Archive for the 'North Korea' Category

So a funny thing happened to me yesterday (update)

Published
by
Jack
on May 17, 2008
in Communism, North Korea, North Korea Law, Questions To Readers, United States and wtf
. 0 Comments

UPDATE: Big hat tip to Hapo for the information. I had no idea about what copyright treaties resided where. Hapo pointed out there is a little thing called the Berne Convention. I looked on this list, and lo and behold, North Korea is on that list. North Korea is not part of other treaties, but their works are still recognized. Something I had absolutely no idea about thanks hapo.

The other questions still remain.

So I received an E-Mail from Google Video saying they got a complaint of a copyright violation of uploaded propaganda. Apparently North Korea does have copyright laws which I had no idea were enforceable in the United States. Richardson sent me a link with the North Korean copyright, and as comprehensive as the law is, there is a huge irony in it. Much like the DPRK constitution, rule of law does not mean anything. The regime promises freedom of religion, movement, expression and all the other things many people take for granted. As you all know, the inverse is true. The constitution is only there as a facade much like everything else in North Korea. In other words, it is only good for toilet paper.

Now going back to the copyright thing, it is understandable Google removed the video and I do not dispute that. They have a business to protect and there is a lot of liability attached to it. I did not wait for Google to delete the videos; I just did it on my own. Beside all of that, this raises some interesting questions. Not just the question of what kind of treaties the United States and North Korea have regarding copyright, but the idea of copyright in North Korea itself. Since copyrights in a communist society obviously cannot cover individuals because everything belongs to the state, individual rights do not mean anything, however, the copyrights are only there for the benefit of the regime. There is no other way. So I looked at the “law” and read it several times. Some things stood out, namely, contradictions that do not make any sense in the kind of society we all know normal North Koreans live in.

Article 5. The copyright of a corporate body or an individual whose country is a party to a convention to which the DPRK is also a party shall be protected by the convention. But if a corporate body or an individual whose country is not a party to the same convention makes public works for the first time in the DPRK, the works shall be protected by this law.

Article 6. The copyright of any work whose publication, issuance, performance, broadcasting, show and exhibition are prohibited shall not be protected.

Emphasis mine. This is kind of interesting in several ways, and raises some questions. Perhaps somebody well-versed in law can interpret the seemingly contradicting terms. The biggest thing is the “individual” clause. North Korea or any other communist society does not deal with individualism, but deals with collectives. Therefore, anything made by individuals is part of that collective and is the property of the state. Nobody is allowed to have personal property, inheritance or whatever. I mean was the original idea of communism to stop the bourgeoisie? Stop big business, exploitation and all that. So copyrights in a communist society cannot work because copyrights have to protect the individual or private entity making the work. So the only thing I can get from this is, anything made by an individual (or private enterprise) will automatically belong to the state and the individual cannot have any right to that work because the idea of profiting and enjoying the fruits of individual labor will not be there. All wealth belongs to the state. There is no way around it. Granted, I could be wrong about this because Juche is different from other communist societies but I am going to guess the same ideas of Marx are there.

Next is the question of Article 6. The word that comes out is “prohibited”. A lot of things are prohibited in North Korea. Works not praising the leaders, the system or anything dissenting will result in serious problems. In fact, people have been sent to gulags to be tortured because they hum a song from the ROK. So the “prohibited” carries a lot of spilled blood, cult of personality and lack of human rights. That is not the intention of the facade this “law” says, but we all know it is true in the case of North Korea. Nothing is as it seems.

In other words individualism that copyrights ensure for individuals and enterprise cannot work in a communist society. It can only benefit the regime. Nobody has any say whatsoever in creative works in North Korea. The state dictates everything.

Next is regarding treaties with other countries. For copyright to work, other countries have to agree to enforce a copyright in case somebody breaks the rule of law. This article explains a little more:

Article 7. The state shall promote interchange and cooperation with other countries and international organizations in the field of copyright.

Since North Korea is a heavily sanctioned state with very few friends, who recognizes North Korean copyright? I talked with a copyright lawyer, and he said it does not matter where the copyright work was made. If a work was used without permission, it is still copyright infringement. That raises some questions. Maybe somebody can explain this better. It seems to be a big issue.

Another interesting thing. The KCNA is copyrighted, but there is a contradiction namely this article:

Article 12. The documents of State management such as ordinance, decision or directive, current news and bulletins shall not be the object of copyright.

Since it is a mouthpiece of the state and is “current news”, then copyright does not apply, right? Take a close look at the KCNA web site. It seems people cannot re-use it without cite, and I suppose it is fair, but this seems to contradict. Very odd indeed.

Another oddity is this:

Article 23. The property rights to a copyrighted work shall be protected from the moment of its publication to the 50th year after the death of its author. The property rights to a joint copyrighted work shall be protected from the moment of its publication to the 50th year after the death of the last survivor of the co-authors.

This implies the right to inheritance. I always assumed in a communist society the rights to inheritance was supposed to abolished. According to the communist manifesto:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

[...]

