North Korea's "Military First" Policy and Implications of Recent Nuclear Test:

Songun, is North Korea's "Military First" policy, which prioritizes the Korean People's Army in the affairs of state and allocates national resources to the army first. "Military First" as a principle guides political and economic life in North Korea. Songun elevates the Korean People's Army within North Korea as an organization and as a state function, granting it the primary position in the North Korean government and society. It guides domestic policy and international interactions. It is the framework for the government, designating the military as the "supreme repository of power." The North Korean government grants the Korean People's Army the highest economic and resource-allocation priority, and positions it as the model for society to emulate. After Kim Il-sung's death, North Korea shifted to songun as their primary ideology. One strand of the debate points to North Korea's desire to increase its military strength due to its precarious international position. In this sense, Songun is perceived as an aggressive, threatening move to increase the strength of the North Korean military at the expense of other parts of society.

The latest test follows a series of recent provocative actions that have dimmed hopes that young leader Kim Jong Un would be a reformer. In response to North Korea’s Nuclear test this week, South Korea staged large military drills and disclosed a new cruise missile capable of hitting any target in North Korea, just days after the North said it detonated its third nuclear device and as Pyongyang became increasingly candid about its intentions to build intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads. South Korea’s reaction has been a rapid attempt to show North Korea its own military strength. On Thursday, the South’s political parties put aside their bickering over domestic politics and passed nearly unanimously a parliamentary resolution condemning the North’s nuclear test. South Korea deployed destroyers and submarines off its eastern coast to test their combat readiness.

South Korea started a similar naval drill off the western coast on Wednesday and planned on Friday to begin live-fire drills involving rockets and artillery near the land border with North Korea. The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region. The US military, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, was staging an air drill mobilizing jet fighters.

North Korea has told its key ally China that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks. Just as the US starts to draw down its forces in the Middle East, North Korea is poking a stick in the hornet’s nest. It will be interesting to see how the UN responds this time? How many more sanctions will be imposed? And will the UN ask China or Russia to play a heavier role in trying to cool this loose cannon? Time will only tell.

Reunification: Exploring Ideas

Much of our group discussion during our most recent session was concentrated on the possibility of North and South Korea uniting under one flag. The first half of our conversation tried to explain why reunification remains an incredible challenge. Basically, North Korea has very effectively convinced the majority of its citizens that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is the singular force preventing “corruptive” outside powers such as South Korea and the United States from infiltrating a society that contains the world’s most superior race. Through a relentless onslaught of state media-driven propaganda, the task of reunification seems worlds away as long as the citizens of North Korea itself continue to carry their present-day attitude towards people and countries different from themselves. We concluded that the only realistic option was repeated and increasing exposure to outside culture via foreign films that may highlight the real, personable aspects held by citizens of an outside country.

To illustrate the possibility of the reunification between a communist nation and a democratic society (both occupied by people of the same race), we looked toward a real-life example from not too long ago- East and West Germany.

The discussion about obscured reality inevitably leads us to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and its communist regime from 1961 to 1989. Like North Korea, East Germany was a repressive state that was controlled by a nasty secret police (the Stasi) and sealed off from the rest of the world by a Wall. Its citizens were manipulated by extensive propaganda activities and had absolutely no rights to express a free opinion (especially an opinion that criticizes the regime.) All these factors created a disconsolate citizenry that would push out the regime if given the chance. Hence, any manner of internal democratization or liberalization would end the regime as we know it. And that’s exactly what happened in the GDR: Germany succeeded to reunite the late 80s after months of public uprising and demonstrations against Erich Honecker’s regime. This raises the question if a similar act of liberalization could occur in North Korea or what it would take to change the mindset of the North Korean people to fight for their freedom.

Even though both states were communist per definition, North Korea takes Marx’s ideology to a completely new level. It is not just a dictatorship; it is an Orwellian nightmare, more Stalinist than East Germany ever was. Fixing North Korea is probably going to require some serious nation-wide psychiatric care for millions of people. Additionally, North is far worse off economically than East Germany. In 20 years, West Germany has transferred $1.2 trillion euros to the roughly 16 million people of East Germany. Note that North Korea has more people (23 M) than East Germany, and those people are significantly poorer per person too ($10k vs 1.7k per capita). That means the 1.2T € figure is likely too low for the North Korean case. Finally, East Germany, being located in the heart of Europe, had much easier access to information and technology. They knew exactly what was going on outside their little ideal communist world and they knew exactly that they were much worse off than their Western counterpart. 

The majority of people in North Korea, however, are deluded and woolly minded and have absolutely no clue that there is a world outside their country that may actually be worth fighting for. They don’t have enough information to create motivation amongst themselves to stand up against their totalitarian regime.

