In the past, most of the studies on the leadership of the supreme commander of North Korea were based on a structural, macro approach focusing on the North Korean system. However, after 2000, Kim Jong-il started to be active on the international dipl...
In the past, most of the studies on the leadership of the supreme commander of North Korea were based on a structural, macro approach focusing on the North Korean system. However, after 2000, Kim Jong-il started to be active on the international diplomatic scene and began to show possible general leadership patterns that somewhat faded his bizarre and reclusive image.
Nevertheless, in our society, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is still widely viewed as someone who is unstable, unpredictable, and capricious. Then again, was Kim Jong-il somebody unpredictable with no clear leadership pattern? If indeed Kim Jong-il was an unpredictable leader, nothing could explain the fact that the North Korean regime did not collapse and succeeded in maintaining itself despite the numerous economic hardships and crisis it faced in the 1990s. Based on that problematic observation, the author felt a new approach was needed in the leadership study of North Korea's supreme commander.
This study effectuated a time-series analysis of the correlation between the leadership image reflected in the speeches and publications, which has been so far an area of no great interest to researchers, and the individual characteristics and it intends to demonstrate that the minute changes in leadership shown through the changes of personal characteristics at each period of analysis are one of the main pillar and driving force in maintaining the North Korean regime.
To this end, I have distinguished 4 main periods in the politico-structural environment that triggers Kim Jong-il's political influence. I have effectuated a motive imagery analysis as well as a sectorial analysis to get knowledge of the personal characteristics.
As a result, through the combination of the leader's personal characteristics and the leadership image shown from the sectorial content analysis, I was able to determine minute changes according to the changing external and internal environment. The minute leadership changes shown in the speeches and publications lead us to view those speeches and publications not just as a medium to instill the image of the leader but also as a force to make the North Korean population comply to the system and, in the end, maintain the regime.
I have distinguished 3 major motive imageries: achievement, power and affiliation intimacy imageries. The achievement imagery serves an indicator of outstanding activity to achieve a positive objective or result, to compete over excellence, to bring an unique achievement and an unprecedented absolute standard. Power imagery shows the influence and prestige associated with social power and privileges. Expressions that give considerable impact, strength, or influence to people, groups, institutions, countries and the world are power imageries. In order to get this power, aggressiveness and extreme risk-taking are the personal characteristics of the leader and may result in wasteful and impulsive behavior.
Affiliation intimacy imagery means the establishment, maintenance, restoration of friendship or intimacy between people, groups, and countries.
The ambitions of this study are as follows:
To provide an analytical framework for a theoretical approach of North Korean studies, which has been one of its weakest point. And to provide an expanded application method to analyze the speeches and publications through the quantitative motive imagery analysis highlighting personal characteristics. This approach has the merit of being able to explain the minutes changes in Kim Jong-il's leadership, an area which has been difficult to explain until now, through the changes of his personal characteristics that keep adapting to the situation he is facing at a particular point in time.
Therefore, this tells us that Kim Jong-il's leadership, which did not show any change from a macro viewpoint, has in fact gradually changed in order to maintain the North Korean system. Moreover, the results of this study show us that the leadership pattern of the North Korean ruler has some correlation with the personal characteristics and the situational factors and that if we change the situational factors we can provoke a change of leadership pattern. These study results have been possible through a longitudinal analysis of 40 years of speeches and documents.
On the other hand, although Kim Jong-il emphasized Songun (Military First) policy and Gangseongdaeguk (Strong and Prosperous Nation), the sectorial analysis of Kim Jong-il's Sonjib shows that the Party was still the predominant institution of the country.
In particular, the fact that military documents have been excluded since Kim Jong-il came to power to continue the political legacy of his father shows that although on the surface emphasis is put on the Military First policy, in reality the Party comes first in the political system. Moreover, the numerous past studies on Kim Jong-il's leadership were not based on the military but on the Party. However, more studies on Kim Jong-il's speeches and documents are necessary so that the results of this analysis are generally accepted.
Breaking from the conventional macro leadership study and through the three motive (achievement, power, and affiliation intimacy) imagery analysis and sectorial analysis of Kim Jong-il's Sonjib, allowing to know his personal characteristics, we will be able to reveal minute changes of leadership and this micro time-series approach will allow us to predict the behavior of other North Korean ruler and changes of the North Korean society.