ABSTRACT
This study examines the elite and their behaviors over the course of the development of political power in North Korea. It pays particular attention to the development of ‘power structure and characteristics’ in the North Korean political system to understand the formation and development of the elite, and seeks to explore how the transformation of North Korea’s power structure and characteristics has altered its elite system. The study specifically distinguishes the development of power into seven historical periods: power structuration of the Soviet forces (1945 to late 1940s); socialist oligarchic power (late 1940s to mid-1950s); limited personal power (mid-1950s to late 1960s); non-patrimonial personal power (late 1960s to mid-1970s); patrimonial power 1 (mid-1970s to mid-1990s); patrimonial power 2 (mid-1990s to early 2010s); and patrimonial power 3 (early 2010s to the present). In parallel to the power factor, this study also gives attention to the generations of the elite in North Korea to explain the country’s political development. It here groups the North Korean elite into four distinct generations, examining how the development of political power has impacted on their emergence and change in politics.we
