Autistic N.K. and lessons from Cheonan/박상식

Experts on North Korea are divided on the latest behavior of the North Korean leadership before and after the Cheonan sinking incident. Most of their opinions are speculative at best. Some of them frankly admit that they cannot understand why the North Korean leadership behaves as it does. Why does the totalitarian autocracy behave in self-destructive or “self-immolating madness?”

Since the division of the Korean Peninsula, scholars and pundits -- Korean and foreign -- have put forward various views on North Korea’s behavior. They mention the Leninist-Stalinist totalitarian model, the Chinese Confucian paternalistic system, the juche ideology, the anti-Japanese struggle and the partisan guerrilla war traditions and a combination of all of these. In order to find the answer to the question, we have to examine how the North Korean leadership has been behaving since its inception. It should be pointed out first that there is no difference between the leaderships of Kim Il-sung and his son Jong-il. The sacred raison d’?tre of North Korea is the preservation of the Kim Il-sung system (a totalitarian autocracy). All the principles, doctrines, strategies and policies are to serve this purpose.

For this purpose, two doctrines (or theories) were adopted as eternally valid ones. One is that ends justify means; the other is that North Korea is encircled by two eternal enemies, the United States and South Korea. The first doctrine is borrowed from Leninist-Stalinist ideology, while the other is adapted from Stalin’s theory of capitalist encirclement. Based on the first doctrine, North Korea can resort to any means, including immoral and illegitimate ones. Actual examples range from illegal drug trafficking and counterfeiting to the ax murders at Panmunjom (1976), the assassination attempt on then President Chun Doo-hwan in Rangoon (1983) and the explosion of KAL 858 over the Bay of Bengal (1987). To deal with the encirclement situation, North Korea pursues confrontation, containment and congagement (combination of engagement and containment) policies interchangeably. Its development of WMDs is a conspicuous example. The above worldview and obsession of North Korea explain why it has constantly demanded the withdrawal of the U.S. forces, arms reduction to 100,000 troops for each side, a U.S.-North Korea non-aggression (peace) treaty as well as a South and North Korea non-aggression agreement and the Korea federation (actually confederation) proposal since the Korean War.

The partisan guerrilla strategy developed by Kim Il-sung and inherited by his son is the main strategy to preserve the Kim Il-sung system and is based on these two doctrines. The partisan guerrilla mentality, according to North Korea specialist Scott Snyder, includes the following traits: Defiance of fate, absolute loyalty and solidarity, the will to persevere despite any odds in the spirit of nothing to lose and refusal to play by the opponent’s rules. The one-step-backward-for-two-step-forward tactics and brinkmanship should be added. All these behavioral traits are reflected in North Korea’s behavior in relation to the outside world, particularly the United States and South Korea. For instance, North Korea’s negotiating tactics at the six-party talks have been guided by these traits.

Considering North Korea’s perception of the outside world and its attitude and behavior described above, we find that the North Korean leadership’s mindset is strikingly similar to a person suffering from autism. An autistic person has the following mental traits:

First, the autistic person is better in systematizing than in empathizing. It is true of the North Korean leadership. Empathy can lead to understanding and ultimately trusting others. In the case of North Korea, such empathy can hardly be expected because the North Korean leaders deeply distrust outsiders, particularly the United States and South Korea. In this connection, the autistic person has difficulties in considering others’ viewpoints.

Second, the autistic person’s interest is restricted and consequently is preoccupied with certain objects or subjects. This trait is also applicable to North Korea. The North Korean leadership is so intensely obsessed with the preservation of its political system that it does not pay much attention to the changing environment unless the latter is likely to directly affect the North Korean political system.

Thirdly, the autistic person is characterized by a restricted, repetitive and stereotyped pattern of behavior and as a result by a stereotyped, repetitive or unusual use of language. The North Korean leaders have similar characteristics. Their behavioral and speech patterns are highly repetitive and stereotyped and unusual. They reflect the above the two traits.

Most importantly, the autistic person isolates himself/herself from the outside world and lives in his/her own world, treating others as a threat to his/her life. In the same vein, the North Korean leadership isolates North Korea from the outside world to preserve its political system. The juche ideology is an ideological means and a military-first principle to achieve that goal. As the autistic person does in dealing with threats from the outside, the North Korean leadership resorts to both the juche ideology and the military-first principle to deal with threats from the outside, real or imagined. The North Korean leaders may create an imagined threat to consolidate their political system. However, one problem with their autistic behavior is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for outsiders to know whether and to what extent the North Korean leadership believes that certain outside threats or pressures are real.

With an autistic view of the surrounding world, the North Korean leadership behaves as it does. After the Lee Myung-bak government came into office, North Korea has been changing its policy toward the United States and South Korea from congagement to confrontation. The alleged threat from the South is most likely to be the imagined one in view of North Korean leadership’s autistic mindset. What appears to be the North Korean leadership’s self-destructive or self-immolating behavior is not self-destructive or self-immolating as some observers think. It can be highly calculated behavior, as an autistic person acts rationally.



Park Sang-seek is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University. -- Ed.　

코리아헤럴드/2010년 6월 2일