There exists camps where the children of political dissenters are born and are raised in a state of absolute ignorance to the external world and the humane customs which occupy it. Here the children and their parents work from 5:30 in the morning until midnight in mines under the threat of torture or death while living on rations of cabbage and corn. There exists cities where the streets are all but deserted and restaurants where customers - who are exclusively foreign - may frequent once every two months.
As the first year of Kim Jong-un’s leadership in North Korea comes to a close, we inevitably look at what has elapsed. Needless to say the media has done its fair share in publicising his reign and creating a mockery of what is in actuality a crisis. The Onion ran an article in which it deemed Kim, “the Pyongyang-bred heartthrob,” to be the “sexiest man alive” - and Chinese state media quickly relayed the Onion article as ‘truth.’ In response to the 5.6 million online votes which granted Kim the prize of being the winner of TIME’s annual “Person of the Year Reader’s Poll” - the magazine was forced to publish a rather embarrassing explanation. The article began with, “Kim Jong-Un is having a good year,” but then quickly moved on to assert that “this doesn’t mean Kim is TIME’s Person of the Year,” and that “the choice is made by the editors of TIME, and will be revealed Dec. 19 on the Today show.”
The west has become somewhat of an audience to North Korea’s mischief, and laughing at the inanity of the DPRK and its leaders has become the entertainment. One would be hard pressed to find someone who does not smirk at the idea of Kim Jong-il’s birth being foretold by a swallow and then marked by the appearance of a double rainbow over a mountain. And yet the dark contrast between such a fairytale and the utter depravity which is the reality in North Korea should press western audiences to perhaps adjust their viewpoint. Since he has become the supreme leader, Kim has tightened the border, given a shoot-to-kill order to soldiers patrolling the border, and oversaw the successful launch of a rocket which could lend itself to long range missile technology. Perhaps our smirks should begin to show some concern.
How does a country like North Korea sustain itself? The logical answer to such a question is that it doesn’t. De facto absolute monarchies have become an anomaly in modern society - hereditary dictatorships have long been shown to be unsustainable in the face of popular sovereignty. The French Revolution is perhaps is the most obvious example of this fact. Yet, since its formal declaration in 1948, North Korea has remained a single-party state with a de facto hereditary monarchy - why?
Although the popular conception of North Korea is one of a hermit, a more accurate conception - at least for the purpose of discerning its sustainability - would be that of a parasite. The DPRK prides itself on its supposed self-sustainability, and yet this is a fiction. The fact is that the regime relies heavily on foreign aide and support from both humanitarian organisations and political allies. The former of these donors are necessary for the survival of innocents trapped in the prison nation, and yet the latter only serves to sustain this prison. China is the most prominent of North Korea's allies - and similarly also their most valuable friend and donor.
Since the Korean War, China and North Korea have enjoyed close diplomatic relations, and have in the last decade dramatically increased the amount of trade between the two countries - 30 fold between 2002 and 2012, 1.4 million dollars to 42 million. Although such a number is high - and, as Pyongyang begins experimenting with some economic reform, a good omen for future Chinese entrepreneurship in the country - one must question if it outweighs the human suffering felt by millions.
Such a question, however, is purely rhetorical and one must accept that rarely does such a question lead to any actual change. Let us therefore take a different route. In order to argue for China to disconnect itself from North Korea, one should begin by looking at the alternatives. North Korea's demise should be presumed inevitable - no matter what amount of money you throw at it, de facto hereditary governments cannot survive, especially those which are abusive and rely on fear. It's no good, however, waiting around for the inevitable to happen while countless more suffer and die at the hands of criminals. We should therefore look for a catalyst - China.
China's relationship with North Korea has grown increasingly unstable. After condemning the recent rocket launch and the DPRK's insistence on maintaining its nuclear weapons program, Beijing is beginning to risk losing face with respect to the rest of the world. It is no longer worth sustaining the decrepit country as an increasingly worthless buffer to American interests in South Korea. China has been put in far too many awkward situations. In 2010 the United States along with South Korea accused the North of sinking a South Korean ship with a torpedo. After being pressured to agree with these allegations, China refused. Later in 2012, the North Korean government was accused of sabotaging a 40 million dollar Chinese investment in the country. These blunders are becoming far too frequent, and would lead one to believe that perhaps China would benefit greater from a more sustainable neighbour - perhaps a North Korea run under a South Korean-like system.
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