Juche (; ; ), usually left untranslated, or translated as "self-reliance", is the official state ideology of North Korea, described by the government as Kim Il-sung's "original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought". It postulates that "man is the master of his destiny", that the North Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction", and that by becoming self-reliant and strong a nation can achieve true socialism.

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) developed the ideology, originally viewed as a variant of Marxism–Leninism until it became distinctly "Korean" in character, whilst incorporating the historical materialist ideas of Marxism–Leninism and strongly emphasising the individual, the nation state and its sovereignty. Consequently, "Juche" was adopted into a set of principles that the North Korean government has used to justify its policy decisions from the 1950s onwards. Such principles include moving the nation towards claimed ""jaju"" (independence), through the construction of ""jarip"" (national economy) and an emphasis upon ""jawi"" (self-defence), in order to establish socialism.

The Practice is firmly rooted in the ideals of sustainability through agricultural independence and a lack of dependency.

The "Juche" ideology has been criticized by many scholars and observers as a mechanism for sustaining the totalitarian rule of the North Korean regime, and justifying the country's heavy-handed isolationism and oppression of the North Korean people. It has also been described as a form of Korean ethnic nationalism, but one which promotes the Kim family as the saviours of the "Korean Race" and acts as a foundation of the subsequent personality cult surrounding them.

"Juche" comes from a Sino-Japanese word whose Japanese reading is "shutai". The word was coined in 1887 to translate the concept of "" in German philosophy (subject, meaning "the entity perceiving or acting upon an object or environment") into Japanese. The word migrated to the Korean language at around the turn of the century and retained this meaning. "Shutai" went on to appear in Japanese translations of Karl Marx's writings. North Korean editions of Marx used the word "juche", too, even before the word was attributed to Kim Il-sung in its supposedly novel meaning in 1955.

In today's political discourse on North Korea, "Juche" has a connotation of "self-reliance", "autonomy", and "independence". It is often defined in opposition to the Korean concept of "Sadae", or reliance on the great powers. South Koreans use the word without reference to the North Korean ideology.