Session 2 (July 13) - 1994-2011: Kim Jong Il

[Jasmine Weeks]

Hi Meghann,  I too was surprised by Kim Jong II's need to start over. It is understandable that the 'new' might not always fit the 'old' and having your own allies as your own support is defintiely a plus.  However, it seems that with the long preparation from his father's plan, stating from his graduation in 1964, until he was formalized as he intended successor in 1980, to his final taking over in 1994,  there was plenty of time for Kim Jong II to familiriaz himself with the regime, build relaionship with the cabinet, and effect some changes. Had he encountered such obstacles that he think being the chairman of a strong military is the only way to effect the changes he wanted? The article also mentioned Kim II Sung himself took almost a decade to establish his role as the sole leader in North Korea (Kim, 71). It seems to me that Kim II Sung not only has demonstarted his caliber through his fight in Manchurian war, but  also some patience in ascending to his supreme power. Was the Military-first a quick approach for Kim Jong II to rise to the ultimate power?

[Jane Hannon]

Propanda was crucial to enabling the survival of the regime after the end of the Cold War, which also led to the end of extensive financial and military support from the Soviet Union and China. As seen in the lecture, giant statues of both Kim Il Song and Kim Jong Il helped to establish Kim Jong Il's status as a worthy successor to his father. Images displayed in homes  and attending rallies were also important, as is Rodong Shinmun, the official newspaper of the Korean Workers Party. Because North Koreans were and are so accustomed to government propaganda, according to Lankov, they don't necessarily regard portrayals of prosperity in such South Korean media as they are able to illegal or unofficially access, as reliable or accurate.

[Juana Evink]

How did Kim Jong Il ensure regime survival?

Professor Kim discuss in the video some of the factors that helped Km Jong II ensure regime survival. She mentions that his father name dhim heir apparent, then he became CHairman of the National Defense Commisson, General Secretary of Jorean Worker's Party, and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army. Kim Jong II gradually increased the military's power.

In the reading, " North Korea-The Politics of Regime Survival," goes into furtehr details as to how Kim Jong II ensure the survical of the regime. He consolidated his power in a way that the military became the supreme commaner of the state, the party, society,, thus turning North Korea into a military garriosn state. He replaced the Korean Workers' Party with the military, was able to avoid uphevals, and elevated younger generation to positions of power to ensure teh contributions of his leadership. Kim Jong II replaced old cadres in the party, government, with younger generation of military leaders. He seems to have cultivate dthe loyalty of the military thus enruring the survival of the regime.

[Kathy Keffeler]

I had trouble reading the articles because they were scanned in sideways. Nevertheless, I found the video lecture interesting. How did Kim Jong Il ensure regime survival? He used the military over the party to enforce his agenda of "defending" and put in younger leaders rather than older who might not wholeheartedly support him. The Sunshine Policy appears to attempt to bridge the economic inequalities between the two Koreas and restore communication bewteen North and South, especially for families.

Question: In one slide the use of "Guest Workers" in South Korea is mentioned. However, in the slide it appears they are protesting. Where are the majority of these guest workers from? and do they suffer the same inequalities those in the Middle East do?

 

[Juana Evink]

How did South Korea’s Sunshine Policy change international relations?

In the video Professor Kim, discuss the Sunhine Policy with North Korea from 1997-2207 and other international economic relations.  The Sunshienpolicy, was  a policy of engagement with North Korea, some South Korean companies set up in North Korea since labor was cheaper than in the South. Companies like Hyundai which establish Kaesong industrial comples set up tourist resorts on Nrth Korea for South Korea. I assumed it was to foster positive relations between the two Koreas that will result in economic profits. Also, some constructions companies built the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and at one point President Bill Clinton was scheduled to travel to South Korea, but cancel his trip in 2000, not sure why, or what happened. The Sunhine policy helped South Korea financially, companies engage in shpibuilding, electronics, and building automobiles resulting in the Korean wave in 2000s, and 2010s.

[Laura Huffman]

How did Kim Jong Il ensure regime survival?

