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One question foreigners tend to ask when they read is: "Do they really believe this stuff?" Indeed, many of the often-seen claims in North Korean propaganda look comically implausible or grossly distorted. Thus, one cannot help but wonder whether the North Korean public really takes all of this nonsense seriously.
There is no clear-cut answer to the question. Some parts of the official propaganda are embraced by nearly all North Koreans, while other elements are looked upon with a great degree of skepticism. At any rate, we must not oversimplify things and conclude that North Koreans are either the brainwashed battle robots of the Great Kim Dynasty, or alternatively, democratic revolutionaries, merely biding their time.
To start with, the North Korean people generally respect and even revere the founder of the country, Generalissimo Kim Il-sung ― who passed away unexpectedly, at the tender age of 82 (in 1994). Official propaganda confidently states that he ― more or less singlehandedly ― brought the entire Japanese Empire to its knees in 1945, before repelling an American invasion in 1950. Such comical distortions are indefensible: in 1945, Kim Il-sung was in the Soviet Union, playing virtually no role in the defeat of Japan, but this is believed almost universally in the country.
The attitude toward the Korean War also follows the official line. Nearly all North Koreans are absolutely certain that, in the early morning of June 25, 1950, the peaceful life of their country was interrupted by the brutal invasion of ‘forces of U.S. imperialist aggression and South Korean stooges.' They also believe that the initial ‘invasion' was successfully repelled, and that North Koreans almost ‘liberated' the country, had it not been for the intervention of hordes of ‘U.S. mercenaries' who tipped the balance. The role of the Chinese army, which in real life saved North Korea from total defeat, is grudgingly noted, but played down.
Judging from my experience with North Korean refugees, only a handful of North Korean intellectuals have secretly entertained doubts as to whether the war was indeed started by Washington. Even these people see both versions as equally plausible or dubious, concluding that there is no way to learn what actually happened on June 25, 1950.
When it comes to claims about the economic performance of the two Koreas, popular notions appear to differ from the official line. Until the 1990s, the majority of North Koreans believed the official story, which insisted that South Korea was a place of hunger and despair, a starving colony of the United States. However, over the past 20 years, a great deal of information on the prosperity of the South began to seep in. The North Korean agitprop shock brigades have gone back to the drawing board, toning down the propaganda. As a result, since the early 2000s, North Koreans have come to believe that South Korea is doing better than the North, though few are aware of just how large the gap is.
When it comes to their own economic performance, virtually no one believes the line about a prosperous "workers' and farmers' paradise." Pretty much all North Koreans are now aware that their country is backward, poor and lagging behind its neighbors.
However, explanations for such economic problems that the regime offers are generally accepted: the United States is held largely responsible. There are some people, especially amongst intellectuals and officials, who say that North Korea would be much better off had it followed the Chinese path of economic reforms. But for most, the major reason remains the economic blockade imposed on their proud country by the "US imperialists and their stooges." Many others would add that the need to keep the country armed against U.S. aggression is another reason for North Korean destitution. At the same time, it seems that the belief in the basic superiority of the centrally planned economy (ie the Stalinist economy) is largely gone.
To a large extent, the communist ideology has been replaced by nationalism, and as one would expect, nationalist claims in North Korean propaganda tend to be embraced by the North Korean public with little or no doubt. They tend to believe the official history books that tell them that Korean civilization is 5000 years old, first flourished in Pyongyang in the third millennium B.C. and is essentially equal to the civilizations of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and India.
The picture is, therefore rather mixed, but on balance, if asked, "Do they really believe this," I would answer: "Not always, but quite frequently."
Professor Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.
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