Stranger Than Fiction
Paul French, North Korea: State of Paranoia
Zed Books, 480pp, £12.99, ISBN 9781780329475
reviewed by Stephen Lee Naish
My Google news feed is often set as to prioritise news stories that emerge from the socialist wasteland that is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea as we refer to it in the West. The slow trickle of internal news and rumour, that comes sourced via China and South Korea's gossip bloggers, and from more serious academics, can last for months at a time and provoke bursts of laughter at the absurdity of some of the content (a recent example, the discovery of a unicorn lair, was a howler). Often, however, these trickles can erupt into a full blown flood of reports that make international headlines and evoke serious responses from diplomatic envoys the world over. These reports on North Korea can be as frightening as they are bizarre. Take for example the March 2013 nuclear posturing from the North towards its southern half and the US — didn't that feel like it was ripped out from some outdated Cold War novel? Yet the threat was real enough and continues to be.
The more recent excursions by former NBA star Dennis Rodman to train the North Korean basketball team and his budding bromance with the North Korea's current leader, the young Kim Jong-un, seems like it should be the source material of some straight-to-DVD sports comedy. However weird and funny that may seem, in the following months major headlines reported that Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of Jang Song Thaek, his uncle by marriage and, until his public disgrace in the eyes of North Korea, a member of the ruling elite for decades. And much more recently we were informed that the government had ordered all North Korean males to adopt Kim Jong-un's rather tragic hairstyle. If a country could win a prize for weirdness, North Korea would be a consecutive winner. What is truly shocking about North Korea is after all the human rights abuses, the out of date political doctrine, the nuclear posturing, the cult of personality, and the ability to antagonise its neighbours and the world, seemingly without much repercussion, North Korea still has the audacity to exist.
When American President George W. Bush namedropped North Korea alongside Iran and Iraq within his Axis of Evil, he began a re-emergence of interest in the nation that ranged from academics, political commentators and the general public alike, all wishing to delve further into this vague notion of evil. Thus began a publishing foray that has continued alongside the North's own development. Ranging from sensationalist titles such as Micheal Breen's Kim Jong-Il: North Korea's Dear Leader (Wiley, 2004) and Rouge Regime: Kim Jong-Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea (Oxford University Press, 2006) to the more recent economic dissections of Victor Cha's The Impossible State (Bodley Head, 2012), explorations of the regime's propaganda machine in The Cleanest Race (Meville House, 2012), and the exposés of escapes from North Korea from Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy (Granta, 2010) and Escape from Camp 14 (Pan, 2013). In combination, these books offers a detailed picture of life and politics in North Korea, and frankly, it is pretty grim. Paul French's new book North Korea: State of Paranoia is a courageous attempt to decipher the country's past, present and future within one fairly digestible volume. Unlike some if its predecessors, the tone of the book remains realistic and evades sensationalism in order to portray an honest picture of North Korea in all its aspects.
The opening chapter sets a realistic agenda. Entitled 'An Ordinary Day in Pyongyang', this chapter is just that, a day in the life of the citizenry of North Korea's gleaming (at least on the surface) capital city Pyongyang. Via the daily routine we discover a life not to dissimilar to working class life in early 20th-century Britain. Descriptions such as ‘Breakfast usually involves corn or maize porridge, possibly a boiled egg and sour yogurt, with perhaps powered milk for children. After breakfast it is time for work’ could be lifted from another parable to northern life, George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier. Though the conditions of the working class in 1930s Britain were tough and demanding before the Welfare State, it pales in comparison to the those endured by workers in North Korea who are reliant on the Welfare State. French peels back the gloss that is projected by the regime of Pyongyang to reveal a far more normal city, one that is concerned with all the trivialities of modern life. It's an opening that gives the reader a false sense of comfort. As the book progresses, French delves further to reveal the sinister mechanisms that hold the whole charade of North Korea together.
