Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Onward to the Workers' Paradise!

Long have I wondered how my brother Shan knew so much about the secret levels of state security operations, but I now see that he was in the crowd on this same day that I was heading north on a top secret mission . . .

Taking North Korea at its (S)word

Kim Jong-un
NK News
Rodong Sinmun

In an article published by North Korea News, B.R. Myers argues for "Taking North Korea at its word" (February 13, 2016):

Isn't it time . . . that we paid more attention to the DPRK's own declarations of its intentions? Reiterated in Kim Jong Un's New Year's address, and featured in garish new wall posters, the slogan of "autonomous unification" seems harmless to most outsiders, as the regime knows only too well. To the North Koreans themselves, it has always stood for the conquest or subjugation of South Korea after nullification or removal of the U.S. military presence.

Myers then makes an interesting analogy:

For our part, we must at least stop acting as if the only motive for North Korea's armament too preposterous to discuss were the one that the country has reiterated, and acted in accordance with, for the past seventy years. Our initial response to 9/11 was to reduce it to a protest against U.S. support for Israel. Only recently have we begun to understand that the jihadists quite literally want the whole world. It is wishful thinking to assume that the ultra-nationalists in Pyongyang, who are far better armed than Islamic State, do not at least want the rest of their ethnic homeland.

In other words, we should take North Korea's threats to unify the Korean peninsula by military force as seriously as we've learned to take jihadists' threats to conquer the whole world through military force. They might both lack the military capacity, but that fact may be irrelevant in their calculations.

For the record, I was already convinced in the 1990s that jihadists wanted the world. I became interested in understanding Islam in 1979, when Iranian revolutionaries - with Islamist approval - occupied the American Embassy in Tehran and took the diplomats and staff hostage, so I read the Qur'an, expecting a message of God's love and consequent gift of peace at its core, which would show that the taking of hostages was wrong. I didn't find either love or peace as Islam's central message. I did find a few verses of peace, but more of war. so I concluded that the text was contradictory.

Eventually, however, I learned of the principle of abrogation: later revelations abrogate earlier ones if there are contradictions. The sword verses therefore abrogate such peaceful verses as the no-compulsion-in-religion verse, for Islam does use compulsion, as we can all now see, and Islamists repeatedly proclaim their aim of taking over the world..

Myers' insistence on taking North Korea's threats seriously may thus be the position to assume and therefore the one to prepare for.

North Korea's Next Test: The F-Bomb!

Kim Jong-un
Still angry after all these years!
Google Images

Me and my Kimfolk tested an A-Bomb back yonder and shook the whole world in a single day. That was way back when. Now that I'm all growed up, I've tested an H-Bomb and kept the sun up all night. Talk about global warming? You ain't seen nothin yet! Next time, I'm gonna drop an F-Bomb and explode in rage. I've been gorging myself to increase my mass, cause ever-body knows Einstein's famous formular, e=mc², so when I blow my top and my bottom, I'll shake the whole dog-damn universe at the speed of light bitchin squared!

Just you wait and see. When I shout, "F*ck you, universe!", ain't nobody gonna laugh about no 'interviews' with me and my Kimfolk no more!

What to do with those 'simply divine' statues of the Kim family . . .

B. R. Myers
Korea Herald
Google Images

I received my free copy of the Journal of Peace and Unification (Volume 5, Number 2, Fall 2015) - which the Institute of Unification Studies sends me as partial recompense for my work as copy editor - and I want to call attention to an interesting problem that had never occurred to me, namely, what to do after re-unification (if and when that happens) with all those Kim family statues that have popped up like toadstools all over the North.

Because the issue had never occurred to me before, I'd of course never given it a moment's thought, but we are fortunate to have Professor B. R. Myers, of Dongseo University, with an entire article's worth of reflection on the issue, titled, "Memory Politics in a Unified Korea: Applying European Lessons to the Problem of Political Statuary," and below is his summary:

The following paper approaches the issue of memory politics in a unified Korea by focusing on what is likely to be the most contentious problem, namely, what to do with the numerous statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il that now stand in North Korea. Referring both to recent South Korean research as well as the historical experiences of Germany and Estonia, the paper argues for a compromise between those two countries' approaches. According to this proposal, the central government would remove most of the problematic statues in a discreet and orderly manner, as opposed to the German practice of letting regional and municipal governments decide their fate. But in contrast to the central-government intransigence that led to deadly rioting in Estonia in 2007, a few statues of Kim Il Sung as a young anti-Japanese fighter should be left where they are, albeit with new plaques, in emulation of the German solution, that subject them to re-interpretation.

By the end of the article, you'll likely be persuaded that Myers is right about an issue that you've never thought about before . . . unless you're one of those who have (and you too will also be convinced).

Toilet Door Drone Insult!

