ABSTRACT
This chapter examines North Korean civil society in South Korea and tests the idea of an uncivil society. North Korea has no civil society, despite outsiders’ fantasies of a coup d’état, middle-class revolution or regime collapse. However, North Koreans who settle in South Korea imbibe liberal capitalist values to organize their own campaigns. North Korean civil society in South Korea could thus anticipate one in North Korea. However, as revealed by the author’s analysis of the language and images used in propaganda leaflets by North Korean ‘balloon warriors’, it remains a subversive liberal project funded by political conservatives and Christian evangelicals, which may have unintended illiberal outcomes in a potential peace and reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula.
