Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader

by Martin, Bradley K.

  Besides those modest efforts to respond to outside challenges regarding his historical record, Kim also tried to distort that record further. In his new incarnation as revealed in the memoirs he miraculously appeared, for example, as a lifelong, staunch opponent of discrimination against people on account of their class or ideological background. It would be hard to banish the suspicion that Kim’s self-portrayal as the soul of tolerance was designed to shift the blame for his police state. Some of his claims to having uttered pro-tolerance views can be interpreted as almost a plea for Koreans of subsequent generations to honor him and his anti-Japanese guerrillas, and treat their descen-dents well, even if the communist system should be tossed on the rubbish heap of history. Thus, he complained that, after liberation, some communists had re- jected people with other ideologies, including the non-communist nationalist independence fighters. Kim said he admonished such “narrow-minded” people: “Even if we are in power, we communists must not fail to appreciate our patriotic seniors. The trend of thought differs from age to age; then why do you ostracize them, guard against them and avoid them? Are they guilty for fighting for Korea’s independence at the risk of their lives when others were living with their families in warm houses, eating hot rice?”10

  Beyond the pure public relations effort that his memoirs represented, there is evidence that Kim also concluded he could risk—and his legacy might gain from—some significant substantive changes of policy. After all, the regime’s grip was so tight that hardly anyone thought it would collapse while Kim Il-sung was alive. Most foreign and South Korean scholars ruled out a Ceaucescu scenario for Kim. Partly due to brain-washing but also because he was seen as a genuine nationalist hero, his subjects’ personal loyalty to their Respected and Beloved Great Leader remained “too great for them to butcher him like a pig,” one American professor remarked. Indeed, since they loved Kim Il-sung so much, it seemed he might be able to tell them he had decided the world was not yet ready for North Korea’s exalted version of socialism. (Recall that it took anti-communist zealot and longtime China-basher Richard Nixon to establish U.S. relations with Mainland China.) Wouldn’t North Koreans gratefully accept whatever Kim Il-sung proposed as an imperfect interim system?

  In the end, while he did not propose a new system, he did seek a shift in emphasis within the old system. According to defector Kang Myong-do, the event triggering Kim’s belated efforts to change policy occurred in April of 1992—coincidentally the month I was in the country for the Tumen River conference. “Every morning when Kim Il-sung awoke, he liked to look at the Pyongyang skyline to see the chimneys of the power plants,” Kang told reporters for Seoul’s JoongAng Ilbo. “In April 1992, Kim Il-sung was really angry because smoke was coming from only two of the smokestacks. The reason, he found after investigation, was that the Anju mines were not supplying coal. So Kim Il-sung became really curious. The reports claimed 120 percent overproduction compared with the planned goal. Kim secretly sent to the mines someone who found that the miners had nothing to eat. ‘How can we work?’ they asked. They were supposed to get 1,100 grams of rice, 200 grams of meat, 100 grams of corn oil per day. But for a week they had eaten only salt soup. It shows how little Kim Il-sung knew. It was the first time he realized the people were not getting their rations. He was surprised.”11

  Kim pursued the matter and received an accurate report on horribly grim conditions in mountainous North Hamgyong province, which adjoins the Chinese and Russian borders in the northeastern part of the country.

  North Hamgyong, throughout North Korea’s economic decline, suffered more than most other provinces. (I suspect a census of refugees who were desperate enough to flee to China would show that a majority of them hailed from North Hamgyong.) Kang Myong-do told one interviewer that his father-in-law, Kang Song-san, then the governor of that province, had leveled with the president. Shocked into action, the semi-retired Kim re-involved himself in domestic issues, author Don Oberdorfer relates. Kang Song-san, who had held the prime ministerial portfolio earlier, was brought back in the same capacity that year. Meetings on economic policy the following year led to a dramatic admission at the end of 1993 that the country was in trouble economically. The regime would move to new policies de-emphasizing heavy industry in favor of activities that would more directly improve the people’s livelihood.12

