Topic 8 The Excluded: North Korea, Burma, Cambodia and Laos

1
Topic 8 The Excluded North Korea, Burma,
Cambodia and Laos

• A Geopolitical Exclusion North Korea and Burma
• B Socioeconomic Exclusion Cambodia and Laos

2
Southeast Asia The Excluded
India
China
Burma
Laos
Mekong
Thailand
Vietnam
Philippines
Cambodia
South China Sea
Malaysia
3
Geopolitical Exclusion North Korea and Burma
A

• 1. North Korea
• 2. Burma

4
North Korea
1

• A divided country (part 2)
• Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
• Not democratic.
• More a dictatorship (leader oriented) than a
  communist system.
• Three-class alliance
• Peasants / workers / intellectuals.
• Unlike China where intellectuals were not trusted
  by the Communist government.
• One of the most isolated country in the world.
• Double-isolation
• The outcome of geopolitical considerations.
• Against the West (South Korea and the US) since
  the Korean War.
• Now against former communist nations China and
  Russia since the mid 1990s.

5
North Korea
1

• About 22 million inhabitants
• Under a strict communist regime longer than
  anywhere else in Pacific Asia.
• Little information available statistics
  unreliable, if not entirely fabricated.
• Likely a large waste of human resources.
• North Korean flag
• Blue stripes commitment to peace.
• Red stripe path to socialism.
• Star Symbol of the leading role played by the
  Korean Worker's Party.

6
North Korea
1

• North Korea and the Korean War
• Kim Il-Song (1945)
• Backed by the Soviet Union.
• Hard liner communist government north of the 38th
  parallel.
• Preparation for an invasion of South Korea (1945
  - 1950).
• Known as the Great Leader or the Eternal
  Leader.
• Invasion of South Korea (1950)
• One year after American troops left.
• Triggered the intervention of the United States
  and the United Nations.
• Counter the expansion of communism in Pacific
  Asia (containment policy).

7
North Korea
1

• Collectivization the socialist path
• Soviet backing in rebuilding the post Korean War
  economy.
• North Korea had the bulk of Koreas raw materials
  and industries.
• Nationalism and equality in social classes
• Abolition of old Confucian structures and the
  creation of new ones.
• Political elite with privileges.
• Agricultural communes.
• Labor shortages (Korean war casualties)
• Induced the recruitment of women in the labor
  force.
• Initial industrialization strategies successful
• Because of Soviet technology and capital.
• Started a period of self-sufficiency which led to
  growing incoherence in its economy policy.

8
North Korea
1

• From self reliance to self destruction
• The collapse of Chinese-Soviet relations
  reinforced North Korean isolationism (1960).
• Juche (literally self-reliance) ideology
• Improvised in the 1950s for the purpose of
  cutting off the Soviet Unions influence.
• North Koreas Great Leap Forward.
• Investment in the heavy industry in the early
  1960s was a failure.
• North Korea stopped publishing economic
  statistics (1965).
• Goals of five-year plans were never achieved.
• Reliance on foreign capital and technology
• Never paid its debt, which promoted isolationism
  even further.
• Lowest credit rate in the world.

9
North Korea
1

• Sunshine policy (early 1990s)
• North Korea started to open to the outside.
• Played the nuclear game to gain some advantages
  such as technological and monetary aid.
• Signed a nuclear non-proliferation pact (1992),
  but refused to allow inspectors.
• End of the Cold War
• North Korea lost its main ally, the Soviet Union.
• The fuehrer doctrine the flawless leader
• Cult of personality
• The Suryong (Leader) is an impeccable brain of
  the living body, the masses can be endowed with
  their life in exchange for their loyalty to him,
  and the Party is the nerve of that living body.
• To reinforce the authority of the leader (Kim
  Il-Song, then Kim Jong-Il).

10
North Korea
1

• Death of Kim Il-Song (1993)
• Longest term held by an head of state in modern
  times (50 years).
• Had his body mummified.
• Kim Jong Il (The Dear Leader) replaced his
  father as the head of state.
• The first father-son transition in a communist
  regime.
• Mystifications
• Family members attributed heroic acts.
• The birth of Kim Jong-Il was marked by a new
  star.
• Dimensions of intellectual enslavement
• Each household must have portraits of the two
  leaders.
• About 4 of the GPD spent in propaganda each
  year.
• Birthday institutionalized as the People's
  Greatest Holiday.
• About 40 of the contents of schoolbooks.
• Pilgrimage to sites visited by the dear leader,
  including his place of birth.

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North Korea
1

• Militarized society
• 25-30 of the GNP in military spending.
• A standing army of about 1.1 million soldiers.
• Third largest army in the world.
• 7.5 million militia and reserve forces.
• 35 of the population integrated in militaristic
  activities.
• Maintain the dictatorial government.