The Kim dynasty that has dominated the country since its inception is explored to great depth. Firstly French analyses the path to power that Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) walked. From his humble beginnings as a freedom fighter/thorn in the side of the post-war Japanese occupancy of Korea, to his dictatorial apprenticeship under Stalin's Soviet guidance, and then to Russia's appointment of him as ruler of North Korea. What is striking is how much the historical narrative rubs against North Korean propaganda. All remnants of possible Russian involvement in the ascension to power of Kim Il-sung (and it's a lot) have been erased and a mythical history has been implanted into the North Korean psyche. The same delusion of grandeur was placed upon his son and heir Kim Jong-il (1941-2011). Kim Jong-il always came across as a spoilt rich kid and French does not paint him in any different colours. Kim Jong-il was busy laying the foundation for his father's legacy and the mythology of his own ascension for a decades before he officially took leadership in 1997. The revelations of his playboy tendencies, his huge movie collection, and his love of expensive cognac comes as no surprise, yet its testament to French that he doesn't wallow in sensationalism. Kim Jong-il's youngest son Kim Jong-un (1982 -present) allows French to be somewhat more speculative about the direction he will take the country.
Recent news reports from North Korea seem to show a mellowing towards foreign investment and bringing the country up to a more modern standard, however the Juche rhetoric (more of which in moment) has not eased, if anything the promotion of the country's own political philosophy has been pumped up in order to justify the young heir's ascendance. Despite his initial popularity with the people of North Korea and his later grandfatherly manner, French paints the real villain of the piece as Kim Il-sung, the architect of his country's undoing. The egotism of one man has left in place a rigorous system in which no other citizen could, or still can, prosper, to do so would be disloyal and overshadowing of the Great Leader. Kim Il-Sung took care of any possible threats to his leadership and his version of events by eradicating all possible leads via execution and imprisonment of naysayers (which would lead to death eventually), and implementing a regimented and inflexible state structure that infiltrates every aspect of daily life and thought. In doing this, he sowed the seeds of his counties most devastating problems that hit seismic proportions after his death when North Korea was hit by famine. His own personal death toll is immeasurable.
The bulk of State of Paranoia is devoted to the diminishing economy that started during the 1970s and continued to a catastrophic conclusion during the mid to late 1990s, when famine and related afflictions cost the lives an estimated 240,000 to 3,500,000 North Koreans. Although still in economic freefall, and reliant on masses of external aid, North Korea has at least avoided such devastation again, although for the majority of those living outside the relative comfort of Pyongyang, hunger is still an everyday fact of life. The chapters that make up the middle section of the book read like a comedy of bureaucratic errors, but no punch line is forthcoming. What striking overall realisation comes from French's book is that the means to economic recovery and financial common sense has simply been breed out of the North Korean conscience over a period of generations. As it stands, there is no person qualified within the party core, the educated class, or the common citizenry for that matter, who could remedy the economic situation with the appliance of even a rudimentary version of free market economics, or a shot at Soviet style Perestroika and Glasnost. The country's dependence on Juche, the North Korean political philosophy of self reliance, authored by Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, as the country's guiding principle in all matters has not allowed any leeway in management of the economy. To question the validity of Juche is simply not an option.
The subject of Juche, its origins and adaptation to North Korean life, is also discussed to great length and offers deep understanding of the often impenetrable and contradictory philosophy. In fact, for the majority of the book, Juche hangs like a spectre over all aspects of life, politics, and military endeavours. And it's when French turns to the militaristic subject of North Korea that the reader comes to grasp how the country's artillery has become such a powerful bargaining chip in the geopolitical arena. For a regime that has made some incredibly dumb policy decisions, the way in which it has played its aggressors and supporters against one another over its nuclear weapons development is extraordinary, and very nearly genius. However, the fact that North Korea exists within the real world and not some Ian Fleming novel, chills the spine somewhat at the very real threat of nuclear Armageddon. In the context of French's book there is a sense that North Korea is akin to the smartass kid in high school who is protected by the playground toughs, in this case Russia and China, but barely tolerated most of the time. This intolerance points towards French's conclusion of how the next stage might play out.
In conclusion to the book, French proposes a number of scenarios that may befall North Korea, none of which are a desired outcome for the region. The dilemma of a mass exodus, in which millions cross into China would, in French's view, cause a huge strain on aid and international goodwill. An internal military coup seems unlikely, with the higher echelons of armed forces receiving the better end of the stick in terms of rations, clothing and quality of life. The only way French sees a military coup unfolding is if Kim Jong-un turns his back on the military elite, which would seem a foolish move. Although pockets of internal dissent no doubt exist throughout the country, there is no organised movement, no student army, or working class revolt, that could influence mass change from within, as has been seen throughout the Arab world and most recently in Ukraine. North Korea doesn't much care about its appearance to the outside world, so any dissent would be brutally shut down by the regime.
