Who are the leader’s “good people”?
When dictators call the crowd “truly good people”, how would the crowd react? The North Koreans are now aware that the state is not standing on their side (Image: iStock.com/tanukiphoto)
Throughout history, rulers have often complained about their subjects. That’s hardly surprising. Rulers fear the masses. They seem to them like a ticking time bomb, packed with discontent and ready to explode at any moment. Their fear is not unreasonable. How many rulers have met their end at the hands of an enraged populace? Think of the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the English Civil War and more modern examples.
With this in mind, I would like to ask whether, from the ruler’s perspective, there are any good crowds? And if so, what kind of people would they be?
The story begins a little after 2000. The North Korean government made an unprecedented announcement: it would issue state bonds. For the people, the concept was entirely new. They were well-versed in revolutionary terminology but knew little to nothing about capitalist concepts.
Curious citizens gathered in small groups to discuss the news. “How desperate is the government if it has to borrow money from the people?” I remember one person asking. To which another quickly responded, “Seeing them ask for loans from someone like me, it’s clear the country is really in trouble.”
People rushed to purchase the bonds, eager to support the government in its time of need. The only thing they understood about the bonds was that they were essentially IOUs from the state.
This bond-buying turned into a movement, taking place individually, at people’s units, and through enterprises. Regardless of the rhetoric, the end result was the same: money was taken from the people’s own pockets. Everyone was already struggling to get by—that much goes without saying. Yet, my parents, along with many others, willingly and even joyfully bought the bonds, so eager were they to help.
Time passed and soon it came time, according to the terms of the bonds, to apply for repayment. People had two very different reactions regarding this. One woman worried whether it was ethical to ask for the money back, given that she had bought the bonds to help the country in difficult times. Meanwhile, one man was excited, thinking that because they had supported the country in its time of need, the government might reward them with high praise.
With these mixed feelings, they went to claim repayment, only to be met with the following words: “You shameless people! Are you really demanding money from our Leader?” The official in charge scolded them harshly, calling them traitors who were trying to take money from the leader’s own pocket.
Everyone went home empty-handed. This was the fate of those who had given everything they had to the country in its time of need. Over time, it became clear that those who followed the government’s demands had made a mistake and those who did not follow the government’s demands had been right all along.
Then, in 2009, there was a currency reform. Unlike a normal currency exchange, this one was effectively a declaration that the government would no longer recognize the money people held. Overnight, the entire population became poor.
Expressions of outrage erupted across the nation. Some people set fire to their now-worthless money and laughed, while others used the notes they had set aside to buy a home as flooring material. The government issued a nationwide directive, warning of severe punishment for such acts.
The currency reform destroyed people’s hopes. It pushed those who had barely survived the hardships of the “Arduous March” famine of the 1990s back into extreme hardship. The markets descended into chaos, and those hit hardest were the people struggling to make it through each day.
Among them was a coal hauler working hard in the market. I first saw him about a month after the currency exchange. I was in the market, looking for someone to haul the coal I had just bought. He had a face as black as the coal, clothes that looked like rags, a gaunt face with a determined expression, and an old towel draped around his neck like a rag. He embodied the struggles of the North Korean people.
Carefully, he shared his thoughts with me about the currency reform. “It seems the government thinks we have enough money to afford tofu soup,” he said. I felt a pang of sorrow at his words. What a modest man, I thought. His only desire was for a simple meal of rice and tofu soup, yet even that had become difficult to achieve.
“Would the government have carried out the currency reform if they knew our situation?” he asked me, walked away, his back soaked with sweat.
Did he know that the day before the reform, the government secretly bought up rice and gold with the old currency? Did he know that it was all part of a grand scheme to seize the people’s money? The truth is, even if people had been surviving on grass roots, the government would have gone through with the currency reform.
After the first wave of the reform, a second wave hit. This time, the government announced a ban on the use of US dollars.
Those who had lost all their domestic currency were now at risk of losing their foreign currency. People lost their mind, desperate to spend their dollars before they became worthless. Lines formed early in the morning for flour sold in dollars. In the end, people lost all their savings—or rather, they were taken.
Yet even in this situation, there was a small group that didn’t follow the government’s directives. They quietly bought up the dollars circulating in the market and amassed their wealth. Once again, time proved that those who did not follow the government’s words were right. The dollar crisis made a few people incredibly wealthy, widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
Among those who benefited was the government itself, which ended up making the largest profit.
Even after exploiting, plundering, and working them to the bone, where else would you find such obedient people just like cows?
Kim Jong-il once remarked, “Our people are truly good people.” To him, they must have seemed good because they were easy to deceive and exploit. For a ruler, the term “good crowd” is simply another way of describing people who are foolish and easily manipulated.
However, the crucial point is that people eventually become aware. As in Aesop’s “The Boy Who Cries Wolf” fable, those who are repeatedly lied to learn their lesson. North Koreans, through many experiences, have come to understand that following the government’s words only leads to harm.
One significant change in the last few years is that even old ladies selling bean sprouts now save their money in foreign currency.
Niccolò Machiavelli once said, “A person may forgive the killer of their parents, but they will never forgive the one who stole their money.”
The “truly good people” of the past are no more.
Born in Chongjin in 1990, Jang Mi was not a studious child, but under her mother’s influence, she graduated from high school and went on to university to take math and science. She worked as a wedding video editor for seven years until her defection in 2019.
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