Kim Jong Un’s North Korean culture war

If there’s one thing that a despot wants, it is to stay in power. North Korea’s totalitarian Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, is no exception. Not only does he seek to maintain the survival of his ruling regime, but Kim also yearns for North Korea to be recognised as a de facto nuclear-armed state. But whilst revolutions are rare in the nuclear-armed hermit kingdom, Kim wants to ensure that even the slightest seeds of dissent fail to be sown. Whether military elites or the North Korean youth, everyone must be kept in check. And how better to do so than by drafting a 300,000-strong youth ‘shock brigade’ to reconstruct flood-damaged areas.

Youth leagues are a common feature of socialist authoritarian regimes, whether the infamous Communist Youth League of China – which penetrates almost every stratum of society – to the Soviet Komsomol, which was officially called ‘the helper and reserve’ of the Soviet Communist party.