==
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Review: Offering red pill about North Korea, new book instead jettisons truth | NK News
Review: Offering red pill about North Korea, new book instead jettisons truth | NK News
Review: Offering red pill about North Korea, new book instead jettisons truth
While aiming to humanize North Koreans, Felix Abt’s latest presents misleading critiques of Western narratives
David Tizzard March 1, 2022
Review: Offering red pill about North Korea, new book instead jettisons truth
The stated aim of “A Land of Prison Camps, Starving Slaves and Nuclear Bombs?” (2022) is to help the reader discover how much the mainstream media and pundits have misled them about the true nature of North Korea. The basis for these claims is the seven years that the author, Felix Abt, spent living and working in the country as the CEO of PyongSu pharmaceutical company until 2009.
These experiences, the author asserts, have helped him see the dangerous disparity between life inside the country and its portrayal in Western media outlets. He alone sees this truth. Effectively, this is the reader’s chance to be red-pilled about Pyongyang.
Bruce Cumings, Michael Pembroke and to a lesser extent Theodore Jun Yoo have all made valuable contributions to this approach. Their disparate writings do an excellent job of highlighting the culpability of the West for various injustices against Koreans and also present an at times sympathetic view of the DPRK. There is room for such views in both academia and mainstream media, particularly when presented professionally and backed up by genuine research and good faith.
However, “A Land of Prison Camps, Starving Slaves and Nuclear Bombs?” does not succeed on these counts.
Does the author write with an agenda? Consider one of the first arguments the reader encounters: “Economic sanctions against North Korea,” the author laments, “began on June 28, 1950 with a total embargo on exports.” Academics debate the effectiveness of sanctions and their moral implications. But the author completely fails to mention that the sanctions were put in place because North Korea had just sent 75,000 troops across the border and invaded South Korea three days earlier.
That staggering lack of context, which can really only be understood as a willful omission of information to make an ideological point, characterizes the arguments that Abt presents throughout.
A parade to celebrate North Korea’s 70th founding anniversary in Pyongyang on Sept. 9, 2018. | Image: NK News
The author, for instance, talks continually of an “expanding middle class” and “growing marketization [that] has enabled people from all class backgrounds to set up small businesses of their own and bring greater prosperity to their families.” Readers could be forgiven for thinking they were reading about a Scandinavian state rather than North Korea.
Abt goes on to declare that conglomerates in North Korea are run by affable gentlemen, and that women hold various positions of power unlike in the more oppressive South Korea. He describes himself as a “handsome Prince making everything right” only to be stopped by the “evil witch of foreign-imposed sanctions.”
Most of the book’s single-page chapters follow a similar pattern. First, an image: Generally, a screenshot of a YouTube video, a cropped headline from a Western media outlet or a tweet. Then, in normally no more than 100 words, the author describes why the provided image is an example of the West’s deliberately negative framing of North Korea.
It’s certainly true that some media use exaggerated and orientalist language in their reporting on life in the DPRK. Many will have seen the sensationalist stories about death by dogs, 11 holes-in-one and so on. Such reporting is incredibly problematic and is not just restricted to tabloids and fringe websites.
But there is also a great deal of accurate, informed and balanced coverage of North Korea. In fact, it could be reasonably argued that the country has never been understood better.
Nevertheless, the author continually disparages serious academics and writers. He places the word “expert” in speech marks when referring to people such as Dr. Remco Breuker, a man whose knowledge and understanding of Korea is surely not questioned among scholars. Abt also spends a great deal of time contradicting the claims of award-winning author Barbara Demick, particularly in reference to her 2010 book “Nothing to Envy.”
These frequent and shallow attacks on respected writers on North Korea demonstrate the author’s interest in denigrating many of the field’s leading figures. However, one cannot escape the feeling that had Abt spent even half the time researching and writing his own work as he has attacking others, he would have achieved a great deal more.
North Koreans wait at a bus stop in Pyongyang on Oct. 1, 2016. While Abt’s book attempts to humanize North Koreans, this effort comes at the expense of the truth, David Tizzard writes. | Image: NK News
One can certainly sympathize with the author. He spent a great deal of time inside the country, made many friends and had a number of positive and rewarding experiences. Some of the photos Abt includes of North Korean people laughing, drinking and singing are marvelous. This book attempts to humanize North Koreans, depoliticize them and show them in the best possible light.
That is a laudable approach, but it should not come at the expense of truth. Both seasoned experts and relative newcomers to Korean Peninsula issues are unlikely to learn anything about North Korea in this book. Just as the author does not explain the Korean War, genuine explorations into DPRK history, politics, traditions or culture are all absent.
In that sense, the book fails. It does not provide any new or interesting information on the DPRK. It attacks Western media but not in a way that is insightful. The book might have served better as a series of tweets, as there will no doubt be people out there willing to embrace the bite-size partisan observations. But for anyone who wants to learn about North Korea, look elsewhere.
===
A Land of Prison Camps, Starving Slaves and Nuclear Bombs ?: An alternative account to the Western media's blinkered North Korea portrayal Kindle Edition
by Felix Abt (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
See all formats and editions
Kindle
from AUD 2.72
Read with Our Free App
Test your North Korea knowledge!
The author of the book "A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom" invites you to find out how much you have been misled and lied to about North Korea by the media, pundits and activists. He is happy to share insight and a more balanced view of the world’s most isolated, under-reported and misrepresented country.
