North Korea discussion of socio-cultural analysis
I. Civil Considerations The analysis of the socio-cultural characteristics of North Korea involves the analysis of its people the government that governs them the social structure that controls them the society where they live the customs and traditions that comprise an important aspect of their everyday practices and act as a source for the continuum of the North Korean tradition the culture that defines who they are and the language that allows people to communicate with one another and allows the transfer of information from one source to another and allows North Korea to document its existence via oral tradition as well as written history rendered tangible through the written word of the existing language in the country.
a. History The socio-cultural characteristics of North Korea is largely affected by its history. Like most people, practices as well as beliefs in North Korea stem from age-old beliefs. The manner by which they live is a form of tradition passed from one generation to another. More importantly, the significant events in the history of North Korea impacted the socio-cultural characteristics of North Korea as it is seen today. For example, communism and anti-west sentiment found in the modern-day North Korea is hinged on important historical events that ingrained this mindset, political perspective and outlook deep in the psyche of North Korea and its people. The occupation of foreign armies and the experience of North Korea as a colony or occupied territory by other East Asian countries and other countries left lasting marks that can be seen today as one of the noticeable characteristics of the North Korean socio-cultural characteristics. b. People North Koreas socio-cultural characteristics is also shaped by its people. In the history of North Korea, many different people from different ethnic tribes and origins have come and gone or settled permanently in North Korea. Some bloodlines and ethnicity still persist today, while some were reduced to marginalized minorities. Others completely disappeared over time, either because of migration or because it was wiped out by war, famine or natural causes like the inability of its reproduction rate to sustain the ethnic group. Socio-cultural life in North Korea is greatly empowered by the people per se. The movement in social life in North Korea is dependent on the activities. On the other hand, this may not be entirely true especially politically. Compared to its East Asian and Asian neighbors, North Koreas alignment with communist ideals and the presence of communism in the country has somewhat curtailed the free movement of the people. If any socio-cultural changes of development were stunted or refrained from happening, a large factor at play in this condition is the politics and the political condition in the country.
1. Society Like most modern countries in the world, North Korea, despite its communism, is characterized by a society that preserves the important roles of different institutions, like school and education and religion, among others. Analyzing the North Korea society varies depending if one is outside looking in, or inside examining itself. Critics of communism will easily point at the negative social characteristics of the society of North Korea to say that the social set up in the country is poor or is not ideal, not as an attack against North Korea per se but resulting from purely anti-communist perspective. Those who grew up conveniently inside North Korea will describe North Korea society as something that is enjoyable and amenable to positive growth and development. Despite its political condition, North Korean society is still similar in other countries wherein people are still strongly attached to religion as well as to common traditional beliefs, the society empowered by the values of the people that maintain the stability and balance of the society.
2. Social structure - The social structure of North Korea features different kinds of people found in different groups, including working class people, business entities and industrialists, political leaders. While the wealthy in North Korea strongly contrasts with its poorest people, its social structure is never or hardly defined by position on society based on wealth unlike other countries with strong feudal and capitalist history. This is to consider the fact that the history of North Korea featured leaders who have strongly campaigned for the ideals involving strong working ethics and hard work among its working class citizens as encapsulated in its Juche socio-political outlook and perspective.
3. Culture North Korean culture has been molded by the country to becoming somewhat its true own culture even when there are aspects of the North Korean culture that was influenced by other countries. Nonetheless, its culture is very distinct and has become an entity on its own, characterized by arts as well as science, traditional beliefs and practices and modern day socio-cultural aspects involving language, aesthetics, cultural practices and beliefs, etc (Seth, 2006, p. 224). The rich and ancient cultural tradition of Korea did not die out as much as it was transformed by the exposure to the western-dominated world of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Seth, 2006, p. 224). Because of the central role of politics in the North Korea life, it is not surprising that its culture is also strongly influenced by politics and the political direction of the country.
4. Language - The development and changes in the language system is strongly influenced by socio-political and socio-cultural aspects, but the current status quo in these two aspects allow North Korean language to be a strong cultural factor of the country. Like any other aspects of the society and culture, language continually changes. In North Korea, some of the changes include the impact of foreign languages the common, day to day language used by North Koreans however limited it was. Also, the growing strength and unity inside North Koreas society and culture expunges foreign influence in the past, like in language as Chinese characters known as the Hanja has been slowly being removed from North Korean language in place of purely North Korean language. Despite the political differences with the democratic South, there are still many ties that bind them together. This is found in language particularly in the phonetic writing system. This is known in North as Chosongul and is known in South Korea as Hangul. Lastly, North Korean language featured the use of a modified McCune-Reischauer system on the Romanization of North Korea language.
