The “Mixed” Culture of Eastern Europe: A Vision of Future for North Korea?
Hearing about Kim Jong Il passing away almost immediately after a visit to the remaining Soviet architectures (with their red star decorations intact) on the streets of Vilnius and taking a clunking ride on the old Soviet era train carriages of the Warsaw-Krakow “Intercity Express,” was by all means, a surreal experience. Combined with reviews of some video footages of surprisingly genuine-looking mass mourning (more like mass crying) sessions in Pyongyang, and it seems like we are back at the old Second World.
Indeed, even as the Baltic states and Poland, former bastion of Stalinist communism, transformed themselves into orderly capitalist economies and took up the membership (and the principles) of the EU, the physical and emotional signs of the socio-economic order that ruled the land barely twenty years ago are still very much deeply rooted and difficult to eradicate. Like their parents and grandparents, people here still emerge from their old Soviet concrete apartment blocks to shop at the massive “central markets,” factory-like establishments with crude interiors highly reminiscent of old communist food distribution centers.
Yet, upon closer look, the lives of the people are indeed improving. The central market is filled with consumer goods from all over the world at a reasonable price, and even hostels in old Soviet blocks find themselves, on the inside, stuffed with eccentric Ikea futures, wireless internet, and American movie posters. Even if physical appearance and mentality are slowed to change, the pragmatic side of materialism has forever altered the livelihoods of the local people.
And then, there is North Korea. Even without government-led reforms, the dire economic conditions of recent years have forced similar pragmatic materialism to emerge from the top-down level. Consumer goods, smuggled in from China, South Korea, and Japan, are discreetly on sale in private black markets, and however limited in scale, such official illicit economic activities are changing the livelihoods of locals in the same way it is happening here in the former Soviet bloc.
Kim Jong Un, the new official leader of the country, should see such trends more easily than anyone else. He lived in Switzerland and traveled in the same part of the world that the traveler is currently trudging through, and hopefully, thought of the same thing as he toured the same cities and neighborhoods. People’s desire for materialistic prosperity is natural and unstoppable. The policies discouraging it cannot extinguish such desires, but only delay it.
And on the road toward materialism, both Eastern Europe and North Korea has one unlikely ally: the constant presence of Chinese traders eager to sell the excess produce of China’s countless factories across the world. In both regions, the Chinese have already dominated the inward supply of most consumer goods, giving still cash-strapped locals ability to abundantly stock their homes without too much expenditure. In a world where the West speaks of spreading liberal capitalism to improve local lives, the Chinese has taken upon the mission to accomplish on the grounds the lofty ideals of the Westerners.
Having met local Chinese traders on the North Korean borders and Lithuania/Poland, the traveler can speak confidently that these traders have not and will not give up their effort to spread “made in China” across the most unfavorable parts of the world, where the local populace and governments are often both openly against their presence. With such staunch and preserving ally supplying them with the raw capital of and ideas for free enterprise, the socio-economic transformation of the former Soviet bloc is bound to continue.
North Korea, no matter how much it would like to, cannot move against the strong current of capitalist globalization. And to be honest, in many ways, Kim Jong Un already has his work cut out for him if he wants to steer his country along with the current. He only needs to legalize whatever de facto private enterprises and markets that already exist discreetly across North Korea. Time is against him; if he does not act fast, he may be destroyed by the current just as his dictatorial counterparts in Eastern Europe were.
Indeed, even as the Baltic states and Poland, former bastion of Stalinist communism, transformed themselves into orderly capitalist economies and took up the membership (and the principles) of the EU, the physical and emotional signs of the socio-economic order that ruled the land barely twenty years ago are still very much deeply rooted and difficult to eradicate. Like their parents and grandparents, people here still emerge from their old Soviet concrete apartment blocks to shop at the massive “central markets,” factory-like establishments with crude interiors highly reminiscent of old communist food distribution centers.
Yet, upon closer look, the lives of the people are indeed improving. The central market is filled with consumer goods from all over the world at a reasonable price, and even hostels in old Soviet blocks find themselves, on the inside, stuffed with eccentric Ikea futures, wireless internet, and American movie posters. Even if physical appearance and mentality are slowed to change, the pragmatic side of materialism has forever altered the livelihoods of the local people.
And then, there is North Korea. Even without government-led reforms, the dire economic conditions of recent years have forced similar pragmatic materialism to emerge from the top-down level. Consumer goods, smuggled in from China, South Korea, and Japan, are discreetly on sale in private black markets, and however limited in scale, such official illicit economic activities are changing the livelihoods of locals in the same way it is happening here in the former Soviet bloc.
Kim Jong Un, the new official leader of the country, should see such trends more easily than anyone else. He lived in Switzerland and traveled in the same part of the world that the traveler is currently trudging through, and hopefully, thought of the same thing as he toured the same cities and neighborhoods. People’s desire for materialistic prosperity is natural and unstoppable. The policies discouraging it cannot extinguish such desires, but only delay it.
And on the road toward materialism, both Eastern Europe and North Korea has one unlikely ally: the constant presence of Chinese traders eager to sell the excess produce of China’s countless factories across the world. In both regions, the Chinese have already dominated the inward supply of most consumer goods, giving still cash-strapped locals ability to abundantly stock their homes without too much expenditure. In a world where the West speaks of spreading liberal capitalism to improve local lives, the Chinese has taken upon the mission to accomplish on the grounds the lofty ideals of the Westerners.
Having met local Chinese traders on the North Korean borders and Lithuania/Poland, the traveler can speak confidently that these traders have not and will not give up their effort to spread “made in China” across the most unfavorable parts of the world, where the local populace and governments are often both openly against their presence. With such staunch and preserving ally supplying them with the raw capital of and ideas for free enterprise, the socio-economic transformation of the former Soviet bloc is bound to continue.
North Korea, no matter how much it would like to, cannot move against the strong current of capitalist globalization. And to be honest, in many ways, Kim Jong Un already has his work cut out for him if he wants to steer his country along with the current. He only needs to legalize whatever de facto private enterprises and markets that already exist discreetly across North Korea. Time is against him; if he does not act fast, he may be destroyed by the current just as his dictatorial counterparts in Eastern Europe were.
Comments
Post a Comment