CINA

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Today actually I wanted to bring here another Chinese joke about the "DPR"K but it seems that the "real life" has to offer us enough "jokes".. Just "enjoy"(*) following story in Korea Times' newest edition:

Round of Golf in Pyongyang in Sight
 

South Koreans may be able to play golf in North Korea as early as June, with a travel agency preparing a golf tour package to Pyongyang.

PyeongHwa(**) Air Travel Agency said Thursday that discussion is underway with the North Korean authorities to launch the golf tour in June and a visit to the mass gymnastic show Arirang in August.

``We are discussing the programs with the North and need to get the Unification Ministry's approval,'' Park Se-jin, a director of the agency, said.

The agency was set up in 2003 by the head of Pyeonghwa Motors, a North Korea-based automaker jointly run by businessmen from the two Koreas. It has provided South Korean citizens with exclusive travel programs to Pyongyang ― about 1,000 visitors in September and October in 2003, and 1,200 in October 2005.

The trips were suspended due to flooding in the North and the nuclear crisis.

``We plan to operate a pilot tour in June. So far there have been no golf trips to the North, so we need to try it and polish the tour program. We also plan to include the Arirang performance in the program starting August when the performance begins,'' Park said.

The program is likely to include one-night accommodation, a round of golf, and a trip to downtown Pyongyang, with the Arirang performance being added to the list in August. ``The golf course is 6,890 yards long. Unlike golf trips to China or Southeast Asia, tourists may not be able to play golf there all day long, and so they may want to go sightseeing around the city,'' Park said.

It has yet to fix the price of the package. The agency's previous programs to Pyongyang cost 1.1 million won ($1,120).

The agency has sent letters introducing its trip plan to people who previously visited Pyongyang through the agency, and 3,000 people have already applied for the special tour, Park said.

Charter flights will be used between Seoul's Gimpo Airport to Pyongyang's Sunan Airport. Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, or North Korea's Air Koryo may carry the tourists...

 
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/03/116_20667.html

* Well, I know.. It's not funny, not really!!
** The Pyeonghwa Group is in the ownership of the Unification Church (통일교회), aka the Moon Sect.

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..and if everything goes wrong: likely until the "bitter end"!

Last month, punctually to Kim Jong-il's birthday (2.16), netizens in China (yeah, the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC!!) published a small collection of jokes about the "funny" life (oops, don't be funny!!) in the "DPR"K (N.K.).
Well, here comes joke no. 1:

Jeong Man-yong, a farmer at a collective farm in N.K., catches a big fish in the river. Exalted, Jeong comes back home and asks his wife to fry the fish.
“We can have fried-fish for dinner!” said Jeong.
“But we don’t have oil.”
“Then, let’s have steamed fish.”
“We don’t have an iron pot either!”
“OK, then let's just grill it.”
“There is no firewood.”
Angrily Jeong goes back to the river and lets the fish go free.
The fish circles around and jumps out of the water, yelling “Long live the General Kim Jong Il!”

(北)조선/북한 집단농장의 농장원 정만용씨가 강에서 고기 한 마리를 잡았다.
정씨는 기쁜 마음으로 집에 돌아와 아내에게 말했다.
“이것봐. 우리 오늘 물고기 튀김을 먹을 수 있겠어!”
“기름이 없잖아요?”
“그럼 찜을 하자.”
“솥이 없어요!”
“그럼 구워 먹자.”
“땔감이 없는데......"
화가 난 정 씨가 다시 강으로 가서 물고기를 놓아줬다.
물고기는 물에서 원을 그리며 노닐다가 윗몸을 물 밖으로 내밀더니 오른쪽 지느러미를 치켜 들고 흥분된 목소리로 크게 외쳤다.
“김정일 장군님 만세!”

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Well, it's only one week ago that the NY Philharmonic Orchestra 'had to pay its respect' to the N.K. leadership, respectively to Kim Jong-il - "..even the American artistic group is coming to knock their foreheads on the floor in front of General Kim." (WSJ, 3.01)..
But last Saturday Kim Jong-il had to pay his tribute to the Chinese ambassador, i.e. governor(??) in P.Y. (^^).