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

So when did Juche change the fundamentals of communism? It goes on and on, and you folks get the basic idea. Anyway, this is something interesting to discuss. Can copyright work in a communist society? I cannot see it working other than for the benefit of the state.

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The North Korean Food Crisis: Panel Discussion

Published
by
Jack
on May 13, 2008
in Defectors, Diplomacy, Humanitarian Topic, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, Nukes, Policy Elites, Politics, Speculation, United States and Video
. 3 Comments

I have bee looking for this all over the place and here they are. Before you look at these videos, make sure to read One Free Korea where extensive analysis is made regarding the food and economic situation. This, in my opinion, is a must see.

Edit: I think there is a part missing, so I will watch for that.

Part 1:

Part 2:

I think Joshua said he attended this. I wonder where he is at…

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North Korean Junket: A review

Published
by
Jack
on May 11, 2008
in North Korea, Travel, United States and Video
. 4 Comments

This post may be more about questions than a review. Before I posted the video North Korean Junket, I did not see the entire thing, but figured it would interesting to post because it had some footage I have never seen before (or so I assumed). A few hours later when I had some time to watch the entire thing, I noticed Curtis Melvin was in it. A little further into the video, saw one of the very first North Korean video clips I ever ran into on YouTube on what I call “Yankee go home”. That was kind of entertaining, but mainly because I did not know the entire scope of the circumstances in the video. Not until this video and reading the North Korean Junket blog did I have the foggiest idea of what happened on that 2004 trip.

I have to say I felt pretty dumb.

I took another gander at NKEconWatch’s DPRK trip of 2004 to get a better understanding of that trip, although little of the Andrew Morse incident was talked about. That does not really matter. The purpose of the video was to get a better understanding of what North Korea was like. North Korean Junket gave a glimpse of that whether North Korea and/or the Korean Friendship Association intended to or not. The Andrew Morse incident did give some insight on just how firm the iron grip of Kim Jong Il is. All information is heavily censored, and people going to visit North Korea have to follow protocol. Furthermore, if one is smart, it is best to censor yourself. What appears to be ironic is while North Korea wants others to give an honest assessment of the DPRK (as rare as it is), they seem surprised and angry when another opinion (even sugar-coated) is given. Anything other than the official line is a lie and must be stopped. That was my overall impression of the video and the actions conducted by the Korean Friendship Association and the regime.

Overall, it is pretty rare for journalists to go to North Korea especially journalists from the United States. They are under special scrutiny even if they claim otherwise as suggested in that documentary. It appears to me Andrew Morse truly went to North Korea with the intent to give another view of North Korea, but as well know that is an impossibility with minders in tow censoring every step you take. Stepping over the line means serious problems as this video showed. According to a reply by the documentary’s director:

[...] There’s not that much of the story that didn’t make it to the video other than the former communications secretary resigned and got in a scuffle with Big Al at the end of the trip.

Who was the former communication’s secretary and Big Al?

[...] At one point Andrew asked to be taken to the Swiss embassy but he told me not to film him doing so before I could hit the record button. He apologized later though.

That suggests things were not going very swimmingly. Obviously, things were not as serious as it could have possibly been because Curtis got to go on another trip and Andrew Morse seems to still be a journalist (I do not watch ABC News, so I did not know anything about the guy until seeing this video and reading a bit about the backdrop). However, according to the blog post, the KFA has stopped people bringing in cameras (although Alejandro Cao de Benos obviously loves hamming it up for the camera):

Since the International March for Korea’s Peace and Reunification in 2004, the KFA has still been organizing trips to North Korea. But they don’t let just anyone take video like they did with me anymore. To that extent I’m grateful to the KFA for letting me use my videocamera. I’m also thankful for their crudity, because crudity makes compelling video.

That is no surprise. In my opinion, it is the good old censorship action at work, and that will not change anytime soon. I have to say while it took quite a bit of guts to attempt to get another viewpoint of North Korea, the hard questions asked were delivered in softball fashion. That is understandable considering they were on DPRK soil, and again, any mis-steps could be unpredictable. On the other hand, during the Philharmonic visit, reporters also had minders in tow and openly talked about the problems inside the secret state. When I saw that, I was very, very surprised they let that go. I cannot answer as to why it flew, but I am going to guess the Philharmonic paid a handsome amount to Kim Jong Il. Everything has a price, especially favor in North Korea.

So there was the KFA spinning away and spouting the official line, and in the end, the special was not aired on TV because Alejandro Cao de Benos was an asshole. That does not matter, because as Friends of Kim, the purpose is to be soldiers for the Juche cause asshole or not.

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North Korean Junket : I think I see NKEconWatch in there

Published
by
Jack
on May 7, 2008
in North Korea and Video
. 9 Comments

Yes, I think I see Curtis from NKEconWatch in this video because he is as well as some others. I saw the smaller clips on YouTube with Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Pérez yelling “Yankee go home!” I think I posted that a while back. This looks like the full video. Here is the description of the video:

[...]

