North Korea

[chobolan]

Kim Jong-il dead: profile of 'the Dear Leader'

Variously known to the people of North Korean as the Dear Leader, Eternal President, Lodestar of the 21st Century or simply Our Father, Kim Jong-il died on Saturday. He is believed to have been 69.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Photo: EPA

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo

8:03AM GMT 19 Dec 2011

Official biographies of Kim claim that he was born in 1942 in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain, from where his father – Kim Il-sung, who was installed by the Soviet Union as the first leader of North Korea– was waging guerrilla warfare against the occupying Japanese.

The mountain has today been given almost religious significance in North Korea, although Soviet records show that Kim was actually born in a refugee camp near Khabarovsk in 1941.

Kim led a privileged life after the war as North Korea made use of its natural resources and received assistance from Moscow and, later, Beijing while the United States increased its commitment to the government in South Korea.

The cult of personality that was built up around his father was equally heaped upon Kim as he was groomed to be the first dynastic successor of a communist regime.

According to the records, Kim was talking at eight weeks old, wrote six operas and no fewer than 1,500 books in three years at university and topped that with 11 holes-in-one and a 38-under par the first time he wielded a golf club. He was also a genius at architecture and directing films.

After the death of Kim Il-sung in July 1994, and despite being chairman of the National Defence Commission and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, there was speculation that he had been unable to cement his rise to power due to internal wranglings between the party and the military. It took three years for Kim to consolidate his power and he finally took the title of General Secretary of the Workers' Party in 1997.

Kim failed to attend a series of high-profile events in 2008, including the military parade marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the nation and intelligence sources in South Korea and the US reported rumours that he was "gravely ill" after suffering a stroke.

North Korean media tried to play down further reports of ill health – his high blood pressure and diabetes apparently linked to his fondness for expensive French brandy and fine food – but the sudden haste to anoint his successor suggested that he was preparing to hand over the reins of power.

Kim was re-elected chairman of the North Korean National Defence Commission and appeared at the Supreme People's Assembly looking gaunt and weary. It was the first time he had been seen in public since August 2008.

He had recently paid a state visit to China in his armoured train and it had been believed that he was recovering. Kim apparently died of a heart attack while travelling by train to conduct "on-the-spot guidance" to labourers outside Pyongyang.

His funeral has been scheduled for December 28 in Pyongyang and his son, Kim Jong-Un was identified as his successor in the same television broadcast that announced The Dear Leader's death.

 

[chobolan]

North Korea country factfile by numbers

It was in 1948 that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was founded by Kim Il-sung, who kept his grip on power for more than five decades until his death in 1994.

North Koreans participate in celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of North Korea in Pyongyang Photo: Reuters

8:49AM GMT 19 Dec 2011

North Korea is home to an estimated 24 million – who are expected to live 11 years less than the average South Korean mainly as a result of malnutrition.

The regime is believed to hire as many as 1,000 hackers to target other nations, according to South Korean media reports.

Widely regarded as one of the world's worst violators of press freedom, North Korean radio and TV sets are all pre-tuned to churn out around the clock government propaganda.

As many as 200,000 political prisoners are believe to exist in North Korea.

An estimated two million people have died since the 1990s due to food shortages triggered by economic mismanagement and natural disasters.

An estimated one-third of all children in North Korea are stunted by malnutrition caused by ongoing food shortages, according to the UN children's fund.

Thousands of refugees have attempted to escape over the treacherous border into China, which stretches for 880 miles.

North Korea's survival depends on crucial trade with China: last year, trade between the two was worth an estimated $3.5 billion, up nearly 30 per cent from 2009.

 

[chobolan]

New North Korean satellite images give rare glimpse of life under Kim Jong-il

Newly uncovered satellite images of North Korea have given a rare insight into life in the highly secretive state under former dictator Kim Jong-il.

Drying clumps of corn can be seen around the Yongbyong nuclear research centre Photo: IHS JANE'S/DIGITALGLOBE

By Amy Willis, Los Angeles

9:32AM GMT 22 Dec 2011

Yellow swaths of corn surround a nuclear reactor building in one image, revealing a surprisingly outdated system of gathering and drying crops, and thousands of North Koreans form a bird formation during military practice in another.

In a nation which struggles with famine in some of its poorest regions, the piles of corn drying around the Yongbyon centre is in start contrast to the country's pursuit of nuclear technology just a few metres away.

