March 2, 2016
hISTORY eNDS EVERYWHERE:
How my generation of dollar-loving North Koreans will shake up regime : In an exclusive interview, defector Sungju Lee argues that his 'market generation' is primed to spark a social overhaul in the next 20 years (Maeve Shearlaw, 1 March 2016, The Guardian)
A generation of North Koreans as familiar with the American dollar as Kim Il-sung is set to dramatically shake up the country, according to young defector Sungju Lee.Calling those born after 1990 the "market generation", the 28-year-old says young people are likely to trigger major social and economic changes in the closed-off communist country over the next 20 years.Capitalism has become an influential force in their lives, Lee says, with nostalgia for life under the "first dictator" - when North Korea was a new nation and widespread famine had not yet been experienced - no longer entrenching a sense of patriotism. [...]"People of my generation hate the United States but they love the dollar. They hate Japan but they love the yen. Some might hate China but they love the yuan," he says.Lee gives the example of 2009 reforms, which were designed to crack down on the growing power of the private enterprise and revive socialism. This was a "huge fail", he claims, and demonstrated that "North Korea cannot control the markets".
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2016 4:37 PM