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One week ago I wrote(*) about the latest wave of racist violence in Europe (in the south Italian town Rosarno).

But oddly enough this act of racist barbarianism passed without any consequences!

While the issue dissapeared soon after it happens, the Italian (and European) left/progressive opposition lapsed into silence... Except last Thursday's Solidarity declaration (by ATIK) there has been almost no official/public statement (of protest) or solidarity rally/demo by the left, incl. the so-called "communist" parties, the left/progressive trade unions, human right organisations or the anti-fascist movement (at least there has been no report about such activities).

* "Racist Attack - Migrants' Protest - Racist Pogrom" (1.11)

Related article:
☞ Italy: a country united by racism (Guardian, 1.10)

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Almost one year ago I reported (with some satisfaction): "IMC S.K. Reactivated!!"...

But how's IMC S.K. these days?

Since several days its website - yet again - disappeared! And - once again - it seems that the project is approaching its final stage...

Therefore some guys who are still interested in the project's survival are calling for renewed (or just final??) efforts to revive IMC S.K.:

The next (South)Korea Indymedia general meeting will be held at the (Yongsan)Rhea Candle Light Media Center, 4pm, Jan 17, Sunday.

Everybody come!

Agenda contents (please add more):

1) new tech team formation; website redesign; learning html and php code
2) outreach and planning possible events
3) content production; film production for the new Korea IMC channel on YouTube
4) Etc...

http://blog.jinbo.net/imc/?pid=91

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Well, I already wrote almost one month ago about 'Noko'(Made in DPRK) - a f*cking great idea to make some easy money by exploiting N. Korean female workers...

Now, a few days ago (1.08) the bourgeois German magazine Der Spiegel published the...

The Real Story Behind North Korean Jeans

(Dictatorship Denim)

It was an idea born out of a late night of drinking, but it quickly became reality. Three Swedish men have established a line of jeans made in North Korea and sold in Stockholm. But they weren't prepared for the criticism their pants have produced.

They were three young, hung-over Swedish men who had been out drinking the night before to drown their sorrows -- and they had an idea. They sent an e-mail to North Korea. The subject line read: "Investing in the Democratic People's Republic." More than two years later, a shipment of 1,100 designer jeans arrived in Stockholm. There were two models -- "Kara," a slim fit, and "Oke," a loose fit -- and they were made in Pyongyang.

This is the story of an experiment. How does one gain access to one of the most sealed-off countries in the world? In the digital age, North Korea is the last remaining bit of terra incognita in the Worldwide Web. Whereas Jakob Ohlsson, 23, Tor Rauden Källstigen, 24 and Jacob Aström, 25, spend a lot of time online, and they are never without their laptops.

On that July 20, 2007, the three Swedes were skimming North Korea's "official Web page" and discovered a new button, titled "Business." After only two mouse clicks, they found themselves looking at a list of possible North Korean export goods: cosmetics, trucks, marble, weapons, mineral water, fire extinguishers and -- jeans. They wrote to the contact address, claiming that they were import-export managers for a fictitious company, and they waited. Less than 24 hours later, a friendly Mr. Sapmak wrote back and thanked them for their interest. It was the beginning of "Noko Jeans."

Aura of Credibility

In November 2007, the three Swedes made their first telephone call to the North Korean Embassy in Stockholm. Ohlsson said: "I'm calling from Stockholm." The embassy spokesperson replied: "That's nearby. We also live in Stockholm." Ohlsson: "We have started this company…" Embassy spokesperson: "It'll be Christmas soon." Otherwise, the North Koreans promised the Swedes whatever support they could provide. The three Swedes brought along Ohlsson's father, a suit-wearing dentist, to their first meeting to add an aura of credibility.

In December 2007, they gave a North Korean delegation two sample pairs of jeans, including a used pair owned by one of the three Swedes, for inspection at a textile factory in Pyongyang. In the spring of 2008, they sent the North Korean Embassy a wish list for their upcoming trip to the North Korean capital: a visit to a computer center, meetings with ordinary young people in Pyongyang and "mass games," a North Korean specialty which sees huge numbers of performers take part in highly choreographed spectacles.

The embassy replied with its own agenda, which included visits to the mausoleum of the "Great Leader," former President Kim Il-sung, a statue of the Great Leader and the Great Leader's collection of gifts from foreign dignitaries, including a bear's head from former Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, a crocodile leather suitcase from former Cuban President Fidel Castro, and a bulletproof limousine from former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

'Night in Pyongyang'

On July 27, 2008, when the Swedes arrived in Pyongyang on a train from Beijing, their minders met them at the station: Mr. Dong, Ms. Lee and a man who was introduced as "Mr. Driver." They spent their first evening together in the karaoke bar at the Koryo Hotel, which would later serve as the inspiration for the names they gave their two models (Kara and Oke).

At the bar, the Swedes and their hosts alternated between singing North Korean marching songs and Beatles songs, and the evening ended with a joint version of "Night in Pyongyang," a ballad often played on the state-owned radio network. The Swedes were familiar with the song from the Internet.

