Monthly Archive for September, 2007

The summit timeline

Published
by
Jack
on September 30, 2007
in News, North Korea and ROK
. 5 Comments

Bored Kim

(picture source)

Update 8 (Oct 4): The summit is finally over. There is an 8 prong plan:

1. South and North Korea to actively implement the June 15 [2000] Joint Declaration.

2. South and North Korea to work for mutual respect and trust in order to overcome differences in ideology, system.

3. South and North Korea to ease military tensions, resolve disputes through dialogue and negotiations. The two sides to set up a joint fishing area in the West Sea to avoid accidental armed conflict. The two sides to hold defence ministerial talks in November in Pyongyang to discuss ways of supporting inter-Korean economic cooperation and easing tension.

4. South and North Korea agree on need to end the current armistice and establish permanent peace. The two sides to push for a declaration of the ending of the Korean War in cooperation with neighbouring nations. South and North Korea to make joint efforts for the smooth implementation of the Sept 19 and Feb 13 six-nation nuclear agreements.

5. South and North Korea to expand economic cooperation for balanced development and co-prosperity. The two sides to create a special peace zone around Haeju in North Korea and nearby areas, as well as work towards a joint fishing area, peace waters, special economic zone, and joint development of the estuary of the Han River.

6. South and North Korea to develop cooperation in the history, language, education, technology, culture, sports, and social sectors. The two sides to open direct air route between Seoul and Mount Paekdu to allow South Koreans to visit the mountain in North Korea.

7. South and North Korea to actively push for humanitarian cooperation and expansion of reunion of separated families.

8. South and North Korea to strengthen cooperation for national interest in the international stage and the benefits of Korean residents abroad.

South and North Korea to hold talks between their prime ministers in November in Seoul to implement these agreements. Leaders of the two sides to hold frequent talks in order to consult on pending issues.

OK, an agreement was signed. That does not mean a lot until action is taken.

Continue reading ‘The summit timeline’

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Getting the gifts ready for Kim Jong Il

Published
by
Jack
on September 29, 2007
in Humanitarian Topic, Kim Jong Il, News, North Korea and ROK
. 1 Comment

It is an insult to read about the plans of a summit that include giving things to a man that rules with tyranny and holds absolutely no regard to lives of people living under his control. For the last three decades, people suffer untold human rights abuses including the squelching of free speech, movement, religion, and a lot more. All outside media is banned, and the DPRK authorities take extra measures to stop the influx of outside influences to help sustain the lies that is Juche and Kim’s cult of personality.

There are plans of Roh giving Kim Jong Il gifts people are not allowed to have. What are some of the things planned? Foreign movies and equipment. Normal North Koreans do not have the chance to buy this equipment or watch the DVDs openly, and face very harsh penalties if they do choose to watch it. So they have to watch it in secret. Am I saying they have a right to these items? No. But they should have the right to watch whatever they like and reach for the means necessary to achieve dreams and goals. If that includes buying the things they want including movies, then that should happen. Kim Jong Il does not allow that, yet he is allowed to do so. He is a hypocrite and Roh is going to symbolize that is OK. That is not OK, and it makes me very angry.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il is a big fan of popular South Korean actress Lee Young-Ae and he will receive DVDs of her hit dramas and films as gifts at an upcoming summit, a report said Saturday.

“Chairman Kim likes to watch South Korean TV programmes. Among South Korean entertainers, he favours Lee Young-Ae the most,” an unidentified South Korean official was quoted as saying by the JoongAng daily.

“DVDs of South Korean movies and dramas, including those featuring Lee Young-Ae, will be included as summit gifts,” the official said.

Yes, he loves movies so much, he went as far as to kidnap two people:

His obsession with developing North Korea’s film industry was so great that in 1978 he reportedly ordered North Korean agents to abduct a famous South Korean movie director, Shin Sang-Ok, and his ex-wife, actress Che Eun Hui.

The couple stayed in the communist state for eight years while making propaganda films. They escaped in 1986 and wrote a memoir about their saga.

In July, North Korea reportedly ordered the shutdown of karaoke bars, online game rooms, video-screening rooms and Internet cafes as part of a battle to stem a flood of South Korean pop culture.

So while Kim and his propaganda department say people cannot watch these things because of evil outside influences, perhaps he should practice what he preaches and follow it himself if it is an ideology he cares so much about. He is supposed to set an example for everybody else right? I say forget giving Kim Jong Il anything like that because that is against his state sponsored religion. Very hypocritical indeed.

