The impending collapse of North Korea
Browsing The Corner this morning, I came across a blurb regarding the current situation in/regarding North Korea. The blurb pointed to this article, which basically makes the argument that North Korea is on a converging path with capitalism. The money, you ask?
As is often the case, technology has played a prominent role in fomenting this change. In the USSR and other countries of the former Communist bloc, the constructed vision of the world was largely supplied by short-wave radios; in North Korea this alternative vision has manifested itself through videotape. VCRs were present in the North beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but initially could only be bought in hard-currency shops for a price beyond the reach of even relatively affluent North Koreans
....
As a result of the spread of such technology, South Korean actors and actresses are now well known in North Korea, and Pyongyang youth eagerly imitate their hairstyles and fashions. There have been reports of competition between them to see who is able to reproduce the fashions and mannerisms from recent South Korean shows with greater precision.15 There have even been a few North Korean students who have begun to dye their hair in the style fashionable in Seoul currently.16 South Korean polite forms of address, once anathema, are also becoming widespread in the North, replacing the older Communist forms of address.17 As was once the case in the USSR, the more affluent, better-educated, and younger sections of the population are quicker to adopt such outside influences. The youth from the best universities, and raised in well-connected families, are the ones who now sport the most eccentric haircuts and outfits straight out of the Seoul television shows.
Once MTV starts being streamed in, the heat is on.
As is often the case, technology has played a prominent role in fomenting this change. In the USSR and other countries of the former Communist bloc, the constructed vision of the world was largely supplied by short-wave radios; in North Korea this alternative vision has manifested itself through videotape. VCRs were present in the North beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but initially could only be bought in hard-currency shops for a price beyond the reach of even relatively affluent North Koreans
....
As a result of the spread of such technology, South Korean actors and actresses are now well known in North Korea, and Pyongyang youth eagerly imitate their hairstyles and fashions. There have been reports of competition between them to see who is able to reproduce the fashions and mannerisms from recent South Korean shows with greater precision.15 There have even been a few North Korean students who have begun to dye their hair in the style fashionable in Seoul currently.16 South Korean polite forms of address, once anathema, are also becoming widespread in the North, replacing the older Communist forms of address.17 As was once the case in the USSR, the more affluent, better-educated, and younger sections of the population are quicker to adopt such outside influences. The youth from the best universities, and raised in well-connected families, are the ones who now sport the most eccentric haircuts and outfits straight out of the Seoul television shows.
Once MTV starts being streamed in, the heat is on.
posted by crp at 4:33 AM
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