In 2004 I went to North Korea to make a video. I had little idea about how the trip would turn out, other than it was organized by a group called the Korean Friendship Association. It’s leader, Alejandro Cao de Benos, is a megaphone for the North Korean government.

The KFA wants to show Westerners its verion of reality in North Korea which is little more than a Potemkin Village. Alejandro would probably say that I have been brainwashed by CNN for describing North Korea as a Potemkin Village, or for calling North Korea North Korea, instead of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (or DPRK).

Andrew was in North Korea to do a feature for ABC’s ‘Nightline’. His story never made it to air because his hotel room was broken into and his tapes were stolen. That is, his North Korean experience was authentic. I’m just glad I was around to capture some of it on video.

[...]

I have been falling behind on the posting of videos and other articles messing around with the podcasts, but things should be running smoothly very soon. In the meantime, enjoy this video.

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Speaking of Romania…

Published
by
Jack
on May 7, 2008
in Communism, Defectors, History, Humanitarian Topic, Juche Idea, North Korea and Other Regimes
. 6 Comments

While I have been on the subject of Romania, news of a dissident named Monica Lovinescu who risked her life and was almost killed during Nicolae’s rule died April 21, 2008 at the age of 85 (International Herald Tribune). The entire article is a very good read, so make sure to read the whole thing.

A commentary of Monica Lovinescu on Radio Free Europe.

I never heard of her until a few days ago, but her story is very gripping and how the voices of freedom are directly threatened by a repressive regime. She was not alone. According to the video posted a few moments ago, that tells tales of North Korean defectors and human rights advocates risking life getting information to North Koreans. It is almost a certainty other dissidents from other countries had the same fears or even died from speaking out inside and outside. Monica Lovinescu, despite the attempt on her life and being in a come got back on her feet and continued to pierce the iron curtain inside Nicolae Ceausescu’s state. According to International Herald Tribune:

Romanian philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu has said he was told by a senior intelligence officer that her broadcasts angered Ceausescu so much that in 1977 he told Romania’s secret service: “Let’s shut her up! Let’s break her into pieces! Let’s break her teeth, jaw and break her hands so she can never write or speak again.”

Later that year, Lovinescu was severely beaten in front of her home in Paris, leaving her in a coma with head injuries. Ion Pacepa, who served as deputy head of foreign intelligence under Ceausescu before defecting in 1978, has said the beating was carried out by two men acting on Ceausescu’s orders. Lovinescu later recovered and returned to broadcasting for Radio Free Europe.

Ceausescu was overthrown and executed in 1989, and Lovinescu continued her work with Radio Free Europe until 1992.

Emphasis mine. What does this have to do with North Korea? Much like old communist Romania, it was those who risked life for the sake of freedom for others who changed everything. Much like CNN’s documentary, they discuss those sending information in, and those sending information out. With the war of the words, telling people inside things can get better if they work together for a common good can bring even the most hard-line of dictators down. People like Monica Lovinescu were instrumental in that fight even if it takes a really long time for results to appear. Eventually, people got the courage to stand up and make real change. This led to the only violent end to a leader during the breakup of the communist rule in Eastern Europe.

Communist Romania’s end gives me great hope that it does not necessarily need outside intervention to finally bring an end to Kim Jong Il’s crumbling state. It is my belief with enough poverty, repression, starvation and abuse people will not take it anymore. When the army finally turned the guns on the dictator, it was all over. While nobody knows when and how North Korea will end, the end is inevitable. As I said before, the cracks are showing, and it is only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down.

As said before, I think a lot can be learned from the former regimes that are now long gone, and not just Romania. If we look to other uprisings and change (no, not Barack Obama style, thank you) maybe it can inspire those inside toiling under the iron grip of a repressive ruler with the help of strong voices that truly care for them. North Korea may be the biggest challenge yet, but with enough work, determination, love and perseverance, people can look forward to a better life away from Juche.

What will it take? People disagree on the methodology employed to make change whether it is forceful change, engagement, pressure, sanctions or whatever, one thing is certain. Normal people help bring that change. Even after the North Korean state is gone, it will take a long time and a lot of work to eventually bring reunification. We may well be in the beginnings of that, and perhaps the truth will come to light.

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CNN: Notes from North Korea (Update)

Published
by
Jack
on May 7, 2008
in North Korea and Video
. 0 Comments

Make sure to check out CNN’s special investigative report on North Korea:

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour travels to North Korea as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra makes a historic visit to one of the world’s most closed societies. She examines the tense standoff with the U.S. over nuclear weapons and provides a rare look inside a notorious, top-secret nuclear facility. Watch Saturday and Sunday, 8 & 11 p.m. ET.

CNN’s other special investigations report Inside North Korea was excellent, so if this one is as good as the last one, it is going to be a must see. In the spirit of that, here is the video of that special if you have not seen it already.

[video removed]

Update: See the CNN article and the Notes from North Korea in depth page.

