The DPRKafter Kim Il Sung

November 27, 2012

Review

•When did the ROK become a truly democratic country? (When did it have a peaceful transfer of power?)

•How did Kim Daejung finally become president?

•Did Korea’s policy toward North Korea change under Kim Daejung and Roh Moohyun?

•What changes in the policy toward the North has Lee Myungbak promoted?

•Why have all elected South Korean presidents been so unpopular at the end of their terms?

The rise in religious affiliation

•1916 530,000 out of 15-17 million 3%

•1940 1 million out of 23.5 million 4%

•1965 3.5 million out of 28.2 mil. 12%

•1985 17.2 million out of 41 mil. 42%

•Achieving a majority religious population

•1995 22.5 million out of 44.5 mil. 50.7%

•2004 Gallup Poll 53.5%

•2005 25 million out of 47 million 53.1%

Architectural Evidence

•No. of Buddhist temples in 1962 2,306

•No. of Buddhist temples in 1997 11,561

•No. of Protestant churches in 1962 6,785

•No. of Protestant churches in 1997 58,046

•No. of Catholic churches in 1965 313

•No. of Catholic churches in 2005 1,366

Religious Change

• In 1960, there were only 623,000 Protestants and 451,808 Catholics in Korea. Buddhism claimed to have 6.8 million followers. There were over 25 million people in South Korea at that time.

• In 2005, over half the population of 48 million were religious. 22.8% of South Koreans were Buddhist (10.7 million), 18.3% were Protestant, 10.9% were Catholic, 0.2% called themselves Confucians, 0.3% called themselves Won Buddhists, and 0.5% had another religious affiliation.

A change that is not a change• South Koreans appear more religious today only

because they now tend to call themselves members in religious organizations. Before they went to temples and participated in Confucian rituals, but didn’t call themselves religious.

• Religion today means something different in South Korea than it did 100 years ago. Now it means an organization that is confessional and congregational.

• The“non-religious’’ in South Korea are not usually atheists. They engage in religious activity but don’t see themselves as members of a religious community.

the DPRK in The 1990s

• 1994 Jimmy Carter visits North Korean, and Kim Il Sung dies

•He is succeeded by Kim Jong Il (A Communist Dynasty!) Kim Jong Il becomes the new supreme leader (though his dead daddy is still the president!)

• North Korea goes into economic decline in 1989, has yet to fully recover. It has fallen far behind South Korea. The 1990s are called the“arduous march”

• Relations between the North and the South have warmed up somewhat, though there is still a lot of mistrust. (Relations now are worse than last year.)

The Son also rises•Kim Jong Il --a Communist dynasty

•How did he manage to grab and keep power even after daddy died?

•The “Party Centre” placed men loyal to him in key positions in the military, the bureaucracy, and the party.

• Why has North Korea now adopted a “Military-First” policy? (since 2003)

• Why has it built nuclear weapons?

Life in Kim Jong Il’s DPRK•According to Demick, what happens to people

who step out of line in the DPRK?

•Why has there been no major visible opposition to the government? (p. 197)

•Should most of the people who have left the DPRK be called political refugees or economic refugees?

•What happens to many North Korean women when they sneak into China? (p. 226)

•What happens to North Koreans who make it to the ROK? (Demick, p. 247-49)

The Kim Jong Un Era

•Why did Kim Jong Un become the new leader?

•Is he really in control, or is he controlled by Jang Sungtaek?

•Who really runs the DPRK, the military, the party, or the government?

•Has North Korea already begun to change? What has changed in Pyongyang over the last few years?

Is Reunification possible?• Growing economic and cultural disparity between

the DPRK and the ROK

• South Koreans are losing interest in uniting with the north.

• Two scenarios:

• The north collapses and is absorbed by the South.

• Increasing economic integration of north and south leads to a free trade zone which will lead to growing administrative coordination and eventual union in a Koryŏ federation with local autonomy.

• Or the DPRK may fall under China’s control.