The Google Delegation

On Monday, a group of American citizens including former New Mexico Governor and Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. At first glance, Schmidt seemed like an unusual candidate to make such a trip; North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world and limits internet usage to only a small portion of the country's elites. However, Richardson stated in advance of the trip that Schmidt was “Interested in some of the economic issues there, the social media aspect.”

Richardson labeled the trip as a humanitarian mission, citing several goals for the delegation:

(1) Attempt to meet with Kenneth Bae, a South Korean-born American citizen who was arrested in November for "hostile acts" against North Korea while he was in the country as a tourist. Just yesterday, Richardson stated that he had been unable to meet with Bae.

(2) Speak to North Korean officials about internet connectivity. Schmidt was quoted as saying, "As the world becomes increasingly connected, their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth, and it will make it harder for them to catch up economically."

(3) Urge North Korean officials to end nuclear and missile tests.
The U.S. State Department has repeatedly referred to the trip as "ill-advised" and "not particularly helpful." Since North Korea launched a long-range rocket last month, the U.S. government has been especially critical, believing it to represent a violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions. The U.S. has been attempting to drum up international support for additional sanctions against North Korea for its actions.

What if we view North Korea as a Monopoly?

In the wake of North Korea's successful missile launch and subsequent satellite failure, our group gathered to discuss the ramifications and to develop a framework for our sessions moving forward.

In a recent business class we learned some strategies that smaller companies use to penetrate a market held by a monopoly. Robert made the insightful connection between the classroom material and the situation with North Korea and the group set to lay out further details.

First, we started by outlining several "barriers to entry" the free world faces when trying to break through the walls that keep N. Korea isolated.
1. Nuclear Weapons
2. Huge Military
3. Culture - The N. Korean people have been told the rest of the world is the enemy, the truth has been so well hidden from them that they are not a driving force from within as is the case in many oppressed countries.

Next we identified a few strategies to defeat the barriers
1. Media - With an influx of movies and printed news the people would be presented with the truth.
2. Black Market - The black market for items smuggled from China is growing. As things like cell phones and radios get into the hands of N. Koreans, they will be presented with points of view opposite of the state controlled media.
3. Guerrilla Warfare - War of Attrition. Once there are enough citizens within the walls who are opposed to the current suppressive way of life, there will be a potential for a rebel movement. Similar to what the conquered European nations did during WWII.

Going forward as we dive deeper into specific aspects of this awful situation we will keep this framework in mind as we seek innovative MBA solutions for tackling the human rights and refugee crisis.

NK Tests Another Rocket...So What?

In a few days' time, I fully expect North Korea to again make headlines around the world when it tests yet another "satellite" for "peaceful purposes" (a.k.a. rocket launch to test intercontinental ballistic missile technology).

And for a day or two, news articles will be written, "North Korea Missile Launch" will be a trending topic on Twitter, CNN and other news sites, and talking heads will debate the significance of this event on television.

I have to give credit where it's due, and frankly speaking, the North Korean regime really knows how to work the PR buzz machine.

By garnering all of this publicity with regard to its missile range capabilities, the North Korean regime is able to divert attention away from its ongoing human rights abuses and the refugee crisis it has created.

This past Sunday on 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper interviewed a North Korean defector by the name of Shin Dong Hyuk. You can watch the video below:

I've had the fortune of befriending and rooming with Mr. Shin during my brief time in LA, and his story is truly remarkable. Looking back on those few months when I shared a bunk bed with him in that tiny room, I am always amazed at how composed and gentle-hearted he was considering the tremendous amount of suffering and pain he has had to endure. He has a true joy for life which can only come from someone who has been denied that for most of his life.

Shin and me discovering longboarding in LA

A group of fellow classmates in my MBA program at the College of William and Mary have come together in what we call a Junto to discuss North Korea and the possibilities for change and reform over the course of the next semester.

This past week we discussed what today is referred to as the modern day underground railroad by watching the documentary called "Seoul Train". Sadly the suffering of North Koreans often does not stop once they are able to escape from North Korea, the reason being that once safely across the border in China, these refugees need to navigate several thousand miles of roads, cities, and terrain in order to reach freedom. And all along the way, these refugees must avoid capture by the Chinese government, which practices a policy of capturing and repatriating North Korean refugees back to North Korea, where they face harsh punishment (ranging from prison, to torture, and ultimately to execution) for the crime of leaving North Korea without permission.

I have worked on part of this underground railroad in the past, and now I am in business school because I believe that the tools and skills gained in business school can be applied to solving social problems.

I look forward to the innovative ideas that will be generated from the discussions with my fellow classmates throughout the semester.