Toilet Door Drone!
Korea Real Time

The Norks have really gone down and dirty to strike a low blow with the latest insult! First, this blog has reported reports of President Park as a "prostitute," then reports of President Obama as a "monkey," now reports of a toilet door as a drone. Here follows a report with details 'slightly' edited so as to twist the report according to my ironic aims:

A toilet door fragment on Wednesday caused momentary alarm in South Korea, after the object found near Seoul was . . . [identified as] a North Korean drone . . . . [Also, t]he Defense Ministry said a passerby reported the object as a suspected part of a drone . . . door from a portable toilet . . . . [The identification] appears to have arisen from the fragment's light-blue color, similar to that of the three unmanned aerial vehicles that Seoul said last week had been sent from North Korea . . . . [and these] three drones, each differently-shaped but sporting similar-colored paint, were found between late March and early April hundreds of miles from each other near the inter-Korean border . . . . [Naturally,] North Korea has denied sending them and calls South Korea's claims a fabrication. (Jeyup S. Kwaak, "Toilet-Door Fragment Briefly Sets South Korea on Edge," Korea Real Time, May 14, 2014)

How insulting! The Norks sent a toilet door flying over South Korea just to show how little they think of this country! Don't these communists know the South could send an entire brick sh*thouse -- toilet paper included! -- to spy on their own sh*tty little country?

Only from the goodness of its heart has South Korea restrained itself . . .

North Korea's Racist Diatribe Against Obama

One Free Korea
(Click Image to Enlarge)

Joshua Stanton, a Washington, D.C. lawyer who maintains the blog One Free Korea, has translated a North Korean racist diatribe against President Obama to draw attention to the North's vulgar, crude barbarity. Here's a sample of the North's description of Obama:

Dark head-dome and dull gray eyes, cavernous nostrils, thick-lipped maw, the more I gaze at him, the more I see him as a monkey in a primeval African forest.

You can also see this passage in the image above (but go to OFK for the entire diatribe). Mr. Stanton has noted that some expressions were difficult to translate, and he has called for readers with Korean skills to check his translation and assist him in improving it.

Stanton's report has been picked up by the Washington Post.

Kim Jong-un Far, Far Younger Than Previously Believed

Four-Year-Old Kim Jong-un
NKCT
KBS

Experts on North Korea have debated Kim Jong-un's real age ever since he assumed power three years ago, but that debate is now over as the North's media have disclosed recent photographs of a clearly very young Kim, officially said to be but four years old, going about his duties as a precocious litle dictator: left photo, proudly saluting the glorious socialist future; central photo, keeping both eyes directly on YOU; right photo, peremptorily ordering his Uncle Jang's execution. Here follows the KBS report based on the official NKCT news release:

The North Korean media has disclosed photos of its leader Kim Jong-un . . . . The North's Korean Central Television on Tuesday released . . . photos showing a four-year-old Kim [at various duties, such as] wearing an air force uniform at a performance of the Moranbong Art Troupe.

The Moranbong Art Troupe is the North Korea Wave of the Future, which Kim is shown saluting in the left-most photo above, as already described. The North's surprising disclosure of Kim's actual age has left foreign experts stunned -- and groping for appropriate ways to engage Kim in dialogue about his nuclear weapons, his ballistic missiles, and his space satellites, for he appears very reluctant to give up what he calls his "toys."

I suggest seeking advice from child psychologists on how to deal with immaturity at this level . . .

I Spy With My Little Eye: Trouble for Choe Ryong Hae?

Kim Jong Eun Makes Appearance, Choe Ryong Hae Eyes Camera

Roh Hae Cheol, of the Daily NK, points to a problem for somebody in "Playing to the Gallery: Choe Images Attract Attention" (January 6, 2014):

In recent days, the official daily publication of the Chosun Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun has been publishing . . . images of Kim Jong Eun performing onsite inspections . . . [but] Choe Ryong Hae . . . stands out in the [two] images [above], not Kim . . . . Within . . . North Korean propaganda methodology, . . . such [images] as these . . . emphasize the leading role and wisdom of the supreme leader . . . . Kim should be in the center . . . , and other officials and personnel . . . should observe him or his actions . . . . [In] the two images cited, Choe is visible in the background staring straight into the camera . . . . Choe's actions, and the decision to publish the photos, . . . [are] abnormal and inappropriate . . . . [Such official images] are managed . . . by the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party, and should only be authorized . . . once the background, leader's expression and accompanying personnel have all been [checked, so] . . . . either the images were deliberately released to emphasize . . . Choe . . . , or the action was not deliberate and the officials who . . . permitted the images . . . could face censure.

