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3 North Korea turns back the
clock By Andrei Lankov
households in Pyongyang have a VCR that is
used to watch foreign movies. Defectors reported
that in mid-October, just after the nuclear test,
all North Koreans were required to sign a written
pledge about non-participation in "non-socialist
activity". It was explained during the meetings
that this activity includes listening to foreign
radio and watching foreign videotapes.
Thus it seems that only a few people still
believe in the official
myth
of South Korean destitution. Perhaps most people
in the North do not realize how great the
difference between their lives and those of their
South Korean brethren is. Perhaps, for most of
them, being affluent merely means the ability to
eat rice daily. Discussions with recent defectors
also create an impression that most North Koreans
still believe that the major source of their
problems is the suffocating "US imperialist
blockade". Still, the old propaganda about the
destitute and starving South is not readily
swallowed anymore.
Another obstacle on the
way to a Stalinist revival is a serious breakdown
of morale among officialdom. The low-level
officials whose job is to enforce stricter
regulations do not feel much enthusiasm about the
new orders. Back in the 1940s and 1950s when
Stalinism was first established in North Korea
under Soviet tutelage, a large part of the
population sincerely believed that it was the way
to the future.
Nowadays, the situation is
different. The low-level bureaucrats are
skeptical. They are well aware of the
capitalism-driven Chinese prosperity, and they
have some vague ideas about South Korea's economic
success. And they are unconvinced by government
promises that, as they know, never materialize.
Unlike the elite, the mid-level officials have
little reason to be afraid of the regime's
collapse. And, last but not least, they have
become very corrupt in recent years, hence their
law-enforcement zeal diminishes once they see an
opportunity to earn extra money for looking other
way.
At the same time, the new measures
might find support from the large segments of
population who did not succeed in the new economy
and long for the stability of Kim Il-sung's era.
Recently, a former trader told me: "Elderly or
unlucky people still miss the times of socialism,
but younger people do business very well, believe
that things are better now than they used to be
and worry that the situation might turn back to
the old days."
We should not overestimate
the scope of this generalization. After all, it is
based on the observations of a market trader who
obviously spent much time with her colleagues, the
winners of the new social reality. Among less
fortunate North Koreans, there will be some people
who perhaps would not mind sitting through a
couple of hours of indoctrination daily, if in
exchange they would receive their precious 534
grams of barley-rice mixture (and an additional
250 grams per every dependant).
Early this
month it was also reported that low-level
officials had received new orders requiring them
to tighten up residence control, normally executed
through so-called "people's groups". Each such
group consists of 30-50 families living in the
same block or same apartment building and is
headed by an official whose task is to watch
everything in the neighborhood.
The new
instructions, obtained by the Good Friends, a
well-informed non-governmental organization
dealing with North Korea, specify the deviations
that are of particular importance: "secretly
watching or copying illegal videotapes, using cars
for trade, renting out houses or cooking food for
sale, making liquors at home". All these are
"anti-socialist activities which must be watched
carefully and exterminated". The struggle to
return to Kim Il-sung's brand of socialism
continues.
Still, North Korean authorities
are fighting an uphill battle. In a sense they are
lucky, since many foreign forces, including their
traditional enemy, South Korea, do not really want
their system to collapse and thus avoid anything
that might promote a revolution. However, the
regime is too anachronistic and too inefficient
economically, so a great danger for its survival
is created by the very existence of the prosperous
world just outside its increasingly porous
borders.
In the long run, all attempts to
maintain a Stalinist society in the 21st century
must be doomed. However, the North Korean leaders
are fighting to buy time, to enjoy a few
additional years of luxurious life (or plain
security) for themselves. How long they will
succeed remains to be seen.
Dr
Andrei Lankov is a lecturer in the faculty of
Asian Studies, China and Korea Center, Australian
National University. He graduated from Leningrad
State University with a PhD in Far Eastern history
and China, with emphasis on Korea, and his thesis
focused on factionalism in the Yi Dynasty. He has
published books and articles on Korea and North
Asia. He is currently on leave, teaching at
Kookmin University, Seoul.
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2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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