Kim Jong-Un & the Art of Man-ipulation
- Mathias Talmant
- 19 mai 2020
- 10 min de lecture
Masterminds Series
Foreword
This is the first issue of the Masterminds Series. I will portray some of the world's most intruiguing living individuals in the world. They shall stand out from the crowds on a global scale because of their influence, social achievement, entrepreuneurship or personal background.
Why should we care?
Kim Jong-Un hit the headlines on April 15 as he went missing on the Day of the Sun, celebrating the country's founding father, Kim Il-sung. Rumours spread over saying that he may have died during a cardiovascular surgery on April 12, but on May 1, NK media published pictures of Kim inaugurating a new fertilizer factory.
With a GDP per capita as low as $1.8k and a population of less than 26mn, what is the deal with the leader of the so-called Democratic Republic of Korea aka North Korea? As a matter of comparison, GDP per capita was $62.8k for 327mn inhabitants in the US in 2018. In economic terms, the country is a drop in the ocean, yet its leader’s decisions can impact all of us since NK launched its nuclear program after the Cold War. Besides the nuclear threat, North Korea is also the most opaque regime in the world and wins fame in illicit trades, human rights violations and cyber-attacks.
The war wounded past of North Korea has engendered an isolationist mindset and an aversion to outside powers that are used to justify internal repression, as reported in the report of Human Rights Council in 2014. In this first issue of MasterMinds, I will paint a portrait of the infamous dictator, Kim Jong-Un.
Early life and Ascendance to Power
The birthdate and early childhood of the Supreme leader is shrouded in mystery. It is the third and youngest son of dictator Kim Jong-Il who ruled from 1994 to 2011. His mother was the opera singer Ko Young-hee and his grandfather was Kim Il-Sung, founder of the Kim dynasty.
Kim dynasty (from left to right – Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il – Kim Jong-Un)
Kim Jong-Un studied in Switzerland under the alias Pak-Un or Pak-Chol. Officially, he was the son of the driver of the embassy. In 2001, at age 15, Kim left Switzerland and returned to North Korea to attend Kim Il-Sung Military University. One funny anecdote, during his three years of studies, he wrote 1,500 books and 6 operas. I wish I were as productive, but in my defence, Netflix was not a big thing at that time.
Other fun fact, Kim Jong-un is a diehard basketball fan with a special affection for the Chicago Bulls. He has invited the famous player Dennis Rodman several times and they watched games together, applying North Korea’s own rules.
Kim Jong-un's eldest half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, had been the favorite to succeed, but he fell out of favour after 2001, when his father noticed noticed he attempted to enter Japan on a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Kim Jong-chol, his older brother, also fell out of favour because his father judged him to be too “girlish” to lead because he had attended an Eric Clapton concert in Germany with a female companion.
Kim Jong-Un was his father’s second choice, but in a way, he may have taken the leadership thanks to the English guitarist. Kim Jong-un became the supreme leader of North Korea in 2011, succeeding his father Kim Jong-Il.
The Cult of Personality
In November 2012, satellite photos revealed a half-kilometer-long propaganda message carved into a hillside reading, "Long Live General Kim Jong-un, the Shining Sun!". As cool as it may sound, it sends a creepy message to the rest of the world.
In DPRK, Kim Jong-Un is worshipped as an absolute monarch ruling by divine right. His date and place of birth are both unknown, but officially, Kim-Jong-Un was born on Mont Paektu, a sacred mountain, which every North Koreans needs to attend once in a lifetime for a pilgrimage. All public appearances of the Marshall cause a stir among the people. Many photos show citizens crying as he does them the honour to meet them.
What’s good with dictatorship is there is no room for critics. There is no such thing as satire in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Kim Jong-Un has the spotlight all for himself and citizens have no other choice but to worship their Marshall. All of his public appearances are flamboyant and his official biography depicts a superhuman who excels in everything he does. His many achievements feature for instance the invention of the hamburger in 2000 to provide quality food for university students.
Dear Respected, Marshall (2012), Chairman of the National Defence Commission (2014), Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (2016), Kim Jong-Un has many titles but the most accurate might be Supreme Leader since he has absolute control over the lives of the 25 mn people.
Officially, Kim Jong-un is part of a triumvirate heading the executive branch of the North Korean government. He commands the armed forces while Premier Kim Jae-ryong in charge of domestic affairs and parliament president Choe Ryong-hae in charge of foreign relations. However, analysts are divided about how much actual power Kim has actually.