Does somebody want to get Choe in trouble? He's been said to have been one of the principal advisers to Kim Jong Eun in the recent execution of Jang Song Thaek. Even if the publication of these photos is accidental -- and those would be two consecutive, highly unlikely careless 'accidents' -- they put Choe in a bad light, for Choe's enemies could argue that Choe should always keep his focus on the Great Leader during such official events and that the photos show him openly ignoring Kim Jong Eun. Keep in mind that earlier photos of Jang Song Thaek showed him openly ignoring Kim Jong Eun at official events. Such photos were analyzed for their political meaning, and many commentators suggested that those photographs indicated the powerful position of Jang, given that he could openly ignore Kim. But we see where that got him.

Does the sick state up north need another purgative? Stay tuned . . .

Kim Jong-un 'Pissed' While Purging?

Kim Jong-un
Pissed Pistolier

Google Images

Drawing upon a report in the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Korean reporters Kim Hyun-ki and Kim Hee-jin (JoongAng Daily, December 23, 2013) tell us that "[Kim] Jong-un [was] drunk when he ordered some purges," starting with the two aides Ri Ryong-ha and Jang Su-gil, who worked under his Uncle Jang Song-thaek:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was drunk when he ordered the execution of two aides close to his uncle Jang Song-thaek, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Saturday . . . . [In turn, t]he Yomiuri cited a source that claimed Ri Ryong-ha, the first deputy director of the administrative department of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, and Jang Su-gil, a deputy director of the department, were executed because they did not immediately follow an order by Kim to hand over their control of a profitable business to the military . . . . [Apparently,] when Kim made the order, Ri and Jang responded that they first had to report to director Jang -- the man in charge of the administrative department -- which made the young leader "upset" . . . . [Reportedly, w]hen Kim ordered the execution of the two aides, he was "very drunk," the source told the Yomiuri.

Kim Jong-un appears to have been pissed in both colloquial senses of the word, namely, "drunk" and "angry." The Yomiuri Shimbun (December 21, 2013) itself, translated from the Japanese by the Korean Open Source Digest (Volume VI, Issue 247, December 23, 2013), offers the same view: "Failure By Aides to Chang [i.e., Jang Song-thaek] To Immediately Carry Out Kim Jong Un's Order Infuriates Kim":

The two subordinates were Ri Ryong-ka, first deputy director of the Administration Department, and Chang Su-kil, deputy director of the same department. According to the source, they did not quickly respond to the instruction by saying, "We need to report this to Director Chang." An enraged Kim Jong Un ordered their execution though he was "dead drunk" at the time, the source said.

I'd consider altering "though" to "because." My grandfather once told me there were two kinds of drunks, the happy sort and the angry sort. Kim Song-un seems to belong to the latter category, but his impulsive character seemingly accounts for his abrupt orders, regardless whether he is drunk or not, as we see from the Yomiuri Shimbun's further report:

Touching on Kim Jong Un's alleged instruction, a South Korean government official said: "He tends to give instructions on impulse and without taking into account the reality. We doubt if he can maintain unifying power." According to concerned officials, Kim Jong Un issued an order to plant lawn[s] on the yards of citizens' residences to make the yards look like ones he saw in Switzerland during his stay in the country for study, although those [North Korean] yards are used as precious food[-]supplying fields for residents. He also ordered [underlings] to install parking lots on the premises of apartments to be built in Pyongyang by claiming, "An era of private vehicles has come." Further, WPK cadres were allegedly appalled when they heard Kim saying, "We can solve our food shortages if we eat meat instead of rice."

And cake instead of bread. Assuming that all these reports are true (and I do have some skepticism), then baby-faced Kim Jong-un lacks the smarts for the calculations necessary toward retaining and maintaining power. His immaturity and lack of self-control, exacerbated by appalling ignorance, suggests that he is not long for this world, for there are -- waiting from the sidelines and calculating their odds -- those in full possession of what the young Kim lacks.

And they will be ruthless with him . . .

Kim Jong-un: Parroting Parody or Floundering Fool?

Kim Jong-un
Parodying his Grandad?
Google Images

There has been a discussion over at the Marmot's Hole about North Korean propaganda as North Korea expert Brian Myers sees it. Myers argues that what serves as public-image propaganda these days by Kim Jong-un -- e.g., openly playing with foreigners at 'his' amusement park, publicly hanging out with a 'strange' Dennis Rodman, unnecessarily humiliating his 'corrupt' uncle on national television, and other such 'feats' -- is surprisingly bad, for it makes Kim Jong-un look not only utterly immature, but also even disrespectful of his elders in the eyes of North Koreans. One commenter disagreed with the position taken by Myers, arguing that the regime in Pyongyang could use any sort of propaganda it wished, and the North Korean people would have to swallow it, even if it were as irrational as bad mathematics, because, "Up north, 2+2 can equal 5 today, 3 tomorrow." I disagreed with that point, so I posted my own comment:

"Up north, 2+2 can equal 5 today, 3 tomorrow."