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Cooling towers, declarations, and more mayhem

Published
by
Jack
on May 3, 2008
in Diplomacy, News, North Korea, Nukes, ROK and United States
. 0 Comments

North Korea appears to have agreed to destroy the cooling tower at Yongbyon within 24 hours of being removed from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism Accoring to the Washington Post:

[...]

North Korean officials had privately indicated previously they would destroy the tower as part of the disablement of Yongbyon. During talks last week with a top U.S. State Department official, Sung Kim, North Korea reaffirmed it would act quickly after Pyongyang is removed from the terrorism list.

During the talks, North Korean officials also tentatively agreed to release to U.S. officials thousands of pages of documents, dating back to 1990, concerning the daily production records of the facility. The records are intended to help U.S. experts determine how much plutonium was produced at the facility and thus verify North Korean claims.

The destruction of the tower as stated in the article would be one hell of a show, but as Richardson pointed out in his post at DPRK Studies, there are some problems with the so-called deal struck:

That is very nice, but I am more concerned with what North Korea is still not offering up; 1) what’s actually called for in the deal - a full and complete nuclear declaration; 2) unfettered access (including material samples) to all known and suspected nuclear facilities; 3) information and materials to ascertain the true status of North Korea’s uranium program, including the equipment known to have been sent from Pakistan, and the fate of some thousands of aluminum tubes purchased by North Korea.

I have to agree there are serious problems and raises questions. All of those points made made by Richardson implies the devil is in the details and according to the article, and nobody outside the negotiating table knows the details because

The diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment “on ongoing negotiations,” he said.

Another interesting detail:

[...] though experts say its destruction would be mostly symbolic.

[...] Several months ago, North Korean technicians broke through the concrete bottom of the tower, making it unusable, but hot water could still be dumped directly in a nearby river if North Korea were unconcerned about possible ecological damage. Other aspects of the disabling of the facility are more significant; U.S. officials say they think that North Korea would need to order months of repairs if it wanted to restart it.

Apparently, if North Korea really wanted to restart it, I guess they could use the river to send hot water out and maybe pump cold water back in much like the reported nuclear facility in Syria (the evidence seems pretty convincing to me, but it is under heavy scrutiny), but to get it back up and running (from what I understand) could take a while to do along with placing the other items set aside wrapped in plastic and the like. I am not a nuclear plant expert, but from the pictures I posted quite a while back, it seems it is well taken apart (although not destroyed). Now, this is just Yongbyon. This is old technology, is in very bad repair, and this to me seems like a smokescreen. As Richardson implied, what about everything else?

Again, this is going to be based on a “trust me” basis to believe Kim Jong Il will be a good boy and cooperate. So far, he has not held his end of the deals and continually drags his feet while the rest of the crew at the negotiating table look like the fool. In my opinion, North Korea is very good at grabbing the carrot and running back in the cave. This part of the article bothers me:

Under a tentative deal struck between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea will be removed from the terrorism list and from a second sanction — the Trading With the Enemy Act — once it produces a declaration of its nuclear activities. U.S. officials have especially been focused on the plutonium segment of the declaration, telling Pyongyang that it need only “acknowledge” U.S. evidence and concerns about two other issues: its nuclear dealings with Syria and a suspected uranium-enrichment program.

Then what? North Korea could concede and say “Yeah, we got all of the things you describe” but will all the materials remain there? This seems to imply if North Korea does acknowledge the things Washington (and others) want will have to trust Kim not to use them again. I simply do not understand the thought process here. Also as Richardson said in his points, nobody will need to go out there and physically verify everything that is suspected to be another program? Also, the deal obviously does not include biological or chemical weapons described by a Camp 22 guard who defected and described these items getting tested on prisoners. It all seems like a farce to me. Also, what worries me is once North Korea is removed from the sponsors of terror list and Trading With the Enemy Act, does that mean North Korea is free to trade without oversight? Something is really wrong here.

As said before, the Syrian connection is under heavy questioning:

US intelligence officials also accuse North Korea of giving clandestine help to Syria for the construction of a supposed nuclear plant destroyed last September by an Israeli air strike.

But Mr Kelly questioned some of those claims. “There does seem to have been some degree of nuclear co-operation with the Syrians, which is going to raise a lot of questions,” he said.

“But the story they’re building a reactor like Yongbyon — nobody would want a reactor like Yongbyon. This is 1968 technology, not well put together.”

He added that without a reprocessing plant to enrich nuclear fuel, it was unlikely Syria could develop an atomic weapon.

So what is the real story in Syria if it was not used for research or other peaceful means? If it is thrown out there for the sake of blocking taking North Korea off these lists, what else is going on? Again, something is not right.

Also see One Free Korea.

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Questions to readers: Inter-Korean propaganda museum

Published
by
Jack
on May 2, 2008
in Communism, Defectors, Diplomacy, History, Korean War, North Korea, Questions To Readers, ROK, United States and propaganda
. 0 Comments

New York Times has an interesting article regarding a museum with a collection of propaganda during the Korean War to 2000. Some things in this article were not known to me, so I guess it may be worth to look up some this stuff. I know Richardson has a better handle on propaganda, so he may have a little more insight on this. At any rate:

CHONGSON, South Korea — In early April, when North Korea called President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea an “impostor,” a “traitor” and an “American running dog,” the verbal barbs sounded all too familiar to Jin Yong-seon. He has a museum filled with them.

