Talk on Pyongyang's survival strategy

Dr Hoo explaining about the Kim Dynasty

The “Pyongyang’s survival strategy: North Korea under Kim Jong-un” talk was co-organised by the Centre for Extension Education (CEE) and Centre for International Studies on 9 February 2018 at the Kampar Campus. The talk provided the participants with insights about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or in short, North Korea.

The invited speaker was Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior lecturer Dr Hoo Chiew-Ping. The objective of the talk was to provide the participants with an overview of the North Korean Regime and to address the questions pertaining to the North Korean’s motivation, survival strategy, and its dynamics against the regional powers.

“I believe it is beneficial for participants to have a better understanding about North Korea to eliminate any misunderstandings that they have on the country. With the information they received, the participants are now aware of the latest happenings in that country, know how the political and security systems work, and they got a clearer picture of the lives of the North Korean society,” said Dr Hoo.

At the talk, the participants were given a brief introduction about North Korea, which included the country’s history and its political system. Later, Dr Hoo elucidated about the survival strategies used by Kim Dynasty to rule over North Korea.

Under the leader Kim Il-sung, Dr Hoo spoke of his strategy as being military-diplomatic campaigns, which was also researched by an academic, named Narushige Michishita. She mentioned that the military-diplomatic campaigns involved military provocations and state-sponsored terrorism, and grew to utilise weapons of regional and potentially global strategic implications, whereby nuclear weapons development programme was used as a bargaining tool.

The participants also came to know that it was also under the ruling of Kim Il-sung that the Juche ideology was practised. Dr Hoo described this ideology as efforts taken by the North Koreans to maintain an independent and creative standpoint when finding solutions to problems. She elaborated that with this ideology, the government also uses the approach of political independence, self-sufficiency in economy and self-reliance in its national defence.

She went on to explain the strategy used by Kim Jong-il, who inherited the North Korean regime from his father Kim Il-sung, and he solidified his power by purging powerful elites from his father’s senior group. She also mentioned that, to the North Koreans, Kim Jong-il is also known as the “Eternal General Secretary” and the “Eternal Chairman”. In the same manner of inheriting the North Korean regime, Dr Hoo also described Kim Jong-il’s son, Kim Jong-un’s strategy as being similar to his father. She explained that Kim Jong-un too purged the powerful elites from his father’s senior group and is known by the North Koreans as the “Supreme Leader”.

At the end of the talk, participants understood that North Korea ultimately had no interest in war, because it does not benefit the regime and may threaten the regime’s survival. Rather, Dr Hoo mentioned that the regime uses nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes to improve their bargaining advantage and to solidify cooperative relations with other rogue states. An interactive Q&A session also took place.

The talk ended with a souvenir presentation by CEE Kampar Head Mohd Faizul bin Ahmad to Dr Hoo.

Participants listening attentively to Dr Hoo   

Participants during the Q&A session

Mohd Faizul (left) presenting a souvenir to Dr Hoo

Fourth from right: Dr Hoo with the participants at the end of the talk