Hybrid in Form, Socialist in Content: The Formal Politics of Chŏlga in the North Korean Revolutionary Opera Sea of Blood

Kim Jong Il considered the 1971 premiere of the opera Sea of Blood a watershed moment in opera history. He lauded its innovative use of chŏlga (‘stanzaic song’) rather than aria and recitative. By Western analytical standards, however, chŏlga is simple and predictable, so scholars have thus far glossed over its conventions and their signification. This article instead argues that chŏlga conventions exhibit cultural hybridity and that Kim leveraged such hybridity to advocate a modern, popular, and national sound for North Korea. I begin by outlining hybrid characteristics of colonial-era popular music that chŏlga inherited. I then explore Kim's engagement with such trends in his speeches on chŏlga and demonstrate that cultural hybridity was central to his understanding of sonic modernity. Finally, I analyse a scene from Sea of Blood that pits chŏlga against other music genres, leading to a symbolic victory for the form and for the Korean nation.

The religious phenomenon of Juche ideology as a political tool

This study aims to determine the motive that led to the establishment of Juche by Kim Il Sung amidst the influence of communism and its transformation into religion in North Korea. North Korea is a communist country dictated by Kim Jong-Un of the Kim dynasty and known for its cruelty. The country underwent several changes from Marxism-Leninism to familism to determine its strength in Juche. This ideology that acts as a religion was influenced and strengthened Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong-Un and built by shifting the concept of marxism-Leninism to construct a new understanding of Juche. It will be demonstrated that this ideology was influenced by Confucianism, Christianity, Nationalism, Chinese Communism, and Russian Communism. In the modern era, imperialism was used as an ideological tool to restrict backwardness. This theory allegedly helped Kim Il-Sung establish a unitary, one-person rule over North Korea. ‘It will be examined whether Juche ideology is a tool the state has used to convince people of their government. Pronouncements, an intentional religion in which the people were to believe that their Ruler (Kim Il Sung) was a supreme human or an ideology that morphed into a religion’. It will be demonstrated that, when they started honoring Kim as their god, no other religion was permitted.Contribution: This research offers readers an understanding of the value of humanity in the binding ideology of Juche. However, the Juche Ideology can serve as a missiological bridge towards mission goals, which require the experience of spiritual, physical, and social liberation.

Be the First Investor to Eat Crabs in North Korea: Tips for Bilateral Investment Treaties

As the last economic frontier in Northeast Asia, North Korea is a promising land but at the same time a risky land for foreign investment. The ‘dual-track’ policy of advancing both the political stability and economic development promoted by the present leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, has prompted the outside world to speculate that he is determined to gradually open the doors to the economy of North Korea to attract foreign investment as initial capital to mobilise domestic economic growth. By conducting a systemic and comparative analysis of the existing bilateral investment treaties (BIT s) signed by North Korea in the Kim Jong-il era, this article has put forward eight tips that can better prepare those daredevils who are interested in seizing the future opportunity to invest in North Korea in the present Kim Jong-un era. It is predicted that denuclearisation will bring a new era for North Korean BIT s.

The Personal Model

This chapter focuses on seven constitutional amendments in North Korea under Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un’s rule. The Suryong (supreme leaders) system informs and legitimizes the process and substance of constitutional change in North Korea, the experience characterized here as the personal model of socialist constitutional change. The change of Suryong normally induces constitutional change. The Constitution was, also, amended to incorporate Suryong’s new ideas and guidance. Procedurally, the constitutional amendments are formally approved by the legislature with a two-third majority vote, but amendment approval is effectively controlled by a Suryong. Substantively, constitutional change in North Korea improves the Suryong-Dominant Party-State System to facilitate the government’s role in improving the material wellbeing of living conditions. The need to improve the material wellbeing generates new ideas about socio-economic development, the institutional adjustment to facilitate effective management of the economy and the society at large, and empowering the citizens to some extent.