The Politics of North Korea Flashcards
(33 cards)
1
Q
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
A
- Possibly the most totalitarian society every created
- Very rigid political structure permeates all aspects of life
- But crucially: economic malaise is tearing at the institutional fabric of society
- Rise of markets means people’s lives less dependent on state and class system (Songbun)
- Homeless children, rich entrepreneurs, destitute criminal gangs: more and more people do not fit into the apparatus for totalitarian control
- Tensions are exacerbated during COVID crisis
2
Q
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
A
- Resilience of the regime: why does it survive?
- Totalitarian mechanisms for control: surveillance through neighbourhood committees, political organisations, the Workers’ Party
- Ideology and ideological mobilisation is woven into the entire fabric of society
- The class system: Songbun
- Oppression: human rights, concentration camps
- Militarism: central place of military in society
- The unofficial DPRK: markets, business(wo)men, homeless, refugees in China, forced labourers abroad, clandestine financial operations abroad
3
Q
The Kim Dynasty
A
- Kim Il-sung 1912-1994
- Kim Jong-il 1941-2011
- Kim Jong-un 1983-
4
Q
Regime Legitimacy: Anti-Imperialism
A
- Legitimacy regime based on anti-imperialism and independence
- Needs a constant external threat to maintain this legitimacy
5
Q
Juche
A
- Ideological autonomy
- Political independence
- Economic self-sustenance
- Self-reliance in defence
Opposite of Juche: Sadae (subservient relations)
6
Q
Juche
A
Marxist-Leninism: “historical materialism”
- Material forces are driving force of historical progress
Juche: “Popular masses drive history”
- Human beings driving force of history
- To be successful they need a “Great Leader”
7
Q
The Priority: Preservation of the DPRK regime
A
- Why no China-style economic reforms?
- Why spend money on nuclear bombs during food shortage?
- Why emphasis on military and not economy?
- Why domestic oppression so extreme?
- Why so aggressive and uncooperative internationally?
- Answer: it serves goal of regime preservation
- All policy must be understood in this context
8
Q
What is crucial for the preservation of the DPRK regime?
A
Crucial: the regime’s view of history
- Legitimacy: History of oppression by Japanese colonialists and the American imperialists
- The great fear: International developments of the last 30 years
– Tiananmen uprising and massacre
– fall of the USSR and communist states in Eastern Europe
– Arab spring
9
Q
The Priority: Preservation of the DPRK regime
A
- Military strength (internationally): strong army with militarised population and nuclear weapons
- Military strength (domestically): source of pride and legitimacy, loyalty of military essential in case of civil unrest
- Towards building a totalitarian state: oppression, surveillance and ideological mobilisation/indoctrination
10
Q
The Nuclear Weapons Program
A
- Priority: regime preservation
- Starts with end of the Cold War
- Estimated to have more than 30 nuclear weapons, ability to produce 6 or 7 per year
- Also large stock of biological and chemical weapons
- 2003-2009: “Six Party Talks” (DPRK, ROK, Japan, China, Russia, US) aimed at ending program
- Seen as insurance against attack and bargaining chip, as well as source of pride for leadership
- Motivation must be understood through context of DPRK’s international outlook and legitimacy of the leaders: self-reliance in defense
11
Q
Totalitarianism
A
- Highly centralised state
- Well-defined ideology
- Seeks to transform and fuse the institutions of state, society, and the economy
- Main objective: transform the total institutional fabric of a country to meet ideological goal (different from other nondemocratic regimes)
- Due to ambitious goals: violence and the resulting terror often necessary tools to destroy any obstacle to change
12
Q
The Origins of North Korean Totalitarianism
A
Why does the regime survive?
- Just because of state terror and oppression? Too simple.
- Ideology: anti-imperialism and independence
- Surveillance: inminban (neighbourhood committees), “organisational” membership; extensive system of informers
- Mobilisation: the above societal units serve to constantly reaffirm ideology
- Oppression: highest number of political prisoners in the world. Zero tolerance: absolutely no political dissent tolerated.
