5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Since the "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il was absent (Even though a "band played 'The Leader Is Always With Us'", according to KCNA. The other, the "Great Leader", the "Eternal President" Kim Il-sung is absent since 1994!!) from yesterday's anniversary parade (on the occasion of "DPR"K's 60th birthday) in Pyeongyang, he leads the top news in the int'l media, such as CNN's World News Asia ("Concerns over Kim Jong-il")..
Well, it's very likely(?) that after 'Kim Jong-il Had Surgery for Stroke' (K. Times) he's now just a little bit "out of order" (possibly!! ^^):
But to be a bit more seriously..
Today's Asia Times (HK) summarized the latest developments... and rumors:
Seeing doubles in Dear Leader's no-show
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's apparent no-show on Tuesday at celebrations to mark the nation's 60th anniversary has prompted intense speculation among Pyongyang watchers and intelligence communities worldwide. Experts are straining to figure out the whereabouts of the nation's leader and exactly what's going on in the world's most reclusive country.
According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, there have been no North Korean media reports on the military parade as of 5pm on Tuesday. The Associated Press also reported that there had been no domestic news coverage of the event by Tuesday evening . According to the AP, North Korea's state news agency did carry an exhortation from the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper calling on the population to remain united around Kim.
North Korea's 60th anniversary comes at a time that international efforts to end Pyongyang's nuclear quest remain stalled. Former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage on Tuesday said Kim was unlikely to give up nuclear weapons and was likely to launch a missile again soon, the Japanese and South Korean media reported. Armitage spoke at an international seminar in Seoul.
In East Asia, a 60th anniversary is highly significant as it signifies the entering of the traditional sexagenary cycle as a cultural custom. This is why the absence of the nation's leader adds to speculation that something is happening to Kim.
A veteran and famous Japanese expert on North Korea has said Kim, 66, died of diabetes in the autumn of 2003 and his role has been played by four body doubles, with two being almost perfect look-alikes, and the nation has already forged collective leadership among top four officials.
Other analysts have said "Dear Leader" Kim might have been shifted from the top position due to serious sickness, signaling the beginning of his downfall at a time of unprecedented economic and international political problems. This all suggests Kim might have been on the sidelines and been kept out of the loop already, a power shift in the Hermit Kingdom.
"Chances are high that Kim has already died," Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Waseda University in Tokyo and an expert on Korean Peninsula affairs, said in an interview with Asia Times Online. "He suffered from diabetes, heart disease, liver disorder, lung problem and bipolar disorder."
Kim collapsed last month, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on Tuesday, quoting a South Korean official in Beijing.
"We have obtained intelligence that National Defense Commission chairman Kim Jong-il had collapsed on August 22," the official with the South Korean Embassy in Beijing was quoted as saying by the Korean newspaper, adding to growing speculation about the whereabouts of missing Kim, who has not been seen in public for almost one month. His last outing was on August 14 when he reportedly inspected a military unit in North Korea.
"That collapsed person should be one of the four doubles," said Shigemura, the professor at Waseda University, who cites sources from inside North Korea and from the intelligence services of Japan, South Korea and Washington in his book titled The True Character of Kim Jong-il published last month.
According to his reliable source, Kim was condemned to a wheelchair as early as 2000 as he fell into the terminal stage of diabetes.
Shigemura claims North Korea has adopted a form of collective executive leadership led by Kim Yong-nam, the current secretary of the Central Committee, and Chang Sung-taek, who is the brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il and oversees responsibility for the police, judiciary, and other areas of internal security as top official at Workers' Party of Korea, along with two other top officials.
The "collective leadership" is engaged in a fierce internal power struggle, Shigemura said.
"I do not buy the view Kim has died already," Lee Young-hwa, the representative of Rescue the North Korean People! (RENK), a Japan-based citizens' group supporting North Korean asylum seekers in China since early 1990s, told Asia Times Online. Lee is also an economics professor and third-generation Korean resident in Japan. "It has no credibility, as the South Korean intelligence community has denied it. But Kim might have got the early stage of Alzheimer's disease already, besides diabetes and heart disease.
"Power is shifting from the Dear Leader to Chang Sung-taek, the brother-in-law of Kim, and his eldest son Kim Jong-nam, 37, as China backs their reform and door-opening policies, compared with Kim Jong-il's reclusive polices," Lee said.
Shigemura disagrees with this view.
