Could it be the beginning of the end of North Korea’s long season of winter? Are we seeing the first faint shades of pinks and reds and purples that give out an early hint that spring could be on its way? North Korea being North Korea, ruled by a forbidding dynasty of authoritarian leaders bearing stern faces and such titles as “Eternal President of the Republic”, “The Great Leader”, “Supreme Leader”, “Our Father”, and “The General”, one can’t say for sure. But when exceptions occur and the unexpected happens, one wonders.
One such exception occurred early this month when Kim Jong-un, who became North Korea’s newest ruler following his father Kim Jong-il’s death last December, was seen clapping with fervour as a local band performed dressed as Winnie the Pooh, Minnie Mouse, and other Disney characters. Some of the performers wore strapless gowns and on the panelled backdrop played movie clips from such Disney classics as Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo. And the world was curious, though Disney was perhaps not amused by such violations of copyright.
But it wasn’t Kim’s cheering alone that evoked the curiosity. It also was what he reportedly said after the show. “Our country should,” he’s believed to have remarked, “boldly accept the positive features of other countries while developing our own cultural forms.” This flew straight in the face of Father Kim’s ideology of “Zuche”, or self-reliance, and people were naturally intrigued.
“Global trends” has been Son Kim’s favourite theme lately. On a recent tour of Pyongyang’s international airport, he observed it should be developed as a satellite city, as was the “global trend”. Visiting a socks factory, he called on workers to develop colours, designs and emblems “in tandem with global trends”. Inspecting Pyongyang’s Cancer Research Institute, he promised to “upgrade it to global standards”. To a group of government officials, he spoke of the need to “accept global development trends and advanced technology in land management and environmental protection”.
Is Kim, at 28 the world’s youngest head of state, trying to re-brand his country? Has his Swiss schooling anything to do with this sudden change of attitude? People will be mulling, and doubting, these questions, of course, but surely, since Son Kim’s coming into power, there have been some unexpected stirrings of the wind. Last June, North Korean TV showed Kim wearing a straw hat and a huge smile as he visited a Pyongyang amusement park and stopped by a rollercoaster. He also browsed through a restaurant at the park that sold hamburgers, pizzas and French fries. He reportedly told a gathering of children recently that his wish was to see a country where “every home will be full of laughter and everybody lives in harmony”.
According to the Samsung Economic Research Institute, one of many South Korean agencies that track developments across the border, amusement parks and restaurants are among the newest craze in North Korea. There are more mobile phones and debit cards in use than even two years ago. Women can now wear trousers, earrings, and platform shoes in public, without the fear of being caught and fined. Choco pies and instant coffee are no longer considered decadent habits. USB flash drives and DVDs of South Korean TV serials are popular.
Pyongyang is changing, too. Most foreign visitors to the city say it’s livelier than what they had expected, and the opening last June of a brand new apartment complex on a redeveloped midtown area along Taedong River has added to it a sleek and modern touch. The complex boasts a cluster of high-rise towers, with curvy, flowing exteriors, that could very well be in Hong Kong.
But these are small changes and North Korea has a lot of catching up to do. Its GDP, according to Statistics Korea, is one fortieth of that of its southern neighbour, its per capita GDP 20 times smaller, while its exports lag 300 times behind. Of course, there was a growth in its inflation-adjusted GDP last year for the first time in three years. Want to know by how much? A puny 0.8 per cent! Electricity is in very short supply and people have to burn coal briquettes to make do. UN observers say there’s “horrific” food deprivation in the countryside, and the world raised eyebrows when the government agreed to freeze all nuclear tests in exchange for 240,000 tonnes of American biscuits.
Yet, the “Brilliant Leader”, now adorned with the title of Marshal, shows no sign of straying from his predecessors’ “military first” economic policy. With half the nation’s budget going to the military, what’s left for development? Maybe, Marshal Kim is only trying to get a facial done to brighten up his popular image. As of now, there’s nothing to suggest that North Korea is poised to be Asia’s next Myanmar.
