North Korea Politics
What do we know about North Korea? Do the prejudices correspond with reality? The goal of this paper is to examine the complex situation of North Korea by focusing on its politics. This paper will expose the different aspects of Korea that have caused this position with the rest of the countries, the situation they are facing and then it will discuss the different alternatives to solve their problems.
What do we know about North Korea? Do the prejudices correspond with reality? The goal of this paper is to examine the complex situation of North Korea by focusing on its politics. This paper will expose the different aspects of Korea that have caused this position with the rest of the countries, the situation they are facing and then it will discuss the different alternatives to solve their problems.
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea took place within the foundation of the official state philosophy, called Juche. It is an ideological basis, whose fundaments are: Every woman and men are the responsible of their destiny, the defense of the economic and politic independence regarding the foreign country, the military aspect as the most important factor of politics, the voluntary work, the exaltation of national symbols, to face up foreign thread and to respect and defense Korean tradition. “Juche is a mix of Confucianism, shamanism, Marxism and other incompatible things, but somehow everything boils down to an obsession with self-reliance.” Myers, B. (2008). IDEOLOGY AS SMOKESCREEN: NORTH KOREA'S JUCHE THOUGHT. Acta Koreana, 11(3), 161-182. They even made a sculpture of this concept, created by Hwang Chang-yōp and later associated to the founder of the DPRK. Kim II-sung.
North Korea is a democratic multi-party system that counts with three different parties, making up the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. In practice, North Korea acts as a single-party state under the authority of the Kim totalitarian family, characterized by their totalitarianism, but it is even considered as dictatorship and an absolute monarchy. Is is conceived as the most authoritarian regime in this globalized world. The consequences of this system were not very favorable for the country. “Decades of the rigid state-controlled system and adherence to the philosophy of self-reliance have destroyed the country's economy, and large scale military spending has eaten into resources needed for investment and consumer industries.” North Korea: 2014 Country Review. (2014). North Korea Country Review, 1-367. Another problem that international forces try to face is the violation of the human rights.
The whole control of this country resides in the sole governing party, Workers ´Party of Korea (WPK), although it coexists with two other legal parties. It was formed in 1949 and it follows the program I explained before. Korean Social Democratic Party was founded in 1945 as a moderate social democratic party with the objective of bringing a democratic society. The other one is the Choindoist Chongu Party a united front party and is described as democratic by this government, founded in 1946.
Returning to the origin of this system, “what happened in the past is not a thing of the past at all (Teece et al., 1997, p. 522), because the behaviour, actions, circumstances and decisions of today and the future depend greatly on those of the past. Therefore, history is considered a very important factor in path-dependence theory.” Park, Y. S. (2014). Policies and Ideologies of the Kim Jong-un Regime in North Korea: Theoretical Implications. Asian Studies Review, 38(1), 1-14. doi:10.1080/10357823.2013.868864, Kim II-sung was the communist leader of North Korea with peasant origin, and he is considered the eternal President of the Republic. He was an activist of the Socialist Youth League and he participated in the war against the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1931. With the division of Korea in two parts after the expulsion of Japanese, he was designated as general secretary of the Party in 1945 and the president of the government in 1946. He rejected the democratic elections under the supervision of United Nations, and he proclaimed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after declaring himself the first minister in 1948. “Under his rule, North Korea increased its military forces, embarked on a program of industrialization, and maintained close relations with both China and the Soviet Union” Kim Il Sung. (2013). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1.
He established a communist dictatorship with the protection of the URSS, and years later, of China. He also attacked South Korea, to reunify the country, but United States impeded it. This was the Korea war (1950-1953). When United Nations intervened in the conflict, it was necessary the military attack of China to preserve North Korea. With the separation of the URSS and China, they had to choose the last country as allied after trying to found the balance with both. In 1972, he proclaimed himself president of the Republic, creating a new Constitution, and before dying in 1994 he designated his son, Kim Jong-il, as the successor.
He established a communist dictatorship with the protection of the URSS, and years later, of China. He also attacked South Korea, to reunify the country, but United States impeded it. This was the Korea war (1950-1953). When United Nations intervened in the conflict, it was necessary the military attack of China to preserve North Korea. With the separation of the URSS and China, they had to choose the last country as allied after trying to found the balance with both. In 1972, he proclaimed himself president of the Republic, creating a new Constitution, and before dying in 1994 he designated his son, Kim Jong-il, as the successor.
