사이드바 영역으로 건너뛰기

게시물에서 찾기No fun, not at all! Here you'll find a selected collection of articles/reports about our, sometimes a kind of unfriendly, neighbours in the North. Please, don't wonder: I'll use all kind of sources, it includes also the reactionary media, such as ðÈàØìí.., if I'm thinking, that the reports/articles are credible. Of course some times it is only trash. But I think, that we are clever enough to check out what is credible or not.

462개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.

  1. 2008/09/28
    김~김~김정일 #2
    no chr.!
  2. 2008/09/17
    베를린: N.K. 전시회
    no chr.!
  3. 2008/09/16
    김~김~김정일 #1
    no chr.!
  4. 2008/09/10
    평양 '뉴스' #4
    no chr.!
  5. 2008/09/09
    [인터뷰] '조(Joe)동지'
    no chr.!
  6. 2008/08/26
    故김정일('동지')..(1)
    no chr.!
  7. 2008/07/14
    금강산../조선중앙통신
    no chr.!
  8. 2008/07/13
    '선군정치' 만세!
    no chr.!
  9. 2008/05/09
    내일(土): CNN'보고'
    no chr.!
  10. 2008/04/03
    주체사상 만세! #2
    no chr.!

김~김~김정일 #2


Despite the fact that the "Dear Leader" is - unfortunatelly(^^) - still alive ("He is in excellent health," according to N.K. officials. "He can brush his teeth without help" according to the S.K. NIS) 'Pyongyangologists' (A. Lenkov, the writer of the following article) in East and West are analyzing (and many are just guessing!) possible scenarios for a future after Kim Jong-il (oops.. IF there's any future for the 'People of Korea' after Kim Jong-il!!??)...


Pyongyang defies all odds (Asia Times, 9.18)


Once every two or three years the world media are flooded with reports about Kim Jong-il's alleged illness or even death. Since the relevant information is, arguably, the best-guarded secret of the world's most secretive state, one should not be too surprised when most of these reports are soon to prove false.


We face another wave of such rumors. However, this time the situation might be more serious. Reports about Kim's illness appeared in early September. First, it was the publications of the South Korean media, whose journalists probably learned something from Seoul government agencies. Then, some details began to emerge, and the governments of both South Korea and the United States, in an unusual move, confirmed they had some intelligence about Kim's sickness.


Finally, Kim did not show up last week on the 60th anniversary of the North Korean state, another sign of problems in Pyongyang. So, taking all this in consideration, we might suspect that this time the rumors probably have some substance: Kim is unwell. Perhaps, he even suffered a stroke, though it is difficult to take at face value all those excessively detailed reports of his health and gradual recovery which appeared in the media.


Well, he is sick, so what? What else can one expect if a person is 66 years old, works hard, had an excessively troublesome youth and perhaps suffers from diabetes and kidney decease?


Judging by the calm in Pyongyang, nobody there expects that Kim is to leave this world any time soon. However, the recent media hype once again was a useful reminder: Kim is mortal, and sooner or later another report about his death will be correct.


Now Pyongyangologists are guessing at who will become the next leader. Since we know almost nothing about Pyongyang's inner circle, such talk is not well founded. However, there are things about which slightly more educated guesses can be made. One of those problems is the issue of whether the eventual departure of the god-like Dear Leader will lead to a peaceful transition of power, or whether it will spark a violent crisis.


At first glance, North Korea seems to be society ripe for revolution. Indeed, in few other countries has the government failed so spectacularly, at least in managing the economy and taking care of the well-being of the people, or even physical survival.


For all practical purposes, the North Korean economy has collapsed: its industrial output is probably half of what it was two decades ago. The famine of the late 1990s killed between 600,000 and 1 million people and can be seen as the worst humanitarian disaster East Asia has experienced in decades. The income gap between the country and its neighbors is huge and keeps growing. According to more optimistic estimates, per capita gross domestic product in South Korea is 17 times the North Korean level - some experts believe the real difference might be as high as 1:50. Nonetheless, the regime remains firmly in control and, as most observers agree, faces no immediate domestic threats.


What are the reasons of this stability? Revolutions seldom happen when people's lives are so hard. When people are striving to survive, they do not think much about political actions. To revolt, they need to see some alternatives to their current mode of existence, they need organization, however rudimentary, and they also need to believe that protests will not be crushed immediately by the overwhelming force of the government.


Revolutions usually begin when the ruling elite either belatedly attempts half-baked and inconclusive reforms (thus admitting that system is not prefect, but not giving enough to the dissatisfied populace) or the leaders showed signs of internal disunity. In North Korea, none of these conditions is met. The elite is united, grassroots social activity of any kind is not tolerated, alternatives to the current existence remain largely unknown to the public.


