27개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Enjoy the weekend reading!!
East of Siberia - A Trip to Cinema Paradiso
By Johannes Schönherr
Introduction: Scenes from the North Korean Film Front
1. My Pipe Dream is about to Come True
2. No Place on the Planet like North Korea
3. Vaguely Western and Not Very Good
4. Unbeatable Cinematic Propaganda!
5. The Manifestation of International Friendship
6. Cinematic Spy Accusations Fly
7. "To Prevent You from Making a Mistake"
8. The Legendary Pulgasari
9. Face-to-Face with the Great Leader
10. No Pulgasari on the Road to Freedom
11. Films from Another Planet
12. To the International Cinema Hall!
13. Two Trips to the Train Station
14. A New, More Interesting Guided Tour
The End: The Real Horror Revealed at the Death
Two days ago the International Crisis Group released the following report:
North Korea under Tightening Sanctions
Outwardly, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) appears stable. However, the country has been shaken by constricting international sanctions, extremely poor policy choices, and several internal challenges that have the potential to trigger instability. International sanctions have reduced foreign exchange earnings, while humanitarian assistance, which feeds millions of North Koreans, has declined due to political factors and donor fatigue. In addition to sanctions, Pyongyang has been dealing with the internal pressures of a disastrous currency reform as well as a chronic and deteriorating food security problem. The aggregate pressure is already taking a toll on North Korea’s human security and could have a number of unanticipated consequences for regional and international security.
Some analysts and policymakers believe international sanctions have pressured North Korea to seek a face-saving return to the Six-Party Talks and better inter-Korean ties. Although Pyongyang’s opaque policymaking process makes it nearly impossible to understand regime motivations, the pressures of cascading and overlapping “mini crises” are unmistakable just as the country has had to face difficult succession issues. However, the DPRK has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to survive under pressure. Any of the current challenges – as singular problems – should be manageable. The state security apparatus and the barriers to collective action make a “revolution from below” virtually impossible. But despite the loyalty of elites in the party and the military, a sudden split in the leadership, although unlikely, is not out of the question. Signs of any fissures would not be observable from the outside until a power struggle, a coup d’état, collapse or similar crisis was already unfolding.
The first half of 2009 was marked by bellicose and defiant posturing from the North, but in the latter half of the year, Pyongyang began to express a desire to improve ties with the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) and the U.S. Frequent shuttle diplomacy has led to speculation that the Six-Party Talks could reconvene soon and that an inter-Korean summit could be held in 2010 or 2011. On the other hand, the [North] Korean People’s Army (KPA) has been conducting a winter exercise that is expected to last until late March. The KPA has issued several provocative statements and in late January 2010 fired live artillery rounds towards South Korean islands off the west coast. The shells landed in the sea in the vicinity of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the western sea boundary that Pyongyang does not recognise. Nevertheless, despite KPA rhetoric, there have been no unusual troop movements or mobilisations.
Human security has not been at the top of the North East Asian security agenda given the prominence of traditional security issues, historical legacies, and strong sovereignty norms. It is generally defined along two dimensions: freedom from want; and freedom from fear. Throughout most of East Asia, even undemocratic countries have sustained relatively strong economic growth for long periods; living standards have thus improved in many countries that have experienced little or no progress in expansion of civil liberties and human rights. In contrast, North Korea’s human security has been a long-term crisis. Human rights abuses and economic deprivation have been widely documented, but the international community has no effective policy instruments to produce improvements. The recent tightening of economic sanctions, compounded with domestic problems, is exacerbating the DPRK human security tragedy. This does not mean the international community is responsible for North Korea’s current plight, of course: the DPRK government itself holds the key to easing the human security crisis.
The Korean peninsula has lived with the threat of war for over half a century. Mutual deterrence is robust, but inadvertent escalation or miscalculation is always possible. The balance of power has shifted against Pyongyang, and the DPRK leadership is not likely to start a war it knows it would lose. However, the leadership’s motivation to survive could result in more dangerous proliferation activities as sources of foreign exchange – both legitimate and illegitimate – disappear. Kim Jong-il’s political machine requires hard currency to operate, and there are several signs that the regime is increasingly desperate to earn it.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=6562
The complete report you can read here (PDF file)!
Related article:
☞ Is the Dear Leader losing his grip? (Asia Times, 3.05)
The Day When the 'Dear Leader' Became Really Angry
While the 'Dear Leader' inspected the 'October 7 Pig Farm' under KPA Unit 534...
...he - really outraged - had to note: "Comrades, while we've not even one black sheep among our people - hey, keep in mind that the Korean race is the cleanest race in the world - why I've to see here a black pig among our rosy Korean pigs..."
Well, since short while later the (now former) Lt.-Gen. (on KJI's right) is sharing a cell with the "black pig" in Yodok... until they'll be executed, of course together!! (Photo released by KCNA on January 16, 2010)
For more please check out:
☞ On the Spot with Kim Jong-il (Boston Globe, 3.12)
Today's Hankyoreh reports the following:
Lee gov't cuts funding for Korea Labor Institute
The move is being interpreted as retaliation by the Lee Myung-bak administration for the KLI union strike last year
Members of Korean Labor Institute Union held a strike to demand nullification of the
lockout at the KLI building located in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo district, 2009.12.01
The Korean Labor Institute, a government-affiliated research institute on labor issues that has been experiencing heavy labor-management conflicts over the past year, stands at a crossroads because the Lee Myung-bak administration has decided not to draw up any contracts for their research service. As a result, the institute is slated to run out of money to fund operating costs starting in August of this year.