---
Publication date
February 15, 2022
Print length : 63 pages
Felix Abt
☆ Felix Abt has lived and worked as a senior executive on behalf of multinational groups and smaller enterprises in nine countries on three continents. He was one of the few foreign business people who lived and worked in North Korea - in Felix's case, for seven years!
☆ In North Korea he witnessed MANY FIRSTS that nobody would have expected from the world's most isolated, under-reported and misrepresented country:
The first fast food restaurant selling 'happy meals', the first café selling Western gourmet coffee, the first miniskirts and high heels, the first Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty bags, the legalization of markets and advertising, the first North Korean debit card (with which he went shopping), the first technocrats instead of party committees, running state-enterprises, a foodstuff company's first robot (made by ABB, a multinational group whose chief representative he was in Pyongyang), a multiplication of all sorts of small private business, a massive expansion of private slope farming, the emergence of a fast growing middle class and a drop in poverty, cosmetic surgery in the capital (even though it was illegal), people watching foreign movies and reading foreign books (despite censorship), the first business school (which he co-founded and ran), the first e-commerce (set up by North Korean painters and Felix Abt, selling their paintings around the globe), the first North Koreans dancing Rock 'n Roll (with him), the first foreign chamber of commerce (which he co-founded and chaired), the first North Korean enterprise (a pharmaceutical factory whose CEO he was) winning contracts in competitive bidding against foreign companies, the first software joint venture company exporting award-winning medical software (which he co-founded) and many more.
☆ All this and more you will find in his memoir "A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom"
☆ Visit the author's photo gallery showing a different, changing North Korea: http://northkoreacapitalist.tumblr.com
Re-visit it from time to time as more pictures will be added.
☆ Watch his video "North Korea out of the dark": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-35WjN42l9A
☆☆☆☆☆
===
Lies, insinuations and distortions with no empathy for the suffering North Koreans!
ByThe Chollima Report
Mar 3, 2022
Author: Felix Abt is a Swiss Businessman and author who lived and conducted business in North Korea. His two books, “A Capitalist in North Korea” and a “A Land of Prison Camps, Starving Slaves
and Nuclear Bombs?” have sought to refute myths about the country and its people.
David Tizzard, a Seoul-based academic, published a hit piece against me on NKnews.org, “reviewing” my new North Korea book “A Land of Prison Camps, Starving Slaves and Nuclear Bombs?” . The following article seeks to respond to the criticism point by point using excerpts and replies:
====
● “Abt declares that conglomerates in North Korea are run by affable gentlemen, and that women hold various positions of power unlike in the more oppressive South Korea.”
No, I didn’t! I knew other North Korean conglomerates who were not necessarily run by affable gentlemen. And where did I talk about the “more oppressive South Korea”?
● “He describes himself as a ‘handsome Prince making everything right only to be stopped by the ‘evil witch of foreign-imposed sanctions. ”
No, I didn’t! It was about the “fairy tale” PyongSu, not about me. Tizzard intentionally “misunderstood” it.
● “Abt disparages serious academics and writers such as Dr. Remco Brueker, a man whose knowledge and understanding of Korea is surely not questioned among scholars.”
Tizzard omits the fact that Breuker (not Brueker) is better known as a public figure and a political activist than as an outstanding Korea scholar. He successfully led a campaign against North Korean “forced labor”, pushing Western and other countries to deny work permits to the estimated 100,000 North Koreans who had jobs abroad. Finally, the UN banned all North Koreans from working abroad. Breuker’s claim of “slave labor” was rejected by another scholar, Andrei Lankov, and I took issue with Breuker’s campaign too in my book (under “Small Businesses Opened by Returning North Korean Expats”). Even though Breuker’s campaign greatly hurt North Korean workers and their families (rather than the regime), I did not disparage him for that.
Prof. Breuker also teamed up with Jang Jin-sung, a defector who claimed that he was Kim Jong Il’s favorite poet, but when ordinary defectors were asked about him, they were not aware of that. Breuker invited Jang to his Leiden University, Holland, as a guest lecturer in 2015. He also translated Jang’s book “Dear Leader” into Dutch. At one high-profile event, organized by Breuker at his university in 2014, Jang made his case in a public lecture why the DPRK would collapse and Kim Jong Un would be out of power within 5, maximum 7 years. 8 years later he is still in power. Jang also pushed the claim that the Organisation and Guidance Department (OGD) is North Korea’s real power center and Kim Jong Un its “puppet”. Breuker embraced and promoted that claim too, even though other academics remained skeptical. His friend Jang fell into disgrace when the man who called himself “North Korea’s poet laureate” was accused of being a rapist by a North Korean defector and another woman in South Korea.
● “Abt also spends a great deal of time contradicting the claims of award-winning author Barbara Demick, particularly in reference to her 2010 book ‘Nothing to Envy’. These frequent and shallow attacks on respected writers on North Korea demonstrate the author’s interest in denigrating many of the field’s leading figures.”
Tizzard’s characterization of my book sounds like the perfect character assassination: “misleading, unreliable, dishonest, frequent and shallow attack on respected writers, denigrating many of the field’s leading figures.” Of course, he didn’t produce any evidence that I have denigrated the “respected writers” Barbara Demick, Adam Johnson and others. As readers will see, I tried to be factual and civil when I analyzed their writings (and shortcomings) offering proof and certainly avoided the kind of ad hominem attacks that Tizzard launches against me.
