Changes in daily life in North Korea after their economic troubles. Another factor driving changes in the lives of North Korean people since the 1990s is the expansion of the market.
Ⅱ . Changes in People’s Lives in the Domain of Production
Economic Difficulties and Alternatives of ‘Self- Reliance’ as they Appeared in North Korean Literature
The economic problems of the 1990s were described for the first time in North Korean novels in 1999. Actually, it has the opposite connotation, referring to the survival strategies of the North Korean people.
Loss of Jobs and Alternative Ways of Living All machines and the modern automatic conveyer belt stopped
The testimonies of refugees prove that the conditions of the factories depicted in the novels reflect reality. Most workers “went to the factories in the morning, but after the morning meeting they went outside to mind their own business” (K8, escaped in March 2003, Haesan). Novels published in the early 2000s sometimes include scenes of buying groceries at the market, but it is difficult to find scenes describing the sale of products at the market.
In the case of workers who have technical know-how, they can make a living through private business using their knowledge as well as keep their factory jobs. The term 'blat' appeared in the former Soviet Union and refers to non-monetary exchange, a kind of barter based on a personal relationship. 19 Moon-su Yang, “the operating system change of local economy and economic crisis in the 1990s,” The Crisis and Change of North Korea Cities (Paju: Hanul Academy, 2006), quoted from p.
23 A refugee explains the case of negotiating residential activities as follows: “If 80% of the members participate in the activities of the Chonghwa (daily self-criticism session), it will be held. We can find precedents in the former Soviet Union after the enormous political and social changes that occurred.
Revitalization of the market and expansion of consumption activities
Since the economic difficulties, the revitalization and expansion of the market have mainly affected people's lives in the field of reproduction. All prices rose to the same level as the market prices and then the market prices jumped rapidly. Rather it was the market expansion measures of March 2003 that brought about revitalization of the market and increased availability of goods.
One refugee said: “There were only a few displays in the government-run stores, and we bought 100% of the goods from markets.” (S2, escaped September 2003). The expansion of trade due to the revitalization of markets increased the living standards of certain classes, and this was related to the improvement in the level of consumption and the eruption of a desire to consume. After the transformation of the political and social system, post-Soviet Russia bore witness to how the luxurious consumption patterns of high-ranking officials in the former Soviet Union continued under the new system.
5 P.M.”37 Hae-ryun is a common character type in North Korea where “individualistic utilitarian” attitudes have become more widespread due to the expansion of the market in the wake of the economic troubles. The rupture of the traditional patriarchal family The economic problems in North Korea have made women's lives.
The Rupture of the Traditional Patriarchal Family The economic difficulties in North Korea made women’s lives
The Weight of Happiness,” the main character Yoo-kyung, who works as a researcher with her husband, tries to quit her job because she finds it difficult to manage both work and housework, but her husband does not agree with her decision. 42 Yoo-kyung experiences a conflict between her professional conscience and her role as a mother. The author emphasizes how women can be happy when they fulfill their social duties and carry the "burden of time" on their backs. Kyung-sim Maeng's "The Letter Not Sent" also deals with women's social roles in a similar way.43 This work takes the form of letters that a woman sends to her husband.
She became "a vine eating the fresh trunk of a tree" and "a caged bird of a pleasant and happy home." "The love of her family was everything to her and the caress of her husband was all the happiness she had." However, her husband believed that her success in her career and her prioritization of her job meant that she was "deviating from the right path in life." Yoo-kyung settles in with her family, who neglect her social role, but when she discovers that her college classmate Joon-hyuk has applied for the same position to complete the research she abandoned, his family must to live separately. , suffers because of the choice she made. Young-ho says that women also have a "duty to society" and that women who think their husband's status, honor, and success are theirs are "the shame of this age." In addition, he criticizes the "unrooted thought" that demands obedience from women and the praise hoped for obedient women as good "wives". He believes that the marriages of such people do not reflect the sublimation of love, but rather. Especially during the 'Hard March' many women filed divorce papers due to their husband's incompetence.
