As North Korea accelerates efforts to erase the concept of “national reunification” from its propaganda, the regime has ordered organizations nationwide to silence any dissent toward the regime’s move away from narratives emphasizing South Korea as a partner for reunification.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in South Pyongan Province said Tuesday that North Korean authorities recently ordered party agencies and labor groups – including the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, the Korean Socialist Women’s Union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Agricultural Workers’ Union – to watch what they say about the party’s policy toward South Korea in their lectures, workshops, and discussions.
Specifically, North Korean authorities ordered officials of the agencies and groups to silence dissent during lectures or other meetings. The authorities also instructed officials to strengthen their monitoring and reporting system, ordering them to closely monitor people who comment on party policy or make political statements and report their names up the chain of command.
In particular, North Korean authorities claimed in the order that “reactionary phenomena” are emerging, with people arbitrarily interpreting policies to erase the concept of national reunification. They instructed officials to report instances of people making speculative comments about the policy or interpreting it in an unnecessarily political way.
In a policy speech to the 10th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for “completely eliminating the original concept that contradicts the reality that the ROK is the partner for reconciliation and reunification and the fellow countrymen [sic].”
The silencing campaign begins
Meanwhile, there are reports that the government is trying to silence ordinary people who express dissent about the move away support for peaceful national reunification.
For example, Ministry of State Security agents in Pyongsong, North Pyongan Province, recently arrested a man in his 60s who expressed doubts about the party’s moves to erase the concept of reunification.
The man was arrested for allegedly saying: “The reunification of the country was Kim Il Sung’s dying wish, so I don’t know why they are suddenly telling us not to use the word reunification.”
Security officials have been investigating his recent behavior and why he said what he said. It is unclear what punishment he will receive once the investigation is over.
In a recent interview with Daily NK, a North Korean official, when asked what he thought of the measures to erase the concept of national reunification, said that “even officials loyal to the party think it is difficult to erase the historical facts of the nation, reunification, compatriots and the Korean race with a single word,” adding that he did not think Kim’s order was “a move in a good direction.”
This suggests that even some North Korean party officials think badly of measures to eradicate the concept of national reunification.
But the source said that with authorities ordering people not to make political comments about party policies or decisions, and officials reporting anyone who does, “people won’t be able to say anything related to ‘reunification’ for the time being.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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