"Kim Jong-nam has no achievements in the nation and only China is backing him," Shigemura said. "He has no prospects of being the next leader." His illegal entry into Japan in May, 2001 and arrest by Japanese authorities helped drop him in the race for successor, he added.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/JI10Dg01.html
PS:
Songun Blog already "reported" 8.31:
"Dear Leader Kim Jong Il Survives US Imperialist Assassination Attempt: Our sources inform us that Dear Leader Comrade Generalissimo Kim Jong Il has just been victim of an attempted US imperialist assassination attempt."
Well, there has been (of course) no information about "our sources"!! (^^)
Related stuff:
☞ The question: Is Kim Jong-il still alive? (Guardian)
☞ After Kim Jong-il (al-Jazeera)
☞ What’s behind Kim’s absence? (Hankyoreh)
☞ Kim’s Absence May Shift Geopolitical Landscape (K. Times)
☞ We Must Be Prepared for N.Korea's Collapse ("Editorial" by Chosun Ilbo)
James Joseph Dresnok has lived in N.K. (aka 'DPR'K) since defecting as a US soldier almost 50 years ago. In a rare interview with today's Guardian (UK), 'Comrade Joe' explaines why he's no traitor, why North Koreans are right to hate Americans - and who he's backing for the White House. (Watch also: US Defector on Life in North Korea by al-Jazeera TV)
Here you can read the complete article/interview:
'The Dear Leader takes care of me'
In 1962, at the height of the cold war, a young GI called James Joseph Dresnok picked up his gun and crossed the most heavily fortified border in the world to defect to the communist state of North Korea. He has been there ever since, living in the capital Pyongyang, although at one time both the North Koreans and the Americans denied he even existed.
"Comrade Joe", as he is also known, is still regarded as a traitor in the United States and by the American soldiers who had to listen to his disembodied Tannoy broadcasts across the demilitarised zone promising better rations and women to those who cared to join him across the border.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dresnok is wary of western journalists, but agreed to an interview following a request from the Labour MEP Glyn Ford, who has been engaged in diplomacy between North and South Korea and Japan for more than a decade. We meet in a wood-panelled room, underneath pictures of Great Leader Kim Il-sung and Dear Leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang's futuristic Koryo Hotel. Physically, Dresnok is a big man. His teeth are framed by a gold brace, and he sports a Great Leader badge, as do all North Koreans. At 67 he still smokes three packs a day despite a serious heart condition and warnings from his doctor at Pyongyang's Friendship Hospital.
He has never seen himself as a traitor, he says, but was simply escaping to something he believed would give him purpose. His brief army career had been chequered and undistinguished. Having escaped an unhappy childhood of foster homes in Virginia, he enlisted in 1958, the day after his 17th birthday. He served first in Germany. After what he calls "one minor offence", he was treated harshly. "I was forced to clean an armoured truck with a toothbrush and bucket of water. It was 42 below zero. That's when I first thought of crossing to a communist country. But if you went to the DDR (East Germany) they interrogated you and sent you back."
He got his opportunity later, when serving with his unit along the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea in 1960. His wife had decided to leave him for another man after his two-year posting in Germany, which "made me not care about my life," he says. "I wanted to go to the most dangerous place in the world."
There was nothing to keep him in the army, or in America. "I didn't have any relatives back home, my wife had left me, I didn't have anything to live for in the US," Dresnok says. On the day he defected he faced a possible court martial for having absconded from his base. He had gone off limits having forged his officer's signature to go and meet a Korean woman he had become attached to. "He [the officer] said, 'I want to see you at 3pm'. I said, 'We'll see'. That's when I made my decision to cross. I'm going for a new life. I grabbed a shotgun and headed for the DMZ [the demilitarised zone]. Sure, I knew about the personnel mines, maybe I could lose a foot or a leg - but I just went, straight.
"A cry went up, 'Hey Dresnok, stop!' So I just fired off a round to scare them. I have no regrets."
When Dresnok crossed the border he was captured by a soldier from the Korean People's Army, who later volunteered, "I wanted to kill the American bastard!" He was taken to Pyongyang, where he was introduced to another defector, Private Larry Abshier. Over the next 18 months they were joined by two others, Army Sergeant Robert Jenkins and Specialist Jerry Parrish, presenting a remarkable propaganda victory for the hard-line regime of Kim Il-sung.
"Why should I regret crossing? I don't regret nothing," says Dresnok. Throughout the interview, his long-time North Korean minder sits beside him, noting down his answers. Dresnok appears loyal: "The Great Leader Kim Il-sung told us, 'I am going to take you along with us to communism.' I didn't know then that the Great Leader would take good care of us like he did." But those early years were tough, he says. "When I first came here, I didn't feel so good. People would say, 'There's that American bastard!'" The Korean war, one of the most brutal conflicts of the last century, left an estimated four million dead, and a country shattered and divided to this day. "People here, see, were educated to hate American imperialism. All that bombing! How many did they slaughter? They killed Koreans like savages. Of course people are going to hate Americans."