Pomp and parade in the country is a collective effort, with tens of thousands taking part in elaborate spectacles shown to only a few dignitaries. The formation of a human bird during practice for the Pyongyang games in Kim II-Sung Square demonstrates the extraordinary disipline that is expected of North Korea's million-man army.

Other images, which have yet to be released, capture the expanding mass graves in the country's gulags - labour camps such as the ones where American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to work - and a prison-worker's mine shaft emitting a mile-long cloud of soot. Juche propaganda is also seen carved into the nation's mountains.

Allison Puccioni, a senior imagery analyst at IHS Jane's in California, said satellite images are perhaps the only way to get an accurate picture of daily life in the clandestine state.

"North Korea is probably one of the most secretive areas in the world, so satellite images often show things instead of a media presence," she said. "Looking at the images you sort of come away with a feeling that it really is not functioning in a way almost any other country functions." Previously released satellite images have unveiled some of Kim Jong-il's more elaborate secrets.

A British brewery from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, was reconstructed outside the North Korean capital after being shipped thousands of miles in 2000. The structure, renamed Taedongang, was dismantled in Britain by engineers and within 18 months was up and running, producing beer for the small nation.

North Korean beer is said to have a "full flavour" but is often brewed using chaff as some of the key ingredients are hard to find.

Another image showed Kim Jong-il's attempt to combat the nation's food shortage by installing a huge ostrich farm in Pyongyang. Analysts at the time speculated that North Korea had bought into Ostrich propaganda in the 1990s, however, like many others Kim Jong-il fell foul of the pyramid scheme.

The ostrich farm is now more of a tourist attraction, with the birds rumoured to wear quilted vests in the winter, and osterich meat more of a delicacy than a staple food source. North Korea's food shortage hit crisis point earlier this year, with six million North Korean's living on "a knife's edge", according to the World Food Programme.

The Kim family's elite household compound was unveiled in another image, displaying what appeared to be a waterslide in their backyard as well as its own train line - perhaps the same train line where Kim Jong-il was reported to have suffered a heart attack and died.

 

[chobolan]

GeoEye's GeoEye-1 satellite took this image on 9 October 2010, the day before Pyongyang staged a parade commemorating 65 years of state rule.
Around the Rungrado May Day Stadium, thousands of people are visible practising for the mass formations. Photo: GEOEYE

Bird formation created by thousands of North Koreans during military parade practice Photo: IHS JANE'S/GEOEYE

The Taedongang brewery on the outskirts of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Photo: DIGITAL GLOBE

​

 

[chobolan]

An aerial view of an ostrich farm near Pyongyang.Photo: DIGITALGLOBE

Kim Jong-il's waterslide can be seen on the left hand side.
Out of shot is Kim's personal train line to his residence Photo: DIGITALGLOBE

​

 

[chobolan]

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[chobolan]

Kim Jong-un 'secretly visited Tokyo Disneyland as a child'

Kim Jong-un, North Korea's next leader, visited Japan as a child using a false identity, and even managed a trip to Tokyo Disneyland, according to Japanese media.

Kim Jong-un (R), believed to be in his late 20s, visited Japan a number of times around 1991 using passports in other names, public broadcaster NHK said, citing intelligence officials Photo: AP

2:19PM GMT 22 Dec 2011

He was accompanied by another boy believed to have been his older brother Jong-chul, the reports said as the young statesman appeared to be trying to consolidate his grip on the hermit state in the wake of his father's death.

Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, visited Japan a number of times around 1991 using passports in other names, public broadcaster NHK said, citing intelligence officials.

He and the second boy entered Japan on May 12, 1991 on Brazilian passports, and left the country more than a week later, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

They had obtained Japanese visas in Vienna and Jong-un, then eight years old, used the pseudonym of Joseph Pak, the daily said.

NHK said the two boys were accompanied by nearly 10 adults who appeared to be North Koreanhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea officials during the May 1991 visit.

Their mother, Japanese-born ethnic Korean dancer Ko Yong-hi, entered Japan a few days later and is presumed to have joined the boys, the network said.

Japan's public security authorities were alerted to their arrival as possible North Koreans, but they had already left the country by the time an official investigation began, the Yomiuri said.

The pair's half-brother, Jong-nam, was deported from Japan in 2001 for trying to get into the country on a forged Dominican passport.

Jong-nam, who is now 40, told immigration officials that he wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland.

