Nicholas Eberstadt
By Nicholas Eberstadt
Astriking feature of North Korean communism has been the remarkable measure of physical security enjoyed by the uppermost reaches of the brutal and repressive regime.
Elsewhere in the communist world, the highest tiers always enjoyed physical comforts. But the tumultuous, cutthroat nature of communist politics meant that their physical fate, up to and including cause of death, remained perilously contingent. (As the Bo Xilai affair in China underscores, this is still the case under “reform socialism.”) By contrast, North Korea’s “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung laid down a system of dynastic succession that protected not only the revolutionary royals but also those aristocrats closest to them.
To be sure: North Korean generals and other functionaries to Pyongyang’s royals have ended up in front of firing squads. But top families were exposed only sparingly to the routinised violence and terror they counted on to maintain their rule — and often transgressions that would have resulted in the ultimate sanction for commoners were pardoned or ignored for blue bloods. Unlike the French Revolution, which was famously said to “devour its own children,” and almost any other communist revolutionary descendants, the North Korean model, until this week, had followed Kim Il Sung’s hallowed injunction to grant “special favours” to “those who have performed feats... for reunification of the country [and to] their descendants.”
This brings us to the defenestration of Jang Song Thaek, Pyongyang’s putative second in command, by Kim Jong Un, the young Dear And Respected Leader who is Kim Il Sung’s grandson and Jang’s nephew. On Monday, before a hall packed by his Politburo comrades, a passive Jang was repeatedly denounced for “anti-party activities” and other crimes, then frog-marched out of the chamber by uniformed guards. On Thursday, North Korean media announced the execution of “traitor for all ages Jang Song Thaek.” This spectacle of public humiliation — and liquidation — of a royal marks a radical departure from business as usual. The North Korean state has its internal code of honour, and its paramount precept had always been that The Royals Stay Safe. But no longer can a regent and adviser in chief like Jang expect to be pensioned off to some posh inconsequential place once his services are no longer needed. Palace politics have suddenly become life-and-death.
There are three immediate implications of this affair. First: There is no obvious reason that a purge of the North Korean aristocracy, once begun, should necessarily end with Jang. And if it is open season on Pyongyang royals, Kim Jong Un has ample motive for doing away with a great many of his nearest and dearest.
Second, there is the potential impact on regime cohesion. Up to now, cohesion among North Korea’s elite has been extraordinary. That may help explain why this otherwise failing communist state is still with us when so many others have been swept into the dustbin of history.
The third implication concerns Kim Jong Un’s judgment, or lack thereof. There is scant reason to accord him the benefit of the doubt.
North Korea occupies a high-tension, high-stakes niche in the international system wherein there is precious little margin for error. It is incalculably dangerous to have a decider prone to miscalculations running the show. But in the regime’s next crisis, who is going to counsel the Dear And Respected Leader that his preferred option is a dumb idea? Not Uncle Jang.
WP-BLOOMBERG
By Nicholas Eberstadt
Astriking feature of North Korean communism has been the remarkable measure of physical security enjoyed by the uppermost reaches of the brutal and repressive regime.
Elsewhere in the communist world, the highest tiers always enjoyed physical comforts. But the tumultuous, cutthroat nature of communist politics meant that their physical fate, up to and including cause of death, remained perilously contingent. (As the Bo Xilai affair in China underscores, this is still the case under “reform socialism.”) By contrast, North Korea’s “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung laid down a system of dynastic succession that protected not only the revolutionary royals but also those aristocrats closest to them.
To be sure: North Korean generals and other functionaries to Pyongyang’s royals have ended up in front of firing squads. But top families were exposed only sparingly to the routinised violence and terror they counted on to maintain their rule — and often transgressions that would have resulted in the ultimate sanction for commoners were pardoned or ignored for blue bloods. Unlike the French Revolution, which was famously said to “devour its own children,” and almost any other communist revolutionary descendants, the North Korean model, until this week, had followed Kim Il Sung’s hallowed injunction to grant “special favours” to “those who have performed feats... for reunification of the country [and to] their descendants.”
This brings us to the defenestration of Jang Song Thaek, Pyongyang’s putative second in command, by Kim Jong Un, the young Dear And Respected Leader who is Kim Il Sung’s grandson and Jang’s nephew. On Monday, before a hall packed by his Politburo comrades, a passive Jang was repeatedly denounced for “anti-party activities” and other crimes, then frog-marched out of the chamber by uniformed guards. On Thursday, North Korean media announced the execution of “traitor for all ages Jang Song Thaek.” This spectacle of public humiliation — and liquidation — of a royal marks a radical departure from business as usual. The North Korean state has its internal code of honour, and its paramount precept had always been that The Royals Stay Safe. But no longer can a regent and adviser in chief like Jang expect to be pensioned off to some posh inconsequential place once his services are no longer needed. Palace politics have suddenly become life-and-death.
There are three immediate implications of this affair. First: There is no obvious reason that a purge of the North Korean aristocracy, once begun, should necessarily end with Jang. And if it is open season on Pyongyang royals, Kim Jong Un has ample motive for doing away with a great many of his nearest and dearest.
Second, there is the potential impact on regime cohesion. Up to now, cohesion among North Korea’s elite has been extraordinary. That may help explain why this otherwise failing communist state is still with us when so many others have been swept into the dustbin of history.
The third implication concerns Kim Jong Un’s judgment, or lack thereof. There is scant reason to accord him the benefit of the doubt.
North Korea occupies a high-tension, high-stakes niche in the international system wherein there is precious little margin for error. It is incalculably dangerous to have a decider prone to miscalculations running the show. But in the regime’s next crisis, who is going to counsel the Dear And Respected Leader that his preferred option is a dumb idea? Not Uncle Jang.
WP-BLOOMBERG