In a mesmerising 2007 documentary, Crossing the Line, it was revealed that in 1966 Dresnok and fellow defectors Abshier, Parrish and Jenkins became so desperate to leave the North, they managed to get to the Soviet embassy and demand asylum. The Russians promptly handed them back. While Dresnok talks of the months and years of living quietly, learning the language, reading the works of the Great Leader, it was perhaps no accident that all four defectors managed around this time to find female companions. It seems entirely plausible that the women were found for them by the state, although none of the defectors ever admitted to any such arrangements. Dresnok has been married twice in North Korea; his first wife, a mysterious Romanian who always refused to talk of her past to Dresnok, died. He has since married the daughter of a former Togolese diplomat and a Korean. One of his three sons from his two Korean marriages looks American, although he doesn't sound it; a child of the revolution, James hopes to become a North Korean diplomat.
"I don't consider myself a traitor," Dresnok explains, referring to the country he turned his back on nearly half a century ago. "I love my country. I love my town. In his teachings, Kim Il-sung wrote; 'Those who really love their country and their home can become communists.' I'm not a communist, but I would like to be one."
Dresnok describes himself as a citizen of Pyongyang. "I call it my country because I have been here for 46 years. My life is here. Enough? The government will take care of me until my dying breath." So would he like to return to the US? "I tell you, yes; I must be honest to you. I would like to see the place. But how can I go there and dance in front of the American government, when they are arming South Korea?" Dresnok knows that he would be arrested on arrival, as was Jenkins, when he returned to the west in 2004. There is no love lost between Dresnok and Jenkins, who recanted on his return just over three years ago, denounced Dresnok and was granted clemency after only 30 days in the clink. Were he ever to leave North Korea, Dresnok is unlikely to get off so lightly, having been painted as the ringleader by Jenkins. Abshier and Parrish both died in North Korea, where their families remain.
But it is Dresnok's extraordinary career swap, from lowly US army private to star of the North Korean silver screen that provides the most surreal twist to his story. For three years from 1978, in a 20-part series called Nameless Heroes, directed by Kim Jong-il, Dresnok played the evil American. Ironically, these roles finally established the defectors' revolutionary credentials, and they were forgiven earlier misdemeanours. "Comrade Kim Jong-il was then in the film industry. He was making movies," Dresnok recalls. "He gave a teaching for us to take part in a film." (Dresnok is the first to admit that he is not an educated man, and that his grammar is sometimes mangled.
"I want my children to be more than an illiterate old man," he says disarmingly.) "To be honest I was quaking in my shoes. I never thought I could be an actor." What critics would make of Comrade Joe Dresnok the actor is anyone's guess. But he made an impression on Kim Jong-il, now the ruler of North Korea. "The Dear Leader takes care of me. Great man. Did you know hospitalisation is free in the DPRK?"
Despite the minder, at no point during the interview does Dresnok appear under duress. He smiles frequently, only becoming emotional when speaking bitterly of that "cunning son of a bitch, Jenkins".
North Korea came into being 60 years ago today and since then predictions of its demise have been as frequent as they have been premature. Now history is once again threatening to repeat itself as the North prepares to rebuild its partially dismantled nuclear programme, in protest at the refusal of the US to remove it from the list of "state sponsors of terror". I ask Dresnok if he can explain why the US and Vietnam have long ago made up, but relations between the US and North Korea remain in deep freeze. "It's long-time history," the unrepentant defector begins. "The US planned to use North Korea as a stepping stone to China and Russia." And, he continues, "The US is afraid right now. You know why? Now we have the nuclear bomb here. They don't want 'I blow you if you blow me'. But that is what will happen if they pull the trigger."
And with that Comrade Joe prepares to return to his apartment, where his wife and children are waiting. It is illegal to listen to foreign broadcasts, but as he gets up Dresnok offers his opinion on the US election: "I'm told McCain will get it." Dresnok, the last American defector, relic of a cold war that never came to an end on the Korean peninsula, a man whose impulsive decision either cost him 46 years of freedom, or gave him a better life than he had before, walks out and lights a cigarette.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/09/korea.usa
Related video by CBS/"60 Minutes" (Jan. 2007):
☞ An American In North Korea #1
☞ An American In North Korea #2
I think it's wellknown that the ancient China (aka the "Chinese Empire") - at least since the Dynasties of Sui and Tang (6th - 10th century) - was a country, very open for "foreigners" (and their influences). Tens of thousands of merchants, migrant workers, political and religious refugees.. from (mostly) all across Asia - from the far West, like the Arab World, to Korea and Japan in the East - settled in China.