According to refugee testimonies, the couple in love "were worried about attracting too much attention before, but now they are showing their relationship". 48 Tae-ho Oh, "Looking for the Love Method of North Korean Style - Concentrating North Korean Short Novels of 2000s," Jong-hoi Kim, ed., The Understanding of North Korean Literature 3 (Seoul: Chungdong Guwol, 2004).
Social Stratification and Social Mobility
However, the economic problems caused the operation of all the social safety nets to cease, so that people's lives and safety became the responsibility of the individual. Secondly, the people who became aware of the new emerging life patterns earlier could form the economic upper class. Refugees talk about the two economic extremes that have occurred as a result of the economic problems in these ways;.
The characteristic that appears very often in the process of the formation of economic classes in North Korea after the economic difficulties is the cozy relationship between politics and business, so-called 'the close ties between a black market economy and the authority of officials'. 52 The political ruling class converts their political power into economic power in the course of market expansion. Donju (the rich) pursue economic profit with a certain degree of security by gaining the protection of the authorities through maintaining close relations with political authority. Thirdly, you can see the decline of the intelligentsia (teachers, doctors and white-collar workers).
While the decline of the intelligentsia has been noted, the economic competence of ordinary workers has improved and their sense of relative deprivation has decreased. Relaxation and restoration of social control After the economic difficulties, the weakening of the national.
The Relaxation and Restoration of Social Controls After the economic difficulties, the weakening of the national
A refugee (K5, Hoiryung, Haamkyung-bukdo) said that the attendance rate in mobilization and political education classes used to be 80-90%, but after the 'difficult march' it dropped to 50%. These numbers are difficult to generalize, but the response to political education in the factories decreased dramatically after the economic troubles. Immediately after the death of Kim, Il Sung, people attended daily self-criticism sessions (Chonghwa) even though they were starving, but after the 'difficult march', the General Assembly of the Korean Workers' Party could not often be held on the scheduled date (L1, Chulsan, Pyungahn -bukdo). 55 The following testimony of a refugee most vividly shows the change in political education and daily self-criticism.
They didn't kick me out of the factory, I only faced the criticism once." This shows that self-criticism and mutual criticism at such meetings became mere formalities in the same way that political education became formalities during 'the Toilsome March.' One refugee from Pyongyang said: “The most important thing is political organizational life whether the situation is difficult or not, so I have never missed the regular organizational meeting such as the daily self-criticism session, lectures and Saturday study, and Pyongyang has been as firm as a rock . We can live without rice, but cannot live without organization." (P1, escaped in October 2003, Pyongyang) However, when all the refugees' testimonies are integrated, even in the big cities like Pyongyang, it becomes clear that the organizational life was generally relaxed during 'the Difficult March' and the control of the government and the Korean Workers' Party were weakened.
A refugee testified that "in order to survive I did not participate in organizational life during 'the Difficult March'. The following words of the secretary of the party cell summarize the theme of the novel.
Succession of Generation and Innovation
While the conflicts that appear in novels of the early 1990s are usually related to the general collapse of socialism, the later 1990s novels show a new point of view regarding the succession of the revolutionary spirit. The former refers to the succession of generations, the latter emphasizes the revolutionary role played by the new generation. More recent novels dealing with generational succession and revolutionary issues search for desirable attitudes that can serve their readers in the 'arduous march' through the second generation's experience of the Chonlima movement and the reconstruction undertaken in the wake of the war and the first generation partisan. activities against colonial Japan.
The latter novels highlight how the third and fourth generations follow and learn from the models of the first and second generations, but some novels show a reversal in the status of the revolutionary generation and the younger generation. Young-hwan Lee's "Willow" shows a conflict between the younger generation that wants to pursue individual desire and the older generation that loyally thinks about the welfare of the group. To maintain their system in the midst of a changing reality, North Korea had to implement the revolutionary spirit of the first generation and the second generation.
Tomorrow,” that when a new branch is put into the old tree, the new branch grows and becomes part of the old tree. This should be done with the aim of supporting a healthy civil society and overcoming the oppression of the North Korean 'system of life'.
