Penal power and "bare" subjects in North Korea: Historical perspectives on a gulag society.
The penal power of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has revived the traditional politics of extreme punishment amidst the erosion of the discipline that was essential for the blueprint for socialist ideals. During the period of state formation, the DPRK regime tried to rehabilitate l...
| Publicado en: | Asian Affairs: An American Review Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jan-Mar2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=191255499&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 191255499 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00927678 AFF jtl: Asian Affairs: An American Review issn: 00927678 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan-Mar2026 vid: 53 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 191255499 10.1080/00927678.2025.2594867 ppf: 1 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: Penal power and "bare" subjects in North Korea: Historical perspectives on a gulag society. aug: au: Kang, Jin Woong su: North Korea Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 State power Concentration camps Social control Correctional institutions Corporal punishment Social processes Political prisoners Koreans sug: subj: State power Concentration camps Social control Correctional institutions Corporal punishment Social processes Political prisoners North Korea Correctional Institutions Provincial correctional services Federal correctional services Other Residential Care Facilities Koreans Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 keyword: bare life disciplinary power gulag prison sovereignty The DPRK bare life disciplinary power gulag prison sovereignty The DPRK ab: The penal power of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has revived the traditional politics of extreme punishment amidst the erosion of the discipline that was essential for the blueprint for socialist ideals. During the period of state formation, the DPRK regime tried to rehabilitate lawbreakers, including political prisoners, to an active role in society through modern penal and prison systems and socialist correction. However, the regime still repressed political criminals and prisoners who rejected such a disciplinary power, and this developed after the early 1990s into neo-traditional penal practices with extreme forms of corporal punishments, such as public executions. The penal power of the DPRK lost the legitimacy of its rule by producing dissidents and a "hostile" class that has now expanded into the entire society. In the contemporary DPRK, homo sacer is an entity of "bare life," excluded from national laws and order, and thus paradoxically reinforcing the country's sovereignty. North Korean citizens have been disciplined in a repressive system that exerts control over the collective "bare life" of all individuals. By interweaving the perspectives of Foucault's disciplinary power and Agamben's sovereign power, this article examines how the DPRK's disciplinary penal power has been transformed into the politics of gulag. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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