12
North Korea
1

• Economic collapse the failure of socialism
• Agricultural production
• Low agricultural productivity (lack of
  fertilizers).
• Deforestation of marginal land for agriculture.
• Annual grain production from 1987 to 1996 was
  about 4.4 million tons.
• Demand was about 6.5 million tons.
• Shortage of 2.1 million tons of grain every year.
• Famine of 1995-1998
• Flooding destroyed much of the harvest (1995).
• Claimed an estimated 2 million to 3 million
  lives.
• Only 10 of North Korea's rice fields could be
  worked.
• North Korea had to rely on South Korea (and other
  nations) for food.
• North Korea keeps a stockpile of approximately
  1.2 million tons of rice as military provisions.

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North Korea
1

• Rogue State
• International blackmailing
• Using the development of weapons of mass
  destruction (nuclear) to blackmail the
  international community for free help.
• Promised to stop nuclear research in exchange of
  help (1994).
• Admitted not respecting this engagement (2002).
• Claimed to have nuclear weapons (2005).
• Involved in terrorist activities (mainly against
  South Korea).
• Drug production and smuggling
• One the worlds largest supplier.
• Production of about 40 tons of heroin per year.
• To earn foreign currencies.
• Farmers encouraged to grow poppies. Processed in
  government factories.
• Exported through North Korean companies and
  diplomatic channels.

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North Korea
1

• Weapons smuggling
• Became one of the few sources of foreign income.
• Sold ballistic missile parts to Pakistan.
• Tried to sell missile technology to Iraq months
  before the American invasion (2003).
• US currency counterfeiting.
• Signs of openness
• New industrial zone for South Korean industries
  opened in 2004.
• Low North Korean wages.
• Cultural and linguistic commonalities.

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Burma
2

• Overview
• Ethnic diversity (50 million people)
• Burmese (Tibetan and Chinese origin) 68.
• Chin (India), Shan (Thais) and Mon (Cambodia)
  minorities.
• 70 of the population in agriculture.
• Once the richest country in Southeast Asia.
• Brief historical overview
• Became a British colony (1885).
• Political unity.
• Supported the Japanese invasion of 1941.
• Independence granted (1948).
• Burma was one of the few country refusing to
  become a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• Promoted exclusion.

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Burma
2

• Political control and repression
• Military coup (1962).
• The media and the government under the control of
  a military junta.
• Political parties were banned and the economy was
  nationalized.
• Promoted isolationism.
• Several communist guerilla movements, promoting
  instability.
• Government responded by neutrality in the Cold
  War period.

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Burma
2

• Burmese path to socialism and to self destruction
  
• Economic collapse
• Declared one of the poorest country in the world
  by the United Nations.
• Foreign trade, mainly rice, handled by the
  government.
• Impose quotas (15-20) on farmers, purchased at
  low price.
• Sold by the government at world price
  (institutionalized theft).
• Millions of farmers put into bankruptcy.
• 1 million Burmese working in Thailand.
• 50 of the budget taken by the military.
• The State Law and Order Restoration Council
  (1988)
• Official name of the military governing body.
• Burma was officially renamed Myanmar (1989).
• Civil wars by ethnic minorities (Shan and Karen)
  control a third of the country.
• Most rebel groups have signed cease-fire accords
  with the junta.

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Burma
2

• Narcotic economy
• Informal economy oriented along drug production
• Backed by the junta (military government).
• 50-60 of the global opium production.
• 80 of the heroin arriving in New York is coming
  from northern Thailand or Myanmar.
• Parts of the country controlled by warlords
• Notably the Shan state (Karen rebel group),
  formally part of Thailand.
• Been in a state of civil war for more than 50
  years.
• Constant struggles to control the lucrative drug
  market.

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Burma
2

• Conditions for drug production and trade
• Poor rural population living on marginal land
• Limited productivity of rural land.
• Difficult to access.
• Often an ethnic minority.
• Limited political control and rule of law
• Weak / corrupted nation state.
• Civil unrest, especially in remote regions.
• Lack of central government control.
• Warlordism.
• Porous boundaries
• Same ethnic groups on both sides.
• Artificial or contested boundaries.
• Difficult to enforce border control.

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Burma
2

• The Golden Triangle
• Highlands of northern Indochina
• Overlaps Thailand, Laos and Burma, with parts of
  Vietnam and China (Yunnan province).
• Lawless segment of the region
• Eastern Burma controlled by the United Wa State
  Army.
• Opium production by mountain tribes (19th
  century)
• Chased from southern China.
• Fast growth in the 1990s
• Tripling production.
• 98 of the production takes place in Burma.
• 60-70 of the worlds opium
• 70 of the heroin in the US comes from the Golden
  Triangle.

Yunnan
Hong Kong
Burma
Hanoi
Laos
Vietnam
Thailand
Bangkok
Phnom Penh
Drug Hub
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Burma
2

• Methamphetamine (Ice) is a more recent
  production
• Increase the amount of dopamine in the brain.
• Instant addiction.
• Severe withdrawal effect.
• Known as Yaa Baa, the drug that turns you mad.
• 35,000 to 50,000 per kilogram.
• Shift in role
• Thailand now produces little opium.
• Subject to intense drug trafficking along its
  border.
• 2-3 million drug users in Thailand.
• More lucrative than regular crops
• Poppy farmer earns 300 for 7 kg of raw opium.
• Raw opium converted to 700 grams heroin brick in
  a factory worth 4,000.
• Brick worth 80,000 in New York.
• Turned into 28,000 doses of cut heroin earning
  280,000.