Link mine. The barbs are still traded, but it seems not on the same level as before as I would later learn in the little research I did. I am sure there is a lot more, so I will dig some more.

Continue reading ‘Questions to readers: Inter-Korean propaganda museum’

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KPA officer defection: not something you hear about everyday (update)

Published
by
Jack
on April 28, 2008
in Defectors, News, North Korea and ROK
. 0 Comments

Update: See One Free Korea and ROK Drop

Here is something you do not see everyday (Yonhap):

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) — A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea through the inter-Korean border, marking the first defection by a military officer via the heavily-fortified border in 10 years, an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday.

The North Korean, identified only by his surname Ri, crossed the border shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday and told South Korean guards that he was seeking asylum, the official said, asking not to be identified.

The 28-year-old second lieutenant has been handed over to a joint investigation team of the National Intelligence Service, the Military Security Command and the police, according to the official.

He had serious cajones to cross the DMZ. While this is not the first time for crossings, it is very risky and pretty rare. I have heard of other defections across the DMZ, this is the first time I have seen it in the new news. According to the same Yonhap article the last defection was around 1998, but an enlisted crossed lat year? I never saw anything about that, so I will have to look that up:

The North Korean is the first commissioned officer to defect to South Korea through the border since 1998 when a first lieutenant crossed the border, according to JCS officials. An enlisted member of the North’s Korean People’s Army crossed the border last year.

Do crossings along the DMZ only count for officers? I am not very clear on that, but all the same, it is still pretty interesting. Furthermore, I am also wondering where he crossed and what prompted him to cross. While I can guess he was tired of the regime, the details would be very interesting. I will keep my eyes peeled on more information. The minefield, the electric fence and the border guards would mean this man must of been itching to cross obviously.

If other readers have more information about this defection, please let me know.

Update - One Free Korea did a little more digging around and found some links to some DailyNK sources to help explain the defection which is likely linked to the serious food problem. Food prices all around the world have skyrocketed and is causing civil unrest according to the UN, and if free and relatively free nations are facing a crisis of a magnitude worthy of a mention on front page news, just imagine the difficulties for the DPRK who suffer serious shortages, little international trade and diplomatic ties to begin with.

Now as I posted here many times before, the KPA, elites and policy elites in North Korea keep the regime going, and if the state cannot provide food even for them, how can they continue to keep the normal population in check? Common sense tells me it is very difficult to do so. As the food situation seems to worsen (I do not know why the food problem is worldwide), North Korea on a cash and carry only basis surely cannot import food and aid has slowed to a small trickle. A+B=C; People will be malnourished and will look for food elsewhere.

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No protests in Pyongyang leg of the Olympic torch relay? Who knew!

Published
by
Jack
on April 28, 2008
in Diplomacy, News, North Korea, Other Regimes and ROK
. 2 Comments

Also see ROK Drop, One Free Korea, and Marmots.

Protest is not in the North Korean dictionary, and the headline produced by the Associated Press made me laugh out loud.

North Korea’s first torch runner Pak Du Ik, carrying the Olympic torch, sets out for a relay through the streets of Pyongyang, at a ceremony held at the capital’s Tower of the Juche Idea on Monday April 28, 2008. The Olympic torch launched its first-ever run Monday in authoritarian North Korea, where the flame was assured of a trouble-free trip unlike other stops worldwide.

Emphasis mine. This is news of the century and is fit to be printed worldwide. North Korea does not have protests! It is amazing! It is unbelievable! Oh wait a moment; it is obvious as the sun rising in the morning. While the news of the Olympic torch relay is the first ever for North Korea, it is strictly controlled. Yawn, what a surprise.

[...]

An attentive and peaceful crowd of thousands watched the start of the relay in Pyongyang, some waving Chinese flags, in live footage from broadcaster APTN. The event was presided over by the head of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament who often acts as a ceremonial state leader, Kim Yong Nam.

Hm, they better be attentive and peaceful or face the wrath. There is no choice, no dissent, no protest, no wavering. Everything in North Korea is well on message and again is no surprise. if it were any different, it would be real news.

The North, an ally of its communist neighbor China, has been critical of disruptions to the torch relay elsewhere and has supported Beijing in its crackdown against violent protests in Tibet. North Korea is one of the world’s most tightly controlled countries, where citizens are not allowed to travel freely and civil rights are restricted by the iron-fisted regime.

Yawn again. Maybe the bigger news was Kim Jong Il was not seen at the event. Then again, maybe it is not such huge news because Kim Jong Il does not really care. The Juche Tower is probably the biggest news of all. I mean that place is almost as sacred as Kim Il Sung Square.

The relay began from beneath the large sculpted flame that tops the obelisk of the Juche Tower, which commemorates the national ideology of “self-reliance” created by the country’s late founding President Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il was not seen at the event.

