The Kim Jong-il Regime’s “Military-first Politics”: Structure and Strategy of Discourse

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ideological characteristics, structure and strategy of discourse on the “military-first politics” that has gradually expanded into almost all sectors of North Korean society. After successful ascension to supreme authority, Kim Jong-il’s regime set up “military-first politics” to legitimate his control over North Korean society. As the discourse system grew from military-first politics into a concrete political precept called “the military-first formula,” North Korean ideologues were tasked with providing a valid logic regarding the origin of the military-first politics and forming a logical framework for politics after the year 2000. Now the discourse of the “military-first policy” has developed in political, social and military arenas having produced a new ethos in North Korea. Gradually, the rhetoric of military-first politics spread into every social, political, and cultural sector to become the primary ruling philosophy of North Korea.