Geopolitical Assemblage: Airborne leaflet propaganda to North Korea

Keywords: Geopolitics, Assemblages, North Korea, Propaganda, flyers
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 68

Abstract

This paper analyzes the case of North Korean defector groups in South Korea sending airborne leaflet propaganda to North Korea through geopolitical assemblage. Using the concepts of territorialization/deterritorialization and coding/decoding of DeLanda, I elaborate on how North Korean defector groups, the South-North Korean government, and residents in borderline become unstable. Since the mid-2000s, North Korean defector groups have coded sensational ideological illustrations and sent them to North Korea on the borderline and with advances in technology such as GPS, timers, and balloons that helped increase accuracy. These rampant flyers led to armed responses from the North Korean side, increasing the residents' anxiety. Then, residents and the South Korean government tried to find "the right to be safe" by territorializing the places where they sent the flyers. In addition, the government has recently made efforts to restrict North Korean defector groups and enact related laws. In conclusion, this paper supplements the exclusion of everyday life (including bodies and materials) because the role of intellectuals of statecraft and discourse has been overemphasized in critical geopolitics. In other words, geopolitical causes and results can be temporary from human and non-human interactions.