A Country Study: North Korea

North Korea Foreword Acknowledgements Preface Country Profile Country Geography Society Economy Transportation and Telecommunications Government and Politics National Security Introduction Chapter 1 - Historical Setting (Bruce G. Cumings) Historical Setting The Origins of the Korean Nation The Period of the Three Kingdoms Korea under Silla Unification by Kory The Chosn Dynasty: Florescence Dynastic Decline Korea in the 19th Century World Order The Legacy of Japanese Colonialism The Rise of Korean Nationalism and Communism The National Division and the Origins of the DPRK The Korean War The Post-War Economy and Patterns of Industrialization Corporatism and the Chuch'e Idea International Relations Chapter 2 - The Society and its Environment (Donald M. Seekins) The Physical Environment Topography and Drainage Climate Environmental Protection Population Size and Growth Rate Population Structure and Projections Settlement Patterns and Urbanization Koreans Living Overseas Social Structure and Values Confucian and Neo-Confucian Values Chosn Dynasty Social Structure The Traditional Family and Kinship The Colonial Transformation of Korean Society Tradition and Modernity in North Korea Chuch'e and Contemporary Social Values Classes and Social Strata Urban Life Village Life Family Life The Role of Women The Role of Religion Ethnicity, Culture, and Language in Contemporary Society Contemporary Cultural Expression Literature, Music and Film Architecture and City Planning The Korean Language Education Educational Themes and Methods Primary and Secondary Education Social Education Higher Education Adult Education Public Health Chapter 3 - The Economy (Joseph S. Chung) Economic Setting Korea under the Japanese Occupation Developmental Strategy Economic Development and Structural Change Record of Economic Performance Postwar Economic Planning Budget and Finance Organization and Management of the Economy Planning The Ch'ongsan-ni Method The Taean Work System Mass Production Campaigns Industry Development in Major Sectors Mining and Metal Processing Manufacturing Services and Marketing Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Resource Development Production and Distribution of Crops and Livestock Organization and Management Forestry Fisheries Infrastructure Transportation and Communications Railroads Maritime Transportation Civil Aviation Roads Telecommunications Energy and Power Foreign Economic Relations Economic Assistance Foreign Trade Foreign Investment and Joint Ventures Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Economic Outlook Chapter 4 - Government and Politics (Pan Suk Kim) Relationship Between the Government and the Party The Korean Workers' Party Constitutional Framework Organization of the Government The Supreme People's Assembly The Executive Branch The President and Vice Presidents The Central People's Committee The State Administration Council The Judiciary Local Government Political Ideology: The Role of Chuch'e Party Leadership and Elite Recruitment Party Members Party Cadres The Ruling Elite Leadership Succession Mass Organizations The Media Foreign Policy Inter-Korean Affairs China and the Soviet Union Japan The United States Prospects Chapter 5 - National Security (Guy R. Arrigoni) Military Heritage The Armed Forces National Command Authority Formulation of National Security Policy The Army Organization and Disposition Weapons and Equipment Special Operations Forces Military Capability, Readiness, Training, and Recent Trends The Navy Organization and Disposition Weapons and Equipment Military Capability and Coastal Defense The Air Force Organization and Disposition Weapons and Equipment Trends, Training, Readiness, and Military Capability Air Defense Civil Aviation Officer Corps: Recruitment and Education Military Conscription and Terms of Service Reserves and Paramilitary Forces Role in National Life Relations Between the Military and the Korean Workers' Party Military Doctrine and Strategy The Evolution of North Korean Military Thought Emergence of the New Doctrine Operational Practice in the 1980s and 1990s Employment in Offensive Scenario Defense Industry and Infrastructure Military Industry Special Weapons Chemical Weapons Missile Developments The Nuclear Option Foreign Military Relations Relations with China and the Soviet Union Relations with the Third World Incidents and Infiltrations: Targeting South Korea Geopolitical Changes: New World Order and North Korean Security Internal Security Social Control The Public Security Apparatus The Judicial System Historical Influences The Judiciary Punishment and the Penal System Prospects Appendix. Tables Bibliography

[edit] The Colonial Transformation of Korean Society

The social strata of the Chosn Dynasty and the family system were sustained by a highly stable environment composed, for the most part, of rural communities. The Hermit Kingdom, as it was called by Westerners, had very little contact with the outside world even in the late nineteenth century. Rapid changes, however, occurred during the Japanese colonial period, which disrupted the centuries-old ways of life and caused considerable personal hardship.

These changes were particularly disruptive in rural areas. Traditionally, all land belonged to the king and was granted by him to his subjects. Although specific tracts of land tended to remain within the same family from generation to generation (including communal land owned by clans and lineages), land occupancy, use, and ownership patterns were often ambiguous and varied from one part of the country to another. Land was not privately held.

Between 1910 and 1920, the Japanese carried out a comprehensive land survey in order to place land ownership on a modern legal footing. Farmers who had tilled the same land for generations but could not prove ownership had their land confiscated. Such land ended up in the hands of the colonial government, to be sold to Japanese enterprises such as the Oriental Development Company or to Japanese immigrants.

These policies forced many Koreans to emigrate overseas or to become tenant farmers. Still other Koreans fled to the hills to become "fire field," or slash-and-burn, farmers, living under extremely harsh and primitive conditions. By 1936 there were more than 1.5 million slash-and-burn farmers. Other former farmers moved to urban areas to work in factories.

The fortunes of the yangban elite were mixed. Some prospered under the Japanese as landlords or even entrepreneurs. Those yangban who remained aloof from their country's new overlords, however, often fell into poverty. A few Koreans educated in modern Japanese or foreign missionary schools formed the nucleus of a modern middle class.

The Japanese built railroads and highways--a logistic system- -and schools and hospitals. A modern system of administration was established to link the colonial economy more effectively with that of Japan. These changes also fostered employment for Koreans as mid- and lower-level civil servants and technicians. During the 1930s and early 1940s, industrial development projects, especially in the border area between Korea and China, employed thousands of Koreans as workers and lower level industrial managers. All the top posts were held by Japanese; prewar and wartime industrialization nevertheless created new classes of workers and managers.

At the end of World War II, Korea's traditional social fabric, based on rural communities and stable social hierarchies, was tattered but not entirely destroyed. In South Korea, the traditional social system survived, although drastically altered by urbanization and economic development. In North Korea, an occupation by Soviet troops, the communist revolution, and the rule of Kim Il Sung, transformed the society.

Data as of June 1993