Fear and Loathing in Pyongyang

The Korea Herald reports that Pyongyang is growing increasingly desperate in its struggle to maintain control:

[Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean Studies at Korea University] also said Pyongyang has recently bolstered its border patrols to stop North
Korean defectors from crossing into China, which could be a sign the regime has
begun to perceive threats to its once iron-fisted rule. The action, he said, was
a stark contrast to Pyongyang’s past negligence about controlling defectors
because it knew it couldn’t provide for everyone. “As I talk to some
North Korean defectors in Seoul, it seems that more people have come to harbor a
different mind-set toward their country, especially those who live in rural
areas near the border with China,” and they are facing the reality that North
Korea isn’t heaven, Yoo said. He added that such changes in the mood will
be contagious enough to affect the public in the capital city sooner or later.

Nor has the much-touted economic reform been an unqualified success, either:

Experts say the introduction of the economic reforms has produced urban poor
people who cannot cope with soaring market prices, but has also helped spur the
population to actively engage in production. That has created profit and has
already made some people rich in comparison with others. “The best
candidate for a bridegroom has changed from soldiers to entrepreneurs who make
big money,” said former Unification Minister Chung.

The article notes the rise of indiscipline and crime within the military, and even suggests that outside forces are actively subverting the regime:

Also, there are some signs of slackened military discipline and voices of
opposition to the “Dear Leader” from the public. According to an article
in Der Spiegel, translated into English in the New York Times, some irregular
labor demonstrations have occurred, and anti-Kim Jong-il slogans have appeared
on railroad cars and factory walls. Flyers condemning the regime were even
reportedly posted at the place where the elder Kim Il-sung’s embalmed body
lies. Kim Jong-il reputedly moves constantly from one residence to another
for security, and his houses in Pyongyang are connected by a system of
tunnels. A batch of 150 supposed North Korean internal documents disclosed
by a Japanese scholar also contain what may be hints of cracks in the
regime. They show the government has been stepping up efforts to increase
ideological education of the people and has called for strong military
discipline, unlike past propaganda that focused on socialism or accusations
against South Korea. The documents indicate that Korean People’s Army
officers often direct subordinates to steal crops from civilian farms. They also
reflect the North Korean view that outsiders have been educating North Koreans
in China and sending them back into the north to disrupt the people.

At which point, one academic offered the rather incredible opinion that learning the fear of God might be a disincentive for the regime to negotiate in good faith. Another offered the more insightful observation that “[w]inter is coming, which means Pyongyang needs Seoul to provide rice.”

Read the whole thing before it turns into more of that accursed “premium content.”

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