Jangmadang: The New Generation

4 min readOct 22, 2021

What is Jangmadang Generation? And why is Kim Jong Un trying to silence them?

North Korea’s New Generation

The naming of the generation born between the 80s and 90s in North Korea the “Jangmadang Generation” is not a coincidence. Born in the same era as their Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, the Jangmadang Generation grew up with the development of the market since the collapse of the distribution system following the Arduous March.

To read more about the beginning of Jangmadang, click here.

According to Park In Ho, president of Daily NK, Jangmadang Generation grew up listening to older adults talk about how life was not difficult during the reign of the first Supreme Leader, Kim Il-sung, compared to life during the reign of Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Il (Daily NK, 2015).

Instead of entrusting their survival to the state and risking their fate on the system of the state, the Jangmadang Generation grew up learning the ways of capitalism. Thus, they are known to value individually earned wealth more than collective interests or values of the state.

Why is Kim Jong Un, a 37-year-old millennial himself, silencing other millennials?

The Jangmadang Generation is learning the principles of capital circulation and learning the wisdom of independent survival in North Korea. They are described as “capitalistic”, “anti-socialist”, “disloyal”, and “individualistic” (Human Rights Watch, 2021).

According to a survey conducted by South Korea’s Unification Media Group (UMG), 90% of the 200 North Korean defectors interviewed claimed to have consumed foreign media while living in North Korea and 75% of the interviewees witnessed people being punished for such acts (RFA, 2020).

In December 2020, the North Korean government recently enacted the “Law on the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture” (반동문화사상배격법’) (BBC News, 2021) in the hope to overcome “anti-socialistic elements” (Daily NK, 2021). In other words, the law’s purpose is to cleanse cultural infiltration by eradicating any capitalist cultural invasion and preventing further infiltration of South Korean culture (Human Rights Watch, 2021).

Emphasizing the need for cultivating and controlling young people, Kim Jong Un implemented the law including a vision for the Youth Education Act and Human Reform program.

The North Korean government directed youths to stop watching, listening, sharing, and distributing media content from outside of North Korea such as South Korean dramas and songs. They also called the South Korean language the “puppet language” as the South Korean language has incorporated English words into their language extensively and was thus seen as a threat to the Kim regime’s native Korean language (WSJ, 2021).

South Korean media was also considered dangerous to the North Korean regime as it encouraged North Koreans to escape and to undermine the North Korean government.

Rodong Shinmun, a national North Korean newspaper, warned youths of foreign media to highlight the danger of a capitalistic lifestyle and the importance of North Korea’s collective and cooperative culture:

“If you cannot remain vigilant against a single movie or a song, and imitate it, the national culture will gradually become discoloured, and the rotten lifestyle of materialism will prevail” (RFA, 2020).

To have North Korean youths express their love for the country and their leader, North Korea forced youths to “volunteer” in coal mines and rural farms (RFA, 2021).

The North Korean government also presented youths with a video of those who violated the law getting punished. The law stipulates the death sentence as the maximum penalty for the dissemination of South Korean dramas and music (RFA, 2020).

Why focus on the Jangmadang Generation?

The law and state control on the young people of North Korea violates fundamental principles of international labour law and human rights law. They have the Right to Information and the Right to Education.

Tomás Ojea Quintana, United Nation’s special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, have highlighted that “the Right to Information is an integral part of the right to freedom of expression, as defined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

“People from North Korea should enjoy the benefits of access to information, which goes in hand with the Right to Education” (Human Rights Watch, .

Jangmadang, a space for guaranteeing North Koreans’ lives and exchanging goods, also came to evolve into and represent a space of hope that induces cultural and social changes. The younger generation of North Korea — the Jangmadang Generation — who naturally grew up learning about competition in markets and developing a personal desire for freedom, is the key pillar of social change in this era.

Stay tuned for our next post discussing further on the inside of Jangmadang!

Written by Lina Park (student) and Scott Tian (student) from Simon Fraser University, Hanvoice Chapter.

Source:

Jangmadang: The New Generation

North Korea’s New Generation

Why is Kim Jong Un, a 37-year-old millennial himself, silencing other millennials?

Why focus on the Jangmadang Generation?

Written by HanVoice SFU