Tizzard admits that Abt “had a number of positive and rewarding experiences” in North Korea but intentionally ignores all the bad ones I describe at length and illustrate in my book, caused by foreign imposed sanctions. Two examples: the destruction of the pharmaceutical industry and the impossibility to lift millions of poor North Koreans out of poverty in provinces far from Pyongyang as power supply was denied to them, something completely irrelevant to academic Tizzard.
Sanctions: a subject for debate among academics in their comfort zone
● “Academics debate the effectiveness of sanctions and their moral implications” explains Tizzard in his piece. And that’s all he had to say about the sanctions.
What is clear, Tizzard shows a lot of empathy and sympathy for academics and ”respected writers” regardless of what they write and do but absolutely zero empathy for North Korean miners, painters, fishermen, patients, textile workers and others that I have described, even though many of them have lost their livelihoods, or perhaps died in a mining accident or died perhaps because they were no more pharmaceuticals available to cure their infections, all as a consequence of indiscriminate, strangulating “sanctions”.
● “Does the author write with an agenda?” Tizzard asks rhetorically.
Yes, I confess I do. Namely talking about the things that he and many other Western academics and journalists don’t want to hear about. To his piece Tizzard added three photos: Two images showing North Korean soldiers and one showing seemingly depressed North Koreans at a bus stop, giving you the full picture of true North Korea according to Tizzard – in contrast to mine. He sharply concludes his review by telling “anyone who wants to learn about North Korea to look elsewhere”, just as he does. Of course!
After Ukraine, it’s time to take North Korea’s reunification aims seriously | NK News
After Ukraine, it’s time to take North Korea’s reunification aims seriously | NK News
After Ukraine, it’s time to take North Korea’s reunification aims seriously
Few expected Russia to invade. Now the world must prepare for the day DPRK too presses its land claims over South Korea
Benjamin R. Young March 17, 2022
SHARE
Soldiers salute from armored tanks as they roll through Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade, April 2017 | Image: NK News (file)
As Russia continues its assault on Ukraine, it’s almost hard to remember that for months before the invasion, many thought it would never happen.
Experts and analysts cited the huge financial costs that would be unbearable for the Kremlin. Others believed Putin was merely saber-rattling in order to get the best deal out of NATO negotiations. One researcher wrote that a full-scale war was out of character for Russia’s grand strategy and “does not really fit into how the Kremlin has used hard power in its geopolitical games.”
In other words, Russia’s invasion took many by surprise. We shouldn’t be surprised, however, if and when North Korea restarts military conflict with South Korea.
Just as Russian leader Vladimir Putin sees Ukraine as an inalienable part of Russian civilization, the North Korean leadership views reunification of the Korean Peninsula as a sacred duty. The international community needs to prepare for the day Pyongyang tries to press its claims to all of Korea.
VIOLENT REUNIFICATION
This is not an outlandish scenario in 2022. What Putin is demonstrating is that autocrats live in a separate echo chamber, not necessarily an irrational one, but one with an altogether different set of values than most people.
Often, authoritarian leaders believe their own myths and that they have an indispensable role to play in world history. For example, given his worldview of Russian greatness and imperial visions of a rejuvenated Russian Empire, Putin is acting rationally. For him, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. If you take these views seriously, Putin’s war in Ukraine makes perfect sense. The regime in Kyiv was illegitimate and therefore a direct affront to Russian dignity.
We need to apply this same seriousness to North Korean official rhetoric and ideology. It is time to stop regarding North Korea’s militant discourse as irrational hogwash and Kim Jong Un as a buffoonish leader concerned only with his own luxurious life. Korea faces an impending security crisis that will involve nuclear powers, most notably the U.S. and China.
The Han River that bisects Seoul, the South Korean capital | Image: Pixabay
Like Moscow sees Kyiv, Pyongyang sees the government in Seoul as illegitimate — a U.S puppet regime. This view has not changed since the 1940s, and North Korea dreams of reunifying the two Koreas under Pyongyang’s terms. We should not dismiss these reunification aims as mere talk.
With long-range artillery, sophisticated cyber capabilities and a nuclear arsenal, North Korea’s military should not be taken lightly. Add in military assistance and logistical support from Beijing, and North Korea has a formidable conventional and irregular military force that could destabilize the entire Indo-Pacific region.
Compared to the “freer” atmosphere of Russia, the North Korean government indoctrinates and mobilizes its citizens on a massive scale. During the COVID-19 pandemic, political education has taken on greater importance in the DPRK.
Unlike Russian soldiers in Ukraine, North Korea’s massive army would be much more motivated in liberating their southern brethren. From an early age, North Koreans have been taught that the South Koreans are oppressed under Western imperialism. They will be highly motivated to fight if unleashed on the battlefield.
CHIPPING AWAY
Kim Jong Un’s reunification plan will be an integrated political and military strategy. Pyongyang’s notion of “final victory” is a longer term plan that is meant to slowly weaken South Korean political and cultural institutions.
First, a large body of evidence suggests North Koreans hope to remove the U.S. military presence from the Korean Peninsula. Former U.S. President Donald Trump nearly did that during his four-year term. Trump’s former ambassador to Germany said, “Donald Trump was very clear, we want to bring troops from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, from South Korea, Japan, from Germany.” If Trump, or a member of his family, is elected in 2024, there is a very real possibility that the U.S. removes its troops from South Korean soil.
Second, in their reunification plan, the North Koreans will slowly cut away at the strength of South Korean political institutions and advance the withering away of the ROK state. From disseminating misinformation to launching small-scale guerilla attacks, North Korea’s pro-reunification revolutionary strategy will involve a mix of irregular warfare and covert political operations.
