Eckert Paints a Bleak Picture of North Korea

Professor of Korean History Carter J. Eckert presented stark, barren images of the North Korean landscape and people to members of the Korean Association last night in the Lowell House Junior Common Room.

Giving the students a historical perspective on the division between North and South Korea, Eckert spoke about the limits of capitalism in North Korea. He then showed slides from his recent visit.

The North Korean government invited Eckert as well as other scholars and business executives from the U.S. to visit the free-trade zone in the northern part of the country this past April. The government plans to develop the province into an industrial zone.

Eckert's trip to North Korea in April was his first, although he had been to South Korea in the late 1960s as part of the Peace Corps.

"[My trip in April] left a great impression that I am still trying to digest," said Eckert, who is also director of the Korea Institute at Harvard.

"It's a rare opportunity for us to see what's going on in North Korea" said Steve W. Chung '01, co-chair for education and politics for the Korean Association.

Eckert said his slides depicted the "very grim, Stalinesque" atmosphere of the area, Eckert said. He also emphasized the lack of cultural and economic activity in the area.

"Nothing [seemed] to be happening. The only movement was of people carrying bags of rice along the road," Eckert said.

Eckert also said he had gotten the impression that certain scenes the visitors had witnessed had been staged. One slide in particular showed women standing by a deserted shoreline with a basket of fish that Eckert suspected had been planted there to indicate bounty.

"It was a very sad trip for me. I spent a long time in Korea during my 20s, and it was almost like going back to the 1960s without the hope [of economic development]," Eckert said.

In relating background information on the recent history of North Korea and South Korea, Eckert likened the division to "protracted McCarthyism."

"Take that atmosphere of tension and suspicion and magnify it a thousand times, then have it last for 40 years, and you get an idea of the tension that has built up, that is now just unfolding," Eckert said.

He described the present status of North Korea as "desperate." In light of the current tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, Eckert urged his listeners to take a balanced view of the situation.

"The best thing we can do now is to keep cool and try to understand the economic situation that North Korea is in. We need to deal with that first," Eckert said.

Eckert, who advises the Korean Association, is a renowned Korea scholar.

He is currently working with the association in conjunction with the Korea Institute and the graduate Korean group to bring a well-known traditional dancer, Kim Young Shi, from Korea in February.