Hitchens on Songun Racism

A current article from Christopher Hitchens, reviewing "B.R. Myers in his electrifying new book The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters," notes what I've noticed here: that North Korea promotes notions of racial purity. Hitchens states:

The whole idea of communism is dead in North Korea, and its most recent “Constitution,” “ratified” last April, has dropped all mention of the word.

He also summarizes Myers:

Myers makes a persuasive case that we should instead regard the Kim Jong-il system as a phenomenon of the very extreme and pathological right. It is based on totalitarian “military first” mobilization, is maintained by slave labour and instills an ideology of the most unapologetic racism and xenophobia.

On the other hand, the LA Times notes that North Korea is "closing down privately run markets in favor of state-owned shops." And the articles from North Korea's state-run press continue to just scream Communism at you (The might of single-minded unity is smashing all Imperialist plots!) According to the (North) Korean News site, Kim sent recent greetings to the leader of Vietnam wishing him "greater success in the struggle for the victory of the socialist cause." That's the way it is with Leftness and Rightness: it is a better predictor of who is allied with whom than of anything else.