The Organizational Life: Daily Surveillance and Daily Resistance in North Korea

• Published in: Journal of East Asian studies Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 193 - 214
• Main Authors: Lankov, Andrei Nikolaevich, Kwak, In-ok, Cho, Choong-Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, US Cambridge University Press 01.05.2012; Lynne Rienner Publishers; 동아시아연구원
• Subjects: Adults; Business; Communism; Communist parties; Everyday life; Human rights; Ideological influences; Ideology; Indoctrination; Informed Consent; Labor unions; Leninism; Methods; North Korea; Organizational behaviour; Organizational life cycle; Political aspects; Political parties; Political regimes; Political socialization; Political stability; Political systems; Propaganda; Refugees; Resistance; Rituals; Self criticism; Social aspects; Society; Stability; Surveillance; Surveillance of citizens; Union organizing; 지역학; North Korea; refugees; ideology; Korean Workers Party; surveillance; horizontal propaganda; coproduction; indoctrination; ideological mobilization; North Korea
• ISSN: 1598-2408; 2234-6643
• DOI: 10.1017/S1598240800007839

The “organizational life” is an important part of the daily existence of North Koreans. Every adult in North Korea has to be a participant in a multitude of rituals that serve a dual purpose of surveillance and indoctrination. In this article, we describe how the organizational life is arranged and also explain the ways it contributes to maintaining the domestic stability of North Korea and to manufacturing consent for the current regime. The study is based largely on refugee interviews.