Vignettes of the World
“Most of the events in the Old Testament took place in Jordan,” our Jordanian tour guide said. At dinner on my first night in Jordan I fell in love with the creamy, nutty flavored hummus and helped myself with two, three servings. By then, I knew …
I have never seen so much sand in my life. The wonderful aerial views of the United Arab Emirates greeted me in a variety of forms: first a coastline, then what seemed like ranges of barren hills. Finally it was all sands in vast …
By Paul French
“Even the Albanians described North Korea as an ‘unbelievably closed society.’”[i]
Famine, credit default, constant blackouts, economic collapse, failed piecemeal reforms, nuclear weapons, repression – the indicators of a failed state are no longer hidden from the world now, despite North Korea’s persistent isolation. Yet what intrigued me was the fact that the North Korean communist regime has survived despite its acute inability to provide even basic necessities for its people. In this book I found answers and explanations.
Insightful and lucid, North Korea: State of Paranoia provides facts, history, analysis and explanations on North Korea’s economic policies, and how and why the regime has failed to give food to its people but at the same time was able to intimidate the world with nuclear weapons. It is the author’s view that a sound understanding of its economic failure is the vital lens through which any outsider learn about North Korea as a whole.
The book opened with a description of the common people’s lives in North Korea and that was surprisingly effective as an introduction. What I came to know on the first chapter was the human face of North Korea. The reality as depicted reminded me of China in the 1960s, when the whole society, and every detail of daily life, was driven by Mao Zedong’s cult of personality. What was happening more than half a century ago in China is very much alive in North Korea today. In the author’s words, North Korea is “clearly an anachronism in the modern world, adhering rigidly to principles that is former allies have either jettisoned or sought to reform.”[ii]
The discussion of Juche as a founding ideology of the North Korean regime was one of the major learning I took from this book. It was Kim Il-sung’s spin on communism, combining the principles of Marxist-Leninism command economy, Confucian social order, self-reliance and elements of Maoism. It is the fundamental thought that justifies repression, frames state propaganda, writes its own history and even drives the “military first” policy that eventually led to the development of nuclear missiles. The pervasiveness and exclusivity with which the state imposed Juche in North Korea was part of Paul French’s explanation for why the regime remains in power. There simply was no alternative thinking to Juche in North Korea. If not Juche, the North Koreans would not know what else to believe.[iii]
There are certainly other aspects of the North Korean society that has enabled the communist party to maintain its grip on power. The author has noted an irony, that while it was wholly the fault of the command economy that brought about the famine, the prolonged famine has actually kept the North Koreans docile—they were simply too preoccupied with basic survival to think of anti-government organization. “From the start the population was asked to sacrifice economic growth and access to services and goods in the name of national independence and self-reliance.”[iv] For the North Koreans, it was either to struggle at home, or to risk one’s life and defect.
Paul French has made it possible for readers to learn about the “most opaque of opaque countries.”[v] This book was well-researched with critical perspectives on the West (primarily the United States)’s share of responsibility in the sufferings of the North Koreans. As Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump play yo-yo in their denuclearization agreement, little seems to have been done to bring forth hope, or even basic survival, to the North Korean people.
[i] Paul French, North Korea: State of Paranoia (2014) at 47.
[ii] Id. at 410.
[iii] Whereas in Poland, for example, there was the Catholic Church and Solidarity, Id. at 399-400.
[iv] Id. at 413.
[v] Foreword, Id. at xvi.
By Han Kang Ah, what a surprise. I thought this would be a lighthearted and fun book about a Korean woman who decided to turn vegetarian in a culture where meat is consumed as much as air is breathed. As it turned out, not only …
On my last full day in South Korea, I booked a 1st class room at a hotel in Incheon, as I was hoping to see the MacArthur Landing. Once I checked in the hotel, however, I realized that I would be going backward on my …
We arrived at the infiltration tunnels as our last stop on the tour. There was to be no cameras on this part of thetour.
