Trends in the Study of North Korea

Abstract

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il can be criticized for many failings, but if one of his goals has been keeping his country in the global media spotlight, he has been wildly successful. Of course, North Korea gets this international attention for all the wrong reasons: military provocations, a clandestine nuclear program, a bankrupt economy, an atrocious record on human rights, and an eccentric if not deranged leadership. Some of the accusations leveled against North Korea in the Western media and popular press may have a basis in fact, others are more questionable. But until recently, substantive knowledge of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was notable mainly for its absence. Before the 1990s, little was written about the DPRK beyond official North Korean propaganda and its opposite, anti-North Korean propaganda from the South. Much of this has changed, both because of new sources of information (including material from North Korea's former communist allies), but more importantly because of the growing interest in the subject after South Korean democratization in the late 1980s and the first US-North Korean nuclear crisis of the early 1990s.

North Korea’s Shadow Economy: A Force for Authoritarian Resilience or Corrosion?

“…Nevertheless the regime's control appears strained at times and recent scholarship on North Korea has sought to understand the nature and history of its staying power and potential threats to its stability (for reviews, see Kang 2011/12;Armstrong 2011). One prominent and significant question that has emerged in literature on the DPRK is the influence of the 'shadow' or 'second' economy on North Korean society and politics (see, e.g.…”

Deciphering the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

“…It is difficult, if not impossible, to treat social and political issues separately from, say, military issues in the North Korean context, largely because of the blur between civilmilitary sectors in the country (Armstrong, 2012;Park and Snyder, 2013). The army is a mobilizer of human capital, a large part of the economy and a shaper of security-nationalist narratives.…”

“…As Charles Armstrong contends, little of this literature can be considered 'scholarship', given the paucity of evidence, and rigorous methodology involved in analysis of the country (Armstrong, 2012).…”

Likes for the Leader: North Korea's Use of the Internet and Social Media

“…Due to its strict isolationism and authoritarian rule, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) is often referred to as the “Hermit Kingdom” both in academic writing and media reports (Mansourov, , n.p. ; Armstrong, , p. 357). However, it would be false to assume that the North Korean regime does not interact with the outside world.…”

“…As the internal reproduction of authority based on the personality cult around Kim Jong‐un may not be sufficient to maintain the regime, external recognition has to be sought. Indeed, North Korea has managed to continuously remain in the global media spotlight, by putting up such a spectacle consisting of military provocations, a clandestine nuclear program, a bankrupt economy, an atrocious record on human rights, and, last but not least, a rather unique leadership (Armstrong, , p. 357). An instrument to produce reports on the leader's authority not only for domestic but also for foreign consumption, the KCNA serves as an ideal channel to generate external recognition of Kim Jong‐un (Herbst, , p. 489).…”