 

[chobolan]

Kim Jong-il dead: the official titles of North Korea's Unique Leader

Kim Jong-il had one thing in common with Barack Obama - the title of Commander-in-Chief - but there the titular and any other similarities end.

The titles were developed by the Workers Party of Korea central committee and many were applied to Kim Jong-il's (left) father Kim Il-sung (right),
who ruled from 1948 to 1994 Photo: (REUTERS)

​

 

[chobolan]

North Korea Revisited: An Unknown Land

UPDATE December 19th, 2011: Kim Jong Il, North Korea's "dear leader", has died of a heart attack. His death was announced by a weeping anchorwoman on North Korean television. His obituary in the LA Times quotes sources who describe the departed dictator as both "jealous and cunning" and a "sensitive and arty type who ended up by birth floating through this world that is pure evil."

That last quote may seem like it was translated into English from another language, but it was written by Michael Breen, the British journalist who wrote one of the only English-language biographies about Kim Jong Il. Clearly, Kim Jong Il was a leader who provoked many different kinds of reactions.

In 2009, one of our writers visited the notoriously isolated North Korea and contributed a fascinating travelogue that explores the contradictions the people of North Korea have lived with under Kim Jong Il.

It remains to be seen what will happen to North Korea now that their charismatic leader has died, but revisiting this article today adds a whole new layer of meaning. For now, North Korea remains an unknown world. The original article begins below the photo.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is a country that only comes up in the media for its supposed development of nuclear weapons or for the latest crazy comment or act from the "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il. In reality, most people know very little about what day-to-day life is really like inside the country, which doesn't allow any foreign media to enter.

For us at Urban Samurai, this unknown world was the main appeal of making the effort to get in to the DPRK. As one can imagine, getting in is not an easy task. After flying to Beijing, one must go to Shenyang in northeastern China. Shenyang is where we were able to get our temporary visas for the DPRK.

The United States doesn't officially have a relationship with North Korea so the North Koreans wouldn't stamp our passports. From Shenyang we flew Air Koryo aboard a 20-year-old Russian plane on a 45-minute trip over the border to Pyongyang, North Korea.

Normally I would go on to tell you our day-to-day activities and describe the sights we saw, but the fact is that what we were shown was a structured tour that some high-up government official planned out a long time ago and has probably not been updated for years. So instead I'll give you a brief insight on a few things that I found interesting.

On the first night that we arrived, our guides (one of whom was probably a government spy) asked us what we wanted to visit and do in North Korea and he told us that we could choose what our tour could be like. He then proceeded to deny everything we asked for. When we asked why they wouldn't let us do anything else, one the guides responded with a statement that I feel summed up the mentality of the whole country:

"You have to understand that in North Korea we have many rules and regulations, all of which are very important and must be respected…but we don't know why." We ended up doing exactly what was previously decided before we arrived.

During our time there we were never allowed to leave our hotel alone. So in the evenings I spent time reading George Orwell's 1984. It felt as though Kim II Sung (the founder of Communist North Korea) and Kim Jong II had followed Orwell's book as a guide to create a Korean version of Oceania. The only real difference is that instead of focusing on building up the image of a governmental party controlling everything, they made their world one in which they are treated and viewed as gods amongst the citizens of DPRK.

We were endlessly told of the exploits of the two leaders, from the "on the spot guidance" in creating pretty much every single somewhat creative project produced in the country, to being able to sense ancient prehistoric bones in mountains. It's hard to really know for sure how much of this propaganda the people actually believe. We weren't allowed to talk to or even walk amongst the common people on the street. So our only connection to actual North Koreans was our guides, one of whom one evening told me in a very serious tone

"You must understand that I will do anything our Dear Leader (Kim Jong Il) asks of me." That's coming from somebody who has daily contact with foreigners and has heard of what it's like outside the country.

Our way of getting around was aboard a little tour bus. The streets of North Korea are almost empty of traffic since only those affiliated with the government or army are allowed cars. This does not stop all the "major" intersections from having full-time traffic girls. As we found out, it's actually a great honor to be a traffic girl since Kim Jong Il himself designed their uniforms and picks only the prettiest girls in North Korea for the job.

Most people get around by walking, sometimes for miles and miles. We often came across the odd person in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. The lucky few are able to use public transportation, which consists of a subway system which we were allowed to take for one stop and one stop only. That seemed kind of weird, but when we asked why the guides just responded that we didn't have enough time. In fact, this was the default answer whenever we asked if we could see more of anything that they didn't want to show us.

