North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center

information streams, and from him that all significant orders and directions issue forth. For the
nation in general, and the military specifically, this flow is vertical. In most militaries in the
world, information flows both up and down the chain of command and horizontally at each level,
while orders flow down. Within the Korean People’s Army (KPA), information flows up the
chain of command and only orders flow down. There is extremely little horizontal flow of
information or communications except at the highest levels. Major KPA units (e.g., corps,
divisions, and brigades) can communicate with headquarters above them and units subordinate to
them, but very little communication is permitted with units adjacent to them. This vertical flow
of information is a means of maintaining strict control over the KPA. The belief is that if major
units were allowed to communicate horizontally, they could unite and possibly stage a coup.
As information flows upwards into the military and power-holding elites, it is processed
by overlapping and competing organizations - many of which are in competition with each other
through what might best be described as a lens of self deception composed of four layers:
historical world view, political indoctrination, hatred for the U.S., and authoritarian cultural rules.
This lens is so darkly colored that instead of focusing and illuminating, it distorts and
misrepresents the reality of the information. Ominously, it is upon this information and analysis
that Kim Chong-il and the military and power-holding elite base their decision making.
The Internet (and to a lesser degree the national intranet) is playing an increasingly
important role within the DPRK. The basic reason for this is simple: “information is power.”
Kim Chong-il and the military and power-holding elite unmistakably understand this, which is
why they have so vigorously endeavored to restrict access to it. Yet, at the same time they
understand the decisive importance of the information concerning world affairs available on the
Internet in bolstering their national survival.
Because of the extremes inherent in the access and flow of information among the
military and power-holding elite, the entire process is vulnerable to self-deception, overload,
manipulation (domestic or foreign), and collapse.
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