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Opium Cultivation (in hectares), 1990-2003
2
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Burma
2

• Reform failures
• First elections (1990)
• Winner of the League for Democracy (Aung San Suu
  Kyl) was placed under house arrest shortly after.
• Elections declared void by the military junta.
• Won the Nobel Peace Price (1991).
• Failed nation state.
• Economic embargo by most nations.

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Socioeconomic Exclusion Cambodia and Laos
B

• 1. The Mekong
• 1. Cambodia
• 2. Laos

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The Mekong
1

• The Mekong the hearth of continental Southeast
  Asia
• The 12th longest river in the world.
• The most important river in Southeast Asia.
• Flows from China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
  and Vietnam 4,800 kilometers.
• Over 60 million people depend on the Mekong and
  its tributaries
• Food, water, transport.
• Production of rice and vegetables on the
  floodplains.
• Along the riverbanks during the dry season.
• Hydro potential
• Many dam projects to harness the power of the
  Mekong.
• China has many dam projects upstream.
• May compromise water flow downstream.

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The Mekong
1
China
Burma
Laos
Vietnam
Thailand
Cambodia
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Cambodia
2

• Strong history, weak nation
• Bulk of the Cambodian population along the Mekong
  River
• Khmer group dominant ethnic homogeneity.
• Core of the Khmer Empire
• Extended to parts of Thailand, Burma, Laos and
  Vietnam.
• At its peak in the 12th century.
• Started to decline and being threatened by its
  neighbors.
• French protectorate (1863)
• Sought protection from its neighbors (Thailand).
• Annexed to Indochina (1887).
• Declared its independence during WWII (Japanese
  occupation).
• Independence (1955)
• Prince Sihanouk as the head of state.
• Neutrality in Vietnam wars between 1950 and 1975.
• Weak control.

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Cambodia
2

• Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Supplying Viet Minh activities in South Vietnam.
• Ran through Laos and Cambodia.
• Neutrality prevented the United States to
  intervene directly.
• Loss of neutrality
• Sihanouk evicted by a general backed by the
  United States (1970).
• Cambodia lost its neutrality.
• Extensive US military action (bombing).
• Triggered a civil war.

North Vietnam
Vientiane
Laos
Da Nang
Ho Chin Minh Trail
Cambodia
South Vietnam
Phnom Penh
Saigon
29
Cambodia
2

• The killing fields
• North Vietnam supported a communist guerilla
• Named the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot.
• Died without been prosecuted for his crime
  against humanity (1998).
• The guerilla was successful at overthrowing the
  government (1975).
• A policy of extermination was launched
  (1975-1978)
• Between 1.5 millions Cambodians were exterminated
  out of 7 millions (20-33 of the population).
• Movement to remove pre-revolutionary thinking.
• Cities were emptied.
• Population sent to the countryside to be
  re-educated.
• Cambodia lost most of its population with
  technical skills.

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Cambodia
2

• Restoration and fragility
• Vietnamese invasion (1978)
• Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a puppet
  government.
• The Vietnamese invasion promoted geopolitical
  instability with Thailand.
• Vietnam pulled out of Cambodia (1989).
• UN intervention (1992)
• Elections held which brought back Prince Sihanouk
  in power (1993).
• Sihanouk was overthrown by Hun Sen, a former
  Khmer Rouge (1997).
• Elections held, re-electing Hun Sen (1998).
• Lawless society.
• Tourism as a development tool
• Reclaiming its former role as a major tourist
  destination.
• Angkor Wat and international tourism.
• Expected received 1 million tourists in 2004.

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Laos
3

• A landlocked country
• One of the ten poorest countries in the world.
• Small population of about 5.7 million people.
• Three major ethnic groups in altitudinal
  distribution
• Lao Loum (lowland Lao 65).
• Minorities in the hills and mountainous areas.
• Lao Theung (midland Lao 25).
• Lao Sung (highland Lao 10).
• Historical perspective
• The southern part was annexed by Thailand (1833).
• Annexed to French Indochina (1885).
• Independence (1954).
• Communist guerilla gained control of the country
  when Vietnam was reunited (1975).

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Laos
3

• Development issues
• Landlocked country
• Strong impediment for economic growth.
• Increase imports and export costs.
• Almost non-existent industrial sector.
• Relationships improved with Thailand (1992)
• Construction of the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge
  (1994).
• Crosses the Mekong.
• Links northern Thailand with the capital of Laos,
  Vientiane.
• Important hydroelectric potential along the
  Mekong River basin
• Enables Laos to gain foreign currencies.
• Tourism
• Buddhist architecture.
• Relatively unspoiled landscape.

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Conclusion

• East and Southeast Asia
• Global shift taking place.
• Growing economic importance of East and Southeast
  Asia.
• Production, consumption and technological
  innovation.
• A challenge to the West
• Important to understand the nature of the
  challenge.
• What does geography reveals?
• Factor of divisions and diversity (cultural).
• High density and concentration.
• Resources scarcity and distribution.
• The Pacific a link of Asia to the global economy.