There’s more to North Korea’s leader than nuclear threats and other outrageous stunts
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to a high-level summit with neighboring South Korea, days after a proposal from Seoul to resume dialogue.
There may be more to Kim Jong-un than threats of nuclear attack and other outrageous stunts. He is also quietly contemplating changes that could, over time, remake a nation most of the world sees as a renegade.
Mr. Kim has promised reforms in 2015 that would allocate fully 60 per cent of farmers’ harvests to their own personal use. It’s the next step in a major departure for the self-described “revolutionary socialist state.” Two years ago, farmers were allowed to sell 30 per cent privately; before that, everything the land produced belonged to the state.
If the Marshal, as Mr. Kim prefers to be called, makes good on his promise, rural North Koreans will experience “a significant increase in their entrepreneurial freedoms,” says Andrei Lankov, a specialist in Korean affairs who teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Farmers, he explains, will be “not slaves, but sharecroppers, if you like. And sharecroppers work much better than slaves.”
Such a move is reminiscent of the strategy China adopted when it began to open its doors in 1978 – farmers were free to sell their surpluses.
North Korea has also begun to discuss setting up a bank that would serve as a conduit for foreign investment. Officials from Pyongyang have had conversations with Moscow about attracting Russian investment, and other countries – Japan, Mongolia and China – are also interested. Again, this is familiar territory: China set up its industrial bank in 1987 for similar reasons.
There are signs of a country seeking to peek out of its self-imposed iron curtain. Last summer, North Korea’s foreign minister visited Hanoi, and officials are now studying how Vietnam escaped its isolation.
Pyongyang also has started its first talks with Tokyo in a decade to discuss the fate of Japanese citizens it admits to kidnapping decades ago.
As well as seeking new ways to attract tourists, Mr. Kim has resumed family reunions between North and South, and sent high-ranking officials for talks with Seoul.
He may not want to have the world laughing at him, but he is certainly someone to watch in 2015.
Globe and Mail
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to a high-level summit with neighboring South Korea, days after a proposal from Seoul to resume dialogue.
There may be more to Kim Jong-un than threats of nuclear attack and other outrageous stunts. He is also quietly contemplating changes that could, over time, remake a nation most of the world sees as a renegade.
Mr. Kim has promised reforms in 2015 that would allocate fully 60 per cent of farmers’ harvests to their own personal use. It’s the next step in a major departure for the self-described “revolutionary socialist state.” Two years ago, farmers were allowed to sell 30 per cent privately; before that, everything the land produced belonged to the state.
If the Marshal, as Mr. Kim prefers to be called, makes good on his promise, rural North Koreans will experience “a significant increase in their entrepreneurial freedoms,” says Andrei Lankov, a specialist in Korean affairs who teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Farmers, he explains, will be “not slaves, but sharecroppers, if you like. And sharecroppers work much better than slaves.”
Such a move is reminiscent of the strategy China adopted when it began to open its doors in 1978 – farmers were free to sell their surpluses.
North Korea has also begun to discuss setting up a bank that would serve as a conduit for foreign investment. Officials from Pyongyang have had conversations with Moscow about attracting Russian investment, and other countries – Japan, Mongolia and China – are also interested. Again, this is familiar territory: China set up its industrial bank in 1987 for similar reasons.
There are signs of a country seeking to peek out of its self-imposed iron curtain. Last summer, North Korea’s foreign minister visited Hanoi, and officials are now studying how Vietnam escaped its isolation.
Pyongyang also has started its first talks with Tokyo in a decade to discuss the fate of Japanese citizens it admits to kidnapping decades ago.
As well as seeking new ways to attract tourists, Mr. Kim has resumed family reunions between North and South, and sent high-ranking officials for talks with Seoul.
He may not want to have the world laughing at him, but he is certainly someone to watch in 2015.
Globe and Mail
