North Korean leader tightens control amid faltering economy

By Kang Seung-woo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has stepped up a wide range of efforts to strengthen his grip on power, as the reclusive state's current unfavorable conditions, dented by COVID-19 and its bleak economy, are feared to pose a threat to the regime's survival.

The totalitarian state recently passed new laws, including those on foreign culture and telecommunications, and has carried out executions related to the pandemic. Pyongyang watchers believe such steps are mainly aimed at stopping possible cracks in the "rent-seeking" North Korean elite, who have fallen victim to decreased cross-border trade with China since the pandemic began.

Earlier this month, the Kim regime held a plenary meeting of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly to adopt the new laws, according to the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The law on rejecting the reactionary ideology and culture specifies the principles to be certainly observed by all the institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens in further cementing our ideological, revolutionary and class positions by thoroughly preventing the inroads and spread of the anti-socialist ideology and culture and firmly maintaining our idea, spirit and culture," the KCNA said.

The foreign culture law was passed weeks after the North Korean leader criticized "non-socialist practices in educational organizations and in society" during a politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Nov. 15.

According to the KCNA, the party committee of Pyongyang University of Medicine committed "a serious crime," while other relevant organizations, including the party's Central Committee, were also accused and the criticism appears to be aimed at tightening discipline among state organizations.

On Nov. 29, Kim presided over a politburo meeting, during which a shake-up of organizations of the Central Committee was carried out to enhance its leadership and ideology.

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In addition, the law on mobile telecommunications deals with the issues arising in the area including the set-up, management and operation of related facilities and also the diversification of services, use and registration of mobile telecommunications equipment, according to the state-run media.

The new law seems to ostensibly deal with the growing number of mobile phone users in the North. According to the Korea Development Bank Future Strategy Research Institute, the number of North Koreans using mobile phones was about 6 million in August.

However, it is referred to as the regime's move to strengthen its control on North Korea people's ideology amid the country's prolonged fight against the global pandemic and ongoing recovery work from the damage of typhoons and floods last summer.

On Dec. 12, eight countries, including Germany and the United States, said that the North is "using the global pandemic to crack down further on the human rights of its own people."

"We are deeply disturbed by a reported uptick in executions related to COVID-19, as well as strict controls on movement in and around the capital," they said.

The National Intelligence Service told lawmakers here, last month, that the Kim regime had executed a high-profile currency trader in Pyongyang in October over a falling exchange rate, and an official in August for bringing in prohibited goods amid toughened border customs control due to the pandemic.

The North's trade with China dropped to a record low in October, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), with their exports and imports coming to $1.7 million (1.87 billion won), down a whopping 99.4 percent from a year earlier.

"Basically, the North Korean elite make a living from trade with China, but due to COVID-19, bilateral transactions have sharply declined, leading to their complaints that could mount a challenge to the existing regime," said Kim Jung, a professor at University of North Korean Studies.

"The measures we are hearing about seem to be a move to tighten discipline of the North Korean elite, who are economically struggling due to a sharp decline in trade between the North and China amid the pandemic."

Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University, echoed Kim's view.

"The series of measures are a warning against the elite, given that they are prone to being exposed to bourgeois foreign culture," Park said.

"In addition, their possible anti-regime activities could pose the biggest threat to the regime's survival."