Cult of the Personality
The pictures on TV were truly surreal - and looked like a Nazi party rally from the 1930s.
But that's what happens when you have a closed society - one that proclaims a new state religion - a cult of the personality in the form of the Dear Leader - and his chosen successor, his youngest son - Kim Jong-un.
Until the end of the Second World War most Japanese people believed their emperor (Hirohito at the time) - was a God - literally a God - whose words and commands had to be obeyed.
So the generals - who actually ran the country - gave orders on behalf of the emperor to do various terrible things - up to and including suicide or 'Kamikaze' missions - and the emperor's 'wishes' were carried out without hesitation.
So much of North Korea knows no better - cut off and isolated from the rest of the world - as it clearly is.
The people will be fed a diet of propaganda that tells them they are surrounded by hostile enemies - and that only the Dear Leader or his Great Successor can save the country - from famine and ruin.
Japan only came to its senses after atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - which finally brought an end to the Second World War.
The cult of the personality surrounding Adolf Hitler was brought to an end - only after millions had died in the European, Russian and North African theatres of war.
So North Korea will not be an easy problem to resolve - the advantages of social networking and modern communications - which helped give voice to the Arab Spring - simply do not exist in that part of the world.
But the challenge is to bring about change by peaceful means - after all both the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall were finally taken down - by words and diplomacy.
Bombs and bullets should be a last resort - though as Libya showed sometimes it's necessary - to prevent an even bigger disaster befalling a country and its people.
