Why has N.Korea deleted its long-time era name of `juche?`

A leading North Korean media outlet has stopped using the term "juche (self-reliance)," the political ideology used by the country`s founder Kim Il Sung, meaning that the country’s development must come from the people.

The deletion of the term on the redesigned website of the (North) Korean Central News Agency caused experts to scramble to find out why. The date on the site is displayed in the form of 2013-01-05 (year-month-day) instead of “Juche 102 (2013), January 05” as would have been common practice by the North. Until its revamp, the website had followed the rule.

The era name of juche was adopted in 1997 following the birth year of 1912 of Kim. The North also allows the display of A.D. but not alone.

A South Korean official said, “The change must`ve been intentional because it hasn’t been corrected for two days since the opening of the website."

The North Korean news agency is under the propaganda and agitation department of the ruling Workers` Party and produced in multiple languages targeting readers overseas like Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish.

The Rodong Sinmun, a North Korean daily for domestic use and the official publication of the party, still uses juche as the era name.

Chung Sung-jang, senior researcher at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute, said, “Since the redesign of the website, the sections on Kim Il Sung’s biography `With The Century` and `Kim Jong Il’s Revolutionary Activities` have been discarded, and just `Kim Jong Un’s Revolutionary Activities` has been retained," adding, "Kim Jong Un might have ordered a stop to the use of juche and follow international standards.

An information official in Seoul said, "If Pyongyang has decided to stop using the era name juche gradually, this means there`s a big change in the perspective of North Koreans to identify their country, such as the `Three Revolutions by Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un` or `The Kims’ Chosun (Korea).`"

"We`re closely following the development to confirm if this change has anything to do with the recent reconciliation gesture toward South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye by Pyongyang.”