A. Human Rights Abuses by the Totalitarian
perspective.2Consequently, the fundamental human rights of its citizens are structurally abridged and breached by the powers of the Party and the state. In short, North Korean citizens are not guaranteed the freedoms of speech, expression, travel, residence, or relocation. Even individual jobs are “assigned” by the Party.
As the Soviet-Chinese ideological rift deepened in the 1960s the Kim Il-sung regime formulated its so-called “Juche Ideology,”
promoting it as a guiding ideology which would stand equal to Marxism-Leninism. Subsequently, it was embraced as the Party’s
“sole guiding ideology,” and the regime used it as a justification for promoting the personality cult and the father-son hereditary suc- cession. In 1974, North Korea proclaimed its “10 Principles for the Safeguarding of the Party’s Unitary Ideological System,” stipulating that only Kim Il-sung’s teachings were to be respected as absolute instructions. Subsequently, the policy of deification of Kim Il-sung was emphatically implemented, and the basis for Kim Jong-il’s power succession was solidified. However, owing to the funda- mental contradictions inherent in the socialist planned economic system, the North Korean economy has shown almost no growth since the 1980s. Consequently the North Korean regime drastically reduced the grain ration for its citizens and launched the “two meals a day” campaign.
After Kim Il-sung passed away in July 1994, Kim Jong-il, as Chairman of the National Defense Commission, assumed ruling
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2_By “totalitarian system,” we mean a system that bears following characteristics: ① A carefully designed ruling ideology, ②Rule by one “mass-based” political party led by one dictator, ③A system of physical and psychological terror enforced by secret police, ④A complete monopoly over mass media, including radio, newspa- pers, and movies, ⑤An effective monopoly over the armed forces, ⑥Centralized command/control over the economic system. See Carl J. Friedrich and Zbigniew K.
Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass: Har- vard University Press, 1965).
power and revealed a new militarist ruling style dubbed “military- first politics.” The “military-first” idea was meant to complement jucheideology by designating the military as the main strike force of the revolution. The theory was that if the military took the lead and played an exemplary role in all sectors—political, economic, cultural, and ideological—the citizens’ creative capabilities and activities would also be greatly enhanced.3 The doctrine of mili- tary-first politics asserted that North Korea’s crisis stemmed from the aggressive policies of imperialist powers, so it was necessary to divert national finances and resources to reinforce its military power, including the development of missiles and nuclear weapons. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European bloc, the North Korean economy has experienced chronic problems. Yet the Kim Jong-il regime made a poor policy choice by diverting major resources to reinforce military power, thus exacerbating the economic hardships. As a result, North Korea has become a “failed state” that cannot provide even the minimum standard of living for its citizens. The journal Foreign Policy selected Kim Jong-il, chairman of North Korea’s National Defense Commission, as the “worst dictator in the world” and ranked North Korea the 19th worst case among the “world’s failed states.”4
As the “regime crisis” mounted, Chairman Kim Jong-il sought to acquire “regime security” through the development of nuclear weapons. Unexpectedly, however, he suffered a cerebral apoplexy and had to undergo an operation. As uncertainties about the regime’s future mounted with the deteriorating health of Chair-
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3_Kim Bong-ho, The Great Military-first Age (Pyongyang: Pyongyang Publishers, 2004), p. 83.
4_Foreign Policy(July/August 2010), pp. 76-90.
man Kim Jong-il, North Korea began to contemplate the heredi- tary succession issue. In the process, North Korea opted for a hard-line position toward the “6 Party Talks” on the North Korean nuclear issue, and thus the talks stalled. Subsequently, North Korea was placed under international sanctions in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution No. 1874 in the wake of North Korea’s test-firing of a long-range missile on April 5, 2009, and its second nuclear test on May 25, 2009.5Even as international sanc- tions on North Korea were intensifying, a North Korean subma- rine launched a torpedo against a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, instantly sinking the naval vessel on March 26, 2010.
On Sept. 28, 2010, the Delegates’ Conference of the Korean Workers’ Party was convened for the first time in 44 years. During the conference Chairman Kim Jong-il’s third son, Kim Jong-eun, was appointed to the position of Deputy Chairman of the Party’s Central Military Commission, marking his official anointment as hereditary successor. On Nov. 23, 2010, North Korea once again launched an unprovoked military attack on South Korea, lobbing artillery shells at Yongpyong Island off South Korea’s west coast.
The upshot was a renewal of domestic tension about its security posture and a tightening of internal political consolidation around newly emerging leader Kim Jong-eun. However, due to its repeated acts of military adventurism, North Korea’s economic situation has entered a deeper downward spiral, and the people’s disaffection level has deepened further still. Yet North Korea has reinforced the roles and functions of its security forces, which enforce physical
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5_Resolution No. 1874 expanded the terms of Resolution No. 1718, adopted right after North Korea’s first nuclear test, and contains various sanctions including an arms embargo, export control measures, cargo inspections, and financial and economic sanctions. See UN Security Council, Resolution 1874 (2009), adopted by the Security Council at its 6141stmeeting, 12 June 2009.
repression of the people to prevent any complaints or grudges from arising against the installation of a 27-year-old as successor to the most powerful position in North Korea.