The Tyrant Who Tweets

Mark MacKinnon

Beijing — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail, Tuesday, May. 26, 2009 09:56AM EDT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/the-tyrant-who-tweets-following-the-hermit-king/article1152638/

A must read: Professor Kim's article on North Korea's mass games

"The Bitter Tears Behind Pyongyang's Games"
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/IK08Dg01.html


Watch: Mass Games backdrop warmup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKU8dz4ah8&feature=related

The Juche Ideology

-JSH

On February 18th and 19th, 2008, Dr. Kim Hyun-sik, who was a former professor at Pyongyang University and a tutor to the dictators' family, came to educate the UNC-Duke student body on North Korea -- an isolationist regime defined by the complete indoctrination of its citizens and the torture and execution of those who fail to obey the State. Particularly on the second night of his presentation, Professor Kim interestingly focused on the totalitarian nation's Juche Ideology and the effects of such an indoctrination on an entire populace. The ideology's inculcation of complete submission to the State, the credence of Kim Il Sung as the Father and Kim Jung Il as the Son, the government's ubiquitous propaganda, and nearly perfect isolationist efforts, put its citizens under a deep spell. To this day, North Koreans are illusioned about the outside world, and their hermit kingdom remains their only reality.


At the presentation, Professor Kim cited the Ten Principles of the Juche Ideology. They are the following:

1. We must give our all in the struggle to unify the entire society with the revolutionary ideology of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.

2. We must honor the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung with all our loyalty.

3. We must make absolute the authority of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

4. We must make the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung? revolutionary ideology our faith and make his instructions our creed.

5. We must adhere strictly to the principle of unconditional obedience in carrying out the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung's instructions.

6. We must strengthen the entire partys ideology and willpower and revolutionary unity, centering on the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

7. We must learn from the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung and adopt the communist look, revolutionary work methods and people-oriented work style.

8. We must value the political life we were given by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung, and loyally repay his great political trust and thoughtfulness with heightened political awareness and skill.

9. We must establish strong organizational regulations so that the entire party, nation and military move as one under the one and only leadership of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

10.We must pass down the great achievement of the revolution by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung from generation to generation, inheriting and completing it to the end.

One of Professor Kim's most salient anecdotes from amongst a stream of startling experiences was one that underscored the bizarreness of the Juche Ideology -- bizarre at least to the rest of the world afar from North Korea's totalitarian paradigm. Where Professor Kim taught at Pyongyang University, student leaders were selected by the Worker's Party according to generational loyalties. The student chosen for Class President had a father extremely loyal to the State. Being awarded the occupation of fisherman (which is one of the country's most prestigious civilian occupations), the father had the Worker's Party's trust in frequenting outside of the country's borders yet not venturing to other lands, and also had fish to eat in an isolated land riddled with starvation.

On one unfortunate day, the class president was stripped of his title and subjected to much humiliation by the entire school. The reason: his father was reported to be missing, to have allegedly run away. This was just one example of the norms created by the Juche Ideology. The Juche Ideology creates a single-minded society, in which it is everyone's goal and purpose in life to serve the State and bring as much glory to Kim Jung Il as possible. Behind every action and motivation are the Juche principles. One's application of the Juche principles affects himself, his children, and grandchildren. Disloyalty is punishable for up to three generations.

This true story ends with the son of the fisherman reclaiming his position as class president. A dead body was washed ashore some time later and wrapped around his wrist was a ball of tape tightly wound. Cutting the ball of tape to its very center appeared a picture of Kim Il Sung. Though the body was decayed, the picture remained well-preserved. This dead man was found to be the student's father, and the boy was immediately exalted back to his position as class president. Professor Kim also recounted a similar story in which during a flood, the mother chose to save a painting of Kim Jung Il from the waters instead of her drowning child. The Juche Ideology embodies the deification of the dictators, and even the iconification of them. Taught from birth, it is their life, their drive, their sole purpose.

To find out more about what it is like in North Korea, watch the National Geographic documentary Inside North Korea; it can be found on youtube. An international eye doctor is allowed inside North Korea for 10 days to perform cataract surgery on patients. Entering along with him is an American reporter (her sister is the journalist who is currently captured by the North Korean government; see previous blog entry for news article) who has hidden cameras in the doctor's equipment providing real footages of North Korea. Whether out of fear or genuineness, watch the people's unconditional praise and worship of Kim Jung Il as god.

North Korea Demands Higher Pay at Industrial Park

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: May 15, 2009

[...]