This may even involve overtaking a small part of South Korean territory. Akin to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Pyongyang could take an island or islands in disputed waters off Korea’s west coast. Let’s not forget that back in 2010 North Korean artillery bombarded Yeonpyeong island, killing four and nearly instigating the South Koreans into retaliating.
A fishing boat off the coast of Yeonpyeong-do, the South Korean island near the inter-Korean maritime border that was hit by North Korean artillery fire in 2010, killing four | Image: NK News (file)
What will happen when Pyongyang takes a small piece of South Korean territory or infiltrates ROK high politics with pro-DPRK agents? As we have seen in South Korea, little is done to deter North Korean aggression and military adventurism. North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and artillery have long-held Seoul in check and reduced the ability of an assertive response to Pyongyang’s provocations.
The government in Seoul typically issues some strongly worded condemnations and then quickly goes back to settling domestic political squabbles. For too long, the South Korean government, especially those on the Left, has treated Pyongyang as the slightly crazy uncle in the family but one that is still considered an essential part of the ethnic nation (minjok).
Putin’s war in Ukraine has broken many conventions of international norms and standards. Many Westerners simply believed a conventional land war in 21st century Europe was out of the realm of possibility. Let’s not make these same mistakes in Korea.
North Korea has acted belligerently in the past and the same tyrannical family-led regime in Pyongyang even invaded the South in 1950. It is more likely than not it will try and do so again. Kim Jong Un is part of a system and political culture that adheres to a belief in the inevitability of Korean reunification. It is time to take that idea seriously.
Edited by Arius Derr
After Ukraine, it’s time to take North Korea’s reunification aims seriously
Few expected Russia to invade. Now the world must prepare for the day DPRK too presses its land claims over South Korea
Benjamin R. Young March 17, 2022
SHARE
Soldiers salute from armored tanks as they roll through Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade, April 2017 | Image: NK News (file)
As Russia continues its assault on Ukraine, it’s almost hard to remember that for months before the invasion, many thought it would never happen.
Experts and analysts cited the huge financial costs that would be unbearable for the Kremlin. Others believed Putin was merely saber-rattling in order to get the best deal out of NATO negotiations. One researcher wrote that a full-scale war was out of character for Russia’s grand strategy and “does not really fit into how the Kremlin has used hard power in its geopolitical games.”
In other words, Russia’s invasion took many by surprise. We shouldn’t be surprised, however, if and when North Korea restarts military conflict with South Korea.
Just as Russian leader Vladimir Putin sees Ukraine as an inalienable part of Russian civilization, the North Korean leadership views reunification of the Korean Peninsula as a sacred duty. The international community needs to prepare for the day Pyongyang tries to press its claims to all of Korea.
VIOLENT REUNIFICATION
This is not an outlandish scenario in 2022. What Putin is demonstrating is that autocrats live in a separate echo chamber, not necessarily an irrational one, but one with an altogether different set of values than most people.
Often, authoritarian leaders believe their own myths and that they have an indispensable role to play in world history. For example, given his worldview of Russian greatness and imperial visions of a rejuvenated Russian Empire, Putin is acting rationally. For him, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. If you take these views seriously, Putin’s war in Ukraine makes perfect sense. The regime in Kyiv was illegitimate and therefore a direct affront to Russian dignity.
We need to apply this same seriousness to North Korean official rhetoric and ideology. It is time to stop regarding North Korea’s militant discourse as irrational hogwash and Kim Jong Un as a buffoonish leader concerned only with his own luxurious life. Korea faces an impending security crisis that will involve nuclear powers, most notably the U.S. and China.
The Han River that bisects Seoul, the South Korean capital | Image: PixabayLike Moscow sees Kyiv, Pyongyang sees the government in Seoul as illegitimate — a U.S puppet regime. This view has not changed since the 1940s, and North Korea dreams of reunifying the two Koreas under Pyongyang’s terms. We should not dismiss these reunification aims as mere talk.
With long-range artillery, sophisticated cyber capabilities and a nuclear arsenal, North Korea’s military should not be taken lightly. Add in military assistance and logistical support from Beijing, and North Korea has a formidable conventional and irregular military force that could destabilize the entire Indo-Pacific region.
Compared to the “freer” atmosphere of Russia, the North Korean government indoctrinates and mobilizes its citizens on a massive scale. During the COVID-19 pandemic, political education has taken on greater importance in the DPRK.
Unlike Russian soldiers in Ukraine, North Korea’s massive army would be much more motivated in liberating their southern brethren. From an early age, North Koreans have been taught that the South Koreans are oppressed under Western imperialism. They will be highly motivated to fight if unleashed on the battlefield.
CHIPPING AWAY
Kim Jong Un’s reunification plan will be an integrated political and military strategy. Pyongyang’s notion of “final victory” is a longer term plan that is meant to slowly weaken South Korean political and cultural institutions.
First, a large body of evidence suggests North Koreans hope to remove the U.S. military presence from the Korean Peninsula. Former U.S. President Donald Trump nearly did that during his four-year term. Trump’s former ambassador to Germany said, “Donald Trump was very clear, we want to bring troops from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, from South Korea, Japan, from Germany.” If Trump, or a member of his family, is elected in 2024, there is a very real possibility that the U.S. removes its troops from South Korean soil.
