So Kim Jong Il is dead.
Mourners are crowding in Pyongyang. There will be no “Asian Winter” to counter the Arab Spring because an overthrow demands a resistance, and there isn’t much of one (and this wasn’t an overthrow, but rather an old leader dying of old age.) Kim Jong Il and his father purged a resistance long ago, as Bradley K Martin has painstakingly documented in Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader.
Jong Il undoubtedly committed dozens of human rights atrocities, and was a tyrant. His father, Il Sung, was not much better, although even voluntary North Korean political refugees often express great affection for the man.
However, of those who leave North Korea, most are economic migrants seeking temporary labor in China, and over half willingly return. While we cannot ignore those languishing in the prison camps of Yodok and elsewhere, to pretend as though the regime doesn’t have a degree of support amongst its people is a Western fantasy.
North Korea is a human rights disaster. Millions have died from famine, and thousands are imprisoned in the camps of Yodok and elsewhere. We don’t know the mind of North Korea, but you can’t program the displays of grief on broad display in the capital.
We know North Korea is a human rights disaster. But North Koreans seem to, if not love, at least know nothing else other than the status quo. This isn’t a Stalinist regime where people are waiting to be “rescued”. What then, is the ethical way for the world stage to move forward?
The reaction so far in my current hometown of Gwangju, by the way, is mostly apathy. My students and coworkers have expressed happiness that he is gone, but they know it’s business as usual. The only vocalized concern I’ve heard so far is that Kim Jong Un will become more daring as he attempts to solidify his grasp of power as the new “party center”.
Oh, and I still lurk around here, I've just found LJ is mostly dead these days. Long live Tumblr, kekeke
Jong Il undoubtedly committed dozens of human rights atrocities, and was a tyrant. His father, Il Sung, was not much better, although even voluntary North Korean political refugees often express great affection for the man.
However, of those who leave North Korea, most are economic migrants seeking temporary labor in China, and over half willingly return. While we cannot ignore those languishing in the prison camps of Yodok and elsewhere, to pretend as though the regime doesn’t have a degree of support amongst its people is a Western fantasy.
North Korea is a human rights disaster. Millions have died from famine, and thousands are imprisoned in the camps of Yodok and elsewhere. We don’t know the mind of North Korea, but you can’t program the displays of grief on broad display in the capital.
We know North Korea is a human rights disaster. But North Koreans seem to, if not love, at least know nothing else other than the status quo. This isn’t a Stalinist regime where people are waiting to be “rescued”. What then, is the ethical way for the world stage to move forward?
The reaction so far in my current hometown of Gwangju, by the way, is mostly apathy. My students and coworkers have expressed happiness that he is gone, but they know it’s business as usual. The only vocalized concern I’ve heard so far is that Kim Jong Un will become more daring as he attempts to solidify his grasp of power as the new “party center”.
Oh, and I still lurk around here, I've just found LJ is mostly dead these days. Long live Tumblr, kekeke