But so far I'd no idea that there was (and still exisists!!) a Jewish community in China, especially in Kaifeng (the capital during the Song Dynasty) until I read last week following surprising article in the Israeli newpaper Yedioth Ahronoth:
1,000 Jews cannot be wrong
Descendants of centuries-old Jewish community in China's Kaifeng rediscover Jewish heritage after near complete assimilation in local community
In Chinese terms, the city of Kaifeng, about 500 miles southwest of Beijing, is reminiscent of the Israeli city of Hadera: The number of its residents is 700,000 – as opposed to Beijing's 15 million or Shanghai's 20 million – and it doesn't even have its own airport.
However, a thousand years ago, Kaifeng was the capital of the Chinese empire, the largest, richest and most advanced in the world at the time, with 600,000 residents that made it the most populated city on earth.
Ancient Kaifeng had a Jewish community – a small but thriving one, whose story is unique in the history of the Jewish people. For the 800 years of its existence, Kaifeng's Jews never suffered from persecution or discrimination. The Chinese authorities, as well as the general population, welcomed their Jewish neighbors, viewed them as citizens in every respect and allowed them to observe their religion with complete freedom.
The community synagogue in Kaifeng existed for almost 700 years
In spite, or perhaps because of these freedoms, the community dwindled until about one hundred and fifty years ago, when the assimilation and integration proved complete. It is only in the past 20 years that the descendents of Kaifeng Jewry, who now number about 1,000 people, have rediscovered their Jewish tradition. Some of them have considered undergoing proper conversion and making aliyah, and a few of them have done so already.
Thirty-year-old Shi Lei does not try to hide his excitement when he takes his guest, an Israeli journalist, to the central room in his parents' home. His family, which is of Jewish descent, has lived in this home for more than 100 years. After the death of his grandmother and grandfather, Shi, together with his father, turned this room into a mini-museum and a small Jewish center, where he gives classes on Jewish tradition to children and adults of Jewish descent.
Shi Lei, who graduated with a degree in English from the University of Kaifeng, spent close to three years in Israel studying at Jerusalem's Machon Meir and at Bar-Ilan University...
An emperor's welcome
It is not clear when exactly the first Jews came to China or when the Jewish community in Kaifeng was formed. In the prophecy of the redemption in the book of Isaiah it states: "See, they will come from afar – some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Sinim ("Chinese")" (Isaiah, 49:12); but biblical scholars agree that the verse does not speak of China per se. Some claim that the Jews of Kaifeng are descendents of the Ten Lost Tribes. Others theorize that they came to China in the second century following the downfall of the Jews in the Bar Kokhva revolt (132-135CE).
DNA testing done over the past few years on the descendents of the Kaifeng Jews, proved them distant relatives of Armenian, Iranian and Iraqi Jews. Most of the researchers, as well as the Kaifeng descendents themselves, tend to suggest that the original Jews in China were merchants from Persia that came by way of the Silk Route (in today's southern Turkey) to the city of Xian in central China.
Historical references and archaeological findings have proven that the Persian Jews first arrive in China in the eighth century; and since the long, difficult journey made family life difficult, the solution was to establish a permanent base in China. The location of choice was Kaifeng – China's capital from 927BC to 1127AD.
A stone tablet dating back to the 1489 Kaifeng synagogue – which is now in the city museum – in inscribed with the following: "According to the commandment of their god, the Jews came from Tian-Sho (Chinese for both "India" and "every state to the west of China") with woven materials from the west in their hands, meant as a gift for the emperor."
Kaifeng synagogue, drawn by the French Jesuit priest, J. Demenge (1722)
The last emperor, according to the tablet was pleased with the beautiful and said "welcome to our country; dwell here and keep the customs of your ancestors".
The emperor's warm welcome provided them with automatic Chinese citizenship, not a trifle feat at a time the Jewish communities in Europe and the Muslim countries were suffering persecution. It is believed that one of the reasons for this show of tolerance was that the Chinese of the time did not have a "religion" in the sense of any of the three monotheistic faiths: The common practices of faith based on the teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius, were an array of ethical and behavioral codes more than the belief of religious ordinances commanded by a higher power.
