Protest Prevention, North Korean Style A Multifactor Comparative Analysis of the DPRK, Romania, and Albania at the Cold War's End

• Published in: North Korean review Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 21 - 36
• Main Author: Kim, Esther Eui-Gyeong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jefferson McFarland & Company 01.10.2023; McFarland & Company, Inc
• Subjects: Authoritarianism; Cold War; Comparative analysis; Demonstrations & protests; Dictators; Dissent; Geopolitics; Indoctrination; Issue Articles; Leadership; Political leadership; Political systems; Rebellions; Resistance; Social control; Stalinism; State-society relations; Totalitarianism; Romania; Albania; North Korea
• ISSN: 1551-2789; 1941-2886
• DOI: 10.2307/NKR/19.2

Article Type: Research Paper1 Purpose-The article seeks to determine what prevented North Koreans' collective resistance against their leadership in the late 1980s when many of their East European comrades revolted. Approach-North Korea, Romania, and Albania were historically and comparatively analyzed in terms of some totalitarian traits. Romania and Albania were selected because they eventually diverged from North Korea with the anti-regime uprisings of their populations. What most distinguishes the North Korean political system from these other regimes is the sheer longevity of its existence, and one aspect of totalitarian regimes, isolation, more than physical control and indoctrination, seems to be the major cause of this divergence. However, the three elements reinforce one another. Findings-The ruling regimes of Romania and Albania, though unusually repressive by East European standards, were ultimately unsuccessful in isolating their populations from outside contact, whereas in North Korea, ordinary citizens have hardly been able to realize that their socioeconomic problems are a result of the policies of the country's top leadership. Practical Implications-Organized dissent was unthinkable in North Korea for multiple reasons, and the people's drive for revolution may begin to awaken if the thick blanket of isolation is lifted by the outside world.