Conclusion
Dae-Kyu Yoon claims that the overarching goal of the 1972 Constitution was to legally legitimise and protect ‘the socialist system and the dictatorship of the proletariat’, furthermore it ‘epitomised North Korea’s successful transition to a socialist system via the removal of non-socialist elements inherent in the Constitution of 1948’.
The North Korean regime attempted to exemplify the victory of socialism within its legal constitutional framework and the 1972 Constitution both served as an important legal document and ‘an expression of North Korea’s confidence in its own made-for-Korea Socialist system’.[352] Ultimately, the Constitution serves as a rigid legal manifestation of the state itself through the creation of legal claims regarding the rights, duties and political identity of the people. Much like other countries, the North Korean Constitution functions as a legal starting point and political instrument in the process of nation-building and consolidation of power.Although claiming that the Constitution serves as North Korea’s way of expressing socialism and consolidating power for Kim Il Sung is valid, this alone is a short-sighted understanding of the country’s cultural transformation on its legal system, political bodies of government, and the entire people. These transformations in the 1972 Constitution were the result of several factors. First, it was Kim Il Sung’s 60th birthday, and Kim Jong Il held a massive celebration for his father. Kim Jong Il erected the 60-foot bronze statue of his father and changed other aspects of cultural products to glorify his father. Second, the constitutional transformation was in response to the possibility of unifying with South Korea in a peaceful manner. Unlike the 1948 Constitution, the new Constitution declared that Pyongyang would be the capital city for the Korean peninsula.
Third, North Korea had to diplomatically position itself amid the Sino-Soviet Conflict in the 1960s, which led to the fourth point of having to create a new, nationalistic political ideology called Juche. Fifth, Kim Il Sung had to disseminate his political ideology to every citizen in order to secure loyalty through revamping the country’s education system. This, then, led to the sixth point of implementing the Three Revolutions campaign across the country. Seventh, the personality cult, by the late 1960s, was in every aspect of the culture - literature, films, songs, newspapers, radio, and television - which was achieved by Kim Jong Il. Lastly (but not limited to this list only), North Korea opened up its relations with Japan and welcomed thousands of Japanese-born Koreans back to the homeland, which was an effort to empower North Korea as a paradisiac nation. Domestically and internationally, the DPRK was undergoing great changes in its culture, society, economics, and politics. In other words, to claim that the changes in the 1972 Constitution was driven by a singular cause of consolidating Kim’s power is too simplistic and reductive.The analysis of any country’s constitution requires a good grasp and interpretation of the legal lexicon, legislative process, and comparative legal statutes. Although close reading of the text and words in the constitution is pertinent, it is also imperative that one understands the cultural component of that country’s legislative history, politics, society, and even economics. This is because a constitutional text did not emerge from a vacuum, devoid of any context. Likewise, North Korea's Constitution requires a contextual understanding in order to interpret each Article, the legal lexicon, and the country's rationale. It is also important in North Korea's case that analyses go beyond the leaders, their succession, Party organisation, and political ideology, as these do not provide a comprehensive picture of North Korea.[353]
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