This issue is a very vocal split in South Korea, while one side says it will help boost peace, the other side says it is avoiding talking about the issues and is just a show. I have to say it is the latter. Not only that, Roh plans to visit the mass games, and that is also going to look very (for the lack of a better word) bad from where I am sitting. Human rights activists are not happy, as they should be. This is not going to make the people suffering in North Korea any better. While Kim and Roh play patty cake, people are eating tree bark. That is not fair.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven, is a farce and playing with the hopes and lives of millions. Nothing is going to get done other than some feel-good photo-op. It’s sad, sickening and a lot more. People deserve to have freedom, and this is not going to help it in any way, shape or form. I say get total sanctions across the board and see an end to the regime once and for all.

Also, it also looks like Roh is going to cross the DMZ too. That will be a historical moment, and will be on news wires all over the place. Again, it is just a photo-op show.

fixed typos and other errors

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Make sure to see Joshua’s coverage on Myanmar

Published
by
Jack
on September 27, 2007
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

This is must see coverage on Myanmar. This is history unfolding successful or not, and is worth keeping a close eye on.

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So close but no cigar

Published
by
Jack
on September 27, 2007
in News, North Korea, Nukes, ROK and United States
. 1 Comment

The fresh round of talks restarted in China, and while it is said they are very close, nobody signed the dotted line yet. When that will happen is another thing altogether, so it is still more “hurry up and wait”. When dealing with North Korea, this is always the case anyhow.

Meanwhile, with regard to suspicions that it has a secret uranium enrichment, North Korea reportedly admitted to importing about 150 tons of hard aluminum pipes, a material for a centrifugal separator, from Russia in the past. The pipes can be used to make some 2,600 centrifugal separators for the enrichment of uranium, a South Korean government official said.

North Korea disclosed this in Washington-Pyongyang working talks on normalizing bilateral relations in Geneva early this month. But it did not say whether it had actually used the pipes to make centrifuges and enrich uranium. North Korea will reportedly deal with this issue during the process of its declaration of nuclear programs.

A South Korean government official said, “Despite North Korea’s admission that it imported aluminum pipes, we can’t yet say it has made (weapons-grade) enriched uranium with the pipes. Many other components are also needed to make centrifugal separators.”

However, Russia denies the charges, but it seems there was some stuttering:

Continue reading ‘So close but no cigar’

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Propaganda Time, massive irony edition

Published
by
Jack
on September 26, 2007
in Video and wtf
. 3 Comments

Kim Jong Il knows fashion. His jumpsuit is something Versace should emulate and envy. Long live the Great General!

He also is very concerned about peoples’ diet. I do not know what a dress or toilet paper has to do with diet, but I am not going to go there:

And yes, you get a double dose today for your re-education.

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I had to add Left Flank to the blogroll.

Published
by
Jack
on September 25, 2007
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

I really like this blog, and decided to add it to the blogroll. There is a lot of interesting insight here, and enjoy reading the entries. I should have added this a long time ago, so there you go with the link. Enjoy.

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Disengagement? Please say it is not so (updated)!

Published
by
Jack
on September 25, 2007
in News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, Politics and The region
. 1 Comment

This is absolutely no surprise, and Richardson is proven right once again:

North Korea’s chief nuclear envoy warns negotiations on ending his country’s nuclear programs are entering a crucial stage that could undo four years of diplomatic effort. As VOA’s Heda Bayron reports from our Asia News Center in Hong Kong, his comments come ahead of the resumption of the six-nation nuclear talks.
…
He told reporters at the Beijing airport that if North Korea, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia fail to agree on the details of the process, it could grind to a halt.

But Kim says if the United States and other countries meet their commitments, North Korea will do the same as well.

The article was not clear, and suspected it was about Syria, and sure enough that’s what it was:

Pyongyang’s top nuclear envoy denounced reports of North Korean nuclear assistance to Syria as baseless allegations “fabricated by lunatics” as he arrived Tuesday for talks with Chinese officials.

Following his arrival in Beijing, Kim Kye Gwan said the latest round of six-nation talks on ending the North’s nuclear programs could be a make-or-break occasion.

Ahhh, so that’s the rub. Kim is not going to give up his nukes, and now, North Korea talks about the U.S. helping Israel. When in the world has North Korea ever cared about Israel? Maybe they have, and as others have pointed out, North Korea has been chums with Syria for a while. Yes, there is no proof if North Korea is helping Syria with Nuclear material or technology, but it does not seem the point right now. At the least, it is a nice disengagement ploy, which is very Kim Jong Il.

