Nietzschean North Korea

By David Tizzard

North Korea has made a massive transformation over the past 18 months. Its leader Kim Jong-un has rather adeptly gone from being a parricidal chain-smoking dictator to an all-smiling man of charisma, charm and cuddles ― a man willing to engage in diplomacy with other world leaders.

He's improved the economy and kindly kept his nukes hidden from the state's latest military parade. He's probably even a nicer guy than President Donald Trump in some people's eyes.

The DPRK and its leader are incredibly hard to pin down. That, however, hasn't stopped a litany of monikers being applied over the years: it is a failed state, it is the impossible state, a relic of the Cold War, a rational actor, a human rights disaster, a beacon of struggle against Western imperialism, a monarchy, a communist stranglehold, an economic catastrophe, a political miracle, fascism writ large, China's lapdog, Russia's creation, a victim of Japanese colonization … and, of course, many more.

In truth, it often seems more like a mirror. What we see in North Korea is a reflection of what we are. The position taken by observers often reflects the question they are trying to answer, be it economic, political or humanitarian. It is the world's largest looking glass ― a glimpse of our nature, both collective and individual.

After all, when you stare into the abyss, the abyss is often wont to stare right back at you. It is here where sympathy for the labyrinth takes hold.

And that abyss staring back at you with such power and intensity, particularly in a highly political and sensitive environment like South Korea, can often lead one to forget why it was the analysis was being carried out in the first place.

For my own reflection, I've recently been reading Nietzsche. In particular, the passages he penned before the fatefully sympathetic incident with a horse in Piazza Carlo Alberto in Turin in 1889. He would never write again after that ― his mind lost to his own abyss.

Thus my reflections below make no claim to being a true observation of what North Korea is. Consider them more akin to a brief thought experiment and a conversation with an old friend to see if he might shed some light on the current conundrum. One might even see them as a koan of sorts.

Nietzsche said of the good, that it is "that which heightens power in man." Specifically, it is "the will to power." Good is not moral as the monotheisms from the Middle East would have it. Good is instead control and dominance over others.

And if that is good, what is its counterpoint? For him, it was whatever sprang from weakness. To demonstrate any flaw or act according to elements of humility would be considered morally reprehensible in Friedrich's particular worldview. Virtue was to be seen in the Renaissance sense: Free from moral coding. Virtue is, in fact, virtu. A certain level of efficiency in getting things done. Morality only constrains the possibility of achieving the good.

Nietzsche described happiness as "the feeling that power increases and that resistance is overcome." Happiness is not mutual understanding. It is not a win-win situation. Happiness arrives here when not only do you feel your power increasing, but when you also find that previously held opposition and hostility to your goals lessens. The breaking down of your opponents' defenses is what brings pleasure.

One can only imagine how this might help describe the relationships between President Moon, President Trump and Marshall Kim Jong-un. For every summit given, for every photo opportunity, for every tweet, this will be a form of happiness for Pyongyang as it seeks to act toward its good.

And of the citizens? Of the people that inhabit the country: that raise families, that tuck their children in at night, that work, that save, that live and dream? The weak and the deformed shall perish, charged Nietzsche. Not only should they perish, their demise should be accelerated so as to make room for the superiors and the journey of progress.

Certainly this last point is almost impossible for us to readily accept from our current framework. It might have some biological truth in terms of evolution, but in a world where we promote the care and protection of the weakest in our societies, Nietzsche's calibrations remain alien.

Yet might they not help us understand North Korea more? If we are to see good, evil, happiness and people from this particular stance, despite the discomfort it might cause us, would it help bring us closer to a breakthrough?

There is certainly much more that could be alluded to in terms of understanding North Korea through a Nietzschean viewpoint, but the work is fraught with danger and it does not provide the most pleasant of images.

Perhaps for now the exploration will cease and yet hopefully provide a didactic takeaway. In trying to understand North Korea, we first need to understand ourselves. We will never truly comprehend what is happening, and this has been demonstrated by countless predictions and opinions filling our pages every day without one ever seemingly hitting that nail on the head or proving prescient, until we grasp who we are.

And not just who we are, but also who we were and who we think we can be in the future. This is the challenge, yet it remains a frightening one. After all, who really wants to look into that terrifying dark abyss and ask, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most Nietzschean of them all?"

David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University and host of TBS eFM's cultural radio show "A Little of a Lot." The show can be heard every Sunday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on 101.3 FM or downloaded via online platforms such as iTunes and Podbang.