Can the North Korean government maintain its hold over its citizens? - By Hongmin Sung

Stability of North Korea

Can the North Korean government maintain its hold over its citizens?

I’ve been thinking of pursuing a career in mechanics, preferably robotics with a focus on military technology, ever since middle school. I got to know in KMLA that having a specific career plan, especially one like mine, was uncommon. Well, the reason I decided to commit by studies to work in this field was because of the ROKS Cheonan sinking and the Yeonpyeong bombardments. When I read that several faults in the equipment, such as the K-9 howitzers, caused a lot more casualties, I was angry and upset. A country that prides itself for its technological excellence had lost lives due to its technology, or lack of it. Coincidentally, I also looked into our northern counterparts’ military out of curiosity, and then the nation as a whole.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a.k.a. North Korea, is one of the world’s last Stalinist countries, shrouded in secrecy by the extensive power of its government. Its seclusion from the world around it is one of the main reasons why the country hasn’t collapsed. As the country fell under the third generation of dictators, we are still waiting for the “inevitable” collapse of the nation. But after 6 decades and two successions of power, North Korea is still standing. Could this nation actually maintain this status quo, or is this all just a prelude to the nation’s downfall? To answer this question, I looked at North Korea from a social point of view and an economical point of view.

             Domestically, the North Korean government uses three methods to control its citizens. First, it uses propaganda to project the image of a pure, rising nation amongst Western evils. For instance, a typical example of North Korean propaganda will praise the Korean race to be pure and perfect by dressing them in white clothing. Second, the government controls the nation’s media, such as TV, radio, the Internet and newspapers to cloud its citizens from the truth. Last year, North Korea was next to last in the RSF (Reporters Without Borders)’s annual index on media environment. Lastly, the party uses its secret service to instill fear of insubordination to the citizens. North Korea has tripled its secret police in the past 30 years, and controls the citizens as intimately as possible. Internationally, North Korea can be viewed as an isolated country with very few allies. Only China and a few small African, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian countries are helping or trading with North Korea in the present. Russia, which was a former ally, is now pressuring alongside the Western powers and South Korea to follow international laws. In order to cover up this situation, the North Korean government has cut off access of the citizens to the outside world. However, foreign goods, especially South Korean movies, dramas, and songs are seeping into the country. This infiltration is triggering more and more defections and also promoting our country's image to the citizens of North Korea.

             Economically, North Korea is quite famous for having a large gap between the classes. North Korea has the 103^rd largest GDP of 40 billion dollars. It wouldn’t be so bad, but the wealth is focused on the top party members and poverty is flourishing everywhere else. As the people died by the hundreds from starvation, “the Great Leader” rode a $400,000 Maybach. After the 1994~1998 famine, which killed millions, North Korea showed immense inflexibility in recovery and is still suffering from the repercussions. Especially in 1995, monumental floods (in one particular case 870mm in 7 hours) sealed the doom of millions of people. Around 12~15% of the grain produce in North Korea was destroyed and even the soldiers couldn’t obtain sufficient food. The soldiers, due to the “military first” policy, got top priority after the party members, but the dire situation of the country has made the soldiers the main body of North Korean corruption. Still, North Korea is using around $10 billion in its military, almost a quarter of its entire GDP. This lopsided system is keeping North Korea in its impoverished state.

             After looking at North Korea in these two sides, I believe that it is safe to say that the Labor party will not be able to keep hold of its nation much longer. Although the government is controlling the media and is using propaganda to brainwash its citizens, more and more North Koreans are gaining access to the real world. They are finding out that they are being deceived and that they could lead better lives elsewhere. They are sick and tired of the endless propaganda and the appeals to work harder for the leader and the coming war. They’ve got no help, no allies, only themselves. The North Koreans are tired, and I think that we all should prepare for the probable breakdown of our northern counterparts.