Commentary 24/08/05 #FreeNorthKorea ought to be trending on social media

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#FreeNorthKorea ought to be trending on social media

Only a truly global campaign can give the next generation of N. Koreans a better, brighter, freer, and more peaceful future

Published: August 05, 2024 04:29 AM GMT ▾

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center left) and his daughter Ju-ae (center right) are seen inspecting the training of the Korean People's Army at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this picture taken on March 15 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). (Photo: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

Last week it was reported that North Korea’s next leader might well be female. According to news reports, Kim Jong-un is preparing his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, to succeed him.

Kim Ju-ae’s public appearances have certainly become more frequent. It is not normal for a child aged a little over 10 years old to appear observing military exercises unless she is being prepared for future greatness.

In North Korea’s state media, she has been referred to as a “great person of guidance,” or “hyangdo” in Korean.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has jumped on the term as evidence of succession planning. “Considering the word ‘hyangdo’ was used, which is only reserved for a leader or successor, the NIS is assessing the succession plan is in shape to some extent,” the Democratic Party’s Park Sun-won told the media.

In many ways, this makes sense. North Korea is probably the only totalitarian dictatorship that is founded on a dynasty that portrays itself as a deity. There had previously been speculation that Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, who is clearly influential and a fiery spokeswoman for the regime, might succeed her overweight brother. But in the Kim dynasty power has never so far passed between siblings.

Kim Yo-jong may be North Korea’s Lady Macbeth of sorts, but she might not wear the crown — though a new biography of her, The Sister, is worth reading, because whatever happens, she is likely to retain influence. In case her brother dies prematurely, she could end up fulfilling a role equivalent to China’s Empress Dowager Cixi at the turn of the twentieth century.

One thing is very clear about North Korea’s regime. They want at all costs to keep it in the family. In most other repressive regimes, even those that come close to Pyongyang’s levels of brutality, the emperor changes from family to family.

"Any inspection that discovers that a portrait is not displayed or has not been adequately polished leads to severe punishment"

In China, it transferred from Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin, and from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping. The levels of repression changed during those different periods, leadership shifted from that of paramount ruler to collective governance and then, in the era of Xi, to imperial ruler once again. But even though some of the Chinese Communist Party’s upper echelons of leadership, including Xi, are the offspring of past leaders — known as “princelings”— at no point has there been any suggestion of direct dynastic inheritance.

In neighboring Myanmar, a succession of military dictatorships have ruled the country for most of the past fifty years or more, but never has there been hereditary rule. Power has shifted from general to general, but not from father to son. Indeed, the only dynastic element in Myanmar’s politics is that of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi picking up the mantle of her father, Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San.

In Vietnam and Laos, Cuba and Venezuela, Iran and Russia, dictatorships have been along ideological, rather than familial, lines of inheritance. Power passes from communist apparatchik to communist apparatchik, or from ayatollah to ayatollah.

Only in autocratic monarchies such as Saudi Arabia is there a similar dynastic line of succession, and yet there they worship a deity through their Islamic faith without being themselves deified.

In North Korea, portraits of the Kim generations — Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim-Jong-un — must hang in every home, school, and public building. They must be polished daily, and any inspection that discovers that a portrait is not displayed or has not been adequately polished leads to severe punishment.

To say anything disrespectful of or in disagreement with the Kim leadership would lead to imprisonment, torture, or death. Any belief in anything other than the Kim dynasty is also punished very severely.

Christians caught praying or reading the Bible together face long and arduous years in prison camps and are in some instances executed. North Korean escapees caught in China and forcibly repatriated are interrogated upon return about what interactions they had with Christian missionaries and churches in northern China — and any suspicion that they had embraced Christianity leads to the severity of the torture inflicted on them being ratcheted up significantly.

"At every opportunity we firmly, though politely, challenged the propaganda and lies"

I visited North Korea in 2010, just over a year before the previous Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il died. Kim Jong-un had just been designated as the “Young General,” the “Great Successor” and a host of other lofty titles, and so it was clear that he was the chosen one to succeed his father.

I traveled with two British parliamentarians, who are two of the most outspoken champions of human rights and religious freedom in the British Parliament but had forged — for a time — a channel of dialogue with Pyongyang. We published a report titled Building Bridges, Not Walls: The Case for Constructive, Critical Engagement with North Korea. 

In our meetings with senior figures in North Korea’s regime, we pushed the limits. At every opportunity we firmly, though politely, challenged the propaganda and lies.

One vivid memory was of an orchestral performance in a great concert hall. The first half of the concert was normal, beautiful and enjoyable. But in the second half, behind the orchestra, a big screen came down, and on the screen was projected film footage of Kim Jong-il inspecting farms, factories, and then soldiers, then of troops marching, then of tanks rolling across the screen and then of missiles firing off.

Every time a rocket launched, the entire audience — with the exception of their three foreign visitors — applauded. In the end, one of our minders said he noticed we did not applaud at certain moments and was told it was not very nice to fire missiles off in the middle of a concert — or at any other time for that matter.

Another vivid moment was as we were being shown around the Supreme Court and commented on the seating arrangements. The ‘dock’ for the accused was a noticeably uncomfortable confined space, compared with the leather chairs reserved for the so-called judges.

“What does this say about the principle we have in our country, of a person being innocent until proven guilty?” we asked our guide, a junior lawyer in the Alice-in-Wonderland courtrooms of the Kim regime.

"Dynastic or generational inheritance doesn’t only apply to the regime — for the people, the sins of their forefathers are also inherited"

“Oh no, when a person is brought to court in North Korea, we don’t believe they are innocent,” he replied. Well, full marks for honesty, I guess.

That interaction then led to an entire stand-up exchange between us and the North Korean law officer on the other, about North Korea’s prison camps, executions, and the policy of punishment of up to three generations. In North Korea, dynastic or generational inheritance doesn’t only apply to the regime — for the people, the sins of their forefathers are also inherited.

We spoke about Yodok, the notorious prison camp which our interlocutor told us was just a pleasant village. We named former prisoners, including those born in prison camps, but were told this was the lies of the South Koreans or Americans — or, interestingly, of the “criminals” who had escaped from the prison camps: the existence of which he had just denied.

The final electrifying moment came when, after some back-and-forth, we asked our guide: “How can someone be born a criminal?” The law officer blinked first, saying simply: “Shall we continue with our tour?” But our point had been made.

But there was one red line we knew not to cross — because it would not gain anything and could potentially lose everything. That was to mock the Kim dynasty. Joking about the Kims is akin to committing blasphemy in Pakistan. It can get you killed.

Ultimately, however, the evidence of atrocities became insurmountable. A UN report — published 10 years ago — documented a catalog of atrocities including “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions,” as well as severe religious persecution, enforced disappearances, and starvation.

All of this should lead, as the UN’s Commission of Inquiry recommended, to a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

So, in a sense, Kim’s clownish, obese persona and questions over whether his daughter or his sister succeeds him are merely a sideshow. What really matters is how the international community can hold the perpetrators of some of the world’s darkest crimes to account, bring them to justice, and liberate their people.

Only that course of action can give the next generation of North Koreans — including little Kim Jue-ae — a better, brighter, freer, and more peaceful future. That ought to be our ambition.

#FreeNorthKorea ought to be a slogan trending on social media and a truly global campaign that galvanizes anyone who cares about human rights and freedom.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.