The Chollima Movement () was a state-sponsored
Stakhanovite movement
The term Stakhanovite () originated in the Soviet Union and referred to workers who modeled themselves after Alexey Stakhanov. These workers took pride in their ability to produce more than was required, by working harder and more efficiently, thu ...
in
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
intended to promote rapid
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...
. Launched in 1956 or 1958, the movement emphasized "ideological incentives to work harder" and the personal guidance of
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 ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
rather than rational modes of economic management.
Origin
The term
Chollima
The ''qianlima'' (; also ''chollima'', ''cheollima'', and ''senrima''; ) is a mythical horse that originates from the Chinese classics and is commonly portrayed in East Asian mythology. The winged horse is said to be too swift and elegant to be m ...
originates from the
Chinese mythological flying horse. The word Chollima can be translated as "thousand li horse," referring to its ability to travel 1,000 li (500 kilometers) in a single day. It also was said that it could not be ridden by any person. It is known for accomplishing the most difficult tasks and to have led heroes to victory. This idea of Chollima was used by
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 ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
to energize the workers in North Korea to bring the country out of the rubble of the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
to obtain a better life and a more prosperous country in a short amount of time.
Kim Il-sung first introduced the term Chollima in December 1956,
[Jefferies, "North Korea: A Guide to Economic and Political Developments", p50] shortly before the start of the 1957-61 five-year plan. During this five-year period, North Korea strove to complete a
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
transformation of industry within the country. It worked to completely
nationalize
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
industry and agriculture and become largely self-sufficient in producing food, clothing, and housing for all of its citizens.
Kim Il-sung started the Chollima movement to motivate hard work for the sake of the nation to achieve the desired outcomes of the five-year plan. At a meeting of
the Workers' Party of Korea held in December 1956, Kim Il-sung called on the nation to be more motivated in economic production. He said, “Let us produce more, practice economy, and overfulfill the five-year plan ahead of schedule!” Within four years the aims of the five-year plan were met.
The successes of the Chollima movement were first seen in 1957 as Kim Il-sung called on workers in a factory in the city of
Kangsong (near Pyongyang) which only had the capacity of 60,000 tons to produce an extra 10,000 tons of steel. The factory, however, was able to produce 120,000 tons, 60,000 tons more than its capacity.
[Harrold, "Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea", p183] This achievement was credited as lighting the torch of the Chollima movement.
The term ‘Chollima rider’ was given to workers who surpassed their targeted goals of production.
[French, "North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula", p77] This title encouraged people to work harder. The North Korean government even started a slogan of ‘drink no soup’ to make it so workers did not need to use the restrooms as often.
The slogan of ‘Let us dash forward in the spirit of Chollima’
was adopted to help motivate workers, with the result that successes were reported in many areas of economic activity. North Korea experienced an annual industrial growth of 36.6 percent during the five-year plan.
[Oh, "North Korea Through the Looking Glass", p50]
In 1959, the Chollima Work Team Movement was started. This was a system of socialist competition waged among teams of workers, upholding the
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
lifestyle and working under the lofty socialist ideal "
One for all and all for one
''Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno'' is a Latin phrase that means ''One for all, all for one''. It is the unofficial motto of Switzerland. The phrase describes the relation in monotheistic faiths. God is one5 Moses 6:4 He is the God of all manki ...
."
[Lee, "North Korea: A Strange Socialist Fortress", p28] “A work team would receive the title of Chollima Work Team by setting a production target high enough to stand out among other work teams in the whole nation and actually attaining the target as assessed competitively under a national evaluation system.”
If the title was awarded the team and its members would receive honorific items such as Chollima embossed banners, flags and notebooks.
The
Chollima Work Team Movement was initiated by
Chin Ung-won who organized fellow workers on his work team for the goal of achieving production far exceeding the quota assigned to them. With Chin's success and the encouragement from the national government the movement gained rapid massive support and Chin became the ideal Korean worker. The Chollima Work Team Movement gained 178,000 members less than a year and a half after its start.
