Before I talk about my rather splendid final day in China, this is probably the appropriate place to put down my overall impressions of the DPRK. In the seven weeks since I was there the situation has changed. North Korea has conducted further nuclear tests to a chorus of World condemnation. They have stated publicly that they consider the ceasefire with South Korea to be at an end. The have launched more test missiles. Their stance has become harder and more intransigent. Right now I wouldn't seriously consider visiting the country, so it's just as well that I went when I did.
I don't propose to go into any political analysis of this. For one thing I'm not qualified. For another I'm sure that some Googling will find you any number of viewpoints better thought out, better researched and better presented than I could possibly manage.
What I will do is say how my impressions of the country impact on this new era of brinkmanship.
From what I saw, I am very scared by what is happening. I don't think the DPRK could win a sustained war but I don't think they would have to. The Dear Leader is a man who has built a Godhood for himself and somehow convinced the people of his country of his apotheosis. I didn't get to speak to many Koreans but those that I did, while in most respects perfectly normal people, all seemed sincere in the way that they had bought into this modern mythology. They have a world view entirely untainted by facts. Their entire modern history is based around a series of lies and a belief in their own military infallibility. The country, away from the cities and the ruling elite is one of the most impoverished that I have seen but the fervour - artificial or not - is quite truly alarming.
The scariest thing is that although many countries, some of whom are hostile to the western way of life, have nuclear weapons, when it comes to pressing the button I think they might hesitate. I don't think Kim Jong Il would hesitate for a moment if he saw some imagined advantage to the act, and even if he were out of the picture I don't think that the military who would probably take over would hesitate. If, as has been reported, his youngest son Kim Jong-Un takes over, it's unlikely to be any different
Because they are so unaware of anything beyond the narrow blinkered confines of their day to day experience I think the people, and of course the army, would be behind whatever action up to and including destroying the whole world, their leaders took.
Many things in the trip chilled me: the Memorial Palace, the Concrete Wall, the International Friendship exhibition. Two things, perhaps surprising things, chilled me more than any others. The first was that display of children's dancing under the watchful eye of the giant poster the Great Leader. It was a demonstration of passion and fervour for their way of life that was terrifying in its wrongheaded conviction.
The second was a combination of the phrasebook's emphasis on reunification phrases and a couple of very circumspect conversations about the division of the country. The people who live there have been indoctrinated into the absolute certainty that the people of the south would welcome unification with open arms. I have met and taught many South Koreans and never once have I met a single one who would want to give up the trappings of modern civilised life and be dragged back to the middle ages under the rule of the communist north. What I find chilling is that there would be absolutely nothing I could do or say to convince a single North Korean that this is the case.
Such unshakable belief is capable of destroying the world.
I don't propose to go into any political analysis of this. For one thing I'm not qualified. For another I'm sure that some Googling will find you any number of viewpoints better thought out, better researched and better presented than I could possibly manage.
What I will do is say how my impressions of the country impact on this new era of brinkmanship.
From what I saw, I am very scared by what is happening. I don't think the DPRK could win a sustained war but I don't think they would have to. The Dear Leader is a man who has built a Godhood for himself and somehow convinced the people of his country of his apotheosis. I didn't get to speak to many Koreans but those that I did, while in most respects perfectly normal people, all seemed sincere in the way that they had bought into this modern mythology. They have a world view entirely untainted by facts. Their entire modern history is based around a series of lies and a belief in their own military infallibility. The country, away from the cities and the ruling elite is one of the most impoverished that I have seen but the fervour - artificial or not - is quite truly alarming.
The scariest thing is that although many countries, some of whom are hostile to the western way of life, have nuclear weapons, when it comes to pressing the button I think they might hesitate. I don't think Kim Jong Il would hesitate for a moment if he saw some imagined advantage to the act, and even if he were out of the picture I don't think that the military who would probably take over would hesitate. If, as has been reported, his youngest son Kim Jong-Un takes over, it's unlikely to be any different
Because they are so unaware of anything beyond the narrow blinkered confines of their day to day experience I think the people, and of course the army, would be behind whatever action up to and including destroying the whole world, their leaders took.
Many things in the trip chilled me: the Memorial Palace, the Concrete Wall, the International Friendship exhibition. Two things, perhaps surprising things, chilled me more than any others. The first was that display of children's dancing under the watchful eye of the giant poster the Great Leader. It was a demonstration of passion and fervour for their way of life that was terrifying in its wrongheaded conviction.
The second was a combination of the phrasebook's emphasis on reunification phrases and a couple of very circumspect conversations about the division of the country. The people who live there have been indoctrinated into the absolute certainty that the people of the south would welcome unification with open arms. I have met and taught many South Koreans and never once have I met a single one who would want to give up the trappings of modern civilised life and be dragged back to the middle ages under the rule of the communist north. What I find chilling is that there would be absolutely nothing I could do or say to convince a single North Korean that this is the case.
Such unshakable belief is capable of destroying the world.
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