
How do you get a job in North Korea? - CrazedGeek
http://www.nknews.org/2013/11/how-do-you-get-a-job-in-north-korea/
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mrtksn
From what my parents told me, during the communist Bulgaria people have been
quite happy with the "jobs assignment" process.

After graduation from college and if they are not going to continue their
education they were given a list of available positions so they can pick few
and they are placed according to their grades if there is a competition for a
given position.

On the other hand, the less meritocratic positions(like blue collar jobs in
factories) were often subject to placement-by-bribery. Many would like a
position where they can steal stuff for themselves.

The seemingly meritocratic system gave them feeling of security but obviously
the system was not working that well so the communist state collapsed and when
it did, my parents lack of sense of the capitalist system left them in a limbo
state. Those stealing, bribing folks did quite well in the communism-to-
capitalism transformation period but many well educated people could not adopt
and moved to well established capitalist economies where the meritocracy
existed(at least they were finding jobs based on their credentials). However,
at least my parents, never grasped the idea of entrepreneurship. They just
don't have the basic instincts for doing a business and they failed miserably
when they tried to start one. They are still working for other people.

If the North Korean government fails, probably the turmoil will last for
generations, until new culture emerges through a new generation of young
people who can have an idea about how a capitalist society works.

PS: We were from a discriminated minority, so maybe it was easier for the
native Bulgarians however the North Korea seems to be much worse even than the
last days of the communist Bulgaria.

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cdman
I wholeheartedly concur. It was the same here in Romania.

Interesting anecdotes:

\- my parents (who studied EE) worked in a "research institute". Most of the
research was taking electronics from the west apart and figuring out how they
worked so that they can be manufactured in the "eastern block"

\- my first computer was a HC80 computer which was a ZX Spectrum clone

\- many big "western" companies were here trough local partnerships (Citroen
-> Oltcit, Renault -> Dacia) just like IBM and Coca-Cola worked with the
Nazis. Money trumps ideology always :-)

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walshemj
Yeah quite often they sold a couple of examples that where then ripped off -
Rolls Royce found that out the hard way as the the Pilots in Korea shot down
by MIG 15's with knockoff Jet engines

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willscott
I'm an american currently teaching Undergrad level CS in pyongyang.

Most of the students here know that they want to work at one of the two
government research labs: Korean Computing Center, or Pyongyang Information
Center. One of the Seniors told me he thinks he has an 80% chance of getting a
job where he has access to the internet and an email address for
communication.

Many of the anecdotes in the article fit with what I've seen here. I've been
told that the going rate to get in to the top high school in pyongyang is
about $5000US. One of the government liaisons working at the university
studied Malaysian in college, and got told that there were too many Malaysian
speakers when he graduated and was assigned to our university instead.

I think the main takeaway is that everything here is based on connections and
who you know.

~~~
__pThrow
How did you get to NK, and ... why?

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EliRivers
Whilst I can't speak for the OP, I got there on an aeroplane and left on a
train. The means of getting there are pretty standard :)

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theshadow
Fascinating. This article (esp the part about young people not even thinking
about their future knowing its already decided for them) reminds me of the
novel 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro. Great novel but one of the
criticism directed at the novel is "why are certain characters so passive
towards their condition", "why don't they do something about it"? An instilled
sense of duty is indeed a very powerful motivator.

~~~
allochthon
Every time I read about life in North Korea I'm reminded of "Meeks," a spooky
little novel by Julia Holmes. Nothing in the book says it's about North Korea,
but I think she must have been inspired by it.

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stevetursi
Having just watched <I>Catching Fire</I> last night (I read the novels a
couple years ago), and reading this piece this morning, I can't help notice
the similarities between DPRK and Panem. Careers that are decided for you,
fear-based policies, total control of the press and communication..

The difference is that in the movie, there's a sub-plot of all-out revolution,
but in real life, the only thing we hear about that are in the dreams of North
Korean ex-pats. I wonder how realistic revolution is, and how it would play
out if it actually happened.

~~~
justaman
Welcome.

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TazeTSchnitzel
NK's problem isn't so much socialism as it is a horrendously managed
totalitarian state and poverty.

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drivingmissm
The problem is that socialism and totalitarianism are separated only by
degree. Socialism, by definition, uses government force to take
resources/freedom/time/opportunity from some people and redistributes those
goods to politically favored groups.

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cabalamat
By your definition, every government that has ever existed is socialist.
Consequently I doubt the utility of your definition.

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ImprovedSilence
by definition, every government has to be socialist to a degree. It's how far
it's taken that really matters.

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crdoconnor
>Basically, people in North Korea do not have the freedom to choose their
occupations. Once you’re assigned a job from the government, it is your
lifelong job.

The tour guide I had described in some detail the previous job he'd had - just
weeks before becoming a tour guide. He worked at the zoo and was tasked with
coordinating the exchange of animals with other countries.

He gave me the impression that he requested to become a tour guide too, in
order to improve his English.

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jonknee
Why do you assume the government tour guide of North Korea would be honest?
I'm sure it was a fascinating tour, but not one rooted in accuracy.

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crdoconnor
Equally, people who run away from North Korea might also be tempted to bend
the truth, most especially when they're being paid to write about it.

A lot of what they said was clearly lies. This rang true though.

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mildtrepidation
In a place with such tight information controls, why either of you would
assume any of these people had any idea what the lives and information access
of the others were like is beyond me.

I don't think it's any kind of contradiction to suggest that both of these
things are true: That many people aren't given a choice, and that those who
are do not necessarily know about the fact that others are not.

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PeterisP
Not so much different than in some periods of old USSR - depending on time and
place/sub-SSR, at times it was much more liberal, at times it was exactly like
that.

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acheron
I can't help but sing the article title (which, in case it changes, is "How do
you get a job in North Korea?") to the song from _The Sound of Music_ , "How
Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?".

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notdrunkatall
It baffles me that some people still support socialism.

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te_chris
I'm baffled by the nuanced analysis of the pitfalls of socialism you've
presented.

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notdrunkatall
You're pretty easily baffled.

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anotherfadjs
At least they have jobs.

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EliRivers
Not as we define them. As we define it, a job is an exchange; the employee
puts in work and they get back money and the like. What they have (as
described in the article) is a legal requirement to be at their assigned place
of work and do their assigned task, without getting back money and the like.
That's more akin to slavery.

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kijin
It seems that a lot of workplaces don't even have any work for the assigned
workers to do (e.g. factories are out of raw materials), and no salary to pay,
so the "employees" just go freelancing elsewhere. This is worse than slavery.
With slavery, at least there's a general expectation that the master will feed
his slaves.

North Koreans are getting the worst possible form of communism (indentured
servitude in a micromanaged economy) and the worst possible form of capitalism
(must earn your own survival, no safety nets whatsoever) at the same time.
That's crazy.

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anotherfadjs
Maybe just maybe because of all the embargoes by the rest of the world?

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SiVal
There are two giant economies that border NK, China and Russia, that do not
economically embargo NK. But as is always the case with socialist workers'
paradises, it's always the fault of external villains that they have any
remaining problems at all. Surely it can't have anything to do with the
internal policy of forcibly transferring decision-making power from the people
to the political elite in Capital City.

