But there is no evidence of the food riots that were reported to have occurred last year. It appears that this year's harvest was adequate, although the North is seeking food shipments to supplement local food production. I saw none of the mass cynicism that gripped Eastern Europe before its communist regimes collapsed. North Koreans generally seem to concentrate on daily survival and avoiding trouble. With civil society dominated by state and party and the virtual disappearance of other community institutions and traditions, many people are apathetic.
Bureaucrats appear busy, but do little but sit on their hands to avoid showing their true colors.
The visitor's impression is of stasis, of a society on hold, of people playing a waiting game. It is like China before the death of Mao. Lacking his father's charisma and military record, Kim Jong Il relies on other techniques to maintain loyalty and obeisance. Shortly afterward, he instigated the confrontation over nuclear inspections, which gave him a whip to crack over the heads of the entire elite. The IAEA said that an analysis of waste samples taken during an earlier visit suggested that North Korea had separated more plutonium than it had reported.