Not your average Kim
Kim Jong-Un is a merciless ruler who undergoes no disappointment. He is allegedly involved in the execution of several political opponents, and family members but reports are difficult to verify. The most violent episode happened in December 2013, when Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek was arrested and executed for treachery. A purge took place to destroy all traces of Jang's existence. All children and grandchildren of all close relatives were executed. State media declared that the army would "never pardon all those who disobey the order of the Supreme Commander".
The assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother, occurred on 13 February 2017 when he was attacked with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Kim Jong-Nam was a threat, so it was neither strategic nor protective, but rather a warning shot aimed at high-level North Korean defectors.
Assassinations only make the tip of the iceberg. According to reports from Amnesty International and the US Committee for Human Rights in NK, an estimated 200,000 prisoners were incarcerated in camps that are dedicated to political crimes, and subjected to forced labor, physical abuse and execution. To this morbid enumeration, we may add the denial of any civil liberties, forced prostitution and forced abortion. Although it improved with the progressive advent of technology and Western influences, the country also suffered long periods of famine as the planned economy and the social class system (“songbun”) proved to be defective and highly discriminatory.
Visit the Human Rights Watch website for more information on the songbun system.
Totalitarian Marketing
In the secluded triparti country, the government supervises all aspects of the lives of soldiers, workers and intellectuals. In the same vein as Stalinism (nationalism, personalit cult, planned economy and collectivism), all North Koreans are indoctrinated from childhood to pursue a common ideal, the supremacy of the Nation. The brainwashing has been fostered by the Kim dynasty to legitimate its totalitarian and self-reliant mandates.
A former resident of Pyongyang unveiled an artistic collection of propaganda posters shedding light on the country’s push for hard work. The choice of colours tells a lot about the regime's marketing strategy. Red is for socialism, aggression but also passion. Blue means peace and harmony and integrity. Black represents darkness and evil, so is often used in anti-American and anti-Japanese posters while gold and yellow is for prosperity and glory.
From left to right
"Let us extensively develop double cropping!"
"Let us provide more electricity to the battlefields where we are breaking new ground!"
“Rice is socialism. Let us concentrate all efforts on agriculture!”
At 6 am every morning, speakers across all North Korea sound a patriotic call in remembrance of the the war heritage of the country. Even in the metro, photos of Kim Jong-Un and his father preside to keep an eye on the people. In the absence of any naysayer, propaganda conveys the image of a prosperous country, well taken care of by his omniscient leader. This paternalistic ideology is reinforced by “on the spot guidance” broadcasted by media to showcase the leader giving benevolent directives at military or industrial sites. The religious note-taking of his entourage of senior military figures is a legacy of his father, but probably more about image than genuine erudition.
Sources: Reuters/KCNA
Propaganda is everywhere, even in architecture. The best example is the infamous Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, which is the tallest unfinished building in the world. Construction began in 1987 and has stopped several times due to economic woes. The 105-story "Hotel of Doom" is as high as the Eiffel Tower and it has never hosted a single guest. It looks good though. It costed roughly 5% of the country’s GDP to complete this empty shell whose only purpose is to arouse international fascination and display massive propaganda light shows. A misplaced extravagance knowing that most citizens have hardly enough to eat.
The Juche Economy
Technically, DPRK is still at war with South Korea. With close to 1.3mn soldiers, North Korea is the fourth military power, just after the US in terms of active military manpower, knowing that there is a minimum mandatory military service of ten years for men in DPRK. North Korea is one of the poorest countries on the planet and yet it is believed to have possession of nuclear bombs, the most expensive weaponry. The question is where do the money and technology come from?
Sources: Reuters/KCNA
« Juche », translated as “self-reliance” is the official ideology of North Korea. It postulates that Man is the master of his destiny and that by becoming self-reliant and strong, a nation can achieve true socialism. In this perspective, Kim Jong-Un boasts about his home-made scientists and resources. The regime takes to heart to prove it is self-sufficient and does not need support from “enemies”. It has built “model factories” with advanced technologies to show off the country’s manufacturing resilience in spite of the UN Security Council restrictions, but this is merely a smokescreen. Although China and Russia voted in favour of sanctions against North Korea, they did not stop their trade relationships and they seem to provide them with some supports. The seducing philosophy of the country is also called into questions by many testimonies alluding to “Office 39”.
