CINA

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Yeah, the party goes on!
Since some days int'l experts are assuming that N.K. is preparing for another ICBM test: North Korea May Launch Ballistic Missile (K. Times, 6.01)

Meanwhile the nuclear expert Sigfried Hecker (co-director of the Center for Int'l Security and Cooperation, Stanford Univ.) believes that N.K. could go ahead with another nuclear test... (*)

Well, no problem! Because: "US Army can fight N. Korea if necessary" (^^)

So what? Already one week ago KPA announced "We're ready for the battle!" (^^)

Related articles:
☞ 'Good discussion' on tougher North Korea sanctions (Haaretz, 5.29)

☞ DPRK F.M. Clarifies Its Stand on UNSC's Increasing Threat (KCNA, 5.29)  

☞ North Korea threatens action if UN punishes it (Y. Ahronoth, 5.29)

Meanwhile the ('special') relationship, resp. its possible future, between Beijing and Pyeongyang is attracting more and more attention in the int'l media:
☞ Beijing weighs its options (Asia Times, 5.28)

☞ North Korea's nuclear test puts China in a tight spot (Guardian, 5.29)  

☞ China may test N.K. sway after nuclear test (K. Herald, 5.30)

☞ Interview with Prof Sun Zhe/清華大學 (Spiegel, 6.01)

☞ China anger with North Korea echoes in the press (Reuters, 6.02)

* My 'proposal' for the Dear Leader: "Please combine the next ICBM test with the likely planned nuclear test(i.e. launch a ICBM + nuclear warhead)!"
And ALL your problems(incl. your health problems!!) will be solved very soon!^^

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Yesterday's Guardian (UK) had following piece about Absurdistan's (aka D.P.R.K.) "news" agency:

Twitter with Kim and co: a portal into a paranoid state

North Korean state news agency's feed offers a glimpse into the mind of a repressive regime

North Korea is renowned for many things – not least surprise nuclear tests – but it can hardly claim to be at the forefront of the information technology revolution.

While the country's leader, Kim Jong-il, boasts of being a whiz on the web, internet access is otherwise all but unknown in a country where the state keeps the tightest of grips on the flow of information. Pyongyang, the capital, has a couple of – heavily monitored – internet cafes, while North Korea's recently allocated .kp country code only came into existence in 2007.

It thus comes as a slight surprise to browse Twitter and find a feed from the country's state press organisation, the Korean Central News Agency.

If you have never previously perused its daily digest of news, available in English and Spanish, as well as Korean, KCNA at first looks astonishingly anachronistic, a shrill blast of propaganda reminiscent of the depths of the cold war. Americans are always reviled as the "imperialists", while South Korea is the "puppet regime" which, to use a phrase from one of today' stories, is "dancing to the tune of the US".

(A quick note: KCNA's fairly basic website does not have separate addresses for stories, meaning none of the examples here can be directly linked to. For the curious, the NK News blog collates KCNA stories into a searchable archive.)

While some stories are clearly important, for example the confirmation yesterday of the country's second successful nuclear test, many other headlines range from the oddly banal ("DPRK's important day celebrated in Italy) to the downright bizarre ("Pro-Japanese lackey's behaviour slashed").

Many of the most curious tales are in praise of Kim, or his father, Kim Il-sung, who ruled until his death in 1994. Many stories about the younger Kim recount spontaneous natural wonders, such as rainbows, waterspouts in lakes and trees blossoming in autumn, occurring in honour of his birthday or a visit.

One story released earlier this week outlined a supposed tale from 1972, when Kim decided to climb Paektu, or Baekdu mountain, a high peak seen as a national symbol, during a fierce blizzard, against the advice of his officials. As the party neared the summit, KCNA explains, Kim spread his arms and the snows immediately ceased, revealing a calm, blue sky.

"'Mount Paektu opened its gate to its master and revealed its gigantic and graceful sight. What a wonder of Mount Paektu!' shouted the officials to themselves in solemn feelings," the story ends.

There is, of course, a temptation to find such crude and fruitily written hyperbole amusing. It's thus important not to forget that, ridiculous though all this might seem, the North Korean regime remains one of the world's most repressive and brutal, where human rights are all but unknown while torture and arbitrary detention are routine.

