North Korea's Militant Nationalism and People's Everyday Lives: Past and Present

Abstract

North Korea's anti‐American state power has operated in individuals' everyday practices by focusing on its post‐war militant nationalism. Existing studies have neglected an aspect of North Korea's nationalist power that has been neither necessarily top‐down nor violent, but rather productive and diffusive in people's everyday lives. While the regime's anti‐American mobilization has come from above, people's politics of hatred, patriotism, and emotion have been reproduced from below. Along this line, I examine the historical and social changes in North Korea's militant nationalism and people's ways of life through a comparison between two periods: from the 1950s through the 1980s and from the 1990s through the present. I focus on how the state's anti‐American power was legitimated by people's solid micro‐fascism from the 1950s through the 1980s, and how it has been contested and recreated through both change and persistence in people's micro‐fascism from the 1990s through the present.

Acesso À Edição Completa (V.5 | N. 23 | ABR.MAI 2014)

“…Moreover, Ch'ongdae asserts that the individuals are responsible for their own moral-ideological purity, discipline and perfection, including of the body (O, 2003;Kwon & Chung, 2012). In this sense, Kang (2012) affirms that it in effect gives rise to an organic integration of the person"s body and the nation. Through discipline and obedience by the people, the regime is able to exert its power over them, similar to…”

“…Consequently, there is a moral imperative to maintain it, which stands above economic welfare and growth. Hence, Songun prioritizes the power of ideology over production forces, contradicting the principles of Marxism and historical materialism, which were considered outdated by Kim Jong-Il, because the 21 st century has many different conditions in comparison to the time of their creation (Miyeong, 2009;Kwon & Chung, 2012 Kang (2012) corroborates that anti-Americanism is pivotal for the ideology of Songun and adds that this sentiment has been used as a mechanism for social integration around the ideology.…”

“…Foucault"s idea of the diffusion of modern power through disciplinary control of individual bodies (Kang, 2012;e.g. Foucault, 1991).…”

The disciplinary politics of antagonistic nationalism in militarized South and North Korea

“…Han still hates the USA even though she fled from the North and lives a relatively rich life in the South. Her memory of war perpetuated her harsh anger toward America as her own enemy so that her anti‐American sentiment was the product of both state ideology and personal experience (Kang ).…”

“…They would stop quarreling because such an admonition was regarded as most insulting in North Korean society. In other words, even parents' scolding was enhanced by the arousal of their children's anti‐American and anti‐South Korean sentiments; this was a powerful method of parental discipline (Kang ). In particular, North Koreans' politics of hatred climaxed in their ‘racialized’ sentiment against American ‘imperialism’.…”