He must of been watching it on TV or surfing the Internet. An interesting part of this story is this:

The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF had been asked to participate in the North Korean leg of the relay but withdrew in March, saying that it wasn’t sure the event would help its mission of raising awareness of conditions for children.

Why would they be asked to participate in the first place? Reading this report by Reuters gave some indication on why they were asked in the first place:

UNICEF had been asked to participate in the Pyongyang leg of the relay by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which said that North Korea had been “unable to identify a Korean national” to take part in the run, de Bono said.

According to the Sunday Times of London, the newspaper that first reported the news of UNICEF’s decision, there were concerns that the relay would be used by Pyongyang as a “propaganda stunt” in the reclusive communist state.

I have to agree it would have been used for propaganda, and I believe it would have been better just to stay the hell out of it because going to a relay in North Korea is not going to raise awareness for the plight of children in the DPRK. In fact, why would the DPRK even allow them to show up on that basis? It sounds absurd to me. At the end of the day, UNICEF can be there, but the children are still starving. A torch is not going to help them at all. While no protests happened in the DPRK, protests happened in the ROK:

On Sunday, clashes broke out in Seoul near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing’s policies, carrying a banner reading, “Free North Korean refugees in China.” The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.

One Chinese student swatted at the demonstrators with a flagpole. Another student was arrested for allegedly throwing rocks, police said.

Sounds pretty bad, and does not look very good either. North Korea will not have any of that. After all, they are friends. What a bore.

Police said four other people were arrested for trying to disrupt the relay

Authorities deployed some 8,000 police — some riding horses and bicycles — to protect the torch.

One North Korean defector poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street along the route and tried to set himself on fire, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away. The man, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China.

South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon expressed strong regret over the clashes in a meeting Monday with China’s ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui.

Ning also said he regretted the “extreme behavior” by some young Chinese and expressed his sympathies to police and a journalist who was injured, the South’s Foreign Ministry said.

In all- what a mess, and in the end, fruitless.

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CIA report on the North Korea/Syrian connection (Update 3)

Published
by
Jack
on April 24, 2008
in News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes and Video
. 0 Comments

This is all over the news, so there is not a lot for me to add. Here is a report by the AP:

The rebuttal from Al-Jazeera:

Timeline from AP:

Timeline of North Korea’s nuclear weapons activities:

_ 1994: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement under which the North shuts down its plutonium-based nuclear reactor in exchange for help building two “light water” nuclear reactors for producing electricity.

_ Sept. 17, 1999: President Clinton agrees to first major easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since the Korean War’s end in 1953.

_ Jan. 29, 2002: President Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an “axis of evil.”

_ Oct. 4, 2002: North Korea tells visiting U.S. delegation it has a uranium enrichment program, Washington says.

_ Nov. 21, 2002: U.S.-led consortium says it is suspending construction of light water reactors.

_ Dec. 28, 2002: North Korea orders U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country.

_ Jan. 11, 2003: North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

_ Feb. 26, 2003: North Korea is reported to have restarted Yongbyon reactor, which U.S. officials say was designed to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons but which North Korea maintains is for energy production.

_ Aug. 27-29, 2003: North Korea joins first round of six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing, which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S., which continue periodically over the next several years.

_ Feb. 10, 2005: North Korea announces it has nuclear weapons.

_ July 5, 2006: North Korea launches seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, prompting a U.N. Security Council resolution to condemn it.

_ Oct. 9, 2006: North Korea says it has conducted its first-ever nuclear test.

_ Oct. 14, 2006: U.N. Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution imposing wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear test.

_ Feb. 13, 2007: North Korea agrees at six-nation talks on initial steps to disarmament.

_ July. 14, 2007: North Korea says it has shut down its Yongbyon plutonium-reactor. IAEA inspectors arrive in Pyongyang.

_ Aug. 17, 2007: The IAEA says its agents have confirmed the shutdown of four nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and an unfinished nuclear power plant at Taechon.

_ Sept. 2, 2007: The U.S. says North Korea agreed during talks in Geneva to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of the year — the first time it has offered a timeline.

_ Sept. 6, 2007: Israeli warplanes bomb a Syrian nuclear reactor site allegedly built with North Korean design help.

_ Oct. 3, 2007: The six parties agree that North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities and its main reactor by Dec. 31.

_ Nov. 5, 2007, North Korea starts disabling the Yongbyon reactor under the watch of U.S. experts.

_ Dec. 31, 2007: North Korea misses its deadline for declaring all its nuclear programs.

_ Feb. 22, 2008: North Korea opens its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon to foreign media for the first time. American researchers say North Korean officials told them they had slowed the removal of fuel rods because the United States and other nations fell behind in supplying aid promised under the disarmament deal.

_ March 28, 2008: North Korea test-fires a barrage of short-range missiles in an apparent angry response to the new South Korean government’s tougher stance on Pyongyang.

_ April 24, 2008: The White House breaks its silence and says North Korea assisted Syria’s secret nuclear program and that the nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel was not intended for “peaceful purposes.”