☞ Kim visit a sign of North, China tightening ties (JoongAng Ilbo)

☞ Kim Jong Il Restores North-China Relations (DailyNK)

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While the NY Philharmonic is performing in Pyeongyang the rulers (i.e. Kim Jong-il and his gang) of NK are surprising the world with new ideas of cultural "exchange". Today's Korea Times reported that the "DPRK" is inviting Eric Clapton to Perform in NK. But why Clapton? Of course he was one of the most important musicians (Yardbirds, Cream, ..) in the last century... But why he will be invited?
After a while of thinking about it I remembered that there were about two years ago some "news" about Kim Jong-chol, one of Kim Jong-il's sons.. Just check out following:

☞ N. Korea’s heir apparent follows Eric Clapton on tour in Germany
Well, it seems that the rulers in PY are thinking: "Why we need to travel around the world just to enjoy our favourite musicians? We just have to invite them - someone, whereever in the world will pay for it (just to support our "policy of detente" - haha, a f.. stupid idea of the imperialism^^) - and they will playing for us, i.e. will pay tribute to the Great Leader, aka the Sun of the 21st Century.. (the German "socialist" daily newspaper Junge Welt today called the concert of the NY Philharmonic a "belated birthday present to Kim Jong-il"/"sozusagen ein verspätetes Ständchen zum 66. Geburtstag des »Geliebten Führers« Kim Jong-Il").

Related: 

☞ 'Americans in Pyongyang' (CNN)

☞ NY Philharmonic launches music diplomacy in N.Korea (IHT)

☞ Pyongyang Residents' Reactions to Philharmonic Performance (DailyNK)

☞ Harmony across the axis of evil.. (Guardian)

☞ NY Phil. Comes and Goes, But All Remains the Same (Marmot's Hole)

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Since y'day, until the end of Feb., all N.K. citizens are celebrating(*) the birthday of the "Sun of the 21st Century", a.k.a. Kim Jong-il, well known as the "Dear Leader". (Oops~ before I forget it: of course the entire world population is doing the same!! What else??)
While the "ordinary" N.K. citizens are celebrating the birthday with mass rallies, mass dances etc, the N.K. security forces are performing mass executions - if we want to believe (..well, we don't have to do..) following strange story by today's Yonhap:

22 N. Korean drifters executed after return home

 A group of 22 North Koreans who had been returned home after their boats drifted into South Korean waters were all immediately executed by North Korean authorities, a source here said Sunday.

Two fishing boats carrying the North Koreans -- 14 women and eight men including three teenagers -- drifted into the western waters off South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island on Feb. 8 and were sent back home after South Korean interrogators found they had no intention of defecting, the National Intelligence Service said in a press release on Saturday.

The North Koreans were residents of Kangnyeong County, North Korea's southern coastal province of South Hwanghae, who went to sea to collect clams and oysters without authorization from the North Korean maritime agency, the intelligence service said.

The report of their return by South Korean authorities came after the mass circulation Chosun Ilbo broke the report in its weekend edition.

A source well-versed in North Korea told Yonhap News Agency, however, that the drifters were all executed immediately after returning home early last week. The provincial branch of North Korea's National Security Agency shot and killed them secretly, the source said.

Of the group, 13 were extended family members and nine others were their neighbors, according to the South Korean intelligence agency.

"A rumor spread in South Hwanghae Province that (the security agency) secretly executed the 22 people immediately after they were returned," the source said.

"People in the province are shocked by the fact that all of the 22 people were shot and killed without exception, such being sent to a prison camp," the source said.

South Korean intelligence officials, contacted by Yonhap News Agency, said they were not aware of the rumored execution and would try to verify it.

South Korean intelligence acknowledged there is a possibility that the returnees were executed because of their unauthorized fishing.

"I'm not aware of whether they were executed or not, but that's possible because they went fishing with no authorization from the North Korean maritime authorities," a government official said, requesting anonymity.

Given the large number of North Koreans spotted aboard, suspicions had been raised that they were seeking asylum but were returned. The fact that the majority of the drifters were women -- 14 out of 22 -- and that three students aged between 15 and 17 were aboard contributed to the suspicion of their defection attempt.

They were sent back home through a overland route after being brought to the port city of Incheon for interrogation.

The intelligence authorities denied the speculation.

The drifters "could have been sent back at the site where they were rescued, because they said they were drifting and they had no intention of defecting, but there was a large number of them, including women, so their boats were taken to Incheon for interrogation," another government official said.

