{"id":6429,"date":"2021-01-08T20:42:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T20:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=147930"},"modified":"2021-01-08T20:42:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T20:42:53","slug":"north-koreans-cynical-about-self-reliance-messaging-during-party-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/08\/north-koreans-cynical-about-self-reliance-messaging-during-party-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"North Koreans Cynical About \u2018Self-Reliance\u2019 Messaging During Party Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As North Korea\u2019s ruling Korean Workers\u2019 Party held its congress this week, residents of the impoverished country reacted cynically, saying that nothing that could be decided during the rare political meeting could improve their lives, sources in the country told RFA.<\/p>\n

The eighth party congress opened Tuesday, with the country\u2019s leader Kim Jong Un admitting in a speech that the country \u201cfell a long way short of the set objectives\u201d of the five-year economic plan introduced in 2016, the last time the congress met, which was the first such meeting since 1980.<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s economy is struggling under a legacy of mismanagement, international nuclear sanctions, closures of the border with China to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and a summer of natural disasters that tore through the country.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Kim talked about policies that would pursue a \u201ctangible turn in improving the people\u2019s living standard,\u201d and on Thursday vowed to expand the military to improve the country\u2019s defense, state media reported.<\/p>\n

Though the congress is widely covered by North Korean media in glowing terms, residents say that they are not fooled by what is very obviously propaganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the first page of the Rodong Sinmun<\/em> newspaper, the Eighth Party Congress was introduced as \u2018a congress of struggle and progress that will be a watershed moment in the development of our socialist society,\u2019\u201d a resident of North Hamgyong province, in the country\u2019s northeast, told RFA\u2019s Korean Service Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the residents are expressing their great distrust, saying that the congress will do nothing to improve the current difficult situation,\u201d said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.<\/p>\n

The source said that residents took particular issue with what they said were Kim\u2019s admonishment of the party\u2019s successes as a true testament of the country\u2019s ability to rely on itself during his opening speech on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Without specifically saying what the successes were, Kim characterized them as \u201cvictories and events noteworthy in the 5,000-year history\u201d of the Korean nation, and a \u201csure guarantee for reliably defending the destiny of the country and the people, generation after generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the residents are saying that the people\u2019s economy is hitting rock-bottom under U.S. sanctions and the shutdown of the border with China, and that we can\u2019t solve this economic crisis by ourselves,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Another source, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan, told RFA that cynicism over the Rodong Sinmun\u2019s reporting on the congress was widespread there as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rodong Sinmun claimed that the congress would be an epoch-making steppingstone toward strengthening national power and improving people\u2019s lives, but the residents\u2026 are really disappointed that the Highest Dignity<\/em> is talking about self-reliance at a time like this,\u201d the second source said, using an honorific title to refer to Kim Jong Un.<\/p>\n

Self-reliance or ‘Juche’<\/em> is North Korea\u2019s founding ideology. The term is often used in political writings and speeches as an expression of nationalism, and it is the country\u2019s stated goal for the people to become self-reliant and strong so that true socialism can be achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people\u2019s economy is in shambles due to the sanctions and the coronavirus crisis. The people wonder if it can really survive on self-reliance,\u201d said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mere re-emphasis on the strength of our socialist society basically means maintaining military-first politics based on nuclear arms, combined with personal self-reliance, so the residents are really disappointed,\u201d said the second source.<\/p>\n

The source noted that it was extremely unusual for Kim to have admitted the country\u2019s failures.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut rather than looking for the root causes of the major shortfalls of the goals of the last economic plan, the country is proposing as a resolution to strengthen its power and self-reliance, which has repeatedly failed so far, so the residents are very unhappy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two U.S.-based experts told RFA Thursday that the admission of failure and the deference to self-reliance were acknowledgement that the next few years will be challenging for North Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis review of the last five years is very negative, extremely negative. I’m surprised at the words he used, of how… the economy [was] dead in the last five years. That’s my first takeaway,\u201d Georgetown University\u2019s William Brown told RFA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it probably means that they’re going to have very modest goals for the new five-year plan. And they won’t get big numbers\u2026 \u2018We need to do things better, not more,\u2019 so I suspect it\u2019s sort of dampened down expectations,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Brown contrasted the optimism that was prevalent among North Koreans prior to Kim\u2019s summits with U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people thought \u2018Oh great, finally we can get more food on our plates,\u2019 and now two years later it’s a very different dismal story. Now they are saying, \u2018Wow we failed\u2026 Don’t be too optimistic we have to do everything ourselves and we’re not going to get foreign help, so buckle down,\u2019\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n

Ken Gause of the Virginia-based CNA thinktank said Kim\u2019s message indicated \u201cchallenges ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t see the rhetoric in there about how \u2018We’re going to make all these glorious advances in the near term.\u2019 He is basically saying, \u2018This is going be a long hard slog. We can do it, but we have to be all on same page.  I think that is his message to the party,\u201d Gause said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they are very clear-eyed and very pragmatic in the way that they’re thinking about this. Whether they have a prayer of making any progress is open to debate, but I think they are not trying to paper it over and [make excuses] for where we’re at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

New Year\u2019s letter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ahead of the congress, Kim Jong Un penned a handwritten letter in lieu of his customary televised New Year\u2019s address, in which he professed his gratitude for public support even in \u201cdifficult times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources told RFA that authorities ordered government offices to prominently display copies of the letter and hold ceremonies to declare allegiance to the party.<\/p>\n

But the residents saw this gesture as a mere rehash of propaganda and meaningless political rhetoric of more than seven decades of dynastic rule under Kim, his father Kim Jong Il, and grandfather Kim Il Sung.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was enshrined like a portrait, and party members and workers gathered at each factory office in the province to read the letter and pledge allegiance to the party\u2019s Central Committee,\u201d said a resident of North Pyongan who requested anonymity told RFA Monday.<\/p>\n

The people, however characterized the letter as \u201cnothing but a false document that deceives and ridicules the public,\u201d said the third anonymous source.<\/p>\n

Another source, a graduate of a university in North Pyongan, told RFA the same day that Kim\u2019s letter is anything but inspirational.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all a political agitation strategy to try to proclaim public unity ahead of the party\u2019s Eighth Congress\u2026 If you read between the lines, it means that those who harbor self-interest in the Central Committee will be punished relentlessly,\u201d the college graduate said.<\/p>\n

The last time a letter was given in lieu of a New Year\u2019s address was in 1995, penned by Kim\u2019s father and then-ruler Kim Jong Il, a year after regime founder Kim Il Sung died.<\/p>\n

Reported by Jieun Kim, Jung Min Noh and Hyemin Son for RFA\u2019s Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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