North Korea
Loosen your belts
It is worth encouraging the signs of economic opening in the world’s ghastliest regime
Aug 11th 2012 | from the print edition of the Economist
TANTALISING hints of change have seeped out of North Korea in recent weeks. Not least, the callow Kim Jong Un has confounded Pyongyang-watchers who had predicted that he would slavishly follow his late father’s recipe for keeping an iron grip on power. The 20-something inherited the family dictatorship when Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack in December. The late Kim ran the state as a mafia racket, earning hard currency from drugs, counterfeiting and illicit-arms sales while using his nuclear-weapons programme to blackmail the rest of the world for aid. He diverted lavish resources to the army and to a tiny elite, and he ground nearly everyone else under his platform heel, dispatching perceived enemies to his prison camps in their hundreds of thousands.
In tone, the young Mr Kim has quickly signalled change from his father’s paranoid rule, and with unexpected verve. Last month he fired the army’s senior general, a hardliner, while a civilian was hastily promoted. One reading is that Mr Kim is retreating from his father’s “military-first” stance.
His public appearances are also different. He is often seen laughing with those around him. Where Kim Jong Il’s consorts were kept out of sight, a stylish young woman has recently appeared by the Great Successor’s side. Last month the couple graced the front row of a debut concert for the all-girl Moranbong Band, whose miniskirts, Disney cameos and foreign tunes (“My Way”) all broke new ground, for North Korea if nowhere else. In public speeches (Kim Jong Il’s were dubbed over by emotional commentary), Mr Kim says the years of belt-tightening are over. He calls for fresh economic thinking. (Click title for full article.)
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