While each of the three monotheistic religions claims to state the absolute truth god, Confucianism is willing peacefully coexist with any religious belief. Kaifeng's Jews found it easy to adhere to Confucianism since it doesn't require the recognition of a new Messiah or prophet and there was no need to give up on the rules of keeping kosher or observing the holidays.
The ancient stone tablet also states that one of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) bestowed "the gift of incense" upon the Jewish community. It was given to the Jewish doctor Yung-Ching who appears to have been his personal physician. This indicates that Kaifeng's Jews used Chinese names rather than Hebrew names, and incorporated a Chinese ceremony into their religious rituals – the lighting of incense.
Eligible bachelors
Kaifeng's Jews were away from any Jewish center, as they had no contact to other Jewish communities around the world. At its peak, the community numbered no more than 6,000 people. There was no yeshiva and the young Jewish men that were interested in academic studies naturally attended the local institutions, which cultivated knowledge of Chinese literature and tradition. Given the circumstances, the chances of the small, isolated Jewish community to maintain its unique features in the hub of China were remote.
According to researchers, another key to the demise of the Kaifeng community lies in the fact that China was the first to allow all its residents to join the top rank of government officials – the Mandarins – by taking qualification exams.
Most of the Jews in Kaifeng were proficient in Chinese and some also in Hebrew, which gave them an advantage over most of the residents in the empire; and so the number of Jewish descendents that applied for the Beijing positions was substantially higher than their actual representation in the population.
After five years of study in the emperor's courtyard, they were sent to various regions in the vast empire. If they hadn't married during their years as students, they were certainly interested in doing so when they began their government service, and as Mandarins, whose careers were mapped out they were considered eligible bachelors. Excluding Kaifeng, however, there were no eligible Jewish brides to be found in China, prompting the assimilation further.
According to the information available, the Jewish community life in Kaifeng came to a virtual halt about 150 years ago. The community synagogue existed for almost 700 years, until 1854, when Kaifeng was flooded by the Huáng Hé – the Yellow River. It was never rebuilt.
Kaifeng 1910: A Jewish Family
Although Kaifeng's Jews had already completely assimilated, their descendants continued to observe several customs, like keeping kosher and keeping Shabbat. Many continue to live the old city in the old section, and the Jewish names of two of the neighborhood's streets still appear in Hebrew and English. The community is now slated for an evacuation-renovation project, like many of its Chinese counterparts...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3590419,00.html
Related:
☞ Kaifeng Jews (wiki)
Interview with Puspha Kamal Dahal (aka "Prachanda"), Nepal's Prime Minister and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (M):
“No Illusion On The Ultimate Goal
Of Socialist Communism”(*)
Q: In the past Maoist leaders had vowed not to keep any private property. They handed over their private properties to the party. Now, what will you do to your salary that you will be drawing as prime minister?
A: That (money) will go to the country and the people. It will be deposited in the party treasury. Except some amount for the general upkeep, the salary will be deposited in the party treasury.
Q: Then, how can one be assured of privatization under your government when you are yourself not keeping private property?
A: We do not believe that private property should be abolished. But we believe that the leadership must keep away from making money to ensure that the properties of the people are protected and promoted.
Q: What three things you will do in the next three months that will make a difference to the people?
A: First, a special committee will be announced to facilitate the integration (of the army) and rehabilitation within six months as part of moves to take the peace process to a logical conclusion. Second, the process of constitution making will be expedited in three months. Third, programmes to provide immediate and long-term relief will be announced.
Q: Given that the army integration is being seen as a very sensitive issue, will you let the current army chief General Rookmangud Katawal complete his tenure?
A: The demand of the time is to exercise maximum restraint. The country will suffer by any move that breeds bitterness at this juncture.
Q: So the suspicions about the army chief being sacked are misplaced? He will not be sacked, will he?
A: That will not happen. As long as everyone including the army, the police and the other officials remain committed to the people’s mandate on democracy, peace and change, no one needs to feel insecure. There will be no prejudice against any.
Q: How will you handle the army integration? The Nepali Army seems to have its own thought. How will you merge your combatants into the national army?
A: Now that I have become prime minister I have been travelling with the army security. I have found a serious commitment and sense of responsibility in the Nepali soldiers. I don’t think that we will face any problem in taking this (integration) process to a conclusion.
Q: If you had so much faith in Nepali Army, why did you distrust the NA and, instead, induct your combatants for your personal security?