Effects
![Propaganda at Pleather Factory (33098216956)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Propaganda_at_Pleather_Factory_%2833098216956%29.jpg)
This Chollima movement, however, was not able to remain successful indefinitely. The nation obtained the short-term gains in quantity of production but at the cost of lower quality. The economy was distorted as resources were shifted to extensively fund industries while neglecting other needed sectors. Human exhaustion also followed this movement.
Little labor remained and resources were stretched to their limits. Economic output began to fall and by 1961 the nation was facing an exhausted labor force.
[Oh, "North Korea Through the Looking Glass", p51] During the mid 1960s,
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
stopped publishing
economic statistics
Economic statistics is a topic in applied statistics and applied economics that concerns the collection, processing, compilation, dissemination, and analysis of economic data. It is closely related to business statistics and econometrics. It is ...
except for percentage increase over previous periods.
The Kim Il-sung-directed economy undoubtedly needed alterations. Kim Il-sung however, had no
economists
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
who were willing or able to tell him that his economic plans needed to be changed.
North Korea has never denounced Chollima or recognized its failures. Even
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
gave speeches praising Chollima until his death.
Chollima is still supported and used by the current North Korean regime. The term Chollima and ideas from the early movement still exist in North Korea today. Kim Jong-un has given
field guidance to major industrial establishments, exactly as Kim Il-Sung had done in the past. North Korean workers have been depicted by the
KCNA
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946 and now features onl ...
as being “filled with the will to strive for victory in the cause of building a thriving nation in hearty response to
im Jong Un’scall "Forward towards the final victory!"
In other areas of North Korea society the term “Chollima speed” is still used to depict rapid completion of expectations, referring to both the mythical horse but also to the economic growth in the 1950s. In the late 1990s North Korea again called on a
second Chollima movement
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...
to help strengthen the nation during a
period of massive energy shortages and severe famine.
Later usage
The Chollima Movement was the first of many mass mobilization campaigns in North Korea, and probably the most famous one. Chollima has since become an icon of North Korea. Several statues of the winged horse have been constructed throughout the country. Most significant is the 46-meter high
Chollima Statue
The Chollima Statue () is a monument on in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The monument symbolizes the "Chollima speed" of the Chollima Movement. The legendary winged horse Chollima depicted by the monument is said to travel 1,000 ...
on ,
Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...
. This statue was completed in 1961 and was built “to honour the heroism and invincible fighting spirit of the Korean people like the legendary winged horse Chollima that is said to cover a thousand ri in a day. Mounted on the winged horse are a worker holding high the "Red Letter" of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and a young peasant woman holding a sheaf of rice.”
Chollima has been used as a brand name for trucks, buses, and tractors in North Korea.
[Made in North Korea](_blank)
China Motor Vehicle Documentation. One of the lines on the
Pyongyang Metro
The Pyongyang Metro () is the rapid transit system in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. It consists of two lines: the Chollima Line, which runs north from Puhŭng Station on the banks of the Taedong River to Pulgŭnbyŏl Station, and the Hyŏksi ...
is called
Chollima
The ''qianlima'' (; also ''chollima'', ''cheollima'', and ''senrima''; ) is a mythical horse that originates from the Chinese classics and is commonly portrayed in East Asian mythology. The winged horse is said to be too swift and elegant to be m ...
, as is the
North Korean national football team. The winged horse has been depicted on
North Korean currency starting in 1978, as well as being seen on postage stamps.
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
China Motor Vehicle Documentation.
See also
* Ch'ŏngsan-ni Method
*Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruc ...
*Juche
''Juche'' ( ; ), officially the ''Juche'' idea (), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and ...
*Politics of North Korea
The politics of North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK) takes place within the framework of the official state philosophy, Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. ''Juche'', which is a part of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, i ...
* Saemaeul movement
*Stakhanovite movement
The term Stakhanovite () originated in the Soviet Union and referred to workers who modeled themselves after Alexey Stakhanov. These workers took pride in their ability to produce more than was required, by working harder and more efficiently, thu ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
PYONGYANG WATCH: All the winged horses . . .
New Evidence on North Korea's Chollima Movement and First Five-Year Plan (1957-1961)
North Korea: a strange socialist fortress
{{Kim Il-sung
Political history of North Korea
Economy of North Korea