Abstract
North Korea is created as a side effect of the World War II and it is always been in news for the regime, human rights, missiles, and others. In recent times, the books on North Korea are multiplying and this book covers the discourse of North Korea in both chronological and topical and provides a concise overview of North Korea. It tries to locate several questions on North Korea from the discourse of North Korean defectors. This book consists of nine chapters with a brief discussion of fifty topics and a conclusion chapter.
The authors Kongdan Oh and Ralph Hassig are leading experts in North Korean studies. Both the wife and husband are authors of North Korea through Looking Glass (2000) and The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom (2009). The author Kongdan Oh promised her father that she works on the ‘Korean unification’.
In the first chapter, ‘Geography and History: A Troubled Land’, the authors find ‘three questions’ in the creation of North Korea: Korea’s liberation, separation of Korea, and Kim Il-sung taking control of North Korea (p. 14). The authors argued that the ‘Kim regime has one set of answers to these questions, whereas the rest of the world has another’ (p. 14). However, both answers are contradictory to one another.
In the second chapter, ‘Leadership: The Kim Dynasty’, the authors tried to understand Kim’s dynasty rule. The authors underline that Kim Il-sung founded a nation and use Confucianism to control the nation, and despite Kim Il-sung’s failures his ‘political position was unassailable’ (p. 26), and North Koreans considered him ‘like the gods of many religions’ (p. 28). The authors explore the myth of ‘three generals of Mount Paektu’ (p. 32), which is used by the regime to claim that Kim Jong-il is a military genius and argued that Kim Jong-il ignored the economic condition of the state and promoted ‘military-first policy’ (p. 32), and ‘lead the life of a capitalistic fat cat’ (p. 33), and Kim Jong-un’s position is ‘politically secure than ever’ (p. 37).
The authors claimed that Kim uses the instrument of reward and punishment; and by predicting the future, authors define, ‘no reason to believe that North Korea will be anything other than the kingdom of the Kim family’ (p. 38).
In the third chapter, ‘The Government: Of the Party, by the Party, for the Leader’, the authors keep critiquing the government that it is implementing the policies of WPK (Workers Party of Korea) and WPK is dominated by leaders. The authors identified that loyalty is a serious ‘game’ in North Korea, and in the authors’ words, ‘People do not like their leaders and they do not believe in socialism, but they dare not advocate something different’ and argues that the North Korean people are using ‘weapons of the weak’ as a ‘silent rebellion’ against the regime (p. 54).
The authors attempted to understand the prison system which was revealed by defectors and selected the book, ‘Eyes of the Tailless Animals’ (p. 62
The authors explain that the North Koreans are accepting ‘corruption as a fact of life bodes ill for their future’ and raised the important question before us as ‘what will happen when the North is finally reunited with the South, where corruption is not as widespread?’ (p. 66).
The fourth chapter, ‘Human Rights: An Alien Concept’, examines and analyses human rights in North Korea and the information was gathered from defectors. The authors claimed that North Korea’s population is classified into ‘three political classes and fifty subclasses based on their songbun’ (p. 72). However, the North Korean were divided ‘according to their loyalty to the Kim regime’ (p. 71).
The authors attempt to understand that the defectors crossed the 38th parallel line through demilitarized zone (DMZ) and west or east coasts to ‘find food’ (p. 78), and explain their long-struggle journey to reach South Korea. The authors’ opinion is that the defectors numbers are constantly increasing and it may have ‘severe strains on both North and South Korean societies’ (p. 80), and South Korea is yet to prepare to intake huge numbers. They emphasize that ‘No significant improvement in human rights can be expected under a dictatorial regime’ (p. 85) and human rights issues are always a secondary topic.
In the fifth chapter, ‘The Military: “Pillar” of Society’, they tried to understand military importance in North Korea. The authors explain that Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il promoted a ‘militarized state’ (p. 87), and Kim Il-sung crafted the ‘Four Military Lines’ (p. 89), to defend the regime and unify the father’s land. In the authors’ words that ‘if North Korean troops, once they saw the modern wonders of Seoul, decided to abandon their campaign and join the opposition? Such an outcome might not be entirely inconceivable in light of the hardships that North Korean soldiers face even in peacetime’ (p. 93).
The authors identified that missile launches have a mixed reaction from the North Koreans as they feel big pride for its nuclear achievement and simultaneously prefer ‘economy freed from international sanctions’ (p. 108). They argue that ‘it is unreasonable to expect that the Kim regime will negotiate away its arsenal of missiles’ (p. 108), as it is their national pride and also necessary to display military status.
