North Korea

Sakon Shima · Jun 11, 2010

He's made a triumphant return and was unanimously reappointed as the country's leader.

Sakon Shima · Jun 22, 2010

Kim Jong-il inspects radish at army camp

The world's last Red Army marches on stomachs appropriately filled by radishes, photographs of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il show.

by Our Foreign Staff
Published: 11:50AM BST 21 Jun 2010

Radish: Kim Jong-il inspecting a healthy specimen of the plant at a training camp.Photo: AFP

That at least is the conclusion that military experts have drawn from the latest picture released by North Korea.

It shows North Korea's Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il inspecting a healthy specimen of the plant at a training camp.

 The report said that Kim was inspecting a training centre for commanding officers of Unit 593 of the Korean People's Army, also known as the Inmun Gun.

Sakon Shima · Jun 22, 2010

North Korea's African millions diverted to Kim fund

North Korea's African millions diverted to Kim fund

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:57

SEOUL: North Korea has diverted tens of millions of dollars earned by its workers on African construction projects into secret funds managed by leader Kim Jong-Il, a report said today. The impoverished country has earned more than US$160 million (RM513 million) since early 2000 in orders from African countries for sculptures and other edifices, said Daily NK, a Seoul-based online newspaper run by defectors.

It said the money has been managed by the communist party's Department 39, which raises personal funds for Kim by controlling key state corporations and financial institutions. "Some of these dollars are used for domestic governance while the others go to secret accounts in Switzerland or Macau as Kim Jong-Il’s secret funds," it quoted a source in China as saying. The projects in Africa were controlled by the Mansudae Art Institution, which builds sculptures and statues at home to idolise Kim and his family, Daily NK said.

The North earned US$66.03 million from Namibia and about US$54.5 million from Angola, it said, in addition to projects in other nations. These include an African Renaissance statue in Senegal with a construction budget estimated at more than 15 million euros (RM59.2 million). Analysts say Kim's personal funds have been dwindling because of economic difficulties and tightened international sanctions on the reclusive communist state.
- AFP

Sakon Shima · Jul 19, 2010

N.Korea builds 'shrine' to leader's likely successor

N.Korea builds 'shrine' to leader's likely successor

This picture shows alleged photographs of Kim Jong-Un -- the youngest son of ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il -- which featured in South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo on June 16, 2009. The secretive communist state is creating a quasi-shrine to Jong-Un, 27, as it builds up a personality cult around the likely successor, according to reports. (image: AFP/file - AFP)

North Korea is creating a quasi-shrine to the youngest son of ailing leader Kim Jong-Il as it builds up a personality cult around the likely successor, reports said Friday.

There have been widespread reports that Kim Jong-Un, 27, is being groomed to take over from his 68-year-old father Jong-Il, who suffered a stroke in August 2008.

The secretive communist state is transforming the proclaimed birthplace of Jong-Un into a kind of shrine, Tokyo-based activist Lee Young-Hwa told Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

Sakon Shima · Jan 2, 2011

North Korea's heir-apparent launches luxury villa construction spree

A starving North Korea is reportedly spending more than £100 million on new offices and villas for Kim Jong-un, the country's heir-apparent.

Satellite images of House Number 15, Kim Jong-un's villa in PyongYang Photo: DIGITAL GLOBE

Very little is known about Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of ailing leader Kim Jong-il Photo: AP

By Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor 9:30PM GMT 31 Dec 2010

The construction spree, documented in satellite photographs and informant accounts assembled by South Korea's intelligence services, began as Kim Jong-un was named to succeed his ailing father, Kim Jong-il, last month.

No independent corroboration of the photographs was possible, but two North Korea experts told The Daily Telegraph that the material was credible.

North Korea's ruling family has long been known to live in considerable luxury, unlike the vast majority of the population it rules over.

House 15 in Pyongyang's central district, where Kim Jong-un grew up, has been rebuilt from the foundations to standards of luxury deemed appropriate for his new role. The building earlier housed Kim Jong-un's mother, Ko Young Hee, who is thought to have died of breast cancer in 2004.