Second, in their reunification plan, the North Koreans will slowly cut away at the strength of South Korean political institutions and advance the withering away of the ROK state. From disseminating misinformation to launching small-scale guerilla attacks, North Korea’s pro-reunification revolutionary strategy will involve a mix of irregular warfare and covert political operations.
This may even involve overtaking a small part of South Korean territory. Akin to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Pyongyang could take an island or islands in disputed waters off Korea’s west coast. Let’s not forget that back in 2010 North Korean artillery bombarded Yeonpyeong island, killing four and nearly instigating the South Koreans into retaliating.
A fishing boat off the coast of Yeonpyeong-do, the South Korean island near the inter-Korean maritime border that was hit by North Korean artillery fire in 2010, killing four | Image: NK News (file)What will happen when Pyongyang takes a small piece of South Korean territory or infiltrates ROK high politics with pro-DPRK agents? As we have seen in South Korea, little is done to deter North Korean aggression and military adventurism. North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and artillery have long-held Seoul in check and reduced the ability of an assertive response to Pyongyang’s provocations.
The government in Seoul typically issues some strongly worded condemnations and then quickly goes back to settling domestic political squabbles. For too long, the South Korean government, especially those on the Left, has treated Pyongyang as the slightly crazy uncle in the family but one that is still considered an essential part of the ethnic nation (minjok).
Putin’s war in Ukraine has broken many conventions of international norms and standards. Many Westerners simply believed a conventional land war in 21st century Europe was out of the realm of possibility. Let’s not make these same mistakes in Korea.
North Korea has acted belligerently in the past and the same tyrannical family-led regime in Pyongyang even invaded the South in 1950. It is more likely than not it will try and do so again. Kim Jong Un is part of a system and political culture that adheres to a belief in the inevitability of Korean reunification. It is time to take that idea seriously.
Edited by Arius Derr
About the Author
Benjamin R. Young is an Assistant Professor of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). He is the author of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World (Stanford University Press, 2021). He received his Ph.D. from The George Washington University in 2018. He has previously taught at the U.S. Naval War College and Dakota State University. He has published peer-reviewed articles on North Korean history and politics in a number of scholarly journals and is a regular contributor to NK News.
Book review: The intractable dilemma of North Korean human rights | NK News
Book review: The intractable dilemma of North Korean human rights | NK News
Book review: The intractable dilemma of North Korean human rights
‘The North Korea Conundrum’ explores how to push for the DPRK’s denuclearization without abandoning human rights
David Tizzard March 24, 2022
SHARE
North Koreans wait to visit a monument in Pyongyang on May 16, 2009 | Image: Eric Lafforgue
When it comes to North Korea, most media outlets focus on the missiles that Pyongyang frequently fires into the East Sea, or the cigarettes, hairstyle, weight and fashion of leader Kim Jong Un. It can be easy to lose sight of the lives of the DPRK’s 25 million people, the vast majority of whom are not allowed to leave the country or learn about the outside world.
“The North Korean Conundrum,” a new book featuring essays from around a dozen authors, seeks to address this imbalance by considering human beings rather than nuclear weapons. And it achieves this goal with professional, well-researched contributions.
In their introduction, former U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights Robert King and scholar Gi-Wook Shin of Stanford University write that the book’s stated goal is “not to delegitimize or undermine the regime but rather to help North Korea to move toward becoming a positive and contributing participant in the international community.” The book also acknowledges modest progress that Pyongyang has made in becoming a signatory to various conventions, particularly those to protect children and people with disabilities.
However, the book makes clear that it is essential for the DPRK to show “improvement in human rights, including religious freedom.” And if North Korea is to continue benefiting from the legitimacy and authority gained from U.N. membership, it must live up to the responsibilities to which it has agreed. This means recognizing and protecting human rights inside its own borders.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul on June 29, 2019 | Image: Presidential Blue House
It’s no secret that North Korea has serious human rights problems: Its citizens do not have freedom of travel, freedom of religion, nor the freedom to form a genuine political opposition to the Workers’ Party of Korea. What this book does well is detail the DPRK’s developments (or lack thereof) on human rights through research and documentation.
Unlike some other efforts, this is not an emotional cry for freedom or a demand that the world simply give peace a chance. Nor is it an exploration of the genealogy of human rights as a concept or a defense of its utility to North Korea’s situation. Readers unconvinced of the value of human rights will not find arguments here seeking to persuade them otherwise.
Instead, it is a level-headed analysis of the situation and an objective study of North Korean citizens’ lack of rights. The contributors carry this out by studying the U.N., the international community and the importance of information and security in the modern world.
Dreams of unification are misguided, Michael Kirby writes in his chapter on the U.N.’s human rights commission, arguing that silence on human rights issues in pursuit of those dreams is unacceptable. The volume’s editors and other writers also criticize President Moon Jae-in for “paying scant attention to human rights” in his pursuit of inter-Korean engagement.
The Trump administration also receives rebukes for downplaying human rights in its own pursuit of condos north of the 38th parallel. In his chapter, Victor Cha challenges the prevailing notion that human rights and denuclearization are opposing issues in zero-sum policy decisions, while arguing that leaders have treated them as such by ignoring human rights when pushing for summits.
Joon Oh’s work suggests North Korea has responded relatively positively to peer-reviewed human rights studies inside its borders and has ratified treaties achieved through such means. Oh also questions whether the U.N.’s approach of merely “naming and shaming” those perceived guilty of violations is effective.