Still, subscribing to the KCNA feed is as good a way as any for an outsider to tap into the curious mix of rage, paranoia and leader deification that makes North Korea the country it is.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2009/may/26/knca-portal-into-north-korea

Latest "news" by KCNA:
☞ CPRK Regards S. Korea's Full Participation in PSI as Declaration of War..

☞ KPA Panmunjom Mission Clarifies Rev. Armed Forces' Principled Stand

☞ Rodong Shinmun: End the Fascist Dictatorship in S. Korea!

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1. Now, since three days consecutive N.K.'s activities are leading the headlines in the int'l media (slowly the Dear Leader should be satisfied with his efforts to get international attention..)!

"The Terror-Dwarf

Blackmails the World"

Frontpage(5.26) of Berliner Kurier
(German mass-circulation newspaper)

2. S.K. announced y'day its full-scale participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and - promptly - Pyeongyang's answer followed:

Korean Peninsula in State of War 

(as today's KCNA has been quoted)

S.K.'s Yonhap news agency reported today in the morning following:

 
North Korea said Wednesday it was nullifying the Korean War armistice and warned of an immediate military strike should South Korea attempt to interdict any of its ships, blasting Seoul's participation in a U.S.-led security campaign as a "declaration of war."

The statement, issued by the North's permanent military mission to the joint security area, also said the country can no longer guarantee the safety of South Korean and U.S. military ships and private vessels moving along the western sea border.

"As declared to the world, our revolutionary forces will consider the full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative by the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors as a declaration of war against us," the North Korean military mission said, referring to the South Korean president, in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)...

Related news reports:
☞ Military on High Alert for N. Korean Provocations (K. Times)  

☞ Russia fears N.K. conflict could turn nuclear (Haaretz/Reuters)  

3. Meanwhile N.K.'s recent activities are attracting attention in another troubled region - the Middle East:
Israel, via Yedioth Ahronoth:
☞ The North Korean lesson

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Well, N.K.(i.e. the KJI regime) not only fears the U.S. military (nuclear) power, as you can see the following piece from Asia Times (HK, 5.21):

Pyongyang chokes on sweet capitalism

 
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may face a more pernicious challenge than either a "preemptive strike" by the United States or a power grab by generals eager to fill the power vacuum created by his illness.

Think Choco Pie, the thick wafer-like confection, all pastry and cream, served in the Kaesong Industrial Complex as a daily dessert for the 40,000 North Koreans who toil for 100 South Korean companies with factories in the complex.

 
"North Koreans love Choco Pie," said Ha Tae-keung, president of NK Open Radio, which beams two hours of news daily into North Korea from its base in Seoul. "It's an invasion of the stomach."

North Korean workers, and the friends and family members for whom they save their daily treats, may salivate over Choco Pie, but it's giving a severe stomach ache to senior officials fearful of the infiltration of South Korean culture in all corners of their Hermit Kingdom.

Choco Pie - along with other favorite South Korean cakes and candies as well as instant coffee - has come to symbolize the image of the capitalist South as a multi-tentacle beast that may be impossible to digest.

For Kim Jong-il, suffering from diabetes, recovering from a stroke and hoping to survive a few more years while grooming his neophyte youngest son, in his mid-20s, to succeed him, the best way to deal with the Kaesong complex, 60 kilometers north of Seoul and just above the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, may be to spit it out.

It's for this reason, said Ha, that North Korea has precipitously scrapped the agreements under which South Korean companies operate in the complex, built and managed by Hyundai Asan, an offshoot of the sprawling South Korean Hyundai empire.

"He's come to see Kaesong as a burden rather than an asset, and is inclined to shut it down," said Ha.

Kim signaled his strategy in a meeting on April 24 at which he congratulated those responsible for developing and launching the long-range Taepodong -2 missile on April 5, a mission that North Korea still insists was to put a satellite into orbit.

The danger of South Korean cultural infiltration apparently trumps the need for the hard currency that the North makes from the South in the form of pay for the workers and rent for the land occupied by South Korean factories. Or, as Ha put it, "It's money versus regime stability."

