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Control and Administrative Mechanisms in the North Korean Countryside

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Chong-Sik Lee  and
Nam-Sik Kim
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Abstract

North Korea is one of the most efficient totalitarian regimes existing in the world today. Especially after 1958 Premier Kim Il-song intensified the drive to heighten the cult of personality and to consolidate the control and administrative mechanisms in order to ensure the maintenance and operation of an efficient and effective power structure.

Between 1953 and 1958 the socioeconomic environment in North Korea underwent a radical change. Adjustments in the structure and function of local administrative and control mechanisms reflected these economic changes. The prefecture (the kun, or county) became the most important administrative unit. Through collectivization of farms and accompanying administrative reorganization, the ri (the precinct) was transformed from a purely administrative unit to a production unit. The functions traditionally performed by the People's Committees at the prefectural level were dispersed among different agencies, and the party structure at the prefectural level was expanded and given new powers. These measures were carried out between 1953 and 1964 for the purpose of increasing efficiency and efficacy in local administration. They were also designed to insure party control over the entire society. At the end of the reform period, the supremacy of the party was structurally guaranteed. The improvement in control, administration, and production, however, does not necessarily result from structural changes alone, and the problem of controlling and manipulating human beings still remains as an important problem.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , February 1970 , pp. 309 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1970

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References

1 At the end of World War II, the Korean communists inherited from the departing Japanese regime an administrative system embracing 7 provinces, 12 cities, 89 prefectures (kun), 805 townships (myon), and 9,888 ri, this being the term for the typical cluster of villages and hamlets in the countryside. See Chosǒn Chungang nyǒngam (Korean Central Almanac) 1958 ed., (Pyongyang: Korean Central News Agency), p. 176Google Scholar. The figures presented are for 1947. In large part, the Japanese system was carried over from a dynastic period of Korea, and was based on a long-established hierarchy which was satisfactory for the administration of Korea as a colony. Cf. Byung-kun, Rang, Hanguk chibang haengjǒng (Local Administration in Korea) (Seoul: Ilchogak, 1966), pp. 4–18.Google Scholar

2 Kim Il-sŏng sŏnjip (Selected Works of Kim Il-sŏng) IV, (Pyongyang: Korean Workers' Party Press, 1953). 317.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., (1960 ed.), IV, 21.

4 Earlier totals are as of 1949. Chosŏn chungang nyŏngam, 1958 ed., p. 176Google Scholar. In addition, 168 townships, 60 workers' districts, and 340 tong (urban equivalent of ri) were created. The number of provinces was increased from 8 in 1949 to 9 in 1953.

5 Reportedly, in June 1954, there were 1,091 cooperative farms, enrolling 2% of the farmers in North Korea. By December of that year, there were 10,098 cooperatives, with 31.0% of the farmers participating. For details see Lee, Chong-Sik, “The ‘Socialist Revolution’ in the North Korean Countryside,” Asian Survey (10 1962), pp. 9–22.Google Scholar

6 Quoted in Yun Chong-sŏp, “The Position and Function of the Local Regime in the Present Stage of Socialist Construction,” in Kim Il-sŏng University, 8.15 haebang 75 chunyŏn kinyŏm ronmunjip (Essays Commemorating the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Korean Liberation) (Pyongyang, 1960), p. 61Google Scholar. The statement is attributed to Kim Il-sŏng in a speech at the Kangsŏ prefectural party branch plenum in 1959.

7 Kim Il-sŏng sŏnjip (1960 ed.), VI, 502–503.Google Scholar

8 Agricultural Cooperativization in D.P.R.K. (Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1958), p. 34.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., p. 43.

10 For the text of Kim IL-sŏng's speech at the plenum of the Ch'ŏngsan-ri party branch held on February 8, 1960, see Sahoe chu-i-jŏk nongch'on kyŏngri-ui chŏnghwakhan unyŏng ul wihayŏ (for the Correct Management of the Socialist Agrarian Economy) (Pyongynag: Korean Workers' Party Press, 1960), p. 41.Google Scholar

11 The cabinet resolution creating the Agricultural Cooperatives Management Committee is reprinted in Chosŏn chungang nyŏngam, 1962 ed., pp. 190–191Google Scholar. See also Minju Chosŏn (Democratic Korea), organ of the D.P.R.K., 12 23, 1961.Google Scholar

12 The speech delivered at a joint conference of the local party and economic personnel, Aug. 8, 1962: printed in Chosŏn chungang nyŏngam, 1963 ed., pp. 4–19.Google Scholar

13 Ibid.

14 By Jan. 3, 1962, an initial contingent of 643 officials had been sent to the 175 prefectures. See the U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Research Memorandum, RSB-105, 06 21, 1962, p. 4.Google Scholar

15 The information presented below, except when noted otherwise, is drawn from the personal knowledge of Nam-Sik Kim, co-author of this article. He was one of the high-ranking cadres in the Kangae provincial branch of the Korean Workers' Party until 1963. Since arriving in Seoul, he has had occasion to interview a number of more recent arrivals concerning some of topics presented here.

16 Interview with Kim Sŏk-yong.

17 Ibid.

18 Op. cit., pp. 2–11. The author was Chŏn Pŏm-ho.

19 The authors are indebted to Mr. Kim Chŏnggi, former cadre in the Central Statistical Bureau of the D.P.R.K., in Pyongyang, for observations about the workings of the planning and statistical reports in North Korea.

20 See note 12, above.

21 Korea News, no. 14, (1964) (Pyongyang: Korean Central News Agency), pp. 1–6.Google Scholar

22 Tōitsu Chōsen Nenkan (One Korea Year Book), 1967–1968 ed., Tōitsu Chōsen Shinbunsha (Tokyo, 1967), p. 316.Google Scholar

23 Nodong Shinmun (Pyongyang), 02 25, 1964.Google Scholar

24 Korea News, no. 10 (1965), pp. 4–6.Google Scholar

25 Anti-bureaucratism is one of the “Ten Political Programs' of the regime. See Il-sŏng, Kim, “Let Us Embody More Thoroughly the Revolutionary Spirit of Independence, Self-Sustenance, and Self-Defense in All Fields of State Activity,”Google Scholar speech delivered at the Fourth Supreme People's Assembly, Dec. 16, 1967. Korean Central News Agency, Dec. 17, 1967.

26 Rodong shinmun, 04 24, 1968.Google Scholar