North Korea 1976: Under Stress

Abstract

IF THE imperialists dare start a war in defiance of our stern warning, they will be unable to escape a crushing blow, warned the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA) on August 19, 1976 in announcing that the entire armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had been placed in a state of combat readiness.' This dramatic development, which had been precipitated by the axe killing of two American army officers by North Korean soldiers in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom on the previous day, was a grim reminder that, 23 years after the signing of the Korean Armistice, the Korean Peninsula remained a tinderbox potentially capable of igniting anew a catastrophic conflagration. Although the crisis was defused without further escalation, it sharply underscored the overriding fact of North Korean life: that its tenacious quest for national reunification was inseparably linked with the goal of waging a ferocious struggle against the U.S. imperialists. If the net impact of the Panmunjom incident on Pyongyang's strategic goals is debatable, there could be little doubt about the adverse effects of the scandals involving North Korean diplomats stationed in Scandinavian countries which erupted in October: the entire diplomatic staffs of the DPRK embassies in Denmark and Norway were declared personae non gratae by their host governments on charges of having abused their diplomatic privileges by engaging in illegal imports and black market sales of narcotics, liquor, and cigarettes. In addition, four North Korean diplomats were expelled from Finland on similar charges, and five others, including an ambassador, left Sweden voluntarily amid their host government's investigation of their suspected involvement in similar activities.2 These events, unprecedented in the annals of diplomacy, served to bolster the view that the North Korean economy was beset by difficulties, as reflected by its