It's partly for this reason, South Korean media are reporting, that Kim ordered the execution last year of Choe Sung-chol, the senior official responsible for dealing with South Korea's Unification Ministry, Hyundai Asan and South Korean companies with factories in the Kaesong complex.

The 53-year-old Choe vanished from his post as chief vice director of the Unification Front Department of the ruling Workers' Party at about the time that Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated in February 2008 as president of South Korea.

When it became apparent that Lee would not shower the North with several hundred thousand tons of food and fertilizer each year, as had the two presidents who preceded him, the North began branding him "a traitor" and “lackey” of the United States.

North Korea, elevating the rhetoric after the United Nations Security Council condemned the launch of the Taepodong, has indicated it's preparing for another nuclear test similar to its first such test on October 9, 2006.

South Koreans believe Choe may have been an easy target for bribery, at least judging by the ease with which company managers are accustomed to paying off North Korean officials they come in contact with in the Kaesong complex.

"Now North Korea is afraid the North Korean workers are corrupted," said Paik Sung-joo, director of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

The taste of Choco Pie, moreover, apparently is spreading like a poison that is contaminating the system. Since businesses in the complex began serving the snack four years ago “to boost morale", said Chosun Ilbo, the South's biggest-selling newspaper, it's had “explosive popularity among workers”.

A staffer in the complex estimated that 150,000 Choco Pies "are probably consumed each day at the industrial complex", according to Chosun Ilbo, and Orion, the South Korean manufacturer, ships between 10,000 and 20,000 boxes of Choco Pies each day.

Most disturbing, however, is the sale of Choco Pies on black markets near Pyongyang. Since failing to stop the flow of Choco Pies from Kaesong, one South Korean official was quoted as saying authorities "are now turning a blind eye".

Choco Pies, the official told Chosun Ilbo, are "sweet symbols of capitalism".

Choe, relegated to work on a chicken farm after his disappearance as a senior official, suffered the same fate as thousands of North Korean officials who have fallen out of favor over the years, including a number of generals for failing to conquer the South in the Korean War of the early 1950s and an agricultural minister held responsible for the massive famine that killed two million people in the mid- and late-1990s.

But encouraging favorable sentiment toward South Korea in the North, as reported in South Korea, was not Choe's offense. Rather, he failed to anticipate and effectively combat the South Korean government's shift from the "Sunshine" policy of reconciliation initiated by Kim Dae-jung during his five years as president from 1998 to 2003 and perpetuated by his left-leaning successor, Roh Moo-hyun, president from 2003 to 2008.

When it comes to South Korean cultural infiltration, however, North Korea has far more to fear from the entry of goods from China than from the Kaesong complex. South Korean DVDs and CDs, even soft-core porn movies made in the South, are now distributed surreptitiously throughout North Korea. Electronic gadgetry, MP3 and MP4 players, TV sets, radios and rice cookers, also shipped via China, are also available for those with the money to pay for them.

"The most important invasion is from China," said Ha Tae Keung of NK Open Radio. "It gets around the whole country."

Much of the traffic in electronic products and food is done surreptitiously with goods sold on the black market, often to members of the North Korean elite. North Korea can do little to stop such trade in view of its dependence on China, its only real ally.

South Korea's Trade-Investment Promotion Agency reported that North Korean trade last year reached US$3.8 billion, not including trade via sea with South Korea. That figure represents a jump of nearly 30% in trade with China, which enjoys a hugely favorable balance. China last year imported $750 million in North Korean products while exporting products worth $2 billion to North Korea.

While the North's exports are shrinking this year, said the report, "China's influence on the North Korean economy is likely to grow further."

Analysts believe the shrill attacks on South Korea, including demands for a new contract for doing business in the Kaesong complex, are an attempt to blame South Korea when Kim Jong-il finally closes it.

The arrest nearly two months ago of a Hyundai Asan engineer, accused of badmouthing North Korea, suggests this strategy. North Korea has not revealed the charge against him, but he's believed to have flirted with a North Korean waitress to whom he boasted of the good life in the South. The worker is to go on trial some time next month.

