The first party congress of Communist North Korea in 36 years has the propaganda machinery in overdrive. The leader of the reclusive state that has ironically hogged the limelight in the recent past for acts of international defiance has crowned himself the chairman of the Workers’ Party in a masterstroke that is meant to consolidate his grip on power. Kim Jong-un organised the major conclave in an attempt to finally put his seal on power that is exercised more through coercive methods in the Asian nation than through the use of state institutions.
The event was marked by the news of the arrest of journalists belonging to leading British broadcaster BBC. Three journalists from the broadcaster, which is famous for its objectivity and ethical approach, were detained and expelled from the country for what a regime spokesman said was an affront to the leader and accurate reporting. The BBC team is known to have questioned the authenticity of a hospital it had covered.
The team in question was not in North Korea to cover the party congress. It was accompanying a group of Nobel Laureates who were on a visit to the country. The silence of the Nobel prize winners after the detention of the reporter and of the media team is surprising. Nobel Laureates are meant to uphold ideals of ethics and propriety. Their silence is confounding.
The North Korean ruler has in the past tried to reach out to the international community in what has been seen as an attempt to gain legitimacy. Such attempts have, however, been repudiated by other moves of the regime that has often been berated by world powers and the United Nations. The spectacle of the Congress and the impeccably choreographed pageantry accompanying the event would have given the impression that political institutions in the country, howsoever authoritarian, are gaining ground. But the regime’s overreaction to the BBC team’s actions poured cold water on an exercise that was not illegitimate but would have added a semblance of positivity.
The frequent nuclear tests by Pyongyang are meant to display military might — a futile exercise by a state that struggles to feed its population. The controversy over the BBC team’s detention underscores the impression that Kim’s regime is not willing to change. The authoritarian streak in the ruler and the rigid norms of the simple North Korean society have kept it on the sidelines of mainstream international discourse.
North Korea’s actions can only be explained in terms of Kim trying to keep his domestic constituency distracted by acts that keep the population’s focused outside the country.
The first party congress of Communist North Korea in 36 years has the propaganda machinery in overdrive. The leader of the reclusive state that has ironically hogged the limelight in the recent past for acts of international defiance has crowned himself the chairman of the Workers’ Party in a masterstroke that is meant to consolidate his grip on power. Kim Jong-un organised the major conclave in an attempt to finally put his seal on power that is exercised more through coercive methods in the Asian nation than through the use of state institutions.
The event was marked by the news of the arrest of journalists belonging to leading British broadcaster BBC. Three journalists from the broadcaster, which is famous for its objectivity and ethical approach, were detained and expelled from the country for what a regime spokesman said was an affront to the leader and accurate reporting. The BBC team is known to have questioned the authenticity of a hospital it had covered.
The team in question was not in North Korea to cover the party congress. It was accompanying a group of Nobel Laureates who were on a visit to the country. The silence of the Nobel prize winners after the detention of the reporter and of the media team is surprising. Nobel Laureates are meant to uphold ideals of ethics and propriety. Their silence is confounding.
The North Korean ruler has in the past tried to reach out to the international community in what has been seen as an attempt to gain legitimacy. Such attempts have, however, been repudiated by other moves of the regime that has often been berated by world powers and the United Nations. The spectacle of the Congress and the impeccably choreographed pageantry accompanying the event would have given the impression that political institutions in the country, howsoever authoritarian, are gaining ground. But the regime’s overreaction to the BBC team’s actions poured cold water on an exercise that was not illegitimate but would have added a semblance of positivity.
The frequent nuclear tests by Pyongyang are meant to display military might — a futile exercise by a state that struggles to feed its population. The controversy over the BBC team’s detention underscores the impression that Kim’s regime is not willing to change. The authoritarian streak in the ruler and the rigid norms of the simple North Korean society have kept it on the sidelines of mainstream international discourse.
North Korea’s actions can only be explained in terms of Kim trying to keep his domestic constituency distracted by acts that keep the population’s focused outside the country.