They spent the next 10 days visiting textile factories, but without success. They did manage to fit in a trip to the terrarium at the Pyongyang zoo, to which a Swedish TV star had once donated used equipment and a few wild animals. The three Swedes thought that even the crocodiles looked sad.

On their last day in North Korea, they finally met the director of a mining operation that included both a zinc processing and a textile division. The deal was sealed with a handshake, a group photo and Swedish vodka. They decided on black jeans. The Swedes had discovered that the North Koreans were hesitant to produce blue jeans, apparently because they were perceived as an American symbol. On the other hand, the director was very interested in the possibility of the young foreigners perhaps creating a Web page for his business.

A year later, in the summer of 2009, the Swedes, who worked for a marketing company, returned to North Korea to ensure that the North Korean women who worked in the factory, wearing red work coats and red caps, were sewing correctly. They were, but unfortunately they were missing the buttons, which had become stuck somewhere en route from Pakistan to Pyongyang.

So Tremendously Complex

On Nov. 11, 2009, the jeans finally arrived in Stockholm, but then the experiment turned into a problem. The department store where the Swedes had planned to sell their Noko Jeans from North Korea refused to cooperate, claiming that it didn't want to become involved in politics.

A public debate erupted in Sweden over whether it was ethically permissible to produce jeans in a dictatorship that confines its own people to labor camps and threatens the world with nuclear weapons.

The three Swedes have since become more cautious about the things they say. "We don't believe in isolation," they say. "We believe that any outside influence can only be a good thing for such a country." And they say: "We aren't a fan club for North Korean policy." They say that they saw the human beings behind the mass games, and that they made friends in North Korea, including Ms. Lee. They say that everything is so tremendously complex.

But this is also a story of self promotion. The Swedish trio has just opened their own shop in Stockholm -- which includes both jeans and a museum of North Korea. They seem to have learned all about propaganda in Pyongyang.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,670826,00.html

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From yesterday's KCNA:

DPRK Proposes to Start of Peace Talks 
  

The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued Monday the following statement:

A year has gone by while the process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is standing at the crossroads due to serious challenges to it.

The denuclearization of the Peninsula is the goal of the policy consistently pursued by the Government of the Republic with a view to contributing to peace and security in Northeast Asia and the denuclearization of the world.

It was thanks to the sincere and exhaustive efforts of the Government of the Republic that dialogues had taken place for the denuclearization of the Peninsula since the 1990s and, in this course, such important bilateral and multilateral agreements as the "DPRK-US Agreed Framework" and the September 19 Joint Statement were adopted.

The implementation of all the agreements, however, stopped half way or was overturned. Since then the nuclear threat on the Korean Peninsula has not been decreased, but on the contrary it has further increased and, consequently, even nuclear deterrent came into being.

The course of the six-party talks which witnessed repeated frustrations and failures proves that the issue can never be settled without confidence among the parties concerned. Still today the talks remain blocked by the barrier of distrust called sanctions against the DPRK.

It is our conclusion that it is necessary to pay primary attention to building confidence between the DPRK and the United States, the parties chiefly responsible for the nuclear issue, in order to bring back the process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on track.

If confidence is to be built between the DPRK and the US, it is essential to conclude a peace treaty for terminating the state of war, a root cause of the hostile relations, to begin with.

When the parties are in the state of war where they level guns at each other, distrust in the other party can never be wiped out and the talks themselves can never make smooth progress, much less realizing the denuclearization. Without settling such essential and fundamental issue as war and peace no agreement can escape from frustration and failure as now.

The peace treaty by nature should have been already concluded in the light of its intrinsic necessity, regardless of the nuclear issue. Had durable peace regime been established on the Korean Peninsula long ago, the nuclear issue would have not surfaced.

Now that the issue of concluding the peace treaty is mentioned in the September 19 Joint Statement, too, it is good to move up the order of action as required by practice in the light of the lesson drawn from the failure of the six-party talks.

The conclusion of the peace treaty will help terminate the hostile relations between the DPRK and the US and positively promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at a rapid tempo.

Upon authorization, the DPRK Foreign Ministry courteously proposes to the parties to the Armistice Agreement an early start of the talks for replacing the AA by the peace treaty this year which marks the lapse of 60 years since the outbreak of the Korean War.

The above-said talks may be held either at a separate forum as laid down in the September 19 Joint Statement or in the framework of the six-party talks for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula like the DPRK-US talks now under way in view of their nature and significance.

The removal of the barrier of such discrimination and distrust as sanctions may soon lead to the opening of the six-party talks.

If the parties to the AA sincerely hope for peace and security and the denuclearization of the Peninsula, they should no longer prioritize their interests but make a bold decision to deal with the fundamental issue without delay.

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201001/news11/20100111-03ee.html

Related articles:

☞ US rebuffs N Korea peace pact call (al-Jazeera, 1.12)
☞ No Peace Treaty Before Nuclear Disarmament for N.K. (Chosun Ilbo, 1.12)
☞ Military keeping close tabs on N.K. movement (K. Herald, 1.13)
☞ Pyongyang gets a piece of US's mind (A. Times, 1.13)


 

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From today's Hankyoreh:

Co-president of Justice for Yongsan Evictees says...

