“What We Murmur behind Their Backs”: Hidden Transcripts of the North Korean Ruling Elite

ABSTRACT

Based on in-depth interviews with 24 former high-ranking North Korean officials, we investigate the “hidden transcripts” of North Korean ruling elites. After discussing methodical issues in the first section, we analyze the hidden transcripts of the North Korean ruling class in the second section, including their questioning of Chuch’e ideology, rampant materialism, a “revolution by mouth”, and the South Korean wave. If hidden transcripts of powerful officials contain thoughts identical to those of powerless individuals, for whose benefit are they hidden? In the third section, we revise the theory of hidden transcripts to answer this question. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the future of North Korea.

Acknowledgments

The publication of this article was supported by Korea University (NARS3270Q-K2107681) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2014S1A5A2A03065042). We are indebted to Hyun-jin Kim, Hyun-jin Cha, Eun-kyung Park, and Eu-young Roh for providing excellent research assistance throughout the various stages of our research process. For questions related to the contents of this paper, please contact Hyung-min Joo (the corresponding author) at [email protected].

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).