Changes in North Korean society explored through the daily lives of its people 37. The purpose of this paper is to analyze basic data about the daily lives of North Koreans in order to fully understand the changes taking place in North Korean society.
Daily Activities of North Koreans
Members of the intellectual class, who must adhere to fixed working hours, must obey these strict hours, even if formally. Most residents don't have much time for leisure because they have to work during the day and support themselves and their families with a second job the rest of the time.
The Food, Clothing, and Shelter of North Koreans Food, clothing, and shelter are the most important elements that
The extremely poor face a difficult situation where they "eat breakfast and beg for lunch, eat lunch and beg for dinner." The extremely poor, who have to constantly worry about every meal, often have to make do with alcohol rash, corn powder and grass porridge. The houses the North Koreans live in now constitute a valid yardstick to determine whether a North Korean is in the upper, middle or lower class.
The Everyday Lives of the Working Class
As a result of the economic crisis and the subsequent organic marketing that followed, the everyday life of North Korean residents changed according to their social class and occupational grouping. The real, normal employment opportunities of the workers were pushed to the brink due to the North Korean regime's tacit consent that allowed "the operation of labor organizations to help people meet their ends". This process also gave relatively more independence to the enterprises and workplaces, while also granting more autonomy to lower-ranking bureaucrats.
6 August 3 workers, or small-scale workers, existed before the 1990s, but did not become established as everyday forms of work in North Korea until the mid-to-late 1990s. In the lives of North Korean workers, breaking the law and breaking social norms do not always mean the same thing. In this way, normal work moved to the periphery, and various day jobs and jobs that valued competences increasingly dominated.
In addition, the importance of human connections and other "social capital" has increased in North Korean society, leading to an increase in differentiation within the North Korean working class.
The Everyday Lives of the Intellectual Class
However, doctors, teachers and other intellectuals who worked in the social service sector and imparted knowledge and technological information to the masses could not help but remain attached to their jobs. In this way, the workers' working hours were shortened or they were given more free time. Journalists and other workers, who had relatively more freedom in their work and could move freely, found it easier to find side jobs on the market.
Patients often offered food or meals to doctors in their region to show their gratitude and. In socialist North Korea, knowledge, information, and technology known only to intellectuals were not sold individually to their customers, but given to the masses at large, through schools, hospitals, laboratories, and other state institutions, in the form of the public. the service. Then the production was supplied to the members of the institution, so that they could use it for food.
After the economic crisis, the financial position of the intellectual class generally declined, and more and more intellectuals turned to their personal relationships.
The Everyday Lives of the Power Elites
Because the supply system regulated by the state collapsed after the economic crisis, the standard of living of civil servants also fell. Because their departments, companies, and units must rely on self-reliance, servicemen's standard of living does the same in accordance with the capabilities of their units. As the market slowly replaces the official food rationing system in North Korea, more and more powerful officials are collaborating with the market to make money.
After the economic crisis of the 1990s, the burden was on the departments, enterprises and units to become self-sufficient in obtaining what they needed. The authority justified by social rank and position in North Korea has been rendered meaningless, and living standards are made or broken depending on the various duties of the officials. With the socialist planned economy crippled, the administrative organization within North Korea's Cabinet lost its place and the social prestige and authority of the power elite declined.
Ding noted that the resistance movement that took place in China during the Deng Xiaoping days all took place within the organizations of the system.
The Everyday Lives of the Emerging Merchant Class
The lives of North Korea's merchant class are unpredictable and sometimes cross the lines of what is considered legal. The merchant class of North Korea leads precarious lives and they have to suffer huge losses due to the frequent changes made in North Korea's policies. Key terms used to describe the actual daily life of North Korean women are support, hard work, women's rights, independence, discrimination, and being alone.
The food and economic crises that began in the 1990s forced North Korean women to take the lead in providing for their families instead of their husbands. According to the "State of the World Population 2007", North Korea's maternal mortality ratio (the number of women who die out of 100,000 due to pregnancy, childbirth and reproductive complications) was 67, placing North Korea 60th in the world. The responsibility of supporting their families fell on North Korea's women after the food crisis, and this led to a subsequent decline in their health due to their intense physical labor.
Changes in North Korean society examined through the Daily Lives of its People.
Changes in Class Structure
According to the testimonies of North Korean defectors, the income gap between the classes became marked after 2000 and the end of the arduous march. However, it is possible to find out, albeit generally, the main standards of class division and class distribution with the help of the interviewees' testimony. According to the testimonies of the North Korean defectors, North Korea's economic classes since 2000 can be divided into upper, middle and lower class.
When necessary, the upper class can be further divided into the upper and upper upper class, and the lower class into the lower and lower class. The basic standard used to separate the different classes is the level of consumption, especially in the food they eat and the food reserves they have. In terms of the spare food they have, the lower class consists of people who have almost no spare food, the middle class are people who have money to buy food in the market or at least have enough spare food to last a few day. , and the upper one.
This can be a factor that can exacerbate the relative poverty of the lower class and contribute to the social frustration they feel despite the relative increase in consumption.
Changes in Social Relationships
With the influence of personal networks increasing, public networks and collective networks are either deteriorating or being subsumed by these networks.12 In industrial enterprises, the foreman or experienced worker forms teams to hire workers privately, much like construction workers in capitalist societies. . This is a prime example where public networks become part of personal networks so that people can make more profits. Personal networks are forming on top of collective networks based on their families, because people are less likely to fail in the market economy if they create personal networks with people they can trust, especially since there are no institutional safety nets for to engage in economic activities.
13 Lee Woo-young, “The Possibility of Personal Discourse Formation within the North Korean System,” Research on Personal Realms of North Korean Urban Locals (Hanwul Academy, 2008), p. Since 2000, market-oriented economic activities have been activated, and social networks have become a kind of social capital in North Korean society. North Korean defectors pointed out that networks of employees of foreign exchange firms or other merchants form alliances with bureaucrats in the State Security Agency or the Ministry of Public Security.
However, as participants engage in bribery and other monetary compensation in exchange for immunity from punishment for deviant behavior, information and other benefits, these channels have turned into personal networks based on material gain.
Control and Small-Scale Resistance
Since the economic crisis, the control and supervision of political power in the daily lives of North Koreans has become more fragmented. Since 2004, with the influx of foreign trends that came to North Korea, the regime began to implement strict surveillance and censorship measures, especially in border areas, to prevent deviant behavior. A third form of resistance in the daily lives of North Koreans is the reduced rate of participation in political education and other organizational activities used to create political consent.
This form of control is more developed in North Korea than in any other society in the world. Recently, North Korea has been emphasizing strengthening socialist consciousness to prevent the system from collapsing in the face of constant marketing and the influx of capitalist ideologies. This aloofness took on an even more extreme form in the struggle for survival during the economic crisis.
Along the border areas and in big cities, more and more people are watching South Korean movies and TV series.
Mistrust of the State and Deepening Materialism The fact that the ordinary lives of North Koreans have gone from
Mistrust of the state and deepening materialism The fact that the ordinary lives of North Koreans have disappeared. Because of this situation, in the minds of North Koreans, the companies they work for or their family members work for must replace the role of the state. The changes in their everyday lives brought about changes in the consciousness of the people, and another example is the widespread idea of materialism.
Through their experiences with business dealings, North Koreans have come to understand the meaning of money and the way it works. The recent changes in their everyday life show the possibility that their reaction is moving to the opposite end of the spectrum. However, the changes in the lives of North Koreans do not necessarily pose a threat to the North Korean system.
In the process of guaranteeing their survival, North Koreans engage in minor and major deviant behavior.