A: I never showed such distrust. I never wanted to show any bit of distrust towards NA or police or PLA or armed police. Since last two years armed police and PLA personnel had been providing security to my residence in Naya Bazaar. This was an issue that needed a technical solution. I do not want to suspect anyone or make anyone feel humiliated. The PLA also should not feel that they have been orphaned now that I have become Prime Minister. I am quite sensitive on this matter. Both PLA and NA understand the issue very well.
Q: Among the 20,000 Maoist combatants in the cantonments, how many will be accommodated into the Nepali Army. What happens to the rest?
A: The PLA combatants who are staying in the cantonments and who have been verified by the United Nations are all eligible for rehabilitation and integration. According to our latest understanding, each and every PLA combatant will be given the freedom to choose whether he/she wants to return home or engage in other professions. Therefore, I am not in a position to say how many PLA combatants will be integrated and how many of them will return home.
Q: How long will the ex-King Gyanendra be allowed to stay in the Nagarjuna palace?
A: We are discussing this matter. The cabinet has just been expanded. It will take up the issue soon.
Q: Will you re-open the probe into the palace killings?
A: This issue will be raised at the Constituent Assembly. There have been no satisfactory answers yet to the people’s serious questions about the incident.
Q: Perhaps the people could raise similar questions about you also?
A: May be. But the people of Nepal have already justified our action –you call it civil war or people’s war -- through the constituent assembly verdict. Have the people ever justified the palace killings?
Q: Do you ever feel that you hands are stained with blood?
A: Sometimes in the event of grave mistakes on our part, I was emotional. But what is more important is the great process of transformation and the class, ethnic, regional and gender consciousness which have come about through our movement. So I do not feel the need to repent.
Q: Would you have visited China first if it had not hosted the Olympic Games?
A: Let’s not get into hypothetical questions. Since China is our neighbor and since we could not attend the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics, I went there for the closing ceremony. Anyway, it would not have been easier for me to go there first if there had been no Olympic.
Q: Since China is the land of your inspiration Mao Zedong, you must have harbored wishes to travel there?
A: I would be lying if I said no.
Q: What do you want to do with the 1950 Indo-Nepal treaty?
A: Nepal has become a republic passing through big changes since the Rana regime. So, the 1950 treaty should be clearly reviewed. It cannot be kept in the present form.
Q: What are the provisions that you do not like in the present treaty?
A: I am engaged in consultations on my visit to India soon. So, I do not want to reply to your question at this point.
Q: When are you visiting India?
A: I am going to attend the UN General Assembly. I will travel to India before that.
Q: You used to claim that different power centers were blocking your ascent to power. Have you defeated those centers now?
A: I cannot use the same language as I am Prime Minister now. I have said on many occasions that had any other party won the election, nothing would have stopped the formation of new government within a week. It took four months for us.
Q: You have defeated the King and elbowed out Girija Prasad Koirala. Do you feel that you have mastered the policy of use and throw?
A: I am pained by the allegations that we engage in use and throw. I never think that I have cheated anyone. But in course of advancing my cause, I might have made compromises and come closer to one or another at different times. But there was never any conspiracy there. It was our philosophy of cooperating with others to defeat the primary enemy.
Q: There are two schools of thoughts within your party – one favoring the People’s Republic and the other favoring Democratic Republic. Which one will prevail?
A: That is not the case. There is no illusion within our party regarding our ultimate goal of establishing a Socialist Communism. However, in the current national and international circumstances, we have decided to move ahead by institutionalizing the federal democratic republic.
Q: So, you want to establish a People’s Republic by means of the state of democratic republic?
A: We will definitely attempt to establish a People’s Republic by institutionalizing democratic republic and through the legitimate means like election. Once we attain that, we will then work to achieve socialism and communism.
Q: Will there be a people’s republic if your party wins a majority in the next election?
A: Let’s not understand this in a provocative manner. We will definitely try our best to ensure that the new constitution will be as close to the ideal of People’s Republic as possible. I believe that the constitution would pave the way for a People’s Republic, Socialism and Communism.
Q: How can it pave the way for communism when you have said there will be guarantee to all kinds of political freedom?
A: We have concluded that socialism without multiparty competition and political freedoms cannot survive. We have learned this from the experiences of Russia and other countries.
Q: What are you talking about, socialism or communism?
A: I am talking about socialism. A lively society can be built only if there are political freedoms and competitions within socialism. Communism is something like a heaven where there is neither a class nor a state nor an army. It will take hundreds of years to reach there.
Q: You are not in a mood to step down as party chairman even after becoming PM. Why?
A: Certainly, since I will not be able to devote adequate time and energy for the party after becoming the PM, other comrades will have to take more responsibility. But there is no rule anywhere in the world for the party chief to step down when he becomes PM. Besides, ours is a party that believes in central and unified leadership. So there is no question of abandoning one responsibility when taking up another.
