북한 반동사상문화 통제의 효과 - 주민의 심리적 반응과 대처를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study is an attempt to understand the psychological reactions and coping of the people with the control of North Korea’s reactionary ideology and culture. In recent years, the Kim Jong-un regime’s cultural control has strengthened legal rules and punishments, such as the “Law on the Rejection of Reactionary Ideology and Culture,” the “Act on Guaranteeing Youth Education,” and the “Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act,” which is perceived as a reign of terror aimed at inducing fear among the people to make them submit. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the people feel, think, and cope with state power, and to assess the influence of North Korean cultural control and the possibility of social change. As a result of the study, it was found that the psychological experience of the people in the presence of state power differed by socio-economic status. The upper- middle class was largely unfazed and embraced cultural control, but continued to engage in forbidden behaviors by the State. However, the lower classes were found to be fearful and dissatisfied, but not able to express them, and to obey the rules of the state. If this is the case, the Kim Jong-un regime’s control of culture can be read as an intention to oppressively regulate lower classes who are difficult to access and consume, rather than those who freely consume and spread reactionary ideological culture. The discontent of the people was suppressed and could not be expressed to the state, but the possibility of a detour to evade discipline was expanding. This implies the possibility of the spread of reactionary ideological culture in North Korean society as an unexpected effect of the reign of terror, as well as the possibility of continuing coercive discipline for the stability of the system. The experiences of the people and state violence on the edge of such possibilities reveals the stability of the North Korean system.