House 16, next door, houses Kim Jong-il. Both houses are thought to be connected to offices through an underground tunnel.

Kim Jong-un, South Korean intelligence sources believe, is also the likely inhabitant of a new villa that has been built in North Hamgyong province, famous for its hot springs and spas. Local residents were alleged to have been press-ganged into work on a railway line and road that will ease access to the villa.

A massive new hall is coming up at Songdowon, along the sea in Gangwon province -- the site of a family resort complex that includes a dock for a yacht and a private railway station.

The structure of the hall, South Korean intelligence believes, suggests it includes an undersea viewing area similar to that at Seoho Villa, another family property in South Hamkyung province. That is reputed to include a three-level undersea gallery that allows visitors to view aquatic life 100 metres below sea level.

South Korean intelligence says the Kim family's assets include at least 33 villas scattered across North Korea's countryside. It is alleged that 28 of these are connected by railway stations maintained exclusively for the ruling family's use.

In November, the World Food Programme provided a grim assessment of mass poverty in North Korea, saying public food rations provided to 68 per cent of the country's population met less than half their needs. The WFP said that a third of all children were chronically malnourished, as were a quarter of pregnant women and breast-feeding women.

The WFP said that North Korea would have to import 867,000 tons of cereals, but planned to buy just 325,000 tons. Even if 305,000 tons of promised food assistance made its way to the intended beneficiaries, the WFP data showed, North Korea's citizens would still be left short of 237,000 tons.

chobolan · Dec 21, 2011

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chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

Kim Jong-il's death 'may have been stage managed'

The North Korean government may have lied about the time and place of Kim Jong-il's death, the head of South Korea's intelligence service has suggested.

The body of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang in this picture released by the North's official KCNA news agency Photo: REUTERS/KCNA

By Dean Nelson, Seoul

2:19PM GMT 21 Dec 2011

The news that the world's last true communist dictator had died was disclosed by a state television announcer on Monday, who said he had suffered a heart attack and passed away at 8.30am Saturday on a moving train during an inspection and 'field guidance' tour around the country.

The apparent manner of his death – in service to the nation – was cited by some of his thousands of mourners in the country as a factor compounding their grief. The official state news agency said mourners "young and old" were pointing to his death on duty as evidence of his "total dedication day and night to the happiness of the people."

But questions have been raised over this official version by Won Sei-hoon, the head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, who said surveillance footage revealed that the dictator's personal train on which he is said to have died did not move over the weekend.

Addressing a special meeting of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee, he said the train was stationary when the North Koreanauthorities claimed he had died. His intervention raised questions over whether his death had been 'stage managed' to bolster his legacy and the standing on his son and anointed successor Kim Jung-un. The train was seen stationary at Pyongyang, not roaming the country, and "there were no signs the train ever moved," officials said he told the committee.

He declined to comment on a suggestion by a committee member that he had in fact died at his official residence. The suggestion that his death may have been 'spun' to aid his son's chances of a smooth succession came amid conflicting accounts of how widely accepted his assumption of leadership might be.

Anonymous Chinese officials were yesterday quoted suggesting Kim Jung-un would be part of a new 'collective leadership' while analysts said he would depend on his aunt, Kim Jong-il's sister Kim Kyong Hui and her powerful husband, Jang Sung-taek, to consolidate his own power base.

Both were prominent in a photograph released on Saturday, the day officials said Kim Jong-il died, of them accompanying the 'Dear Leader' along with his heir on a visit to a supermarket.

South Korean intelligence sources however suggested that Kim Jong-un was already more in control than previously acknowledged when his father died. While his promotion to Four Star General had been mocked earlier, officials said he was in command of the country's vast armed forces on Saturday when he ordered all units to halt military exercises and return to barracks.

"This is a direct example showing Kim Jong-un's complete control over the military," said the source, quoted by South Korea's official Yonhap News Agency.

