Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0266/02669.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 41KB | 627 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02669}
$Pretitle{281}
$Title{North Korea
Chapter 4C.   Mass Organizations}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Stephan B. Wickman}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{korea
north
party
korean
south
kim
foreign
economic
countries
united}
$Date{1981}
$Log{}
Country:     North Korea
Book:        North Korea, A Country Study
Author:      Stephan B. Wickman
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1981

Chapter 4C.   Mass Organizations

     In 1981 there were a number of social and other organizations that on
first glance appeared to be concerned with the promotion of special group
interests but were actually serving as auxiliaries to the Party. Many of these
organizations were founded in the early years of the KWP to serve as vehicles
for the party's efforts to penetrate a broader cross section of the
population. Another important function of these mass organizations was to
create the impression that there were noncommunist social, political,
cultural, and professional groups in North Korea that could work with their
South Korean counterparts toward national reunification. The groups were
essential to the party's effort to develop a broad popular united front
strategy in dealing with the ruling establishment of South Korea. All mass
organizations continued to be guided and controlled by the Party.

     Among the auxiliary organizations most frequently in the news and most
important to the Party is the Socialist Working Youth League (SWYL). The youth
league is hailed as a "militant reserve" of the Party; its members are
described as "heirs to our revolution, reliable reserves and active assistants
of the Party." It is in fact the only mass organization expressly mentioned in
the charter of the KWP and is placed under the direct guidance of the Party
Central Committee. A replica of the Party in its operational methods and
structure, the league continues to function, according to the daily newspaper
Nodong sinmun (February 4, 1981), as "a vanguard and a shock brigade taking
the lead in all domains of the revolution and construction under the
leadership of the Party."

     The SWYL is by far the most important ideological and organizational
training ground for the Party, having branches and cells wherever there are
regular party organizations. Youth league cells exist in the army, factories,
cooperative farms, schools, cultural institutions and government agencies.
Youths between the ages of fifteen and twenty-six may join the league
regardless of their other organizational affiliations, provided they can meet
requirements similar to those set out for party membership. The junior version
of the youth league is called the Young Pioneer Corps, open to children
between the ages of nine and fifteen. The Students' and Children's Palace in
P'yongyang is maintained by the SWYL for the extracurricular activities of
Pioneer Corps members; these activities include study sessions dealing with
chuch'e ideology and other subjects taught in the primary and secondary
schools.

     The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan is one of the best
known and most important of the auxiliary organizations. Its mission is to
enlist the allegiance to North Korea of the more than 600,000 Korean residents
in Japan. At least one-third of these residents, who are also assiduously
courted by the South Korean government, are considered to be supporters of
North Korea. The remaining two-thirds are divided into South Korean loyalists
and neutralists. Those who are friendly toward North Korea are regarded by
North Korea as its citizens, educated at Korean schools in Japan financially
subsidized by P'yongyang, and expected to work for the North Korean cause
either in Japan or as returnees to the North.

     The principal vehicle for P'yongyang's united front strategy (see
Glossary) vis-a-vis South Koreans and other Koreans residing in foreign
countries is the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland
(DFRF), popularly known as the Fatherland Front. The DFRF is actually an
umbrella for various other organizations and is thus ostensibly a
nonpolitical, nongovernmental organization. One of its functions is to oversee
the reaching of a consensus by these various organizations with regard to the
reduction of inter-Korean tensions and the achievement of a mutually
acceptable formula for national reunification. Another function is to make the
North Korean position on important issues known to the various social and
political groups in South Korea and Koreans residing in foreign countries.
(For the latter group an organization calling itself the Committee for Aiding
Overseas Nationals was created.)

     Among the groups whose representatives constitute the central committee
and the presidium of the Fatherland Front are: the KWP, the SWYL, the General
Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the Korean Agricultural Workers Union, the
Korean Democratic Women's League, the Korean Social Democratic Party (called
the Korean Democratic Party until January 1981), the Korean Ch'ondogyo (Young
Friends Party), the General Federation of Korean Literature and Arts Union,
the Korean Buddhists Federation, the Korean Christians Federation, the
Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland, the Korean Society
for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the Korean Red Cross Society,
the Korean Olympics Committee, the Korean Sports Guidance Committee,
the Korean Association of Democratic Scientists, the Korean Students
Committee, the Korean Democratic Lawyers Association, the Korean National
Peace Committee, the Korean Committee for Solidarity with the World People,
and the Korean Committee for Asian-African Solidarity. The activities of these
organizations are occasionally reported in the news. Some activities are
independently verifiable but others, such as those of the federations for
Buddhists and Christians are not. It is generally believed that Buddhism and
Christianity have become irrelevant in North Korea (see Internal Security, ch.
5). It is also difficult to ascertain what the Korean Social Democratic Party
actually does; other than the officially published names of its leaders, this
party has not said anything about who constitutes its membership.

The Sixth Party Congress, October 1980

     The long-delayed Sixth Party Congress, convened from October 10 to 14,
1980, was attended by 3,220 party delegates and 117 foreign delegations from
118 countries. The congress reviewed and discussed the report on the work of
the Party (since the Fifth Party Congress in November 1970) delivered by
General Secretary Kim Il Sung. It also elected a new Party Central Committee.
In his five-hour report to the congress, Kim outlined a set of goals and
policies to be pursued in the 1980s.

     Several major points were highlighted in his speech. The first was "the
line of Three Revolutions," meaning the ideological, technical, and cultural
revolutions. The Three Revolutions are aimed at hastening the process of
political and ideological transformation based on chuch'e ideology, improving
the material and technical standards of the economy, and developing socialist
national culture. According to Kim these revolutions are the responsibility of
the Three Revolution Team Movement-defined as "a new method of guiding the
revolution, which combines political and ideological guidance with scientific
and technical guidance and which enables the upper bodies to help the lower
levels and rouses masses of the working people to accelerate the Three
Revolutions." The teams perform their guidance work by sending their members
to factories, enterprises, and cooperative farms. Their members include party
cadres (including those from the Party Central Committee), reliable officials
of the government and of economic and mass organizations, scientists and
technicians, and young intellectuals. Kim stated in his report to the congress
that "everywhere the teams are active, the flames of Three Revolutions have
gone up briskly, bringing a