Would Romanian Style Revolution be Possible in North Korea?

Abstract

Similarities between Romanian and North Korean dictatorship can be understood at the level of common sense even though we do not mention in details. Because among many dictators on earth, Ceauşescu imitated directly the North Korean-style dictatorship. But I would like to suggest that some differences between these two systems can be found clearly. Although the Romanian clan dictatorship took North Korea as a model, I think that it was just an imitation of the dictatorship of North Korea. And I also believe that the clan dictatorship of North Korea including individual idolatry had some limits to put down roots in Romania. In other words, the soil of Romania and North Korea was different. North Koreans have oriental sentiments and values, while Romanians have strong characteristics of European individualism. Therefore, there are some differences between these two peoples ruled by communism under similar absolute dictatorships. Usually, comparing North Korea and Romania, most of people just examine the political system of these two countries. But it is also important to examine how are these two peoples ruled by the nation's system. My opinion is that there are some clear differences between these two peoples who accept the communist dictatorship in their country. Although the censorship has been carried out during Ceauşescu's dictatorship, personal freedoms including religion has been largely recognized and some Romanian writers published their works which criticized indirectly Ceauşescu's dictatorship. Compared to other Eastern European nations, social resistance movements in Romania led by dissidents and dissident groups almost did not exist. This kind of situation also can be found in North Korea. By the way, regarding this, there are also some differences between Romania and North Korea. In case of North Korea, there are very few activities of dissidents. In contrast, activities of dissidents were very weak in Romania compared to other Eastern European countries, even though they had existed. Around the World War II, Romania was richer than Greece. So Romanians could compare 'good life in the past' and 'hardscrabble life' of the late '80s, figuring it out as the consequence of Ceauşescu's dictatorship. In contrast, North Korean people are just living resignedly because they have never got previous experiences of rich life. Therefore, when we are examining carefully the dictatorship of North Korea compared to Romania, they seem to be similar on a larger scale but we can also find some differences. North Koreans might tremble with horror due to the powerful politics of fear in their country that exterminate a family of a whole three generations, but in accepting the idolatry for Jeong-il Kim and his clan dictatorship it seems to be a little bit different than Romania's situation.