13
Q
Inminban: “people’s units”
A
- Neighbourhood committees
- 15-30 families living together in village, urban block, or building
- Always headed by a woman
- She must know “number of chopsticks in each household”; must know everything about the families in her inminban and regularly brief the people
- Registers overnight visitors, makes random checks at night with police (2-4 times a year)
- General mobilisation for political events
14
Q
“Organisational Life”
A
- Through workplace unit everyone is affiliated with some organisation
- 5 organisations nationally: party/workers/farmers/women’s/youth
- Ideological education sessions twice a week (mandatory attendance)
- Plus one self-and-mutual criticism session per week: public admission of ideological lapses the previous week and criticism of co-workers
15
Q
Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System
A
- Most important ideological document in the country
- Every citizen must memorize
- Basis for the Kim personality cult
- Established in 1970s
- Contains 65 sub-clauses that must also be learned
16
Q
Songbun
A
- Core class
– 28% of the population
– Includes professional revolutionaries, descendants of ‘war heroes’ who died working or fighting for the North, peasants or those from peasant families - Wavering Class
– 45% of population
– Includes people who had previously lived in South Korea or China, those with relatives who went to the South, families of small-scale merchants, intellectuals, practitioners of superstition - Hostile Class
– 27% of population
– Includes descendants of landlords, capitalists, religious people, political prisoners, those who had assisted South Korean forces during the Korean War, or were otherwise judged anti-Party or associated with external powers
17
Q
Songbun as “Ingredient/Content” or Background
A
- Occupation: Party determines your job based on Songbun.
– Low Songbun: Menial labour
– High Songbun: Party bureaucrat - Education: Better opportunities or no opportunities based on Songbun
- Location: You are forced to live in certain place based on Songbun.
– High Songbun: Pyongyang
– Low Songbun: remote provinces, especially in northeast
– Travel heavily restricted - Food: “Public Distribution System”, amount of food based on Songbun.
- 51 subcategories of Songbun
- Last twenty years: Songbun less important due to marketization. Still important for elite.
18
Q
Concentration camps
A
- Around 200k prisoners
- Estimated 400k have died in them
- By ordinary people spoken of as: “people who are sent to the mountains”
Two different types:
- Kwan-li-so: Political prisoner camps
- Kyo-hwa-so: Reeducation camps for non-political crimes. subdivided in long-term and short-term labour camps
19
Q
Kwan-li-so: Political prisoner camps
A
- Estimated 80k-120k people
- Rivaled only by Stalinist USSR in terms of percentage of population
- Hard slave labour
- Some only for lifelong prisoners
- Family detention (guilt by association): has probably changed over last decades
- High casualty rate?
- Some have closed and merged in last few years, but it did not lead to a decrease in prisoners
- Last few years has seen continued use and upscaling of the remaining kwan-li-so
20
Q
Workers’ Party of Korea
A
- DPRK Constitution Article 42: The State shall eliminate the way of life inherited from the outmoded society and establish a new socialist way of life in every sphere
- Article 12: The State shall adhere to the class line, strengthen the dictatorship of people’s democracy and firmly defend the people’s power and socialist system against all subversive acts of hostile elements at home and abroad.