  In the meantime, the standoff with the United States continued. Kim Jong-il was busy consolidating his position with the military—often at the expense of the civilian economy. Eventually Kim Dal-hyon, perhaps the government’s most promising reformer, fell afoul of powerful military interests. In the atmosphere of the time, that meant he had to go. “Even in the party there was conflict,” Kang Myong-do said. “They didn’t have a specific guideline for opening up and reforming.” That set the stage for the clash, a personal one between Kim Guk-tae and Kim Dal-hyun. Kim Guk-tae, a second-generation revolutionary, eldest son of partisan and fallen Korean War general Kim Chaek and a graduate of Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, reportedly had been Kim Jong-il’s supervisor when the younger man was starting his career. (See chapter 13.) Kang described him as “not very bright—he doesn’t know what ‘opening’ means.” Kim Dal-hyon was also a second-generation revolutionary, said Kang, who described him as Kim Il-sung’s nephew-in-law. “He’s very smart,” Kang said. “He’s a very powerful, gutsy figure.”

  The conflict between the two, according to Kang’s account, began in 1992 when the regime was selecting the chairman of the external economic committee. “Kim Dal-hyon had been the chairman. With his promotion he wanted Yi Song-dae to be his successor. Yi was vice-head of the governments’ trade department. Kim Guk-tae wanted Choe Jong-keun. Kim Guk-tae was secretary of the party Central Committee department in charge of personnel.” In December 1992, there was a meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kang said. “During a break, Kim Jong-il called out Kim Dal-hyon for a chat and told him, ‘We decided on Choe.’ Kim Dal-hyon’s face became contorted and he said if Choe became the next chairman he would quit as vice-premier. Kim Jong-il asked whom he wanted. Yi Song-dae,’ Kim Dal-hyon replied. Kim Jong-il didn’t know him, but since Kim Dal-hyon was so adamant he agreed to appoint Yi. When they returned to the assembly, Choe was very surprised to learn he had lost it.”

  At that point, “Kim Guk-tae started maneuvering to oust Kim Dal-hyon.” His strategy was to show his adversary as an opponent of the military-first policy. Kim Dal-hyon, while serving as acting prime minister, “wanted to salvage the North Korean economy so he diverted to the mines 30 percent of the energy that was to be supplied to the military equipment factories,” Kang said. “He is on bad terms with Kim Chol-man and Chon Byon-ho, high officials in charge of armaments. They were involved in a power struggle complicated by personal dislike. Kim Jong-il in a meeting asked “why there had been no innovations in armaments. They answered, ‘Because Kim Dal-hyon took over our energy supply’ Kim Jong-il is very smart. He knows how things work, knows what happens in the world. But he’s very rash. If someone under him makes a mistake he makes a hasty decision to get rid of that person. He also doesn’t like anyone else having too much power. He will get rid of such a person.” Kim Dal-hyon was demoted, becoming manager of a synthetic fabric factory complex. His absence from Pyongyang probably slowed the impetus for change. “Kim Dal-hyon is for opening,” Kang said. “There are bright people among the elite, but nobody else as gutsy as Kim Dal-hyon. When he’s abroad he’s even bold enough to say things opposed to Kim Jong-il’s views.”13

  To the extent that Kim Jong-il during that period had an interest in economic reform, it seems to have been fleeting, not very profound and offset to a considerable extent by conservative impulses and his determination to seal the military’s support for his succession. In March 1993, probably to back his claims to being the chief priest of his father’s ideology, he warned in a twenty-two-page thesis against private ownership and other “abuses of socialism.” Those he blamed for the collapse of socialist sys
tems abroad.14 Even at that late date, then, he was demonstrably unprepared to make major changes in the system.

  There is little reason to believe that even the senior Kim’s newfound enthusiasm for change went much beyond emphasizing food and consumer goods more, heavy industry less. But rumors had it that a disagreement between father and son contributed to the father’s death.

  I spoke with Oh Young-nam, a former captain in State Security who defected to the South. His family home in Pyongyang was across the street from the elite’s social hub, the Koryo Hotel, a location that signified to me the family’s considerable prominence. He mentioned, without naming, a powerful relative who had died. (I had heard that a relative of Marshal O Jin-u had defected, but Oh Young-nam refused to answer when I asked if that might be the connection.) Oh Young-nam gave me an account of Kim’s last days that he said was pieced together from what he had heard from other members of the elite—especially sons and daughters of very high officials, whom he named for me.

