On May 10th in Palo Alto, a unique lecture will be delivered by one of the world’s leading experts on North Korea – Pr. Andrei Lankov.
In democracies, people believe that the stability of authoritarian regimes is secured by the brutal and notorious political police, equipped with prisons, torture chambers, and omnipresent informers. However, this is not the case. In a well-run authoritarian regime, most of the population remains obedient and docile, even when they understand that the secret police are unlikely to concern themselves with their minor deviations.
The stability of authoritarian power is based on a system of control and surveillance that permeates the entire society, ensuring obedience to the ruling elite. In North Korea, this system of everyday surveillance has been refined to a level of perfection that arguably has no parallel in world history. It is hard to imagine another country where a system of everyday surveillance operates as effectively and is as omnipresent. The life of a North Korean citizen is constantly monitored both at her place of residence and at her place of work. They encounter numerous prohibitions and rules, some of which may seem bizarre and absurd to outsiders but are entirely logical if seen from the perspective of those who designed the North Korean system.
In this lecture, we will discuss why a knock on the door after midnight in North Korea usually does not indicate an arrest, what paperwork should be done before going to grandmother’s village, what Kim Il Sung meant when he said that every North Korean citizen “should study for 8 hours a day”, and why weekly sessions of mutual criticism require considerable acting skills.
About the Speaker:
Andrei Lankov is a Russian historian, Orientalist, and a leading global expert on North Korea. He holds a Doctor of Historical Sciences degree and is a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the politics, history, and culture of the Korean Peninsula. Lankov is frequently featured in international media as an expert on North Korea's domestic and foreign policy.
When: May 10th at 7:00 PM (doors open at 6:30 PM)
Where: "Auditorium" at Palo Alto Art Center
The lecture will be in English.
Google Maps link: Palo Alto Art Center
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Palo Alto Art Center • Newell Road 1313, 94303 Palo Alto, California
