Left Flank

I can't say I've ever liked any essay about DPRK Dr. Andrei Lankov has ever written...until now. I must be fossilizing! But, I recall hearing similar statements from Dr. Johan Galtung.

It will happen, sooner or later, but there are two strategies to speed up the event which should be used simultaneously. First, one should try to provide North Koreans with information about the outside world. The continuous support for radio broadcasts and to fund opposition activities is vital.

Second, there is another strategy to foment dissent - the development of officially approved exchanges, such as visits by academics, hosting concerts and exhibitions. Since such measures require Pyongyang's consent, they would be impossible to arrange without some compromises. Hardline critics may be right that North Korean officials will portray these visits as a foreigners' tribute to their "Dear Leader". However, one should not overestimate the efficiency of this propaganda. I grew up in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and officially approved cultural and academic exchanges were a critical source of information about life overseas and helped arouse serious doubts about the communist system.

Both strategies should be used persistently, irrespective of what is happening on the ever-shifting diplomatic front. One should not dismiss support for broadcast and opposition activities, even when optimists assure everybody that the North Korean regime is about to change itself. (It will never change itself.) On the other hand, the cultural and academic exchanges (as well as humanitarian assistance) should continue even in the midst of another crisis - whatever the hawks say.

And, since I let my FA subscription lapse, kudos to MDC for making some quotes beyond the summary available.

Left, meet Right!