Chollima Movement - Effects

Effects

This Chollima movement, however, was not able to remain successful indefinitely. The nation obtained the short-term gains in quantity of productions but at the cost of lower quality. The economy was distorted as resources were shifted to extensively fund industries while neglecting other needed sectors. Human exhaustion also followed this movement. Little labor remained and resources were stretched to their limits. Economic output began to fall and by 1961 the nation was facing an exhausted labor force. During the mid 1960’s the DPRK stopped publishing economic statistics except for percentage increase over previous periods. The Kim Il Sung-directed economy undoubtedly needed alterations. Kim Il Sung however, had no economists who were willing or able to tell him that his economic plans needed to be changed. The DPRK has never denounced Chollima or recognized its failures. Even Kim Jung-Il gave speeches praising Chollima until his death.

Chollima is still supported and used by the current North Korean regime. The term Chollima and ideas from the early movement still exist in North Korea today. Kim Jung Un has given field guidance to major industrial establishments, exactly as Kim Il-Sung had done in the past. North Korean workers have been depicted by the KCNA as being “filled with the will to strive for victory in the cause of building a thriving nation in hearty response to call "Forward towards the final victory!"

In other areas of North Korea society the term “Chollima speed” is still used to depict rapid completion of expectations, referring to both the mythical horse but also to the economic growth in the 1950s. In the late 1990s North Korea again called on a second Chollima movement to help strengthen the nation during a period of massive energy shortages and severe famine.