Sŏn'gun, often spelled Songun, is North Korea's “Military First” policy, which prioritizes the Korean People's Army in the affairs of state and allocates national resources to the army first. “Military First” has been playing many roles, including that of “Military First Politics”, serving as a political system, that of “a line of Military First Economic Construction” acting as an economic system, and of “Military First Ideology” making it the new guiding ideology of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Juche Idea (also Juche Sasang or Chuche; pronounced // in Korean, approximately joo-cheh) is the official state ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. ... The position of Eternal President of the Republic is established by a line in the preface to the North Korean constitution. ... Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the North Korean Communist leader from its founding in early 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. ... The 1998 constitution defines the NDC as “the highest guiding organ of the military and the managing organ of military matters. ... The 1998 constitution defines the NDC as “the highest guiding organ of the military and the managing organ of military matters. ... Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il) (born February 16, 1942) is the leader of North Korea. ... The current Premier of North Korea is Pak Pong-ju. ... This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim Not to be confused with Kim Jong-il, the de facto leader of North Korea Kim Yong-Il (born May 2, 1944) is the current Premier of North Korea. ... The Supreme Peoples Assembly (SPA) is the unicameral parliament of North Korea (DPRK). ... Kim Yong Nam is the current Chairman of the Presidium of the [[Supreme Categories: Korea-related stubs ... Kim Yong Nam (born 1928) is a North Korean official. ... Political parties in North Korea lists political parties in North Korea. ... The Workers Party of Korea (WPK) is the ruling party of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. ... Elections in North Korea are held every five years. ... Korean reunification is a possible future reunification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government. ... The human rights record of North Korea is extremely difficult to fully assess due to the secretive and closed nature of the country. ... The foreign relations of North Korea are often tense and unpredictable. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... North Korea, known officially as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Chosongul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ...

Songun elevates the Korean People's Army within North Korea as an organization and as a state function, granting it the primary position in the North Korean government and society. It guides domestic policy and international interactions.^[1] It is the framework for the government, designating the military as the "supreme repository of power." The North Korean government grants the Korean People's Army the highest economic and resource-allocation priority, and positions it as the model for society to emulate.^[2] Songun is also the ideological concept behind a shift in policies since 1994 which emphasize the military over all other aspects of state and society. Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. ... The politics of North Korea take place within a nominally democratic framework; in practice, North Korea functions as a single-party state. ... The foreign relations of North Korea are often tense and unpredictable. ... The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ...

History

Songun did not appear as an official government policy until after Kim Il Sung's death in 1994. In 1995, "military first" policies were introduced as "a revolutionary idea of attaching great importance to the army" and as "a politics emphasizing the perfect unity and the single-hearted unity of the Party, Army and the people, and the role of the army as the vanguards."^[3] This was a slight shift from the government's previous guiding policy, Kim Il Sung's juche, or self-reliance policy.^[4] Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the North Korean Communist leader from its founding in early 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. ... The Workers Party of Korea (WPK) is the ruling party of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the North Korean Communist leader from its founding in early 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. ... The Juche Idea (also Juche Sasang or Chuche; pronounced // in Korean, approximately joo-cheh) is the official state ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. ...

In 1997, an editorial published in Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean government's mouthpiece, stated: "Never before have the status and role of the People's Army been so extraordinarily elevated as today when it is being led energetically by the Respected and Beloved Comrade Supreme Commander." By this point, the People's Army had also become "synonymous with the people, the state, and the party."^[5] Together, all of this indicates not only the centrality of Kim Jong Il to the songun ideology, but also its increasing rhetorical centrality to the state and society. Rodong Sinmun (Newspaper of the workers) is a North Korean newspaper and the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea, published by the Rodong News Agency. ... The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ...

In 1998, songun began appearing in conjunction with other terms, including "military first revolutionary idea", "military first revolutionary leadership", and "military first politics", expanding the concept of songun into even more aspects of North Korean governance.^[6]

Songun became an even more prominent concept in January of 1999, making its first appearance in the important New Year's Day editorial published jointly by all the major news organs of the DPRK. The editorial tied songun with Kim Jong Il by declaring that he practiced military-first leadership, which is "one in which the People's Army serves as the main force of revolution and in which the unity of the army and the people helps to safeguard as well as build socialism."^[5] The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ...

