Who is the 'MZ Generation' in North Korea?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un seems to have a big concern. It is because of the slack discipline of the young generation in their 20s and 30s, who was born in 1984. Chairman of the states Affairs Commission Kim has recently issued control orders aimed at the younger generation whenever he has a chance. In the conclusion of the party's secretary meeting on the 8th, he said, "We should take the issue of youth culture as a fateful one that we can no longer sit idly by, the issue of party and revolution, the life and death of our country and people." He ordered to look into younger generations' clothes, his hair, his words and actions, and even his relationships.

Earlier on February 24, during an expanded meeting of the party's Central Military Commission, Kim Jong-un stressed, "We need to strengthen cultural projects and control over the support of the new generation of the People's Army command." He rebuked the political consciousness of young beginners. According to North Korean media including the Korean Central News Agency on the 20th, the 10th Congress of the Kim Il-sung-Kim Jong-il Youth Alliance (Youth Alliance) will be held in the capital Pyongyang from the 27th. The event, which will be held for the first time in five years, is also expected to serve as an opportunity for Kim to tighten the reins of thought and life control over the Millennial Generation (born after the early 1980s).

The 20s and 30s in North Korea are called 'the Jangmadang generation.' They were born or spent adolescence during the so-called "March of Pain" in the 1990s, when they suffered the worst famine. It was a time when the nation's rationing system actually collapsed due to severe economic difficulties. They had no choice but to go out to the illegal market, "jangmadang," to make money and get something to eat. They are more familiar with the market economy than with the socialist distribution system.

The "Jangmadang generation" are estimated at 3.5 million people, or 14 percent of North Korea's population of about 25 million. It is regarded as a group with relatively weak ideological loyalty and strong individualism. In short, it moves according to money. There is a difference in the temperature of loyalty between the younger generation and the older generation. The generation of marketplaces who have encountered capitalism has a strong idea that they should eat well and live well before the country.

Also, they actively use cell phones (smartphones) and have been exposed to South Korean pop culture (drama, movie, music, etc.) since childhood. According to the testimony of North Korean defectors, about 70 to 80 percent of young North Koreans watch South Korean movies or dramas. When they send text messages on their cell phones, their language is also changing into South Korean.

In his early days in office, Kim Jong-un, a Swiss-educated student, seemed to be pursuing reform and openness. The downtown of Pyongyang was becoming so similar to any other capitalist city; Sushi bars, Italian restaurants and amusement parks have appeared, and taxis with a basic fare of $1 have also started to run. In particular, the emergence of the millennials, Mrs. Ri Sol-ju, was one of the factors that made this change. The fleet could not imagine the wife of the supreme leader accompanying her on an on-site inspection in her sophisticated attire or walking with her husband in a friendly arm in arm.

However, the prolonged sanctions, new coronavirus infections and the "three-pronged" natural disasters have accelerated the Kim Jong-un regime's closeness. Amid the rapidly rigid social atmosphere, the uncontrolled generation of marketplaces has emerged as a new "system threat." There is a growing sense of crisis that even the existence of the country could be threatened if cracks begin to occur in those who are less loyal than the older generation and admire external culture.

Some analysts say Kim is expanding the scope of his elite-centered "horror politics" to the public, including young people, in order to prevent residents' agitation due to economic difficulties. North Korea's 6th Party Secretaries Conference, which declared austerity and political wind that what the Kim Jong-un regime is really afraid of is not a "second march of hardship" but an alienation of North Koreans and institutions who have learned the taste of money and freedom.