Only for small values of 5 and large values of 3.

Propaganda can be consistent with people's values or inconsistent with people's values. The former tends to be more effective.

Kim Jong-un has shown himself both publicly frivolous and impulsively brutal in a culture that expects leaders to appear serious and deliberative.

He therefore lacks gravitas, despite his girth, and looks like a parody of Kim Il-sung.

Kim Il-sung
The Original?
Google Images

My interlocutor, a reasonable fellow going by the eminently sensible moniker "George Smiley," accepted that my argument "makes sense," thereby giving me the confidence to post my views here, where truth alone is admitted through the gate and presented for posting! Falsehood must remain outside, languishing in the dust and pleading through bitter tears to be allowed entrance, but the gates are forever shut to such foul error. Unfortunately, that doesn't prevent the occasional inaccuracy from sneaking in through the sewers, but their stink eventually betrays them, and they are purged! Not like Uncle Jang Song-thaek was purged, though, for I don't even own a machine gun or a flamethrower . . .

Lyin' Eyes

An Otherwise Pretty Dark Place

Kang Mi Jin, reporting for Daily NK, says that the "North Sees [a] Mixed Response to [the] Execution" of Jang Sung Taek (December 13, 2013):

News of Jang Sung Taek's execution has been met with mixed responses from ordinary North Koreans, one of Daily NK's sources has revealed.

The source, located in North Korea's Yangkang Province, told Daily NK on the 13th that, "Word of the execution is spreading rapidly throughout the country. Most people are openly critical of Jang, saying, 'He got the punishment he deserved,' and, 'How could he be so traitorous after receiving the love of the General (Kim Jong Il)?'"

However, she went on, "Their eyes and way of speaking seem to tell you that they don't really believe what they are saying."

They just can't hide their lying eyes, so these tricky circumstances call for some almost entirely inappropriate music!

Christmas Comes Early For Uncle Jang . . .

Jang Song Thaek

"Jingle, jangle, jingle

I can hear those 'slay' bells ring"

Yonhap News

Kevin Kim calls attention to Joshua Stanton over at One Free Korea for his intriguing insight into the Child-King's possible faux pas in having his Uncle Jang so publicly executed for plotting a coup:

The very fact that North Korea concedes that a recently-esteemed and trusted leader secretly despised and plotted against Kim Jong Un is an acknowledgement of the unthinkable. It shatters one of the most sacred illusions of North Korean propaganda. Had someone tried to overthrow Kim Jong Il (and someone probably did) Kim Jong II would never have admitted it (and he didn't). Both Jang's execution and this announcement suggest that Kim Jong Un is a much more volatile man than his father, and much less schooled in the ideology that explains his father's longevity. For once, I'm astonished by North Korea's candor.

Joshua's point is that the Kim-family's spell has been broken. Every North Korean now knows that the man closest to Kim Jong Un hated him. There may now be a lot of desperate officials who were indebted to Jang and don't want to suffer his fate, and if the Man-Child Leader is perceived as volatile, unpredictable, and brutal, then he is making a problem for himself, as I noted about a week ago:

If he's executing people on a whim, then nobody in the high elite can trust him. An intelligent dictator can be harsh, but if the rules are clear and applied consistently, people will generally obey them and thus know that they are secure. But if there are no rules and punishment is arbitrary, conditions are ripe for revolt.

But we'll see. Meanwhile, let's appreciate the "Brilliant General" for this early Christmas present . . .

Every Good Thing Must End . . .

Uncle Jang Song Thaek
Video at 8 minutes, 45 Seconds

Google Images

The current rumblings in North Korea over the party's purge of Jang Song Thaek, the uncle by marriage of the young North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, are making even the North's ordinarily boring propaganda fascinating to read -- and even more fascinating to play around with, in the interest of truth, naturally, so let's keep in mind that we're reading about an uncle and his nephew:

"Report on Enlarged Meeting of Political Bureau of Central Committee of WPK (Workers Party of Korea)," Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), translated from Korean by Korea Open Source Project, Volume VI, Issue 238, December 10, 2013

