Category Archive: North Korea

Feb 18

Kim Jong-Chol’s wild week in Singapore

Categories:

Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Offbeat, Succession

February 18, 2011

Kim Jong-Chol, the 30 year-old second son of Kim Jong-Il and older brother to Kim Jong-Un was spotted at an Eric Clapton concert in Singapore earlier this week. Kim’s fandom for Clapton is arguably his most famous trait, making headlines in 2006 when he attended a concert as well. This was even a discussion point in one of the diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, where the US embassy in Seoul tossed around the idea of endorsing an Eric Clapton concert in Pyongyang for Jong-Chol in order to improve relations between the countries. Jong-Chol was at one point suspected to be the favourite for succession of leadership.

Kim and his entourage stayed at the 5 star Pan Pacific Hotel. He was there with a girl believed to be either his girlfriend or his wife. They visited a waterpark, Universal Studios and did some shopping. Jong-Chol also purchased several souvenirs at the concert, and was well protected by bodyguards,  who attempted to block cameras from taking photos of the young prince.

Kim Jong-chol (marked by a red arrow), and a woman believed to be his wife watch an Eric Clapton concert in Singapore on Monday in this photo obtained by the Chosun Ilbo from a North Korean source.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/778

Feb 16

Kim Jong-Il’s 69th birthday bash

Categories:

Defection, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Propaganda, South Korea, Succession

February 16, 2011

February 16th marks Kim Jong-Il’s 69th birthday, a national holiday for North Korea. Lavish events are planned and underway for the entire week, including synchronized swimming performances, film airings, lantern hangings and parades. Traditionally on the birthdays of the Dear Leader and his father Kim Il-Sung, gift bags are given out to citizens that often comprise of candies, trinkets and foodstuffs. However, reports indicate that some provinces did not receive gifts this year, likely due to food and money shortages and a particularly harsh winter. North Koreans not receiving gifts are therefore often indifferent towards the holiday.

In South Korea, activists had a present for Kim Jong-Il too: 100,000 anti-regime leaflets launched from balloons that will float into the North and spread information criticizing the North Korean regime and the 3rd generation succession process. Citizens are generally not allowed to read the pamphlets attached to these balloons, and are required by law to turn them over to authorities as well as report anyone else who finds or reads one.

One North Korean citizen made the extremely daring move to defect to South Korea on the same date. The man avoided guards and walked across the heavily defended demilitarized zone, walking 4 kilometres across a minefield. He was seized by South Korean border guards and interrogated; I’ll post more about this if more details are provided in the future. Most regard walking through the DMZ to be a death sentence, with millions of mines deployed all over. The traditional defection route is to cross the much less guarded Chinese border to the north, and get to South Korea through alternative means.

Here’s a video of the synchronized swimming for KJI’s birthday bash from North Korea’s official Youtube page. The song is “Footsteps”, an anthem idolizing future leader Kim Jong-Un.

Source: DailyNK / Guardian

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/777

Feb 09

Bowling in Pyongyang: Photoblog from a Russian student

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, Offbeat, Tourism

February 9, 2011

Our favourite Russian language LiveJournal, Show & Tell Pyongyang is a student from Russia who is currently living in and attending school in Pyongyang. This week we’re treated to an inside look at a Bowling alley and billiards hall in Pyongyang that many young North Koreans visit to kick back and relax. It’s not unlike bowling alleys we might find in North America or in other westernized countries; albeit stuck in a retro 80s feel.

Google Translate does a decent job of conveying the author’s captions; the bowling alley consists of a tribute to Kim Il-Sung who visited in 1994 (the year of his death), at least a dozen lanes with score keeping monitors and computers, rows of slot  machines, a few racing arcade machines from Namco and SEGA, and a second floor restaurant. The blogger also includes a short video of students bowling, to demonstrate that the alley isn’t as dimly lit as his photos might suggest:

Check out the full Google Translated post in the link below. Good stuff!

Source: Show & Tell Pyongyang

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/775

Feb 09

Military talks between Koreas break down

Categories:

Diplomacy, Military, North Korea, South Korea, War

February 9, 2011

Moon Sang-gyun, Ri Sun Gyun

The second day of preliminary talks broke down between North and South Korean officials at the border village of Panmunjom. The talks were designed to set the time and agenda for future higher level military discussions. However, as has happened in the past, North Korea walked out of the discussions when the South demanded an apology for the sinking of the Cheonan warship last March, and the artillery shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November. When confronted with the demand, the North instead suggested agenda items for future talks in which the two military incidents would be discussed. South Korea viewed this as a strategy from the DPRK to postpone the apologies; a consistent precondition for a return to talks.

Where does that leave things? Agreements were made for the Red Cross organizations in either state to meet to plan more reunions of families seperated by the 1950-1953 Korean War, but talks between the two militaries have seemingly collapsed. One can only wonder what tactics an increasingly desperate North Korea might employ in order to resume vital food aid to the impoverished state.