KLI is the institute that participated in the first strike held by a government research institute last year arguing that the newly appointed director of KLI was controlling research that was supposed to be autonomous. Park Ki-seong, then president of KLI, resigned last December following heavy labor-management conflicts including a strike, however, many experts are expressing concerns that the Lee administration is engaging in retaliation by severing the research service contracts.
It has been confirmed that as of March 14, KLI has not signed any research service contracts with the Labor Ministry. KLI fulfilled contracts for 44 research services and received 2.7 billion Won ($2.4 million) in compensation in 2008, and 48 research services for 3.3 billion Won in 2009 with the Labor Minisry. The compensation for these research services comprises half of KLI’s annual budget, thus the institute is expected to face serious financial difficulties starting in August of this year if the current situation continues.
Furthermore, Korea Workplace Innovation Center (KOWIN), one of the affiliated organizations of KLI, is facing a crisis in which it may be forced to close its doors. KOWIN, which is a consulting center for job sharing and family-friendly management, has not paid wages to its employees because it is experiencing such a shortage of funding. KOWIN attempted to begin consultation work in January, however, the Labor Ministry ordered it to stop by saying that the ministry would not fund the consultation programs. Although KOWIN Center’s union, which is separate from the KLI union, made a permanent pledge to not hold a strike, the employees are concerned that the center will be forced to close. As a result, KOWIN is telling its employees to search for new jobs.
Some critics say that this type of retaliation was carried out in order to gag other government research institutes. They also said that this has reduced the efficiency and autonomy of government research institutes.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/410129.html
[3.11] General Strike in Greece
Here some impressions from Athens (*):
* More pics from last Thursday's general strike you can see here, here and here!
For more info about the class struggle in Greece please check out LabourStart!
Some days ago I'd to read following: “In general, U.S. cities frighten me, after 7 p.m. all the white people go home, and black people and beggars take to the streets.”
Well, sounds like a quotation of an American racist or German neo-nazi/fascist...
But actually it's just a part of an interview (*) with the president of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA).
His name is Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Pérez, he comes from a family of the Catalan aristocracy and is, today, the only Western official in the North Korean government. In his capacity as special representative of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the thirty-five years old native of Tarragona travels the world as an ambassador, receives foreign delegations in Pyongyang and takes charge of businesses with companies of the advanced capitalism. As president of the KFA('조선우호협회'), which he founded in 2000, he proudly exports Kim Jong-il’s words and introduces the 'DPR'K to politicians and onlookers.
* Cao gave the interview to the Italian freelance journalist Enzo Reale, who translated the full four-part interview (**) into English and allowed OFK to publish the whole thing...
** MUST READ!!:
☞ Alejandro Cao de Benós Interview – Part 1
☞ Alejandro Cao de Benós Interview – Part 2
☞ Alejandro Cao de Benós Interview – Part 3
☞ Alejandro Cao de Benós Interview – Part 4
Related BS:
☞ Kim Jong Il Praised by KFA Chairman (KCNA, 3.03)
Only few days after N. Korea "Vows to Buildup Nuclear Deterrent" today's Korea Times counters with the following main headline:
Allies Ready to Remove N. Korean Nukes
Well, that's exactly the same what the Dear Leader has in his mind when he "Vows to Buildup Nuclear Deterrent"...
But possibly only after he shares Ceausescu's (Romania's dictator, toppled and executed in Dec. 1989) fate, as the current (reactionary) Monthly Chosun predicts...
Related article (MUST READ!!):
☞ Is the Dear Leader losing his grip? (Asia Times, 3.05)
Well, there are still some folks among us who feel obliged to promote N.K. stuff in the "progressive"/independent media, such as IMC S.K.
The latest hype produced in the the Dear Leader's kingdom and promoted by some writers: "N.Korea's brandnew linux operating system: Red Star"
"Not only does North Korea have 'its own Internet' – a national information network independent from the US-based Internet regulator – it also has an operating system, developed under by order of Kim Jong-il.", the IMC S.K. piece (actually it's just a copy of a report published in the Russian RT) says.
"Russian student Mikhail, who studies in the Kim Il-sung University... bought his copy for about $5 in an information center 5 minutes walk from the university dorm."
Wow, ONLY $5??!!
But - surprise, surprise!! - "The OS is not popular (yet?)", according to the article.
The possible reason - IMO - why it's "not popular (yet?)":
- The average N.Korean worker making 2,500 (NK)won a month
- Last week's exchange rate USD-won: 1 : 2,500
- The current price of 1 kg rice: 1,300 won in Pyongyang (in other parts of the country: up to 1,500 won)
Ultimately I'm sure that the average worker - as a citizen of the "Paradise of the Working Class"(!) - doesn't cares about "Red Star OS", because he/she can't even dream about an own computer...
Somehow related article:
☞ 2 thousand N.Koreans have starved to death... (Hankyoreh, 3.06)
Impressions from Seoul's Cheonggyecheon (1965):
For more fascinating(?) pics from "pre-modern" Seoul/S. Korea please check out:
☞ Korea during early 20th century up to 1970s (SkyscraperCity)
최근 덧글 목록