State television company broadcast pictures showing a red-faced, emotional Kim Jong-un paying his respects at his father's sarcophagus as tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered as monuments to the late dictator.

Western officials based in Pyongyang who were invited to pay their last respects earlier this week said Kim Jong-il had hosted the event and appeared to be in complete control of the funeral arrangements. They said his appearance of authority had eased concerns that his father's death could lead to unrest.

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

North Koreans are victims of the cult of Kim Jong-il

By Tom ChiversWorld Last updated: December 21st, 2011

The body of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is laid in a memorial palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday. Pic: AP.

The outpourings of wild-eyed, shaking grief which have swept across North Korea seem baffling to Western eyes. However powerful and long-serving a ruler, we would not expect a nation to cry so bitterly at their death;

Pathé newsreels from 1952 show crowds in London standing calmly following the passing of King George VI. But from Korea we see scenes of near-chaos: sobbing, tearing at hair, gulping for breath, convulsing.

We should, of course, be careful not to read too much into them. Someone watching news footage from outside Kensington Palace in August 1997 might think that all British people behaved similarly, but we know that most people went about their day following the news about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. And North Korea is well known for its vast, contrived shows of support for its leaders: it could be easily believed that the wailing and gnashing of teeth was organised for the cameras.

And to an extent, it is: the pictures were distributed by the Korean Central News Agency, and presumably carefully chosen. The New York Times reports, in a fascinating article by Choe Sang-hun and Norimitsu Onishi, that they are being handed out as part of an "official campaign" to garner public support for Kim Jong-un, the appointed successor. But it does seem that the celebrations were, to some extent at least, both widespread and spontaneous. Rafael Wober, an Associated Press journalist, told of his own experiences immediately after the death was announced: "I went out, I could see immediately in the corridors hotel staff crying. In the restaurant and the shop downstairs, hotel staff in tears, sobbing." That is not for the cameras.

Of course in police states it might be worth putting on a visible show of grief, just as in Stalin's Russia it was wise not to be the first person to stop clapping after his speeches. Park Jong-chul, a government researcher in South Korea, told The New York Times that much of the grief would be genuine, but that "other North Koreans may be [grieving ostentatiously] as they think they should or because they are being watched."

That said, there are other psychological and cultural factors at work beyond mere coercion. Most obviously, Koreans do not mourn as Britons do: "the wild expressions of grief at funerals – the convulsive sobbing, fist pounding and body-shaking bawling – are an accepted part of Korean Confucian culture, and can be witnessed at the funerals of the famous and the not famous alike in South Korea", write Choe and Norimitsu. Professor Eileen Barker, an emeritus professor of the sociology of religion at the London School of Economics, agrees. She told me: "In Eastern countries, you always see keening and wailing at funerals." The response to Kim Jong-il's death is much like what you would expect at the death of a father.

But not, perhaps, at the death of a politician, and certainly not what you would expect at the death of a tyrant who bears a significant fraction of the blame for keeping the nation in crushing poverty and near-constant famine. The difference is, of course, that Kim Jong-il was more than just a political leader. He was the Father of the People, the Great Leader; the reincarnation of his father, the eternal ruler; the Guiding Sunbeam, the "Dear Leader, who is a perfect incarnation of the appearance that a leader should have"; the Great Sun of Life, the Great Sun of the Nation.He was, if not a god, at least something close to one. North Korea's ruling system was less a government, more a cult of personality.

"I've spoken to lots of cultists," says Prof Barker, "and what's notable is that they all say that they know the charismatic leader, how they had a relationship with him. But when you question them more closely, you find they never met him. Sometimes they've been one of 5,000 people in a room – and thinking he was only talking to them – but more often, they've never met him. So they can project a father-figure image onto him, like a blank canvas." She calls it "charismatisation".

