[imText1]7 out of 10 defectors forecast that the North Korean government led by Kim Jong Il has already passed its “critical limit” and that at the present stage looks as if the regime will only be able to maintain its position no longer than 10 years.

The participants of this survey “Assessing the resistance of the North Korean regime” conducted by the Korea Institute for National Unification focused on 314 defectors of Hanawon, a training facility for defectors. This survey which commenced last August included chief researcher Heo Moon Young and senior researcher Jeon Hyun Jun of Korea Institute for National Unification, Professor Kim Byung Ro of Seoul National University Institute for Unification Studies and senior researcher Bae Jin Soo of the Institute for Peace and Cooperation.

On the average scale of threats to North Korea is its ideology at 3.47, elites 2.77, economy 3.24, unification 2.72 and foreign affairs 3.39. The closer the figure is to 1, the more stabilized the regime is. 1 means that the “regime is very stable,” 2 “generally stable,” 3 the “regime is passing threat,” and 4 “high possibility of regime instability.” Accordingly, the overall scale indicating threat to North Korea is 3.12 surpassing the concept of regime threat at 3.0.

In this research, factors stirring support for the North Korea system included a Juche ideology and one leader concept, as well as the fundamental basis of a 3rd generation inheritance, isolation of foreign information, ideology teaching, societal control and in the case “repression of aid” continued to worsen than the present, the key point is the possibility of the Kim Jong Il regime collapsing in the not too distant future.

In particular, regarding the hereditary descent of Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il, the report indicated a scale of 3.14 (3=generally negative, 4=very negative). Regarding the third generation of hereditary descent, a figure of 3.56 indicated a feeling of extreme negativity.

In addition, in response to a question on the longevity of the Kim Jong Il regime, 55 of the 239 respondents selected “less than 5 years,” 115 respondents “5~10years” with the majority 170 respondents (71.1%) who predicted that the regime would last “up to 10 years.” Responding to the reasoning behind the Kim Jong Il government’s existence, the defectors selected ▲ isolation from foreign affairs (respondents 149, 27.9%) ▲ strengthening of societal control (respondents 139, 26%) ▲ strengthening of ideological teaching (respondents 120, 22.4%) and ▲ strengthening of military first politics (respondents 85, 15.9%).

In regards to societal control, as the People’s Safety Agency, National Protection Agency, each public welfare group and people’s unit have been operating comparatively well, a researcher evaluated that deviational acts in society would not prove to be an immediate and big threat to the regime’s existence. Also, though the protection agency has corrupted most of the elite officials, it was revealed that it has not yet closed its eye to the regime.

Senior researcher Jeon Hyun Jun said “Overall, the idea to maintain the value of a national system has been collapsing in North Korea and we can see a characteristic where the speed of this fall has been steadily increasing” and “In order to establish an ideological and political orthodoxy, attempts have been made to educate citizens and forcefully unite the people however due to financial difficulties, it seems that this aim has not been easy to achieve.”