Challenging countries in terms of trust, communication, etc. making sure everyone is ok: everyone is worrying about x-what you’re doing with them. Different treatments for UN officials.
DNZ zones. Different history of the WW2, that it would have been liberated by Kim Il-sung, no Hiroshima. Really bitter against Japan about the issue of problems with the former occupation (ex: tram driver). Informal economy
DPR Korea – isolation as a philosophy
DPRK was formed when the Korean peninsula was divided following the WW2.
• Kim family dynasty – imposed “Juche” philosophy
• Was ahead of ROK in terms of economic development until at least the 1970s, real respect for the grand-father.
• No internet, no regular contact with other countries for the vas majority of north Koreans. But we saw today the US are hacking
• At least a certain proportion of the populace is highly educated. 100 different levels.
• UN and other sanctions serve to further the isolation of “regular” north Koreans
• DPRK and ROK both formally joined the UN in 1991 as observers
About “Juche”: The Juche Idea, sometimes spelled Chuch'e, is a political thesis of Kim Il-sung which says that the Korean masses are the masters of the country's development. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Kim and other party theorists such as Hwang Jang-yop elaborated the Juche Idea into a set of principles that the government uses to justify its policy decisions. Among these are a strong military posture and reliance on Korean national resources. The name comes from juche, the Korean translation for the philosophical and Marxist term "subject", also meaning "main body" or "mainstream", and is sometimes translated in North Korean sources as "independent stand" or "spirit of self-reliance". It has also been interpreted as "always putting Korean things first". According to Kim Il-sung, the Juche Idea is based on the belief that "man is the master of everything and decides everything".
DPRK (cont’d)
DPRK has...