Power and the elite in north korea

Power and the Elite in North Korea This book explores how political power has shaped the elite and their development in North Korea by examining changes of the elite, their interactions, and specific elite figures, based on the transformation of the power structure and characteristics of the North Korean regime since August 1945. As a socialist state where the party guides the state, the ruling core is the party cadre in North Korea. This book distinguishes the development of the North Korean power into five periods: power structuration of the Soviet forces (1945 to the late 1940s), socialist oligarchic power (late 1940s to mid- 1950s), limited personal power (mid-1950s to late 1960s), personal power (late 1960s to mid-1970s) and patrimonial power (mid-1970s to the present). In parallel with the power factor, it also analyses four distinct generations, sorted based on their birth cohort and each cohort’s shared experience in its early youth, to explain their political development.

As an examination of the composition and internal dynamics of the North Korean elite, particularly those in the Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of North Korea and Asian politics. Jae-Cheon Lim is a professor at Korea University (Goryeo Daehakgyo), South Korea. His main research interests include North Korean politics and inter-Korean relations. He is the author of Kim Jong Il’s Leadership of North Korea (2009) and Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State (2015).

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Power and the Elite in North Korea Paektu and Kanbu Jae-Cheon Lim For more information about this series, please visit: www.com/asianstudies/series/SE0505 Power and the Elite in North Korea Paektu and Kanbu Jae-Cheon Lim First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 Jae-Cheon Lim The right of Jae-Cheon Lim to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-032-73184-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-73188-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-42713-1 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003427131 Typeset in Times New Roman by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive) Contents List of Tables Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 Introduction Political Power Generations of the North Korean Elite Structure of the Book Bibliography 2 The Power Structuration of the Soviet Forces: 1945 to Late 1940s Soviet Policy in North Korea Origins of the North Korean Elite Founding of the Korean Workers’ Party Founding of the Government Founding of the Military Technocrats Summary Bibliography 3 Socialist Oligarchic Power: Late 1940s to Mid-1950s Kim Il Sung–Hŏ Ka-i Disputes Purge of Pak Hŏn-yŏng and the Indigenous Group Beginning of the Party’s Control over the Military Policy Debates and Elite Changes After the Korean War Summary Bibliography 4 Limited Personal Power: Mid-1950s to Late 1960s The August Factional Incident The 1958 Purge in the Military Summary Bibliography 5 Personal Power: Late 1960s to Mid-1970s The Kapsan Faction Incident The Purge of Military Hardliners in 1969 The Beginning of the First Patrimonial Succession Summary Bibliography 6 Patrimonial Power 1: Mid-1970s to Mid-1990s Indoctrination of the Entire Society with Kimilsungism Establishment of the Monolithic Guidance System Pragmatic Economic Technocrats Kim Jong Il’s Elite Policy Summary Bibliography 7 Patrimonial Power 2: Mid-1990s to Early 2010s State Control by Cronies A Purge in Socio-economic Crisis Military-First Politics The Second Patrimonial Succession The North Korean Patrimonial Elite Summary Bibliography 8 Patrimonial Power 3: Early 2010s to The Present The Power Transition Purge of Chang Sŏng-t’aek Rising Status of Military Industry Experts Gradual Generational Change Summary Bibliography 9 Conclusion Index Tables 2.1 The Leadership of the North Korean Bureau of the Korean Communist Party, October 1945 2.2 The North Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee Leadership at the Founding Congress, August 1946 2.3 Change of Party Representatives’ Social Class from the North Korean Workers’ Party First Congress to its Second Congress 2.4 The North Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee Leadership after the Second Congress, March 1948 2.5 The Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee Leadership after the June Founding Meeting, 1949 2.6 The Leadership of the Administrative Bureau of the Five North Korean Provinces, November 1945 2.7 The Leadership of the North Korean Provisional People’s Committee, February 1946 2.8 The Leadership of the North Korean People’s Committee, February 1947 2.9 The DPRK First Cabinet, September 1948 2.10 The Korean People’s Army Leadership Structure, February 1948 3.1 The Indigenous Group Members Officially Tried 4.1 The Korean Workers’ Party Leadership at the Third Congress, April 1956 4.2 The Korean Workers’ Party Leadership at the Fourth Congress, September 1961 4.3 Former Guerrillas in the KWP Central Committee at the Fourth Congress, September 1961 4.4 The Korean Workers’ Party Leadership at the Second Conference, October 1966 5.1 The Korean Workers’ Party Leadership at the Fifth Congress, November 1970 7.1 National Defense Commission Leadership, 1990–2016 7.2 Korean Workers’ Party Leadership Comparison between the Sixth Congress (October 1980) and the Third Conference (September 2010) 8.1 Party Leadership Change from the Third Conference (September 2010) to the Fourth Conference (April 2012) 8.2 Party Leadership Change from the Fourth Conference (April 2012) to the Seventh Congress (May 2016) 8.3 Party Leadership Change from the Third Conference (September 2010) to the December 2019 Plenum of the Central Committee 8.4 Party Leadership Change from the December 2019 Central Committee Plenum to the Eighth Congress (January 2021) Acknowledgments This book would not have been published without my courses taught at Korea University Sejong Campus. Course materials accumulated over the past several years became the principal sources for the book. Many people helped me finish the book. First, I would like to express deep gratitude to my research assistants Wonhee Jung, Junhee Lee, and Joo Hee Hwang, who collected sources on the North Korean elite for me.

