The Hidden People of North Korea (49 page)

The Kim regime will certainly not like our policy suggestions. The South Korean government and people may not care for them much either. And many members of the international community may look upon our suggestions as yet another attempt by Americans to meddle in other countries’ affairs. But this book is about the North Korean people and what would benefit them, and we believe that if we can open their eyes to the world, they, at least, will thank us.

Notes

Chapter 1: The Illusion of Unity

1. Chon Song-ho, “Heart of 10 Million Soldiers and People,”
Nodong Sinmun
via the Uriminjokkiri website, March 2, 2004, in Korean.

2. Song Yong-sok, “Love for the Fatherland and Love for the Nation Are the Foundation of Great National Unity,”
Nodong Sinmun
via the Uriminjokkiri website, August 8, 2007, in Korean.

3. Hyun-sik Kim and Kwang-ju Son,
Documentary Kim Jong Il
[in Korean, with these title words transcribed in the Hangul alphabet] (Seoul: Chonji Media, 1997), 292.

4. “Two Koreas’ Top Brass Resort to Racist Mudslinging,”
Chosun Ilbo
, May 17, 2006, Internet version, in English.

5. Annette Kuhn interviews photographer Werner Kranwetvogel on his trip to Pyongyang, “The Great Big Show in North Korea,”
Die Welt
, January 21, 2008, Internet version, in German.

6. “Further Improve, Strengthen People’s Unit Work,”
Minju Choson
, January 23, 2007, 1, editorial, in Korean.

7. Phillipe Grangereau,
Au pays du grand mensonge: Voyage en Coree du Nord
(Paris: Payot et Rivages, 2001), in French.

8. “Outline of Free Medical Care,”
Korea Today
via the Naenara website, November 7, 2007, in English.

9. Birke Dockhorn, “Adventure on Rails: Pyongyang with and without an Escort (1996),” in
Nordkorea: Einblicke in ein ratselhaftes Land
[North Korea: Glimpses of a Mysterious Land], ed. Christoph Moeskes (Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag, 2004), 41–47, in German.

10. “Notebook” column by Yi Chae-hak,
JoongAng Ilbo
, November 24, 2003, Internet version, in English.

11. Report by Kazuyoshi Nishikura, Kyodo news agency, March 18, 2003, in English.

12. “J-Style” article by Cortlan Bennett, “Beauty Waiting for a Beholder: Astonishing Sights Await Visitors to North Korea—If They Can Get In,”
JoongAng Ilbo
, August 2, 2003, Internet version, in English.

13. “The Tale of the Real DPRK: First of Several Factual Reports on Today’s DPRK,” Wangyi (a blog in Chinese) at www.163.com, October 29, 2006.

14. Vladimir Vorsobin, “The Long Arms and Keen Ears of Comrade Kim,”
Komsomolskaya Pravda
website, October 13, 2004, in Russian.

15. Anne Schneppen, “In the Dim Luster of the Diamond Mountains,”
Frankfurter Allgemeine
, October 30, 2006, Internet version, in German.

16. Michael Harrold,
Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea
(West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2004), 390.

17. Harrold,
Comrades and Strangers
, 370.

18. Andrew Holloway,
A Year in Pyongyang
, unpublished manuscript available on Aidan Foster-Carter’s website at www.aidanfc.net/pyongyang.html.

Chapter 2: The Life of the Leader

1. Ronald Winetrobe,
The Political Economy of Dictatorship
(London: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 106.

2. Winetrobe,
The Political Economy
, 342.

3. Adrian Buzo,
The Guerrilla Dynasty
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999).

4. The standard biography of Kim Il-sung is Dae-sook Suh’s
Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1988). Much is available about Kim in more recent sources, as indicated in the notes that follow. See also Andrei Lankov,
From Stalin to Kim Il Sung
(London: Hurst & Co., 2002), which provides a concise biography on 49–76. Also see Sydney A. Seiler,
Kim Il-song, 1941–1948: The Creation of a Legend, the Building of a Regime
(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994).

