The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    K-pop group Kingdom recalls album cover resembling Quran

  • 3

    BTS' Jungkook to drop 2nd solo single '3D'

  • 5

    4 in 10 Koreans experience overdue wages: survey

  • 7

    Korea has world's highest senior poverty rate: data

  • 9

    All BTS members renew contract with BigHit

  • 11

    K-pop fans rally in Seoul against luxury brands' failure on climate action

  • 13

    Deoksu Palace's reconstructed Dondeokjeon hall to open to public

  • 15

    Korean gov't faces international criticism for R&D budget cuts

  • 17

    Hyundai Steel decides to form steel pipe unit

  • 19

    SK earthon begins crude oil production in South China Sea

  • 2

    Actor Song Joong-ki still hungry for new movie roles

  • 4

    Tanghulu captures hearts of Korean millennials and Gen Z

  • 6

    S. Korea flexes military might in rare parade with US in central Seoul

  • 8

    PHOTOSHarvest season arrives

  • 10

    Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo eliminated in 2nd round at Hangzhou Asiad

  • 12

    Serial killer transferred to detention center in Seoul equipped with execution chamber

  • 14

    Over half of Koreans want continuous strengthening of alliance with US: poll

  • 16

    LG Uplus, Hanwha develop ceiling-mounted EV charging system

  • 18

    EXCLUSIVELawmakers to submit resolution urging China to free N. Korean escapees

  • 20

    Main opposition chief in showdown with prosecutors over arrest

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
Wed, September 27, 2023 | 04:47
NK's not crazy: is that good?
Posted : 2013-05-03 17:54
Updated : 2013-05-03 17:54
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Visitors at a bookstore in Seoul read the Time Magazine edition published in mid-February last year that featured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on its cover. / Yonhap
Visitors at a bookstore in Seoul read the Time Magazine edition published in mid-February last year that featured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on its cover. / Yonhap

Lankov's new book well timed for wave of interest in isolated state

Visitors at a bookstore in Seoul read the Time Magazine edition published in mid-February last year that featured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on its cover. / Yonhap
Andrei Lankov
Visitors at a bookstore in Seoul read the Time Magazine edition published in mid-February last year that featured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on its cover. / Yonhap
"The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia," Andrei Lankov, Oxford University Press
By Kim Young-jin

For all the bluster, North Korea's third nuclear test brought about predictable outcomes: sanctions, belligerent rhetoric from Pyongyang and an intensification of the perennial tensions that haunt Northeast Asia.


The North's propaganda machine churned out new tricks this time, including YouTube videos of North Korean rockets hitting the United States and warnings to expats to flee the South. The response adhered to long-held characterizations of the North as a state led by lunatics, itching for war.

North Korea expert Andrei Lankov has some good news and some tough news in his new book, "The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia." The Kookmin University professor argues that leaders in Pyongyang are not irrational _ they know not to cross the red line that would bring on their demise _ but cunning manipulators who believe survival depends on maintaining the status quo.

While this may provide relief from visions of nuclear calamity, it also means there is no silver bullet to the North Korea problem, he says. Reforms similar to those of China or Vietnam could destabilize the regime by giving the populace a taste of prosperity.

North Korean leaders "are neither madmen nor ideological zealots, but rather remarkably efficient and cold-minded calculators, perhaps the best practitioners of Machiavellian politics that can be found in the modern world," the Russian scholar and Korea Times columnist writes. "They have no option but to try to remain a pariah."

The North has been of particular interest since the death of late leader Kim Jong-il and the emergence of his son, Kim Jong-un. The young leader's gregarious style, which includes a penchant for American pop culture and a high-profile wife, prompted hopes of modernization but also fears that he would resort to military actions to prove his mettle.

Though "Real North Korea" doesn't tread much new territory for Lankov's prolific body of work, the book is well-timed to satiate a wave of new interest in the North. The professor is one of the best-suited for the task, having once studied at Kim Il-sung University; he is also one of the most engaging and wryly-humorous voices in a field largely populated by policy wonks.

