Vietnam – 'At Least Not North Korea'?

October 10, 2024, marks 70 years of what Hanoi dubs 'the Liberation of the Capital': the day the Việt Minh drove French colonialists out of North Vietnam. 

The lines to Hồ Chí Minh's Mausoleum stretch around the block. Security guards scream through megaphones for visitors not to change lines until instructed. Visitors snake through an enclosed area as if queuing up for a theme park. The mausoleum itself is air-conditioned, with dark steps leading up. Young men in crisp white police uniforms stand at each turn. Finally, we reach the glass case holding Hồ Chí Minh's body. A guard stands completely still at each corner. 

The crowd visibly slows to stare at the blanched specimen in a traditional brown outfit. In a Hồ Chí Minh Museum feedback form, one eight-year-old child wrote, 'con rất vui và yêu quý Bác Hồ. Con hứa sẽ học tập theo năm diều Bác Hồ dạy' (I am so happy and treasure Uncle Hồ. I promise to practice following Uncle Hồ's five teachings).

At my Airbnb, the housekeeper stated that she waited four hours to visit Uncle Hồ, the affectionate nickname his people use. "Children were crying," she said. "Staff had to give out bread because people were so hungry."

"He's our idol," she explains. "When Uncle Hồ passed away - I think it was 1969, whenever we heard the song Đời tuôn nước mất, trời tuôn mưa (Life pours tears, rain falls from the sky), nobody could stop themselves crying." This song laments the passing of a glorious and selfless patriot.

Hồ Chí Minh's whiskered face is plastered on every large institution's building. He stares out from every banknote, building, and even souvenir plate. My only consolation is, "At least I'm not in North Korea."

Dual Faces of Authoritarianism

To be clear, North Korea is extremely closed and repressive compared to Vietnam. Vietnamese citizens still enjoy the benefits of relatively free movement and trade across nations. During the 1970s-80s, North Korea abducted 17 identifiable Japanese citizens. Human Rights Watch reports that, even since emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea remains one of the most repressive and terrorizing governments in the world. 

In 2023, North Korea closed foreign diplomatic missions in Angola, Hong Kong, Nepal, Spain, and Uganda. Simultaneously, it allocated funds to nuclear and ballistic missiles and tightened bonds with China and Russia. More recently, North Korea blew up inter-Korean roads to express hostility towards South Korea.

North Korea is the poster child for closed authoritarian regimes. However, the historically and culturally insulated nature of Vietnam is also striking. Propaganda posters are ubiquitous. Every telegraph pole and large establishment has the slogan 'nuốc cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam muôn năm' (long live the Socialist state of Vietnam) or ''Nhiệt liệt chào mừng 70 năm ngày giải phóng thủ đô' (warmly welcoming 70 years since the liberation of the capital). 

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Exploring Themes of Vietnam

Galleries and museums frequently present Hồ Chí Minh as a messianic figure and the police as cultured, masculine protectors. These exhibitions explore themes of military history, fine arts, and women's issues.

Vietnam has significantly opened since Đổi Mới ('Renovation'). This was a series of economic reforms in 1986 that involved opening markets and the introduction of the Internet in 1997. However, its human rights record is still far below the standard of the democratic countries that woo it on the global economic stage. 

Vietnam remains among the worst jailers of journalists worldwide. It is the number one executioner of the death penalty in Southeast Asia. The practice is often carried out after obtaining confessions under torture and/or poor-quality evidence of guilt. 

Global Perceptions

Americans and Europeans are framed as colonial aggressors in the socialist narrative. Therefore, Asian democracies such as South Korea and Japan may have more influence on Vietnam's human rights standards. In Human Rights Watch's 2023 log on Vietnam, Japan was the most important bilateral donor to Vietnam. Additionally, Japan's prime minister and Vietnam's president exchange visits to one another's countries. However, Japan has failed to press for reforms regarding Vietnam's heightened crackdown on human rights activists and bloggers. 

Inactivity towards Vietnam's human rights issues may stem from the perception that Vietnam is a far cry from the insulated, authoritarian past that North Korea remains stuck in. However, the failure to fully recognize Vietnam's authoritarianism makes Vietnam a dangerous vehicle for legitimating the (superficial) success of an oppressive government. Many blissful tourists fail to realize the absence of independent media. Fear and silence underlie national flags lining the streets where old women push weaved baskets of bánh cốm and exotic fruits. 

Vietnam's ability to camouflage its authoritarianism on the global economic stage has allowed it to toe the line between the developed Asian democracies (primarily South Korea and Japan) and authoritarian states (Russia, North Korea, and China). 

A Balancing Act

In May 2024,  Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn awarded the Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Takio Yamada with an honor for contributions to Vietnam-Japan relations. Party General Secretary and then-President Tô Lâm spoke with the President of the Liberal Democratic Party and then-Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, in September 2024. They discussed strengthening political trust, mutual understanding, and labor quality. On a cultural level, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and the Korean Cultural Center in Vietnam jointly opened the Korean Hall at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. This marked the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. 

Simultaneously, Vietnam and North Korea maintained regular exchanges during COVID-19. Meanwhile, North Korea had closed off from most of the world at the time. There has also been an uptick in relations between the two countries since 2019. This reflects North Korea's aspiration to adapt Vietnam's capacity to increase wealth through global involvement while maintaining socialist rule. In September 2019, Vietnam's deputy defense minister visited North Korea's special forces.  While there, he discussed "cooperation in military medicine, border defense, defense industry, military technology, and information sharing."

Japan and South Korea have higher potential than Western nations to pressure Vietnam due to their cultural comparability and economic relationships. Nevertheless, developed democracies should remain wary that Vietnam operates on different cultural assumptions. These include idol worship (at least superficially), Communist dogma, and an ever-hovering police presence. 

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During a major crisis, Vietnam's authoritarian core suggests it may side with ideological bedfellows like China, Russia, and North Korea. This inclination may take precedence over the democracies that mainly serve to provide a financial and reputational boost.

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Author: Theodore Phạm
Theodore Pham is a democracy activist and researcher who is currently conducting a research project on the way cultural institutions uphold pro-Communist narratives in Hanoi.