It might be too glib to say that, therefore, they were mourning a father. But another psychological factor is that when people around you are behaving in one way, you are more likely to as well. Prof Barker points to the Asch conformity experiments, which showed that people will behave in utterly bizarre ways if the people around them are doing so. One example of this is "an infectiousness of grief; genuine if superficial empathy", as Barker puts it. And a few government-sanctioned mourners bussed in, together with North Korea's near-total isolation, could lead to precisely this sort of behaviour: without any sceptical or unemotional voices, hysterical grief becomes the norm. "I can cry better than you," as Prof Barker puts it.

With the other high emotions running around – fear of an uncertain future, and of course fear of reprisals ("People seen laughing at Kim's death would be liable to join him rather quickly", says Barker) – a flood of visible grieving makes sense. The mind is a very odd thing: as with the Stockholm syndrome and beaten wives returning to their abusive husbands, human being are quite capable of learning to love the very one who is hurting us.

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

22 December 2011
Last updated at 00:45 GMT

Powers behind N Korea's new 'general'
By Becky Branford

BBC News

Who are the powerful figures in the North Korean elite who will be guiding - or rivalling - the young new leader Kim Jong-un's decision-making?

Kim Jong-il's third son, Kim Jong-un, is the clearly anointed and intended successor of the North Korean leadership.

He was unveiled as heir at a Workers' Party conference in September 2010, where he was made a four-star general and vice-chair of the Party's Central Military Commission.
He has made increasingly frequent appearances in North Korean media, often accompanying his father, since then.
His name is first in the list of members of the "national funeral committee"published by the main North Korean news agency, the KCNA - something observers say is a good guide to individual rankings in the Pyongyang power structure.

Chang Song-taek - probably Kim Jong-un's single most important mentor

Hereditary rule has become such a central theme of North Korean power, and Kim Jong-un's position as successor has been so firmly stated and restated by state media, that no individual is likely to mount an overt challenge to the rule of the "Young General", at least in the immediate term, analysts say.

But Kim Jong-un - not yet 30 - is an untried and inexperienced leader who is inheriting an impoverished pariah state probably years before he expected to. Some analysts warn that behind the scenes, a power struggle could erupt as senior figures in the Party, military, parliament and "first family" jostle for control.

Others suggest that the younger Kim will be the new figurehead of an established, experienced group which will govern collectively. We identify some of the key characters in the North Korean leadership who may attempt to guide - or rival - the new leader's decision-making.

Power coupleThe figures who appear best placed to help direct the young Kim are Kim Jong-il's sister, Kim Kyong-hui, and her husband Chang Song-taek, both believed to be 65. Reports suggest Mrs Kim - the former light industry minister and Politburo member who was named a four-star general at last year's party conference - and her husband were appointed to help establish the young Mr Kim as heir and act as the new leader's mentors.

Kim Jong-il's sister, Kim Kyong-hui, made a four-star general last year

Mr Chang survived purges and "re-education" to emerge as one of Kim Jong-il's closest confidants - who is even thought to have adopted one of the Dear Leader's illegitimate sons, Kim Jang-hyun, now in his 30s. He is in the Politburo and in 2009 he was named vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission, the leading military organ. He is rumoured to be a reformer who played a central role in large economic projects.

"Chang has played a considerable role during Kim Jong-il's illness of managing the succession problem and even the North's relations with the United States and China," Yang Moo-jin, of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, told Reuters news agency. But there could be risks in placing Mr Chang so close to the new leadership, warns the respected South-based Korea Economic Institute.

"It is likely that he has his own power base within the government," says the KEI in a guide to 10 important figures in the transition of power. "Moreover, some reports suggest the Chinese would have preferred him to succeed Kim Jong-il rather than Kim Jong-un. "These factors, including his involvement in economic projects and directing internal security matters, leave a possibility for Chang Song-taek to attempt to seize power himself."

Counterbalance?

Kim Yong-nam

Kim Jong-il may have attempted to provide a counterweight to Chang Song-taek's power by positioning Ri Yong-ho, said to be 68, close to his new son, Paik Hak-soon, an expert on the North's powerful structure at the Sejong Institute, told Reuters.