  “The more Kim Jong-il took power, the more Kim Il-sung regretted it,” Oh said. “Kim Jong-il is very dogmatic. Kim Jong-il divided the bodyguard service into two separate forces. Force One was for Kim Il-sung and Force Two was for Kim Jong-il. That was a threat; Kim Il-sung was regretting it. But when he met Jimmy Carter, he was jubilant. He believed Korea would reunify under [a confederation plan allowing for] two systems. He told Lee Yong-u, the head of transport and former head of the surveillance department, that they should relink the North-South railroad in Pyonggun so he could go for negotiations.

  “Kim Il-sung was at Mount Myohyang and Kim Jong-il was at Samjiyon pond at a resort for high ranking people such as Lee Jong-ok, Pak Song-chol and Choe Gwang. Kim Il-sung was so jubilant regarding reunification. He said in meetings of heads of ministries that he would de-emphasize defense and emphasize improving the lives of average civilians. He ordered that more electricity be delivered to people. But [during a meeting] he had a phone conversation with Kim Jong-il, who said, ‘Relax, enjoy your old age. We’ll take care of it.’ Kim Il-sung was really angry. He couldn’t continue the meeting. He went back to his office and told Chong Il-shim, a woman who was helping him with his memoirs, ‘I am very angry at this moment. I want to emphasize civilian life. With the negotiations with the United States, I hope aid “will be given to North Hamgyong.’ He was too angry. He asked his chief secretary to leave him for one hour.

  “The chief secretary after two hours entered the office. Kim Il-sung had dropped off the bed, face first on the floor. The chief secretary raised him up, got the phlegm out of his mouth and asked for the main doctor. But Kim Jong-il had fired that doctor, saying he was too old. Only a young doctor was there. They arranged for two helicopters to come, but the one carrying emergency equipment crashed. The medical team couldn’t help Kim Il-sung and he died. When Kim Jong-il heard it, he said, ‘Do not announce it to anyone else. Restrict the movements of State Security, Public Security and the People’s Army’ [Here Oh named his sources for this detail, but I choose to omit those names.] Because Kim Il-sung died in such a way his chief secretary, whose name I don’t recall, shot himself in the head.

  “The media showed North Koreans weeping in front of the statue of Kim Il-sung. That only lasted three days. Kim Jong-il was astonished that people wept only three days. Kim Il-sung had been in power so long. Kim Jong-il realized he would be the leader and the people would worship him. But what would happen when he got weak? So he made every organization send a certain number of people to weep each day in front of the Kim Il-sung statue. They were not allowed to drink alcohol during mourning. Everyone who was in the mansion at Mount Myohyang when Kim Il-sung died “was under great scrutiny. Those who were there included Kang Jong-hyon, a great grandchild of Kim Il-sung’s mother; Kang Jong-ho, from the Kang clan; a son of Choe Jung-nam, who heads the North Korea trade office in Guangzhou. All high-ranking sons and daughters considered Kim Jong-il to have been at fault. The day that Kim Il-sung’s body was transported from Mount Myohyang, all soldiers were confined to barracks or recalled. They didn’t want any movement. The next day O Jin-u went to the presidential palace in Pyongyang and was disappointed to find that the doorknob was rusty and the chandeliers’ light bulbs were out. Maintenance was poor. How could Kim Jong-il treat his father that way?

  “Most of this account was from sons and daughters of high officials. It’s well known in Pyongyang right now.”

