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THERE IS NO shortage of commentary on what should be done about North Korean weapons programmes. Op-eds in major news outlets variously advocate for talks, a strategy of deterrence combined with progress on humanitarian and economic issues, and even regime change.
But while rhetoric about North Korea heats up, the abstract talk about military options, sanctions, and engagement obscures the people at the centre of it all: millions of ordinary North Koreans.
North Koreans
When demonising the “rogue” behaviour of an enemy state, it’s easy to vilify its citizens or tar them all with the same brush. But the reality is more complicated. North Koreans are neither brainwashed robots nor aspiring democracy activists desperate for liberation. Here I want to focus on a small subset of North Koreans: those who have left.
Over the last six years, I have interviewed 60 of these North Koreans about their experiences, and they’ve told me a great deal about life in the north as well as their escape and new lives in the south. I’ve written before about their stories, as have many other authors, and the collective insights from these studies are valuable for understanding North Koreans’ lives.
Like people in any country, North Koreans have aspirations for themselves and their families, and their beliefs are complex and sometimes contradictory. Some support their government; others are apathetic or downright sceptical, and some even leave in search of a better life. Tens of thousands of people have left North Korea in the last 20-plus years, and at the moment, more than 30,000 North Koreans live in South Korea.
Leaving North Korea is not easy. Those who do choose to leave usually pay a broker to smuggle them into China. Once they get there, their status is often precarious: if Chinese authorities catch them, they will be sent home. Some stay in China regardless, or cross the border back and forth to smuggle goods into North Korea to sell. This cross-border smuggling supplies a quasi-legal market that has blossomed in North Korea since the mid-1990s.
Others who make it to China focus on getting to a third country, where they can present themselves at a South Korean embassy or consulate. The next stop is South Korea itself. Once the North Korean authorities discover someone has left, their family is usually subjected to intensified inspections and surveillance.
Breaking in
The North Koreans who make it to the south usually leave the north for economic reasons. They are trying to secure better conditions for themselves and their families. Many remit money back to their families in the north via brokers. They are also often able to share information about their lives in South Korea via clandestine communication channels.
This means that the idea that the North Korean people are hermetically sealed off is outdated. Many ordinary North Koreans know that South Korea is better off, that China has developed significantly, and that their country has fallen behind.
A persistent question is what all this means for the Kim regime’s resilience. If North Koreans in the south can tell their families back home about life in the outside world, could this erode the north’s authoritarian legitimacy? If North Koreans get their daily goods from the grey or black market and not the state rationing system like they were promised, could this foster opposition?
Some who deal with the north directly seem convinced the answer is yes. The likely new US ambassador, Victor Cha, has argued that creeping marketisation will lead North Koreans to develop individualistic values, which will eventually spell the end of the regime. I myself am sceptical of this view, but it’s good to see high-level policymakers like Cha thinking about North Koreans’ everyday lives, not just the behaviour of their government.
Changing minds
A lot of outsiders do seem to think the dictatorship can be brought down by breaking its monopoly on information. Their argument goes like this: once North Koreans encounter information from the outside world, they will know their despotic government has been lying to them. Analysts and defectors themselves often credit South Korean TV shows or movies in particular with the ability to change people’s thinking inside North Korea; some initiatives take great risks to smuggle outside information and entertainment back in, particularly on flash drives. The idea is to erode northerners’ faith in the Kim regime, undermining its legitimacy and paving the way for change.
The problem is that North Korea remains an extraordinarily repressive state, and it seems collective opposition to the government is almost entirely absent. Furthermore, what if watching South Korean dramas encourages people to leave North Korea rather than stay and try to change the government? After all, most of the evidence about the transformative power of South Korean media comes from interviews and surveys with North Koreans who’ve left, not those who still live there.
That makes sense. In the highly repressive context, it’s extremely difficult for people to even imagine taking a collective stand against the government, and if the outside world looks better, a reasonable response is to try to get there.
This is not to say that getting outside information to North Koreans is pointless. Far from it. The north’s system of censorship and social control is repressive and unjustified. The point is that there’s still no sign of any direct relationship between the clandestine dissemination of TV shows and agitation against the government.
But ultimately, that this is even being discussed is the sign of a healthy debate. With geopolitical tensions extremely high, it’s vital that all involved remember North Korea is about more than nuclear weapons, missiles and deterrence. These issues are incredibly important – but they also have implications for the millions of ordinary people under the Kim regime’s control.
Alexander Dukalskis is Assistant Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin. His research and teaching interests include authoritarianism, Asian politics, and transitional justice. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
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Why should they stay? Government imposing Austerity measures to get to work from Buying Diesel to USC to Housing and Health.
Meanwhile a crowd of unknown people excluding the Ukrainian community have came in,
They are provided Transport to their work/ shopping (if they work) , their housed and provided with free accommodation and healthcare.
@Luka Roche: Pretty much as many Irish came back as left
@Luka Roche: Whatever the government in charge they have done the same. Never look after your own people
@Mick Duvanny: Youve gotta go away to realise you dreams.
