The interviewees were unanimous in saying that North Korea should follow the Chinese model of reform and opening; however, they all expressed doubts about Kim Jong Eun\u2019s capacity to carry it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have the belief that if we see reform and opening like China did then life will get better,\u201d the woman from southerly Sariwon explained. \u201cThey thought that just opening up Shinuiju last year was a step forward, but now that the General has passed away we hope to see them being more proactive about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment we are people being held back by a fence. We know about the outside world and think we need to follow other countries that\u2019ve done well. If we did, standards of living would improve. I really hope that happens,\u201d she went on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen protests happening in South Chosun come on the TV, people point out how well they are dressed, the shoes they are wearing. People in South Chosun are like that, so why are we like this? The desire to survive leads people to wish for a war or anything, really. But actually, we don\u2019t know what the young leader is going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leader has changed but Chosun absolutely cannot reform and open. Why not? Because if that happened, religion would come into the country and it would be easier for the regime to collapse, so they won\u2019t do it. So, that is why the public wants a war or something that will bring unification.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe true feeling is that people want General Kim to let the people go out into the world, and to follow reform and opening. Of course we don\u2019t know whether comrade Jong Eun will actually reform, but it would be nice if he used his youthful energy to launch new change\u201d<\/p>\n
At present, the North Korean authorities are attempting to generate loyalty to Kim Jong Eun through education sessions in businesses and people\u2019s units across the country. However, the interviewees all said that people merely attend these sessions as a formality, and that the majority are not affected by them.<\/p>\n
The trading woman in her 50s from Kangye said, \u201cWe have been having education sessions since the start of this year in our people\u2019s unit and Union of Democratic Women meetings where they tell us that \u2018General Kim Jong Eun is all we\u2019ve got, so serve him well.\u2019 Nobody listens properly to what is being said though because most are so tired when they get there that they take it as a chance to sleep or have a rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman from Chongjin said, \u201cThe reason General Kim is conducting so many onsite guidance visits as of late is to try and look like Kim Il Sung, who looked good. But everybody knows. The dynastic system that made him the leader is keeping them in chains.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The interviewees were unanimous in saying that North Korea should follow the Chinese model of reform and opening; however, they all expressed doubts about Kim Jong Eun\u2019s capacity to carry it out. \u201cPeople have the belief that if we see reform and opening like China did then life will get better,\u201d the woman from southerly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":18776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n