On-the-spot guidance
On-the-spot guidance | |
Chosŏn'gŭl | 현지지도 |
---|---|
Hancha | 現地指導 |
Revised Romanization | hyeonjijido |
McCune–Reischauer | hyŏnchichi-to |
IPA | [çjʌ̹n.t͡ɕi.t͡ɕi.to̞] |
"On-the-spot guidance" (also "guidance tours" or "field guidance") is a term used in the
have all made use of the practice.History and role in society
In North Korea, "on-the-spot guidance" is depicted as "a unilateral favor bestowed ... by the supreme ruler," and its use is one "example of how the North Korean system is based on a paternalistic, patriarchal system."[1] In North Korean propaganda, "on-the-spot" guidance furthers the image of a caring, omniscient, and great leader offering "benevolent guidance" to the people.[2][3] Most instances have higher-ranking military officers and officials taking notes of what the Supreme Leader is saying or recommending.
The phrase "on-the-spot guidance" was first created to describe the public activities of Kim Il Sung at some particular site.[1][a] North Korea officially recognizes Kim Il Sung's "first" guidance tour as a trip to a Pyongyang factory on 24 September 1945, but "whether this was really a guidance tour is doubtful," as Kim's local visits "were irregular and intermittent in the 1940s, rather than planned and routinized as they were in the 1950s and 1960s."[4] The first guidance tour "as an institutionalized leadership act" came in December 1956 at the Kangson Steel Plant, at which Kim initiated the Chollima Movement "mass competition campaign for rapid economic development" (1957–1961).[5] Kim continued to use guidance tours to launch such campaigns and other new policies.[6]
Under
Scholar Jae-Cheon Lim writes that:
For Kim Il Sung, the goals of the guidance tours were multiple. First of all, he wanted to mobilize the masses in order to achieve economic goals by directly appealing to them. Second, he wanted to check whether his policy, which was decided at the top level, was being implemented in lower-level organizations as he intended. Third, he used the guidance tours as a means of understanding the situations that existed in these lower-level organizations before deciding on new policy issues at the top level. In sum, the guidance tour was the North Korean leader's ruling method for multiple purposes -- mass mobilization, policy inspection, and reality checks -- and was also a means of redressing bureaucratic red tape.[8]
In the 1970s, Kim Il Sung's son
In 1994, after his father's death, Kim Jong Il became supreme leader, and he continued the "on-the-spot guidance" practice. Kim Jong Il's guidance tours were "more symbolic" than his father's, and Kim Jong Il "carried them out in a more mechanical and choreographed way, avoiding direct contact with ordinary North Koreans to a greater extent than his father had done."
"In contrast to his father, Kim Jong-un has ... focused his on-the-spot guidance visits on Pyongyang."[11] Along with Kim Jong Un's undertaking of projects directed to appeal to this class, such as "a maternity hospital, health complex, skating rink, apartment complexes, and a fun fair," this is seen by analysts as one indication that Kim has attempted to consolidate support among North Korean urban elites.[11]
The South Korean National Intelligence Service reports that advance preparation work for "on-the-spot guidance" begins at the designated factory or other workplace "one year before the actual guidance is delivered."[1] At the actual event, the leader will dispense "practical advice" and instructions for improving productivity[2] or working conditions.[10] The leader is surrounded by soldiers, party members, or government officials who carefully take down everything said by the leader (even jokes) in identical paper notebooks.[2] The scene of various apparatchiks intently recording the leader's every word is broadcast via state media, furthering the image of the leader as all-knowing.[2] After the event, "loyalty-determination gatherings" are held,[1] and a monument or plaque commemorating the visit and the remarks are set up.[1][12] This is used as a tool for "idolization";[1] and the site is treated with reverence.[13]
Analysts have used the presence of various North Korean officials accompanying the leader on "on-the-spot guidance" visits as a way of discerning differences in the North Korean hierarchy and power structure under Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un. In this social network analysis, the rise and fall of individuals can be observed, and the relative power of different groups by age and affiliation (party organ versus government bureau versus military) can be seen.[14]
Notes
- ^ The "guidance tour" concept was derived from Mao Zedong's "mass line" ideology, but Kim Il-sung "methodically utilized the guidance tour to a greater extent than Mao himself had done."[4]
- ^ See also Jinwung Kim, A History of Korea: From "Land of the Morning Calm" to States in Conflict (Indiana University Press, 2012), p. 457: "To strengthen 'blood ties' with his 'children,' Kim Il-sung frequently made 'on-the-spot-guidance' tours, visiting farms, factories, and other sites of economic production throughout the country."
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7656-3523-5.
- ^ a b c d "Why is Kim Jong-un always surrounded by people taking notes?". Magazine Monitor. BBC News. 25 April 2014.
- ^ a b Kwon & Chung, p. 28.
- ^ a b Lim, p. 107.
- ^ Lim, p. 107-08.
- ^ Lim, p. 108.
- ^ Kwon & Chung, p. 153.
- ^ Lim, pp. 106-07.
- ^ a b c d e f Lim, p. 109.
- ^ a b Kwon & Chung, p. 171
- ^ a b Anthony H. Cordesman & Aaron Lin, The Changing Military Balance in the Koreas and Northeast Asia, Center for Strategic and International Studies (June 2015), p. 13.
- Pyongyang subwayhallowed the seat in which Kim took his first ride by permanently setting it aside as a memorial, not to be used by subway commuters."
- ^ Hunter, p. 14.
- ^ Lee Kyo-Duk, Lim Soon-Hee, Cho Jeong-Ah & Song Joung-Ho, Study Series 13-01, Study on the Power Elite of the Kim Jong Un Regime, Korea Institute for National Unification (July 2013), pp. 43-53.
Works cited
- Heonik Kwon & Byung-Ho Chung, North Korea: Beyond Charismatic Politics (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).
- Helen-Louise Hunter, Kim Il-song's North Korea (Greenwood: 1999).
- Jae-Cheon Lim, Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State (Routledge, 2015).