It is true that over the past two decades a certain amount of liberalization has taken place. However, society remains highly controlled and the authorities do not tolerate any kind of independent social or cultural activity, even of an ostensibly non-political nature.


This constitutes a great difference from Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union of the 1970s, in which music societies, chess clubs, rock bands or - in more permissive regimes - even church groups could operate without much interference from the authorities. Eventually, these groups provided networks through which an anti-system resistances could develop and organize.


The North Korean media often explain that excessive permissiveness was responsible for the collapse of the communist regimes of Eastern Europe. As recent as May 15, Rodong Sinmun, the regime's major mouthpiece, reminded its readers in a lengthy article, "The collapse of the East European socialist countries was obviously the result of the imperialists' vicious ideological and cultural poisoning and deceptive psychological warfare designed to bring down socialism."


To fight this, the newspaper insisted, there was a need "to maintain the highest degree of vigilance against the imperialists' psychological warfare and intensify the working class education and revolutionary education of the people, youth and children in particular".


It would be too easy to describe the North Korean leaders as paranoid control freaks, but this is not really the case: their fears are well-justified. The existence of a rich and free South Korea creates a situation which is dramatically different from that of China or Vietnam. Pyongyang leaders are afraid that if the North Korean populace learns about the scale of the economic gap which exists between themselves and their southern brethren, the regime will instantly loose its legitimacy and might be overthrown. This seems to be a well-founded worry.


The unity of the elite is another factor contributing to the regime's stability. In most dictatorships there is the possibility of ambitious officials or, more likely, military officers trying to replace a failing dictator. In North Korea, such chances are small.


This does not mean that all North Korean generals or top officials are loyal to the Dear Leader and his august family. This unity is driven by clear-cut political calculations, with the existence of South Korea once again being a decisive factor. And if a challenge to the regime from within the leadership were successful, a coup would likely destabilize the system.


However, in the event of its collapse, both reformists and conservatives would face a similar fate: they would lose all power and privileges, since a collapse would likely lead to the absorption of the country by the prosperous South. If this happened, the former North Korean bosses - even the most "liberal" of them - would be very unlikely to remain in control.


This does not mean the current stability will continue forever. First, as subversive information from overseas gradually spreads inside the country, so the official mythology is increasingly seen as a lie. Second, the elite has lost much of its initial zeal, and it is ridden with rampant corruption. And finally, Kim Jong-il is mortal, as recent events reminded us.


It is also important that for some mysterious reason Kim has not appointed a successor. Kim's apprenticeship as a junior leader lasted over two decades, from the early 1970s to 1994, and it is probable that his successor, even if appointed tomorrow, would not have comparable time to create his own power base. Therefore, Kim can be expected to die without a successor, or with a successor who would have not established a power base.


When the Dear Leader dies, the top officials and generals who are now united around him as a necessary symbol will be exposed to the great temptation of vying for power. This is certain to lead to cracks appearing in their unity, which will be a signal to the populace that resistance is not futile any more.


Ideally, the next leader should be chosen by the elite within a few days of Kim's death so the people face the same regime, albeit with another great general at the top. However, it remains doubtful that Pyongyang's movers and shakers will be able to act that fast and demonstrate such a level of unity. After all, they are politicians, and this means they are ambitious people.


When Kim dies, the fate of his country will be resolved very fast, in a matter of days. If unity is preserved, the system will continue. If conflicts between generals and top leaders spill into the open, leading perhaps to violent clashes, the regime will face a grave, if not mortal threat. Popular dissatisfaction might find ways to express itself, and the system will start unraveling fast, leading to complete chaos and, perhaps, to the intervention of outside forces.


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/JI18Dg01.html



Related articles:

North Korea After Kim (Washington Post, 9.25)

After Kim Jong Il (The Atlantic, 9.23)

 







진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

베를린: N.K. 전시회


An exhibition about N.K. (aka "DPR"K) in Berlin:

 

  PjöngjangPjöngjang 


"Even in the year Juche 97, which is known elsewhere as 2008, North Korea seems to be on a different planet. The Great Leader Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994, rules as an Eternal President. His son Kim Jong Il is the much-loved leader.


Military parades are flashy. Statues are up to 20 metres high. The precision of mass gymnastics takes your breath away. Little permeates to the outside. Little penetrates to the inside. North Korea orbits around itself. North Korea is an irritation. It threatens its neighbours with the atom bomb, fails to feed its population adequately, and operates secret penal camps.


