The purpose of this paper is to study how Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung's leadership was created, developed and institutionalized through the system of "on-the-spot" guidance. Using the methods of historical analysis and literature study, this paper app...
The purpose of this paper is to study how Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung's leadership was created, developed and institutionalized through the system of "on-the-spot" guidance. Using the methods of historical analysis and literature study, this paper applies the theory on the functions of political leadership introduced by Glenn D. Paige and that on the role of political leadership developed by Robert C. Tucker.
The relationship between the development of socialism in North Korea and its on-the-spot guidance system may be reviewed in three different periods. The first model of on-the-spot guidance was introduced during the 1950s and the 60s, a period in which the foundations for North Korean socialist system were laid. North Korea went through a process of socialistic industrialization while a system of top-down mass mobilization and its leadership structure were established in the following two decades. The crisis in the North Korean regime aggravated throughout the 1990s, a decade of “arduous march” for North Koreans. Advocating the importance of “army-first” policy, Kim Jong-il had incorporated on-the-spot guidance into his own style of political leadership during this period.
The relationship between North Korean political leadership and on-the-spot guidance may be summed up as the following. From the early days of North Korean regime to the mid 1970s, Kim Il-sung's leadership was established through the promotion of such mass lines as the Chollima Movement, Taean work system, and Chongsan-ri method. Likewise, mobilizing North Korean public through the promotion of three-revolution teams and speed campaigns, Kim Jong-il consolidated his political leadership in the form of the army-first policy. The North Korean leaders ruled the country using the on-the-spot guidance system that utilized two types of control mechanism simultaneously: consent and oppression. The monarchical ruling system created in the process of mass mobilization hampered development of a sound political system in North Korea, however. Stressing the importance of successive socialist revolutions and continuing loyalty to his own family line, Kim Il-sung was able to maintain his monarchical rule. His on-the-spot guidance helped North Korea achieve a rapid economic growth. Yet, it prevented the North Korean regime from breaking away from the external growth strategy. The process of rapid economic growth rather reinforced the ruling power of the privileged North Korean Workers' Party and state bureaucracy. North Korea has continued to rely on its leaders' on-the-spot guidance in its efforts to build a powerful nation, but failed to overcome the limitations of authoritarian leadership.
It seems that North Korea would continue to hold on to the on-the-spot guidance system in the future as long as the regime maintains the characteristics of monarchical political system and keeps the army-first policy and its desire to build a powerful nation as its strategic goals.
There exists a certain limit to analysing and evaluating North Korea's on-the-spot guidance system because Kim Jong-il's leadership is still in progress. In addition, lack of primary data on the details of on-the-spot guidance and insufficient information on North Korea's decision making process make it very difficult to make a microscopic analysis of the system. In particular, due to the lack of data that would help us to discriminate voluntary participation from forced mobilization of the mass during the process of North Korean industrialization, the burden of proof remains for future studies.