"Kim Jong-il wants to blame South Korea,” said Ha Tae Keung. "Choco Pie is aggravating the problem."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KE21Dg01.html

Related:
☞ Invasion of the Choco Pies (TMH, 5.20)

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Today's TOP STORY from KCNA:

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence in every way as requested by its scientists and technicians.

The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control and the results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology.

The successful nuclear test is greatly inspiring the army and people of the DPRK all out in the 150-day campaign, intensifying the drive for effecting a new revolutionary surge to open the gate to a thriving nation.

The test will contribute to defending the sovereignty of the country and the nation and socialism and ensuring peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and the region around it with the might of Songun.

While two days ago S. Korea(resp. Roh Moo-hyun's suicide) produced a top story (actually only one among many other..) in the int'l media, today N.K. produced definitely the TOP STORY no. 1 in the int'l media.

For example in Germany: "North Korea Provokes the World" (Berliner Zeitung), "Kim's Nuclear Test Shocks the World" (Der Spiegel) etc..

But finally the N.K.'s nuke test is achieving (until now) only leading headlines in the int'l news, international condemnations(*) and warnings of tougher U.N. sanctions! What a surprise!!^^

* According to a CNN report from Beijing, even the Chinese gov't is reacting very angry about the latest news from Pyeongyang! Xinhua: Chinese gov't resolutely opposes DPRK's nuclear

To be continued..

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Yesterday's "top story" by KCNA: Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, arrived in Harare on Monday to visit the Republic of Zimbabwe.

According to KCTV(5.11) Kim Yong Nam visit has been "enthusiastic welcomed by Robert Mugabe, the military leadership and the chief of the national police.."

But not everyone in Zimbabwe welcomes the DPRK delegation in general and Kim Yong Nam in particular, as you can read in one of today's top stories in The Zimbabwe Telegraph (influential newspapers in the south African country):

MDC-M official issues ultimatum to Korean Delegate
 

The leader of the anti-Mugabe camp in the MDC has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the DPRK President of the Presidium of Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic Republic of North Korea Mr Kim Yong Nam to leave Zimbabwe.

 
He indicated to Mr Kim that his visit was not welcome since the DPRK was responsible for training the fifth brigade which massacred the people of Matebeleland(*) and Mr Sikhala indicated that his aunt was a victim in that horrendous and hellish crime against humanity.
Moreover Mr Sikhala spelled out that North Korea represents the most satanic outpost of tyranny and urged Mr Kim to go and organise elections in his country where people are languishing from unmitigated poverty and gross human rights abuses.

Mr Sikhala further stated that Mr Kim comes from the same club as Robert Mugabe and must not have the leisure of visiting countries which respect human rights.

Shockingly, Mutambara, Mugabe’s blue-eyed boy and his master, Robert Mugabe were the ones who were seen flanking the disgraceful despot from North Korea and it is believed that the controversial Robotics Professor was enthusiastically inquiring about nuclear technology.

Mutambara’s master, Robert Mugabe later thanked North Korea for training facilities which they rendered to Zimbabwe and weaponry and this has infuriated thousands from Matebeleland whose relatives where massacred by the North Korean trained Fifth Brigade...

Mr Sikhala said that he is closely monitoring the movements and meetings being held between Mugabe, Mutambara and the North Korean despot and urged Zimbabweans to be on high alert.

http://www.zimtelegraph.com/news_article.php?cat=23&id=670

* In 1981 Kim Il Sung dispatched 106 "military specialists" to train the 5th Brigade of the Zimbabwean army, which went on to commit numerous atrocities in the rebellious Zimbabwean region of Matebeleland that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people.
 

김영남위원장과 짐바브웨대통령 회담 (조선중앙통신)

Related stuff:
☞ Kim Yong Nam Feted by Zimbabwean President (KCNA, 5.12)

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Related article:

☞ The changing landscape of a reclusive nation (JoongAng Ilbo)

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Last Friday(4.10) the U.S and Israeli media, e.g. the "left"-liberal daily Haaretz, reported following:

American victims of Hezbollah rockets sue North Korea 

 
Thirty American victims of Hezbollah terror attacks have filed civil action in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against the government of North Korea.

The plaintiffs, injured by Hezbollah rockets fired into northern Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, allege that North Korea aided the militant group by training senior Hezbollah leaders and by providing networks of underground storage bunkers meant to house Katyusha rocket launchers.