The few thousand visitors each year see nothing of this.


The totalitarian regime guides its guests through a total stage-production of the state.” (Christoph Möskes)


The exhibition PjönjangPjönjang by Jenny Rosemeyer and Eva-Maria Wilde attempts to reflect the two artists’ private journey through North Korea in the year 2007. In this context, both external and internal views of North Korea are presented and long-established positions are questioned.


The artists take a critical look at the construction of the artist as an observer and at his/her relation to society as well as reviewing existing research. The exhibition’s theme is the transformation of political into subjective artistic aesthetics. Works are shown that reflect the actual subject of observation - the country of North Korea with its current and historical contradictions – yet immersed in artistic aesthetics.


The artists represent their view of the country and its society in objects, three-dimensional works, photographs and collages. To supplement this, various other artists will be invited to show their existing works about North Korea.


A small video library with original film material from North Korea and critical documentaries about the country from recent years will be made available to the exhibition visitors.


In addition, travel literature and further documentary material will be provided for reading. By presenting a view of the country characterised by a subjective artistic standpoint and yet also incorporating a documentary level, the intention is to facilitate a new perspective on the phenomenon North Korea for visitors.


PjöngjangPjöngjang exhibits artistic contributions by: Arno Brandlhuber, Martin Eberle, Juliane Eirich, Hans-Christian Schink and Nicolai von Rosen (Future 7). Curator of the exhibition is Peter Lang, Berlin.


During the exhibition opening - at 8 pm on 18th September - we will be showing the film Der Rote Stern - Alltag in Nordkorea (2006) by Bernd Girrbach and Elke Werry.


At 7 pm on 25th September, Jörg Friedrich will be reading excerpts from his book Yalu. An den Ufern des dritten Weltkrieges (Propyläen-Verlag, 2008) among the exhibits in Studio 1.
 
 
Pj ö n g j a n g P j ö n g j a n g
Jenny Rosemeyer, Eva-Maria Wilde & Guests
Exhibition: 19th September – 5th October 2008
Wednesday – Sunday, 2 – 7 pm, Studio 1
Opening: Thursday, 18th September 2008, 7 pm
Berlin-Kreuzberg, Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien (Mariannenplatz 2)


http://www.bethanien.de/kb/index/trans/en

 

 

 

 

진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

김~김~김정일 #1


Following just a small selection of articles in the int'l and S.K. media related to N.K./the "Dear Leader" (aka Kim Jong-il):


1. Newsweek's article "The Plan Post-Kim: No Plan", published 9.13:


Some thoughts are even more disturbing than the idea of Kim Jong Il's controlling an arsenal of poison gas, germ-war cultures and nuclear devices. Like what if the North Korean leader suddenly didn't control those weapons of mass destruction?


The question grew urgent last week after Kim failed to show up at a parade marking the Stalinist regime's 60th anniversary. The Dear Leader hadn't appeared in public for weeks, and senior North Korean officials soothed no one's doubts when they broke their usual silence to deny that Kim had suffered a stroke. With no solid information on Kim's health, Washington could only hope North Korea wasn't on the verge of a succession crisis... (read the entire article here)


2. Sunny Lee wrote in Korea Times that..


China Wants the Reunification of Koreas


Zhu Feng (Chinese security expert and a former fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC) acknowledges that some Chinese scholars have concerns about a reunified Korea. Once reunited, the view goes, the new Korea, more powerful and confident, will reclaim old territory that once belonged to it. Much of this land is currently Chinese territory.


But all the Chinese scholars K.Times approached, said China wants the reunification of the two Koreas.


"China has always supported a peaceful reunification of the two Koreas,'' said Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University. The influential scholar, who is widely dubbed as "personal advisor to President Hu Jintao,'' dismissed the view of some South Korean scholars that China wants the status quo on the Korean peninsula.


Song also said, "China wants the peaceful unification of Korea because it's good for China as well. This is the view of the majority of Chinese scholars. It also wants it to be done without outside forces,'' adding "It is also not likely that North Korea would embark on a war with South Korea after Kim dies.''


Zhu put it this way. "Will a unified Korea turn against China? I personally don't think that will be the case. In terms of reunification, if Koreans can resolve their issue on their own, others don't have to intervene. But South Korean newspapers said China would intervene.''


