Future of North Korea Economy: Politics over Economic Policy

Kim Jong-Un, the First Chairman of the National Defence Commission, an ambitious and arrogant guy. His ambitious identity could be exposed from: ‘Threatening to fire his increasingly capable missiles toward the United States’ and ‘By declaring war on South Korea’ [Inside the mind of

By the 1980’s North Korea was in a state of degradation, until Russia collapsed in 1991 and the socialist state ceased to function. In 1994, with all these issues, Kim Il-sung died. Kim Jong-Il inherited a country on the brink of disaster, in reaction, Jong-Il instituted a policy that gave military and elite families even more privilege hoping to tighten loyalty from the top then trickle it down to the lower tiers. However, due to the economic situation under Il-sung, Jong-Il’s attempt to pacify loyalist met opposition from a severe famine in the mid to late 1990s. During this period, 5% of the population died of starvation, with the rest of the population starving to the point an entire generation’s growth was stunted. Economic mismanagement affected the military by lowering the height at weight requirement for soldiers. At its peak, the famine caused many North Koreans to defect to other countries. “In Barbara Demick’s book “Nothing to Envy”, a North Korean doctor tells of how even she became desperately hungry. After fleeing to China, she discovered a bowl of food left out for a dog. Upon examining the white rice and generous chunks of meat, she concluded that “dogs in China ate better than doctors in North Korea.”” (History of North

“I would tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices,” Elie Wiesel tells his former self (118). Wiesel has dedicated a majority of his future to fighting against the world’s silence with lessons such as these found in his memoir, Night. Even after undergoing the mass genocide called the Holocaust and hearing of the experiences from one of the victims himself, the world has fallen into a time of suffering yet again. Today, North Korea’s line of oppressive rulers practice their absolute control on Korean lives just as the Nazi’s oppressed the Jews. Following the second World War, the Korean War took place resulting in the country splitting in two: communist North Korea, or the Korean Worker’s Party, and democratic South Korea, or People’s Republic of Korea. This event began the brutal reign of the Kim family, consisting of Kim Ill-sung, Kim Jong-ill, and Kim Jong-un, on North Korea. For three generations, North Koreans were burdened with decades of torture, starvation, and manipulation. Now, the world is seemingly turning its eyes away from North Korea and labeling it a lost cause. There is little hope in store for these Koreans as Kim Jong-un expands his control globally with a new force of destruction: nuclear weapons. Similar to the concentration camps depicted in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the people of North Korea continue to face oppression

Kim Jong-Un started the building of North Korea already falling into an evil state. Seen in, “Kim Jong-Il began to prepare Kim Jong-Un for succession to leadership in 2010. Upon his father’s death in December 2011, Kim Jong-un assumed power.” Kim Jong-Il lead a very vicious and up front country, Kim Jong-Un entering would naturally work harder to succeed his father's dream along his own. North Korea was set on the brink of failure due to the leaders and the way they entered their dictatorship. The start of a good nation is the family dynamics, but Kim Jong-Un shakes the family foundation. This is clearly shown, “Whole families are affected if a person violates a law or is sent to a prison camp- meaning grandparents, parents, and children of the offender are sent to work too.” Knowing that is one mistake can lead the whole family into hard labor or possible danger causes people in North Korea more acceptable to evil acts happening to them. Now people who tend to live in fear look for anyway out, possibly revolting or causing a tidal of backlash on the government and eventually causing it to crumble, the foundation isn't strong enough to bare them. Becoming aware of a problem and actually facing it is two totally different things, the people of Korea know that first hand. According to intelligence reports from North Korea, “there were 17 public executions in 2012, the first full year

As evident through the striking similarities between the totalitarian government of 1984 and the Communist regime of North Korea, it really is as if Kim Il Sung obtained an early copy of George Orwell’s 1984 and used it as a blueprint for his system (Hitchens n.p.). George Orwell had been exposed to various types of imperialism throughout his early life, leading to a realization of his resentment for authority. Orwell produced the novel with the intent of warning future societies of the dangers of totalitarian governments, yet North Korea epitomizes a flawless depiction of the very authority that Orwell yearned to avoid through providing a detailed illustration of the ramifications of submitting to a tyrannical government (Merriman n.p.).

George Orwell’s 1984, gives readers a glimpse of what it would look like to have a future with a totalitarian government. A future where one person will control everybody through manipulation and fear. These types of governments continue to exist in certain countries today, one of them being North Korea. North Korea’s government is similar to the Party in 1984, in which their government is a totalitarian dictatorship where Kim Jong Un, their singular leader, controls everything. Both governments in North Korea and 1984 are led by dictators, “Big Brother” in 1984 and Kim Jong Un in North Korea, who are similar in many ways. Their similarity is due to the various techniques they use, which include mind control, propaganda and deprivation of freedom. It is clear that both governments use a variety of different methods of manipulation to control to their citizens.