The sixth chapter, ‘Foreign Relations: Of a Hermit Kingdom’, examines North Korea’s foreign affairs. The authors define ‘North Korea’s foreign policy goals as first. Protection of regime, second. Preserve the independence, and third. Keep its people away from foreign contact (p. 115). The authors attempted and discussed the issue of ‘large balloons’ (p. 122), which carry anti-regime leaflets to North Korea from the defectors in South Korea, and the South Korean government unable to stop it, ‘in the face of constitutional freedom of speech guarantee’, till June 2020, but whereas, in December 2020, South Korean government officially banned the balloons of propaganda leaflets (The Korea Times, 2020). They explain Korean unification. It seems that South Korea’s rising generation puts ‘less emphasis on reunification and more on peaceful coexistence’ (p. 123). Even if Korea overcomes the issue of regime differences, then also Korean reunification may be delay further due to South Koreans’ concern to ‘reduce economic and social costs’ (p. 124).
The authors cite that ‘Kim Il-sung refused to take China’s advice’ (p. 125) to follow the Chinese economic model and whereas the authors did not explain why Kim Il-sung refusal? The authors analyze North Korea’s relations with Russia, America, China, Japan, and South Korea and explain that North Korea is a strange country with a long list of enemies and no friends.
The seventh chapter, ‘The Economy: From Socialism to Capitalism’, examines the courses of the North Korean economy. The authors argue that after the 1990s, the economic situation in North Korea witnessed a shift to a ‘new market economy’ (p. 148), and opined that Kim Jong-un is ‘not to interfere with the private economy, although there no official recognition’ (p. 152), the fact is that the government controls the larger share of the economy which makes things complex. The authors had estimated that North Korea’s GDP in 2020 be ‘probably somewhere in the $40 billion range’ (p. 155), but according to Bank of Korea (2021) and Korea JoongAng Daily (2021), the GDP of North Korea in 2020 is ‘31.4 trillion won ($27.4 billion)’. The authors identified that regime is ignoring, ‘what do the people want?’ (p. 162), and Kim Jong-un aims to end the sanctions ‘but that is not enough to give up the nuclear weapons’ (p. 179).
The eighth chapter, ‘Transportation and Communication: Necessary for the New Economy’, examines the infrastructure of North Korea. The authors identified that North Korea is ‘reluctant to spend much money on transportation’ (p. 187). In the authors’ opinion in North Korea, the ‘flow of information’ has increased with ‘wide-ranging effect’, the ‘foreign culture’ is backed by the market economy, and Kim is no longer able to ‘control the thoughts and values of its people, although the regime is still able to control their public behavior’ and cites that ‘North Korean people are no longer like frogs living in a well’ (p. 196).
The ninth chapter, ‘Culture and Lifestyle: Trying to Live a Normal Life’, deals with the culture and lifestyle of North Korean people. The authors identified that the ‘emerging private sector has saved the North Korean people’ from food shortage (p. 208). The authors’ opinion is that ‘privatized health-care system’ (p. 219) is replacing the existing system but it is operating with limitations. North Korea’s housing system is a combination of both ‘public and private ownership’ (p. 209). The authors’ emphasize that ‘privatization of real estate has gone too far for the government to stop it’ (p. 214).
The last chapter, ‘Conclusion’, is about the remarks on North Korea as, ‘wounded, even traumatized nation’, and its lack of ‘self-correcting mechanism’, as there is no democracy (p. 236). The Kim regime may not survive any longer as ‘cracks are already appearing’ (p. 237). The ‘unified Korea approaches’ are possible by North Korean people as they know about outside world and make a choice, that can be processed further without any conflict (p. 238). However, in the recent times, North Korea has been more in the isolation mode than before and decoding the changes is very difficult.
Overall, the book presents an optimistic yet realistic picture of the changes in North Korea and the claims seem to project toward regime change in North Korea and which means that there is rejection of Kim’s regime. The book puts forward several questions before us on North Korea’s future. The concept of ‘weapons of weak’ is used by North Korean people as a form of ‘silent rebellion’ against the regime but it is still lacking behind as it raises some important questions on the existence of Kim’s regime and their achievement as a nuclear state, but the book remains optimistic and convincingly hoping for unification of Korea. As for North Korean people, they are looking forward to the changes in North Korea, but it is a long-term plan possible through the achievement of multiple short goals.