Joint interrogation by the police and the National Intelligence Agency found that they were neither asylum seekers nor spies, he said...

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2008/02/17/95/0301000000AEN20080217001500315F.HTML

Marmot's Hole asked today:

☞ Were 22 Returned North Koreans Executed?

☞ What Are People Doing on Kim's Birthday? (DailyNK, 2.17)

* or better said: forced to celebrate.. (likely??!!^^)

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Few weeks ago a found a web site with some very beautiful pictures from Gaeseong (Kaesong/DPRK):

자남산에서 바라본 개성 옛도시

아름다운 작은 집/한옥

관음사 대웅전(觀音寺 大雄殿) 내부

Like everywhere in NK, also in Gaeseong: Big Brother Is Watching You!

But Gaeseong isn't just a really beautiful city, it's also - how A. Lankov yesterday wrote in Asia Times - "a breach in DPRK's iron curtain"..
Well, if you want to learn more about the reason why.. Please check out following stuff:

☞ A breach in North Korea's iron curtain (A. Times, 2.07)

☞ Eager S. Koreans Tour a Semi-Open City in the North (NYT, 1.04)

Somehow related:

☞ Bribery Required to Work in Kaesong (DailyNK, 2.04)

☞ 개성 관광

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A few weeks ago the Woodrow Wilson International Center (Washington, DC/USA) created the North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP).

For everyone who wants to learn/understand more about some backgrounds of the present and the past of the (since 60 years) ongoing "trouble" on the Korean Peninsula/North East Asia its web site should be a MUST!

A brief look indicates that this is and will be an outstanding resource for those interested in North Korean and Cold War history. There are several collections, including but not limited to, North Korea’s Nuclear Program, DPRK in the Sino-Soviet Split, DPRK-PRC Relations, DPRK-Soviet Union Relations, etc.

"The North Korea International Documentation Project serves as an informational clearinghouse on North Korea for both the scholarly and policymaking communities by widely disseminating newly declassified documents on the DPRK from its former 'communist' allies as well as other resources that provide valuable insight into the actions and nature of the North Korean state.", NKIDP in its introduction.

Well, just check it out!!

Somehow related:

☞ Roh Apologizes for Massacres of `Leftists' in 1950 (K. Times, 1.24)

☞ North Korea dragged back to the past (Asia Times/HK, 1.24)

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"DPR"K's media, such as Rodong Shinmun, Joseon Inmin-gun etc, exactly one week ago released the joint editorial called "Glorify This Year of the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the DPRK as a Year of Historical Turn Which Will Go Down in the History of the Country" on the occasion of the New Year, Juche 97 (aka "2008").

Following just some of the "most important" contents of the editorial:

Our cause of building a great, prosperous and powerful country which made a vigorous advance under the leadership of the great Workers' Party of Korea has entered a new historical stage. At present, when a bright morning is breaking in this land dignified for Songun to promise prosperity, our soldiers and people are full of pride in being victors and of militant mettle, and the whole country is seething with an unprecedented spirit of creation and advance...

Last year Juche 96 (2007), a year of proud victories, the great vitality of our Party's Songun-based revolutionary line was fully testified and a great advance was made in building a thriving country...

By commemorating the 95th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army in a grand way, we demonstrated to the full the unshakable faith of our Party and people to complete the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered on Mt. Paektu and the might of the army which has been prepared as an invincible, elite force. The road we are taking is the road of Juche, the road of Songun, opened by Kim Il Sung; the objective of our advance is a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country; and our might is the single-minded unity of the soldiers and people rallied around the Party...

The proud victories and successes we achieved last year in the political, military, economic, cultural, diplomatic and all other realms are brilliant fruition of Kim Jong Il's outstanding strategy and tactics, his iron will and his tireless leadership...

The New Year Juche 97 is a year of gigantic struggle, a year of jubilation in the national history, when a great change will be brought about in the history of our country and our revolution...

Under the slogan of "Defend the leadership of the revolution headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Il at the cost of our lives!" the KPA should intensify the campaign to win the title of O Jung Hup-led Seventh Regiment so as to demonstrate the might of the strong revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu fully prepared as the ranks of human bullets and bombs guarding the leader at the risk of their lives...

