North Korea
Korea, as an un-divided nation was united by the Silla Dynasty (668–935)
in 668 A.D. Since then, Korea has been forced to contend with the
expansionist ambitions of its neighbors and “friends” from afar.
All was well, until in 1910, Korea’s Chosun Dynasty (1392–1910) was
forced to a close with the annexation and colonization of Korea by its “good”
neighbor — Japan. Although
resistance groups formed in Korea and China — typically adopting “leftist”
politics in reaction to the harsh “right-wing” Japanese management style — it
would require a world war to force the Japanese out. It is of little surprise
that as a result of the Japanese Imperial Administration’s oppression, inferior
relations between the people of both Koreas (North
& South) and Japan continue today.
After Japan’s WW II defeat in 1945 the Soviet Union and United
States divided the post-war control of the Korean peninsula between
themselves. On August 10th
of that year, a line was drawn establishing the U.S. and Soviet controlled occupation
zones at the “38th parallel”. The
divide was intended to be temporary; a mere footnote in Korea’s long
history, but the onset of the Cold War made this a pivotal event indeed.
In search of a method to ensure the upkeep of their respective
influences in Korea, the U.S. and the USSR installed Korean leaders sympathetic
to their own cause.
The United States handed control of the
southern half of the peninsula to Syngman
Rhee, while the Soviet Union gave Kim Il-sung power in the north. As you’d expect, mistrust on both sides
prevented cooperation on elections that were intended to select a leader for
the entire peninsula. The unfortunate result: both sides claimed to be the
legitimate government and representative of the entire Korean population.
On August 15, 1948, Syngman
Rhee (the US appointee) declared the
formation of the Republic of Korea in Seoul, claiming jurisdiction over all of
Korea.
Shortly thereafter, on September 8, 1948 Kim Il-sung (the USSR appointee)
declared the formation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK) in Pyongyang, also claiming authority over all of Korea.
Nearly
two years later, the conflict that is known as the
Korean War Begin on June 25, 1950 when Kim Il-sung attempted to unify Korea via military force. By far the most destructive and disruptive
event in Korean history, the war changed the life of almost every Korean; some
historians claim that the U.S. dropped more napalm on urban centers in Korea
than during the entire Vietnam War, (1954–1975).
Bombing sorties reduced North Korea’s
Capital City Pyongyang, to rubble, and the North’s population was reduced by
10%.
As you know, 3 years and two days later (June
27, 1953), an armistice ending major hostilities was signed. The DMZ
(demilitarized zone) was established at
almost the same position as the border had been before war began.
Having survived the war, Kim Il-sung “remodeled” North Korean
society along the lines of the Juche Ideology — loosely translated
as “self-reliance,”— a unique, Korean-flavored variation of Stalinism with a hefty dose of national
spirituality assigning supernatural feats and deity status to the “Great Leader” (Kim Il-sung . . . the father), “Dear Leader” (Kim Jong-il . . .
the son), and more recently, “Supreme Leader” (Kim Jong-un . . . the grandson) as the "living"
leaders of the Korean people.
You might be surprised to learn that from 1953 to the early 1970’s
North Korea was considered by some external observers to be quite the
successful state. During this period,
many North Koreans were actually better off economically than their southern
brethren living in South Korea.
North Korea’s wildly nationalistic
ideology promoting Korean autonomy quickly seized control of all private
property and organizations . . . Officially, everything in the country, from
businesses to the clothes on everyone’s back, belonged to the North Korean
state. The regime rebuilt Pyongyang as a socialist capital and erected numerous
monuments dedicated to Kim Il-sung as part of a nationwide effort to build a “cult
of personality” that would secure the absolute obedience of the public. The
state took control of all media and restricted international travel. Furthermore,
Kim Il-sung worked constantly to centralize power under the Workers’ Party of Korea that was under
his rule; during the process he implemented a perpetual purge to rid the
country of potential internal opponents.
How things change or what a difference the loss of a few civil
liberties make. By the 1970’s, the early gains of postwar renovation and
modernization began to dissipate, and Kim Il-sung’s ideologically driven
governance failed to continue yielding prosperity. Since North Korea was so dependent
on trade and aid from the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc countries; when the
economies of those nations began to decay it adversely affected North Korea’s economy
too. The people’s quality of life deteriorated into the 1980’s and remained in decline
until the collapse of the USSR in 1991, at which point the North Korean
socialist command economy stopped functioning almost completely.
To make matters worse, poor agricultural policies and environmental
negligence increased North Koreas susceptibility to extreme weather conditions which
increasingly brought meager crop yields. Further, the regime had lost allies to
fall back on when or if the economy failed. Simply stated, North Korea’s
reserves swiftly ran dry.
These
were the circumstances the country
found itself in when Kim Il-sung died in 1994. “Great Leader” left the failing state to his son, Kim Jong-il or “Dear Leader” who took control in the post-Cold War era when North Korea was literally
on the edge of ruin. Kim Jong-il, believed there was a need to deal with
external and internal unrest so he established a “military first” policy that prioritized or favored the military
and elites over the general population to an even greater extent than had been
established by his late father, “Great
Leader”. In the end, the policy
made the oncoming food shortage even worse for ordinary North Koreans. In fact,
many North Koreans blame Kim Jong-Il’s leadership for the famine although in truth,
his policies only hastened the emergence of a catastrophe that was long in the
making.
