North Korea's Youthful Indiscretions

From The New Ledger:

North Korea’s Youthful Indiscretionsby Ethan Epstein




In America, old age is no virtue. This principle applies from pop culture to politics. In the 2008 election, much was made of the fact that Obama was “youthful” and Senator McCain was – horror of horrors – “old.” American culture’s disdain for the old is itself an old story.



Traditionally Confucian societies are different. In Korea, age guarantees respect, trust, and authority. Also, it confers the right to push younger people out of the way - I’ve done battle with more than a few septuagenarians when trying to board a crowded Seoul subway.



North Korea’s half century of existence has represented an attempt to undermine Korea’s Confucian social structure. The family, the most important unit in Korean society, has been systematically decimated by the Kim dynasty. The cardinal Confucian value of loyalty has been undermined by the creation of a snitch state. And now, with Kim Jong Il’s preposterous decision to elevate his 26 year old son, Kim Jong Eun, to the rank of Four Star general and certain successor, we are witnessing an attempt to destroy Korea’s traditional veneration of the aged.



This time, it may not work.



ADVERTISEMENT



A very important article in the Washington Post earlier this month reported that North Korean people are deeply wary of being led by someone as young as Kim Jong Eun. Here is an excerpt:



Just as North Koreans know little about their potential future leader, the rest of the world knows almost nothing about North Korean opinions. Recent academic research, based on surveys with defectors, suggests that North Koreans are growing frustrated with a government that allowed widespread starvation in the early 1990s and orchestrated brutal currency reform in 2009 that was designed to wipe out the private markets that enable most residents to feed themselves.



…



Still, in South Korea, an emerging patchwork of mini-samples suggests that many North Koreans view their government as a failed anachronism, and they see the young general, as he’s called, as a sign of the status quo. They associate Kim Jong Eun with the December 2009 currency revaluation. They don’t know his age – he’s thought to be in his late 20s – but they think he’s too young to be anything more than a figurehead. (italics mine.)



North Koreans will not take kindly to being ruled by a 26 year old. Kim Jong Eun’s youth may be his downfall – and, hopefully, the entire regime’s.