Kim Jong Il ensured regime survival the way species survive in the wild: through adaptation. Because he could not count on the support of his father's generation whose power was derived mostly from the KWP, he instead chose to make the military more powerful through his 'military first' politics to create a "Strong and Properous Great State" (kangsong taeguk). I'm curious about the extent to which he was influenced by the 1961 coup in the ROK, with the idea being that through the tactics of their enemies they will be able to surpass them. (I'm reminded here of Hitler's use of Fascist propaganda on the right right, modeled on the Soviet/Bolshevik propaganda of the far left.)  He also ensured that not only did he have his father's blessing as presumptive heir, he also had various positions (first vice chair of the reorganized National Defense Commision, Supreme Commander of the North Korean armed forces, chairman of the National Defense), approved of by those in power, prior to his father's death, allowing for smoother transition. In addition, apparently during the 1980s Kim Jong Il wrote a treatise entitled 'Theory of the Immortal Sociopolitical Body," in which he stated that 'immortal' political life is given by the Suryong (the brain or center of the body politic.) This makes me wonder if he thought of himself literally as the brains of the operation, the operation in this case being North Korea. He recognized that, like Napoleon, he could use the support of the army to his advantage. (Can you tell my background is in European history?), and so created not a state with an army, but an army with a state (like Prussia). Once in power, he replaced Juche with military-first politics, which "coincided with the peaceful transition of power from the father Kim Il Sung to the son Kim Jong Il with the blessings of a new revolutionary strategy developed by the succesor." (Kim, 63)

How did South Korea’s Sunshine Policy change international relations?

South Korea's Sunshine Policy changed international relations because it allowed other countries besides the DPRK's traditional allies (the former USSR, China) to diplomatically engage, to send humanitarian aid, to develop the city of Kaesong as a cooperative enterprise, and to attempt to create diplomatic normalcy between both Koreas for the first time in the armistice that ended the Korean conflict in 1953.

[Maria Cardenas]

How did Kim Jong II ensure regime survival?

            Kim Jong II ensured regime survival by creating a military first political system. He moved away from the Juche system of self-reliance. Kim Jong II began depending more on the military and the role of the Korean Worker’s Party (KWP) has diminished. The presence of the military has increased and become more powerful because of Kim Jong II. The fact that his professor-mentor of the Juche Ideology defected and went to South Korea probably didn’t give him confidence of the people in power. He likes the fact that the younger generations in the military are disciplined and loyal to him compared to some of the KWP that were in power because of his father. One of the articles stated how it was more powerful to be in the military than it was to be in the KWP because Kim Jong II placed more power in the military. During their famines and economic hardships people with high positions in the military were given rations were others starved to death or had to find other means for survival.

 

How did South Korean’s Sunshine Policy change international relations?

            South Korean’s Sunshine Policy changed international relations between North Korea and South Korea. The Sunshine Policy introduced by the South Korean’s president Kim Dae Jung is engagement with the North and they met twice in two different Summits. The first Summit, the 2000 Inter-Korea Summit and the second Summit happened in 2007 the North-South Summer Summit. The South provided aide to the North as Humanitarian Food assistance. The North and South have used a unified front to the world in many events by using a unification flag to show their solidarity. There have been family reunions that been held between families divided during the Korean War across the DMZ. Inter Korean economic cooperation, there was trade and the Kaesong Industrial Complex/Region the workers came form the North and the South ROK employees were mostly soldiers. The Sunshine Policy was a way in order for the North and the South relations to get better and not be as they were before.  

[Laura Huffman]

Tom - I wonder if you could flesh out a bit more your thoughts on Kim Jong Il's reasoning for deleting communism from the constitution. I didn't really get that, and it seems like you did. Would you be willing to elaborate?

[Laura Huffman]

Alyssa,

The impression I got was that the Sunshine Policy was actually ended by the South Koreans because they felt they were not getting enough out of it for the amount of energy (and money) they were putting into it, not that it was ended by the DPRK, although I freely admit I could be wrong!

