary worker-citizen, with Kim making prolific visits across the country." Kim Il Sung's widely publicized visits to

collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member-o ...

s, factories, and other sites "powerfully and palpably" conveyed "the intent of the 'on-the-spot guidance' practice to embody state power and state authority." Scholar Jae-Cheon Lim writes that: In the 1970s, Kim Il Sung's son

assumed responsibility for arranging his father's tours after being named heir apparent. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as the Kim Il Sung

deepened, the guidance tours became a ritualized and even sanctified routine act.Lim, p. 109. Several different varieties of guidance tours emerged. A regular guidance tour involved the inspection of a site; this was longer in duration and involved more extensive preparation than other types. A special guidance tour involved the leader selecting a particular workplace unit as a model for some mass-mobilization campaign. A third type of guidance tour was a repeated visit to a previously visited site to follow up on implementation. Finally, there was "the spontaneous guidance tour, in which the leader visited a place on the spot during a regular or special guidance tour." As heir apparent, Kim Jong Il also began undertaking his own guidance tours, although these were initially referred to as "business inspections" and then "business guidance," with the phrase "on-the-spot" guidance first used in reference to Kim Jong Il on 5 April 1988, when he "visited postal and broadcasting sites." In 1994, after his father's death, Kim Jong Il became supreme leader, and he continued the "on-the-spot guidance" practice. Kim Jong Il's guidance tours were "more symbolic" than his father's, and Kim Jong Il "carried them out in a more mechanical and choreographed way, avoiding direct contact with ordinary North Koreans to a greater extent than his father had done." In contrast to his father's focus on economic sites, Kim Jong Il emphasized

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

sites for his "on-the-spot guidance" visits. Over half of Kim Jong Il's visits were made to military units or were otherwise military-related, although he also made visits to the agricultural and

light industry Light industry are Industry (economics), industries that usually are less Capital intensity, capital-intensive than heavy industry, heavy industries and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consum ...

sites. This focus on visiting army bases and other military installations during the "

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