  On July 8, 1994, Radio Pyongyang issued a grave announcement: “The Great Heart stopped beating.” Kim Il-sung had been “a great national hero who regained the sovereignty and dignity of the country” Nodong Shinmun said in an editorial. Kim had “triumphantly led the twenty-year-long rigorous anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and put an end to the distress-torn history of the nation and brought a new spring of liberation to our people. This was an undying feat that marked a new turning point in the history of our nation spanning 5,000 years.”15

  Japanese analyst Katsumi Sato watched the changing lists of the funeral committee for clues that might bear on the rumors—already rife—that Kim Il-sung had been arguing with his son when he died. Name order in North Korea traditionally indicated status. First lady Kim Song-ae started off as number 104 on the committee. Eventually she became number seven. Kim Song-ae had spoken with Carter during his visit. Also, Sato said, Kim Il-sung had told the visiting widow of a former Japanese prime minister, when she stopped over in Pyongyang, that his good health was thanks to Song-ae’s son Pyong-il: “He’s been helping me lately.” Sato thought a real power struggle had been afoot at the end. He watched the televised funeral rally as Kim Jong-il whispered in O Jin-u’s ear. O ignored him “as if he were a child,” said Sato, who suspected the old marshal was angry because Kim Jong-il had “caused” his father’s death.

  As at the party congress fourteen years earlier at which his succession had been made formal, Kim Jong-il appeared pale and sick when he attended the televised funeral event. Slack-jawed and dazed-looking, he could have been mistaken for the corpse. He was reported to have fasted for four days. His appearance also gave rise to intense speculation about the state of his health, although some analysts suspected he was just trying to look as bad as possible to project deep grief. (We now know about his fall from horseback the previous autumn. He may have been showing still the effects of that accident.) In a book published in 2003, a Japanese who claimed to have worked as Kim Jong-il’s chef said the Dear Leader after his father’s death confined himself to his room for long periods. One of Kim’s wives, Ko Yong-hui, found him keeping a pistol next to him once, and asked him what he was thinking about, the chef-wrote.16

  A New Year’s 1995 editorial that ran in the newspapers of the party, army and League of Socialist Working Youth referred to Kim Jong-il as “Great Leader of our party and people,” “our Fatherly Leader” and “Supreme Commander of our revolutionary armed forces.” If Kim Jong-il was ever going to do anything radical on his own, it might have seemed that now was his time. In the event, however, he had his father made president in perpetuity and kept the country in official mourning for three years.

  As Hwang Jang-yop recalled, “The entire country was swept up in a flood of tears. Most of the mourners were crying because they had been brain-washed by Kim Il-sung’s personality cult, but there was also the fact that anything other than mourning was not allowed. The party conducted surveys to see who displayed the most grief, and made this an important criterion in assessing party members’ loyalty. Patients who remained in hospitals and people who drank and made merry even after hearing news of their leader’s death were all singled out for punishment. In the Juche Science Institute, which I was supervising, Professor Hong Seung-hoon, the director of economic research, was demoted for remaining dry-eyed and busy repairing his bicycle. This incident eventually took its toll on Dr. Hong’s health and led to his death.”17

  After Kim’s death, Hwang said, “there was a debate on whether the party should continue publishing his memoirs.
I firmly stated my opinion that the party should stop publishing the memoirs. I pointed out that quite a few people already questioned the integrity of the memoirs published so far because they were too intriguing to be true. So if the memoirs continued to be published even after Kim Il-sung’s death, people would lose their faith in even the volumes that had been published while he was alive. I also had another reason in mind. It was all right to stretch the truth about the partisan struggle before liberation, since no one would take issue with that. But exaggerating about the post-liberation period, which is public knowledge, was a different matter. I was afraid it might cause problems in diplomatic relations.

  “Kim Il-sung’s partisan warfare was carried out under the guidance ofthe Chinese Communist Party, but the struggle in Northeast China [Manchuria] was not a significant part of the communist struggle in China as a whole. Furthermore, Kim Il-sung’s partisan struggle was but a small part of the struggle in Northeast China. So the Chinese could turn a blind eye to the North Korean leaders’ exaggeration of Kim Il-sung’s feats, since his struggle was a drop in the bucket compared with the struggles of the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao. However, the Chinese people would react differently if the historical facts that were being distorted occurred after the liberation. That was what I was afraid of. Overzealous officials ignored my advice and submitted the sequel to Kim Il-sung’s memoirs for Kim Jong-il’s approval. The memoirs are still being published, long after the death of Kim Il-sung.”18