The suit, which names Hezbollah as a defendant, seeks more than $100 million (*) in compensatory damages and an unspecified sum of punitive damages.
 Advertisement

 
The suit claims that bunkers manufactured by North Korea - and beyond the reach of Israeli jets - supported Hezbollah's effort to carry out missile attacks against Israeli cities in the summer of 2006.

This is the first lawsuit by Hezbollah victims against North Korea for its provision of support to the terrorist group.

In their suit, the plaintiffs cite a Congressional memorandum prepared for the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee that describes one of the North Korean built facilities as "a 25-kilometer underground tunnel that Hezbollah used to move troops."

"Hezbollah's underground facilities significantly improved their ability to fight the Israelis during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war," the memorandum added.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said: "North Korea has become a major player in providing support and material resources to Middle East terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah."

"It was North Korea which trained Hezbollah's leadership and built the underground bunkers that permitted the terrorists to evade Israeli jets during the Second Lebanese War and to continue their rocket attacks targeting civilians," she added.

Darshan-Leitner added that, "As a facilitator of the Hezbollah rockets, North Korea is financially liable to all those Americans injured by the terrorists. The lawsuit aims to secure a measure of justice for the terror victims and teach North Korea that it cannot continue to support Hezbollah with impunity."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1077703.html

* Oops~ If the Dear Leader will be forced to pay (but it's extremely unlikely!!), he must sell some more missiles to Iran, Syria etc.!^^

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Well.. this will be (hopefully^^) my last contribution about this f.. stupid subject!

KCNA(1998.9.4) about the successful(*) launch of the Gwangmyeongseong-1 "satellite":
The satellite is running along the oval orbit..
The satellite is now transmitting the melody of the immortal revolutionary hymns "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il"..
http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/1998/9809/news09/04.htm#1

KCNA(2009.4.5) about the successful(**) launch of Gwangmyeongseong-2 "satellite": 
The satellite is going round on its routine orbit.
It is now sending to the earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il"..
http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2009/200904/news05/20090405-11ee.html

Any more questions?

*   Third stage failure (Encyclopedia Astronautica, 1998.9.31)
** North Korean Missile Launch Was a Failure.. (NYT, 4.06)

Related articles:

☞ Launch keeps N Korea in spotlight (al-Jazeera, 4.06)

☞ Beware the North Koreans (Yedioth Ahronoth/IL, 4.06)

☞ A missile launch for dummies (Asia Times/HK, 4.07)

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Today's (resp. y'day's/KST) TOP newsmaker:

The Dear Leader's Gwangmyeongseong "Satellite"

And the entire int'l news community was forced(^^) to report about the "successful launch of the Eunha-2 space vehicle..", or as NK's No. 3 Radio Broadcast announced today at 13:00 (KST): "The Gwangmyeongseong-2, which is a declaration of the achievements of a strong and prosperous state to the whole world, entered(*) its orbit successfully!"

Reuters (09:35 CET): "North Korea said it had successfully put a satellite into orbit on Sunday on a three-stage rocket that was now circling the Earth and transmitting revolutionary songs." "Der Satellit überträgt die Melodien der unsterblichen Revolutionshymnen 'Lied von General Kim Il Sung' und 'Lied von General Kim Jong Il'", the German Spiegel interpreted a KCNA report.

Related articles:
☞ North Korea launches rocket (LA Times)

☞ North Korea launches long-range rocket (Guardian)

☞ Donnernde Grüße von Dr. Seltsam (Der Spiegel)

* But (accidentally^^) the "satellite" left its orbit immediately, according to the latest news reports(**):

AFP: The US military on Sunday disputed North Korea's claim it had launched a satellite into space, saying "the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean."

CNN: No object entered orbit, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Sunday, after North Korea claimed it had launched a satellite.

BBC: North Korea failed in its attempt to get a satellite into space after a rocket launch early on Sunday

Yonhap: North Korea failed to send a satellite into space, South Korea and the United States said Sunday, declaring no object entered orbit.

Latest TOP headline on Spiegel Online (15:00 CET):

USA melden Absturz von Kims Rakete

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,617518,00.html