In this historic period for carrying forward the revolutionary cause of Juche[,] the chance elements and alien elements who had made their ways into the party committed such anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts as expanding their forces through factional moves and daring [to] challenge the party, while attempting to undermine the unitary leadership of the party . . . . [T]he Political Bureau of the C.C. (Central Committee), the WPK, convened its enlarged meeting and discussed the issue related to the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts committed by [Uncle] Jang Song Thaek . . . . [F]ully laid bare [were] the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts of [Uncle] Jang Song Thaek and their harmfulness and reactionary nature . . . . The entire party, whole army and all people are dynamically advancing toward the final victory in the drive for the building of a thriving nation, meeting all challenges of history and resolutely foiling the desperate moves of the enemies of the revolution under the leadership of Kim Jong Un [nephew of Jang Song Thaek] . . . . The [Uncle] Jang Song Thaek group, however, committed such anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts as gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party . . . . [Uncle] Jang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams and . . . . behaving against the elementary sense of moral obligation and conscience as a human being . . . . [for Uncle] Jang desperately worked to form a faction within the party . . . . [and] tried to increase his force and build his base . . . . [Uncle] Jang and his followers did not sincerely accept the line and policies of the party . . . . The [Uncle] Jang group weakened the party's guidance . . . . Such acts are nothing but counter-revolutionary, unpopular criminal acts of giving up the class struggle and paralyzing the function of [the] popular democratic dictatorship [of Uncle Jang's nephew, Kim Jong Un], yielding to the offensive of the hostile forces to stifle the DPRK . . . . [Uncle] Jang seriously obstructed the nation's economic affairs and the improvement of the standard of people's living . . . . The [Uncle] Jang group put under its control the fields and units which play an important role in the nation's economic development and the improvement of people's living in a crafty manner, making . . . impossible for the economic guidance organs including the Cabinet to perform their roles[,] . . . . [thereby] throwing the state financial management system into confusion and committing such [an] act of treachery as selling off precious resources of the country at cheap prices, the [Uncle Jang] group made it impossible to carry out the behests of [his father-in-law] Kim Il Sung and [his brother-in-law] Kim Jong Il on developing the industries of Juche iron, Juche fertilizer and Juche vinalon . . . . [Uncle] Jang committed irregularities and corruption and led a dissolute and depraved life . . . . abusing his power, . . . [and having] improper relations with several women . . . . [Uncle] Jang and his followers committed criminal acts baffling imagination . . . [acts] perpetrated by the group of [Uncle] Jang Song Thaek . . . . Speakers bitterly criticized in unison the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts committed by the [Uncle] Jang group and expressed their firm resolution to remain true to the idea and leadership of Kim Jong Un[, pure nephew of the corrupt Uncle Jang Song Thaek] . . . . The meeting adopted a decision of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee on relieving [Uncle] Jang of all posts, depriving him of all titles and expelling him and removing his name from the WPK [and his image from official photographs, of course] . . . . The party served warning[s] to [Uncle] Jang several times and dealt blows at him, watching his group's anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts[,] as it has been aware of them from long ago[, but try not to dwell on this point too much, as that might lead to groundless doubts about the party's superior wisdom]. But [anyway,] . . . [the Uncle Jang Song Thaek group] did not pay heed to [the party] . . . but went beyond [the] tolerance limit. That was why the party eliminated [Uncle] Jang and purged his group, unable to remain an onlooker to its acts any longer [-- but again, don't think about this point too deeply --] dealing telling blows at sectarian acts manifested within the party . . . . The discovery and purge of the [Uncle] Jang group, a modern day faction[,] . . . [has] made our party and revolutionary ranks purer . . . . No force on earth can deter our party, army[,] and people from dynamically advancing toward a final victory, single-mindedly united around [the pure] Kim Jong Un[, nephew of the corrupt Uncle Jang Song Thaek].

Family problems . . . (sigh) . . . every family has them. But there's a serious side to this, of course. The North might be growing unstable, motivating Kim Jong Un to distract everyone through serious provocations against South Korea.

Something to think about . . .

Martin Kramer: "October 1973: Panorama and Myopia" and North Korean Art

Hafez Asad and Kim Il-Sung
Sandbox: Martin Kramer on the Middle East

Professor Martin Kramer commemorates the 40th anniversary of the October 1973 War with Israel by visiting panoramas in Cairo and Damascus depicting the victories of Arab armies, though Israel won the war, of course, and Kramer could visit only online. Of interest to me is that the panoramas are painted by North Korean artists:

The construction of panoramas has become a North Korean specialty, and the Egyptian and Syrian panoramas are of North Korean design and execution.

Kramer comments insightfully, even humorously, on each image, including the one above:

What are friends for? Hafez Asad and Kim Il-Sung hang together at the Panorama. They met in real life in September 1974, when Asad paid a state visit to North Korea. Both leaders have since been succeeded by their sons, who went on to collaborate on bigger projects. And if you, too, are one of a dwindling number of dictators, you might consider contracting Mandusae of Pyongyang to build a monument to you. Here is a sort of prospectus:

"Need a massive monument built for cheap and on short notice? In this age of post-Soviet malaise, no one has maintained the time-honored art of building massively unnecessary bronze and concrete monuments. No one, that is, except the fine revolutionaries of the Mansudae Art Studios, one of the largest contributors to the DPRK's economy. Not content with keeping all of the giant monuments and statues to themselves, the 4000 artists of the studio work in glorious revolutionary harmony to provide the world with great monuments to great men. Mansudae's work can be found in Syria at the October War Remembrance Panorama, in Senegal at the African Renaissance Monument, and at state houses all over Africa."

