The future of North Korea

The future of North Korea

Antonia Cordedda

Since 1945 the history of this area was affected by two different ideological approaches. North Korea was affected by Marxism and South Korea was influenced by the liberal, Anglo-Saxon approach. On the one hand, North Korea has had a socialist economy with collective management of industry and every kind of freedom has been banned. Political power has been dominated since the Cold War by only one family that until now has maintained control of the state. On the other hand, South Korea developed its economy by opening markets to the world and becoming an important partner for the West. It became a leading country for advanced technology.

In the recent past North Korea became a country that the Bush administration considered a part of the ‘axis of devil’. This was due to North Korea starting nuclear tests and expressing the intention to have their own nuclear bomb. They justified this decision because they feel threatened by other countries.

Another factor here is connected with human rights. North Korea is considered by many international human rights associations such as Human Watch and Amnesty International to be one of the main countries violating elementary human rights. In their last report it shows that about 200,000 people are detained inside concentration camps. This figure demonstrates how the society is organized: by fear and psychological terrorism of the population.

How can the international community deal with this country? There are two different strategies, hard power and soft power. The previous American administration tried the first by threatening sanctions, and North Korea replied by launching a missile. The new administration has another political philosophy and is trying soft power. It is using informal channels of diplomacy such as the recent visit involving the former president Bill Clinton. The reason for this is that Clinton’s administration set up bilateral relations with North Korea when Madeline Albright visited Pyongyang in 2000.

We don’t know yet if these events will lead to a positive outcome, but surely it has created a new opening for negotiations. Supporters of soft power around the world hope that the worsening economic situation will push the North Korean leadership to open up both the society and the economy to new opportunities. The reunification of the North with the South remains imaginary for the time being because of the differences in economic level between the two countries. However the example of West and East Germany shows that at least it is possible.