We watched a film about the specific history of the infiltration tunnels. All was good and well, and I enjoyed the explanation of the history of the war and some of the more current developments in the two countries’ relationship.
Apparently, there were talks of reunification in the 1990s, and since then South Korea has been the main sponsor of humanitarian aid to the North.[1] We did see the highways leading to North Korea on which food and supplies were shipped. There were also power lines, but the North Koreans rejected that as they would not pay for it. A factory type of structure served the purpose of disabling any radio communication from the West. It took one whole building to dismantle the possibility of capitalist influences.
Back at the infiltration tunnel museum I enjoyed the film until the very end, when the narration seemed to depict in present tense a peace that would not, in all likelihood, come anytime soon. “Today the DMZ is an area of peace and natural beauty…” There were images of beautiful wildlife that thrived at the DMZ because there was no human habitation there. “The two Koreas live in peaceful coexistence.” We just went through zones of tension where photography was strictly prohibited, where North Korean soldiers could intimidate by merely peeping in through the windows. I could taste the tension with every breath that I took. Any portrayal of peace at the DMZ seemed like wishful thinking to me.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the South Koreans discovered four infiltration tunnels. I could certainly imagine how fearful it was for the South Koreans to find those tunnels. Seoul was only about 70-100km away from the border. These tunnels together would allow one million soldiers to reach Seoul in over one hour’s time.
The north claimed that they were abandoned coal mines, or that South Korea built them. The museum exhibits explained the angle of the elevation and the origin could only be from the North. There was also no coal in that area. One caption said, “thus showing the dubiousness of the North Koreans.” Also discovered were arrows drawn in yellow paint inside the 3rd tunnel, all pointing toward Seoul.
We walked a very long corridor declining at a 45 degree angle to reach the entrance of the tunnel, then further to the first blockade, and tourists were not permitted beyond the yellow arrows. The corridor itself was 173 meters long, and one could only imagine how deep the tunnel was. It was believed that there were a total of more than 20 tunnels dug by the North as the South Koreans continued to search through the 241-km long demarcation line to find them.
These tunnels showed the plans and actions taken by the North to invade the South, and that certainly unsettled the South Koreans. Yet postmodern warfare would no longer take place at the border. Someone asked Officer Pearson, “what was the last event that happened here?” His answer was, “that we were on this tour now.” There might be some skirmishes at the demarcation line, and needless to say, spying never stopped, but the intimidation of the North was taking on a new form known as nuclearization, and it clearly preoccupied the South Koreans and had enormous implications for the world.
When I thought of the two Koreas, I imagined a couple that were married for years and after a fight they split up, each backed by supportive neighbors, but they were stuck living in their original house. The glamorous wife enjoyed her parties and she entertained her western guests in the beautifully decorated living room. The stubborn old man decided to stay in an unheated shed at the backyard and spent all day intimidating his wife and her western friends. Many years passed and the old man was looking to a more comfortable life now, for even his own friends have chosen the way of his wife. The neighbors stepped in again, wanting to negotiate for a peaceful resolution. The future was yet unknown, but I surely hoped that the couple would reconcile one day, so that the children in the backyard would never have to starve again.
Writer’s note:
This series on the DMZ was written in 2009, two days after my visit to the DMZ. The situation in the two Koreas have since taken on surprising turns, especially in 2017 and 2018 when North Korea began actively testing its long-range missiles. I have followed developments of the denuclearization plan that has been agreed upon between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the current administration of the United States in 2018. These entries on the DMZ were mostly preserved with minimal additional research in order to convey the situation as I learned it at the time of writing.
[1] I read on the newspapers later that South Korea has stopped its humanitarian aid program in the past few years due to strained relationships.
This is part of a series on the Demilitarized Zone at the 38th Parallel separating North and South Koreas. Please visit the other entries in this series below:
South Korea – The DMZ and the Bollinger Hall.
