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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Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform

By Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard

The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

By Chol Hwan Kang

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty

By Bradley K. Martin

If you folks have any other good suggestions for later, please let me know.

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1. 7 boxes of documents describing North Korea’s nuclear activity dating back to 1986

2. The food problem

3. United States election primary

4. Burma’s junta regime, referendum and aid issues

DPRK Studies

Enjoy the podcast

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Sad news: The videos in which this documentary was stored is no longer in operation. I am very sad it had to go, but it is. I am so sorry it is not around anymore because it was truly an awesome resource.

While Stage 6 is long gone, on my travels found it again. Enjoy:

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