The basic way to win victory in the general offensive for the building of a great, prosperous and powerful country is to regard the exploits of our Party in the Songun leadership as guidelines and do everything the way Kim Jong Il does...

Young people are the reliable successors to our Party's Songun revolutionary cause and the most vital combat unit in socialist construction. Youth league organizations should put primary effort to ideological education to thoroughly prepare young people as youth heroes and human bullets and bombs in the Songun era who will defend the headquarters of the revolution at the cost of their lives...

And last but not least:
In 2012 we will greet the 100th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung. It was his lifetime wish and cause to build a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country on this land, a country in which the national power is strong, everything thrives and the people live envying nothing in the world...

But despite of "DPR"K's prospect(^^) of a "great, prosperous and powerful country" - at least until 2012 - already today the int'l media, here for example Asia Times (HK), must ask for "A chance for change in North Korea". It seems that never they can/will learn the truth/accept the reality(^^)!!??

Related stuff:

☞ New Year Editorial of Leading Newspapers in DPRK

☞ 공화국창건 60돐을 맞는 올해를 조국청사에 아로새겨질 력사적전환의 해로 빛내이자

☞ Pyongyang City Mass Rally Held (KCNA, 01.05)

☞ Revolutionary Slogan for Present General Offensive (KCNA, 01.08)

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Last week (12.9) NK's (aka "DPR"K) daily (WPK/조선로동당) newspaper Rodong Shinmun  published following "significant"(^^) article:

Western-style "Democracy" Termed

Sham Democracy
 

The imperialists and the paid bourgeois trumpeters are forcing other countries to introduce Western-style "freedom and democracy" describing them as the most "universal" and "perfect" ones and the model to be followed by the international community. But this is an insult to genuine freedom and democracy. Rodong Sinmun Sunday says this in a signed article.

 
"Freedom and democracy" much touted by the imperialists are sham ones and they are nothing but camouflage to hoodwink working masses and cover up the reactionary nature of bourgeois dictatorship and the unpopular nature of the capitalist system, the article notes, and goes on:

Bourgeois freedom allows a handful of the privileged to exploit and dominate popular masses, absolute majority of population, and lead carnal life. The Western-style "democracy" is the most reactionary and unpopular policy as it ruthlessly defies the desire and demand of the popular masses for freedom and democracy.
   

The article cites practices of American-style "democracy" which the paid bourgeoisie trumpeters describe as "model of freedom and democracy."
   

The imperialists seek to force other countries and nations to follow and introduce the Western-style political mode and way of life. It is high-handed practices aimed to deprive the people of those countries and nations of their option for ideology and ism, and acts of denying and violating democracy.
   

It is foolhardy of the imperialists and their mouthpieces to try to cover up their unpopular and reactionary socio-political system and justify human rights abuses and crimes of aggression and war.
   

If one allows and introduces the deceptive "democracy," being taken in by the U.S. sugar-coated rhetoric, one cannot defend the hard-won revolutionary gains, the sovereignty of the country and the destiny of the nation.

 
Well, beside the fact that almost similar trash you can read in the daily propaganda  of the international "modern" fascism/national 'socialism', but also in statements of the int'l Islamic movement, like stuff from Iran, or some Palestinian "resistance" organisations (Hamas, IJM etc..) - THERE IS NO FURTHER COMMENT NECESSARY!! (*) 

The Korean version:
로동신문 서방식《민주주의》는 가짜민주주의이다
 
 
9일부 《로동신문》은 제국주의자들과 부르죠아어용나팔수들이 서방식《자유》와 《민주주의》가 가장 《보편적》이고 《완성된것》이라느니, 국제사회가 받아들여야 할 《본보기》라느니 뭐니 하면서 그것을 다른 나라들에 강요하고있는것은 참다운 자유와 민주주의에 대한 모독행위로 된다고 단죄하였다.

개인필명의 론설은 제국주의자들이 떠드는 《자유》와 《민주주의》는 가짜자유, 가짜민주주의이며 그것은 근로인민대중을 기만하고 부르죠아독재의 반동성과 자본주의제도의 반인민적본질을 가리우기 위한 위장물에 지나지 않는다고 지적하였다.

