KJCKorea
Journal Central

This article introduces the magazines published in North Korea immediately after liberation among the ‘Captured Korean Documents’ held by the National Archives II of the United States through an archive research, and then examines the characteristics, contents, and historical value of the magazines by classifying them by type. The captured documents are various records captured by the US military during the Korean War, and they are a treasure trove of modern Korean history data that contain diverse and extensive literature that allows us to understand the politics, economy, society, and culture of North Korea after liberation, as well as the trends of the North Korean military during the Korean War. This article divides the types of magazines published in North Korea into 11 categories: (1) theory magazines, (2) popular magazines, (3) pictorial magazines, (4) current affairs magazines, (5) propaganda magazines, (6) liberal arts magazines, (7) children’s magazines, (8) magazines published by social groups, (9) literary magazines, (10) sectoral or specialized magazines, and (11) academic journals, and analyzes the publication status, contents, and characteristics of each. In terms of the publisher, North Korean magazines were published by groups of experts and intellectuals filling in the content, and in the early days, professional organizations or social groups took the lead in publishing magazines. However, as time goes by, they changed to collaborating with government agencies or government agencies taking the lead in publishing. North Korean magazines would have been distributed systematically through distribution networks rather than targeting individual readers.

Entering the Kim Jong-un era, the spatial configuration of Pyongyang has been undergoing dramatic and rapid changes. In parallel with these transformations, the city’s residential areas have experienced significant qualitative shifts. This study first undertakes a historical examination of the evolution of Pyongyang’s housing allocation system along with the corresponding changes in residential spaces. It reveals that the housing policies and residential patterns of Pyongyang’s citizens have undergone profound transformations as a consequence of the government’s establishment, the upheavals of the Korean War, and the economic hardships experienced during the 1990s. Secondly, the study methodically categorizes the emerging trends in Pyongyang’s housing distribution system that have arisen as the traditional socialist housing policies face increasing pressure to adapt to a changing environment. In a broad sense, as the long-standing state-led housing allocation system disintegrates, a market-oriented distribution mechanism is steadily taking its place. Thirdly, the research analyzes the current state of residential space distribution in Pyongyang. At present, the socialist “housing micro-zone” system has largely collapsed, setting the stage for the initial phases of marketization and the nascent emergence of gentrification. Notably, this process of gentrification in Pyongyang is characterized by a unique convergence of state authority and market forces, resulting in a distinct ‘state-market hybrid’ model of urban transformation.

This study examines how corruption has formed, spread, and become entrenched within the North Korean regime, particularly about the regime’s responses to corruption, and applies these findings to assess the future trajectory of the North Korean regime. The study finds that the formation, spread, and entrenchment of corruption over time under Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un have reinforced ‘misgovernance’ and weakened the transparency of social institutions, subordinating the interests of the people and the bureaucracy. Corrupt behavior has further reinforced the structural expansion and entrenchment of corruption by increasing the concentration of limited resources in the hands of a small group, reducing the availability and accessibility of resources for the general population. As a result, the cycle of corruption, once conducted on a person-to-person basis, has gradually widened and evolved into structural corruption. North Korea should consider that systematic controls to combat entrenched corruption may threaten regime stability. Therefore, it is expected that North Korea will seek to maintain and manage entrenched corruption at a certain level to induce loyalty and compliance to maintain power and stabilize the regime. However, given the long-term risks of institutionalized corruption, the regime may also explore selective countermeasures to mitigate its most destabilizing effects while preserving its authority.