Order yours now—before it's too late.

Quite an amusing little satire -- even Hafez Asad and Kim Il-Sung are smiling! But there's a serious side to this work of art above. Concentrate on the position of the hands and ask yourself who is 'presenting' whom. If the photo here isn't large enough, go to Kramer's site and enlarge the image. I think viewers will agree that Kim's right arm is shown in the stronger position, with his wrist apparently straight and his fingers above Asad's left hand. Asad's hand, by contrast, is depicted palm up, with left arm and wrist subtly twisted into an unnatural, weak position. This symbolism is not overt, for we are gazing from below, but it is apparent if one looks for it -- which I was doing, for I'm familiar enough with North Korean propaganda to know that no North Korean painter could depict Kim in a work of art without implying that this 'Great Leader' is the greater man.

A Juche Leader depends on no lesser being . . .

Bye-Bye, North Korea?

GDP Per Capita, 1950-2010

Sokeel Park, director of research and strategy for Liberty in North Korea (an NGO that works with North Korean refugees), tells us "6 Reasons Why Kim Jong Un Is Screwed" in a recent issue of the Atlantic (June 20, 2013). Here's a quote from the first reason:

The difference between North and South Korea's economies is already the biggest of any two neighboring countries in the world. Just 30 years ago, China was poorer than North Korea; now North Koreans who manage to travel to China (or even just look across the river) are amazed at the bright lights and development they see there.

The quote accompanies the above chart depicting the North's dire situation and destabilizing circumstances. Meanwhile, the regime is growing ever more corrupt:

North Koreans consistently tell us that to get ahead or even just survive in North Korea, you have to break the regime's rules, and that money enables all of those rules to be broken. Corruption is therefore steadily eroding the regime's control and authority over society, and there is no effective way to rein this in unless the system itself changes.

As Park notes, this sort of corruption undermines the regime. In addition to these two reasons -- "Economic Divergence" and "Explosion of Corruption" -- Park notes four others, "Grassroots Glasnost," "Refugees Bridging Back Into North Korea," "Jangmadang (Market) Generation," and "Bonds Between the People." All six of these, Park claims, are working against the regime's authority, stability, and power.

The article is relatively short and puts into clear, simple language a lot of what I've been thinking over the past few years, so go and read . . .

New from the North: Cerebration Invigorator, Moxibustion Appliance, and (Eternal) Toothpaste!

Flag of North Korea
Wikipedia

We so rarely hear good things about North Korea, but thanks to the United States Forces Korea J2's Korea Open Source Digest (Volume VI, Issue 103, Saturday, 25 – Tuesday, 28 May 2013), I can today report on three recent advances in North Korean science that will surely work for the betterment of humankind. First, there's this article on a miracle drug:

Reun Capsule, New Cerebration Invigorator
Korean Central News Agency
05/24/13

Pyongyang - Among the exhibits at the 16th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair (May 13-16) was Reun capsule, a new kind of cerebration invigorator, presented by the Jongsong Trading Company. The capsule is made of physiological activators, such as lecithin extracted from bean, ginkgo leaf extract and various kinds of vitamins. It is efficacious for easing mental stress and helpful to curing amnesia, insomnia, aphasia, dizziness and hand and foot aching. It is also good for fatty liver and liver cirrhosis. With no side effect, the capsule was granted with the DPRK patent right in September 2012.

Definitely wonderful, a medicinal breakthrough! And the fact that the granting of the patent right has had no side effect is certainly something to cerebrate! Second -- to my great astonishment -- is yet another miracle of advancement in health:

New Moxibustion Appliance Developed
Korean Central News Agency
05/25/13

Pyongyang - The Academy of Koryo Medicine of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has developed a new kind of moxibustion appliance. The appliance is made with mixed powders of wormwood, rare earth mineral and Kumgang medicinal stone, which emit heat, electronic radiation and far infrared rays, when burnt. The compound rays help improve circulation of blood, activate metabolism and enhance immunity in human body. This portable appliance can adjust its operational temperature and time to suit the diseases. It is efficacious for bronchial asthma, hypertension, hypotension, cardiac neurosis, stomach and duodenal ulcer, etc. Sliced ginger and garlic are usually put on the spots of acupuncture to get a better effectiveness of the appliance. Paek Kum Sang, a researcher of the Academy, told KCNA that the new appliance gives desirable effect to the regions of acupuncture more quickly than the existing ones.

