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There is often a significant difference between North Korea’s policies and their implementation. Looking back at its history, one could even convincingly argue that Pyongyang has often failed to deliver on its public promises.
For example, the reunification of North and South had been Kim Il Sung’s goal since the country’s founding in 1948. The Korean War was an attempt to reunify North and South by force, and when that became unfeasible after U.S. intervention, Pyongyang took resort to terrorism. But that too was unsuccessful in bringing about the collapse of South Korea. A North Korean-led unification is unthinkable today, and Kim’s grandson, Kim Jong Un, has turned to his own form of realism, outright rejecting his country’s goals since its founding.
For decades since the Cold War, North Korea has called itself “paradise on earth.” Even today, schools carry the slogan: “We have nothing to be jealous of in the world.” This might have functioned as effective propaganda until the 1960s, when South Korea was also poor, but economic inequality between the two countries has widened dramatically, with conditions in North Korea tending to be extremely harsh, especially since the end of the Cold War. There have been some improvements since the 1990s, but rural areas still face food shortages.
Kim Il Sung has made “For the complete victory of socialism” a goal in the constitution of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). When this proposal was passed, it was assumed that the entire Korean Peninsula, including the southern half, would experience a socialist revolution. His son Kim Jong Il preferred the term “Building a strong and prosperous socialist nation” (Gangseongdaeguk).” This ‘strong and prosperous nation’ would consist of three pillars: one political and ideological, one military and the third economic. North Korea itself determined that the first two pillars had been achieved at a sufficient level and placed economic construction as a central national issue.
Although no specific numerical goals were declared, Kim Jong Il boasted of an “open gate for a strong and prosperous nation” in 2012, marking the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth. This was intended as a slogan that would raise people’s hopes for economic development, but Kim Jong Il died suddenly in late 2011. Ultimately, this “strong and prosperous nation” was quietly retired.
Kim Jong Un, who took on the role of supreme leader in his 20s, spent his middle and high school years in Switzerland and is part of the Internet generation. So it is thought that he understands the situation in his own country better than his father and grandfather, who tended to seek ideals.
However, Kim seems to have his own struggles with ideals and reality. In addition to directly acknowledging North Korea’s dire economic conditions, he also acknowledges clarified his support for the people as he broke down in tears while recapping the previous year. “My desires burned all the time, but I felt anxious and remorseful about the lack of my abilities for the past year,” he said in his New Year’s speech on January 1, 2017. The party constitution establishes the basic political system of “military first (Songun)” was also replaced by “People First Politics.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was an economic crisis for the entire world, but for North Korea the timing could not have been worse. Three inter-Korean summits were held in 2018, as well as the North Korea-United States summit in Singapore with then-US President Donald Trump. However, the following year, due to failed negotiations with the US, North Korea was unable to obtain security guarantees or even a partial lifting of sanctions. The pandemic started immediately afterwards and the closing of the borders inevitably led to an increasingly difficult economic situation in North Korea.
Kim Jong Un lamented the weakness of the country’s healthcare system and ordered the construction of the Pyongyang General Hospital in a prime location in the capital. However, the North Korean media at some point stopped reporting on this acclaimed project. Satellite photos show that construction of the large building was completed quickly, but there is likely to be a critical shortage of crucial medical equipment and medicines. Since there was no discussion about opening the hospital, the pandemic did begin to subside.
The inability to keep public promises is not limited to anti-South Korean issues, unification issues or economic challenges. In August last year, election laws were revised and the principle of competition was introduced, albeit to a limited extent. These revisions allow the partial introduction of a screening phase, where candidates for the election are selected through voting. It is thought that this measure was intended to relieve public pressure, but to date an election for deputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly has not taken place, although it should have happened in March this year.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un stated that North Korea would launch three additional reconnaissance satellites this year, but only one was launched in May, and it was a failure. In addition, next year is the final year of the “Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Defense Science and Weapons Systems” announced in 2021. North Korea also appears to be a long way from possessing nuclear submarines, a stated goal of the plan. . Although neighboring countries prefer that North Korea not keep its public promises on weapons development, they still fear that the country will make good on these promises in the future.