Meanwhile, Minjung Kim challenges stereotypes that conversations on North Korean human rights are the sole preserve of South Korean conservatives, a topic of particular relevance with ROK president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol set to take office in May. She explores the impact information can have in bringing about an internal revolution and the importance of nongovernmental organizations.
A man uses a smartphone in Pyongyang on Oct. 6, 2016 | Image: NK News
Nat Kretchun’s chapter continues the focus on information and defector testimony, while also advocating solutions found that can be achieved through internal rather than external change. Martyn Williams’ study of mechanisms of content control inside North Korea is detailed and informative. It also seeks to downplay rumors that the death penalty is employed against those who watch foreign media, though he still concludes that the “future remains bleak” for North Koreans given the totalitarian power of the state.
Gi-Wook Shin correctly notes that, “While it is easy to condemn Pyongyang on moral grounds, it is much more challenging to come up with a practical solution.” Indeed, in the protection of its citizens’ human rights, North Korea has not allowed its citizens the freedoms that the U.N. and international community value so highly.
But what then is the answer? This book offers many different approaches, some more appealing than others. But that is the advantage of a book like this: It presents various perspectives from various people with great expertise and firsthand experience of North Korea. The disadvantage is that no single narrative carries the reader from start to finish. This is a book for library reading or a research student rather than a long flight or lounging by the pool.
It is also, despite its noble aims and virtuous cause, ultimately just a book. While a great resource for those studying North Korea, this volume serves to highlight how intractable the problem is that it seeks to address. It shows that, as long as leaders prioritize summits with Pyongyang, the human rights of those living in the DPRK will more often than not be pushed to the side. This is the North Korea conundrum.
DEFECTOR ISSUESHUMAN SECURITY / HUMAN RIGHTS
Book review: The intractable dilemma of North Korean human rights
‘The North Korea Conundrum’ explores how to push for the DPRK’s denuclearization without abandoning human rights
David Tizzard March 24, 2022
SHARE
North Koreans wait to visit a monument in Pyongyang on May 16, 2009 | Image: Eric Lafforgue
When it comes to North Korea, most media outlets focus on the missiles that Pyongyang frequently fires into the East Sea, or the cigarettes, hairstyle, weight and fashion of leader Kim Jong Un. It can be easy to lose sight of the lives of the DPRK’s 25 million people, the vast majority of whom are not allowed to leave the country or learn about the outside world.
“The North Korean Conundrum,” a new book featuring essays from around a dozen authors, seeks to address this imbalance by considering human beings rather than nuclear weapons. And it achieves this goal with professional, well-researched contributions.
In their introduction, former U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights Robert King and scholar Gi-Wook Shin of Stanford University write that the book’s stated goal is “not to delegitimize or undermine the regime but rather to help North Korea to move toward becoming a positive and contributing participant in the international community.” The book also acknowledges modest progress that Pyongyang has made in becoming a signatory to various conventions, particularly those to protect children and people with disabilities.
However, the book makes clear that it is essential for the DPRK to show “improvement in human rights, including religious freedom.” And if North Korea is to continue benefiting from the legitimacy and authority gained from U.N. membership, it must live up to the responsibilities to which it has agreed. This means recognizing and protecting human rights inside its own borders.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul on June 29, 2019 | Image: Presidential Blue HouseIt’s no secret that North Korea has serious human rights problems: Its citizens do not have freedom of travel, freedom of religion, nor the freedom to form a genuine political opposition to the Workers’ Party of Korea. What this book does well is detail the DPRK’s developments (or lack thereof) on human rights through research and documentation.
Unlike some other efforts, this is not an emotional cry for freedom or a demand that the world simply give peace a chance. Nor is it an exploration of the genealogy of human rights as a concept or a defense of its utility to North Korea’s situation. Readers unconvinced of the value of human rights will not find arguments here seeking to persuade them otherwise.
Instead, it is a level-headed analysis of the situation and an objective study of North Korean citizens’ lack of rights. The contributors carry this out by studying the U.N., the international community and the importance of information and security in the modern world.
Dreams of unification are misguided, Michael Kirby writes in his chapter on the U.N.’s human rights commission, arguing that silence on human rights issues in pursuit of those dreams is unacceptable. The volume’s editors and other writers also criticize President Moon Jae-in for “paying scant attention to human rights” in his pursuit of inter-Korean engagement.
The Trump administration also receives rebukes for downplaying human rights in its own pursuit of condos north of the 38th parallel. In his chapter, Victor Cha challenges the prevailing notion that human rights and denuclearization are opposing issues in zero-sum policy decisions, while arguing that leaders have treated them as such by ignoring human rights when pushing for summits.
Joon Oh’s work suggests North Korea has responded relatively positively to peer-reviewed human rights studies inside its borders and has ratified treaties achieved through such means. Oh also questions whether the U.N.’s approach of merely “naming and shaming” those perceived guilty of violations is effective.
Meanwhile, Minjung Kim challenges stereotypes that conversations on North Korean human rights are the sole preserve of South Korean conservatives, a topic of particular relevance with ROK president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol set to take office in May. She explores the impact information can have in bringing about an internal revolution and the importance of nongovernmental organizations.
A man uses a smartphone in Pyongyang on Oct. 6, 2016 | Image: NK NewsNat Kretchun’s chapter continues the focus on information and defector testimony, while also advocating solutions found that can be achieved through internal rather than external change. Martyn Williams’ study of mechanisms of content control inside North Korea is detailed and informative. It also seeks to downplay rumors that the death penalty is employed against those who watch foreign media, though he still concludes that the “future remains bleak” for North Koreans given the totalitarian power of the state.