Quite another breakthrough with this magical medicine! Readers suffering from neurotic hearts can be gladdened at the news. Also useful, though not explicitly specified, is the strengthening of the female bust, or so the term "moxibustion" apparently implies. Too bad the appliance can be used just once, since it seems to work only "when burnt." Third comes still again an advance in health science:

New Kind of Toothpaste, One of Attractions At Int'l Trade Fair
Korean Central News Agency
05/27/13

Pyongyang - The Korean Sangwon Trading Company presented a new kind of toothpaste at the 16th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair held some days ago. In this regard, KCNA met Kim Yon Hui, an official of the company. She said: The chestnut-color toothpaste is made of various species of medical plants indigenous to Korea, including liquorice and dandelion. Effective for five years, it is efficacious for killing dental bacteria. It washes away toothscum and removes tartar in 15 to 20 days from the beginning of use. It is believed to be good especially for children. The toothpaste was granted with the DPRK patent right.

Effective for five years! Terrific toothpaste! Don't talk to me about breakthroughs! Brush once, and you're good for half a decade! Such toothpaste can be passed down in one's family for generations to come. Though I am left a bit leery by the remark that it's only "believed to be good" . . .

But enough blogging for the day -- there's already too much good news!

North Korean Markets and the Power of Money!

North Korean Market

Illustration by Sung Choi

New York Times

Jang Jin-sung, a former North Korean official who defected to the South, has written a fascinating account of his training and of his reasons for defecting in an article, "The Market Shall Set North Korea Free" (New York Times, April 26, 2013). Let's first look at the sort of governmental work he used to do in North Korea:

All of us at the United Front Department -- also known as "the window into and out of North Korea" -- learned three tenets of diplomacy by heart: 1. Pay no attention to South Korea. 2. Exploit Japan's emotions. 3. Ply the United States with lies, but make sure they are logical ones.

Kim Jong-il stressed the importance of these three tenets as the framework within which we were required to implement his vision for Pyongyang's foreign relations. North Korea's dealings with South Korea, Japan and the United States always hewed closely to these principles.

Our department's mission was to deceive our people and the world, doing what was necessary to keep our leader in power. We openly referred to talks with South Korea as "aid farming," because while Seoul sought dialogue through its so-called Sunshine Policy, we saw it as an opening not for diplomatic progress but for extracting as much aid as possible. We also successfully bought time for our nuclear program through the endless marathon of the six-party talks.

These three tenets fit with what I've seen, except that the North doesn't completely ignore South Korea. How could it in its "aid farming" of the South? I'm guessing that this point could have been better translated, perhaps as "Don't take South Korea seriously" or "Treat South Korea as illegitimate." The other two tenets are quite clear, but I never would have induced them on my own, so I'm glad to have come upon this article. How did Mr. Jang break free from his ideological thinking? Through a process like something out of 1984:

Although in my job I had access to foreign media, books with passages containing criticism of our Dear Leader Kim Jong-il or his revered father, Kim Il-sung, had large sections blacked out. One day, out of deep curiosity, I made up an excuse to stay behind at work to decipher the redacted words of a history book.

I locked the office door and put the pages against a window. Light from outside made the words under the ink perfectly clear. I read voraciously. I stayed late at work again and again to learn my country's real history -- or at least another view of it.

Most shocking was what I discovered about the Korean War. We had been taught all of our lives how an invasion by the South had triggered the conflict. Yet now I was reading that not only South Korea but the rest of the world believed the North had started the war.

Mr. Jang's experience reminds me of 1984's main character, Winston Smith, a clerk in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth whose thought crime of paying too close attention to information he was supposed to be fighting against led him to rebel, though I suppose the Smith character's job would be more like that of the person responsible for blacking out the forbidden passages in books containing criticism of the Kim family. Be that as it may, Mr. Jang's curiosity ultimately led him to an escape from the North. And he offers some rather intriguing hope:

The social effect of the rise of the market has been extraordinary: The umbilical cord between the individual and the state has been severed. In the people's eyes, loyalty to the state has been replaced by the value of hard cash. And the U.S. greenback is the currency of choice.

Trading with their U.S. dollars . . . for Chinese products, North Koreans have come to recognize the existence of leaders greater even than the Kims. Who are these men gracing U.S. bank notes? North Koreans now see that loyalty to the supreme leader has brought no tangible benefits; yet currency bearing the faces of American men is exchanged for many things: rice, meat, even a promotion at work.

An insight that I never would have imagined -- images on currency leading to political heresy -- because the dollar buys more than the image of a Kim! I'll never look at money in quite the same way again.

I also learned of a website on North Korea that posts articles by North Korean defectors: New Focus International. Mr. Jang is the is editor in chief.