Update: see One Free Korea’s post. Very good read.

Update: See ROK Drop.

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Ion Mihai Pacepa: Red Horizons

Published
by
Jack
on April 19, 2008
in Communism, Cult Of Personality, Defectors, Juche Idea, North Korea, Other Regimes, Other Topics, Questions To Readers, United States, books and open thread
. 5 Comments

Red HorizonsI have been reading about Hwang Jang Yop’s defection to the ROK in 1997, and his warnings and commentary about his time in the KWP and what should be done about it seems to be largely ignored by a lot of folks. For what reasons and what end is something I am not too sure of yet, but I have been looking to other high level defections from other former communist nations. One I knew nothing about and seems pretty well-known is a man named Ion Mihai Pacepa. This defection made news and apparently was used by the United States for information regarding the Soviet bloc. This led to a multi-million dollar price tag on his head. His story is very interesting, and am reading more about this man. Also, there is a lot more information about Ion Mihai Pacepa than Yuri Bezmenov other than the 1985 interview posted earlier this week. Therefore, I have a lot of reading to do.

So I looked him up to see if he was still alive, and apparently, is alive and well. He wrote a lot of articles for conservative-leaning magazines (FrontPage Magazine, National Review and some others) and wrote some books. One I just ordered today is called Red Horizons. I read the limited preview on Google Books and was instantly riveted. It told the tale of how things worked behind closed doors of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist Romania. This was in such detail (I am so used to little to no details when reading about the inner workings of North Korea) I could not believe my eyes. Once the limited preview was over, I was sorely disappointed and ordered the book. It was not that expensive $10 + shipping, but I will not like the wait for it to come to the door.

Now some may be asking why Romania and other former regimes when this blog is about North Korea. I am beginning to think there is some parallels and maybe some lessons to be learned. What can me gleaned from these other former regimes in respect to North Korea? I mean Romania had some similarities albeit Ceausescu’s imitation of other models of North Korea and China for instance. He had a huge cult of personality, a manufactured biography, and spending huge amounts of money on luxuries while others suffered greatly in his Utopia. In North Korea, there is a huge cult of personality, both Kims spend money for luxuries at the expense of the citizens, no tolerance for dissidents and a very closed off society. So my question is, how is Romania different or the same about North Korea? What can we learn from the mind of Nicolae in respect to Kim Il Sung and/or Kim Jong Il’s leadership? Maybe they are very different in many ways, but maybe history repeats itself. Perhaps this is something worth discussing further.

In the meantime, I will wait for this book, and if others have read this book or wants to discuss this further, by all means, let’s discuss it. Oh, and once I am done with the book, I will give my thoughts on it.

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Propaganda Time: Saku edition - UPDATE

Published
by
Jack
on April 18, 2008
in Cult Of Personality, Juche Idea, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, Video, propaganda and wtf
. 1 Comment

A big thanks to Saku for the videos because they have been entertaining. Please note a lot of the footage may be similar because clips are available on songonblogspot and are in other propaganda time postings here on DPRK Forum. It took me a while to learn how to upload these things, but it is smooth sailing now. At any rate, enjoy the video, and I will post more as I upload more to Google.

Update: This video was removed from Google video because of… get this… a copyright violation. What a huge irony.

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USCIRF Report on North Korea: A Prison Without Bars (update)

Published
by
Jack
on April 16, 2008
in Defectors, Diplomacy, Humanitarian Topic, Interesting reading, North Korea, The region and United States
. 0 Comments

Update: I found the USCIRF report “Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung”:  Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion in North Korea. But the link to the report is dead. If anybody has a copy of this, let me know

In the wake of the Free Tibet movement (which I am not against) in regards to the 2008 games in Beijing, the repatriation of North Koreans back into the lion’s den has been eclipsed. While not all have forgotten about it, is almost never covered in the mainstream press. In fact, time and time again when I talk to others about the crisis in North Korea, it is met with a collective “what” or “who cares”. As explosive and debated as the Tibet protests are, I sometimes wish the defectors from North Korea get the same attention. As they always say, I can wish in one hand and defecate in the other and see which gets filled first…

A report on the BBC pointed to a report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom regarding how China should refrain from send refugees back to North Korea:

[...]

The commission urged the international community to put pressure on Beijing not to send the refugees back.

“Such action should begin immediately as China prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing,” it said.