How many emigrated due to impossibility of getting a mortgage to buy a home?
@Garreth Byrne: 47 apparently
@Temp Stuff: As Christy Moore sang “we go there, they come here”.
@Garreth Byrne: How many of the returning 29800 would come back if they thought that way? Net migration outwards is 700
There goes our brightest & our best. Very sad for Ireland!
@Colette Kearns: Educated young people normally have no experience, neither in life nor at work. I would NOT call them our brightest nor our best!
@Lynda: how very shortsighted of you.
@lWOk0fWf: As a manager, dealing and training young enducated Irish and none Irish. It takes a lot of efforts to train a new recruit, regardless of their race. Yes, young people might look bright on the outside, but most of them require a LOT of work to be able to handle the jobs that are currently filled by foreign experienced workers!
@Lynda: as a manager.. you sound great fun, where do I apply ?
@Bara: irishjobs.ie
@Lynda: ‘managers’ that’s what we are here, visionless managers.
Be warned Irish staff are being replaced with cheaper people from outside the EU who will do anything.
@John Doyle: oh dear
@John Doyle: I think you are wrong, but we are hiring around 60 young indians grads because they are hard working and diligent, not like the locals, many of them have chip on their shoulders. But some irish younge guys also diligent.
@John Doyle: yet CSO data shows wages continue to increase. Suggest you look at facts and not Nazi lies.
After most of my formal education, I left the country as I wanted to experience other cultures etc. It’s a good thing. Not all emigration is forced. I came back when I wanted to come back.
I wonder, of the 33500 non Irish citizens that left, how many were returning home, and is that really emigration?
@Joe x: lots, I mean LOTS of Polish / Romanian are returning as economies there are booming and everything is at least 50-70% cheaper. At the moment.
@Chris: and wages are 50% lower.
@uUleRhCu: Fine for them to take money out of the economy but I cant buy a car in the UK. lol
Beside Polish / Romanians / Baltic people, also lots of Spanish and Italians are returning in their countries, due to bad weather, very expensive life and thuggery. I worked with some Spanish people who were shocked by the thuggery in Dublin and the first choice for violence that many Irish locals have.
@Chris: I’ve seen as much thuggery outside chippers in rural towns as I’ve ever seen in Dublin.
I have a cousin who is a consultant paediatrician in Australia and she did the same. Her standard of living is 50x that of any worker here. No Red tape or bureaucracy. She has enough money to send her kids to a lovely private school and live in a influent middle class area, she works hard for it and she decides what she does with her money not the EU or Irish gov. Financial constraints leave me here for the time being
@IPAS Conman: she is a paediatrician. She went to university of Aberdeen in Scotland. She graduated just before the great recession hit. She would never move back here. So stop being so narrow minded and for coming me a liar, you don’t know me from adam so keep your narrow mindset to yourself. Thousands of healthcare professionals have went to Australia because of the cut backs during the recession.
@Alan Scott: Australian house prices make Ireland house prices look like bargains. If you are not taking the weather, beaches and open spaces into account, then there is no way the standard of living in Australia is 50x Ireland. I wouldn’t say economically it’s any better at all
This is just the start. more hope elsewhere
So hang on…. 64k emigrate…. 141k immigrate… So yes, wow 64k emigrated but we’ve net immigration no?
@TheGood Feign: ya we do but they can’t put that in the headline, could be interpreted they are going against the socially required opinion…
@TheGood Feign: They are just stirring the usual journal commenters who’d have you believe that all our young are moving to Australia as they can’t afford a home
Don’t go Leo and his cronies will have it fixed by the next election
@John Kenny: well do you think SF will do any better under a socialist Republic? Up the RA will become our national anthem. Following the election Ireland will become the Democratic Peoples Republic of Ireland under the leadership of the general secretary of the communist party of Ireland, Mary Lou, Macdonald.
Loads of family’s living in my estate, all with social houses, nice tv, and cars prob a holiday to match, they are far from struggling.
@Shane O Mac: If they’re underpaid they’re entitled to rent a social welfare house. Maybe they should be paid more
All going according to plan, look back 20 years and think of the demographic changes that have taken place in that period. Now look forward 20 years and try to imagine the changes that are going to take place. Frightening stuff for Paddy and all because we let a WEF plant run our country. Wake up, turn off your stupid TV and radios and start thinking for yourself or it will be too late.
Have to go to come back, fair wind to them.
Property prices have come back to celtic tiger levels only this time its in every developed country on the planet .
unless you know the true reason why they left this statistic is meaningless
The grass is always greener elsewhere and for some it is.
It’s worth mentioning that for people coming here from hot
What’s new,
Don’t blame them nothing here for them the Irish are being driven out !!! No jobs for them
After my funeral I really enjoyed the ham sandwiches.. who cares who goes where , it’s a big world and we should all be free to go where we want to .
In consolation it’s a great place to come back to, very hard to reintegrate but after that, if you’ve made enough while away, there are millions less in people (despite this so-called emergency influx of immigrants), and everything moves a little slower, but yea too few people in the economy for those on the up.
have your say