"It remains unclear whether the North intends to force the shutdown of Kaesong through its demands, or whether the cloistered nation is merely seeking more money as the United Nations pursues tighter economic sanctions after the North’s April 5 rocket launching. North Korea’s leaders have also grown wary of capitalist influence spreading to the rest of their tightly controlled society from Kaesong. [...]

Earlier Friday, South Korea proposed talks for next week to discuss the fate of a South Korean worker detained in Kaesong on charges of denouncing the Communist government. During a brief discussion last month, North Korea refused to talk about the condition of the man, who has been held since March 30 without access to South Korean officials.

The North instead began demanding higher wages for 39,000 North Korean workers at Kaesong, who are now earning about $75 a month.

Seeking Officers for 2009-2010

VNK is currently seeking officers for the 2009-2010 school-year. If you are interested, please contact Jea Sun Huh at jshuh@email.unc.edu.

Reflection: Liberty Live Tour 2008

Fall semester of 2008, UNC and Duke's Vision for North Korea along with a host of other colleges and universities in the nation, took part in the Liberty Live Tour. LiNK along with an indie-rock band Miss Vintage and LA's independent songwriter Andy Grammer traveled from state to state to raise awareness for North Korean human rights. In UNC's jazzy cabaret, students enjoyed a coffee house and awesome music, and learned about North Korea through the presentation of LiNK's video 'LIfe in North Korea' (see below). Although short, it gave an encapsulated synopsis of the current situation in North Korea. Moved by the information presented them, students wrote politically-invoked messages on a piece of cardboard. Individual head-shot photos were taken with the message in order to let the policy makers see the faces of university students who care about North Korea and speak out against the military regime's inhumaness. On my cardboard, I wrote, "God loves people in North Korea."

Liberty Live Tour Promo Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9w3WnfDPps

Life In North Korea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwwyzpEnK0M&feature=channel

Crossing Movie Screening

Much thanks to LiNK and its representatives Jonathan, Becky, and Julie, for coming to UNC and Duke this past semester to screen the Korean-made film Crossing. Based on a true story, Crossing was an inspirational film that opened the eyes of many students to see the holocaust realities of North Korea.

If you were unable to watch the screening at UNC and Duke, we highly encourage you to view the movie; DVDs are out in select Asian marksts in the area.

Vision for North Korea, UNC and Duke, plan to hold informational events such as these, one at least every semester.

Crossing Movie Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27CDW0F1Yas&feature=channel

North Korea to Try U.S. Journalists

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: May 13, 2009

Two American journalists who have been detained in North Korea for two months on charges of illegal entry and “hostile acts” will be put on trial June 4, the Communist North announced on Thursday. [...]

Under North Korea’s criminal code, a person convicted of hostile acts against the state can face at least five years in labor camps. Illegal entry carries a sentence of up to three years in a labor camp.

[...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/world/asia/14korea.html?scp=2&sq=north%20korea&st=cse

North Korea Duels With Iran for Attention

April 29, 2009, 12:46 pm
By Robert Mackey

[...]

In both cases, close allies of the United States feel threatened by the nuclear programs — Israel by Iran’s and South Korea and Japan by North Korea’s. So what explains the difference in the reaction of Americans to threats from the two countries? Could it be that the preoccupation of Americans, and Europeans, with the possibility of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists makes the idea of nuclear weapons in Tehran seem more urgent than the idea of nuclear weapons in Pyongyang? Or is it that the theocratic leadership in Iran seems easier to talk to, and comprehend, than the Stalinist leadership in North Korea? [...]

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/north-korea-duels-with-iran/?scp=4&sq=north%20korea&st=cse

North Korea Seeks Political Gain From Rocket Launch

By CHOE SANG-HUN, HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: April 6, 2009

[...]

Although the debris of the North Korean rocket fell hundreds of kilometers short of where the North had said they would land in the Pacific, “the launch carries big political and military significance,” said Jeung Young-tai, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

“No country will be naive enough to believe that it was a peaceful space program,” Mr. Jeung said.

“North Korea is on the threshold of becoming an intercontinental ballistic missile country.”

Peter Hayes, director of the Nautilus Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank, said the main motivation behind the launch was “to demonstrate the strength and vitality of Kim Jong Il’s leadership to the military and the population, and for the scientific sector to declare its fealty to Kim Jong Il’s leadership.” [...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/world/asia/07korea.html?scp=8&sq=north%20korea&st=cse