The only option that seems the most realistic is a military intervention from the West. A war with North Korea would probably be brief, yet devastating. The loss of life on both sides would be astronomical, whilst the damage that North Korea could do in that short time, as it lashes out in all directions, could be catastrophic for the whole region, especially if it deployed its arsenal of nuclear weapons in savage act of nihilism. The shaky foundations in which diplomacy is based on with China and Russia would crumble, and another Cold War could be a distinct possibility. French acknowledges the above scenarios as all possible outcomes. However as it stands there is no strategy in place to deal with North Korea, just a reactionary response to its provocations.
The more recent excursions by former NBA star Dennis Rodman to train the North Korean basketball team and his budding bromance with the North Korea's current leader, the young Kim Jong-un, seems like it should be the source material of some straight-to-DVD sports comedy. However weird and funny that may seem, in the following months major headlines reported that Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of Jang Song Thaek, his uncle by marriage and, until his public disgrace in the eyes of North Korea, a member of the ruling elite for decades. And much more recently we were informed that the government had ordered all North Korean males to adopt Kim Jong-un's rather tragic hairstyle. If a country could win a prize for weirdness, North Korea would be a consecutive winner. What is truly shocking about North Korea is after all the human rights abuses, the out of date political doctrine, the nuclear posturing, the cult of personality, and the ability to antagonise its neighbours and the world, seemingly without much repercussion, North Korea still has the audacity to exist.
When American President George W. Bush namedropped North Korea alongside Iran and Iraq within his Axis of Evil, he began a re-emergence of interest in the nation that ranged from academics, political commentators and the general public alike, all wishing to delve further into this vague notion of evil. Thus began a publishing foray that has continued alongside the North's own development. Ranging from sensationalist titles such as Micheal Breen's Kim Jong-Il: North Korea's Dear Leader (Wiley, 2004) and Rouge Regime: Kim Jong-Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea (Oxford University Press, 2006) to the more recent economic dissections of Victor Cha's The Impossible State (Bodley Head, 2012), explorations of the regime's propaganda machine in The Cleanest Race (Meville House, 2012), and the exposés of escapes from North Korea from Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy (Granta, 2010) and Escape from Camp 14 (Pan, 2013). In combination, these books offers a detailed picture of life and politics in North Korea, and frankly, it is pretty grim. Paul French's new book North Korea: State of Paranoia is a courageous attempt to decipher the country's past, present and future within one fairly digestible volume. Unlike some if its predecessors, the tone of the book remains realistic and evades sensationalism in order to portray an honest picture of North Korea in all its aspects.
The opening chapter sets a realistic agenda. Entitled 'An Ordinary Day in Pyongyang', this chapter is just that, a day in the life of the citizenry of North Korea's gleaming (at least on the surface) capital city Pyongyang. Via the daily routine we discover a life not to dissimilar to working class life in early 20th-century Britain. Descriptions such as ‘Breakfast usually involves corn or maize porridge, possibly a boiled egg and sour yogurt, with perhaps powered milk for children. After breakfast it is time for work’ could be lifted from another parable to northern life, George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier. Though the conditions of the working class in 1930s Britain were tough and demanding before the Welfare State, it pales in comparison to the those endured by workers in North Korea who are reliant on the Welfare State. French peels back the gloss that is projected by the regime of Pyongyang to reveal a far more normal city, one that is concerned with all the trivialities of modern life. It's an opening that gives the reader a false sense of comfort. As the book progresses, French delves further to reveal the sinister mechanisms that hold the whole charade of North Korea together.
The Kim dynasty that has dominated the country since its inception is explored to great depth. Firstly French analyses the path to power that Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) walked. From his humble beginnings as a freedom fighter/thorn in the side of the post-war Japanese occupancy of Korea, to his dictatorial apprenticeship under Stalin's Soviet guidance, and then to Russia's appointment of him as ruler of North Korea. What is striking is how much the historical narrative rubs against North Korean propaganda. All remnants of possible Russian involvement in the ascension to power of Kim Il-sung (and it's a lot) have been erased and a mythical history has been implanted into the North Korean psyche. The same delusion of grandeur was placed upon his son and heir Kim Jong-il (1941-2011). Kim Jong-il always came across as a spoilt rich kid and French does not paint him in any different colours. Kim Jong-il was busy laying the foundation for his father's legacy and the mythology of his own ascension for a decades before he officially took leadership in 1997. The revelations of his playboy tendencies, his huge movie collection, and his love of expensive cognac comes as no surprise, yet its testament to French that he doesn't wallow in sensationalism. Kim Jong-il's youngest son Kim Jong-un (1982 -present) allows French to be somewhat more speculative about the direction he will take the country.