부르죠아자유는 사회의 절대다수 인민대중에 대한 소수 특권층의 착취와 지배, 동물적인 생활을 허용하는 자유이며 서방식《민주주의》는 자유와 민주주의에 대한 인민대중의 지향과 요구를 무자비하게 짓밟는 가장 반동적이며 반인민적인 정치이라고 론설은 까밝혔다.

그러면서 론설은 부르죠아어용나팔수들이 《자유와 민주주의표본》으로 묘사하는 미국식《민주주의》실태를 실례로 들었다.

론설은 제국주의자들이 다른 나라와 민족들에게 서방식정치방식과 생활질서를 따르고 그것을 받아들이라고 강박해나서고있는것은 다른 나라 인민들로부터 사상과 리념의 선택권을 빼앗아내려는 강권행사이며 민주주의 그자체를 부인하고 유린하는것으로 된다고 주장하였다.

제국주의자들과 그 대변자들이 저들의 반인민적이며 반동적인 사회정치제도를 감싸고 인권유린죄행과 침략, 전쟁범죄를 합리화하려 하지만 그것은 부질없는짓이라고 론설은 지적하였다.

론설은 미국의 달콤한 기만적인 《민주주의》설교에 속아넘어가 그것을 허용하고 받아들이면 피흘려 쟁취한 혁명의 전취물과 나라의 자주권,민족의 운명을 지켜낼수 없다고 강조하였다.
 

http://www.kcna.co.jp/calendar/2007/12/12-10/2007-1209-004.html

* BTW.. Possibly any kind of "democracy" is better than NO democracy (??)!!

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Last week (11.20) in Seoul the new ("NK underground") magazine Rimjingang has been presented to the public. Today DailyNK published (the first part) of an interview with Jiro Ishimaru (Asia Press, Japan), one of the main organizers/founders of the Rimjingang project:

North Korean Underground Journalists

and the "Rimjingang"

   
Mr. Jiro, who has been collecting data on North Korea since the.. 1990s, said that “The media is a kind of social infrastructure for making a democratic society. Therefore, I think it is necessary to fertilize North Korean society with the seed of journalism.”

Mr. Jiro also said, “I was very concerned about establishing a media source within North Korea, as it is really dangerous. However, the North Korean reporters insisted that they need a means of informing the North Korean civilians about news from the outside world as well, saying that ‘We will never get out of this delapitated state if there is no such thing as independent media.'”

- What is the purpose of publishing the "Rimjingang"?

Firstly, the purpose is to plant the seed of journalism. It is the demands of time that spurs on North Korea’s necessity for independent journalism. Media is indeed an essential element in creating a democratic society. The outside world must know what is taking place inside North Korea, and it is the insiders that must release this information to the outside world.

Secondly, North Korean underground journalists need some medium for their journalism activities. Thus far, North Korean residents have released inside information as messengers for South Korean or international newspapers. With the establishment of Rimjingang, they can now release more accurate and up-to-date information directly through their own medium and their own articles.

Lastly, I wanted to establish a path of communication between the North Koreans and the South Koreans.

- It does not sound like an easy task to educate North Korean citizens to be journalists..

I have been collecting data on North Korea since the 1990s. However, North Korea was so secured that foreigners could not easily enter North Korea and gather information freely. I eventually thought to establish some contacts inside North Korea for this purpose.

In the beginning, I needed someone to inform me of inside stories and to take photographs, but later I decided to educate them as professional journalists.

Finally, in 2002 I met Lee Joon, a North Korean citizen aimed at doing something to change North Korean society. I started educating him in the field of journalism, and soon after, he began reporting on news happening inside the country. Since 2004, he has been capturing video footage as well.

From that point on, he began educating North Korean youth in order to create a new trend of journalism. His students are the current reporters of “Rimjingang.”

- Can you give me a detailed description of the other reporters?

There is no one from the privileged class. They are simply urban residents who are well-educated, ordinary North Korean citizens who understand the value of this information.

Those who I have educated in China have entered North Korea, organized and educated people who wanted to participate in our activities. New reporters occasionally visit China to keep a relationship with other reporters. There are several groups of reporters. They cannot be mobilized at the same time for the sake of security.

They are working around Pyongyang and the central districts of different provinces. Those in border areas must take extra precautions because the surveillance near the border has recently become very strict.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&num=2970

Related:

☞ 지하 잡지 '림진강' (11.22)