Daily NK recently heard from a reporting partner inside North Korea about the current circumstances faced by Three Revolution movement. The movement was originally devised by Kim Il Sung to continue “the revolution in the realms of ideology, technology and culture even after the establishment of the socialist system.” In recent years, the movement has been revived as part of efforts to promote loyalty among the younger generation and increase production.
Daily NK reported in late 2021 that up to 80% of graduates from universities would be pulled into the Three Revolution movement. More recently, Daily NK reported that a Three Revolution team member was arrested for distributing USBs containing South Korean media content to laborers.
Below is the full text of the interview with the North Korean reporting partner.
Daily NK (DNK): The goal of the Three Revolution movement is to encourage young people to be loyal to Kim Jong Un and add vitality to the North Korean economy through the younger generation. In this regard, have the movement’s teams been producing results lately?
North Koreans say everything in their country is like an iron pot, quickly boiling before cooling down. This means when they launched the Three Revolution movement, the authorities promoted it like it would immediately produce major results and solve the livelihood issues faced by the people, or that these people were the most loyal to the Supreme Leader. But that’s not true. Moreover, nowadays, young people are too aware of things, so they don’t care at all about the party or the leader. On the contrary, they snort and only make a show of swearing loyalty.
DNK: But according to the Rodong Sinmun recently, members from Three Revolution teams have been going among the people to propose creative plans and contribute to technical solutions. Are the Three Revolution teams really helping much in regards to on-site production?
I can’t say they help that much. Resolving the country’s existing technical problems is difficult. Even if the team members present creative plans, it’s difficult to carry them out from a technical standpoint. And the Three Revolution teams as they appear in the Rodong Sinmun are nothing short of propaganda. On the ground, they are nothing like how they are portrayed in the media. This is because factories or enterprises that are ignored by the state have to do everything on their own, so even if someone was to present creative plans, it’s not easy to carry them out from a technical or material perspective.
DNK: When the authorities first started deploying Three Revolution teams in 2021, there were reportedly lots of complaints about how factories and enterprises had to provide them with meals. Are factories and enterprises still providing them with meals?
The factories and enterprises provide the Three Revolution teams with meals, but they get fairly low-quality food. They get nothing but salted radish or salted cabbage. Because of this situation, the Three Revolution team members supplement their meals with side dishes from home like soybean paste, red pepper paste and dried seasoned radish.
DNK: There’s a big age gap between the workers and the Three Revolution teams, so aren’t there generational conflicts? For example, aren’t there fights or tensions with young members of the Three Revolution teams as they try to teach or criticize older workers?
I don’t think there are serious tensions between the members of the Three Revolution teams and the workers. While the Three Revolution teams can suggest creative plans or discuss their thoughts about technical problems, they don’t dismiss the opinions of workers on the ground. The team members need to get good reviews from the factories or enterprises they work at to move up their career ladder, so they try not to cause conflicts with the existing workers.
DNK: What do cadres think of the Three Revolution teams movement?
Cadres pooh-pooh it. Cadres know better than anyone that the Three Revolution movement is not a catalyst for change in this country. All they can do is snort and promote the movement because they ordered to by the Central Committee.
Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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