North Korean Reform by Robert L. Carlin Joel Wit

Author:Robert L. Carlin, Joel Wit [Robert L. Carlin, Joel Wit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, General, Strategy, Political Science, Public Policy, Economic Policy
ISBN: 9781134973286
Google: _T44FEBb0UUC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-03-07T15:55:21+00:00

The conservatives shift

As economic reforms entered a new phase in March 2003, signs appeared that the conservatives had taken a step back. Another Nodong Sinmun editorial bureau article appeared on 21 March, asserting that the country’s future ‘hinges on invincible military might’, but conceding that ‘a country can be regarded as a powerful state’ only when it can boast of power ‘not only in the political and military areas but also in the economic and cultural fields’.15 By early April, however, the line had again toughened, reflected in a Nodong Sinmun editorial bureau article that waded deep into the debate: ‘Once we lay the foundation for a powerful self-supporting national defence industry, we will be able to rejuvenate all economic fields, including light industry and agriculture.’16 This was an argument not simply for priority but for sequence; real work on the parts of the economy of high interest to the reformers would have to wait for the foundations of the defence industry to be laid. Conspicuously absent from the piece (and in noticeable contrast to the 21 March editorial bureau article) was any reference to Kim Jong Il’s formulation about giving priority to the defence industry while also developing light industry and agriculture.

A long piece on 9 May even suggested counter-attacks were about to become ideologically ugly and personally menacing by making a rare reference to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which in North Korean leadership circles serves as a reminder of ‘traitors to the revolution’ in the Soviet Union and Pyongyang’s subsequent decisions to boost military spending in order to develop an independent defence capability.17 ‘We should not’, the article warned, ‘become men without faith who move according to changes in the environment and set sail according to the wind’, an attack, if ever there was one, on the reformist idea of adapting to ‘new conditions’. It also raised the explosive issue of money, a sensitive subject given the reforms’ emphasis on material rewards and profits. ‘Those who do not show firm revolutionary faith in everyday life become languid when faced with the captivating power of money and fortune as well as become weak before temptations and pain.’ The piece even contained what appeared to be a veiled warning to reformers to forget about following the Chinese example: ‘A cat cannot catch mice after knowing the taste of meat, and a revolutionary cannot carry out revolution after knowing the taste of money.’18

A few weeks later, the reply appeared in a Minju Choson piece, stressing that, ‘The vitality of politics is indicated through actual practice. Actual practice is the measuring standard for truth and the starting point for consciousness. Great politics cannot but generate great realities.’19 It would be hard to get closer to the ‘Dengist’ argument of discovering ‘truth through practice’ without actually citing Deng by name – and any North Korean reformer, or conservative, thinking about economic policy would know it. The article noted the sacrifice of the people during hard economic times of the past and their willingness to ‘live without candies but not without bullets’.

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