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An article written for NKnews.org about Private First Class Larry Allen Abshier's defection to North Korea in May 1962. Original available at: http://www.nknews.org/2013/05/when-the-first-american-soldier-defected-to-north-korea/
This article discusses the ever-growing body of English language memoirs by North Korean defectors, including popular works like The Aquariums of Pyongyang, Dear Leader, The Girl With Seven Names, and a number of other publications that have appeared in print recently. In discussing these books, it argues that the stories of North Korean defectors represent a form of soft power that is playing an important role in shaping how the American public, and the international community at large, views North Korea. It particularly emphasizes the ability of North Koreans to shape the future of the DPRK from beyond its borders and reminds readers that the fate of Kim Jong Un’s regime remains closely intertwined with the agency of its own people. KEY WORDS North Korea, DPRK, Defectors, Human rights, Memoirs, Shin Dong-hyuk, Lee Hyeon-seo, Kim Yong, Jang Jin-sung, Kim Eun-sun, Kang Chol-hwan, Blaine Harden, Park Yeon-mi, No Kum-sok, Charles Robert Jenkins, Kang Hyok, Joseph Kim Website: http://inss.re.kr/eng/eng.htm
Although coercion is a key element in the governing strategy of the North Korean party-state, the authorities in Pyongyang do not hold political power at the barrel of a gun alone. Control and manipulation of information are equally important tools. This paper uses the case of “re-defector” press conferences convened in Pyongyang between 2011 and 2013 to illustrate how the party-state employs an active information management strategy to buttress its rule. Building upon the contemporary “politics of authoritarianism” literature and the concept of governmentality, this paper utilizes Thomas Callaghy’s “domain consensus” as a framework to codify the reciprocal communicative process by which the party-state interacts with the citizenry. The domain consensus framework subdivides authoritarian control into a trifurcated framework of ideal types: coercive, utilitarian, and normative. This working paper focuses on the third of these – the normative. As such, this paper explores the information management strategy used to promote a consensus on expectations of life inside and outside North Korea. Using brand new structured interview findings, this paper also provides a bottom-up perspective that shows how the information propagated by the government of Kim Jong-un is manipulated, rejected, or reproduced by ordinary people.
This paper investigates the balloon-and-leaflet campaign, an exercise in psychological warfare once practiced by North and South Korean military forces but recently taken over in the South, by non-government, mainly evangelical Protestant organizations. I consider this privatization of psychological warfare emblematic of both the enduring and changing cold war cultures and power struggles found in the context of the national division that has engendered multifaceted politico-ideological partitions within South Korea and beyond. While other Cold War studies have focused mainly on state actors, by considering privatization, this paper sheds light on the ways in which state power is made invisible in the maneuvers of loyalty politics, while civilian religious powers take up the symbolic struggle to envision a reunified nation-state on the Korean peninsula.
2015
Since the Great Famine in the 1990s, many North Koreans have emigrated in search of better lives in South Korea or other countries. However, they face hardship and peril in every phase of this odyssey. In China, North Korean defectors suffer from the constant threat of being arrested and deported by the Chinese authorities. Furthermore, the Chinese government has refused to grant refugee status to North Korean defectors because of its desire to maintain positive diplomatic relations with North Korea. Consequently, most of the defectors aim to go to South Korea, though some young and educated North Koreans prefer the United States because of the possibility for better educational opportunities. In this thesis, I investigate the various issues and problems faced by North Koreans during their arduous journeys, which are marked by constant legal status changes. They start as defectors (illegal migrants), then become asylum seekers, and finally refugees. Even those who are fortunate enough to become citizens in the new host countries experience substantial difficulties in adjusting to new environments. North Korean refugee issues are important political and social concerns for China, South Korea, and the United States, but they also have implications for the entire world. Although this thesis mainly examines the problems North Koreans confront during their journeys, it also explores some solutions to the various challenges faced during resettlement. China should honor its commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention by granting refugee status to defectors and not returning them to their homeland. The South Korean government should acknowledge that North Koreans experience difficulties adapting to South Korean society and adjust their policies accordingly. Based on the spirit of NKHRA, the United States should not hesitate to accept the influx of North Korean refugees. Ultimately, this crisis can only be solved through international cooperation.
This paper critiques a recent exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) as a case study to explore the evolving role of museums in the twenty-first century. For the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan, the NK Project presented oil paintings, propaganda posters and postage stamps from North Korea; photographs of North Korea by non-Koreans; and art installations and videos by South Korean artists with North Korea as the main theme. Taking the celebration of Korean independence as a point of departure, the exhibit explored the contradictions and ambiguities of a divided nation in order to help visitors better understand South Korea’s northern ‘other’. Within the context of the current political environment in South Korea, the paper analyses the NK Project’s effectiveness in furthering SeMA’s stated goals as a ‘post-museum’ and examines how art can foster cross-cultural conversations.
De-Bordering Korea: Tangible and Intangible Legacies of the Sunshine Policy, 2013