How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters (2010)

• published: 26 Mar 2015
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The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why it Matters is a 2010 book by Brian Reynolds Myers. Based on a study of the propaganda produced in North Korea for internal consumption, Myers argues that the guiding ideology of North Korea is a race-based nationalism derived from Japanese fascism, rather than any form of Communism. Brian Reynolds Myers was born in the United States and was educated on the graduate level in Germany.[1] He is an editor of The Atlantic magazine and the author of A Reader's Manifesto,[2] as well as of Han Sorya and North Korea Literature (1994), which was the only book in English about North Korean literature until Tatiana Gabroussenko's literary history Soldiers on the Cultural Front (2010). Myers has studied North Korea for twenty years and is fluent in Korean.[3] He holds an assistant professorship in international studies at Dongseo University in South Korea.[2] For the book, Myers studied North Korean mass culture with reference to domestically published novels, films, and serials available at the Ministry of Unification in Seoul.[3][4] Myers claims his analysis differs from that of conventional North Korea watchers, because he focuses on internal Korean-language propaganda, rather than on Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) external broadcasts and English-language reports from South Korea. The Cleanest Race is divided into two sections: the first covers North Korean history through its propaganda, from Korea under Japanese rule to the 2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea.[6] The second section analyzes themes in the propaganda, including chapters such as "Mother Korea", Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, perceptions of foreigners, and South Korea.[5] Techniques of propaganda analysis by Myers include translation of poems, discussion of metaphors and monumental architecture, and description of racist tropes.[6] The book also contains sixteen separate pages of color illustrations,[5] including reprints of posters that ethnically caricature Japanese and Americans[7] and which portray the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as maternal figures.[8] The Cleanest Race argues that the ideology of the North Korean government's is founded on far-right politics rather far-left politics. It notes that the North Korean government is xenophobic and militaristic. It cites a report of a mob attack on Black Cuban diplomats and the forcing of female North Koreans to abort mixed children.[4][7] It says that the 2009 North Korean constitution omits all mention of Communism.[7] The author argues that Juche is not the leading ideology of North Korea. Rather, he surmises, it was designed in order to trick foreigners.[4] The author says North Korea's government does not base its ideology on Marxism–Leninism or Neo-Confucianism. He instead links it to Japanese fascism.[9] He states that the government's racist criteria for national identity paints its genetically Korean citizens as innocent and morally virtuous (as opposed to foreigners) but militarily weak,[6] requiring Kim Il Sung's charismatic guidance and protection.[3] The author supposes that this may be a strategy by the government to decrease the amount of repression and surveillance needed to control that public.[3] According to Myers, North Korean government propaganda portrays South Korea as a land polluted by foreign domination, particularly by the permanent presence of American troops. Anti-Americanism is the cornerstone of North Korean foreign policy.[4] Similarly, internal propaganda within North Korea portrays American humanitarian efforts such as food aid as signs of American cowardice and make no distinction "between 'good' American workers and 'bad' American capitalists".[3] He laments that North Koreans openly flout the "dictates of an impure world" as inapplicable to the pure Korean race. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cleanest_Race Image By Nicor (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons