CULTURE AND HISTORY OF NORTH KOREA

WHAT IS THE CULTURE OF NORTH KOREA?

Korean culture is steeped in Confucianism, which emphasises respect for education, authority, and age. Although modern Koreans may not adhere to Confucian principles as rigidly as previous generations, these principles continue to underpin many customs and business practices.

The contemporary culture of North Korea is based on traditional Korean culture, but has developed since the division of Korea in 1945. The Juche ideology conceived by Kim Il Sung (1948–1994) asserts Korea's cultural distinctiveness and creativity, as well as the productive powers of the working masses.

North Korea: Arirang Festival

The compound religious strains of shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism have deep roots in Korean culture. Although the country has received continuous streams of foreign cultural influence mainly from China, Koreans have kept their identity and maintained and developed their unique language and customs. Westernization, begun in the late 19th century, was accomplished in harmony with Korean tradition and slowly transformed the culture without much conflict until the 1940s—notwithstanding Japanese attempts to obliterate Korean culture during its occupation of the peninsula.

The Arts

The government is heavily involved with maintaining and advancing the traditional fine arts and other cultural features as an expression of nationalism. Statues of Kim Il-sung and public art commemorating the revolution are ubiquitous. The selection of cultural items is based on communist ideology, and writers and artists attempt to enhance class consciousness and propagate the superiority and independence of Korean culture. All North Korean writers, artists, dancers, and musicians are assigned to government institutions such as the National Theatre for the Arts and the State Symphony Orchestra in P’yŏngyang and provincial organizations of music, ballet, and drama. The P’yŏngyang University of Music and Dance provides arts education. Museums have been well supported by the government, and many archaeological sites have been excavated to promote the growth of a strong nationalistic feeling. Among the country’s most notable museums are the Korean Revolution Museum and the Korean Fine Arts Museum in the capital. Archaeological sites include those located in the Nangnang district of P’yŏngyang and at Kungsan, near Yonggang.

HISTORY OF NORTH KOREA

The Kim ll-sung era

In 1948, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established, Kim Il-Sung became the first premier of the North Korean communist regime. In 1949 he became chairman of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), created from communist parties founded earlier. Until his death in 1994, Kim ruled the country with an iron hand by promoting a personality cult centred on himself as the “Great Leader” of the Korean people.

FROM 1970 TO THE DEATH OF KIM II-SUNG

Domestic developments

Two subsequent plans, a six-year plan (1971–76, extended to 1977) and a seven-year plan (1978–84), also failed to achieve their stated goals. While the country’s economic growth was hampered by the decline in foreign aid and its heavy expenditures on defense, the continued priority assigned to heavy industry created a severe shortage of daily commodities and lowered living standards. Food shortages were aggravated, in part because of an almost threefold increase in population from 1953 to 1993.

When the 1972 constitution was adopted, the premiership was changed to a presidency, which Kim Il-Sung assumed; Kim also retained his post as the chairman (renamed the secretary-general) of the KWP. In 1980 the KWP held its first party congress in a decade. During the proceedings, Kim revealed his dynastic ambition by appointing his son, Kim Jong Il, to three powerful party posts, thus making the younger Kim his heir apparent. The younger Kim consolidated his power and gradually assumed increasing control over the day-to-day administration of the government until his father’s death in July 1994.

1950s and '60s

In the aftermath of the Korean War, Kim purged the so-called “domestic faction”—an indigenous communist group that had remained in Korea during the colonial period—amid much scapegoating for the disastrous war. After 1956, as the Sino-Soviet conflict intensified, Kim shifted his positions vis-à-vis Moscow and Beijing no fewer than three times: from pro-Soviet to neutral, to pro-Chinese, and finally to independent. During 1956–58, he carried out a purge against the pro-Chinese group known as the Yenan faction and eliminated a pro-Soviet faction from the KWP Central Committee.

In 1966, after a visit to P’yŏngyang by Soviet Premier Aleksey N. Kosygin, Kim announced what became known as the independent party line in North Korea, which stressed the principles of “complete equality, sovereignty, mutual respect, and noninterference among the communist and workers’ parties.” From this party line, KWP theoreticians developed four self-reliance (juche) principles: “autonomy in ideology, independence in politics, self-sufficiency in economy, and self-reliance in defense.”

In the late 1960s the regime implemented a program for strengthening the armed forces. As part of the effort to fortify the entire country, more military airfields were constructed and large underground aircraft hangars were built. In addition, a large standing army and a strong militia were maintained.

North Korea’s emphasis on strengthening its military forces proceeded hand in hand with its continued focus on the development of a self-reliant economy. With aid from the Soviet Union, China, and the countries of eastern Europe, North Korea implemented a series of economic development plans and made significant gains. But as external aid declined sharply—first from the Soviet Union beginning in the late 1950s and then from China at the start of the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s—the seven-year plan of 1961–67 was seriously affected, as indicated by the extension of the plan for another three years.

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