Ri Yong-ho is the chief of the military joint chiefs of staff and his importance is illustrated by the fact he is at number 4 on the national funeral committee list. Ri Yong-ho's positions in the military and elsewhere mean,write analysts Brent Choi and Mi Jeong Hibbitts, that he is "at the axis of the three power bases: the military, the party's Central Military Commission, and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau.

"Therefore, Ri will likely play a pivotal role in paving the path forward for Kim Jong-un over the next two to three years as he transitions to become Kim Jong-il's successor."
The KEI is more cautious, warning that it "will remain to be seen if they [Chang Song-taek and Ri Yong-ho] and others are really trying to help him, rule by controlling Kim Jong-un from behind the scenes, or set him up for failure," it warns.

According to Reudiger Frank, professor of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna, Kim Yong-nam - head of parliament - should also "not be underestimated. "I know people who have met him," Prof Frank told the BBC, "and they say he's an enormously smart man - he had to be to stay alive."

The KEI agrees, saying Kim Yong-nam's "leadership in the Supreme People's Assembly will also be important in maintaining support among the North Korean elites for Kim Jong-un".

Kim Jong-un's older half-brother, Kim Jong-nam

Prof Frank also names Choe Yong-rim - the head of the cabinet - as a leading figure of influence. Older brother But there is unlikely to be any open competition among these figures, Prof Frank says, as they all went to school together and are close.

"We have to remember that the elite are the beneficiaries of the current system, and they want to keep it intact. So even if they don't like the current leadership... it's still a better option than a complete collapse of the system," he says.

At present none of Kim Jong-il's other sons seem likely to mount any kind of challenge to Kim Jong-un's new role, and his older half-brother - once the regime's heir apparent -Kim Jong-nam has explicitly stated he is not interested in a leadership role.

Despite this, several analysts caution against ruling out a challenge from Kim Jong-nam. Chatham House's Jiyoung Song points out that he previously led the country's IT industry, providing "one of the main sources of cash for his father and the regime", and has held senior security roles.

"With his father gone, has his time come?" she asks.

Prof Frank agrees that "there is always a danger that one of these other sons will become instrumentalised by others - a princeling used as a figurehead". But, he adds, it is a possibility to which Kim Jong-un's backers are alert.

Sideswipe · Dec 22, 2011

North Korea Parliamentary Election 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_parliamentary_election,_2009

don't know why the hell they bothered to hold a election?

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

North Korea: Kim Jong-un 'to share power with his uncle'

Kim Jong-un, North Korea's new leader, will share power with an uncle and the military after the death of his father Kim Jong-il as the isolated country shifts to collective rule from strongman dictatorship, according to reports.

7:25AM GMT 21 Dec 2011

The source, with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing, told Reuters that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after world War Two.

The source also said Beijing was only notified of Kim's death earlier on Monday, the same day that North Korean state television broadcast the news. Kim died on Saturday.

The source declined to be identified but has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the North's first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.

The situation in North Korea appeared stable after the military gave its backing to Kim's son and successor, Kim Jong-un, the source said.

"It's very unlikely," the source said when asked about the possibility of a military coup. "The military has pledged allegiance to Kim Jong-un."

With no military strongman, North Korea will be ruled by collective leadership, including Kim Jong-un, his uncle and the military, the source said. Jang Song-thaek, 65, brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il and the younger Kim's uncle, was named in 2009 to the National Defence Commission, the supreme leadership council Kim Jong-il led as head of the military state.

The source also said the North Korea test-fired a missile on Monday to warn the United States not to make any moves against it. Pyongyang also had no immediate plans for further tests barring an escalation of tensions.

"With the missile test, (North) Korea wanted to deliver the message that they have the ability to protect themselves," the source said. "But (North) Korea is unlikely to conduct a nuclear test in the near future unless provoked" by the United States and South Korea, the source said.

