Buddhist Pilgrimage to North Korea about Cash, Not Religion
by Richardson ~ June 13th, 2007. Filed under: Economics, Engagement, Korean Culture, Korean Politics.This is simply another angle on the tried and true method of extracting hard currency from South Koreans for the northern regime’s elite. Superficially about a pilgrimage for the south’s Buddhist monks, the agenda inevitably turned to extracting every more dollar (yes, dollars, not ROK Won) from the monks:
In a rare nod to religion, communist North Korea has welcomed 500 Buddhist monks and followers from the South to a temple dating from the 11th century when Kaesong was capital of a unified peninsula.
[…]
North Korean officials were quick to stress that this month’s nine-hour visit to the picturesque Ryongtong temple on the outskirts of Kaesong was strictly religious fare.
[…]
The pilgrimage marking the restoration of the temple was the first in a series that will see more than 2,000 South Korean Buddhists travel across the heavily fortified border that has divided Korea for more than half a century.
“There won’t be any sightseeing,” Ri insisted.
North Korea watchers and critics say the hardline Pyongyang government persecutes religious followers and the only practices tolerated are carefully choreographed displays for outsiders.
Not so, the Council’s vice-chairman, Jong Tok-gi, told Reuters after a Buddhist service at Ryongtong.
“We have freedom of religion.”
But when a North Korean Buddhist leader spoke at the service, his words had the clear ring of politics and Pyongyang’s official obsession with one day ending the divide on the Korean peninsula.
[…]
The North Korean Buddhists, with full heads of hair and colorful costumes looked anything but the typical monks of the South with their shaven heads and austere grey robes.
Despite Ri’s assurances that this was a strictly spiritual affair, the visitors’ buses made several stops at tourist sites in the cash-strapped state to give them the chance to buy souvenirs.
“Have you bought anything? Come on, go and buy something,” a North Korean guide urged his visitors, pointing to stalls where young women in traditional costume offered local goods ranging from mushrooms and fake Viagra to books of teachings by the country’s father-and-son leaders — all for U.S. dollars.
“We’re not going to hide anything,” said another guide, who declined to give his name, as the buses maneuvered their way through Kaesong’s residential streets where disheveled locals flashed startled looks at the gleaming vehicles.
“We have the discipline, the intelligence and the will (to make ties with the South work),” he said. All that was needed was for the wealthy South to deliver on its commitments to invest in the North.
[…]
With such high aims, an indignant Ri dismissed criticism from some in the South that charging each visitor 170,000 won for the relatively short trip was excessive.
“I fail to understand just who these people are who are talking about money when what we have here is a pilgrimage to such a holy temple, the Ryongtong Temple.”
As he was likely to be quoted in Western press, zero chance he’d stray from the script and risk a visit to a “reeducation” camp.
More at this related report.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:36 am
[…] try to get as much money out of them as possible. In North Korea, they have the same thing (Via. DPRK Studies) KAESONG, North Korea (Reuters) - In a rare nod to religion, communist North Korea has welcomed 500 […]
June 13th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
You can’t blame them. Everyone tries to get you to buy stuff on tours. It’s just in Asian countries they don’t seem to have realised that trying to pressure Western tourists into buying things doesn’t work that well. Go on a tour in China and they will automatically take you round jade factories, silk factories, pearl museums etc, etc. And this is just if you want to go to the Great Wall or somewhere.
Maybe the North Koreans don’t see it as tapping the rich South Koreans and see it as simply mutual investment, or maybe they do and they feel that since the South Koreans are materially richer it is their duty to give money to their Korean brothers.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
In this case however, it is not Western tourists visiting, but Korean Buddhists, and it was billed as being, “strictly religious fare.” Yes, the north does feel the south owes them, in this strange brand of survivalist Juch’e.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
That government will do anything for a buck: dope, counterfeiting, you name it. For all their dedication to racial purity, I recall that some of the casinos they set up for Chinese tourists were whoring out North Korean girls in the “saunas” downstairs. It’s just a matter of time before they discover child sex tourism.
June 13th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
“In this case however, it is not Western tourists visiting, but Korean Buddhists, and it was billed as being, “strictly religious fare.” Yes, the north does feel the south owes them, in this strange brand of survivalist Juch’e.”
Notice it was the author of the article who said it was “strictly a religious fare”. No quote from the North Koreans was offered stating this as a description of the tour. As to the idea that there won’t be any sightseeing - surely the ancient Buddhist temple is a sight in itself and so maybe the guide was referring to typical sights seen by Western tourists (they may have visited those - the article doesn’t go into detail).