As for unification, Zhu said, "This is your business, not China's. Actually, it's the conservatives in South Korea that don't favor unification because of the expected financial burden.''... (read the entire related article here)


For more please read (and "enjoy" ^^):

Careful Planning Matters More Than Kim Jong-il's Teeth (Chosun Ilbo, 9.16)

We May Miss Kim Jong-il.. (NYT, 9.13)

'Dear Leader, get well soon' (A. Times, 9.12)

Post-Kim Dynasty Korean Peninsula.. (DPRK Studies, 9.11)



 

 

 

 

 

진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

평양 '뉴스' #4

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)



진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

[인터뷰] '조(Joe)동지'

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



진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

故김정일('동지')..

Very latest news: Almost a half decade ago: The "Dear Leader" died (^^)!
Well, just "enjoy" following article published in last Sunday's
JapanToday:


N Korea's Kim died in 2003; replaced by lookalike..


Is Kim Jong Il dead? Yes, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” is no more, having passed away in the fall of 2003, writes Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura in Shukan Gendai (Aug 23-30).


A one-time Mainichi Shimbun journalist posted in Seoul, Shigemura is introduced by the magazine as a leading authority on the Korean Peninsula. His latest book, released this month, is titled “The True Character of Kim Jong Il.”


If true, the implications are potentially vast. Among them: former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s summit partner during one or both of his landmark visits to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004 was not Kim himself but a dummy—the stand-in Shigemura claims has been fooling the world for at least five years.


A dictator having one or multiple doubles is a familiar notion since Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was shown to have deployed them. But Saddam was alive at the time. Kim, in Shigemura’s scenario, was not manipulating a look-alike; he was replaced by one.


Of course it’s fantastic—but in North Korea, says Shigemura, fantasy and reality are not mutually exclusive. “Japanese common sense cannot take the measure of North Korea’s uniqueness,” he writes. “For example: Kim came to Tokyo six times in the 1980s.”


Then as now, North Korea and Japan had no diplomatic ties. Kim, then heir to the throne under his father, “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung, apparently traveled incognito by ship. His purpose: to take in the magic shows staged by magician Hikita Tenko at the upscale Cordon Bleu show pub in Akasaka.


Shigemura cites as sources (without naming them) several people close to Kim’s family. He hears from them that Kim’s diabetes took a turn for the worse early in 2000. From then until his supposed death three and a half years later he was confined to a wheelchair.


Was the flurry of diplomatic activity in which the world saw Kim engaged during those years mere sleight of hand?  The “hermit kingdom” seemed all of a sudden to grow remarkably outgoing. In June 2000 Kim hosted the historic summit with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung.  The following month, he received Russian President Vladimir Putin. In October his guest was U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In January 2001 he visited China; in August, Russia. In September 2002 there occurred the first summit with Koizumi, culminating in Kim’s admission, after decades of denial from Pyongyang, that North Korean agents had kidnapped Japanese nationals.  August 2003 saw the launch of the Six Party talks aimed at North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.


“Then suddenly,” writes Shigemura in Shukan Gendai, “the pace slows.”
The second Kim-Koizumi summit, in 2004, lasted all of 90 minutes. Scheduled meetings with other foreign dignitaries were abruptly canceled. Kim’s retreat from the public eye was almost total. State television in October 2003 showed him touring a collective farm, but mention of the date of the visit was conspicuously absent.


Kim’s family, meanwhile, was in a state of upheaval. His wife died—of breast cancer, said official reports; assassinated, according to persistent rumors. His favorite sister, a high-ranking Communist Party official, suddenly moved to Paris. Her husband lost his post. Clearly something was afoot.


In the spring of 2006, says Shigemura, American spy satellites succeeded in photographing Kim. An analysis of the photographs led to an astonishing conclusion: Kim had grown 2.5 cm!


“Recently,” Shigemura proceeds, “someone who was in contact with a Kim family member told me he heard the family member say, ‘There’s been a promise not to decide on Kim’s successor so long as the current shogun is alive.’”
“‘Shogun’ was Kim’s nickname,” Shigemura explains “If Kim were alive, the family member would simply have said, ‘the shogun’—not ‘the current shogun.’ The stress on ‘current’ seems to suggest that the person in question is someone other than Kim Jong Il.”


Shukan Gendai asks a government official who helped plan Koizumi’s Pyongyang visits what he thinks of all this. His reply:
“Rumors of a dummy Kim began circulating after the summit. Some of us said we should have Kim’s voice prints analyzed. But if we did that and proved the prime minister had been conferring with a double, it could have destroyed the Koizumi administration. So we didn’t proceed.”


But (unfortunately) in the reality...


..the "Dear Leader" is..

 ..still "alive"!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

금강산../조선중앙통신

N.K.'s "news"agency KCNA today ("only" three days after the deadly "incident" took place!!) published the first official statement (*).