Q: You once publicly said that top leaders will not join the government and act like Mahatma Gandhi?
A: What I said will happen only after a people’s constitution and a stable government are put in place. We believe that a leader does not need to stick to the position of a prime minister or a president once the revolution is completed, constitution is written and the country cruises on a stable course.
Q: Politicians are smart in playing with words, aren’t they?
A: Not at all, I have only tried to reply in a very direct manner.
Q: How long will your government survive?
A: It will continue till the constitution is written and the peace process is completed. I believe our party will win majority, even two-thirds majority in the next election. Then , our government will continue for another five years. We will improve our performance during that period. There will come a situation where people will start thinking that Maoists alone can run this country. In the subsequent election, we expect to win 90 percent votes and we will continue in power for many decades.
Q: You have high expectations. Do you believe they will be fulfilled?
A: Definitely. We have strong faith in people. We are devoted to the nation and the people. No one can severe our relation with the people.
Source: BBC Nepali Service/NepalNews (9.02)
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/others/interview/sep/interview02.php
* "Socialist Communism"??? WTF is that?
Socialism, according to the doctrine/theory of M/L, is the transition society (well, later - very likely - I'll write more about the issue!!) between capitalism and communism, the classless society, without any exploitation and oppression ("Communism is something like a heaven where there is neither a class nor a state nor an army", as Prachanda said in the interview).
Bangkok Celebrates "Direct Democracy"(Extreme)..
..and the gov't declares "state of emergency"
PPP (pro-gov't) "activists"...
...and PAD (anti-gov't) "activists"...
...are "coming together" (last night in Bangkok)...
...in behalf of the power struggle in the Thai ruling class!
"People's Power" Party (PPP) and People's Alliance for "Democracy" (PAD) are both representatives of the Thai bourgeoisie and the large land owners! For example: the ongoing anti-gov't protest (by the PAD supporters) is (partly) financed by the five most influential and wealthiest clans in Bangkok, and parts of the Thai bourgeois media (*)..
Well, there's only one real difference between the two fractions! The PPP has the power in current gov't (i.e. the state, as the instrument of power of the ruling class), incl. the state's finances/taxes.., the public "security" and "order"..
And the PAD has (unfortunately^^) NO power in the current gov't!!
Related articles:
☞ State of emergency declared in Thailand (Guardian, 9.02)
☞ Thai army chief rules out coup (al-Jazeera, 9.02)
☞ Unions to strike across country (Bangkok Post, 9.02)
☞ Thailand teeters on the brink (Asia Times, 9.02)
"The Union Just Raised Both Hands in the Air in Surrender"
After 434 days: the New Core strike ended..
Last Friday (8.29) Yonhap reported that the "New Core labor dispute is settled" and "the union and management of discount store chain New Core reached an agreement to rehire 36 temporary workers, ending a strike after 434 days.The company will re-employ the 36 cashiers and turn their job status to permanent in two years. In return, the union pledged not to strike by 2010."
About the same case Hankyoreh published one day later following article:
New Core strike comes to an end after 400 days
36 irregular employees rehired but issues including the company’s
lawsuit against the union still unresolved
The labor union at New Core, a part of the E.land Group, has agreed with New Core to the rehiring of 36 of its irregular employees, marking an end to a strike that began in protest of the company’s decision to lay off its irregular workers and outsource some of its operations. The strike went on for more than 400 days.
New Core union chairperson Park Yang-su and company president Choi Jong-yang signed a written agreement August 29 at the New Core outlet store in Pyeongchon, Anyang City, Gyeonggi Province.
Company officials said that in exchange for the union withdrawing its demand that the company stop outsourcing its cashiers, the 36 irregular employees whose contracts had run out because of the outsourcing that began in June 2007 would be rehired.
The union, then, has yielded on much of its initial demands. It went on strike saying that irregular employees had been laid off ahead of the new Irregular Employment Act, which would have required that they be given “direct” employment.
The two sides also issued a “Joint Declaration on Labor-Management Reconciliation.” In it, the union declares it will not go on strike at any time before 2010 and that it will “do all it can to make this an exemplary solution for issues of irregular employment.”
The statement makes no mention of the 10-billion-won damages lawsuit the company had filed against the union, or of any decision about whether 18 employees who were laid off as a punitive measure will be rehired. A company official said those issues remain to be discussed with the union.
