[Commentary]
North Korea’s Youth Education Policy
as Crisis Management |
Young-seon Jeon, Professor at Konkuk University, contends that North Korea’s leadership regards the younger generation, characterized by weakened loyalty and diminished revolutionary consciousness, as a substantial threat to regime stability. Professor Jeon states that the Kim Jong Un regime has made ideological and cultural indoctrination a central pillar of its broader “human remolding” project, employing strategies such as the institutionalization of a communist worldview, legal barriers to foreign influence, and the symbolic elevation of model youth. These measures, the author concludes, function as coercive tools to enforce the internalization and outward display of socialist morality and patriotic discipline.
* Also available for download in Korean. |
[Commentary]
What Has North Korea Gained Economically from the Russia–Ukraine War? |
Seung-ho Jung, Professor at Incheon National University, observes that despite North Korea’s extensive support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, the resulting economic compensation has remained markedly limited. He attributes this stagnation to poor logistical infrastructure, a lack of complementarity in trade structure, and the Chinese government’s indifferent stance. This trend, argues Professor Jung, suggests that North Korea’s primary motivation in deepening ties with Russia lies not in securing economic benefits but in gaining access to advanced military technologies, thereby underscoring the need for South Korea to adopt a more strategically calibrated diplomatic approach toward both China and Russia.
* Also available for download in Korean. |
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