(The) impact of famine on Kim Jong-Il's control over social and political forces in North-Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which the famine has affected the social and political landscape of North Korea. Specifically, it deals with the degree of Kim Jong-il's control of the North Korean society. The main argument is that while the famine has had a detrimental effect on the general populace, it was not severe enough to undermine Kim Jong-il's
control of the society because the social control mechanisms have continued to function. To this end, several social and political indicators, these being the unauthorized movement of people, private farming and markets, defections, Kim's relationship with the military, and the North Korean foreign policy, have been examined. Kim Jong-il has made minimal changes relative to internal mobility, private enterprise, and foreign policy. He has held fast with regard to the military and numerous defections. While the last six months have been very eventful in terms of social, political, and economic initiatives by both North and South, little of substantive nature has as yet been realized. Certainly this rapprochement would not have occurred in the absence of famine and economic breakdown.