North Korea's united front strategy can be classified into many stages. The first one is "Communist's united front strategy" after Korea's liberation from Japanese colonialism. The next one is "Aggressive united front strategy"from the establishment of North Korean regime in 1948 to Korean War which lasted from in 1950 to in 1953 for the purpose of "absorption reunification". During the cold war era North Korea worked out the double-faced united front strategy of "confrontation and dialogue"from the end of Korean war to 1989 for so called "South Chosun revolution". Since the detente era it has sought the strategy for the regime's coexistence and survival.
Since its foundation North Korea stipulats South Korea as so called "colony and mixed feudal society". It claims that South Korea is America's colony and remains half-feudal society which has feudal elements in it while its capitalistic development has been suppressed. North Korea's basic awareness of South Korea is evident in its "Democracy Base Theory" or "Revolutionary Democracy Base Theory". According to the theory North Korea first builds the firm democracy base in its land and next it "liberates" South Korea by its revolution capacity and achieves the reunification.
The typical result was the very Korean War. After its setback from military reunification of Korean War it has sought to intensify democracy base capacity while carrying out anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism revolution on South Korean People's own initiative. It says that North Korea, the democracy base supports South Chosun's revolution and after its success it will accomplish the reunification by negotiation and collaboration with South Korea's new democratic government.
In the early 1960s North Korea set up the line of " 3 great revolutions capacity intensification" and promoted the natural uprising of people in South Korea and sought the political change of South Korea. But North Korea realized that South Korea didn't have enough ideological foundation to lead the people's uprising and that South Korea had close relationship with Japan and America by official normalization tie with Japan and dispatching of military forces to Vietnam. It once tried to support "South Chosun Revolution" by military provocation. For examples the surpriser aid on South Korean Presidential residence or "Blue House", the incident of USS Pueblo and the incident of Wool-jin armed guerrillas infiltration all happened in this era.
The diverging point in the united front strategy of North Korea can be "July fourth North-South joint statement"which was proclaimed both nationally and internationally through the end of mutual dialogue. Because North Korea concluded that its existing united front tactics and united front strategy based on "South Chosun revolution capacity intensification"were not effective and the international environment changed rapidly. North Korea chose double strategy that would support "South Chosun revolution" by diverse military provocations and would intensify the South Korea's inner commotion by dialogue strategy.
In 1980s North Korea faced the reality of 2 Korea's economic gap and recognized the difference of two society's character. As the "South Chosun revolution" theory didn't work out, it proposed the new reunification program "Korea Democracy united republic". It proclaimed the coexisting reunification plan of "one race, one nation, two political systems, two governments" which withdrew from "one Chosun".
But North Korea's united front strategy which was based on realistic awareness of situation suffered from setback again at the end of 1980s. It was due to what is called "1989 revolution", the collapse of socialism and its process of transformation. The weakness of North Korea's "revolution capacity" and the big gap of national power between 2 Koreas have an effect on it.
The firm 20 year old principle of "Never entry into UN by 2 Koreas" collapsed and as South Korea entered into diplomatic relations with China and Soviet Union, North Korea desired to have diplomatic relations with Japan and America.
At least North Korea's united front strategy had its goal to reunify the Korean peninsular by "South Chosun revolution" until the detente of 1990s. But since 1990s North Korea's inner crisis like economic downturn spiral, food shortage, the demise of Kim Il-sung and outer changing wave like socialistic countries' reformation made North Korea stick to "our style socialism". Therefore since then North Korea's united front strategy lost the reason for being as a strategy of the reunification of the Korean peninsular and changed into the means of regime survival to maximize the nation's interest.
At present as South Korea's superior economic power, respect for individuality, the development of social desire and the increase of human rights made harder the achievement of "Whole Korean peninsular communization". North Korea has been obsessed in the survival of its regime because of the collapse of the Communist bloc around 1990. Furthermore it has narrow option of strategy-tactics and policy because of inner "weakness of revolution capacity". The only means it can rely on is its decades-long military industry and military resources. The core of those is regime survival strategy based on nuclear development and nuclear arms program.
The North Korean regime has resisted and gone against the times of universal values like "natural rights of man", and the global proliferation of freedom and the pursuit of happiness, and the globalization of capitalism. The regime has hided these facts and set up its own enemy to fight against and purged inner rivals for its regime's survival.
Nowadays more defectors from North Korea which is so called "paradise on earth" lined up. Park Seung-hee, Sung Yond-seung and other leading members of co-chairing office of "Berlin Bumchung Hakryun (pan youth student federation)"closed their office and made public the letter of apology. And numerous "386 members of "Juche idea party" who once followed the North defected systematically and continuously from their lines. All these are not the coincidence.
Even though it is called the times of post ideology, humans live with their own point of view and ideology. Even family members who were born of the same ancestor can have different ideas and they should stay away from any dispute and fighting to live a peaceful life. Nevertheless the North Korean communists do not give up unrealistic fancy of reunification of the Korean peninsular by force behind its urgent problem of survival. It outwardly claims ethnic independence and cooperation while setting up 3 tasks for anti-South revolution strife which are Independence(anti-America), Democracy(overturn of SouthKorean government), Reunification(united reunification strife) based on NLPDR, one of its anti-South revolution strategy. However sly it may be, it cannot attract any more to South Koreans who are much sensitive to contradiction and deception contained in the united front strategy and tactics of the North. And it will confront more inescapable difficulty as time goes by.
South Korea instead of passive response to the North's united front strategy should build up counter united front strategy and lead the North to convert into more democratic regime and help it change into market economy of capitalism. It should advance the day for the North Koreans to enjoy the universal values like natural rights of man, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
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