5. Power and authority The central government of North Korea is composed of various positions from the eternal president to the Supreme Leader to the Premier, as well as the legislature. This form of government was strongly influenced by Kim I1-sung who was an important political leader for North Korea who worked for the establishment of North Korea free from the shackles of its previous occupiers. The local government is represented by the Supreme Peoples Assembly. Being a single party government under the Korean Workers Party, North Korea hardly has any political interest groups. The direction of the politics of the country is dictated significantly by the direction the central government wants to pursue. This political structure defines North Koreas present day culture. Inside North Koreas politics, three parties formed a coalition that will be known as Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. The majority of the membership of this coalition comes from the influential Workers Party of Korea and is supplemented by the members of two other parties that are relatively smaller compared to the Workers Party of Korea. These two parties are the Chondoist Chongu Party and the Korean Social Democratic Party.
6. Interest North Korea is peopled with individuals who are focused on working so that they can help themselves, not naturally to become more empowered consumers. Its leader Kim Il-sung ingrained in the consciousness of North Koreans the value of working hard so that one can sustain himself or herself. Unlike other democratic countries found close to North Korea, the rate of capitalism and consumerism in this country is minimal, with citizen spending mostly on basic needs. c. Government - The government of North Korea is strongly influenced by the previous powers that was influential in this part of Korea, like China and Russia, both strong communist countries that inspired and influenced the creation of a socialist republic in North Korea. The upper echelon of the government features its leaders including the Supreme Leader and its other top level government servants lodged in different positions and functions, different from the common democratic structure of government. There is also the presence of the Supreme Peoples Assembly. The people in North Korea are generally satisfied with the present structure of the government. This type of government was able to sustain the current and existing socio-cultural characteristics in North Korea.
II. Terrain Analysis Physical geography
North Koreas terrain has played an important role in the North Korea way of life. From the earliest settlers in North Korea until today, the terrain and the natural geography of North Korea, its mountains and valleys and those converted into urbanized cities dictate the flow of people in and around the country as well as the traffic of resources. The terrain and geography has an important cultural as well as economic, historical and political significance in North Korea based on how this particular aspect of the country acted as an important factor in how things happened as they were and how things have become today.
a. Complex Terrain North Korea, overall, has a complex terrain. This is largely because of the natural geographic characteristics of the country that features mountains, flat lands, water ways etc. The geography transitions from mountains to valleys with flat lands. Each mountain stand side by side other mountains that act as natural boundary and protective defense wall of North Korea versus any enemies coming from any of its different boundaries in the north, east, south and west (although this is highly unlikely since China and Russia, two of the most powerful countries close to its boundaries, are its long time allies). The mountainous regions of the country can be navigated through the use of road ways paved by the government so that moving in and around these mountainous and sometimes treacherous terrain especially during winter is possible. Making North Koreas terrain more complex is the combination of the rural, mountainous and underdeveloped terrain with the concrete jungle. It defines its key cities located in mainly urbanized locations where most of the roads and pavements are cemented and the road system is more organized, wider and leading inside suburbs of the cities where part of the overall population settles.
b. Suburban and Urban Terrain- There are eight major cities in North Korea, including its capital Pyongyang, as well as other major cities like Kaesong and Sariwon. Navigating the major cities can be done by using a private car. There are also taxi or cab services available for those commuting in and around the cities, not to mention buses as well as a train system, courtesy of the Choson Cul Minzuzui Inmingonghoagug. Trolleybuses and trams are popular sight in urban North Korea. When it comes to its trains, trams and trolleybuses and its cars, North Korea is characterized by the presence of a mix of original North Korean made transportation as well as those imported from neighboring Asian countries like China and Japan as well as those which are made by western companies.
