Cultural Awareness of North Korea

By SGT Anderson, Alvin, D.

ALC Class 718-12
SSG Rockhold

North Korean Cultural Awareness Outline
Understanding and respecting cultural differences is critical to our success in the world forum. We cannot hope to be a successful, diplomatic military without cultural awareness. 1. What Is Culture? a. The Definition of Culture b. Characteristics of a Culture 2. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea c. About North Korea d. The Korean War 3. Juche e. Kim Il-sung f. The Effects of Kim Il-sung and Juche 4. Diplomacy With North Korea g. The Threat North Korea Poses h. Hope For the Future
A diplomatic relationship with North Korea may not be possible at this time, But taking the time to get know and understand their culture and their angst against the US may help us further our relationship with them in the future.

Alvin Anderson

SSG Rockhold

ALC 718-12

May 19, 2012

North Korean Culture What is culture? Culture is many things. Culture is almost everything. The word culture is very broad and encompassing. There is no simple, universally accepted definition for the word culture. It is by definition: the behavior and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic or age group. It is characterized a group of peoples’ traditions, religion, food, customs and language. Culture is dynamic. Culture is static. It both changes with the times and withstands the test of time. Culture is what will be left of us when there is nothing left of us. Culture in my opinion is a peoples’ way of life. Our culture permeates into every detail of our daily lives and we seldom notice it. Our culture is Thanksgiving dinner on the fourth Thursday in November. It is our freedom to practice a faith of our choice. It is hot dogs and hamburgers. It is a firm handshake and a 26-letter phonetic alphabet. All of these things help to define us as Americans and make us who we are. They are all a part of American culture. There are thousands of different cultures and subcultures in world. Some of them share some customs and ideas but they are all still very different and distinct from one another. The culture of North Korea is unique.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – North Korea’s formal name – is the northern section of the peninsula above the 38th parallel. It has a climate that is considered continental. It experiences long, brutally cold winters and short hot summers. Over 80% of its terrain is covered by mountain ranges and hills. Most of its population is concentrated in the rural, undeveloped plains of the west. It has a highly centralized communist government, although it could also be characterized as an autocracy or a theocracy given its leadership’s cult like following. There are three cities: Pyongyang is the capital and center of everything the country does; Kaesong, which is historically relevant; and Namp’o, which is an industrial center, are important enough to have independent judicial authorities. The rest of the country is divided into 9 provinces. It occupies about 46,500 square miles, slightly smaller than the state of Mississippi. (Briney. Ten Important Things to Know about the Country of North Korea)
Very little is actually known about North Korea. It is a very young as a country, having only been established in 1948 under the leadership of Kim Il-sung and the Soviet Union. The Korean peninsula, located in eastern Asia, is bordered by China to the north and Russia to the west. Following WWII, the Korean Peninsula was split into a United States occupied South and Soviet Union occupied north. The split was not originally intended to be permanent and both sides still contend that they will again unify at some point in the future although very little progress towards that reunion has been made since the end of the Korean War. The US and Soviet Union quickly established regimes in Korea that mirrored their own. These diametrically opposing governments that both wanted their ideas carried over into the unification of Korea caused complications and eventually led to the Korean War. (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Background Note: North Korea)
Small skirmishes broke out between the North and South repeatedly near the 38th parallel until finally North Korea declared war and invaded the South in 1950. The Korean War was a proxy war and was as much about world power as it was about power on the peninsula as all the world powers either fought directly in the war or provided munitions and aids to further their interest. North Korea was backed by their traditional allies, China and the Soviet Union. South Korea was aided by the United States and its allies. The war quickly regressed into trench warfare and both sides suffered heavy casualties. With no clear end in sight, North and South Korea agreed on an armistice agreement in 1953. There still has not been a formal treaty to end the war and both sides still harbor angst towards the other side and its allies. This has made it very difficult for the US to have any relations with North Korea in the diplomatic forum. (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Background Note: North Korea)
North Korea adheres strongly to the Juche ideology of independence and self-reliance originally set forth by the country’s Eternal President, Kim Il-sung. That ideology continues to shape their government’s foreign policy. Because of this, the government takes extreme measures to isolate and protect the country and its citizens from all outside influence. Even though he died almost 20 years ago, Kim Il-sung is still a very prominent and influential figure in North Korean society. Maybe even more so than his recently deceased son Kim Jong-Il who assumed power when he died, and his grandson Kim Jong-un who recently assumed power when his father died. He is considered a national hero and his birthday is one of their most revered national holidays. He was installed into power by Joseph Stalin after serving in the Soviet Union’s Red Army during World War II. Kim Il-sung held numerous titles during his 46 year reign in office, from 1948 to his death in 1994, but his power was always absolute. (Yang. Countries and Their Cultures: North Korea)
In the half century since the war, North and South Korea have been growing in opposite directions. South Korea is now thriving while North Korea’s foreign policy has prevented them from growing. Much of their land is still undeveloped, their economy is in shambles and the people are malnourished. The country is anything but Juche as it depends on aid from other countries to feed their population. Part of the problem is their foreign policy as it prevents and/or restricts trade with most of the world but a larger and more serious problem is their military spending. It is estimated that North Korea spends ¼ of its GDP on military expenditures. Most of that spending is directly related to nuclear research. North Korea and its leadership is intent on turning their country into a nuclear power at all cost and they have resources and personnel to do so. It is known that they have mastered the nuclear fuel cycle and are capable of producing weapons of mass destruction but do to their foreign policy, it is not known how much progress they have mad in weapons design, manufacture and deployment. All available evidence suggests that North Korea has enough plutonium for about 6 to 8 bombs. (Hecker and Liou. Dangerous Dealings: North Korea’s Nuclear Capabilities and Threat of Export)
North Korea presents a very real threat on the nuclear front. Peaceful options to diffuse this situation have all been unsuccessful to this point. It is very difficult to negotiate with North Korea because they regularly break treaties and agreements making diplomacy very ineffective. The only real hope for a solution to the problem is an infusion of new leadership in the country. That leadership would have to come from within and in an organically grown fashion as North Koreans are fiercely loyal to Kim Il-sung, his sons and their government. As more and more citizens of the country gain access to communications outside of their country, we can only hope that they collectively wake up. They cannot possibly look out on the world and see the growth and success of other nations, especially their kin to the south, while living in their stagnant, undeveloped nation and not realize that their government is failing them. (Head. Human Rights in North Korea)

Works Cited 1. Briney, Amanda. “Ten Important Things to Know about the Country of North Korea” http://geography.about.com/od/northkorea/a/northkorea.htm 2. Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. “Background Note: North Korea” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm 3. Head, Tom. “Human Rights in North Korea” http://civilliberty.about.com/od/internationalhumanrights/p/northkorea101.htm 4. Hecker, Seigfried S. and Liou, William. “Dangerous Dealings: North Korea’s Nuclear Capabilites and Threat of Export” http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2007_03/heckerliou 5. Yang, Sonia R. “Countries and Their Cultures: North Korea” http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/North-Korea.html#b

Clarity Index 1. Counts A. Words: 1442 B. Paragraphs: 9 C. Sentences: 84
2. Averages A. Sentences per paragraph: 21 B. Words per sentence: 15
3. Readability A. Passive Sentences: 0% B. Flesch Reading Ease: 55.1 C. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.2