 

[Heather Butler]

Kim Jong Il took a very different approach of “Military First” to ensure his regime survived, although he piggybacked it off of his father’s Juche policy. Rather than having the power to lie with politicians, he had it lie in the military because he felt that the military were already patriotic and dedicated to protecting the fatherland from imperialism. Through kangsong taeguk, “strong and prosperous great state,”  Kim Jong Il hoped to create a new slogan for hope, prove to the world that North Korea was still surviving regardless of the multiple socialist systems collapsing, and to alleviate the misconception that that the regime after his father was on the verge of collapse. The “Military First” policy was supposed to revitalize the economy by providing a self-reliant and prosperous economic life for everyone in the nation. By following his father in succession, he was able to avoid the upheavals that a leadership change could cause.  He replaced older individuals in the Korean Workers Party, military and government structure with younger members that he felt more comfortable with, and that were more amicable to the changes he was making. Even as the Soviets were pulling back political and economic support, because it was no longer necessary or justifiable,  Kim Jong Il chose to open to foreign investments from the outside world. 

 

The Sunshine Policy initiated by Kim Dae Jung helped to bring Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea and himself to engage in discussions for cooperation. It brought about conversations to ease tensions between the two countries and promoted economic cooperation and aid between the two countries. It brought North Korea to the table of International relations, as it brought in outside countries as well.

 

[Jonathon Allen]

It's fascinating how Kim Jong Il ensured survival of North Korea despite the collapse of other Eastern European communist regimes.  The Lankov article was also quick to point out that North Korea did not go the way of Vietnam and China in initiating market-oriented reforms.  Though the economy as it was established after the Korean War was unsustainable, especially given the waning support in direct assistance from Moscow, Kim Jong Il still maintained the strict indoctrination that kept the population loyal, even if the primary tools used were desperation and fear.  The camps for disloyal citizens and his "Military First" policy (which differed from the self-reliant Juche so heavily underscored under Kim Il Sung) were additional strategies to propel this communist monarchy forward, even if it was, at times, at a limp pace.

The South Korean sunshine policy changed international policy had, as its primary objective, to soften the North Korean attitudes towards its southern neighbors and this policy attempted to do that by opening up South Korea to more cultural, economic, and social opportunities from Western powers.  The South made it known that the North's military provocations would not be tolerated while at the same time assuaging the DRNK's fears that the South wanted to annex the northern half in an aggressive attempt to unify the peninsula.  Announcing that it would provide humanitarian assistance with no expectation of the favor being returned was also a visible feature of the Sunshine Policy.

[Jane Hannon]

According to Lankov, the strategy of government looking the other way and unofficially (or even accepting bribes) to allow people to create wealth and incentivize private sector farming and creation of goods that are needed and in demand help to sustain North Korea economically after aid from China and the Soviet Union was withdrawn. Interestingly, according to Lankov,  women were readily able to start businesses because they were not required to hold state jobs in the way men were. Sometimes people continued to hold their official state jobs but paid "fines" out of their wages for being absent or missing required meeting while they ran their own businesses. Sometimes they even used raw materials stolen in conjunction with corrupt officials. According to Lankov, a significant percentage of the goods needed to sustain life actually originated on these black markets and black markets are not as "underground" as people imagine.

[Jonathon Allen]

A few questions I had as I was reading the articles:

* In the image of the North Korean school boys, some were wearing red scarves.  Dr. Jung-Kim informed us that these red scarves indicated party affiliation.  How does one get to be selected as a party member?  

* The island of Yeonpyeong Island was interesting to me and I was wondering, since North Korea claims that island, if the inhabitants are bound to North Korean laws and customs (and do they even share its unique accent?)

* Just an interesting observation (because a Hunger Games marathon was on this weekend):  because Pyongyang remains off limits to the country folk who don't have proper papers, it reminds me a bit of Panem:  this illusive, mysterious, beautiful haven for those fortunate enough to gain access to it.  I also wonder what levels of resentment and underlying rebellion exist among those cut off from Panem, I mean Pyongyang ...

[Maria Cardenas]

Jane, I didn't think of the use of propaganda as a way Kim Jong II ensure regime survival. I believe Lankov's article talks about a book of a Russian Girl that loses her way with communism even though her dad, grandfather, and great grandfather palyed a big role in society. The author of the book played it in the way that you don't want to lose your way because if you do you can become like that girl Katya that lost a limb and becamse a prostitute. He created a vivid picture of what can happend to people that disconnect with the North Korean regime. 

I also foound it interesting that it was said that at first North Koreans didn't believe that South Korean was prosperous but they realized that it was at the end.

[Tom Mueller]

I figured he deleted it because it failed in USSR and Eastern Europe and wanted to focus on military. 

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