This study aims to reveal features in the contents of the Pyongyang management discourse proposed by the North Korean authorities and comprehend the means of how the North Korean authorities strengthened the Pyongyang management discourse through the ... This study aims to reveal features in the contents of the Pyongyang management discourse proposed by the North Korean authorities and comprehend the means of how the North Korean authorities strengthened the Pyongyang management discourse through the analysis of news articles concerning Pyongyang in Rodong Sinmun. This study reconstructs the contents of how the North Korean authorities managed Pyongyang as a physical·social·psychological space. With this reconstruction, this study aims to reveal how the North Korean authorities have been utilizing the conceptual area of Pyongyang and the Pyongyang management discourse for political use. A space is a social presence which interacts with humans. The governing force desires to influence the behavior of those under subjugation by utilizing the space, and thus accomplish its objectives. As such, the North Korean authorities have placed meaning to the management of Pyongyang so that the people of North Korea would not only naturally embrace the idea of Pyongyang but also be made to participate in Pyongyang’s management activities. The North Korean authorities have especially concentrated its resources to create and manage Pyongyang as a special area. Claiming to be a socialist state and thus emphasizing equality, the North Korean authorities have tried to draw a rational reason for the special treatment given to Pyongyang through the Pyongyang management discourse. This study of the Pyongyang management discourse has value in that it reveals what image of Pyongyang the North Korean authorities attempted to create and also how this was used in ways of governing power. This study has aimed to go further on from previous studies which have usually analyzed Pyongyang from an engineering or geographical point of view and to identify the interrelation between Pyongyang and the governing force in depth. This study has analyzed news articles in the party bulletin Rodong Sinmun concerning Pyongyang from time periods of July 1953 to June 1956, years 1980 to 1982, and 2012 to 2014. The contents of the articles concerning Pyongyang could be sectioned into several categories: ‘city management,’ ‘politics,’ ‘economy,’ ‘society and culture,’ and ‘image and identity.’ This study has analyzed the contents of the articles concerning Pyongyang to observe how the North Korean authorities have managed Pyongyang. Through this observation, the study has organized features in the contents of the Pyongyang management discourse. The features in the contents of the Pyongyang management discourse are as follows. First, the North Korean authorities explain the management of Pyongyang as a manifestation of patriotism of one’s homeland. This combined with “Kim Jong Il’s Patriotism” was used to emphasize the North Koreans’ duty to manage Pyongyang. Second, managing Pyongyang was interpreted as an action of showing allegiance to the leader. The leader’s achievements were placed in Pyongyang and managing Pyongyang well was the leader’s command, so managing Pyongyang was an action based on “the view of the revolutionary suryong(leader).” Third, managing Pyongyang was viewed as a means of displaying anger towards imperialism. It was emphasized that actively participating in managing Pyongyang would not only allow displaying anger towards imperialism but also the national identity of being a North Korean. Fourth, because Pyongyang is a representative socialist city, it was insisted that Pyongyang should be well managed to prove the superiority of the socialist system. The North Korean authorities justified the management of Pyongyang through the Pyongyang management discourse as well as maintaining and reproducing Pyongyang’s image and identity. To examine the image of Pyongyang that the North Korean authorities tried to create, this study implemented the frame analysis centered on articles distinctly dealing with image or perception of Pyongyang from the articles concerning Pyongyang. The descriptive frame of Pyongyang could be sectioned into several frames: ‘city of heroic revolution,’ ‘beautiful and clean city,’ ‘city of history·progress,’ ‘exemplary central city,’ ‘city of the people·culture,’ and ‘emotion evoking city.’ With the frame analysis, this study has examined the image the North Korean authorities have given Pyongyang and organized the ways it was used to strengthen the Pyongyang management discourse. The North Korean authorities have attempted the following ways to strengthen the Pyongyang management discourse. First, they made the people experience Pyongyang through field trips. Through their own lips, they emphasized the achievements and significance of Pyongyang’s management program in an effort to overcome the subjectivity of the Pyongyang management discourse that the North Korean authorities unilaterally presented. Also, the people’s mental distance towards the Pyongyang management discourse could be reduced as well as build credibility, thus bringing the people out to participate in managing Pyongyang. Second, they created the “Pyongyang maiden,” a nickname stressing the conceptual characteristics of Pyongyang. They tried to fixate in the minds of the people an image of ‘exemplary conduct,’ ‘allegiance,’ and others as such concerning the conceptual characteristics of Pyongyang through the actions of the “Pyongyang maiden.” In addition, they tried to prove that the Pyongyang management discourse brought out the people’s sympathy and action by asserting that her exemplary conduct was voluntarily brought on by a Pyongyang citizen’s sense of identity. In conclusion, through the analysis of news articles concerning Pyongyang in Rodong Sinmun, this study has identified that the North Korean authorities utilized political discourse as grounds to carry out the Pyongyang management discourse, and the conceptual area of Pyongyang was utilized as a place to perform political discourse. Furthermore, it was identifiable that they were establishing Pyongyang’s sense of identity by giving dichotomous meaning in the sense of ideological confrontation and classification of social strata to the area of Pyongyang. Moreover, in the Pyongyang management discourse, they asserted that Pyongyang was a politically as well as personally significant space by utilizing personal memories and emotions concerning incidents and experiences regarding Pyongyang. Consequently, it was possible to conjecture that the North Korean authorities attempted to maneuver the people of North Korean to execute actions according to the Pyongyang management discourse.
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