The North's nuclear programme has been a nagging source of tensions with the international community. Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and has quit six-party talks with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia on abandoning its nuclear programme and returning to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

China, the North's closest ally and biggest provider of aid, on Tuesday welcomed the new North Korean leader to visit after his father's death. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Vice-President Xi Jinping also visited the hermit state's embassy in Beijing to express their condolences on Tuesday. Roads leading to the embassy were blocked.

Still the prospect of instability on its northeastern border worries China. North Korea has been pressed by China to denuclearise and is willing to do so on condition that North and South Korea, the United States and China sign an armistice replacing a 1953 ceasefire agreement, the source said.

The two Koreas have been divided for decades and remain technically at war since their 1950 to 1953 conflict ended with an armistice but no peace agreement. The United States backed the South, while China supported the North in that conflict.

Pyongyang also is convinced there are U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea and demands Washington pull them out, the source said. Impoverished and squeezed by international sanctions for conducting its nuclear and missile tests, North Korea has increasingly turned to Beijing for help to fill the gap left by the drying up of economic assistance from South Korea and the United States.

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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Officially, Kim Jong-il was born in 1941 on the slopes of Mount Paektu, on the border with China — the mythical birthplace of the Korean people and the place from which Kim il Sung is said to have waged his guerrilla struggle. Just before the birth of the junior Kim, according to the official account, a swallow descended from heaven to announce the coming of 'a prodigious general, who will rule all the world'. A bright star shone over Jong-il’s nativity, although instead of a stable he was born in a log cabin. The humble abode stands to this day – as it should, since it was in fact built only in 1986. The reality is that Kim was born on February 16 1942 close to Khabarovsk, Siberia, where his father had taken refuge from the Japanese, then occupying Korea. An early photograph shows Yuri, as the child was nicknamed by the Russians, as a chubby little boy in a Soviet naval cadet’s uniform.

Picture: REUTERS

Narong Wongwan · Dec 22, 2011

What are the similarities between NK and Sinkieland?

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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In 1980 Kim was officially designated “Dear Leader” and his father’s acknowledged heir; coincidentally, the North Korean Academy of Social Sciences expunged the definition of hereditary rule as “a reactionary custom of exploitative societies” from its Dictionary of Political Terminologies. He did not hold a position of real power until 1991, when he took control of the Armed Forces — despite his lack of military experience. Picture: Sipa Press / Rex Features

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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September 1983: Kim Il-sung, founder of North Korea, chats with his son Kim Jong-il at a mass rally
Picture: REUTERS

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

Re: Kim Jong-il: the life and times of the leader of North Korea

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A boy identified by South Korean TV station KBS as Kim Jong-un, the third son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, is seen in this undated photo provided by a Japanese national known as Kenji Fujimoto in Tokyo. Part of the characters written by Fujimoto at the bottom of the picture read, "Received from Prince Kim Jong-un. March 31, 2001, 1:30AM in Wonsan".
Picture: REUTERS/Courtesy of Kenji Fujimoto

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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1992: Kim il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il inspect a football ground in Pyongyang
Picture: AFP/Getty

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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4 May 2001: A man believed to be North Korean heir-apparent Kim Jong-nam emerges from a bus at Tokyo's Narita international airport, upon his deportation from Japan. the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il entered Japan with a forged passport but was deported to China. He was traveling on a forged Dominican Republic passport and said that he was in Japan to visit Tokyo Disneyland with his son. Picture: REUTERS/Eriko Sugita

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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In 2008 it was suggested by a Japanese historian that Kim Jong-il had died in 2003, and had, since that point, been replaced by four body doubles for public appearances.
Picture: KNS/Reuters

chobolan · Dec 22, 2011

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19 December 2011: A tearful announcer dressed in black announces the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on North Korean State Television. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died on a train trip, state television reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear programme. The announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died on Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give "field guidance". Picture: REUTERS/KRT via Reuters TV

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