[Dean's World] Aziz P: juche is a lie

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Aziz P:
juche is a lie
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1152199397.shtml


   If there is a central ideology animating the illusion of a functional
   society that is North Korea, it is [1]juche (주체). Loosely
   translated as self-reliance, juche comprises the following principles:
     * The people must have independence (Chajusong) in thought and
       politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
     * Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and
       employ them fully in revolution and construction.
     * Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the
       situation of the country.
     * The most important work of revolution and construction is molding
       people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to
       constructive action.

   Any objective assessment of North Korean society will quickly conclude
   that on each of these principles, the actual implementation of juche
   in North Korea is as hollow and meaningless as the concrete shell of
   the Ryugyong Hotel. What better symbol of a failed regime?

   What is particularly tragic however is how the facade of juche has
   been maintained with the willing assistance of North Korea's
   neighbors, and the United States. The survival strategy of the NK
   regime is simple: bluster for bribes. Even as [2]long as four years
   ago, it was clear that NK would [3]manufacture crisis after crisis,
   expresing great outrage and demanding concessions in the form of aid
   and supplies to stave off the inevitable collapse. And we have
   complied; without ongoing assistance from the US, China, and South
   Korea, the long-predicted total collapse of NK would have occurred
   long ago.

   And if NK goes, rest assured [4]they will take South Korea with them.

   There have been only two policy alternatives thus far. The policy we
   have not chosen to pursue is to cut off all aid, enforce sanctions,
   and ride out the storm. But even if we could convince China to sign
   onto the total isolation plan, such a policy would essentially back
   the NK regime into a corner - with only one exit. The economic and
   socipolitical impact of chaos on the Korean peninsula - including
   wiping out Seoul, one of the key cities on the Pacific Rim, and the
   flood of hundreds of thousands of refugees from NK - would be a
   monumental disaster on the scale of recent tsunami, if not worse.

   So that leaves us with the policy we have chosen to pursue, which is
   to keep the regime afloat, and the poor hostage citizens of NK one
   step ahead of starvation. Food is a political weapon in NK, and the
   regime uses it effectively to maintain its tight control. The sad
   truth is that this is a status quo which probably can be maintained
   indefinitely, as it has all these decades since the Cold War and even
   surviving a transition between Revered Leaders.

   But is there an alternative policy? I think there might be. Hope, as
   Winston once wrote in his journal, lies with the proles. If the people
   of NK can be made to see the utter futility of the lie that is juche,
   then perhaps some spark can be lit in their downtrodden breasts.

   We must not write off the people of North Korea. The South Koreans
   have not; though it costs them dearly. After all, these are their own
   blood. There is an increasing sentiment in the US and in S. Korea that
   conflagaration with NK is inevitable; that the hostage-citizens
   therein are nothing more than collateral damage on the offering block
   of global stability. But that is precisely backwards. It is the people
   of NK who are the solution, if they can be made to see the hope that
   lies within. The grim logic of a foe with nothing to lose cuts both
   ways. Let the people of NK see in themselves a foe to the regime that
   has ground them down to dust. And then it will be the regime that
   faces two stark choices - concede, or die. And given that the rulers
   of NK love their life above all else - when it is their lives on the
   line, not their hostage-countrymen, they will surely yield.

   ([5]xposted to Nation-Building)

References

   1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche
   2. http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/12/NorthKorea.shtml
   3. http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2003/01/NorthKoreasaskingprice.shtml
   4. http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2003/06/NorthKoreansuicidepact.shtml
   5. http://dean2004.blogspot.com/2006/07/juche-is-lie.html