Gi-Wook Shin correctly notes that, “While it is easy to condemn Pyongyang on moral grounds, it is much more challenging to come up with a practical solution.” Indeed, in the protection of its citizens’ human rights, North Korea has not allowed its citizens the freedoms that the U.N. and international community value so highly.
But what then is the answer? This book offers many different approaches, some more appealing than others. But that is the advantage of a book like this: It presents various perspectives from various people with great expertise and firsthand experience of North Korea. The disadvantage is that no single narrative carries the reader from start to finish. This is a book for library reading or a research student rather than a long flight or lounging by the pool.
It is also, despite its noble aims and virtuous cause, ultimately just a book. While a great resource for those studying North Korea, this volume serves to highlight how intractable the problem is that it seeks to address. It shows that, as long as leaders prioritize summits with Pyongyang, the human rights of those living in the DPRK will more often than not be pushed to the side. This is the North Korea conundrum.
DEFECTOR ISSUESHUMAN SECURITY / HUMAN RIGHTS
The North Korean Conundrum
Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security
October 29, 2021
Read our story about the book >>
North Korea is consistently identified as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. However, the issue of human rights in North Korea is a complex one, intertwined with issues like life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information in the North, and international cooperation, to name a few. There are likewise multiple actors involved, including the two Korean governments, the United States, the United Nations, South Korea NGOs, and global human rights organizations. While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy.
The contributors to The North Korean Conundrum explore how dealing with the issue of human rights is shaped and affected by the political issues with which it is so entwined. Sections discuss the role of the United Nations; how North Koreans’ limited access to information is part of the problem, and how this is changing; the relationship between human rights and denuclearization; and North Korean human rights in comparative perspective.
Contents
- North Korea: Human Rights and Nuclear Security Robert R. King and Gi-Wook Shin
- The COI Report on Human Rights in North Korea: Origins, Necessities, Obstacles, and Prospects Michael Kirby
- Encouraging Progress on Human Rights in North Korea: The Role of the United Nations and South Korea Joon Oh
- DPRK Human Rights on the UN Stage: U.S. Leadership Is Essential Peter Yeo and Ryan Kaminski
- Efforts to Reach North Koreans by South Korean NGOs: Then, Now, and Challenges Minjung Kim
- The Changing Information Environment in North Korea Nat Kretchun
- North Korea’s Response to Foreign Information Martyn Williams
- Human Rights Advocacy in the Time of Nuclear Stalemate: The Interrelationship Between Pressuring North Korea on Human Rights and Denuclearization Tae-Ung Baik
- The Error of Zero-Sum Thinking about Human Rights and U.S. Denuclearization Policy Victor Cha
- Germany’s Lessons for Korea Sean King
- Human Rights and Foreign Policy: Puzzles, Priorities, and Political Power Thomas Fingar
===
All Shorenstein APARC News News October 29, 2021
How to Solve the North Korean Conundrum: The Role of Human Rights in Policy Toward the DPRK
APARC's new edited volume, 'The North Korean Conundrum,' shines a spotlight on the North Korean human rights crisis and its connection to nuclear security. In the book launch discussion, contributors to the volume explain why improving human rights in the country ought to play an integral part of any comprehensive U.S. engagement strategy with the DPRK.
North Korea remains one of the worst human rights catastrophes in the modern era. Yet in recent years, the momentum to bring human dignity to the citizens of North Korea has ground to a halt. The predominant focus has been on nuclear security issues to the exclusion of the human rights crisis in the country. But human rights ought to play a key role in any comprehensive policy toward the DPRK. This is the premise of APARC’s new volume, The North Korea Conundrum: Balancing Human Rights and International Security.
Edited by APARC Director Gi-Wook Shin and Ambassador Robert R. King, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Korea Chair and former special envoy for North Korean human rights issues at the U.S. Department of State, the book draws on the work of scholars and practitioners presented and discussed at a conference on North Korean human rights held by APARC’s Korea Program. On October 28, 2021, APARC and CSIS gathered contributors to the volume for a book launch discussion of the intertwining relationship between the North Korean denuclearization and human rights agendas.
[Explore more APARC events on our YouTube channel and subscribe to receive our video updates.]
Studies of human rights in North Korea are even more important now, in light of North Korea’s response to COVID-19, said Shin at the opening of the discussion. The DPRK has kept its borders closed for nearly two years, resulting in reduced trade and worsening the economic and social situation of its population.
Ambassador King, who was also a 2019-20 Koret Fellow and Visiting Scholar at APARC, identified the guiding questions of the volume, indicating that “This conundrum that we talk about in the title is an interaction between security and human rights. Is there a tradeoff? If we focus on human rights, does that make it more difficult for us to deal with security issues? If we focus on security issues do we have to ignore human rights?”
The first principle we must accept is that integrating human rights into our strategy is not a choice, but a necessity. Moreover, mainstreaming human rights in the U.S.–North Korea agenda strengthens U.S. leverage in negotiations and is politically smart.
Victor Cha
Senior Vice President and Korea Chair, CSIS
An Error of Zero-Sum Thinking
While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, the book’s contributors posit that human rights promotion remains an integral part of U.S. policy on the Korean peninsula. In his chapter, Victor Cha, Senior Vice President and Korea Chair at CSIS and former Koret Fellow and Visiting Scholar at APARC, analyzes the error in the zero-sum logic of North Korean human rights. "The United States sees a zero-sum relationship between pressing for human rights and denuclearization negotiations, while South Korea sees a zero-sum relationship between pressing for human rights and inter-Korean engagement," explains Cha. But the denuclearization and human rights agendas are inextricably intertwined.
