Page 2 of 2 The world according to
Pyongyang By Andrei Lankov
enough to develop a missile. During
the 'arduous march' [Pyongyang-speak for the
famine of the late 1990s], if there [was] a bit of
money, it had to be spent on developing missiles,
even though the generals knew that factories did
not work and people were starving. This is why we
have survived, and were not eaten up by those
bastards. Had it not been like this, the bastards
would have eaten us a long time ago."
This
line of argument is psychologically more powerful
than the
earlier version. Nowadays,
people's suffering can be presented not as the
result of some blind misfortune caused by nature,
but as a part of heroic sacrifice. People died
because their country was at war and needed
everything to save itself from complete
destruction by the brutal enemy. Their deaths were
those of heroes.
Such a change of tune is
indeed typical of North Korean propaganda during
the past few months. However, it might have some
political consequences. This propaganda line makes
it more difficult to surrender nuclear weapons
even if such a notion will ever be seriously
entertained by Pyongyang. If North Korea chooses
to give up its nuclear arsenal, these sacrifices
will be rendered meaningless.
Another
propaganda line is that now people should expect a
certain improvement of their lot, since the major
work has been done: "Now we have conducted a
nuclear test and other things, so we have to
improve the people's living standards by
concentrating on economic construction."
Still, Comrade Chang does not want his
audience to entertain an excessively optimistic
picture of their country's future. Improvement
will be minor and, as one might guess from some
other parts of the speech, is likely to be limited
to, say, complete reintroduction of Kim
Il-sung-era consumer standards, which were not
exactly luxurious (550 grams or cereal a day, plus
a few pieces of meat on special occasions, four or
five times a year).
Chang Yong-sun
explained that North Korean industry is surely
capable of producing quality consumption goods but
cannot do it, because the ever present threat of
an imperialist attack deems austerity and
sacrifices necessary. He also made clear that his
listeners should not await serious improvement of
their lot any time soon.
The statement
resonates very well with what another life-long
analyst of North Korean propaganda, Tatiana
Gabroussenko, wrote recently: unlike earlier eras
when masses were extolled to make sacrifices for
the sake of some identifiable future, nowadays
North Korean leaders tell their people that no
significant improvement is in sight. Comrade Chang
even made a joke of this: "Since the end of the
Korean War, we have lived with our belts tightened
... One thing I can assure you: we'll have to live
with our belts tightened until the day our country
is unified. If we do not have any more holes in
our belts, let us make them."
However, the
audience was reminded that in the final count it
is again the foreign forces who are to be blamed
for these hardships. To quote Comrade Chang once
again: "It is not because we do not know how to
live better that we are not well off. Who is
responsible for this? The US imperialists are
responsible for this. That is why we call the US
imperialists our mortal enemy with whom we cannot
live under the same sky!"
Most of the
speech consisted of US-bashing and Japan-bashing,
but what about South Korea? Here Comrade Chang
used the new tactics that have become typical for
North Korean propagandists since the 2002
inter-Korea summit. Brian Myers, another
remarkable specialist on North Korean culture and
propaganda (not quite distinguishable areas,
actually), recently wrote at length about a change
of tune in Pyongyang propaganda: South Korea
ceased to be depicted as the living hell, the land
of depravation. The new image of the South is that
of the country whose population secretly (or even
not so secretly) longs to join its Northern
brethren in their happiness under the wise care of
the Beloved General.
This society might be
relatively affluent, but it is inherently corrupt
and lacks integrity, so its population knows that
the only way to regain the moral purity is to join
the spiritually superior North Korean
civilization. The only force that prevents the
South from achieving such happiness is the brutal
US occupation army and a tiny handful of traitors
on the Central Intelligence Agency payroll, but
even those perverts are losing control over South
Korean society.
Sometimes Chang's
fantasies went positively wild. He said, for
example: "A portrait of the General is
[respectfully] placed on the wall of the Main Hall
on the fourth floor at the [Seoul] Government
Building. Right now!" Then the flight of fantasy
goes even further: "These days, South Korean
publications do not sell in South Korean society
if they do not carry the images of the General ...
45% of the entire population in South Korea say
that in case of a war they will fight on the side
of the General."
The domestic situation
did not attract much of Chang Yong-sun's
attention, but he still made some comments on
these issues. He admitted that even last December,
in spite of all the government's efforts, it was
impossible to provide rations for the entire
population, and that most people had to rely on
the market for their needs, which is not good but
was unavoidable.
He also explicitly stated
that growth of the markets is not compatible with
the socialist system: "All the people's talk is
money and again money. Is this socialism?" It is
remarkable, however, that the virtues of socialism
were seldom mentioned in the speech: its rhetoric
was overwhelmingly nationalistic.
Chang
Yong-sun also admitted that some North Koreans are
very rich, and that their fortunes are now
measured as a few hundred million North Korean won
(100 million won is roughly equivalent to
US$50,000). He did not make a secret that under
less critical conditions the government would
strike these reactionary elements hard, but under
the current circumstances such a radical solution
is impossible because of ongoing economic
difficulties.
In essence, he admitted that
government is not capable of controlling society
as tightly as it wishes (or as it used to in the
good old days of Kim Il-sung's ultra-Stalinist
rule): "Those ideological perverts are no longer
counted as our people. Why are we not able to
strike [them]? We are not able to strike them
because we are not able to provide rations to the
entire population."
So the picture is
quite clear. North Korea as depicted by Comrade
Chang is a small but proud state that lives under
the constant threat of annihilation by brutal
enemies, betrayed by money-hungry allies. It
fights for a great goal of national unification.
There are signs that this goal is getting nearer,
but people should not expect too much: life will
not become easy any time soon.
Compromise
with enemies is impossible since they, especially
the Americans, will never change their nature,
will never stop dreaming about destroying the
small and proud republic led by the Beloved
General. However, the country has finally
developed military means that make all enemies'
schemes powerless. This project required great
sacrifice, but the people who died during famine
were in essence soldiers: their deaths saved many
more lives.
There are internal problems in
this society, largely because the government lacks
resources to make sure things move smoothly (and
it is assumed that government should be ultimately
responsible for everything). However, these
problems should not distort the larger view of
ongoing heroic struggle and new victories.
Dr Andrei Lankov is an associate
professor in Kookmin University, Seoul, and
adjunct research fellow at the Research School of
Pacifica and Asian Studies, Australian National
University. He graduated from Leningrad State
University with a PhD in Far Eastern history and
China, with emphasis on Korea. He has published
books and articles on Korea and North Asia.
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