Mila Olsen |
Image sourced from Thomas Evans via Unsplash.
Currently, any semblance of progressive policy in North Korea is internationally celebrated with a disproportionate degree of enthusiasm. A particularly concerning example of this is the recent praise of the state’s ostensible shift towards embracing female leaders. While it is tempting to believe that North Korea’s brutal history of gender-based violence and exploitation might change, the authenticity of the state’s apparent female focus is highly questionable.
North Korea’s most notable female leader is Kim Yo Jong, a member of the Kim dynasty and a high-ranking official of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Throughout Kim Jong Un’s mysterious health scare in 2020, Kim Yo Jong’s global recognition skyrocketed as international media named her as her brother’s likely successor. Kim Yo Jong’s political savvy and genteel image have won her the favour of the press and the (begrudgingly ironic) support of social media users. Even so, reports indicate that her father Kim Jong Il favoured her over Kim Jong Un, but did not appoint her as his successor due to her gender. Consequently, if Kim Yo Jong were to succeed her brother, this would signal to the world that the Kim dynasty is moving towards a female future.
However, despite Kim Yo Jong’s prominence in the Kim family succession race, she is still widely recognised and reported on as “Kim Jong Un’s sister” — a mere extension of her brother. This should concern those who hope that she will one day hold enough individual recognition to empower the women of her country. Furthermore, her international status as Kim Jong Un’s harmless sister has overshadowed her apparent reputation as a “bloodthirsty demon” among North Korean officials.
Much like Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s daughter Kim Ju-ae is widely speculated to be the regime’s successor, having paraded with her father in public numerous times throughout recent years. Korea unification scholar Koh Yu-Hwan has compared this to Kim Il Sung’s public promenades with Kim Jong Il in preparation for his succession.
Yet why would the patriarchal Kim family anoint a female successor when, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Kim Jong Un is believed to have an elder son? The idea that Kim might bequeath his dynasty to a daughter rather than a son has been met with widespread surprise and even praise by some. Watching Ju-ae visit factories and observe nuclear launches with her father, these proponents envision her as a future champion of her country’s women, marching them into influential fields from which they have previously been excluded.
However, while North Korea has just 1.6 per cent less women in parliament than South Korea, it falls far behind its neighbour on gender equality. South Korea’s commitment to democracy and free speech allows female leaders to lobby for genuine change, while North Korea’s female representatives are bound to maintain the status quo. Ju-ae’s hypothetical reign would only change things for women in North Korea if fundamental changes were made to how the government is run. Her gender alone is simply not enough.
It is important to note that the notion of Ju-ae’s succession is highly contentious. Kwak, for example, argues that she cannot possibly succeed, as in the likely event that Ju-ae marries and adopts her husband’s family name, she would undermine the Kim family reign by leading the state. Therefore, even if we are to believe that Kim Ju-ae’s succession would revolutionise the lives of North Korean women, there is no certainty that she will ever get the chance.
As Kim Jong Un platforms his female relatives and instils hope that life will change for women in North Korea, he is also making public pleas for women in his country to have more children. This unreasonable request ignores the lived experiences of women in a poverty-stricken and oppressive patriarchal regime, demonstrating just how performative North Korea’s ‘female empowerment’ is.
Unfortunately, given North Korea’s inclination towards propaganda, the most likely explanation for its spotlighting of female leaders is to project a progressive image without actually having to improve life for women. Rather than buy into this tactic, the world must watch North Korea’s female leadership with a critical eye, and ask whether the regime’s most powerful women have any chance— or even any desire —to advance gender equality in their country.
Mila Olsen is a penultimate year Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Global Studies student at La Trobe University. She majors in human rights and is passionate about accessible and intersectional public law practice. Mila's key interests in international affairs are nuclear weapons discourse, decolonisation, and the politics of Northeast Asia.
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