Unveiled on Monday, North Korea’s new fundamental charter strengthens the power of the armed forces, the state’s ‘fourth level of power’ under the ‘Dear Leader’. Sources tell AsiaNews that the document reaffirms Kim Jong-il’s absolute power and prepares his succession at the behest of his third son. Human rights are mentioned for the first time, but people are still victims of abuses and violence.

Pyongyang (AsiaNews) – The essence of the newly revised North Korean constitution is its abandonment of communism, an emphasis on the military-first policies, and the concentration of all powers in the National Defence Commission, chaired by Kim Jong-il. Soldiers join workers, farmers and working intellectuals as a key pillar of the nation. For the first time, the expression “human rights” is employed.

On Monday, the North Korean government released the content of the new Charter, which North Korea experts and analysts say bears the hallmark of Kim Jong-il.

The word Communism is deleted from Article 1 and replaced with “military-first” ideology, a notion that emerged during the food shortages and economic collapse of the “March of Tribulation” in the mid-1990s.

The new constitution’s goal is to strengthen the role of the armed forced, which is called upon to counter the internal and external challenges currently facing the country. As chairman of the National Defence Commission, the Kim Jong-il becomes the supreme leader of the state in charge of national policies and holder of all the powers of the state.

Sources in North Korea, anonymous for security reasons, told AsiaNews that the new text “is designed to reaffirm Kim Jong-il’s absolute power” and prepare the “new generation for power, namely Kim Jong-un”, the ‘dear leader’s third son.

Any reference to human rights is meant to guarantee a sense of “normalcy” in the eyes of the international community. Violations continue in fact in great numbers.

“Pyongyang is not interested in human rights; the labour camps that are still active are proof of that,” the source said. “The population lives in extreme poverty and famine comes on a cyclical basis. About 15 per cent of the population suffers from tuberculosis. Only the party elite and the military enjoy wealth. People are left to fend for themselves. For this reason, we try to work closely with the population, bringing aid and moving in when the social emergency is at its worst.”  

The new constitution strengthens the role of the armed forces, a shift due to tensions that arose a few months ago when a power struggle developed during Kim Jong-il’s illness. Only the leader’s recovery stopped it.

The source told AsiaNews that “North Korea got the atomic bomb to engage the international community in a ‘dialogue’. Nuclear tests and military exercises last spring were used to appease the military, and draw the attention of the West in order to obtain aid and economic incentives to replenish North Korea’s empty treasury.”

The new constitution says nothing about religious freedom in North Korea. “The personal cult of Kim Jong-il, treated like a god-like figure, dominates the country. In Pyongyang, there is a Christian building whose activities are under government control. However limited religion’s leeway may be, it is still used for government propaganda.”

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