In January of 2003, the New Year's editorial added military first ideology (songun sasang) to the pantheon of military first concepts. In December of 2003, the "Essential Attributes of Military-First Politics" was published as a new vision of the driving force of the revolution in the quasi-Communist North Korea. It assigned the main force of the revolution to the Korean People's Army.^[5] This is a role traditionally, in Communist societies, assigned to the proletariat or, in China, to the peasantry. For North Korea, "only the army meets the criteria of loyalty, revolutionary spirit, cohesiveness, and esprit de corps."^[5] January of 2004 saw another increase in the omnipresence of songun, as it was mentioned more frequently than any other word in the New Year's Editorial, and was used to describe everything from politics to Korea itself.^[5] The South African Police Crush Another Demonstration by the Shack dwellers Movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, 28 September, 2007 Class struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. ... This article is about the form of society and political movement. ... The South African Police Crush Another Demonstration by the Shack dwellers Movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, 28 September, 2007 Class struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      This article is about a form of government in which the state operates under the control of a Communist Party. ... The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is proletarian. ... In a detail of Brueghels Land of Cockaigne (1567) a soft-boiled egg has little feet to rush to the luxuriating peasant who catches drops of honey on his tongue, while roast pigs roam wild: in fact, hunger and harsh winters were realities for the average European in the...

Songun has continued to expand in importance, and is even included in the ideological discussion of reunification with South Korea. The North Korean press stated, "songun politics is the guarantee that will secure the re-unification of the Fatherland."^[7] The DPRK also credits songun with safeguarding the peace on the peninsula, and states that it is the only thing preventing the US from attacking the North.^[8] Songun has become intrinsic to North Korea's domestic politics, foreign policy, and decision-making, and has certainly taken its place alongside juche as a guiding principle of the regime. Korean reunification is a possible future reunification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... The politics of North Korea take place within a nominally democratic framework; in practice, North Korea functions as a single-party state. ... The foreign relations of North Korea are often tense and unpredictable. ... The Juche Idea (also Juche Sasang or Chuche; pronounced // in Korean, approximately joo-cheh) is the official state ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. ...

Why Songun?

Two reasons have been offered as to why, after Kim Il Sung's death, the DPRK shifted to songun as their primary ideology. One strand of the debate points to the DPRK's desire to increase its military strength due to its precarious international position.^[9] In this sense, songun is perceived as an aggressive, threatening move to increase the strength of the DPRK military at the expense of other parts of society.^[1] This argument also often points to the series of crises that befell North Korea in the early 1990's, beginning with the fall of Communism and its long-time ally the Soviet Union in 1991, followed by the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994, which was then trailed by several natural disasters and the North Korean famine and its concurrent economic crisis, all before 1999. These also could have served as motivation for a new method of consolidation of power.^[10] Kim Il-sung (April 15, 1912–July 8, 1994) was a Korean Communist politician and the ruler of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) from 1948 until his death. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... This article is about the form of society and political movement. ... Kim Il-sung (April 15, 1912–July 8, 1994) was a Korean Communist politician and the ruler of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) from 1948 until his death. ... The North Korean famine occurred during the mid 1990s in North Korea and lasted until about 2001, when the country had mostly recovered from the Arduous March, but it was not until 2004 that North Korea finally announced that it would need no further assistance from foreign aid suppliers. ...

The second strand focuses on internal DPRK politics as the cause for the move to military first politics. When Kim Il Sung died, he left leadership of the DPRK to his son, Kim Jong Il. At the time of his father's death, the most important position held by Kim Jong Il in the North Korean government was military, specifically second in command of the military. This left him with no choice but to use the Korean People's Army to consolidate his own power.^[5] Additionally, in order to keep control of the government, Kim Jong Il would need to secure his support base within the Korean People's Army.^[1] This line of argument points out that Kim Jong Il deliberately chose to sideline other aspects of the government in order to assert the primacy of the Korean People's Army. This included abolishing the Central People's Committee, the state presidency, and sidelining the DPRK Administration Council.^[5] The politics of North Korea take place within a nominally democratic framework; in practice, North Korea functions as a single-party state. ... Kim Il-sung (April 15, 1912–July 8, 1994) was a Korean Communist politician and the ruler of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) from 1948 until his death. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ... The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ... Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ...