But while the main parts of the statement are already internationally well-known (especially the obscure demand that "The south side should be held responsible for the incident, make clear apology to the north side.."^^), the text reports also about a typical miracle "Made in D.P.R.K."! While almost everyone knows that the victim, Park Wang-ja, was a middle-aged housewife from Seoul, her death in the "Paradise of the Korean Nation" changed surprisingly her gender!


But possibly it's just the result of the mad ideas of KCNA's editors and/or the Dear Leader's "ingenious wisdom"! Because: likely (??) they're just thinking that the murder of a male person is more tolerably/less disgusting for the int'l public..


* South Side Chiefly to Blame for Incident at Mt. Kumgang Resort


A south Korean who came to tour Mt. Kumgang was shot to death by a serviceman of the Korean People's Army at around 4:50 a.m. on July 11. A spokesman for the Guidance Bureau for Comprehensive Development of Scenic Spots issued a statement on Saturday in this regard.

 
The DPRK feels regretful at this, the statement notes, and goes on:
As for the cause of the incident, it occurred because the south Korean tourist trespassed on the area under the military control of the north side, going beyond the tourist zone.


A particular mention should be made of the fact that the south Korean tourist intruded deep into the area under the military control of the north side all alone at dawn, going beyond the clearly marked boundary fence, even his shoes got wet.

 
When a KPA serviceman spotted him and ordered him to stop, he did not obey the order but began to run away. He kept running although the KPA serviceman repeatedly shouted at him to stop, even firing blank bullets. The KPA serviceman could not but open fire at him.
 

The responsibility for the incident entirely rests with the south side.
 

The south side should be held responsible for the incident, make clear apology to the north side and take measures against the recurrence of the similar incident.

 
Nevertheless, the south side authorities unilaterally announced that they would suspend the tour of Mt. Kumgang for the time being, a challenge to the north side.


As it is an intolerable insult to the north side, it will take a measure not to accept south Korean tourists until the south side makes proper apology for the recent incident and takes measures against the recurrence of such incident.


As the cause of the incident is very clear and the north side has already confirmed the scene of the incident together with personnel of the Hyundai side right after its occurrence, it cannot accept the south side's proposal for inspecting the area of the north side for investigation.


http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2008/200807/news07/14.htm#1




진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

'선군정치' 만세!

A NEW VICTORY FOR THE MILITARY FIRST POLICY!!


In the morning of July 11 in the Kumgang Mountain "tourist area" the armed forces of Korea, the Korean People's Army (KPA), prevented an massive attack against the D.P.R.K., the paradise of the entire Korean nation!


At 04:30 a.m. a cowardly terrorist, sent by the south Korean "government", led by the evil traitor Lee Myung Bak, attempted to attack the D.P.R.K.!


But, as usual for our heroic armed forces - led by the victoriously Military First Policy(*), created by the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il - thwarted the attempt immediately! By terminating the infiltrator directly and definetly on the spot!!


The responsibility for the incident rests entirely with the south side. The south should make a clear apology (for the attampted terrorist attack) and take measures to prevent the recurrence of a similar incident!


D.P.R.K. Ministry of Peaceful Unification
K.P.A. Department of Peace and Love

Pyongyang, Juche 97.7.12



* i.e. "Shoot first and never ask/shoot to kill!"

 

 


Related stuff:

North Blames South Over Tourist Killing (Korea..)

Death at Geumgang: More Questions Than Answers (..Times)

 

 




진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

내일(土): CNN'보고'

 

CNN's correspondent Christiane Amanpour gives a rare glimpse of the secret society in the "Notes from North Korea" airing tomorrow (KST 2300, CET 1600 on CNN Int'l) and Sunday (KST 1500).. Well, just check it out! It could be an interesting(*) report!

 

Behind the Scenes: Amanpour's notes from North Korea (CNN, 5.08)


* Of course(!!) you don't have to believe(^^) everything what you see, hear, smell, feel... "DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!" (Public Enemy)

 

 

진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

주체사상 만세! #2

"Like we did in the past, we can survive without south Korea!!" (Rodong Shinmun wrote before y'day in connection to the current N-S trouble)

Yeah, exactly, as we can see it here:


Preparing the spring farming season 2008 ("collective farm" in Hamgyeong buk-do)


Well, likely we missed something: Possibly some days ago Kim Jong-il introduced the N.K. style GLASNOST, the KWP was liquidated and Rodong Shinmun, the former KWP central newspaper, turned into a satirical magazine.. or whatever..^^




진보블로그 공감 버튼트위터로 리트윗하기페이스북에 공유하기딜리셔스에 북마크

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