Lankov takes readers back to the formation of the country in order to show the changes that have shaped its decisions and will lead to its inevitable transformation. Early leaders such as Soviet-backed founder Kim Il-sung may have been shrewd, Lankov says, but they were not cold-minded killers. "Rather, they were sincere _ if ruthless _ idealists who wanted to bring about a perfect world. They made the wrong choice, however."

The disruption of foreign aid after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a failure of the state economy, forcing Pyongyang to rely on diplomacy and the leveraging of its nuclear program. It also contributed to the collapse of the agriculture system and the state rationing system. North Koreans have increasingly relied on the country's informal markets, which have led to an increase of entrepreneurship and a bourgeoning middle class.

The biggest problem for the North, Lankov posits, is the staggering economic success of the South.

"North Korean propagandists face an unenviable situation: they have to explain the stunning prosperity of the area that at the time of the division was an agricultural backwater and is populated by members of the same ethnic group who share the same language and culture as the destitute inhabitants of North Korea. Now…the information blockade has become more difficult to maintain," he writes.

Lankov outlines four possible scenarios that could change the status quo, which comes at the expense of a repressed, impoverished population. The first involved Kim Jong-un changing the regime's ways and attempting gradual, China-style reforms.

Such a "Pyongyang Spring" however, would mean the regime would be less stable than under previous leaders and not require the regime to maintain the right balance of "terror, persuasion, and material incentives.

"If such a ‘developmental dictatorship' is to emerge in North Korea, the present author would welcome it almost wholeheartedly _ with full understanding that many will accuse him of being cynical and heartless. No system is perfect, and dictatorship, developmental or not, is bound to be nasty. Nonetheless, the lives of the average North Koreans will greatly improve under such a regime that is also less likely to be provocative," he says. Other scenarios include serious factional infighting, popular uprising or some contagion of unrest in China.

The author believes the fate of the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were sealed by their economic inefficiency and that an increasing awareness among North Koreans of their economic woes will likely drive change in Pyongyang. He says the most effective way to change the country is engagement in official and informal exchanges to increase the flow of information into the country. These should include academic and cultural exchanges approved by Pyongyang, even if it is elite North Koreans who are the beneficiaries.

"To be frank, (elites) are exactly the type of people who matter most. Changes to North Korea might start from below, but it is more likely that transformation will be initiated by well-informed and disillusioned members of the elite," he says.

While his call comes at a time of diminished appetite for engagement, the book itself may be arriving at the perfect time. As interest in the North increases, "Real North Korea" is an informative effort that provides a well-rounded picture of the situation in an opaque country.

Emailthkim@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
miguel
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1S. Korea flexes military might in rare parade with US in central Seoul S. Korea flexes military might in rare parade with US in central Seoul
2Korea has world's highest senior poverty rate: data Korea has world's highest senior poverty rate: data
3For closer business ties between Korea, Vietnam For closer business ties between Korea, Vietnam
4Seoul Welcome Week to return for first time since pandemicSeoul Welcome Week to return for first time since pandemic
5Gov't to boost Korean language education for multiethnic students Gov't to boost Korean language education for multiethnic students
6POSCO International to enter US grain market POSCO International to enter US grain market
7BOK warns of worsening household debt situation BOK warns of worsening household debt situation
8Late Samsung chairman's love of animals helps change Korea's pet culture Late Samsung chairman's love of animals helps change Korea's pet culture
9SK Telecom to triple AI investment over next 5 years SK Telecom to triple AI investment over next 5 years
10Biden will try to 'manage' NK nuclear issue, not resolve it: US expert Biden will try to 'manage' NK nuclear issue, not resolve it: US expert
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] ONEUS returns as 'mermaid prince' INTERVIEWONEUS returns as 'mermaid prince'
2Kep1er unveils 'Magic Hour' with fresh perspective on love Kep1er unveils 'Magic Hour' with fresh perspective on love
3Rwandan artists bring diversity to Seoul's art scene Rwandan artists bring diversity to Seoul's art scene
4K-pop group Kingdom recalls album cover resembling Quran K-pop group Kingdom recalls album cover resembling Quran
5BTS' Jungkook to drop 2nd solo single '3D' BTS' Jungkook to drop 2nd solo single '3D'
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group