North Korea’s complex relationship with its Christian past

The late Kim Il Sung — the founding leader of North Korea’s communist regime — is forever enshrined as the country’s “Eternal President.” It’s a powerful cult of personality from which the regime still draws much of its authority. Kim himself was deeply religious — he was raised as a devout Christian. The modern North Korean state tries to keep the religious upbringing of its founder hidden, but it’s really what enabled the regime’s rise in the first place. That’s the subject of Jonathan Cheng’s new book, “Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult.” He joins Host Marco Werman to talk about it.