South Korea and North Korea Regimes - Case Study Example

South Korea and North Korea regimes Introduction Currently, there are two Koreas, S. Korea (or the Republic of Korea) and N. Korea (or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). Korea was a one big undivided state for thousands of years before the 20th period. The two states currently share a border that runs through the middle of the Korean Peninsula. In 1953, in Panmunjom, the two states reached an concurrence intended to end the Korean war. This was after three years of fighting. The case-fire line that marked positions held by the two opposing sides later turned to be a border between N. Korea and S. Korea. The heavily fortified combatants who have kept careful watch along both sides of the border since 1953 are a constant reminder that the borderline is a political one and not a geographical one. Korea’s geographical location has shaped much of the state’s history, either for the better or for worse (Isserman 14). These two states have a similar historical as well as geographical setting but why does S. Korea have a different regime type from that of N. Korea? After Korea’s colony attempt by Japan failed in 1945, US and Soviet Union agreed to split control of the two states amid themselves. It was the US military executives who drew up the line that demarcated soviet and US occupation zones. The division was supposed to be temporary as a footnote in the state’s history but the beginning of the Cold War made the boundary undeviating. Since, both USSR and US intended to uphold own Korean influences, installed leaders who were sympathetic to their respective causes. There was mistrust on both sides, which prevented elections meant to choose a leader who would lead the entire peninsula. Thus, US handed control of S. Korea to Syngman Rhee and USSR gave control over the north to Kim Il-sung. In 1948, both the US and the USSR claimed to be the official representatives and government of the entire Korea (Nee 4). The first section of this paper discusses Central Thesis as well as its explanation of the origin, second part evaluates the two states, the third section outlines case studies for the two states whereas the fourth section is the conclusion, which contains a summary of the whole paper. Central Thesis Despite N. Korea and S. Korea having similar historical as well as geographical backgrounds, their regimes are different due to their different colonization during the Cold War by the USSR and the US respectively. N. Korea and S. Korea were once the same state, before the 20th period. Despite this, many differences exist between the two states. Moreover, there have been serious tensions in recent years between the two states, the inter-Korea relations, including the North sinking South Korea’s warship in March 2010. Reaction was that the north attacked the South citizens and soldiers in November the same year (Nee 4). Hence, these differences and tensions existing between the two countries despite the shared historical and geographical backgrounds, led to the thesis. N. Korea and S. Korea comparison In 1961, Chung-hee assumed the S. Korean’s headship though through a coup. In 1987, S. Korea held its first presidential election under a revised egalitarian structure. In 1993, Kim Young-Sam became the state’s first civilian president. Today, S. Korea is a fully functional modern egalitarianism. The state has also secured a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, hence will host Winter Olympic Games in 2018. President Park Geun-hye became S. Korea’s first female leader when she assumed office in 2013 (Nee 4). N. Korea practices a form of political system universally referred as monolithic, which is a hereditary power succession. N. Korea is different from other communist states in that it has maintained the monolithic system. The monolithic approach has played a crucial role in North Korea by enabling the state to have a continuous power monopoly by a single leader while facilitating hereditary power succession from father to son to grandson and so on. This monolithic approach its inception was in the 1960s when the purge of all Kim Il-sung’s opponents was completed and Juche ideology came to the fore as a political ideology to facilitate the establishment of the monolithic system. Juche means ‘independent stand’ or ‘self-reliance spirit’. Its development was for use as a political slogan meant to symbolise that N. Korea had rejected the Soviet Union’s de-Stalinisation policy in the mid-1950s (Park 6). S. Korea is different from North Korea in that South Korea is a democratic country that elects its presidents through elections while North Korea practices a monolithic system of succession where power passes on from father to son to grandson and so on. This clearly shows the difference between the two country’s political systems. Case Studies For more than half a century, the N. Koreans experienced two absolute president dictators, Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. These two ruled the state as if they were kings and none of them showed any concern with the augmenting state’s trade with other states or raising its international competitiveness. This prompted N. Korea becoming one of the impecunious states globally. N. Korea’s existing hardships, both economically and isolation is quite evident especially when compared to its counterpart. In 2010, the external trade in the North was approximately $4,170 million. This was a small fraction of S. Korea’s $891.59 billion. The gross state’s proceeds per capita for North was only $1,074 while that of South was $20,759 (Park 2). Park Chung-hee’s regime (1961 - 1971), is the source of South’s rapid economic escalation, as the per capita income arose by over 17 times that of North during the regime. This clearly shows the economic development difference in both states. N. Korea’s new regime should consider abandoning the isolation policy and instead begin a reform process soon, if it has any hopes of ever reaching S. Korea’s current economic development. By 2013, S. Korea ranked twelfth out of 186 states on the UN human development index. Due to lack of reliable data, the HDI did not rank N. Korea. N. Korea’s meager GDP and its poor health pushed it towards the bottom. In 2011, the life expectancy at birth in the north was 68.8, much lower than that of South being 80.6 (Clemens 166). Over the past decade, the gap in human development has increased between the two countries. North Korea’s food crisis is the most alarming illustration of the gap. Moreover, the available anthropometric data suggests that there is a difference between the children in both countries in terms of height and weight despite similar ethnicity and heritage (Eberstadt 152). The differences in weight and stature indicates the differences in human capital information, which distinguishes the populace of the two states while the difference in human development index further shows the differences that exist in the two states. Human security involves a government protecting its people from any threat to their well-being or existence. In South Korea, the people enjoy security related to health, food, environment and human rights. However, human security is most noticeable where it does not exist, for example in N. Korea. The country lags behind in economic and human development and fares particularly poorly in civil liberties and basic human rights. The state’s misguidance in its pursuit of juche has made it a major source of threat to its people (Kim & Pil 138). The difference in governance between the two countries has led to the human security in S. Korea and lack of it in the north. Conclusion Despite North Korea and South Korea having similar historical and geographical backgrounds, their regime types are different due to their different colonization during the Cold War by the USSR and the US respectively. Over 1,000 years ago, the two countries existed as one big country. Japan tried to claim it but after its failure, the US and the USSR moved in splitting the two states. Over the years, the two countries have developed so many differences due to their choice of leadership. The north practices a monolithic form of political system, which is hereditary while the south elects its presidents through national elections. The form of dictatorship in the north has led to the two countries having major differences in their economic and human development. Works Cited Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of ForClemens, Walter C. Complexity Science and World Affairs. SUNY press, 2013. Internet resource. Eberstadt, Nick. The North Korean Economy: Between Crisis and Catastrophe. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2009. Internet resource. Isserman, M. Korean war: Updated edition. New York: Facts on File, 2009. Print Kim, Ŭn-mi, and Pil H. Kim. The South Korean Development Experience: Beyond Aid. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Internet resource. Nee, Patrick W. Key Facts on South Korea: Essential Information on South Korea. The Internationalist, 2013. Print. Park, Yong Soo. "Policies And Ideologies Of The Kim Jong-Un Regime In North Korea: Theoretical Implications." Asian Studies Review 38.1 (2014): 1-14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More