Now if they listen is another thing, but I get the feeling all eyes will be on either the games or Tibet. I am not stifling the debate, and is a healthy one, but North Korea has been largely ignored. An interesting PDF covers the squelching of religious beliefs in North Korea called A Prison Without Bars: Refugee and Defector Testimonies of Severe Violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in North Korea (PDF File). According to the commission’s web site:

WASHINGTON- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom will release its updated report on religious freedom and related human rights in North Korea, entitled A Prison Without Bars: Refugee and Defector Testimonies of Severe Violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in North Korea, at a press conference the day before South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C. for a summit with President Bush. The discussion of the report, with Commission Chair Michael Cromartie and Commissioners Nina Shea and Imam Talal Y. Eid, will be followed by a briefing, co-sponsored by the Congressional Korea Caucus.
A Prison Without Bars offers fresh evidence regarding the grave situation of North Korean asylum seekers who have been forcibly repatriated from China back to North Korea. Contrary to claims made by the Chinese government, repatriated North Koreans face severe persecution, including harsh interrogations, long-term imprisonment, and torture if they are found to have converted to Christianity or had contact with South Korean Christians or churches while in China. The report provides evidence that the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong Il and his family remains strong, and that Kim Jong Il’s regime perceives any new religious activity as a security threat to be combated at all costs. As a result, stringent security measures have been enacted to stop the spread of religion, mostly Protestantism, through cross-border contacts with China.
A Prison Without Bars follows up the Commission’s 2005 study on North Korea’s brutal suppression of religious freedom, Thank You Father Kim Il Sung. The Commission’s new report again presents the opportunity to gain insight into human rights conditions in the “Hermit Kingdom” by providing a channel for North Korean nationals to present their experiences to the international community.
[...]
I am reading it now, and the report so far is pretty gripping and well worth the read. Next,
Immediately following the press conference, the Commission will conduct a congressional briefing on human rights in North Korea, jointly sponsored with the Congressional Korea Caucus. The briefing will feature David Hawk, a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy; Peter Beck, Executive Director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; and Jae Ku, Executive Director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Several Members of Congress are also expected to participate in the briefing.
Will this get press? One can only hope, but I have my doubts at this point in time. In the meantime, I encourage you to read the report and decide for yourself about the situation.

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I will believe it when I see it

Published
by
Jack
on April 16, 2008
in Diplomacy, Kim Jong Il, News, North Korea, Nukes, ROK and United States
. 0 Comments

Yet another report regarding Kim Jong Il giving a declaration has presented itself, and anything regarding that has me skeptical. According to Bloomberg:

April 16 (Bloomberg) — North Korea will submit a list of its nuclear programs and materials by the end of this month, the Hankook Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official.

Hm, really? I will believe it when I see it. So far, all the promises for a declaration have all been for naught for a really long time, and if the DPRK does finally give some declaration, I would be very, very surprised. On the other hand, for a more detailed version of how the talks progressed to maybe, just maybe to get to this point can be found on OFK. After reading that, it seemed pretty clear to me Kim will still get what he wants in the end. Kim knows damn well nothing happened for nothing delivered in December, so why should he worry about delivering a declaration by the end of this month? What changed in the agreement to change his mind and be a good boy? In my opinion, nothing at all. The entire process has been a disaster just like the times before.

The U.S. will start talks on removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism once the communist nation provides the declaration, the Seoul-based newspaper cited the official as saying. The steps are part of an agreement reached by the two countries in talks in Singapore last week, it said.

Emphasis mine. Now North Korea giving a declaration at the end of this month is one thing, but as Joshua has pointed out, Why should North Korea get deleted from the list of terror when Kim practices terror? As the post suggested:

[...]

So have you heard that Kim Jong Il will celebrate his removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism … by firing off more missiles?

U.S. military authorities have been closely watching the North Korean arm since spotting signs of lively activity at a missile launch site in North Korea, CNN reported Friday. Quoting two U.S. military officers, the channel reported satellite photos recently spotted personnel, vehicles and materials moving toward the Rodong missile base in Shinori, north of Pyongyang. Rodong-1 missiles with a range of 1,300 km capable of striking most of the Japanese islands are reportedly deployed at the Shinori site. [Chosun Ilbo]

I’m at a loss for words. North Korea throws an extortionate fit, even threatens to turn Seoul to “ashes” – all of which is clearly calculated to intimidate South Korean voters just before an election – and we reward them by declaring them not to be sponsors of terror. (To be precise, the North Koreans aren’t sponsoring terrorism, they’re practicing terrorism. There should be a separate list for nations that engage in this kind of direct, retail terrorism. Naturally, our State Department overlooked that).

[...]

While I doubt North Korea is stupid enough to launch missiles and restart the Korean War, the rhetoric has been stepped up. While we never know what Kim is thinking and what he will do next, his temper tantrums seem to get what he wants in the end by ruffling his feathers. So we eventually give in. What is next in this saga of diplomacy? It is hard to say, but to remove North Korea from the list of terrorists is insane. Many will disagree with me on this, but that is how I feel. Kim Jong Il has played the international community once again.

Now for the big IF:

The six nations may meet for talks in the middle of next month if the declaration is provided and negotiations on North Korea’s removal from the U.S. list begin, Hankook Ilbo reported.

The question is, what if Kim decides not to declare his nukes? Is he willing to give them up to shore his crumbling regime, major food shortage and looming disassociation by his own people so they can survive? They are turning to marketization despite his efforts to curtail it. Maybe he needs to think about all that, but it is very doubtful he will. Time will tell what he does next, and I will be interested to see where this goes next.

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