Treemap

What do the treemaps of words from headlines of the North Korean military newspaper from 1948 to 1950 tell us about early North Korean history? The treemap reveals the difference in the role and status of Kim Il Sung and Josef Stalin in North Korean society.

First, notice the diversity of terms used alongside Kim Il Sung's name. Although there were fewer article headlines containing Kim's name, there is more variety to words associated with Kim. There is a regularity about the articles describing Stalin, as they occur in large numbers around his birthday and commemorative occasions like the liberation of Korea, victory in Europe, and the October Revolution. Stalin is not a micromanager of North Korean affairs and his presence is felt only in a static manner. On the other hand, Kim was known for managing and commentating on a variety of North Korean issues, and that is reflected in the diversity of terms that appear with his name in the newspaper. The words co-occurring with Kim's name include the many different events throughout the country, not limited to commemorative spectacles, that he attended.

Second, paying close attention to the honorifics, which always appear before or after Kim and Stalin's names in the headlines, provides insight about the status of each leader and the early manifestations of North Korea's infamous cults of personality. That Josef Stalin was idolized in North Korea at the time is not surprising, but what is surprising is the disparity in the degree of Stalin idolization compared to that for Kim Il Sung. While Stalin's birthday was a major concern for the newspaper, with "birthday" (tansaeng) appearing 53 times, there is no open reminder about Kim's birthday. Stalin is associated with the term "great" (widae) 39 times, yet the praise is not extended to Kim Il Sung. This is not to say that Kim was not idolized, but it is important to take note of Kim's relative lack of prestige compared to Stalin. Whereas Stalin's name go by the standardized title of "grand marshal" (taewŏnsu; 142 apperances), Kim's title is not fixed, fluctuating among "prime minister," "general," and "prime minister of the cabinet." While adulatory terms for Kim, such as "suryŏng" (meaning supreme leader) do appear in very small numbers, the immediate concern seems to have been to firmly establish Kim's new name in the minds of the readers, as seen in the ten articles carrying the title "True Stories from General Kim Il Sung's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War."

Third, from the context of war and peace in this two-year period in the buildup to the Korean War, an interesting contrast emerges. The words associated with Stalin are generally peaceful, including "friend," "friendly," "peace," "ally" all appearing more than five times. While it is understandable why Koreans would not need to call one of their own a friend or ally, it is interesting to see the absence of "peace" or any related term with Kim's name. Instead, the most frequent terms are "fight," "struggle," and "battle," which are rarely seen with Stalin's name. The historical explanation for Stalin's image as a peaceful ally and friend is quite straightforward: there is agreement among historians that the North Korean perception of the Soviets during their first several months of occupation of the North following Japan's surrender was severely tainted by the Red Army's unruly pillage and rape. North Korean authorities, therefore, had to strive to justify their vital alliance with the Soviets by continually pushing a positive, peaceful image of the USSR's most emblematic individual. Meanwhile, Kim Il Sung at the time did not have a negative image issue that haunted the Soviets. Rather, Kim Il Sung's image was being built as a model warrior to establish his credential as the leader of not just the military but also the nation, which was struggling to be viewed as a self-sovereign and independent entity internationally, and undergoing a socioeconomic revolution domestically.

The treemap visualization provides interesting insights that would not have been possible from plain text, or other formats of visualization. One issue with this technique, however, is its synchronic orientation. An animated treemap that shows change over time may have provided an even richer perspective for the researcher. The fact remains that a simple comparison of two treemap visualizations in itself yielded some interesting insights about two historically significant individuals.