From the article of 'Petrel'
No.693 / Septembert 13, 1998
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Where does the Nation of North Korea go?
Though the despotism of Kim Jong Il seems to have been firmed.
The North Korea nation that drove the missile over Japanese islands had "completed" to transfer the powers to Kim Jong Il immediately after that at last four years later after the death of Kim Il Sung.
What did the missile mean on the whole, what kind of nation is the newly reorganized North Korea nation of Kim Jong Il, and to what kind of nation does it become?
We also can do nothing but talk the many part by guess and forecast because the internal circumstances are encompassed by a lot of mystery as a military, dictatorial nation.
It might be clear that the powers of Kim Jong Il is a military nation and the powers that Kim Jong Il depends on first is the army because he left the position of the national president on the shelf, and on the other hand, he assumed newly the chairman of the National Defense Commission of which Kim Young Nam provided as "the supreme position of nation" and is trying to rule the nation with depending on it.
On the other hand, Kim Young Nam assumed the regular committee of new establishment that seems to maintain considerable powers. This post is the highest organization of the nation during the recess of the Supreme Peoples' Assembly and can do the new establishment and the abolition of the ministry, the appointment and the dismissal of the cabinet ministers, the ratification and the abandonment of the agreement with foreign countries. In the new constitution, the regular chairman is provided as "to receive the foreign ambassador's trust card on behalf of the nation."
In addition, they say that the national president is abolished and the responsibility Cabinet system is done formally, the Cabinet is organized, and there is a Prime Minister, so this nation is considerably complex as far as to see superficially.
Kim Jong Il comes to rule Cabinet back as the chief of the National Defense Commission. Might it be the thing to achieve the prolongment of the life of own powers by imputing the responsibility to the Prime Minister and by replacing the prime minister's neck when something difficulty and disaster comes?
Anyway, this "Responsibility Cabinet system" will not necessarily function literally and the cabinet and the Prime Minister stay in that sense at the ornamental position.
It seems that the rule of Kim Jong Il accomplished and was guaranteed as the ruling mechanism of the nation, however we might not be able to consider this powers as being stable and lasting long even in some measure.
The economic crisis of North Korea is already serious and is being deepen more and more. What made the crisis more serious is that the direction of the improvement or the overcoming does not come into view.
The new constitution (the revised constitution) shows the sign to "Economic liberalization;" It might be the evidence that the North Korea ruling stratum is about to incline to the consideration that they cannot overcome the economic crisis even in some measure without depending on the market economy.
However, it is clear even from the experience of Eastern Europe and Russia that we cannot easily say that the economy will pick up if we depend on the market economy, and the worker in Japan who has experienced the bubble of several years and the large recession for close to 10 tears also consent to it already, of course.
To see the new, economical change in the revised constitution, the farming tools and the buildings are excluded from the land, the farm machines and implements, and the small and medium-sized factory that have been as "Joint group possession" up to now, and the individual possession was admitted; This might not be a small change.
"The social joint group" besides the nation also can be involved in the trade, and the national monopoly has been loosened in some measure; The purpose of this is to acquire the foreign currency through trades other than the nation and to expand the import such as the foods from the foreign country.
Moreover, it is remarkable that the revised constitution expresses as "We execute the independent profit system and try to use the economic space such as the earnings of the cost and the price correctly." We wonder whether North Korea reached the step of those days from 1950's to 60's at last when such a slogan appeared in the Soviet Union.
The nation of North Korea does not show officially the sign to correct the usual route still now, and the despotism of Kim Jong Il succeeded from Kim Il Sung seems to be accomplished steadily.
However, on the other hand, to encourage the stagnating economy and to achieve the activation they can do nothing but depend on the market economy and adopt the route of "Using" it, too. However, this is a double-edged sword as the experience of the Soviet Union taught, and it might dig and destroy the powers of Kim Jong Il, and prepare the dismantlement.
North Korea had expressed "the our-style socialism," but this is as same as that Kenji Miyamoto and Tetuzo Fuwa just expresse "the Japanese original socialism."
It is a nation of the national capitalism in short and it is the one like the expedient to pretend the own system that does not enter the category of socialism no matter how it does as "Socialism," and the Chinese Communist Party also has chatted about "the Chinese Original" socialism and is chatting now.
However, there is nothing like socialism in the system of Kim Jong Il. It is the reactionary, military despotism of Kim Jong Il, and is the semi-feudal nation.
Where does the nation of Kim Jong Il go? It tries to maintain the system of despotism as a nation of Stalinism, but it has to promote the liberalization of economy even to some degree for the economic development and reinforcement of this system, and the try also dismantles the despotism system of Kim Jong Il from the basis and prepares the collapsen to some degree for the economic development and reinforcement of this system, and the try also dismantles the despotism system of Kim Jong Il from the basis and prepares the collapse as an inevitability. Now, we can evaluate the rule of Kim Jong Il to have rushed into such "Vicious circle" for Kim Jong Il.
(Translated by Yoshi)