The other public transportation was buses that all looked in pretty bad condition and had stars on them for each time the bus was in an accident (some had over 5 stars). Despite this, we always saw huge lines of over 50 people waiting for the bus at each bus stop at the end of the day.

By far the most impressive thing we saw in North Korea, and one of the most impressive things I've ever seen, was the Arirang Games. The Arirang Games is an annual performance that tells the story of North Korea by using over ninety thousand performers. The backdrop alone uses eighteen thousand school children who turn pages in a card book to create something I like to call "people pixels."

The effect of the background creates the biggest screen in the world. Having another twenty thousand kids performing dances and gymnastics on the ground level in perfect synchronization is a surreal experience that makes the Olympic Opening Ceremony or the Super Bowl halftime show look like a school play.

What the mass media wants you to believe about North Korea is that they are a huge threat to the United States because they are developing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism. The reality is that what we saw was a country that holds a horrible grudge against the United States because of what we did in the Korean War more than 50 years ago, as they rightfully should since we did do horrible things to their country.

The problem lies in that this was the last bit of information that has been allowed to the people. So when we would introduced ourselves, with smiles, as Americans to the few people we were allowed to talk to, they would react with doubt., At first they could not believe that Americans could actually be friendly and not the devil himself, which is how we are portrayed in all the propaganda posters that we saw around the country and like what is taught to them in schools .

To sum things up, since this a really long write-up for most to read on a blog. I'm not afraid of North Korea, but I do feel sorry and worried for the people who live there. They have been completely brainwashed and kept uninformed of the rest of the world and modern times for over fifty years.

It's sad to think that generations of young, smart people are being held back, and it's worrisome to think of what might happen to the country when the reign of Kim Jong Il is over.

​

 

[tonychat]

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.

Your temasak holdings should learn a thing or 2 from him.. At least this bugger can earn money from foreign investments.. hehe..

 

[sukhoi-30]

Much of the things one heard or read about the evils of North Korea and the leaders must be taken at a pinch of salt.

Many of the news are taken from defectors in South Korea who have a reason to exaggerate things in their former country and to please their adopted country. The Western press were all keen to used these reports to demonise the North Korean leadership so as to change world opinion against her. some of these reports are also exaggerated by the South intelligence.

For eg, when SK lawmakers questioned the intelligence services from knowing about Kim's death on the actual day, the intelligence began to cover up their lack of information by saying that it is the North who is lying and that Kim died on monday and in his home.

Having said this however,the North overly secretive nature also play a part in nurturing these untrue reports when real ones are not forthcoming. Many of them are deliberatedly written to demonise the leader who even paint him a murderer when his brother died. It is ironic that while the leader is reported to be super reclusive, such reports knew so much about the slighest details of all the bad things he did in private.

I think the west did not like the idea of a strong,determined and independent Asian country that do not subscribe to the western political concept. North Korea while stubborn and thick-headed are not as irrational than anyone else. They were proud of their race and colonisation by other powers have create this kind of defiance against the west. Relations with the west took a hit when George W Bush call NK an axis of evil and james bond film protray the north Koreans in racially humiliating part as villians. NK relations with the south also took a drastic hit when the conservative and pro-US Lee Myung-bak became president. He cut ties and scale back contact with the North immediately after he became president, shocking the NKoreans.

To be fair, the North Koreans may seems funny and wierd compared with its southern counterparts but they are of the same Korean race. Many analysts has agreed that the fervent mourners in Pyongyang are genuine and the loud crying is a part of Confucian culture which can also be seen in South Korean funerals. The huge display of mass hysterical outburst in the north is also similar to the South Korean Kpop mass of hysterical supporters or SK evangelistic churches of shaking, crying and mass speaking in tongues. It is similar to the South Korean Christian moonies mass weddings.

It is a typical Korean traditional culture.

NK can learn from China and put economic priorities first. The west may want to starve and break the NKorean people by imposing sanctions and forcing her to swallow their pride and accept western aid. NK falls into the west tactic by refusing and thus world opinion swings in to accuse the NK of purposely starving its own people. Juche or self-reliance while seeming lofty cannot meet the food demands esp in North Korea where almost half of its land are mountainous. Investment in food and factories are super-important to build a good powerful nation besides having a nuclear deterrence.