5. Quoted in KCNA, in English, June 4, 2005.

6. The biography of Kim Jong-il is almost as difficult to research as that of his father, thanks to the work of North Korean propagandists, who have largely rewritten it. The only book completely devoted to his life—or devoting at least several chapters—is Michael Breen’s insightful
Kim Jong-il: North Korea’s Dear Leader
(Singapore: John Wiley & Sons, Asia, 2004). An official North Korean biography of highly dubious veracity is
Kim Jong Il: The Lodestar of the 21st Century
. It was published serially on the KCNA website, in English, in 1999, with the following chapter titles: “The Son of the Nation,” “The Leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea,” “A Paragon of Present-Day Statesman,” “The General Leader of Socialist Construction,” “The Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army,” “The Savior Star of the Nation,” “The Helmsman of the Cause of Making the World Independent,” and “A Paragon of Greatness.” Kim’s later life is covered in a series of articles in Korean by So Song-u, Chon Hyon-chun, and Kim Chong-min, published in Korean, along with an uncredited, extensive resume of Kim, in the February 1994 issue of the South Korean journal
Pukhan
. Also see Osamu Megumiya’s “Secret of Kim Chong-il’s Birth and Life of His Mother, Kim Jong-suk,”
Seikai Orai
(August 1992): 34–39, in Japanese. Some facts, and perhaps some South Korean propaganda, can be found in a Republic of Korea government publication titled
The True Story of Kim Jong-il
(Seoul: The Institute of South-North Korea Studies, 1993).

7. Andrei Lankov, one of the most astute observers of North Korea, grew up in the Soviet Union and studied for several years at Kim Il-sung University as an exchange student. His collection of essays on North Korean life provides numerous illustrations of how the North Koreans borrowed aspects of Soviet communist culture. See Andrei Lankov,
North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2007).

8. Andrei Lankov tells the story in his
Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005).

9. Buzo,
The Guerrilla Dynasty
, 237.

10. A summary of the behest was published in South Korea’s
Chosun Ilbo
newspaper, in Korean, on November 18, 1996, 9. According to the article, the full behest was published by North Korea that year in volume 44 of the
Collection of Kim Il-sung’s Works
.

11. Although it is unusual, hereditary succession, especially from father to son, does have much to recommend it. In a 2007 article on the subject, Jason Brownlee found only nine successful cases since 1946. His research supports Gordon Tullock’s hypothesis that this form of succession occurs almost exclusively when the leader predates the ruling political party. Among the advantages of father-to-son succession is the avoidance of damaging succession struggles. For the regime’s supporters, hereditary succession provides some assurance that the new leader will not jeopardize their privileged positions. See Jason Brownlee, “Hereditary Succession in Modern Autocracies,”
World Politics
59 (July 2007): 595–628.

12. Morgan E. Clippinger, “Kim Chong-il in the North Korean Mass Media: A Study of Semi-Esoteric Communication,”
Asian Survey
21, no. 3 (March 1981): 289–309.

13. Megumiya, “Secret of Kim Chong-il’s Birth.”

14. Ri Ki-pong, “Immortal Military Achievements Shining on the Pages of History of Military-First Politics: Reminiscing about the History of Shining Victory the Great General Won in Fierce Confrontation with U.S. Imperialists in the 1960s,”
Nodong Sinmun
via the KPM website, February 3, 2008, in Korean.

15. Yi Kun, “III. Diplomat Kim Jong-il (1): A Diplomat Who Has Yet to Debut on the International Stage; ‘Invention’ of Charisma Hidden from Diplomatic Stage,”
Chosun Ilbo
, March 17, 2005, Internet version, in Korean.

16. “Great Military Genius, Iron-Willed Commander,” KCBS, March 10, 1994, in Korean.

17. Hyun-sik Kim and Kwang-ju Son,
Documentary Kim Jong Il
[in Korean, with these title words transcribed in the Hangul alphabet] (Seoul: Chonji Media, 1997), 202.

18. Hwang Jang-yop has written several books, available only in Korean:
Pukhan-ui Jinsil-gwa Howi
[Truth and Falsehood of North Korea] (Seoul: Institute for National Security and Unification Policy, June 1998);
Nanun Yyoksa-ui Jjilli-rul Poatta
[I Saw the Truth of History], (Hwang’s memoirs) (Seoul: Hanul, 1999);
Odum-ui Pyoneedoen Happyossn Odum-ul Palkilsuopta
[Sunshine That Supports the Darkness Cannot Lighten the Darkness] (Hwang’s advice on achieving Korean unification) (Seoul:
Monthly Chosun
, 2001), coauthored with Cho Kap-he and Kim Duk-hong;
Hwang Jang-yop-ui Daejollyak: Kim Jong-il-gwa Chonjaeng Hajiankko Iginunbop
[The Grand Strategy of Hwang Jang-yop: How to Win against Kim Jong-il without War] (Seoul:
Monthly Chosun
, 2003).