North Korea Looks to the Future

North Korea's High-Tech Military
Guard Tower on Banks of Yalu River
Photo by Jacky Chen, Reuters
Chicago Tribune

Everyone knows that "A picture is worth a thousand words," so take a close look at the photo above. Either North Korean scientists have advanced their military technology so far that they've developed invisible binoculars, or . . . they haven't, and that soldier's using his hands as make-believe binoculars, like I used to do as a kid. Such fantasy binoculars would fit well with the North's description of its military's ability to deliver a "sledgehammer blow" to its enemies and of its supposed nuclear capability as a "treasured sword." I can just visualize the North's army peering at the enemy through imaginary binoculars as its soldiers prepare to rush forward into battle armed with sledgehammers and swords!

I found the above image in the Chicago Tribune, accompanied by the article from which I drew the expressions "sledgehammer blows" and "treasured sword" ("North Korea demands end of sanctions if U.S. wants dialogue," April 18, 2013), but the photo there has been changed, so go here instead.

The North's military, of course, is not truly to be laughed at, not when it has over ten thousand artillery pieces aimed at Seoul . . .

Andrei Lankov on North Korea's Bluff of War

Professor Andrei Lankov

Wikipedia

I wasn't going to write more on North Korea's bluster, but after posting my opinion yesterday, I discovered a column in The New York Times by an acquaintance of mine, Professor Andrei Lankov, who echoed my views, not that he was borrowing from me, of course, for he's a far more informed scholar than I'll ever be. Anyway, the article -- titled "Stay Cool. Call North Korea's Bluff." (April 9, 2013) -- in an expansion on this title, says the following:

[T]here is almost nothing particularly unusual in the recent developments. In the last two decades, North Korea has on various occasions conducted highly provocative missile and nuclear tests and promised to turn Seoul into a sea of fire. Now it has declared its withdrawal from the 1953 armistice agreement that ended fighting in the Korean War but not the war itself. It has denounced American and South Korean military exercises as an act of war. And on Tuesday, North Korea told foreigners in the South to look for shelter or consider evacuating because the Korean Peninsula could soon be engulfed in nuclear war. This time, the tune is being played louder, but that is the only real change.

A closer look at North Korean history reveals what Pyongyang's leaders really want their near-farcical belligerence to achieve -- a reminder to the world that North Korea exists, and an impression abroad that its leaders are irrational and unpredictable. The scary impressions are important to North Korea because for the last two decades its policy has been, above all, a brilliant exercise in diplomatic blackmail. And blackmail usually works better when the practitioners are seen as irrational and unpredictable.

Put bluntly, North Korea's government hopes to squeeze more aid from the outside world. Of late, it has become very dependent on Chinese aid, and it wants other sponsors as well.

That's enough for me to make my basic point, namely, that my opinion is not idiosyncratic, but is shared by others, even by experts such as Professor Lankov, so stay cool, everyone, and don't worry about the North starting a war.

Meanwhile, readers and visitors with an interest in more details should go on to read the article itself.

What North Korea Wants to Gain by Threats of Nuclear War

Kim Jong-un with Scepter
"Oh . . . right. That's west. I forgot we're North Korea."
Picture: AP
April 4, 2013
Metro News

Does North Korea want war?

Family and friends back in the States and other places have been sending me worried emails, asking if I'm afraid the North Korean regime might start a war, so I thought I might as well quell the fears of others by assuring everybody that war is the last thing that North Korea wants since that would likely bring its entire system down, thereby ending the elite's luxurious lifestyle and effectively rendering them powerless and subject to judgment for their crimes against their own people.

But if they don't want war, what's all the bluster about?

It's an old game carried to unprecedented extremes this time. For too long, the North would fabricate a crisis whenever it needed food aid or political concessions or something else from the outside world. The world would grow alarmed and offer something. The North would accept and be on good behavior for a while . . . until it needed something new, when it would fabricate another crisis.

But why are they sounding so much more extreme this time?

Two reasons.

First, the game isn't working this time because everybody's figured out how it works and everyone now refuses to play the game, so the North is trying harder to scare everybody into fearing the bluster is genuine.

Second, Kim Jong-un needs to look tough, and what's more, given his youth and inexperience, he has to look even tougher to get the respect of the military, the party, and the people.

So . . . has he gone too far to back down since he's receiving nothing from the outside world?

He hasn't gone too far, and he won't have to back down at all. He has claimed that the yearly, routine, defensive Field Training Exercise (FTX) conducted by South Korea and the United States is a preparation for invasion of the North using nuclear weapons, so when this exercise is finished, he will be able to claim that North Korea's resolve and military power, based on its own nuclear weapons program, intimidated the imperialistic Americans and saved the North from invasion.

That's how I see things, so you can all stop worrying about me . . . unless Kim Jong-un miscalculates, goes insane, or turns out to be really, really stupid.

In which case, thanks for your loyal readership . . .