Office 39 is a secretive North Korean party organization that seeks ways to maintain the foreign currency slush fund for the country's leaders. It oversees several illicit activities including extorsion of NK workers’ wages who are separated from their families and sent across the world to fuel the regime in Pyongyang. North Korea reportedly earns EUR 450 mn a year from remittances earned by citizens secretly working abroad according to a DW Documentary. However, North Korea has more than one string to its bow, because it is also making money thanks to real estate in Europe or data hacking in the US. The money collected is given to the Supreme Leader who then decides on how to reallocate it. Most of it is spent on the nuke program or the Royal family's personal businesses, but there seems to be a progressive reorientation to support the general economy to a greater extent.
Behind the pomp and glitz of the capital city’s many monuments and skyscrapers, the reality is quite different. On the paper, private property is not allowed, but might is often right. A small elite of scientists and those who have rendered exceptional service to the regime can live in brand new residential districts and grow their wealth while most lower-class citizens are struggling to make ends meet. Ironic for a model of socialism.
Notwithstanding widespread poverty and low life expectancy, education is both free and compulsory in North Korea and women enjoy far more freedom and equality than in most developing countries.
Nuclear Program & Foreign Policy
The objective of the most secretive regime in the world is first and foremost to keep its head above water. The dilemma of Kim Jong-Un is he cannot permanently abandon his nuclear program without becoming irrelevant. At the same time, he cannot thrive with the level of international sanctions caused by its belligerence. The Supreme Commander is a master of negotiation because he succeeded to extract just enough aid to survive without giving up its only source of leverage.
North Korea literally takes food from the hand of the US and China. In this country cut off from the outside world since 1953, every inch of arable land is farmed and peasants are using hand tools and manual labour. But the country’s obsolete agricultural system is not able to properly feed its population. Several countries including the US thus have to send humanitarian aids to avoid another famine. In spite of the international embargo, offshore trades take place betwe. becauseen tankers, mainly with China. The latter one maintains a status quo while using NK as a buffer with American troops.
The Kim Dynasty has always skimmed the red line without ever crossing it. Since coming to power in 2011, Kim has launched 85 missiles and conducted 4 nuclear tests. This is twice as many as his predecessors combined. Test missiles were fired in the direction of the sea of Japan or in the direction of the Pacific with capacity of reaching California.
2018: a new horizon for diplomacy?
Is there a glimpse of hope for North Koreans? Lately, Kim Jong-Un showed a change in leadership style by slightly loosening North Korea’s isolation and softening relations with South Korea and the US. Maybe Kim Jong un brought the dream of modernisation from his studies in Europe and realised his nation would not thrive in complete autarky. While his father and grandfather built statues to their own glory, Kim also built pools, theme parks and other entertainment facilities, which are not only reserved to the elite though.
Kim Jong-Un allowed NK athletes to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The same year, he met President Donald Trump at a summit in Singapore to discuss the North Korean nuclear program, in the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the two countries.
In September 2018, at the Glorious Country Games in DPRK, South Korea President Moon was given an historic chance to talk to NK citizens and evoked a commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons in the Korean Peninsula. The crowd welcomed the news of denuclearisation with roaring applause, an event that was not believable a few years ago. There seemed to be a positive outlook and diplomatic signals for future foreign policy stance.
The future seems brighter for North Korean than it was during the famine of 1990’s, surely because world leaders have now realised NK intercontinental ballistic missiles were advanced enough to deliver a strike anywhere in the US. It is impossible however to have a clear idea of the people’s feeling as every interview is controlled and asepticised.
Unfortunately, denuclearisation talks have stalled, President Trump continued its joint military drills in South Korea and maintained economic sanctions. Under such conditions, on January 1st 2020, Kim Kong-Un put an end to the self-imposed moratorium on tests of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. He’s also ratcheted up his bellicose rhetoric saying : “the world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed b the DPRK in the near future”.
The nuclear blackmail is back in the negotiation game as Kim Jong-Un promised to “make the US pay for the pains”. The question now is: can the US intercept a North Korea missile? Efficient interception systems exist, such as the “Iron Dome” in Israel and the US is well equipped too. In my opinion, it would not be in Kim Jong-Un’s best interest to execute his threats because it would trigger a war he cannot win. It is in his best interest to keep tensions high and use them as a leverage to stay relevant on the international scene. However, the risk zero does not exist as showed in the next infographics.
The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
MT Finance - Mathias Talmant.
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