60 The special glorification of Kang Banseok25 or Kim Jongsuk26 was based on Kim Ilsung’s ‘History of Anti-Japanese Revolution’ only insofar as their names were mentioned in Kim Ilsung’s book. In this way, however, the image of women as wives devoted, committed, and dutiful to their husbands was only further enforced. As much as the ‘Suryeong’ was considered a figure beyond the law, men, likewise, were regarded as extra-legal beings within the family, thus enabling their rule. Such a political logic of domination constituted an ideal background for an environment in which violence within the family was tolerated. Ultimately, women had to ‘revere the head of the household’, raise their children into the revolutionary working class, ‘proletarize’ themselves, and participate in highly intensive societal work.27 The economic downturn in the 1990s resulted in a militarization of the material basis of the state’s ‘care’ and ‘benevolence’. As the state lost its capacity to support the people, policies which had previously socialized housework and child rearing were reduced or weakened. North Korean women were now increasingly confronted with multiple pressures and suffered under the burden of societal work and work to secure their livelihoods on top of domestic chores and child rearing responsibilities. Nevertheless, with regard to the division of livelihood responsibilities within the family, men resolutely ‘hid’ under the existing patriarchal hierarchy and displayed an attitude which passed the entire livelihood question on to women. From this perspective, a more detailed understanding of the traditional concept of patriarchy in North Korea is necessary. North Korean men have developed not so much an awareness of responsibility for their families’ livelihoods, but a strong authoritarian and political character related to notions of ‘honour’ and ‘rule’. This means that the patriarchal, hierarchical order of North Korean society is characterized by a political 25 th st Kang Banseok (11 April 1892- 31 July 1932) is the mother of Kim Ilsong. Her first name reflects the fact that she was a devout Christian, ‘Banseok’ referring to the biblical ‘spring that never runs dry’. In North Korea she is construed as an activist for women, communism, and independence during the time of the Japanese colonization. 26 Kim Jongsuk was Kim Ilsong’s first wife and Kim Jongil’s birth mother. She was born in Hoeryeong, North Hamgyeong Province, in 1917 and died in 1949. She is said to have fought alongside Kim Ilsong in the armed resistance against Japan. 27 Yun, Miryang, 2006. North Korean women’s status and role. North Korean Society and Culture. Seoul: Hanul Academy Press, p. 468.