초록 (영문)
The purpose of this thesis is to take a look at the historical development of North Korean policies on women and the perception on women in the context of its policies. One of the key characteristics in the development of North Korean policy on women is that it has been swayed by the national policy. North Korea has, since its liberalization, made it a policy to bring women to participate in its labor and production industries based on the assumption that they also play their given roles in their families. In the 1960s North Korea placed parallel emphasis on both the female roles in family and society, but since the 1970s its focus was shifted to their family roles. Such a change was mostly due to the changes in the political situation. As the characteristic of the North Korean system altered from a socialist system to a ``Yuil`` system, and the ideology of the leadership shifted from ``Party``s revolutionary ideology`` to ``Kim Il-Sung`s revolutionary ideas,`` the focus of women policy had also shifted from a class-oriented perception to one that placed emphasis on the traditional image of women. There are two main thrusts in the perception of ``women issues`` in North Korea. First, North Korea stresses the history of ``women issues`` by citing the period of struggle against Japanese colonial rule. This is closely related to Kim Il-Sung`s policy centered around the tradition of his anti-Japanese resistance since the 1960s, and has also its advantage in maintaining the current system. In other words, the strength of this policy lay in its ability to convey the message that crises in the 1990s can be overcome, compared with the dire situation during the colonial rule. Another distinction lies in the method to solve ``women issues.`` The North Korean press claims that the answer to ``women issues`` can be the their ``socio-political liberalization and independence``. However since the 1990s, the solution was presented as being related to ``the completion of Juche.`` That is, the main focus of female movements has shifted from ``independence`` to ``loyalty`` which would result in the prosperity of the nation. On the other hand, the representative images for women in The Rodong Shinmun in the 1990s were ``flower,`` ``loyalty`` and ``dutiful daughter.`` In North Korea, ``flowers`` imply the social character, and describe the relationship of women with Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jung-Il. This is in line with the thought that if sunshine were to be the main source of the vitality of flowers in nature, the sunshine in society would be no other than two Kims. Such a way of understanding also stays in the images of ``loyalty`` and ``dutiful daughters,`` which is linked to the ``Sawhoisaengmyungcheron`` which first came to the fore in the 1980s. The biggest victim during the economic crisis in the 1990s were women, which was also officially admitted by the North Korean press since 1998. But still, North Korea seems to have been demanding sacrifice from women for the family. North Korean policy on women has been implemented upon the basis of the assumption that they still maintain their traditional roles, and has never loosened the link between the family and woman. In this sense, North Korean women policy in the 1990s must be viewed as having returned to the period of liberalization rather than having regressed.