February 10 Lecture

EAS217 Feb. 10/11 • “Religion as an opium” • “Author of vice” • Pyongyyang = The Oriental Jerusalem • South-North Dialogue: first time, inter-dialogue politically; from then on, N. K. began to open their society • “One who does not work must not eat”: Buddhist monks had to go out and work • Taechasung: employed monks • Chondoist Party (1946) • Choe Duk-Sim (1986) • 1988 Glion Conference (refer to last week’s lecture) • Home Church • “Our Sun” • Sun Day (April 15, 1912) • Chuche Era • Kim Il-Sungism Shintoism Confucianism • “Everlasting life” • “Kim Il-Sung is always with us” - North Korea’s economy is based on Chuche ideology - to reconstruct the economy, the Korean government carried out various approaches; North Korea between 1954 and mid-1960s, grew faster than South Korea - foreign aid provided by socialist nations made this possible www.notesolution.com - external aid began to decline in late 1950s under Khurshechev (president of Russia right after Korean war); from China during the Great Cultural Revolution in 1960s, their aid declined - in the 1960’s Kim Il-Sung adopted the Chuche ideology self-reliance; they cannot rely on foreign aid - from Chuche ideology, Kim realized that he could not rely on external aid: his own way of surviving The Basic Aspects of Juche are: 1. Man is the master of his destiny (religious, human-centered world view) 2. Man can accomplish all things, given the necessary will and training (human dignity/uisiksong-consciousness) 3. Bourgeois ideas demeaning the dignity and power of the individual (socialist idea) 4. Love and obedience for the leader (Confucius and Christianity) 5. Loyalty to the party (Confucius) 6. Ideological cultural and technical revolutions for the transformation of the nation (anti- foreignism, nationalism). • Juche ideology requires loyalty to the party leader and liberation from outside (nationalism) * Juche = self-reliance - North Korean economy suffered from the oil crisis in the early 1970s (world-wide, people suffered from the oil crisis) turning point between South Korea and North Korea (b/c South Koreans benefitted) - in order to mobilize the workers, the North Korean state reinforced the Chollima Movement in ate 1970s: Chollima means the “flying horse movement”; this movement began in conjunction with the 5-year economic plan; by 1970s, because of this Chollima Movement, all private enterprises were observed by the state and the private ownership of the land and business was completely wiped out - in North Korea, the key economic decisions are centered in the State Planning Commission: state agent controlling economic issues that sets economic entities (in South Korea was called State Planning Board) www.notesolution.com - all means of production are owned by groups of citizens or state at national or local level - in a capitalist system such as in South Korea, benefit would go to a small handful of money launders like chaebols, but in Marxist or Kim Il-Sung’s North Korea, benefits are supposed to be distributed equally among all people; in Communist theory, collectivism rises and individualism dies - according to North Koreans’ socialist theory, every would be living in the same residence (equal level) Women in North Korea: - in traditional Koran society, women are subordinated to the husband and marginalized in the society; the women were confined to the domestic sphere; but N.K claims that women have already achieved liberation ever since they established their socialist country since 1948; paradise of women in North Korea - Triple Revolution: N. K. government set up their policy for women following 3 categories: 1. Liberation from patriarchic family system 2. Liberation through social labor (tried to bring women to the work force) 3. Create socialist women (not as a housewife, etc.) - after liberation from Japanese colonization, Kim Il-Sung launched a series of reforms, one of them being land reforms (1947) he said women will receive their share of land on the par with man and become the owners of land as women - in July 30, 1946, he launched a law on sex equality aimed to transform the old feudal relations of the sexist and encourage women to participate in cultural, social and political activities; this law allows women the right to marry and divorce; the law ends the arranged marriages, prostitute, professional entertainment system (), etc. on equal footing with men - the labor law allows the rights of mothers and pregnant women to have maternity leave for 77 days and equal pay - N. K. eliminates private ownership; no chaebol type of economy; they abolished the family registry system () which