Military subsistence at the DMZ was supported by the Panmunjom Village. Villagers did not pay any taxes to the Korean government as it did not come under its administration. They grew food in their fields, and one important crop was ginseng. The area being off-bounds …
Although in principle the soldiers in the DMZ did not bear arms (therefore they were all black belts in martial arts) there had been armed confrontations at the DMZ. There was the Axe Incident, where 2 UN commanders were killed when the UN side tried …
“There ain’t no D in the DMZ.”[1]
It was a privilege for those from the West to be able to see the DMZ and Panmunjom via a U.S. tour organized by the USO. If I kept my Hong Kong identity, I could not have gone. The South Koreans also could not go freely. They would have to apply for a special permit, which could take up to half a year, to see the area.
The tour guide was an English speaking Korean and he talked a bit about the rules on our way to the DMZ. Of the most importance was no provocation when we were at the border. Secondly, we were to hold the strictest observance on orders where there shall be no pictures taken.
When he came around to take my order for lunch, I said bibimbab and he asked if I were Korean American. I was flattered.
The bus ride from the USO to Panmunjom took more than an hour. Once we arrived, we changed bus and were led to the Bollinger Hall, “In Front of Them All.” The spirit of confrontation was evident, and one would not miss the tensions already felt at the sight of military presence. At Bollinger Hall, we first signed a liability release. I was so nervous that my hand shook as I scribbled my signature.
We had a 20-minute presentation, military styled. I was not quite used to the military representative Officer Pearson’s accent, and also the presenter spoke in words like a rapid-fire machine gun. There were more details in the presentation than I could jot down. It covered the detailed history behind WWII and the subsequent division of Korea into two along the 38th Parallel.
The division could be deemed a historical accident. The 38th Parallel was originally there to denote the Japanese occupation of the peninsula in the south. At the time of division there were more Koreans living in the north than in the south. After WWII, the United States established a government in South Korea, which was freed from Japanese colonialization, by holding elections. North Korea was becoming red, meanwhile, the Soviets refused to hold elections and instead set up a government headed by Kim Il Sang.
Kim Il Sang came to power in 1946. He was succeeded by Kim Jong Il, his son, after his death in 1994. Now that Kim Jong Il has died in 2010 and was succeeded by Kim Jong Un, that would be the only succession of power by direct lineage in all of the communist world’s history.[2]
With two governments in Korea it became inevitable that there would be two Koreas, the North and the South. The 38th Parallel then became the border.
When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the peninsula became the battleground between the two Koreas, and the grand theater of conflict between their respective sponsors, the communist world (mainly China) and the West (the United States). When the North Koreans invaded the South, they managed to take territory all the way south, save for Busan, with the aid of the Chinese Army (they were called the China Aid Volunteers.) Then General MacArthur led the American troops and landed first in Incheon (thus the MacArthur Landing). They managed to recapture the territory all the way up to the 38th Parallel. There was a standstill at the 38th Parallel and the war dragged on. The war caused enormous casualties on both sides, with millions of lives lost.
The conflict only ended when an armistice was agreed by all relevant parties. Pursuant to the armistice signed in 1953, the United Nations set up a demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the 38th Parallel, where it was intended that there would be no military actions. Yet, as quoted at the beginning of this entry, the DMZ is an area of tension that is hardly demilitarized. I would soon be told the stories of confrontation in this strip of the border.
Still today, the DMZ is the epitome of an uneasy peace, peace it was that never fully materialized in this part of the world.
[1] Paul French, North Korea, State of Paranoia, at 5, the phrase is a GI saying.
[2] This was a claim made during the history presentation at the DMZ. But see Paul French, id. at 96-97.
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This is part of a series on the Demilitarized Zone at the 38th Parallel separating North and South Koreas. Please visit the other entries in this series below:
South Korea – The DMZ and the Bridge of No Return.
South Korea – The DMZ, the Panmunjom and the Conference Room.
South Korea – The DMZ and the Infiltration Tunnels.
The Jackfruit Festival of Kwong Ban Tin Village in Tsuen Wan has become a popular event amongst the Hong Kong locals as a family-friendly occasion to celebrate the jackfruit harvest in the fall each year. In October 2016, I went there to learn the story …