During the government of Kim Jong Il there were significant changes. He was the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since 1994 to 2011. He was also a North Korean politic and the General Secretary of the of the Workers' Party of Korea. Another of his functions was to be the Chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea and the leader of the Department of Culture and Art of the Communist Party. He created five different operas of politic content with it. Since 1970 to 1973 he worked as Deputy Head and Director of the Central Committee of Workers. By the command of the Central Committee in 1991 he substituted his father as the Supreme Commander of Korean People's army in a critical moment for South Korea, because of the tension in the Korea peninsula, consequence of the nuclear disarmament. Gradually he assumed the duties of successor, while Kim Il Sung was increasingly away from decision making. In the March of 1993, he announced the withdrawal of his country of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and denied IAEA inspectors to visit the country's nuclear facilities. Months later, with US pressure, Kim II Sung temporarily suspended its withdrawal from the NPTA this decision. Negotiations between China and the United States began, but the lack of agreement led to the deployment of US Patriot missile batteries in South Korea. Subsequently bilateral talks concluded, with no expectation of an immediate agreement, with the end of the crisis opened by Pyongyang's refusal to international inspection of its nuclear program. To provide financial aid and restore diplomatic relations, the US imposed to the the North Korean leader the condition of giving up definitely its secret nuclear program.
On July 20, 1993, the political leadership in North Korea confirmed Kim Jong II as the successor to his father and, therefore, new leader of the country. He took the highest place of the party, of the state and of the revolutionary armed forces, occupying the positions of Secretary General of the Communist Party, President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Party. After the death of his father, in July 1994, he was named president of North Korea; the first case of dynastic succession in a communist regime. His arrival in the presidency had the resistance of the army inside, and of China, outside. Under his presidency, negotiations with the United States and South Korea over the nuclear program of North Korea that Kim Il Sung started, ended up successfully. The reunification with South Korea came to be considered the main institutional statement since he rose to power. In June 2000 he acted as host of the South Korean President, Kim Dae Jung, who went to Pyongyang to celebrate the first success between the two Koreas since their separation. In it, the two leaders adopted a preliminary agreement to establish diplomatic relations that was reinforced a few months later during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia), in which delegations from both countries marched together under a single flag. Also in September 2002, he signed a joint statement with the Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, to establish the normalization of relations between the two states. In October 2002, US authorities warned that his government had information which showed clearly that North Korea had secretly started a program to develop nuclear weapons, violating the agreements signed on this subject in 1994. “From 2001 to 2004, Pyongyang denounced the “intense hostility” of the Bush administration, trying to bring it to the negotiating table. When Washington refused, Pyongyang became quiet again, but this time with the intention of weaponizing its nuclear program. “ Joo, H. (2014). Deciphering What Pyongyang Wants. Problems Of Post-Communism, 61(4), 23-35. doi:10.2753/PPC1075-8216610402. Tension increased progressively: executive denied that the North Korean nuclear facilities could be re-inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency; he announced the starting up of a nuclear reactor disconnected and a laboratory that could recycle spent fuel rods into plutonium; and in January 2003, it announced the withdrawal of North Korea from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In February 2005, six months after the suspension of the negotiations, the government of Kim Jong Il (reelected highest authority of the country in August 2003 by the Supreme People's Assembly), confirmed that, indeed, possessed nuclear weapons. He said it was a deterrent for self-defense. In 2011 Kim Jong Il died, leaving Kim Jong-un in power.
Kim Jong-un is a political and military of North Korea, and chief executive of North Korea currently. He is the fourth and last son of Kim Jong-il. There is no official biography of Kim Jong-un yet. The only information that has been given comes from deserters. “One month after the death of Kim Jong-Il only two things can be said with certainty aboutNorth Korea’s internal politics. These are that the new regime is closely imitating previous practice, and that the transfer of power to the successor has been unusually fast.” Atsuhito, I. (2012). The Death of Kim Jong- Il and the Launch of the Kim Jong-Un Regime. SERI Quarterly, 5(2), 111-117.However, there has been a consensus on the information about his early life. North Korean authorities have declared that his birthday is the 8 of January, in 1982, but South Korean intelligence officials believe that the actual date is a year later.
Nowadays they still have a problem with the development of nuclear weapons. . “No one is blaming the United States for the current impasse in negotiations; it is North Korea who has not shown the slightest interest in participating in the Six-/Party process or in standing by their commitments.” Hill, C. R. (2013). The Elusive Vision of a Non-nuclear North Korea. Washington Quarterly, 36(2), 7-19. doi:10.1080/0163660X.2013.791078.
The relation with this government and the principles they defend it is deduced that this nation will decline over the next few years, although it maintains the fourth largest standing armies and the militarism pervades everyday life. “The country's poor economy has lead to corruption with the KPA's ranks, as revealed in a South Korean intelligence report in late 2013. Kim Jong Un's moves away from 'military first' have resulted in KPA personnel having 'smuggled out classified military documents for money' and 'border guards are easily bribed and even carry escapees on their back to cross the border' according to the South's Institute for National Security Strategy. “NORTH KOREA DEFENCE & SECURITY REPORT. (2014). North Korea Defence & Security Report, 1-65. The solution of this situation will be a diplomatic agreement, but this is not likely to happen. In the past the promise of the end of the nuclear program was broken.
In conclusion, North Korea is in a delicate situation. It has a totalitarian regime under the authority of the Kim dynasty and it doesn´t comply the international obligations that must meet with the consequence of an international isolation. This country is still developing nuclear weapons and infringes the human rights even having a poor economy. Its importance resides in this war threat and it tries to save the regime of Kim by becoming a nuclear power.