Recent news reports from North Korea seem to show a mellowing towards foreign investment and bringing the country up to a more modern standard, however the Juche rhetoric (more of which in moment) has not eased, if anything the promotion of the country's own political philosophy has been pumped up in order to justify the young heir's ascendance. Despite his initial popularity with the people of North Korea and his later grandfatherly manner, French paints the real villain of the piece as Kim Il-sung, the architect of his country's undoing. The egotism of one man has left in place a rigorous system in which no other citizen could, or still can, prosper, to do so would be disloyal and overshadowing of the Great Leader. Kim Il-Sung took care of any possible threats to his leadership and his version of events by eradicating all possible leads via execution and imprisonment of naysayers (which would lead to death eventually), and implementing a regimented and inflexible state structure that infiltrates every aspect of daily life and thought. In doing this, he sowed the seeds of his counties most devastating problems that hit seismic proportions after his death when North Korea was hit by famine. His own personal death toll is immeasurable.
The bulk of State of Paranoia is devoted to the diminishing economy that started during the 1970s and continued to a catastrophic conclusion during the mid to late 1990s, when famine and related afflictions cost the lives an estimated 240,000 to 3,500,000 North Koreans. Although still in economic freefall, and reliant on masses of external aid, North Korea has at least avoided such devastation again, although for the majority of those living outside the relative comfort of Pyongyang, hunger is still an everyday fact of life. The chapters that make up the middle section of the book read like a comedy of bureaucratic errors, but no punch line is forthcoming. What striking overall realisation comes from French's book is that the means to economic recovery and financial common sense has simply been breed out of the North Korean conscience over a period of generations. As it stands, there is no person qualified within the party core, the educated class, or the common citizenry for that matter, who could remedy the economic situation with the appliance of even a rudimentary version of free market economics, or a shot at Soviet style Perestroika and Glasnost. The country's dependence on Juche, the North Korean political philosophy of self reliance, authored by Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, as the country's guiding principle in all matters has not allowed any leeway in management of the economy. To question the validity of Juche is simply not an option.
The subject of Juche, its origins and adaptation to North Korean life, is also discussed to great length and offers deep understanding of the often impenetrable and contradictory philosophy. In fact, for the majority of the book, Juche hangs like a spectre over all aspects of life, politics, and military endeavours. And it's when French turns to the militaristic subject of North Korea that the reader comes to grasp how the country's artillery has become such a powerful bargaining chip in the geopolitical arena. For a regime that has made some incredibly dumb policy decisions, the way in which it has played its aggressors and supporters against one another over its nuclear weapons development is extraordinary, and very nearly genius. However, the fact that North Korea exists within the real world and not some Ian Fleming novel, chills the spine somewhat at the very real threat of nuclear Armageddon. In the context of French's book there is a sense that North Korea is akin to the smartass kid in high school who is protected by the playground toughs, in this case Russia and China, but barely tolerated most of the time. This intolerance points towards French's conclusion of how the next stage might play out.
In conclusion to the book, French proposes a number of scenarios that may befall North Korea, none of which are a desired outcome for the region. The dilemma of a mass exodus, in which millions cross into China would, in French's view, cause a huge strain on aid and international goodwill. An internal military coup seems unlikely, with the higher echelons of armed forces receiving the better end of the stick in terms of rations, clothing and quality of life. The only way French sees a military coup unfolding is if Kim Jong-un turns his back on the military elite, which would seem a foolish move. Although pockets of internal dissent no doubt exist throughout the country, there is no organised movement, no student army, or working class revolt, that could influence mass change from within, as has been seen throughout the Arab world and most recently in Ukraine. North Korea doesn't much care about its appearance to the outside world, so any dissent would be brutally shut down by the regime.
The only option that seems the most realistic is a military intervention from the West. A war with North Korea would probably be brief, yet devastating. The loss of life on both sides would be astronomical, whilst the damage that North Korea could do in that short time, as it lashes out in all directions, could be catastrophic for the whole region, especially if it deployed its arsenal of nuclear weapons in savage act of nihilism. The shaky foundations in which diplomacy is based on with China and Russia would crumble, and another Cold War could be a distinct possibility. French acknowledges the above scenarios as all possible outcomes. However as it stands there is no strategy in place to deal with North Korea, just a reactionary response to its provocations.