Even though the famine of the late 1990s changed the North Korean people’s awareness and lifestyle, and thus weakened somewhat the regime’s durability, experts agree that it is still quite strong and coherent.
As Kim Young Su, a professor at Sogang University, puts it, “The blade of the North Korean regime is still sharp enough to clearly cut off diseased parts. It is not blunt at all,” while Cho Young Ki of Korea University says that “Kim Jong Il’s horror politics have forced the people not to react to anything.”
However, those who are involved in security for the regime cannot be held apart from the dire situation. Kim Heung Kwang, the president of North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS) has pointed out that “In the past, solving issues involving the National Security Agency with bribes could not even be imagined. However, now you can even release someone who was caught trying to head for South Korea with bribes.”
Kim explained, “For them, living and eating are the priorities, so the NSA’s punishment has become a cotton club. In the past, security agents were devoted and loyal to the regime, but now they are only interested in money.”
According to Kim, for example, the NSA is in charge of monitoring families whose family members have gone to South Korea, but it is common for those defector families to offer money in exchange for ignoring them. The People’s Safety Ministry is no different; a burdensome entity which is eager for money, and for whom the only source of funding is the people.
Kim believes that North Korea is now in the first stage of unrest, where people’s individual complaints about the system are spreading. In 2012, when the people find that the results of the strong and prosperous state are far below expectations, the situation may enter the second stage, in which people will think and talk relatively openly about their future. After that, there is high possibility that the coherence of the system will dramatically loosen and, in the last step, people may be more prepared to take the risk of organizing anti-regime groups.
