중동의 민주화 혁명을 통해 본 북한의 민주화 혁명 요인분석

Abstract

It was December of the year 2010, when a spark of pro-democracy revolution i gnited in the name of "Jasmine Revolution" in Tunisia. With the cumulated unemploym ent rate of the young and the economic hardships that have pressured the nation for lo ng, the incident of an unemployed 26 year old Buajizhi's attempt to burn himself has sp read all over the world through ‘Youtube’. The incident set a fire of revolution on the n ation, turning citizens to protestors and exiling president Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia, thus c ollapsing despotism that has pressured the nation. This flame of revolution has spread t o its neighbouring nations such as Egypt and Libya - putting an end to the despotism o f Mubarak and Kaddaphi. It is also heating up other Middle Eastern nations, such as Sie rra, Jordan, and Yemen. Scholars worldwide have mentioned 7 main factors throughout political, econom ic, and social issues that has come to ignite this revolution in the Middle East. ① The l ong years of dictatorship ② Irregularities and corruption of power ③ High unemploym ent rate ④ Poverty of the poor ⑤ High ratio of the young in the population ⑥ Rep ression of freedom ⑦ The development of SNS. According to the study that has analyze d the common factors of nations that have succeeded in a pro-democracy revolution - T unisia, Egypt, Libya- the factors have been proved of its adequateness. Although for Lib ya, SNS wasn't as active as those of other nations - but this has been a chance to notify the world about the incident in Libya and it was through the human network that has broadcasted the situation, making it a reasonable factor for contributing to the ignition of protest and revolution in Libya. North Korea is very much similar to that of the above three nations in politica l, economical, and social aspects. If we apply the 7 factors that we have concluded from the Middle Eastern incident, we can easily figure out the possibilities of revolution. Nort h Korea has been suffering under dictatorship since the Kim Il Sung regime to this day, which is counted up to 62 years in total. The irregularities and corruption of the elites a nd the everlasting poverty of the people as a member of one of the world's poorest nati ons, and the extreme suppression of liberty makes it a thorough reason for revolution. However the uncommunicative and extreme control, lookout, and the education of comm unistic ideologies makes the North Korean themselves unconscious of their own situatio n, therefore lowering the chances of revolution. Furthermore in the case of North Korea, internet has been disconnected from the world under government control, and restriction in overseas travel and oppression of speech, along with the unbelievable mobile user rat e of 1.6% makes the possibility of revolution in North Korea as near "zero" for the mea nwhile. Nobody ever thought that the Tunisian, Egyptian, and especially the Libyan go vernment would collapse down, but it has now become a reality. We are now neglecting the possibility of the ignition to a pro-democracy revolution in North Korea. However N orth Korea satisfies all of the above-stated 7 reasons that has brought up the revolution in the Middle East, only with the exception of the SNS. If only the people of the North become conscious about their own reality, it is possible for a pro-democracy revolution t o ignite. Thus the application of the weak factors of the pro-democracy revolution has it s value as a effective card to suppress against the North in the short term, and in the mid-long term, it could be used as a tool to open North Korea's closed doors and help construct a democratic nation. This would greatly help the cooperation of the two Korea s in unifying the nation, so the need for a continued effort and research in the field of national policies and military strategies.