My appreciation also extends to my colleagues Ho-Yeol Yoo, Seong-Wook Nam, Balazs Szalontai, Yejoon Rim, and Tatiana Gabroussenko in Korean Unification, Diplomacy and Security Major. Many thanks additionally go to my graduate students, including Sang Il Ryu, Sŭng-min Yu, Chu-ch’ŏn Kim, Hyewon Kim, Yu-hak Chŏng, Y ŏng-sŏl Pak, Chong-bae Yi, Chŏng-ho O, Si-hyŏn Paek, Ch’ŏl- hyŏng Yim, Zion Kim, and Byung-nae Kim. Intellectual discussions with Eundak Kwon and Pil Ho Kim in Ohio were very encouraging. At Routledge, I would like to sincerely express my thanks to Asian Studies publisher Stephanie Rogers.

This is my third work with her. I was very lucky to have her as publisher. Asian Studies senior editorial assistant Andrew Leach also deserves my appreciation for his assistance in this publication. Many thanks to Suba Ramya and Keith Povey as copyeditors.

It was a pleasure to see my children—Taegyung and Sungjoo— growing while writing this book. My wholehearted gratitude also goes to my wife Sun-Hee, who has looked after my children and supported me. I very much miss my late parents. This book is dedicated to them.

Abbreviations CC Central Committee CCP Chinese Communist Party Comintern Communist International DFUF Democratic Front for the Unification of the Fatherland DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea KAPF Korea Artista Proleta Federatio KCP Korean Communist Party KDP Korean Democratic Party KIL Korean Independence League in North China KPA Korean People’s Army KWP Korean Workers’ Party NDC National Defense Commission NDP Korean New Democratic Party NKCP North Korean Communist Party NKPA North Korean People’s Assembly NKPC North Korean People’s Committee NKPPC North Korean Provisional People’s Committee NKWP North Korean Workers’ Party OGD Organization and Guidance Department SAC State Affairs Commission SKWP South Korean Workers’ Party SPA Supreme People’s Assembly YFP North Korean Young Friends’ Party 1 Introduction DOI: 10.4324/9781003427131-1 After the death of Kim Il Sung in July 1994, many outside watchers anticipated that North Korea would collapse in the foreseeable future. Particularly when the North entered into a mass starvation period in the mid- and late 1990s, the US government made a contingency plan to cope with a possible regime collapse in North Korea.1 However, contrary to much speculation, the Kim Jong Il regime sustained itself remarkably, despite the chronic economic difficulties of the post-Kim Il Sung era. The former Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), Hwang Chang-yŏp, was the only top official from the regime to have defected to South Korea at the time. With the exception of Hwang’s exile, the power elites in North Korea were solidly united around Kim Jong Il.

Similar concerns, although less loudly expressed and more cautious, emerged after the death of Kim Jong Il in December 2011, who left an inexperienced successor, Kim Jong Un, who was only in his mid- or late twenties at the time. However, the regime demonstrated that Kim Jong Il’s death would not determine its future direction, and the power elites implemented the young leader’s political succession smoothly, as if it had been well planned before Kim senior’s death. It is now more than 12 years since the death of Kim Jong Il, and the power elites in North Korea have successfully upheld the authority of Kim Jong Un without being involved in any significant power struggle. How is it possible for the North Korean regime to maintain such firm stability in the elite system? Why is it so uncommon, contrary to many expert predictions, to hear about a political challenge or military coup against the leader in North Korea despite its long-term economic troubles? What are the reasons behind this leader–elite solidarity in internally and externally unfavorable environments? The leader–elite relationship in North Korea has been, and remains, one of the key factors in understanding the resilience of the regime.

This book examines these questions through a historical analysis of the leader–elite relationships, considering two major factors—North Korea’s political power and its elite class. This study examines the North Korean elites and their behaviors over the course of the development of political power in the country. It may be the first attempt to focus entirely on the subject of the North Korean elites. The study pays particular attention to the development of ‘power structure and characteristics’ in the North Korean political system to understand the formation and development of the elite, and seeks to explore how the transformation of North Korea’s power structure and characteristics has altered its elite system.

Political Power This study attempts to explain how political power has shaped the elites and their development in North Korea. Specifically, it examines the historical development of the elites and their interactions, based on the transformation of power structure and characteristics in the regime since August 1945 when the Korean peninsula was divided into North and South Korea. Here, ‘power structure’ refers to how political power is distributed among political actors.2 This book distinguishes the development of the North Korean power structure into four periods.