The gods must be playing tricks with the Russians again. Just as their country is experiencing a radical tightening of the political screws, one that promises to transform the Russian Federation into a larger version of its totalitarian North Korean cousin, Russians are being encouraged to visit Kim Jong Un’s miserable land as tourists.
The government of Primorsk Land, which borders North Korea, recently made the following enticing pitch on Telegram: “Do you want to visit one of the most interesting and mysterious countries in the world, North Korea? Then quickly pack your bags and go on a five-day tour, during which you can acquaint yourselves with Pyongyang’s sights, immerse yourself in the country’s culture and conquer the slopes of a contemporary ski resort in Masikryong.”
Just how many sights are worth seeing and how much cultural immersion can take place in a totalitarian dictatorship is unclear, but at least the ski resort is for real. Apparently constructed by North Korean soldiers in 10 months, the resort also features a swimming pool, sauna, massage room, beauty parlor, billiards room, restaurants, an ice-skating rink and a 30-year-old ski lift made in Austria. Russians will be pleased to know that the resort was built as part of a government drive to “make people not only possess strong physiques and sound mentality, but also enjoy their sports and cultural lives in a world’s advanced condition.” Will it also serve copious amounts of vodka?
The symbolism of North Korea’s embrace of Russian tourists is obvious. It doesn’t just reflect the ongoing deepening of official relations between the two countries: Kim visited Russia back in September, and Vladimir Putin accepted his invitation to visit North Korea. Meanwhile, Pyongyang is supplying Russia with weapons and missiles that have already been deployed against Ukraine.
No less important, Kim’s open-door policy toward Russian tourism signifies that North Korea — arguably the most repressive regime in the world today and for the last eight decades — believes it has nothing to fear from Russia and its people. Quite the contrary, opening its doors to Russia is a clear indication of Pyongyang’s belief that it’s dealing with a kindred state. In effect, North Korea and Russia are kissing cousins, while Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are becoming the same person.
As if to underscore this isomorphism, Putin and his comrades have adopted a series of repressive measures that will insert the already overbearing Russian state into the everyday lives of its subjects. Ksenia Kirillova, an independent Russian investigative journalist and analyst, nicely summarizes what awaits Russians in 2024: “Russian citizens should expect total censorship on the internet. The Russian authorities will begin to recognize popular public pages on social networks as ‘extremist’ and will introduce penalties for subscribing to those channels. The mention of ‘undesirable organizations’ and ‘foreign agents’ will also face penalties.”
That’s not all. “In place of YouTube and Telegram, the country will introduce an analogue of the Chinese service WeChat, and access to the network will be possible only with a Russian passport and special visa,” she writes. “The state will monitor all user activity on the internet. Repression against Russian citizens who have left the country will only increase. For those wishing to leave, exit visas may be introduced.”
Increasing numbers of Russians have apparently become fearful of “liking” controversial YouTube videos or other online content, lest the ever-watchful secret police take them to task for flirting with dissent. Unsurprisingly, in an environment that closely resembles the Stalinist terror of the 1930s, denunciations of citizens by other citizens have mushroomed, as people hope to deflect police attention from themselves by implicating others in imagined infractions.
Seen in this light, the Primorsk governor’s offer to “send Russian schoolchildren to Pioneer camps in North Korea” looks especially ominous, though hardly unexpected. After all, for two years now Putin and his henchmen have been “reeducating” the thousands of Ukrainian children they kidnapped from Ukraine’s occupied territories. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has even issued an arrest warrant for Putin for this crime.
What’s next? Will average Russians see the irony of being encouraged to visit North Korea? Will they soon be fleeing Mother Russia’s tight embrace for the comparative freedom of life in Pyongyang? Will they seek political asylum in mad Kim’s retrograde realm from the long arms of their own, equally irrational leader?
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as “Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires” and “Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.”