[USFK Forums] Korea in Crisis: Rumbling of discontent, disillusion grown~~[wpherald]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

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Korea in Crisis: Rumblings of discontent, disillusion grow in North Korea

By SEKAI NIPPO

World Peace Herand, Published February 14, 2006

This is the eighteenth in an extended series of articles by a team of Sekai Nippo reporters on the crises that face North and South Korea and the prospects for a unified Korea. A link to an index of articles previously published in this series is at the bottom of this page. (Editor's note)

A 34-year-old woman who escaped North Korea in January 2004 and now lives in South Korea recalled what it was like there. She asked that she be identified by the pseudonym, Kim Mi Hwa.

"During the rule of Kim Il Sung, food rationing and free services, including medical services, were provided," she said, referring to the former North Korean president who died in 1994.

His successor Kim Jong Il no longer commands the same level of respect among the people, according to the defector.

"After Kim Jong Il came to power, food rationing stopped. There were burglaries at the factories. Things got all messed up," Kim Mi Hwa said.

"I used to feel respect and yearning in my heart for Kim Jong Il whose on-site guidance was broadcast on television," Kim said, referring to occasions where the North Korean leader would visit a civilian or military facility and give instructions to the people working there.

"Now, everyone hopes for the collapse of the regime of Kim Jong Il, who is trying to starve the people to death."

A number of sources have reported the prevalence of public executions in North Korea. Kim recalled a time when she witnessed such an event.

"I witnessed the open execution of someone who had no food, and had resorted to stealing some," she said.

"During the era of Kim Il Sung, I would have felt such a person was a traitor and deserved to be executed," she said.

"After Kim Jong Il came to power, I sympathized with the person being executed and cried for him.

"I thought, 'Kim Jong Il's administration is so messed up that not even food is available. That is why the person engaged in a theft and tried to survive...'"

Kim said that discontent among North Koreans against the regime of Kim Jong Il was reaching an explosive point.

Observers say that the North Korean government appears to be fomenting hostility against the United States and Japan as a way of deflecting people's discontent with the regime.

In addition, the North Korean leadership has taken steps to increase internal controls. These include searching out and purging dissidents in every field of society and creating a social context in which people are unable to trust one another.

Organizations not officially recognized by the North Korean government are often identified as possible centers of discontent. Some such groups have been branded as works of the South Korean intelligence service, and shut down.

Discontent in North Korea against the government is not limited to rural areas or to the poor. Members of the so-called "core element" in Pyongyang, which include members of the party, government and military elite, are also known to be expressing displeasure with their country's situation.

"I have been to Pyongyang several times, and I know that Pyongyang citizens also secretly watch the [banned South Korean] videos," Kim Mi Hwa said.

"It is human nature for people who have a high standard of living to want luxurious things," she said. "Some homes I saw were decorated with items imported from the United States and Europe, just like homes overseas."

Kim said she detected a fundamental shift in the mindset of members of the North Korean elite.

"Their thinking had become capitalistic," she said. "There was a general mood to want to have contact with South Korea and the world."

Kim said that even the carefully staged relative prosperity of Pyongyang was showing signs of fraying along the edges.

"Because many foreigners visit Pyongyang," she said, "the city needs to be kept decorated for propaganda purposes, and limited grain rationing is implemented, although the amounts are not adequate."

"Pyongyang residents are mobilized for large events. The city appears to be colorful, but once you step into the back alleys, you can feel the gap between the rich and poor."

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See an index with links to all installments in this series published to date: http://blog.wpherald.com/wphblog/?p=123

This article was translated from Japanese and edited by World Peace Herald. For the original text, please visit http://www.worldtimes.co.jp