[Global NK Commentary] Arising From “the People”: Bottom Up Change in North Korean Society
2021-03-02
Seunghee Ha
Global NK Commentary [Commentary 47]
Arising From “the People”:
Bottom Up Change in North Korean Society
Seunghee Ha
Research Fellow at the Dongguk University DMZ Peace Center
Redefining the “People-first” Principle after 2020
From the construction of open-air theaters to the use of new celebratory mediums in national events and the resumption of the 2020 Youth Day Celebration amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea has experienced a significant transformation in its social and cultural underpinnings over the past year. Seunghee Ha, a research fellow at the Dongguk University DMZ Peace Center, argues that these changes provide important insights into how the North Korean authorities are gradually accommodating new tastes and desires that have emerged among its citizenry. Where such behaviors were once deemed threatening “non-socialist” behaviors, Ha believes that the state’s reactive adaptation highlights the increasing agency of ordinary North Koreans upon the direction of the country’s social preferences. For Ha, this “bottom-up” approach ultimately has the potential to produce a North Korea more socially aligned with the rest of the international community.
