Mick Hartley

BR Myers, in his 2010 book The Cleanest Race, argued that the guiding ideology of North Korea was a race-based nationalism derived from Japanese fascism, rather than any form of communism, manifested through an obsession with racial purity. Recent developments bear his theory out – in particular the drive to eradicate any traces of the "impure" culture of South Korea.

From the Daily NK:

North Korea has sentenced a woman in her 20s to two decades in prison for distributing a large amount of “impure” cultural materials, Daily NK has learned. 

Even as North Korea intensifies punishments for importing South Korean pop cultural items such as films, TV shows and music, young North Koreans continue to enjoy and long for them. As a result, the authorities are handing down even harsher punishments.

According to a Daily NK source in South Pyongan Province on Friday, the woman — identified by her family name of Choe — was arrested by a strike force of the local branch of Unified Command 82 (the unified command on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior) in Kaechon early last month for distributing large numbers of USBs and SD cards filled with South Korean movies, TV shows and other cultural items.

The source said Choe was sentenced to 20 years after the authorities slapped the additional charge of “promoting the consumption of foreign culture ahead of the birthday of late national founder Kim Il Sung on Apr. 15” on top of the existing charge of illegally selling and distributing recordings unapproved by the state.

The authorities subjected Choe to an intense investigation since she was caught selling illegal recordings ahead of Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday.

During Unified Command 82’s investigation, Choe reportedly confessed to illegally selling and distributing South Korean movies and TV programs — i.e., “impure” materials — over many years. In particular, she had been selling SD cards with South Korean films or TV programs for USD 20 to 70 each, depending on how many recordings they contained, and even watched the illicit materials together with friends who gathered for holidays and birthdays.

North Korea adopted a law to eradicate so-called “reactionary thought and culture” in December 2020. 

According to explanatory material for the law obtained by Daily NK last year, Article 27 of the law calls for sentences of five to 15 years of correctional labor against people caught watching, listening or possessing “films, recordings, publications, books, songs, drawings or photos from South Choson [South Korea],” and life sentences of correctional labor or death for individuals who import and distribute such materials.

That North Korea sentenced Choe to a sentence heavier than the legally mandated one suggests the authorities intend to generate a climate of fear by demonstrating to people that even more severe punishments await anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior.

In this way, North Korean authorities believe people who illegally distribute or sell foreign cultural content are the reason why the country’s citizens are being exposed to capitalist culture that threatens the regime, and is intensifying crackdowns as they enact laws to punish such behavior.

If the poor woman was distributing South Korean material then – contrary to what the article states about her sentence being "heavier than the legally mandated one" – she's actually been lucky to escape with her life. Still, the point is clear enough: the regime is out to cleanse not just people's bodies, but their minds as well.

Of course the transition from an ostensible communism to an outright fascism is not unique to North Korea – as Putin's Russia clearly demonstrates…