So all of this work may be for naught, and that may mean Roh’s dreams of a summit may be in the drain, but that does not mean anything either. Remember the drinking game? It will most likely happen anyway as a feel good meeting and nothing will be done. Nice smiles will be exchanged, some words will be exchanged, but nothing about nukes or human rights will be discussed because Kim Jong Il does not like to be criticized. In the meantime, Kim plays his game that has worked all this time, and looks like it may work again.

Now what about that terror list removal? I would wait on that (Err, strike that), but North Korea wants its cake and have it all for themselves (Update: See DPRK Studies):

“We are dealing with those issues but there has been no decision made,” Hill said of removing North Korea from the blacklist.

“Obviously, this is something the DPRK very much wants but we’ve made it very clear it depends on further denuclearisation,” Hill said, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Again, very North Korea. They want to be asshats, disengage, cozy with Syria, hang with the holocaust denier (and why not? The DPRK are the experts on gulags that would make Hitler proud), and never hold the end of the deal. And what happened? Goodies were sent.

Ugh, I do not see this going anywhere.

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Upgrade in process

Published
by
Jack
on September 24, 2007
in Other Topics
. 0 Comments

Wordpress 2.3 is out, and I would like to try the new features. Therefore, if you see quirks, things that do not look quite right, or something wrong, it is the upgrade process, so just to let you all know.

I do not know if the style will break, and if so, I will have to tweak it or find a style that works with the new version.

Ugh, the upgrade did not work. The formatting got all messed up. I’ll try again later.

Edit: Finally worked, and all the plugins work after some upgrades.

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More hints on terror list dropping

Published
by
Jack
on September 24, 2007
in North Korea, Nukes, The region and United States
. 3 Comments

No, there is no definite answer yet, but if the U.S. goes through with the delisting could cause a few problems with Japanese relations with the U.S. This story has more:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hinted on Monday that North Korea could be dropped from a U.S. terrorism blacklist before fully accounting for the Japanese citizens it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s.

Such a move could antagonize Japan, a key U.S. ally for whom the fate of the abductees — who were kidnapped by North Korean agents and kept in the impoverished, Stalinist state for decades — is a politically sensitive issue.

North Korea’s presence on the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list — which imposes a range of U.S. sanctions — has become a bargaining chip in multilateral negotiations on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.

The top U.S. negotiator with North Korea suggested recently that Pyongyang could come off the list before it abandons all nuclear programs as called for under a 2005 agreement among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Asked if Washington might also drop Pyongyang from the list before it provides a complete accounting for Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea, Rice said the United States should not tie its hands in doling out such carrots to Pyongyang.

“I don’t think that we want to get into a situation in which we have locked all of the steps that we might take with the North Koreans and lock them into a certain sequence with other steps that we think need to be taken,” Rice told Reuters in an interview.

“We have to be able to use whatever incentives we have that are appropriate to the stage at which we are with the North Koreans,” she added.

The carrots are there alright, and yes, some care has to be taken in this very delicate, yet difficult game. Of course, there is no confirmation of getting North Korea off the terror list just yet, the taking them off the narcotics trade seemed a stepping stone in my opinion. As Richardson pointed out (Also see One Free Korea), there has been no solid evidence of trade since around 2003 (something I did not know before):

Continue reading ‘More hints on terror list dropping’

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Off topic stuff going elsewhere

Published
by
Jack
on September 24, 2007
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

I am going to leave North Korea stuff here and decided to take other off topic stuff elsewhere. So if you see some posts disappear, that’s where they are going. Sorry about that.

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More information about Syria, but unconfirmed

Published
by
Jack
on September 22, 2007
in News, North Korea, Other Regimes and United States
. 5 Comments

Some more information is coming to light in this case, while North Korea an Syria deny the charges. Washington is not confirming or denying the source according to AFP. Whatever the source, the rumors and un-named sources are starting to emerge only to add to the fire. While I do believe there is something unsavory going on, unless there is a confirmation, there is really no way to know 100%. This can really muck things up for the talks, but I doubt this will change the summit. Also what bothers me (as said before) are the high level talks with Syria and Iran. What in the world are they planning or talking about?

Elite Israeli forces seized North Korean nuclear material during a raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israeli warplanes bombed it September 6, a newspaper reported Sunday.The Sunday Times quoted well-placed sources as saying the commandos seized the material from a compound near Dayr az-Zwar in northern Syria and that tests of it in Israel showed it was of North Korean origin.

Israel had been surveying the site for months, according to Washington and Israeli sources quoted by the newspaper which gave no date for the commando raid or details about the material seized.