Fight for Yongsan was a successful struggle

Park Rae-gun says that although civic participation was weak during the struggle, enduring persistence eventually forced concessions from the Lee administration 
   
“I came thinking it would be over in a month. It’s a bittersweet feeling...”

A few hours before turning himself in to police Monday morning, Park Rae-gun, 50, met with a Hankyoreh journalist and talked about the “great suffering” and “small joys” he has experienced as a man wanted by the police. He spent over ten months wanted by police while serving as co-president of Justice for Yongsan Evictees. Police were issued a warrant in early March 2009 to arrest him on charges of holding an illegal rally in connection with the Yongsan Tragedy.

Park was unable to attend the funeral for victims of the tragedy that was held on Saturday. He spoke of weeping as he watched a live broadcast via Internet together with two other individuals wanted by police, Justice for Yongsan Evictees co-President Lee Jong-hoe and Federation Against House Demolition head Nam Gyeong-nam. Park said, “I got through it thinking about the others who were suffering more than me, like the surviving family members and the evictees of the Yongsan 4th Zone.” He added, “Still, I should have been there with the family members as they said goodbye to their loved ones...”

What were Park’s thoughts on the agreement reached on Dec. 30 after a battle lasting close to a year? While some have expressed dissatisfaction, Park called it a successful struggle. Park said, “The Lee administration never once approached negotiations, persisting in a strategy of neglect and viewing it as a conflict between private citizens.” Park continued, “I think it was a success in that they were contending with the Lee administration, yet they managed to get the Prime Minister to say that he felt responsibility, and none of the family members or evictees gave up the fight during the course of the year.”

He also said that what kept the Yongsan struggle going was “the solidarity of poor and warm-hearted people.” Park stated, “Some of the conservative newspapers criticized us as ‘outside forces,’ but solidarity in the interest of human rights is a fundamental and a right.” Park added, “Yongsan is a beacon that has continued to give off light during this age.”

Park is not without his grievances. Discussing the fact that more people did not take part in the Yongsan struggle, Park said, “Yongsan was an ‘inconvenient truth’ for people.” He continued, “For people who hoped for a better life in a ‘New Town,’ Yongsan would have been uncomfortable because it told them, ‘Redevelopment is wrong and most people end up being driven out like this.’”

Another lament was the fact that broad-ranging civic and social groups did not take up the Yongsan struggle. “The Yongsan Tragedy, at its root, is an issue of state-sanctioned violence that took place during the push for brutal redevelopment policies, but the well-known civic and social groups ignored it, saying that that aspect ‘did not have popular appeal.’” He also pointed out, however, that there was a failure to see far enough ahead and provide a space early on where people could participate more easily.

After the interview was over, Park and the other two individuals wanted by the police left Myeong-dong Cathedral in Seoul’s Jung-gu district, where they had been granted asylum and had been staying since September 2009, and turned themselves in to the Seoul Namdaemun Police Station at around 3:40 p.m. on Monday. They were seen off by a crowd of some 100 people urging them to “stay strong,” including five family members of victims of the tragedy and evictees from the Yongsan 4th Zone.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/398395.html

A related video (by comrade "Hong Gil-dong..." you can watch here, here you can listen to an audio recording (YongsanActionRadio) and related photos you can see here!

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Between last Thursday and y'day, once again, racism in Italy has been leading the int'l headlines...

Racist Attack - Migrants' Protest - Racist Pogrom

Italian authorities/cops and citizens expelled more than 1,000 migrant workers from Rosarno

Last Saturday(1.09): Between 1,000 (according to today's German 'left-alternative' daily TAZ) and 2,000 (Berliner Zeitung, 1.11) immigrants were expelled, resp. deported from the southern Italian town Rosarno after hundreds of racist residents violently attacked African migrant farm workers (*).

Locals applauded and cheered as buses with police escorts left, taking migrant workers from Rosarno to the towns of Crotone, 170 kilometres away, and Bari, around 400 kilometres to the northeast...

Last Thursday: Migrant workers in Rosarno protested against racial attacks...

...and inhuman 'living' and working conditions

But after they resisted the attacks by hundreds of (racist)residents...

...they were confronted with the 'state authority'...

...arrested and deported...

...to 'immigration centers'

* Related, resp. background articles:
☞ Rosarno: Racist attack provokes riot... (NoBordersBrighton, 1.08) 
☞ Revolt in Rosarno - immigrants rise up (IMC UK, 1.09) 
☞ Italians cheer as police deport African migrants (Observer, 1.10) 
☞ Pope urges Italy to respect migrants (BBC, 1.10)   

 

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Impressions(*) from yesterday's Public Funeral Ceremony for the Victims of the Yongsan Massacre:

* More photo impressions you can see here (the public funeral ceremony in front of Seoul Stn. where at least 5,000 citizens and activists came together...), here (the evening funeral ceremony at the "Memorial for the Martyrs of the People's Struggle" near Maseok) and here!

Related reports (incl. many pics and some videos) by:

☞ VoP   ☞ KCTU   ☞ NewsCham   ☞ OMN   ☞ K.Times

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