Source: Yonhap News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/774

Feb 07

North Korea Art Exhibition

Categories:

North Korea, Propaganda, Tourism

February 7, 2011

Art exhibitions featuring the realistic, soviet style propaganda artwork have become all the rage in the developed world, including an officially endorsed exhibition in Vienna last year and a more recent display in Moscow. Another exhibit in my native Ontario, Canada can be viewed at the Univeristy of Toronto Art Centre, running from January 18 to March 19 2011:

North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge spans three decades and features 24 wood block prints from the Nicholas Bonner Collection. These prints offer a fascinating picture of North Korean conceptions of daily life and work, family and "Fatherland." Four subject areas delineate the contours of North Korea’s vision of an earthly paradise: harmonious families, plenteous landscapes, male laborers and women at work.

The exhibit features 24 works of art from the private collection of Nicholas Bonner, co-founder of Koryo Tours. I’m going to try to get out and see this exhibit while it’s still around, and will post more at that time. Admission is free, and hours and directions can be found at the UTAC website.

Source: University of Toronto Art Centre

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/772

Feb 07

Site Updates & This past week in brief

Categories:

Diplomacy, Economy, Kim Jong-Il, Military, North Korea, Propaganda, South Korea

February 7, 2011

Sorry, I’ve been busy and mulling about some prospects for the future of this site… but after a bit of a blog re-branding, here is a brief wrap-up of last week’s news:

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Fishing boat holding 31 North Koreans arrives at Yeonpyeong Island:

Details remain thin on this story but are expected to emerge shortly: 11 men and 20 women from North Korea have arrived on the shores of Yeonpyeong Island, the infamous border island that North Korea artillery-shelled last November. Early reports indicated that the 31 North Koreans wished to defect have since been dismissed; they have not yet expressed any desire to defect to South Korea. There are no children aboard, and are believed to have originated from the port city of Nampo. South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff announced that intelligence officials will announce further details after further examination of the situation.

Source: Yonhap News

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February 8th Preliminary Discussions between North & South at Panmunjom:

Military officials on either Korean army will meet on the 8th at the border city of Panmunjom to coordinate a time and agenda for higher level military talks in the near future. South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak has even said he would consider meeting between with Kim Jong-Il directly, a move softening of South Korea’s typical-as-of-late hardline stance to negotiations with the DPRK.

Source: Reuters

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Defectors Send Back $10,000,000 Per Year:

There are over 20,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea right now, and many of them transfer money back to their families in the impoverished North. Allegedly, families of North Koreans that defect are not punished as severely as they used to be (ie. marched off to prison camps), and are able to live comfortably off the money sent from families in the South. Is this the regime’s way of bringing in more foreign currency that will inevitably end up in their hands, or is enforcement, of what was once a severely punishable crime, too corrupted or lazy?

Source: The Chosun Ilbo

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Kim Jong Il’s 70th (69th) birthday is coming up on February 16th:

A national holiday in North Korea, and a milestone birthday at that (though technically 69 in Korean terms, where they often start off at “Age 1”). We’ll keep you posted on events surrounding any celebrations / hand-outs, if there are to be any in this cash-and-food-strapped year for the DPRK.

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Offbeat:

This weird device which is supposed to heal your body from physical fatigue through music and by “giving external stimulus to the meridian points of a body”. Does it alleviate the troublesome side effects of hunger?

Source: KCNA

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Enjoy the new site with less vanity (ReasonableMan.net was a vanity domain I’ve held for many years and decided to finally put to use with this blog… OpeningUpNorthKorea.com seems more appropriate after several months of operation.) I will get to the Book Reviews section shortly.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/771

Jan 28

Kim Jong-Il initially opposed hereditary succession

Categories:

China, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Succession

January 28, 2011

jong-nam-2011

Kim Jong-Nam, the often outspoken eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, has once again made public statements about North Korea’s upcoming 3rd generation hereditary succession. Jong-Nam, long believed by Pyongyang observers to be the favourite for eventually replacing his father but fell out of favour with North Korea after getting caught entering Japan with a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland in 2001, has previously commented on his negative views of the succession process. Now the disowned son has some clarifications on those comments, including the new revelation that Kim Jong-Il himself disagreed with the anti-socialist concept of another hereditary succession:

[Hereditary succession] “does not fit with socialism, and my father was against it as well… My understanding is that [succession] was to stabilize the internal system. An unstable North Korea leads to instability in the region.”

Regarding his younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un, the favoured choice for the succession:

“I want him to take over the great works my father has done. I want him to enrich people’s lives… Those are my honest wishes for my brother. They did not mean to challenge or criticize him.”