An unidentified senior American source quoted by The Sunday Times added that the US government sought proof of nuclear-related activities before allowing the air strike by F-151 warplanes to go ahead.

The raid by the elite Sayeret Matkal was personally directed by Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister who once commanded the unit, the newspaper said.

It said he had been preoccupied with the site since assuming his post on June 18.

Seems credible enough, but again,

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino flatly refused to confirm or deny media reports that Israel struck a nuclear site but sharply rejected suggestions that the incident showed Washington had been naive about Pyongyang’s intentions.

Also, there is a bill underway to halt talking North Korea off the terror list. I say got for it.

Update: See Left Flank’s reaction. Also see One Free Korea.

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A closer look at propaganda Part 1: The American media

Published
by
Jack
on September 21, 2007
in Cult Of Personality, History, North Korea, United States and propaganda
. 2 Comments

Edward BernaysWhat got me thinking about this subject was watching the four part series from BBC called The Century of the Self. If you have not seen it before, I suggest you watch it and you will be provoked into thought. While this deals with American and (some) European history of propaganda (public relations), it got me wondering about North Korea and how the Propaganda and Agitation Department may work. Since nobody really knows what goes on in that department other than the people working there, we do have some glimpses into the massive propaganda machine. This is a gigantic subject and will never claim to be an expert on the subject. This is simply to think out loud and get some feedback on how these ideas are developed and used in different societies, mainly the U.S. vs. North Korea. The ideas are polar opposites, but what elements do they have in common if any at all?

Today, we look at the American media, public relations, Edward Bernays and how the masses are persuaded to buy products, vote for a politician or get the latest spin from a celebrity spokesperson. While not everybody buys into the spin, product or celebrity damage control, the United States is a society of choice and competition, and the powers that be in the public relations profession clamor for the attention for the consuming public.

In the next part of the series, we look into The Policy Elites paper and how North Korea uses propaganda to persuade its masses to keep the regime in power. We look at how isolation, exploitation of traditions and cults of personality shape the hearts and minds of the people.

As always: Please be aware this is an ongoing research project, and information contained in this post may have glaring factual or missing information that I may not be aware of. If anybody has any insight that will make me better understand it, please say so in the comments and I will love to take your views into consideration and learn something. That is the whole goal of this blog.

Continue reading ‘A closer look at propaganda Part 1: The American media’

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Floods hit Pyongyang again (update)

Published
by
Jack
on September 21, 2007
in News, North Korea and Other Topics
. 0 Comments

It seems the years of deforesting, and mismanagement of the Kim regime are taking its toll:

Storms caused by Typhoon Wipha lashed the country late on Thursday, causing widespread flooding and cutting transport links.

State media said rice and other crops were lost as the rains inundated western provinces and the capital, Pyongyang

Almost 37 cm of rain was recorded in the provinces of South Hwanghae, South Phyongan and North Hwanghae in one day.

It is difficult to say how much more the impoverished country can take, and if Kim does not shape up and fly right (eg Syrian connection) things could get very bad for Kim Jong Il. Something is up, and Syria visiting Pyongyang just adds to the suspicion. I am very sure they are not talking about what they had for dinner last night.

More updates - Looks like the situation is getting worse, according to the KCNA anyway:

Rice and other crops were lost as rains spawned by Typhoon Wipha inundated western provinces and the capital Pyongyang in the past three days, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

It said the new downpours had caused “heavy losses in many sectors” of the economy and some areas damaged by last month’s floods had again been hit.

Kim Un-Chol, deputy head of North Korea’s Red Cross Society, said diseases were spreading because of the damage to hospitals and other infrastructure in the impoverished state caused by the August rains.

“What we are most concerned about now is disease outbreaks,” he was quoted as saying by Chosun Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan.

“Many patients are suffering from diarrhoea,” Kim said, adding that water treatment facilities had been contaminated.

Health facilities were “in miserable condition” with 562 hospitals wrecked and 2,100 clinics damaged. “Drug stores were inundated and all medicines there were soaked and ruined.”

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Super Kim!

Published
by
Jack
on September 21, 2007
in Video and wtf
. 1 Comment

A hat tip to hapo for this funny video:

Enjoy!

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I added another blog to the blogroll

Published
by
Jack
on September 20, 2007
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

This feed has absolutely nothing to do with North Korea, but this is a good friend for many years and has some interesting insights on life. His goal is not to conform but to tell it like he sees the world despite the opinions would otherwise dictate. Just a word of warning: May contain posts that may not be suitable for all ages.

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