Hermit Kingdom Insight
Set to speak at the Club this month, North Korea watcher Bradley Martin shares his thoughts on the future of the isolated state.
Little was known about North Korea in 1979. American journalist Bradley Martin was fascinated. After managing to gain accreditation to cover the World Table Tennis Championships in Pyongyang that year, he made the totalitarian state the focus of much of his career.
The author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty and Nuclear Blues, a novel set in a near-future North Korea following failed peace talks, Martin talks to INTOUCH about his experiences in the highly secretive country.
What was North Korea like in 1979?
Despite a good deal of research, I was unprepared for the extent to which the country proved to be a religious kingdom inhabited by deeply adoring subjects of a godlike ruler. The brainwashed people I talked with seemed perfectly sincere in their worship of Kim Il Sung, to the extent they happily sang hymns in his praise, did obeisance to his portrait and gave thanks to him at mealtimes.
How much has the country changed since then?
The really striking thing is the extent to which North Korea has remained the same, failing to open and reform like China, despite the fact that far more news of the outside world manages to get through to the people than was the case four decades ago. The family regime has truly mastered the art of propaganda.
What is the biggest misconception about North Korea?
My view is controversial. I believe the [North Korean] goal remains to persuade the Americans to abandon their South Korean ally [to realize] Pyongyang’s longstanding policy of forming a “confederacy” with the South and using that structure—along with the advantage the North draws from its single-minded determination—to outmaneuver naïve southerners and take over. I also believe the regime retains the option of a plan B, another invasion, whenever favorable circumstances might permit it, in case peaceful maneuvering should fail to do the trick.
How do you see things playing out on the Korean Peninsula?
The Chinese were lucky when Mao Zedong’s son died fighting in the Korean War. With no Mao dynasty to keep enforcing the founder’s policies, Deng Xiaoping was able to turn the country around. Even if there is an agreement, and even if the North eschews its usual treachery and truly denuclearizes—something few close observers expect to happen—I find it difficult to imagine a good outcome in North Korea while the Kim family is in charge. We could too easily return to something like, but even worse than, the status quo ante, with the Trump administration more bellicose than before but crippled in its ability to marshal unified international pressure.
Meet the Author: Bradley Martin
Sep 26 | 7–8pm
Words: Nick Jones
Image: Edward N Johnson