19. Ryo Hagiwara, “I Will Risk My Life to Fight against Kim Jong-il,” December 1998 interview with Hwang Jang-yop,
Bungei Shunju
(February 1999): 324–46, in Japanese.

20. Cho Kap-che, “Recorded Tape of Kim Jong-il’s Live Voice—60 Minutes of Astonishing Confessions Similar to That of a Reactionary,”
Wolgan Chosun
(October 1995): 104–28, in Korean. The quotations in the following paragraphs are taken from this source. While residing in the United States, film director Sang-ok Shin and his actress wife, Eun-hi Choi, authored a two-volume work (available only in an out-of-print Korean edition) about their experiences in North Korea:
Choguk-un chohanul chomolli
[Diary: The Motherland Is Beyond the Sky and Far Away] (Pacific Palisades, CA: Pacific Artist Corporation, 1988). See also “Table Talk: Hwang Jang Yop and Shin Sang-ok Talk about the Two Homelands They Have Experienced,”
Wolgan Chosun
(March 1999), 609–41, in Korean.

21. Cho Tong-ho, “II. CEO Kim Jong-il (1): Reform and Anti-Reform,”
Chosun Ilbo
, February 3, 2005, Internet version, in Korean.

22. Cho, “Recorded Tape,” electronic version.

23. Cho, “Recorded Tape,” electronic version.

24. Song Hye-rang,
Dungnamujip
[Wisteria House] (Seoul: Jisiknara, 2000), in Korean. She also published
Sosik-ul jonhamnida
[Here Are My Greetings] (Seoul: Jisiknara, 1999), in Korean.

25. “ ‘Daughter’ on Kim Chong-il’s Private Life,”
Bungei Shunju
(February 1998): 274– 92, in Japanese.

26. “ ‘Daughter’ on Kim Chong-il’s Private Life.”

27. At this time, none of Fujimoto Kenji’s books is available in English:
Kim Jong-il-ui yorisa
[Kim Jong-il’s Chef], 2003, in Korean (translated from the Japanese edition titled
Kin Seinichi no Ryoryinin
);
Kin Seinichi no Shiseikatsu
[Kim Jong-il’s Private Life], 2004, in Japanese; and
Kaku to Onna o Aishita Shogun-Sama
[The General Who Loved Nukes and Women], 2006, in Japanese.

28. Fujimoto,
Kin Seinichi no Ryoryinin
,8–9.

29. Ermanno Furlanis, “I Made Pizza for Kim Jong-il,” in three parts,
Asia Times Online
, August 4–18, 2001, in English.

30. Kim Mi-yong, “President’s Cattle Ranch—Ranch for ‘Nobility,’ Including Kim Jong-il,”
Chosun Ilbo
, March 12, 2002, Internet version, in Korean.

31. Han Young Jin, “The Dear Leader’s Apples and the No. 8 Farm,”
Daily NK
web-site, May 30, 2005, in English.

32. Cho Myong-yong, “Noble Benevolence for Coming Generations,”
Nodong Sinmun
, December 6, 2003, 2, in Korean.

33. Yi Tae-nam, “The Future of a Prosperous and Rich State Lies in Upholding the General,”
Nodong Sinmun
, June 28, 2001, 2, in Korean.

34. Fujimoto,
Kin Seinichi no Shiseikatsu
, 18–27 and 32–42;
Kin Seinichi no Ryoryinin
, 74–80. Yi Yong-kuk,
Nanun Kim Jong-il Kyonghowoniotta
[I Was Kim Jong-il’s Bodyguard] (Seoul: Sidae Chongsin, 2002).

35. Konstantin Pulikovskiy,
The Oriental Express: Through Russia with Kim Chong-il
(Vladivostok: Gorodets, 2002), in Russian. Obtained in electronic version.

36.
Chon Song-ho, “Heart of 10 Million Soldiers and People,” Nodong Sinmun
via the Uriminjokkiri website, March 2, 2004, in Korean.

37. NTV International, in Russian, August 3, 2001.

38. Aleksandr Vladimirovich Lukin, “Why Does Moscow Need Pyongyang? Russia Is Interested in Gradual Transformations in DPRK,”
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
, August 1, 2001, 6, in Russian.