Actually from my readings of Juche I would say this is in character with Juche theory. Traditionally NK doesn’t aim to isolate itself economically or internationally. It still requires international trade etc. In addition I don’t believe it has ever claimed to have reached a stage of total self-reliance (I presume it would be called “true Juche” or something). Finally South Korea is part of the DPRK in the North’s eyes (don’t both Koreas officially claim each other as part of their territories?), therefore accepting aid from the South is simply seen as friendly inter-Korean co-operation and thus a source of national pride which is VERY Juche.
“That government will do anything for a buck: dope, counterfeiting, you name it. For all their dedication to racial purity, I recall that some of the casinos they set up for Chinese tourists were whoring out North Korean girls in the “saunas” downstairs. It’s just a matter of time before they discover child sex tourism.”
I’ve heard they were Chinese girls not Koreans and that North Koreans are apparently not allowed in those Chinese casinos. Also I am yet to see North Korean propaganda proposing “racial purity”. The nation is simply naturally homogeneous and I have yet to come across racial theory in Juche.
June 13th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Jon,
I was being sarcastic about Juch’e. From my reading on the topic, capitalist tourist operations definitely do not fit the bill. From the horse’s mouth;
http://www.dprkstudies.org/2006/05/04/book-review-juche-the-speeches-and-writings-of-kim-il-sung/
I’d say a trip advertised as being to Buddhist temples and the comment, “There won’t be any sightseeing” (direct quote) would very likely imply a more serious, “strictly religious” trip to the temples for the monks.
June 13th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Are the special economic zones really so anti-Juche? They are built by the foreign corporations and are essentially a cash cow for the DPRK. They don’t really cost the DPRK anything financially, it is only ideologically where they are anti-Juche. But in a post socialist world it could be seen as an adaptation of the Juche idea (remember Kim Jong-il is officially given the accomplishment of “furthering the Juche idea”. Maybe they like it as it could be perceived as North Korea “exploiting” the capitalists.
As to the sightseeing Buddhists perhaps the North Koreans meant it was a “primarily” as opposed to “strictly” religious trip. I’m sure on religious exchanges in the West groups have the chance to visit shops etc in addition to their primary activities. I doubt if a Catholic group from the US were to visit Rome on a “striclty religious trip,” the entire group would be forbidden or discouraged from doing anything other than looking around the Vatican. It’s just that the East Asian countries which lack much Western influence (China and North Korea to name two) try the more direct approach of urging visitors to buy things rather than just letting them buy things Western style.
June 13th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I’ll have to disagree, Jon. I’ve read Kim Il-sung on the subject, and what’s going on in North Korea is not Juch’e. See the review link above. As Kim put it;
Whoring out labor to be used by capitalists (Kaesong) and begging someone to purchase trinkets (post above), has nothing to do with Juch’e. It’s a near polar opposite.
There comes a point when one has to face reality and stop giving some the benefit of the doubt. That time passed long ago for North Korea.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
But Juche was essentially founded on the assumption that you would always have the socialist bloc to trade with even if the West stuck a load of sanctions on you. Although this wasn’t written down in any official books on the subjects, I don’t think North Korea ever envisaged being the only socialist country when they developed and implemented the Juche idea.
Therefore the SEZ are a compromise needed to maintain the Juche society. Also has the DPRK actually claimed to be completely self-reliant? No. It is (according to the official WPK line) the ultimate goal. Since no-one wants to accept NK Won for goods the North Koreans are forced to compromise. Whoring out labour? Well technically yes, but the DPRK gets money and increasing friendly ties with the outside world - neither of which are anti-Juche. Therefore I would say it is a large blip on the radar in a society that ultimately has never claimed to be totally self-reliant as people expect. Remember if they wanted to really sell themselves to capitalism China is on hand to advise.
Anyway I think we’ve rather strayed from the original topic here.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
??? I don’t think there is any way you can bend or apologize for Juch’e that will get it to justify indenturing slave labor to the DPRK’s capitalist enemy and lackeys of the U.S. imperialists (a term you will read literally hundreds of times, if you read a few of Kim Il-sung’s books).
If you can dig up any North Korean reference that does point to this, I urge you to. Having read on it a bit, I do not anticipate you’ll be able to find anything of the sort. No matter how you attempt to frame it, contract slave labor is not Juch’e.
That’s right – the regime leadership does not want to reform, in fact they cannot reform as China has, at least without the regime giving up power. This leaves them to continue to path of human rights abuse and proliferation. Thus the grand dilemma with North Korea.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:30 am
What do you mean by slave labour? Have I missed something? They get paid more than the average North Korean don’t they? And yes the wages are still very low compared even with China but it’s not as if you can just go and buy a plasma TV in NK even if you did have the cash.