Through this complex set of public and private transportation, people are able to navigate the rural and urban locations in North Korea. Navigating inside smaller suburban roads and streets feature the use of bicycle, which is also a popular mode of transportation in North Korea, either in rural or urban places. The people living in the key cities are housed in either multi-family dwellings or single family homes, depending on the financial status and capability of the family or depending on the situation of the family, whether they opt for such setting or personal conditions resulted to such set up. Most North Koreans leave home to go to work every day they criss-cross all around the major cities aboard private vehicles of public means of transportation.
c. Key Infrastructure North Korea features many infrastructures that has cultural significance and has defined the North Korean culture in the past as in the modern, present day North Korea. For example, its railway system is one of the touchstones to North Korea culture and life. It has many different cultural landmarks through the buildings erected in the country and other forms of landmarks that is part of the socio-cultural life in North Korea. Education is symbolized by its many different schools like the Kimchaek University located in the capital city of Pyongyang. There is also the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology and the Kim Il-sung University (Pak, 2008, p. 33).
North Korea culture is popular for its Complex of Goguryeo Tombs, a set of tombs found in North Korea from the ancient kingdoms of Korea (Pak, 2008, p. 33). These have significant socio cultural meaning due to its history and what it says about past North Korean culture especially when it comes to the practice of burying the dead. It was considered as very important to the preservation of culture in North Korea that it was listed as a World Heritage Site under UNESCO. Because of the significance of Kim Il-sung, his burial place, known as the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, is also an important building in North Korea because of its political as well as cultural value. Religion is seen through the landmark buildings, like the Christian churches which are found in the capital city of Pyongyang, as well as sculptures and images of Buddha and Confucius denoting the Confucianism and Buddhism roots of North Korea that created relics of images found mostly in mountains, like the one in the mountain of Kumgang (Pak, 2008, p. 33).
Another significant landmark in North Korea is the Rungnado May Day Stadium. This is significant for North Korea because of many reasons. This includes the fact that one of the most important celebrations in North Korea called the Mass Games is often held here. This stadium is considered as one of the biggest stadiums found all around the world (Mitchell, 2007, p. 9). There is also the Tower of the Juche Idea. North Korea also has important infrastructures besides its railway system, like airports for example. One of these is found in Sunan, the Sunan International Airport. Sea ports are also found in North Korea. This includes the sea ports in North Koreas west coast named Nampho and the four different east coast ports named Hamhung, Rajin, Wonsan and Chongjin. Besides moving through air and sea, there is also the presence of bridges in North Korea, like the Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge (Mitchell, 2007, p. 9).
d. Lines of Communication- North Koreans communicate with one another using what modern technology offers, including the use of computers and the Internet, as well as cellular phones and the older land line phones. North Korean companies provide these services, but the important aspect in the practice of the use of the lines of communications is that the government is strictly controlling the use of this equipment. Unlike in other countries wherein changes in political status quo and political movement is supported by the abilities of the communication technology, in North Korea, the government makes sure that the communication technology will not cause any problem that can upset the political stability. The Internet and the computer as well as mobile phones and its features like text messaging cannot be used to spread information against or detrimental to the government. The government has not shied from exercising any and all possible course of action to obtain optimal level of control in the publics communication lines and the use of it.
III. Weather Analysis The weather and climate in North Korea strongly impacts the socio-cultural characteristics like activities of the people. Because of its position in the planet, North Korea annually experiences four different seasons (Moreddu, 1999, p. 20) that bring with it different climate characteristics which in turn impact the lives of the people. These are the changes in the supply and demand in the society as well as the changes in production based on what is ideal and possible to produce (especially agriculturally) during certain times of the year and what cannot be produced.
a. Affects on population -The weather in North Korea impacts its population in many ways. The weather dictates the human activities school and work schedules, agricultural planting patterns and schedules, market supply trends and even trends in health. There are diseases prevalent during the cold weather seasons. There are diseases that have the tendency to shoot up when the weather is warm. The winter in North Korea is considered as harsh. In times when the snowfall is very thick, many activities like school and other office work are suspended especially if it is impossible for students or for workers to travel either by car or by public transportation system. This is especially true in mountainous areas. Roads are rendered unsuitable for passage because of the thickness of the snow on land and the zero or poor visibility caused by the falling snow. This can endanger drivers into falling into unseen ravines, risking collision from incoming traffic or inability to navigate and negotiate the roads that can lead to accidents especially in turns and blindsides. The snow and the winter can also create serious damage and impact to air traffic in North Korea especially when flying conditions become difficult or nearly impossible for aircrafts to fly or land from or to the airport (Moreddu, 1999, p. 20).
