North Korea News Podcast by NK News - Shinyoung Kwon: Authoritarian roots of North Korea’s neighborhood associations

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Dr. Shinyong Kwon joins this week’s episode to discuss how neighborhood associations — known today as inminban in the DPRK — have been used as tools of governance, social indoctrination and moral authority. She explains how these associations originated from East Asian communal traditions but were reshaped under Japanese colonial rule to serve wartime mobilization […]

You're listening to an exclusive episode of the NK News podcast available only to subscribers. You can listen to this and other episodes from your preferred podcast player by accessing the Private Podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide on the NK News website at n'm your host, Jaco Zwetslut. And today it is in Korea, Saturday, the 28th of June, 2025. And I'm recording this episode via StreamYard. And we have a first time guest. And that is Dr. Kwon Shin-Yong or Shin-Yong Kwon who holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago and she did postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge. She now lives in the United States and that's where she's recording this from today. Her

book Moral Authoritarianism, Neighborhood Associations in the Three Careers, 1931 to 1972, was published in November 2023. That's what we'll be discussing today. Welcome on the podcast, Dr. Gwon, and congratulations on the publication of your book. Thank you so much and thank you for inviting me. To set the context a little bit for our listeners, I'm going to read

a paraphrase summary of the two main claims of your book. Firstly, during the colonial period, neighborhood associations were used to push state goals onto ordinary people. They often put government interests ahead of personal freedoms, blurring the line between what was considered moral and what the state demanded, while treating citizens like members of a tightly controlled family. So that's the first claim. And the second claim, after liberation, both North and South Korea kept using neighborhood

associations in similar ways, even though their political systems were very different. These groups continued promoting a top-down vision of how people should think and behave, which helps explain why both countries ended up with strong authoritarian tendencies. All right, so those are the two claims of your book. Now, people who have studied North Korea or who have listened to this podcast may have heard of the Inminban, that's the North Korean version of neighborhood associations. But there are also, or there have also been neighborhood associations in South Korea and back in the past in colonial Korea and even in pre-modern Korea too, right? Yes, that's right. The current remaining form

is North Korean Inminban, but in 20th century, Korea had several types of neighborhood associations. They just changed its prefix in line with Korean political history. First of all, there was a patriotic neighborhood association. It was organized by colonial government, Japanese colonial government in 1938, one year after the Sino-Japanese war broke out. In the post-liberated Korea, we had the modified forms. In case of South Korea,

the Song Man-ri had made citizens' neighborhood association, which is called the Gungminbam. And after 10 years later, Park Jung-hee made a successful potato and then renamed the neighborhood association Reconstruction Neighborhood Association, Jae-Gon-Bak. And in case of North Korea, they changed its name, In-Min-Bak, People's Neighborhood Association, and it still exists until now. Right. That's very interesting. Now, historically, what basically was a neighborhood association in Asia?

Where did this concept come from? Is it something from Confucianism or is it something from military government? And what function did such neighborhood associations try to fulfill? Neighborhood association is just a unit made up of 10 or 20 household units. So in pre-modern East Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, all of them

had the similar forms. So the oldest form is China's Baojia system. Invented in 10th century, they... Oh, that's very long ago. Very, very long ago. They assisted the the government and in case of Japan and South Korea had a smaller phone, Japan had a five household unit in the system and Korea in pre-modern Joseon period, the five household mutual guarantee system. Yes, but all of them did not succeed, and they did not work properly. Because in late 19th century and 20th century, all China, Japan, and Korea began to modernize

their modernization program. There are many ways to central government to contact the individual and household. For example, the compulsory school system and also railway system. And also the postal office system was invented because they accepted all modern system. they didn't need to rely on neighborhood association so in case of Korea colonial government did not want to make use of Korean tradition so they abolished neighborhood associations so they no more cease to exist. That was before 1938, was it?