Kim Jong-Nam currently has two wives and 3 children among them, and presumably visits between them in northern Beijing and Macau. He is apparently an avid gambler, enjoys living a life of luxury, and may have once been the target of an attack by North Korean agents for speaking too openly about the DPRK’s policies.

Source: Associated Press / Tokyo Shimbun

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/761

Jan 24

Talks to soon resume between North and South Korea

Categories:

China, Military, North Korea, Nuclear, South Korea, USA, War

January 24, 2011

panmunjom

After several months of declining a return to the negotiation table, South Korea has warmed up to resuming conditional talks with North Korea. The announcement, from the South’s Unification Ministry, comes shortly after a much publicized meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, in which Obama warned Jintao that a larger American military presence may be required in South Korea if China was unable to reign in the belligerent North Korea.

The talks will mark the end of a 2 year hardline stance taken by South Korea’s Lee Myung-Bak and the Obama administration to enforce strict economic sanctions, deprive the North of essential foreign food aid and refusals to return to Six Party Talks which North Korea originally walked out on in April 2009. Initial talks between high level military officials on either side will determine the path forward for future discussions and the possible resumption of the 6PT and the denuclearization of North Korea.

My own opinion is that this is a rotten idea. This follows North Korea’s tried and true pattern of creating an emergency through increased provocation, taking international condemnation, rattling the nuclear weapon saber and then returning to talks and aid resumption in exchange for a short duration of “good behaviour”.

Source: Reuters

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/758

Jan 24

Public executions in North over South Korean leaflets

Categories:

China, Defection, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Propaganda, South Korea, Succession

January 24, 2011

Leaflet dropping via balloons released from South Korea to float into residential areas of the North have been commonplace for years in North Korea. The leaflets are often released by human rights groups from Seoul and contain details of the more comfortable lifestyle of South Koreans, truths about North Korea’s leadership, and sometimes money and shortwave radios. North Korean authorities dispatch teams to collect and destroy many of these leaflets, and encourage people who have found them to turn them in without reading them, and report anyone who is seen reading them. Often the punishment for being caught will be time spent in a “re-education” camp, or a lighter sentence may be imposed if bribes are accepted.

In a clear example to North Koreans that reading these leaflets or pocketing their contents is unacceptable, officials in Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province gathered 500 people to witness the execution of a 45 year old woman accused of reading the pamphlets and a high ranking soldier for pocketing money from a balloon. The families of both executions were then sent to labour camps.

Recently, North Korean soldiers killed 5 and wounded 2 defectors, chasing them right across the Chinese border and shooting them on Chinese soil. The increased punishment for dissidence may be seen as a warning to those opposing the 3rd generation succession process, as son Kim Jong-Un slowly gets his feet wet under father Kim Jong-Il’s tutelage in Pyongyang.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo (2)

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/755

Jan 19

Time’s Up: DPRK extends economic growth plan to 2020.

Categories:

Economy, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Propaganda, South Korea, Tourism

January 19, 2011

DPRK2012

In 2007, North Korea made a pledge to its people: A Powerful and Prosperous Nation by 2012. The Stalinist state pledged a boosted economy and better lives for its people, through the usual Juche propaganda of self-reliance and more efficient processes such as the much hyped CNC. To downplay any real economical development in the last 4 years, North Korea has now announced a new broader vision: The “10-Year State Strategy Plan for Economic Development” headed by the “State General Bureau for Economic Development”. According to Korean Central News Agency:

This governmental body will handle all issues arising in implementing state strategy projects for economic development.

This step was taken at a time when miracles and innovations are being performed in the socialist economic construction everyday on the basis of a solid springboard laid for building a thriving socialist nation under the outstanding and tested Songun leadership of Kim Jong Il.

The above-said plan set a state strategic goal for economic development. It puts main emphasis on building infrastructure and developing agriculture and basic industries including electric power, coal, oil and metal industries and regional development. It, at the same time, helps lay a foundation for the country to emerge a thriving nation in 2012 and opens a bright prospect for the country to proudly rank itself among the advanced countries in 2020.

When the above-said strategy plan is fulfilled, the DPRK will emerge not only a full-fledged thriving nation but take a strategic position in Northeast Asia and international economic relations.

It seems likely that much of this “economic growth”, if any actually comes to fruition, will be partly attributed to nepotic leader-to-be Kim Jong-Un. The young successor, like his father Kim Jong-Il, but unlike grandfather Kim Il-Sung, has no real military background and no inputs into political ideology. Therefore, as with the succession from Kim Il-Sung to Kim Jong-Il, the propaganda machine will instead laud him as a “genius”, attributed to ideas and innovations to help boost the North Korean economy. However, the road ahead to a “Powerful and Prosperous”  DPRK will be hard fought for either leader as the US and South Korea maintain a hardline approach by enacting economic sanctions and refusing previously consistent foreign food/supply aid.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo / KCNA

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/754

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