This study is an attempt to examine the changes in North Korea's urban landscape production, landscape-government and their associated implications. In particular, it focuses on the discourse of urban cityscape design in North Korea and the aesthetics...
This study is an attempt to examine the changes in North Korea's urban landscape production, landscape-government and their associated implications. In particular, it focuses on the discourse of urban cityscape design in North Korea and the aesthetics and the ways of production of landscape of Pyongyang's streets during the Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un era. In doing so, this study aims to understand the content and changes of landscape governing in North Korea and its implications.
Keeping in mind that landscape-government is not a unique phenomenon in North Korea, this study try to analyze the aesthetic features of cityscapes and the ways of landscape production in the history of landscape governing based on various rationales of government, including socialism and capitalism.
The discourse on cityscape production was refined in 1991, when Kim Jong-Il established himself as his successor, and the content of the discourse changed under Kim Jong-Il. The so-called Juche architecture of Kim Jong-Il systematized the principles of architecture's ideological and formal aesthetics based on the Juche ideology, the ruling ideology of Kim Jong-Il during the crisis of his rule. On the other hand, during Kim Jong-Un's time, he published a discourse on practical landscape production that emphasized civilization, science, and the people in 2013 at the beginning of his administration. However, after the failure of the North Korea-U.S. talks in 2019, which led to a policy of external closure, the content of the discourse was revealed to be eclectic with the Juche architectural theory.
In addition, the discourse of landscape production under Kim Jong-Un, differs from that of Kim Jong-Il, shows both fact-based statements and self-critical narratives. This can be seen as a reflection of Kim Jong-Un's willingness to present a more authentic landscape discourse production.
The change in discourse was also reflected to a large extent in the production of representative streets in Pyongyang. However, under Kim Jong-Un, policy considerations and market economy dynamics played a relatively more important role in determining the aesthetics and image of Pyongyang's street construction than under Kim Jong-Il.
Under Kim Jong-Il leadership, in the context of a regime crisis, including the crisis in the Eastern socialist bloc and inferiority in regime competition, the country chose to overcome the "our own way". In times of political crisis, such as during the Kim Il-Sung era, a discourse emerged to consolidate control, which led to the representation of a political rhetorical aesthetic. In Pyongyang, the city's largest streets, Gwangbok Street and Tongil Street, faithfully represented the aesthetic elements of Juche architecture, marked by grandeur, diversity, etc..
In contrast, during the Kim Jong-Un era, the image and aesthetics of Pyongyang's streets became more in line with the party's policy needs at the time. As in the Kim Jong-Il era, there was a need for housing in Pyongyang, but a cityscape that represented the party's science-oriented policy was implemented in the Mirae Scientist Street. In 2016, energy-saving "green architecture" was introduced to Ryomyong Street in accordance with the tasks of the Five-Year Economic Development Strategy. Renewable energy technology has been introduced, and it has become a symbol of cutting-edge green architecture. The policy-oriented nature of the architecture has also influenced the street's location. Mirae Scientist Street has the potential to form a cohesive cluster with neighboring facilities such as the DPRK Science and Technology Center and Kimchaek University of Technology.
In both the Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un periods, the landscape aesthetics were centered on apartments, which are a product of modernist architecture. Therefore, while the characteristics of modernist architecture, such as volume and abstraction, were the basis for the aesthetic elements, the streets in the Kim Jong-Un period are relatively diverse in their aesthetic characteristics. Just as Western post-modernist architecture is characterized by regional diversity, Mirae Scientist Street(a symbol of science and technology) and Ryomyong Street(a symbol of advanced green architecture) have different identities. In particular, the recently constructed examples of Gyeongru-dong, Songhwa street, and Hwaseong district show even more diverse images. The diversity of landscape production during the Kim Jong-Un era suggests that Pyongyang may become the prototype for a postmodern North Korean cityscpae in the future.
In addition, relatively innovative methods of landscape image production were utilized during the Kim Jong-Un era. The innovative methods were theorized in “Chosun Architecture" and applied to a large extent in actual street production. First of all, the way of viewing and planning the landscape changed. While inspecting the Mirae Scientist Street, Kim Jong-Un took a bird's eye view of the city center of Pyongyang, the Daedong River, and Mugwort Island from a private plane and planned the landscape. As such, bird's eye view of the entire area from an aerial or distant view and planning a panoramic landscape became a best practice.
Particularly noteworthy are the changes in the way landscape images are produced, including the formation of skylines centered on landmarks, dense arrangements, and combinations of night views and colors. Considering the landscape image from a distance, a modern skyline centered on skyscraper landmarks was intended, and high-rise buildings were placed continuously and densely along the streets to form the skyline. In addition, during the Kim Jong-Un era, specific color combinations were applied to the facades to reveal identity, and the night view of the streets of Pyongyang was particularly emphasized. As a result of these new modes of image production, the Pyongyang cityscape is similar to the aesthetics of capitalist or developmentalist metropolises such as New York, Shanghai, Seoul, and Guangzhou.
Finally, partial differences emerged in the dimension of how the state influences the people through media coverage of Pyongyang's streets as ‘broad governing’. In both the Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un periods, the rationalization of state rule and the intention to guide people's behavior through the landscape is evident. However, while Kim Jong-Il's focus was on mobilizing the labor force and promoting speed campaign, Kim Jong-Un's focus is more on shaping the people's identity of a civilized socilaist country to match the modern landscape. In the case of Ryomyong Street, it was also used as a venue for domestic and international propaganda during the new-clear weapon negotiations.
In this context, landscape-government under Kim Jong-Un utilizes more innovative and pragmatic discourses and aesthetics of cityscape formation than under Kim Jong-Il. In both periods, issues of governing, such as succession issues and crises of power, influenced landscape-government, and the philosophical status of Juche ideology and Juche architecture is absolute. However, the content and discoursive changes in Kim Jong-Un's 'Letter on Instructing the Workers in the Construction Sector' and the innovative/practical aesthetics and image production methods exhibited by Pyongyang’s main Street allow us to recognize landscape governing as a new stage in the Kim Jong-Un era.
The scholarly contribution of this study is, first, to reveal the specific ways in which recently constructed streets in Pyongyang have been embodied in contemporary images and their implications. It can be argued that the recently constructed modern landscape of Pyongyang represents a new utopian project of the Kim Jong-Un regime. The ramifications of Pyongyang's modern cityscape include both positive and negative possibilities, including the enhancement of the country's image and the creation of an imitative landscape.
Secondly, this research offers an analysis of landscape-government in a socialist state, which has not been addressed in Foucault's study of governmentality. This is significant in that it provides one perspective on the study of landscape in North Korean cities.
Third, the changes in landscape-government in North Korea provide insight into the signs of regime transitions and urban changes in North Korea. Under Kim Jong-Un, Juche idology remain strong, but there is flexibility in the production of the Pyongyang cityscape. However, this transformation of Pyongyang's landscape is also accompanied by the risk of capitalist urban deterioration.