Political Implications

One implication of songun policies is that it is not only working with juche, the self-reliance ideal promoted by Kim Il Sung, but also replacing it as the central state ideology as Kim Jong Il consolidates his power.^[11] Some point to the policy as a sign that the government is crumbling, and could soon collapse.^[1] The Juche Idea (also Juche Sasang or Chuche; pronounced // in Korean, approximately joo-cheh) is the official state ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. ... Kim Il-sung (April 15, 1912–July 8, 1994) was a Korean Communist politician and the ruler of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) from 1948 until his death. ... Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1942) has been the leader of North Korea since 1994. ...

The ascendency of the Korean People's Army concerns South Korea, and ties into the debate over the Sunshine Policy, its most recent vision of Korean reunification.^[12] Given North Korea's insistence that songun will facilitate reunification, it is difficult to tell what they expect in the future from South Korea, whose government is not at all supportive of songun policies, going so far as to outlaw websites within South Korea that promote North Korea's military-first ideas.^[13] Korean Peoples Army refers to the armed personnel of the Joseph Stalin. ... The Sunshine Policy is the current South Korean doctrine towards North Korea. ... Korean reunification is a possible future reunification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government. ... Korean reunification is a possible future reunification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government. ...

Songun politics have also thrived on the ongoing nuclear crisis.^[14] For the United States, given that its primary concern is the denuclearization of the peninsula, the concept of military-first politics and ideology is a troubling one.^[15] Songun also seems to fit very well with the possession of nuclear weapons, and can be seen as a way of making such weapons central to the government's guiding ideology of self-governance.^[16] This leads to the concern that, the longer military-first ideology guides the North Korean government, the less likely it will be that the United States will be able to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. A similar concern is that North Korea could perceive attempts at denuclearization and normalization of affairs with the United States as a threat to the primacy of the military within the DPRK and, thus, a threat to songun ideology, a fear which puts into doubt the idea that the DPRK is actually willing to give up its nuclear weapons program at all.^[17] North Korea claims to possess nuclear weapons, and the CIA asserts that it has a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons. ... World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. ... North Korea claims to possess nuclear weapons, and the CIA asserts that it has a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons. ... World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... North Korea claims to possess nuclear weapons, and the CIA asserts that it has a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons. ...

Economic Implications

The origin of “Military First” traces back to “Arduous March”^[18] through the “Revolutionary Spirit of Soldiers.” In order to overcome the economic crisis, the army is expected to work in the forefront. Concepts of “Arduous March” and “Revolutionary Spirit of Soldiers” have evolved into “Military First” policy with an economic implication. DPRK’s “Military First” is comparable with South Korea’s military-led administration during the Park Chung-hee regime. The Kim Jong Il regime has strategically aimed at "A Powerful and Prosperous Nation" (kangseong taeguk) through "Military First" policy. This is a Korean name; the family name is Park Park Chung-hee (November 14, 1917 – October 26, 1979) was a former ROK Army general and the leader of the Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979. ...

See also

• Juche
• Park Chung-Hee

The Juche Idea (also Juche Sasang or Chuche; pronounced // in Korean, approximately joo-cheh) is the official state ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. ... This is a Korean name; the family name is Park Park Chung-hee (November 14, 1917 – October 26, 1979) was a former ROK Army general and the leader of the Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979. ...

Notes

References

• Cheong Wook-Sik, "Military First Policy", Presented at Washington Peace Network, Washington, DC. April 19, 2007
• Chun Mi-Young, The Kim Jong Il administration’s recognition of politics, KINU policy series,September 2006
• John Feffer, Forgotten Lessons of Helsinki: Human Rights and U.S.-North Korean Relations, World Policy Journal, v.XXI, no.3, Fall 2004
• Alexander Platkovskiy, Nuclear Blackmail and North Korea's Search for a place in the sun, The North Korean Nuclear Program. New York and London: Routledge, 2000