The economic downfall and ensuing famine in North Korea reached its
peak in the mid-to-late 1990’s. It’s estimated that up to one million people
died—roughly 5% of the populace; many, who
survived, suffered immensely, particularly in that childhood starvation stunted
the growth of an entire generation . . . Need, Proof?—The North Korean
government found it necessary to reduce the minimum height requirement for
soldiers because 145 cm / 4 feet 9 inches, was too tall for most 16-17 year
olds (2012
minimum height requirement: 139.7 cm / 4 feet 7 inches). In a 2009 publication, author Barbara Demick’s part-novelization
of interviews with refugees from North Korea, “Nothing to Envy” , conveys the
story rather well . . . wherein one particular recount of a North Korean doctor
telling of when she became desperately hungry; she took flight to neighboring China
. . . once there, she discovered a bowl of food that had been left out for a
dog. Upon inspecting the white rice and generous chunks of meat, she concluded
that “dogs in China ate better than
doctors in North Korea.”
The need for food soon forced the North Korean people away from the
regime’s control, and when the government stopped providing food, the survivors
found alternative ways to feed themselves. They scavenged and sold about anything
so they could buy food at small, illegal markets that began to spring up,
creating a process known as “bottom-up
marketization”. The more fortunate fled to China, leading to a wave of
refugees; all the while though, information about the “world” beyond North
Korea slowly began to seep back into the country. As a result, the highly ordered culture
soon gave way to a disorganized and fluid society, with new paths to wealth and
power for those who defied the regime and pursued the new bottom-up
marketization.
By the early 2000’s, the citizens of North Korea began to recover.
The “bottom-up markets”, which originally emerged as a method for survival,
gradually grew to include a wider range of goods and services and became better
established. Today such markets are the major source of food for the everyday
North Korean.
Then too in 1998, it certainly helped the well-being of an untold
number of the North Korean population when their southern neighbors (South Korea) adopted the “Sunshine Policy” wherein “unconditional aid” to North Korea, including an
increase in economic cooperation between the Koreas was implemented. The Kaesong
Industrial Complex located just north of the DMZ was part of this policy and allowed South Korean companies to
hire more than 50,000 North Korean workers. In-any-event, this often “strained” policy officially
ended in November of 2010 when the South
Korean Unification Ministry declared the Sunshine Policy a failure, thus bringing it to a close. Most observers agree that North Korea’s
obsession with obtaining nuclear and missile technology simply placed too much anxiety
on the “good-will” program.
China has gradually reinforced her economic relationship with North
Korea, and today is by far North Korea’s most important economic and political
partner. Regardless, ordinary North Koreans continue to face the severe
challenges of chronic food shortages and relentless poverty, while their basic
freedoms are curtailed by a repressive regime whose only concern seems to be limited
to “staying in power”.
Always uneasy about the progression of the “bottom-up markets”, in
late 2009 the Kim Jong-il regime made a drastic effort to restrain the markets with
a currency reform designed to eliminate private wealth. Market disruptions and severe
inflation reversed the people’s hard-won progress, however more than a few
regime projects were also derailed. Many North Korean refugees have termed this
as a turning point in their fading belief in the regime. Regardless, it now appears
to be absolutely clear to the current regime that the markets are simply a fact
of life.
In
December of 2011, Kim Jong-il died and his 2nd son by his 4th
wife, Kim Jong-un (Kim Il-sung’s grandson) inherited
control of the nation. Only 27 or 28
years old at the time of his succession, Kim Jong-un was relatively unknown to
the people of North Korean and the outside world. Before taking power, he had hardly been seen
in public, and many of the actions of both Kim Jong-un and his government
remain cloaked in secrecy. Even details
such as the year he was born, and whether he attend a Western school under a
fictitious name, are difficult to verify with absolute certainty.
The few North Koreans who escaped the country in 2011 reported that
there had been very little propaganda about Kim Jong-un during 2011. By
contrast, Kim Jong-il, his father, was much better known to the North Korean
people when he ascended to power in 1994.
During his early years in power, Kim Jong-un has implemented a PR
style that has portrayed him as a modern version of his grandfather; all the
while purging, executing, and demoting regime officials and kin folk to secure
his power base. His leadership has moved to crack down on illegal border crossings
and the influx of foreign media while increasing repression in the border
regions, thus reducing the number of defectors who managed to make it to South
Korea by almost 50%.
A few fleeting reports suggest that there has been signs of
cautious experimentation with economic liberalization in an attempt to adjust
to the reality of the entrenched bottom-up market system inside the country.
On the other hand the few North Korea “escapees” have revealed what
life is REALLY like under Kim Jong-un:
70% continue to go hungry; 25% do not
have access to adequate healthcare; and 20% lack clean water facilities and
proper sanitation.
Further, a UN Commission of Inquiry has
found that North Koreans are being subjected to growing levels of murder, rape,
torture and forced abortions under the rule of Kim Jong-Un.
A
recent report by the International Crisis Group (otherwise known as the Crisis Group),
which is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in
1995 . . . concluded, from “interviews and observations” from within North
Korea, that Kim Jong-un “could be in
power for decades.” They predict that “reform
prospects are dim” and worse, he could have “a growing nuclear arsenal.”
The vast majority of the civilized world has been predicting North
Korea's collapse for almost a generation. In years past, the Stalinist, totalitarian nation-states of
the world collapsed so steadily and in such quick succession that this one, some
say, the dimmest star of the Soviet group, was surely expected to follow. If the Soviet Union, with all its weapons and
vast reserves of natural resources, couldn't hold back the “tides” of history,
how is it possible that impoverished little North Korea continues to survive? Some
say, “Impossibly”, the North Korean system continues to goose step
along basically unchanged . . . its food stores bleak, at best, and its prisons
and labor camps stay jam-packed.
It seems clear that there is a common theme to the Crisis Group's findings: The Kim Jong-un
regime has somehow managed to turn North Korea's various flaws — poverty,
hunger, insecurity, corruption, and et cetera into not just strengths, but into
pillars of stability.
Most of us, on the outside looking in, remain bewildered at best.
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