Kim Jong Il and Symbolic Leadership: Focusing on the Symbolism of His Guidance Tours

Abstract

Kim Jong Il is keenly aware of the role of symbols in leadership activity and actively employs them to affect people's behavior for his political goals. His guidance tour is a good example of the way he utilizes leadership symbols mainly through indirect contacts with the people. Analyzing the symbolic character of his guidance tours, this paper attempts to articulate the symbolism of Kim Jong Il's behavior. It will use a new concept, symbolic leadership, to emphasize the symbolism in his guidance tours. Here the symbolic leadership is defined as "a leader's style to persuade and mobilize followers through indirect contacts, mainly relying upon symbols." The paper conceptualizes the symbolic leadership, specifically explaining its five aspects ─ion and manipulation, strong suggestive quality, interpretation, time and spatial distance between the leader and people, and psychological closeness. In addition, the paper examines the multiple symbolic functions of Kim's guidance tour, including communication, meaning condensation, social stabilization, legitimacy granting, and mass mobilization. Finally, Kim's guidance tours are analyzed as an example of Kim's symbolic leadership, relating the five aspects of the symbolic leadership to the symbolism of the guidance tours.