 

[Bad New Brown]

Majority of the North Koreans are ugly people :*:

 

[laksaboy]

Everybody stand up and sing this song:

[video=youtube;Arozn0wHo2Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arozn0wHo2Q[/video]

English and Chinese subtitles included, so you can sing along in your preferred language.

 

[tonychat]

Majority of the North Koreans are ugly people :*:

majority of sinkies too..

 

[tonychat]

To be fair, the North Koreans may seems funny and wierd compared with its southern counterparts but they are of the same Korean race. Many analysts has agreed that the fervent mourners in Pyongyang are genuine and the loud crying is a part of Confucian culture which can also be seen in South Korean funerals. The huge display of mass hysterical outburst in the north is also similar to the South Korean Kpop mass of hysterical supporters or SK evangelistic churches of shaking, crying and mass speaking in tongues. It is similar to the South Korean Christian moonies mass weddings.

ok then, when Lee Kuan Yew die.. those RC members can start their beautiful confucian asian values by crying the loudest, the loudest one can withdraw CPF at age 40.

 

[laksaboy]

Majority of the North Koreans are ugly people :*:

Really?

[video=youtube;R6inGUvd2eA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6inGUvd2eA[/video]

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

I think the west did not like the idea of a strong,determined and independent Asian country that do not subscribe to the western political concept. North Korea while stubborn and thick-headed are not as irrational than anyone else. They were proud of their race and colonisation by other powers have create this kind of defiance against the west. Relations with the west took a hit when George W Bush call NK an axis of evil and james bond film protray the north Koreans in racially humiliating part as villians. NK relations with the south also took a drastic hit when the conservative and pro-US Lee Myung-bak became president. He cut ties and scale back contact with the North immediately after he became president, shocking the NKoreans.

To be fair, the North Koreans may seems funny and wierd compared with its southern counterparts but they are of the same Korean race. Many analysts has agreed that the fervent mourners in Pyongyang are genuine and the loud crying is a part of Confucian culture which can also be seen in South Korean funerals. The huge display of mass hysterical outburst in the north is also similar to the South Korean Kpop mass of hysterical supporters or SK evangelistic churches of shaking, crying and mass speaking in tongues. It is similar to the South Korean Christian moonies mass weddings.

It is a typical Korean traditional culture.

NK can learn from China and put economic priorities first. The west may want to starve and break the NKorean people by imposing sanctions and forcing her to swallow their pride and accept western aid. NK falls into the west tactic by refusing and thus world opinion swings in to accuse the NK of purposely starving its own people. Juche or self-reliance while seeming lofty cannot meet the food demands esp in North Korea where almost half of its land are mountainous. Investment in food and factories are super-important to build a good powerful nation besides having a nuclear deterrence.

unlike south korean dogs that bow down to whites.

 

[Ramseth]

Koreans are different from Mongolians. Korea has been established as a nation of land and race more than 2,000 years ago, recognized by China since Zhou Dynasty, independent and different and not part of the Chinese Warring States saga that led to the unification of China under Qin followed by the Chu-Han saga that led to the founding of the Han Chinese race. Those days, there were no such thing as Mongolians. They were simply nomads of the grasslands minding their own business and roaming the grasslands for their herds to graze in rotation grazing, since they didn't know how to plant and irrigate. Nobody bothered about them too, harmless people in northern grasslands that nobody wanted and threatening nobody. The organized power north of China then were the Huns.

During the Han Dynasty, Korea subordinated and acknowledged China as the Heavenly Great Kingdom and in tribute, named their capital Seoul as Han Cheng in Chinese. This was only revoked a few years ago by request to PRC and ROC and both didn't mind and agreed to stop using the name Han Cheng for Seoul.

Mongolia as a country didn't even existed during that ancient era. It came into being only about 1,000 years ago when a group of their tribal chieftains got tired roaming and decided being nomadic wasn't the way to go on forever. They settled somewhere between Siberia and China and tried to figure out how to settle down with permanent agricultural system for their herds and themselves. One chieftain named Genghis Khan visited China and saw that Chinese had already been doing that for millennia. He tried to learn but failed, since their land wasn't so fertile and arable. So he said what the fuck? Siberia even worse, all snowland. Let's conquer China. Ironically, the army strategies, uniforms and arms were all learned and bought from China with their profits selling horses and sheep to China.

 

[ssrrvv11]

honestly i am very surprised ramseth never claim he met kim jong il before.

 

[Ramseth]

honestly i am very surprised ramseth never claim he met kim jong il before.

I've never been to NK before. How to meet him?