Because of this, the winter season is one of the seasons that can potentially cause many problems for the people in North Korea, disrupting the movement of their normal life because of how it can change living conditions overnight. The next three seasons spring, summer and fall may not be as problematic as winter. However, this does not mean that these three other seasons have not brought problems to the people of North Korea in the past. If the winter season brings snow, the next three seasons is where typhoons are most likely to occur. These typhoons may not be as often compared to other typhoon-heavy countries in Asia. North Korea nonetheless experiences the impact of strong typhoons, which often results to flooding, especially in low lying urban areas where water moves in (Moreddu, 1999, p. 20).
Compared to the winter season, the next three seasons are not as cold and are often dry, save for the few rainy days and the typhoons that come every once in a while. An important problem in the dry seasons of North Korea is the problem of drought. Many times, North Koreas temperature becomes so dry and hot. Water sources are quickly drying and threatened massive drought problems all over the country. The weather is affected by the wind entering North Korea like that coming from the Pacific Ocean. This brings a kind of wind that is moist that helps the temperature in the country improve especially during warm season. b. Affects on agriculture - Like in any other countries, agricultural practices in North Korea are affected by the changing of the seasons. One of the most commonly affected aspects is the type of plants (fruits or vegetables) that North Korean farmers would plant in consideration to the season when it was planted and if the season is still amenable to such plant once harvest time comes. Over time, North Korean farmers have learned to adjust their planting and agricultural practices. Farmers know what type to plant during particular seasons, and what adjustments to make if any of the seasons become extended or shortened that can impact the life and harvest quality of the plants on the ground. Similarly, the raising of livestock has been adjusted to the weather and climate in North Korea. If there are any impacts, often, it happens when there are unexpected characteristics in the seasons, like the shortening or extending of the seasons or the unexpected amount of snow or unexpected level of humidity and dryness during hot seasons (Moreddu, 1999, p. 164).IV. Crime and illegal activities
a. Crime - Despite the government control in North Korea, the government and the country is still battling the problem regarding the presence of crime in the country. Like in other countries, there are petty crimes as well as serious and heinous crimes in North Korea. One of the reasons why the occurrence of these crimes is not as well known globally and worldwide is because of the restrictions of the government in information dissemination and in the content of mass media and public information channels like telephones and the Internet. Under the tenets of the socialist North Korea, crimes include actions that are equivalent to supporting or patronizing anything coming from its enemy South Korea, including their music, their clothing, their radio and television broadcast etc. So aside from managing the petty crimes, the government is also focusing on the persecuting crimes against the state both by civilian and military individuals. Besides the crime versus the state, other crimes committed in North Korea include smuggling. This is highly possible considering the many different ports and the many different back door channels that can be used to smuggle items in and out of North Korea towards many different destinations all around the world. For example, North Korea was implicated in a smuggling involving Scandinavia in 1976 (Cornell, 2002, p. 61).
b. Terrorism - The discussion of terrorism is a very sensitive matter for North Korea. This is because much of the western world has viewed North Korea as an important Asian base for terrorist actions targeting western installations and locations in Asia. The United States in fact was one of the first to brand North Korea as the source of evil and terrorism, although this is hardly proven with very strong proofs to show. The argument hinged largely on North Koreas political pro communist and socialist stand which the US has disapproved many years ago. If anything, North Koreas guilt in terrorism is found in the fact that North Korea aided the dissidents when possible since their activities could potentially weaken the South Korean government (Lutz, Lutz, 2004, p. 60). Much of Asia, like Indonesia, the Philippines and other locations are victimized by the terrorist attacks geared at targeting western targets. North Korea appeared to have been spared from terrorist actions not because it is a supporter or terrorist but because its isolationist policy and anti-west stand makes the country nearly free from the targets that terrorists want to destroy.
North Korea is a country that has very rich and diverse socio-cultural characteristics. History as well as its current political setting has so far been the most important factors that impact the countrys socio-cultural conditions. North Korea, despite its socialist background, strongly supported efforts at preserving culture and heritage. It is seen as a tool that can be used to improve the sense of nationalism and patriotism of the people which can help the socialist North Korea maintain not just its socio cultural status quo but as well as its political condition.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment