Many researchers on North Korea (NK) and the international community expected that NK would lead to a sudden change when the two dictators died, namely, in July 1994 when Kim Il-sung died, and also in December 2011 when Kim Jong-il died.
But the t...
Many researchers on North Korea (NK) and the international community expected that NK would lead to a sudden change when the two dictators died, namely, in July 1994 when Kim Il-sung died, and also in December 2011 when Kim Jong-il died.
But the third power successor Kim Jung-un is still recognized as the great leader of the Communist Party and the people, who would revolutionize NK and construct a socialist nation, and idolisation of him has continued.
This paper finds the reason for NK regime to be maintained through its regime's propaganda and agitation under its Public Cultural Knowledge Program. This study thus aims to analyze news articles run in the General Knowledge Section of the public general magazine Cheollima and to review how the regime conducts its propaganda and agitation and Public Cultural Knowledge Program in a bid to examine whether the regime will continue or will be changed.
「CheonRima」 is NK's only public general magazine. This magazine was inaugurated in 1959 after NK positively conducted the 「CheonRima」 campaign in 1958. It has since been being published. 「CheonRima」 published to rally the populace into the 「CheonRima」 campaign, and since KIm Il-sung instructed in 1964, the magazine has served as the public general magazine with more fun and entertainment factors added to it.
Herein adopted was the statistical analytic method by which about 1,600 titles of general knowledge in 「CheonRima」 issues from January 1974 to December 2013, available in South Korea, which feature the Do You Know? Section and the Ask Whatever You Wish Section, were extracted and analyzed to examine their yearly frequency. Also, adopted was the method by which articles run in the General Knowledge Section were analyzed by referring to NK's nuclear reactor data, NK defectors' testimonies, and NK's information.
Communists based the concepts of propaganda and agitation on those of Russia, which used propaganda and agitation differently. NK's propaganda and agitation were also influenced by the Russian concept thereof, and as Kim Il-sung constructed his dictatorial regime and Kim Jong-il implemented the policy of putting military first, NK has embraced the propaganda and agitation as the basic framework to maintain its regime, to idolize the leader, to construct the power succession system, and to agitate and control the populace.
With that framework, it is the Public Cultural Knowledge Program that plays a great role in maintaining the regime and in realizing socialist construction tasks. The Public Cultural Knowledge Program system is closely related to the NK society system with the leader at the center of it, namely, the leader's only leading system. The Public Cultural Knowledge Program is led by schools, publications, and literature and arts. NK's mass communication can be properly understood only under the Public Cultural Knowledge Program system.
General knowledge, run in 「CheonRima」's Do You Know? and Ask Whatever You Wish sections, was analyzed, except for issues deleting those sections, revealing that 1297 articles were run in the Do You Know? Section, while 377 articles were run in the Ask Whatever You Wish section.
The themes and contents of these sections, as though reflecting the NK society, are extremely biased and limited. Also, although different areas of concern by period from the 1970s to 2010s were featured, the communication method through general knowledge was that the regime unilaterally delivered news and information to the people.
This function serves to closely mastermind the NK people through the regime's provision of political cultural knowledge and its control, as well as through news media and publications. For that matter, the general section of 「CheonRima」 proves what policies NK has thus far implemented.
Due to NK's such shutdown, control and regulation, NK people's life areas are very limited, and their subjective judgment and areas of their thinking are also limited, thus limiting their subjects of dialogue in daily life.
As such, there has been little change for 50 years after 「CheonRima」 was inaugurated, and this fact suggests that NK is neither willing nor ready to change.
This paper has to be limited since the NK regime still continues with 「CheonRima」 continuing to be published. Thus, this study is very limited and fragmental, making it difficult to conclude how NK's propaganda and agitation and Public Cultural Knowledge Program will proceed.
But NK residents, albeit limited, are increasingly using computers and mobile phones thanks to ICT development, and can use human networks and acquire the internal information through the black market 'Jangmadang'. Also, they can contact external terminals through CDs, DVDs, radio, etc.
After all, the NK regime's limited provision of information with a view to maintaining its regime will not meet the curiosity and needs of NK residents who are increasingly acquiring the information on international situations, on domestic environmental changes, and on external information.
Thus, a need may be required to improve the NK's official news media, and a change may be effected if new media emerge. Thus, to both meet its people's needs and achieve social control and regime maintenance, the NK regime should change the content of its official news media, and if so, the NK society will change.