The lost ground on addressing the North Korean human rights crisis is still recoverable, the contributors to The North Korean Conundrum believe. How could North Korea engage on human rights? The chapters in the volume lay out a number of ways. One opportunity to address human rights issues is through health and humanitarian assistance. Another way is to promote the economic and consumer rights of North Korean citizens to improve their quality of life and help foster a nascent civil society. And yet another way is to support information flow to the North.
Interwoven Challenges
Nat Kretchun, Vice President for Programs at the Open Technology Fund, examines in his chapter the changing information environment in North Korea, observing how the information control system North Korean authorities are constructing is broadly characterized by an effort to move communications and media consumption onto state-controlled networks via state-sanctioned devices. The central aim is to create a “clean” information environment in which North Korean citizens use approved networked devices that technologically prevent the consumption and spread of unsanctioned content. At the same time, North Korean authorities have come to terms with a more marketized economic future. "Mobile phones have the ability to facilitate market-based economic transactions, the primary driver of much of what (limited) internal economic growth the country is seeing," notes Kretchun.
The contributors all agree that the challenge of human rights in North Korea is a complex one. It is intertwined with a host of issues, including life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information, and international cooperation—all topics the volume addresses. We frequently separate these issues for analytical purposes or because they are dealt with in different ways or by different entities. But in fact, they are inseparable. Recognizing this interrelationship is the first step toward moving forward in a way that addresses the very serious North Korean security concerns while at the same time bringing human rights and humanitarian concerns into the equation.
VOA KOREAN COVERAGE
Voice of America (VOA) Korean covered the book launch discussion, providing Korean translation.
APARC IN-HOUSE BOOK SERIES
'The North Korean Conundrum' is part of APARC's self-published book series featuring policy-relevant research and analysis by our scholars and affiliates. Titles in this series are distributed by Brookings Institution Press.
Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy (Hawai‘i Studies on Korea): 9780824833961: Gabroussenko, Tatiana: Books
Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy : Gabroussenko, Tatiana: Books
Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy (Hawai‘i Studies on Korea) Hardcover – July 26, 2010
by Tatiana Gabroussenko (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating
An understanding of contemporary North Korea’s literature is virtually impossible without an investigation of its formative period, 1945–1960, which saw a gradual transformation from the initial "Soviet era" to a Korean version of "national Stalinism." This turbulent epoch established a long-lasting framework for North Korean literature and set up an elaborate system of political control over literary matters, as well as over the people who served in this field.
In 1946 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Il Sung described the country’s writers as "soldiers on the cultural front," thus clearly defining what the nascent Communist regime expected from its intellectuals. As a result, many literary nonentities were rewarded with fame and success (often only to be relegated once again to obscurity within a few years) while many outstanding luminaries of the past were erased from the pages of official publications or even lost their lives. The Soviet cultural impact brought new tropes, artistic images, and rhetoric, which were quickly absorbed into the North Korean discourse. However, the cultural politics of the DPRK and the USSR revealed profound and irreconcilable disparities that were rooted in the different political conditions and traditions of each country.
Soldiers on the Cultural Front presents the first consistent research on the early history of North Korea’s literature and literary policy in Western scholarship.
Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy (Hawai‘i Studies on Korea) Hardcover – July 26, 2010
by Tatiana Gabroussenko (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating
An understanding of contemporary North Korea’s literature is virtually impossible without an investigation of its formative period, 1945–1960, which saw a gradual transformation from the initial "Soviet era" to a Korean version of "national Stalinism." This turbulent epoch established a long-lasting framework for North Korean literature and set up an elaborate system of political control over literary matters, as well as over the people who served in this field.
In 1946 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Il Sung described the country’s writers as "soldiers on the cultural front," thus clearly defining what the nascent Communist regime expected from its intellectuals. As a result, many literary nonentities were rewarded with fame and success (often only to be relegated once again to obscurity within a few years) while many outstanding luminaries of the past were erased from the pages of official publications or even lost their lives. The Soviet cultural impact brought new tropes, artistic images, and rhetoric, which were quickly absorbed into the North Korean discourse. However, the cultural politics of the DPRK and the USSR revealed profound and irreconcilable disparities that were rooted in the different political conditions and traditions of each country.
Soldiers on the Cultural Front presents the first consistent research on the early history of North Korea’s literature and literary policy in Western scholarship.
- It traces the introduction and development of Soviet-organized conventions in North Korean literary propaganda and investigates why the "romance with Moscow" was destined to be short lived.
- It reconstructs the biographies and worldviews of major personalities who shaped North Korean literature and teases these historical figures out of popular scholarly myth and misconception. The book also investigates the specific forms of control over intellectuals and literary matters in North Korea.
- Considering the unique phenomenon of North Korean literary critique, the author analyzes the political campaigns and purges of 1947–1960 and investigates the role of North Korean critics as "political executioners" in these events.
She draws on an impressive variety and number of sources―ranging from interviews with Korean and Soviet participants, public and family archives, and memoirs to original literary and critical texts―to present a balanced and eye-opening work that will benefit those interested in not only understanding North Korean literature and society, but also rethinking forms of socialist modernity elsewhere in the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)