In chapter 4, Hazel Smith illustrate how wartime influenced on the state and party building in North Korea. As South Korea estimated that North Korea lost a half of its population, the damage by Korean War was extensive (Smith, 97). Through the war, however, North Korea seemed to give Party authority so that they could function as decision maker. In addition, Kim Il Sung’s authority was also uniquely strong. His leader authority, mass mobilization, and policy of self-reliance were important elements of the North Korean post-war state. As she says in chapter 5, children were supposed to learn about Kim Il Sung (Smith, 123). Moreover, North Korean people were not allowed to have international publication (Smith, 126). These Smith’s explanations

Understanding how North Korea as a country defines itself in a changing world. Where do they derive their customs and practices, political standings and military power? Define North Korea’s history leading into the modern age and define its culture and characteristics and how they interact with the world today. Understanding a subject as broad as the term culture begins where the culture began with the birth of civilization and the people that influenced it. There are many factors that play a role in the shaping of a nation none so much as turmoil and conflict and the Korean peninsula saw its fair share for the better part of a millennia. A complete statistical breakdown of North Korea shows a struggling nation that strongly depends on

Kim-Jong-il was the leader of North Korea from 1994-2011. He was a dictator of a country that is widely believed to have the worst human rights in the world, and this shows in the way he ruled the country with often little regard to the individual person. He is overall a Machiavellian dictator, as many of the ways in which he lead North Korea are in adherence to Machiavelli’s statements, examples of which being how he was presented as having all good qualities and how he was not afraid of hurting his citizens given that the end results of it would better the nation. However he, on the most part did not adhere to Machiavelli’s statement that a leader should not strive to be loved and instead strive to be feared, but instead tried to be loved by his people and feared

While his coercive style may have shaped his rule in North Korea it has in some form shifted into a more Legitimate Power. While generations past may have feared Kim Jong-Il the population of North Korea today loves him as their leader. Where some societies look to religion to fill their spiritual needs, North Koreans look to Kim Jong-Il for the same satisfaction. While he may have had no right to rule in the beginning and his coercive style solidified his position he is certainly showing Legitimate Power in today’s world. It will be a terrible loss for the people of North Korea when they lose Kim, but at the same time it may be the best thing that ever happened to them. While their minds are warped from years of coercive abuse they now accept that Kim Jong-Il has the right, by virtue of position, to make demands and expect

The world is not a perfect place. It is filled with disease, poverty, war, and corruption. The amount that these aspects take over the everyday lives of citizens is what separates corrupt states from non-corrupt states. North Korea is one of the most corrupt nations in the world falling behind only Somalia. The transfer of power in the nation to Kim Jung-un following the death of his father, Kim Jung-il, has resulted in no cure for this corruption and more so even worse circumstances. This unbelievable corruption in North Korea under the Kim Jung-un regime is able to persist because of the characteristics of the nation’s rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets where it is ultimately a part of the fabric of

Given the poor state of the nation's economy, North Korea's government has to rely upon the cult of personality in order to keep the population in check. Most art in the country venerates, either directly or indirectly, the 'great leader' Kim il-Sung or his successor, the current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Among the population, there is a strong level of belief in such apparent absurdities as the idea that Kim il-Sung created the entire world, or that Kim Jong-il controls the weather (Martin, 2004).

North Korea appears on the international stage as a country existing beyond the world we all know. It isolates its citizens from the rest of international community and does not obey any rules determined by international law, but requires respect and recognition. Moreover, North Korea is one of the countries that remains aggressive towards its neighbors and applies various terrorist techniques, i.e. illegal contraband, political terror and mass abductions of other countries’ citizens in its foreign policy. The reasons for which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) behaves so unpredictably and irrationally are diversified. First of all, the DPRK as a country is managed very irrationally – regimes of Kim Il-sung and

Kim Jongun, has mentioned before that he wants the world to look up to his strong country as a nuclear power, rather than just a mere country with multiple sanctions shouting big words. This in the past has led to various consequences from hegemonies all around the world who feel threatened by the implications of a young tyrant in charge of ICBMs. This is a clear example of the security dilemma in which the entire world, the anarchy that it is, has to control minor nations that strive for hegemony at the expense of the larger nations’ security and loss of leverage. Unfortunately, it seems that despite the clear warnings from the superior nations, the North Korean dictator has no interest in abiding by international rules and is far more fascinated with realist ideologies of projections of power.

At the end of World War II, Korea was a poor former agricultural colony of Japan. But the rapid growth of Korea’s industrial economy has been remarkable. The economy of South Korea is now the third-largest in Asia and the 13th largest in the world by GDP as of 2007. To trace back the economic development of South Korea, the former president Park Chung-Hee played a pivotal role, and was credited for shifting its focus to export-oriented favoring a few large conglomerates. Unlike his predecessors, Park showed a strong commitment to economic development, believing good economic performance as a primary means for enhancing his political legitimacy. Under the President Park Chung-Hee’s era, the government played a dominating role in a