As to a North Korean reference to allowing SEZ - the most obvious one is the constitution.
http://www.kcckp.net/en/great/constitution.php?3
“Article 37. The State shall encourage institutions, enterprises and organizations in our country to joint ventures and cooperation of enterprise with foreign corporations and individuals as well as the establishment and operation of a variety of enterprise in special economic zones.”
According to http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/58.htm references to the SEZ were added in 1992.
“Among the more significant changes are the elevation of chuch’e at the expense of Marxism-Leninism, the removal of references to the expulsion of foreign troops, and the addition of articles encouraging joint ventures, guaranteeing the “legitimate rights and interests of foreigners,” and establishing a framework for expanded ties with capitalist countries.”
June 14th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Jon,
A direct question: are you a Korean Friendship Association (KFA) member, or a member of a similar organization?
Let’s start with the dictionary definition, which is, “any coerced or poorly remunerated work.” You may argue that the workers do not have to work there, which would be true; they could instead, for refusing orders, be removed with their families to one of the “reeducation” (concentration) camps. So “coerced” definitely does fit. Moving on to “poorly remunerated,” let’s look at what they really do earn. Joshua of OneFreeKorea has done a good bit of looking into this issue:
And this:
What to do with $8 a month?
Or much to eat, electricity, freedom, etc.
Jon, no matter how many excuses you try to make for North Korea, the addition of, “establishing a framework for expanded ties with capitalist countries” in a document in no way justifies – under Juch’e – the whoring out of slave labor to capitalist nations, which is exactly what North Korea is doing. It’s contrary to the basic tenets of Juch’e, and no amount of semantics (e.g., trying to argue around terms like “slave labor,” etc.) can change that.
BTW, the North Korean government is also whoring out slave labor in Europe (and elsewhere), even though the slaves are happy.
You can’t Google your way out of this.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:19 am
No I am most certianly not a member of KFA or any other pro North group. I believe that North Korea is definitely bad in terms of human rights, freedoms and economic performance, but I don’t feel it is quite as bad as is generally perceived in the West.
On the topic of Kaesong wages could you please tell me exactly how Barbara Demick of the L.A. Times managed to find out they only receive $8 a month? It’s just the link to the article from OneFreeKorea shows the article is no longer online. OneFreeKorea says “None of the South Korean factory managers interviewed would guess how much of the $50 salary ends up in the pockets of workers” and “No interviews with North Korean officials or employees were allowed” and yet “Barbara Demick managed to find out anyway.” How?
Although I am willing to concede it is slave labour in Kaesong, I still wonder how this differs from the rest of North Korea? Surely the government takes the vast amount of all wages across the country in the sense that they pay the average North Korean a pittance but do at least attempt to provide some subsidies with the decaying public distribution system. In addition since the Kaesong workers can only afford 2.2 pounds of rice a year from their wages according to the estimates at OneFreeKorea, surely the South Korean companies are plagued by workers dropping dead from starvation or being too physically weak to work? Since no one has yet stated this occurs we can assume that the workers are actually able to get food and necessities on a level of basic survival. The government is still a likely source for this and thus their wages, even though forcibly taken, still provide them indirectly with the means for survival. I’m not saying that’s a good thing but it doesn’t mean they get absolutely nothing out of the money given to the government.
On the note of the KFA by the way I was wondering what you make of this. http://www.korea-dpr.com/cgi-bin/simpleforum.cgi?fid=01&topic_id=1101231620&highlight=special economic zone
The first post in the thread by the creator and president Alejandro states
“If North Korea was ’selling away’, KFA will not exists as it is and we won’t be working as volunteers for a country without the original principles of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.”
Do you think the KFA would shut itself down if North Korea did stray too far from original Juche theory or does this guy have too much at stake in his organisation and thus would find some way of excusing the revision of Juche? I’m not advocating the KFA, just wondering about your view on this.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Split the “people” from the regime “elite,” and the North Korean government is actually worse than what most Westerners know, if they know anything about North Korea beyond Team America.
Demick has written many articles on North Korea and conducted numerous interviews with North Korean’s of varying positions and stations. I am not familiar with all of her work, but it is not hard to understand that someone who has been working the issue for years necessarily would have collected a large number of contacts in and on North Korea.
You might also want to consider that giving almost any details of her source (since her contact with each NKorean would be well documented) might not be the best idea.
The rest of the North Korean work force is not being leased/rented/whored out to capitalists. “Slave State” is an accurate description for most of North Korea.
Fed slaves are still slaves.
Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Perez is a blatant propagandist for North Korea and I don’t take what he has to say seriously.