Yes, it is already 1910s. Right. And then they revived the Magwood Association system in 1938 in a new way, but copying the Japanese five household system. It is not copying Japanese system because they always advertise that this patriotic neighborhood association is characteristic of Korea. Really nothing to do with Japanese Konarigumi or Koningumi. It is Korean one and inherited Korean tradition. I see.

Interesting. Okay, so if I understand correctly, that historically this is an idea that came from China from the 10th century AD, spread throughout East Asia into Korea, into Japan, and then later on in the 20th century, the Japanese military government used it for its own purposes to strengthen the governance system of the colony of Korea. What I want to emphasize is more like what it's a relation to wartime modernization. Ah. Yeah.

So, Okay. You pointed out that it was started in Korea in 1938, one year after the beginning of the Sino-Japanese Pacific War. And so those two things are connected, right? You're saying that the beginning of the war and the revival of the neighborhood association system, they're connected. is a war mobilization, but colonial government said that it is mass movement, mass movement organization, not is a mobilization movement. So everyone in the peninsula, including Japanese and foreigners were inducted into Patriotic Neighborhood Association. But the organization is the establishment of a Patriotic Neighborhood Association is led by government, the bureaucratic force.

So the process was very speedy. But can you imagine that within a one year, more than 380,000 Patri Patriot and Neighborhood Association was established. Wow. Yeah. Now, how did they actually work? How did they, in Japanese colonial times, help the government to govern the people? What kind of activities did they do?

The activity is more like a social indoctrination. The government, the colonial government worry about that. Korean society was not pro-Japanese, right? In 1920s, Korean socialism and anti-Japan nationalism was very powerful. So they do not believe that even though they mobilize Korean society against China, Korean society will not move at all.

So they needed to educate and put pro-Japan spirit into through the neighborhood association. So social indoctrination and also what can I do? It is a rationing system. What system? Ration. Rationing, okay. Because wartime economy is economic control.

So there's more, all of the markets were abolished. So Korean people should give all of the rice and grains to the government. And the government sends the grain to the military and also distributes it to the urban citizens. Okay, so Could you tell us a little bit more about during the Pacific War, the World War II, how these associations continued to change while helping the Japanese war effort? You mean the working program? Yeah, the progress of the Second World War. During the war, did the function of the neighborhood associations remain the same or did they change?

They changed a lot. The inventor of the Patriot Neighborhood Association is Shiobara Tokisaburo. He was the director of the education bureau and also his nickname was Hitler in the peninsula. Hitler in the peninsula? Yes. Wow. Okay. Very ultra nationalist.

Yeah. And then the panist. So he- That was his big name at the time. Yes. Okay. He was called at the time. All right.

So when he began to mobilize, how to mobilize Korean society, he supported the family because he realized that women, Korean women was not indoctrinated. They did not have state consciousness at all. So they needed to mobilize women through family. And also the family is also a strategic point to distinguish the East and the West. He said that, he argued that East Asia is different because East Asia is more communal and West is individual and East Asia is more moral but West is legal society. So family is a very symbolic place to represent East Asia. But also families should be reformed. So it is a aspect of the individualism and also the family egoism. So when Japanese government wants to conscript Korean men into the army, probably without

reforming family and changing people's consciousness, they will follow the order. So he pointed out the family. So all of the activity of patriotic neighborhood association was reform family. For example, changing how to eat. So they prohibited using 100% rice. Instead, they encouraged to use wheat or corn or grain. And also they encouraged the family organize a saving unit. So they forced saving and they reduce consumption. So these programs of changing the way that people eat and enforce savings and also the educating a state consciousness, were these programs carried out

by having meetings of these patriotic neighborhood associations? Did they meet weekly, for example, for education sessions? head to nknews.org slash join for more information. If you're already a subscriber to NK News, you can listen to full episodes from your preferred podcast player by accessing the Private Podcast Feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide on the NK News website at nknews.org slash private dash feed.