The agreement, however is not without detractors. “Recognizing outsourcing and the ‘labor-management declaration’ could set a bad precedent,” said Kim Seong-hui of the Korea Irregular Workers’ Center. “One also worries that unresolved issues like the lawsuit and the question of returning other workers to their jobs could lead to the destruction of democratic unions.”
“The union just about raised both hands in the air (in surrender), but with more than 90 percent of the union composed of regular workers, it was weak in its ability to wage a struggle. It was going to have been hard for the union to hold out any longer,” said one of its members.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/307557.html
Related:
☞ Lessons Learned From a 434-Day Strike ("Editorial" by Chosun Ilbo, 9.01)
☞ "434일만에 뉴코아 돌아가는 노동자, 그러나.." (8.29)
☞ The Full Story of E-Land Strike (2007/08)
*****
A Small Victory for the S.K. Democracy(?)
The Seoul Central District Court denied a police request on late Thursday night
for warrants to detain Oh Se-cheol and six other leading activists of the Socialist Workers League of Korea (SWLK) while officers investigated their roles in "forming an allegedly anti-state organization", a "violation of the National 'Security' Law". Oh and his comrades were released around 11:40 p.m. on Thursday. But the cops "will also further investigate the seven socialists and seek another warrant"(!!!), according to JoongAng Ilbo.
Released after 48 hours in detention: Seven SWLK activists
Yesterday the "left-liberal" Hankyoreh published following article based on an..
Interview with Oh Se-cheol
Socialist Workers League of Korea members were set free, but their fight to promote socialism has just begun
“The police have lost points.” The voice of Oh Se-cheol, 65, a professor emeritus at Yonsei University, was firm. In an interview with The Hankyoreh on August 29 at the offices of the Socialist Workers League of Korea, Oh said, “Politically-motivated police have failed to link SWLK to the candlelight demonstrations. The outcome will be the same even if police seek arrest warrants again after additional investigations.”
Three days after police arrested Oh and six other Socialist Workers League members on charges of allegedly violating the National Security Law, Korea’s anti-communism law, the six were released on the night of August 28 after a court rejected arrest warrants for them. Oh, who has served as the head of the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration, the dean of the business school at Yonsei University and the leader of the Association for People’s Politics, is one of Korea’s most respected liberal scholars.
Oh said the police probe against Socialist Workers League members was aimed at “targeting the candlelight demonstrations.” Oh said, “After designating SWLK as an anti-state organization, police inquired about allegations that the group had instigated demonstrators by distributing anti-state leaflets. Investigators cornered us, even though they understood that allegations related to the National Security Law, including the designation of SWLK as an anti-state organization and the accusation of distribution of anti-state leaflets, don’t legally make sense. An anti-state organization is regarded as a pro-North Korea group, but we aren’t on that side. Furthermore, our research of socialism isn’t aimed at ‘immediately overthrowing the nation.’ Rather than ambiguously applying the National Security Law, do it openly and fairly by making a law suppressing socialism.”
“When an investigator said to me, ‘I confirmed your mobile-phone locations, were you there from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. when a candlelight demonstration was held,’ I said, ‘Yes, is that so problematic?’” Oh said. “The investigator replied, ‘That’s an illegal, violent rally.’ But police failed after trying to politically exploit our group in the wake of the candlelight rallies,” Oh said, adding, “Police have been keeping tabs on my phone and e-mail for about a year. Instead of hastily publicizing the probe, wouldn’t it have been better for the police to have conducted a proper investigation for two or three more years?”
Oh emphasized that the case provides an opportunity to raise a public awareness for the abolishment of the National Security Law. “When police asked for detailed information about the group, I responded that the details are posted on the group’s Web site and invited them to visit the Web site,” Oh said. “Just 20 years ago, I didn’t dare to use the term ‘socialism,’ but things have changed. Police should change their investigative methods by putting handcuffs on and arresting people on charges that everyone is aware of,” he said. “In the wake of this case, I have reaffirmed for myself that the National Security Law can oppress the freedom of ideology in various ways. People who fought to abolish the National Security Law should stand up and talk about it again.”
As for the future activities of the Socialist Workers League, Oh said, “It begins.” The group has resolved to “undertake the long-term task of overcoming capitalism in the stream of history,” Oh said. “Since the administration of President Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated, the problems with capitalist regimes have arisen on a large scale. Therefore, our aim is to plant the seeds of battle between capitalism and labor.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/307554.html
Related articles:
☞ Socialists freed after judge rules against warrants (JoongAng Ilbo, 8.30)
☞ Arrest Warrant Rejected for Progressive Economist (K. Times, 8.29)
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