XXX Международный конгресс ИИСАА. 19–21 июня 2019 г. Т. 2

Секция XVII 194 XXX Международный Конгресс по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки imports of a new kind 1 . Prospects for North Korea massively increased when Tanaka Kakuei became Prime Minister in July 1972; he was intent on restoring relations and expanding trade with the socialist continent. Tanaka’s ally Kuno Chūji [ 久野 忠治 ] was named president of a “League of MPs to Promote Friendly Relations between Japan and Korea” [ 日朝友好促進議員連盟 ] in November 1971, and in early 1972 went to Pyongyang despite the then PM Satō Eisaku’s objection; Kuno signed a “Japanese-Korean Common Declaration”. [ 日朝共同宣言 ] By 1976 trade with North Korea had reached £150–200 million. Pyongyang converted to colour television in 1972 with Japanese equipment and technicians. In 1972–1973 some 500–800 Japanese businessmen and technicians travelled to North Korea, and the number of staff permanently stationed in Pyongyang numbered 50–100 2 . At around the same time, North Korea’s “technical revolution” required renewed ideological support from Japanese socialist theoreticians 3 . A central figure was Kuriki Yasunobu, [ 栗木安延 ] a professor at Tokyo Senshū University, where Takeuchi Yoshimi, a Sinologist active throughout the post-war period known for defending the “Overcoming Modernity” conference, had taught and led anti-Anpo Treaty movements in the 1950–1960s 4 . In April 1975 Kuriki visited Pyongyang as leader of the Japan Juche Ideology ResearchAssociation [ 日本チュチェ思想研究 1 The expansion of the carbide industry required large amounts of electricity which could not be obtained from hydro-electricity power plants during the dry winter season. This required the construction of coal-fired power plants, for which generators, turbines and boilers had to be imported. The electrification of railways to replace steam traction, confirmed as official policy by Kim Il-sung in 1978, also placed huge pressure on electricity supply. Kimura, Hidden Aspect, 97–98. 2 Kimura, Hidden Aspect, 102–103. 3 The late 1960s were a vibrant, if not traumatic period for socialism;Alexander Dubček’s “Socialismwith a Human Face” was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia, whilst the Cultural Revolution in China, though it widened the gulf with the Soviet Union even further, became a source of inspiration for many young activists in the developed world, including Japan; China’s support for Vietnamese and Cambodian communists gave rise to Japanese illusions of a worldwide Maoist revolution against the decadent, imperialist West — a revival of the old dream of Overcoming Modernity. These hopes were dashed when television screens across the world in 1971–72 showed Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon shaking hands with Mao. Suddenly, Korean Juche became a readily available ideological alternative for the worldwide Left, and Kim Il-sung was quick to take advantage of this opportunity by organizing international Juche Conferences in Pyongyang, as well as authorizing for such conferences to be held in Japan. 4 Kuriki’s father was a military officer, and he had studied in an army-run primary school during the war. By the 1970s he was active on the margins of the Left, against the dominant faction of the Japanese Communist Party (theYoyogi-ha [ 代代木派 ] under General Secretary Miyamoto Kenji [ 宮本顕治 ]) and had achieved some fame as an economist specializing on labour issues.