Cadres skip Kim Il Sung memorial events, evade punishment

Unification Media Group: Annual memorial services were recently held in North Korea to mark the 23rd anniversary of leader Kim Il Sung’s death. Each year, the authorities instruct the country’s state corporations and organizations to present flower baskets in remembrance of the leader. To learn more about the memorial events that occur across the country, we turn to reporter Seol Song Ah. 

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s passing. Elaborate memorial events have since been held every year on July 8th. We turned to inside sources to find out how a cross-section of the population – including political cadres, rich elites, and ordinary people – are feeling about Kim Il Sung this time around.    

Last year we learned that ordinary residents weren’t very interested or invested in the memorial activities. That looks to have continued into this year as well. Can you tell us why that is the case? 
Seol Song Ah [Seol]: It has already been 23 years since the leader died. The country entered a three-year mourning period in 1994, and during that time the entire country’s population was barred from holding any celebratory events like weddings or first birthday parties [considered important family events in Korean society]. When Kim Jong Il officially took the reins of power, the country continued to enter a somber mood every July. 
Because daily life gets affected by the events, even ordinary merchants are forced to pay close attention to product flows in the lead up to July 8th. Cadres who were forced to travel for work and unable to present flowers on the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death often felt quite guilty about it. Even though Kim Il Sung was a dictator, there remained some genuine feelings of loyalty within the population. But this atmosphere of loyalty began to dissipate around the mid-2000s.  
No conspicuous changes were seen, but small cracks began to appear around the time Kim Jong Un came to power. People are no longer feeling the same strong emotions that they used to. An inside source remarked that different social classes in the country express their feelings in different ways. 
UMG: How about the Party cadres? How are they reacting? 
Seol: It seems like the framework is starting to fall apart. There is a change in consciousness occurring within the power structure. Usually, cadres tend to notice when policies aren’t working before the normal residents do. Doubt begins to emerge when there is a disconnect in perception between society and the individual. So cadres tend to be more sensitive to the success or failure of policies. 
Cadres do not view absence at the mourning events to be a significant issue. We’ve received inside reports that the children of cadres avoid the events and instead prefer to sit around at home watching South Korean dramas. Even if their non-attendance were to become known, the cadres have tacit agreements with the party offices and the legislative organizations. It seems that the Kim Jong Un regime’s determination to keep a tight grip on the economy and power structure has produced an ideological backlash among the cadres. 
As international sanctions targeting North Korea continue to strengthen, the Kim regime is unable to simply punish everyone. If the regime were to purge all of the officials and cadres who skipped out on the memorial events, there would be enormous negative consequences. In the end, the economic contribution of these individuals gives stability to the Pyongyang leadership. That’s why Kim has no choice but to embrace further market expansion. 
UMG: Can you tell us more about how class differences are reflected in differing opinions toward the events?

Seol: In the beginning of July, every Party organ, state enterprise, and school prepares for the memorial events. Trading companies are put under pressure to provide flowers. 
One trader who spoke to Daily NK on the phone in early July purchased $500 worth of top shelf live flowers in China for the events. As he was returning to North Korea, he noticed that while the cadres don’t openly remark on whether they think the memorial services are going well or not, traders were more blunt, saying, “We have to pretend.”
The trader remarked that all he was really compelled to do was go and present the flowers. As long as he did that on the 8th, he was free to go back to his business. 
Despite this relatively easy requirement, many residents have not presented flowers. Some organizations deem it compulsory to contribute flowers at large events, but in many cases the workers have more freedom. Some simply go to a local statue of Kim Il Sung where they can buy and present the flowers in one trip. The residents don’t care much about this sort of activity and often refer to the statues as “stones.” 
UMG: The fact that they call the statues “stones” seems to indicate a lower amount of respect.
Seol: Residents see the leadership differently in the Kim Jong Un era. The so-called jangmadang generation is not as loyal as generations past. They are dependent on the markets and watch foreign media in private. They don’t think much of slogans like, “Protect portraits of the great leaders as if they were your own life,” as previous generations did. In the past, people would worry about the portraits they kept in their homes if it was a rainy day because it would be problematic if they got wet. 
Even though people still hang the portraits on their walls at home, they don’t pay any attention to them. For the single-story homes in North Korea, rain tends to seep in during the July rainy season. Sometimes it drips off the ceiling and onto the portraits. But people these days don’t really care that much. They will just replace damaged portraits if anything happens. 
If your portrait gets damaged by the rain, you’re required to submit a report to the local city party office and get a new one. But these days, the cadres don’t regard this as a big problem. In the Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il era, things were dramatically different. Symbols were treated with extreme care and scrutiny. 
UMG: How about the rising merchant class referred to as the donju? How do they feel? 
Seol: The donju are different from ordinary people and cadres. They are not afraid to say right out in the open that they have no interest in politics. However, in reality, they are an inseparable aspect of the political structure. Some will attend the memorial services actively. To better understand how the donju react, we need to divide them into three categories, divided by economic clout. The least powerful group simply pays to avoid the events. 
But the most powerful group see the events as a way to increase their influence. They use the events to look for business opportunities. By giving foreign currency to the regime, they can receive trading permits. They can also establish relationships that will help ensure smooth sailing for their future projects. 
These powerful individuals will fork out money for extravagant flower arrangements in Dandong, China, and present them at the events. The cozy relationships between business people and political figures is getting deeper and deeper in North Korea. This is also fueling growing levels of corruption in society.