21
Q
Worker’s Party of Korea
A
- While similar in structure to other communist parties, the structure is less important:
– Emphasis on informal politics
– Emphasis on the leader - Organs like the Politburo and the Central Committee often dormant during Kim Jong-il era, revived under Kim Jong-un
- Kim Jong-il emphasized military over party: governed through National Defense Commission
- WKP more active under Kim Jong-un, but in terms of actual power situation has not much has changed
22
Q
Korean People’s Army (KPA)
A
- “Revolutionary Armed Wing” of the Workers’ Party (not a national army)
- Kim Jong-un: Supreme Commander and Chairman of Central Military Commission
- Conscription: around 10 years for men, (recently) small number of women 7 years
- Many elites do not serve, many university students also exempt or do limited service
- Almost 6 million soldiers: 25% population
- Also important economic player in society
23
Q
Kim Jong-il as “The Dear Leader” 1994-2011
A
- Designated successor to his father in 1974, officially in 1980
- Hereditary succession very controversial in communist world
- Takes over in 1994 right when DPRK economic model finally crashes
- Not known for economic knowledge
- Seen as skilled and shrewd in diplomacy
- More rigid in decision making than his father
- Military First: National Defence Commission highest body in DPRK state
24
Q
“Arduous March”: North Korean famine 1994-1998
A
- End of Soviet aid: cheap oil, energy imports drop by 75%
- 1993: PRC reduces aid as well due to grain shortfall
- Also: general economic decline due to inefficiency of planned economy and reliance on heavy industry
- Floods and droughts exacerbated problem
- Foreign borrowing not an option
25
Result of "Arduous March": North Korean famine 1994-1998
- Impossible to ascertain death toll: 240k-3.5 million
- Completely wrecked the country and changed it forever
- Breakdown of allocation of food through "Public Distribution System"
- Led to rise of markets to avoid starvation
- Kotjebi (homeless orphans): still very present in society, roam streets to beg and steal
26
Songun: "Military First" Ideology
- New ideology from 1990s
- Associated with Kim Jong-il
- Prioritizes the Korean People's Army in State Affairs and allocation of resources, at expense of other sectors of society
- Army is the driving force of the revolution
- Usually: proletariat (USSR) or peasantry (PRC)
- In 2009 Songun replaces "communism" in the DPRK Constitution
- Kim Jong-il's response to famine and collapse of USSR
27
Background of Songun: "Military First" Ideology
- Elevate military leadership to centre of power
- Militarization needed to compensate for DPRK's precarious international position after the Cold War
- Also to prevent 1989 Eastern Europe scenario: military response to unrest is of critical importance
- Legitimacy: regime can safeguard people
- Prioritizing army helped Kim Jong-il secure vital military support for his succession from 1994
- 1998-2016 National Defence Commission highest political body in DPRK
- Military leaders at centre of power: so they have vested interest in regime maintenance
28
Kim Jong-un as "First Secretary" "Marshall" "Chairman" 2011-
- Designated successor in 2010, unknown before this
- Ruthless in consolidation of power: executes uncle in 2013 and assassinates half-brother in Malaysia in 2017
- No hint of more collective leadership
- In propaganda more emphasis on "well-being of the people"
- Economic growth and construction programs
- Continues nuclear program
- But slowly moves away from Songun: National Defence Commission changed to State Affairs Commission in 2016
29
Economic Reform?
- More and more private enterprises since early 2000s
- Officially "subsidiaries" of State Owned Enterprises
- In order to stay on good side of authorities businessmen use bribes
- Government tolerates situation because it benefits the economy
- Food situation has improved in last 20 years
- Though again imperilled during covid crisis
- Threat of marketisation and economic change to the system is serious
30
Why doesn't North Korea follow the China Model?
- Decentralisation will harm the regime
- System of inminban/organisational life on which regime depends is directly threatened by rise of capitalism
- "Open Door Policy" impossible: too much foreign influence will mean end of regime
- Legitimacy: if country embraces capitalism, in what way are they different from South Korea?
- So economic change remain haphazard and sporadic, not structural
31
"Jangmadang" Markets
- Result of collapse "Public Distribution System" in 1990s
- Majority of North Koreans depend on Jangmadang for survivial
- Trade with China is central
- This means covid crisis (closed border) has hit the DPRK economy hard
- Government highly ambivalent: more approved markets but still regular crackdowns
32
Massive societal change due to "Jangmadang" Markets
- Growing market economy
- Challenge to Songbun
- Challenge to inminban and "organisational" surveillance
- Central role of women in earning living
- "Jangmadang" generation
33
DPRK: Now and Forever?
- 2019 Constitutional Revision seems to create more freedoms for individuals to make money on markets: formalising existing situation
- But covid crisis has again led to food shortage and severe economic problems
- Kim Jong-un seems to realise the scale of problem and danger it poses to regime
- Constant ups and downs of relations with west and South Korea will likely continue
- Some signs that recent economic hardship is leading to ideological crackdowns
- December 2020: Law on the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture
