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“Split and rule” – everywhere the same principle in the politics:
PYONGYANG, North Korea — The sprawling site, which buzzes in the shadow of a giant bronze statue of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, looks at first like a high-security military installation.
Scores of soldiers march through a zone sealed off by green mesh fencing and checkpoints. A crew of about 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 police officers works around the clock, along with thousands more civilians in street clothes and hard hats, spurred on by billboards that rate their performance.
But they are not building tanks here at the foot of Mansu Hill, or weapons, except perhaps for a propaganda war. They are building 3,000 new apartments, a department store, schools and a theater, in the hope of selling a modern version of Pyongyang to the people of North Korea – albeit one that most will never get to see.
North Korea has long been known for its military-first policy, which in effect translated into a military-only policy with little room left for investment anywhere else. But now, without abandoning its focus on what it calls defense and the world calls defiance, it also appears to be trying to revive a dying economy and rebuild on the home front.
The stated aim of the reconstruction sweeping Pyongyang is to put North Korea on the path of being a “strong and prosperous nation” in time for the 100th anniversary of the birth of founder and president Kim Il Sung on April 15. But the campaign also serves another political purpose: It sets up Kim Jong Un as the new leader of a great people, just as a construction frenzy heralded his father’s ascension before him. Read the rest of this entry »
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s young new leader gets rock star treatment when he visits his troops – just as his father did. But while the late Kim Jong Il mostly stayed aloof in dark shades, his son holds hands and hugs his soldiers.
Kim Jong Un seems to want to bond with his country’s people.
The style harkens back to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and revered founder of the country and ruling dynasty, and may reflect an attempt to turn a corner on the periods of hardship and famine under Kim Jong Il, analysts say. Kim Il Sung’s image as a daring young general fighting Japanese colonial troops is powerfully engraved in the minds of North Koreans.
Cheers, applause and calls of “Hurrah!” greet Kim Jong Un as he examines the heating systems of soldiers’ quarters, the pressure of their water faucets, the books stacked in their libraries – even the taste of their food. Read the rest of this entry »
You’d better watch out, you’d better cry. You’d better pout, I’m telling you why: North Korea’s punishing insincere mourners, according to the Daily NK.
An anonymous source tells the Daily NK, a South Korea-based publication in opposition of the North Korean regime, that “authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings” to mourn the death of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il, and to those “who did participate but didn’t cry and didn’t seem genuine.”
Newser reports that mourners who came off as insincere have already been sent to join the 200,000 other North Koreans already in labor camps. An Amnesty International report published in May 2011 paints a dark picture of what’s in store at those camps — estimates suggest that 40 percent of inmates die of malnutrition.
The exact number of those to be sent to camps is unclear, reports the Daily Mail, but the paper estimates it could be in the thousands.
The punishment news comes shortly after an announcement Thursday that Kim Jong Il’s embalmed remains would go on permanent display in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, the Associated Press reports, just as his father and previous North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, was enshrined. AP notes that along with the enshrinement, a new statue and “towers to his immortality” will be erected to salute the late Supreme Leader. Read the rest of this entry »
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Thursday it will enshrine Kim Jong Il’s body in the palace housing his father, the national founder, deepening its veneration of the Kim dynasty as the country transfers power to a third generation of the family.
The country also said it will erect a new Kim Jong Il statue and build “towers to his immortality,” while the ruling party called him “eternal leader” and gave his birthday a new title that underlines his military-first policy and links him more closely to his father, Kim Il Sung, who is still revered as the “eternal president.”
The North’s state media have sought since Kim Jong Il’s death on Dec. 17 to show his son, Kim Jong Un, as a strong, confident military leader, but outside observers are watching to see if he can impose his will over the military and government as strongly as his father did during 17 years of absolute rule.
North Korea has quickly handed Kim Jong Un a slew of his father’s prominent titles and repeatedly connected him with his father and grandfather in an effort to add legitimacy to the young leader. North Korea also has stepped up propaganda praising Kim Jong Il’s works and vowed to uphold his policies in what is seen as an attempt to justify the hereditary power transfer.
On Thursday, the North’s state media called Kim Jong Il the “eternal leader” – reminiscent of his father’s title – and said his body will be displayed at Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the embalmed body of Kim Il Sung has been lying since 1995, a year after he died. Read the rest of this entry »
Some could come in right track after responsibility:
SEOUL, South Korea — The resemblance is striking: the full cheeks and quick smile, the confident gait, the habit of gesturing with both hands when he speaks.
North Korea’s young new leader, Kim Jong Un, appears to be fashioning himself as the reincarnation of Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and the nation’s founder, as he seeks to solidify his hold on the nation of 24 million in the wake of his father’s death last month.
Unlike Kim Jong Il, who sequestered himself for three years of mourning before formally taking up the mantle of leadership, Kim Jong Un is moving swiftly to demonstrate a decisiveness perhaps aimed at dispelling concerns about his ability to rule. He is only in his late 20s and made his public debut as his father’s anointed successor just 15 months ago, far less time than the 20 years Kim Jong Il had to prepare to lead.
With the world watching, Kim Jong Un has tread confidently down the “red silk carpet” laid before him by his father, as one analyst put it, using family tradition as his guideposts. Kim Il Sung has served as his main muse as he seeks to consolidate power and loyalty.
“The image of a young smiling Kim Il Sung is deeply engraved in North Korean people’s minds. It is the image of a young general who liberated the nation from Japan’s imperial rule,” said Ahn Chan-il, a political scientist at the World Institute for North Korea Studies in South Korea who was born in North Korea. “Kim Jong Un is borrowing from that. Kim Il Sung is resurrected in the looks and behavior of Kim Jong Un.”
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have lined the cold streets of Pyongyang to bid farewell to former leader Kim Jong Il, who died earlier this month aged 69.
His son and successor, Kim Jong Un, took the role of head mourner and state media showed him with one hand on the hearse with the other raised in salute.
He was accompanied in the procession through the snowy streets of the North Korean capital today by Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il’s brother-in-law, who is expected to play a key role in the new regime.
“How can the sky not cry?” a weeping soldier standing in the snow told state TV. “The people… are all crying tears of blood.”
Kim Jong Il, who was known as the “dear leader” by his people, died on 17 December “from great mental and physical strain” on a train, according to state media.
He took power in 1994 after the death of his father Kim Il-Sung and was reported to have suffered a stroke in 2008. However he had appeared relatively healthy on recent trips around Asia, despite reports he may have been suffering from cancer.
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea on Sunday aired footage showing the uncle and key patron of anointed heir Kim Jong Un wearing a military uniform with a general’s insignia – a strong sign he’ll play a crucial role in helping the young man take over power and uphold the “military-first” policy initiated by his late father, Kim Jong Il.
The footage on state television shows Jang Song Thaek in uniform as he pays respects at Kim Jong Il’s body lying in state at Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Seoul’s Unification Ministry says it’s the first time Jang, usually seen in business suits, has been shown wearing a military uniform on state TV.
Little by little, North Korea is offering hints on the details of Kim Jong Un’s rise and the future composition of his inner circle as millions continue to mourn for his father, who died one week ago. North Korea has also begun hailing Kim Jong Un as “supreme leader” of the 1.2-million strong military as it ramps up its campaign to install him as ruler.
The new title, a public show of support from top military leadership and the symbolic appearance of Jang in uniform send a strong signal that the nation will maintain Kim Jong Il’s “military first” policy for the time being.
Placed in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, he is shown surrounded by red and white flowers with his head resting on a small white pillow.
Mourners in military uniforms are shown paying their respects, including his son and announced successor Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has announced that Kim’s funeral will be held on 28 December, and there were reports that Chinese president Hu Jintao will be the only foreigner in attendance.
With the youngest son of the late “Supreme Leader” of North Korea set to take the reins of the world’s most secretive state, little is known about a man who has been described as an out-of-shape heavy drinker who is the spitting image of his father.
1. No one knows exactly how old Kim Jung-un is, though North Korean officials give his official birth date as January 8, 1984.
2. Prior to 2010, only one grainy black-and-white photograph of the younger Kim existed outside North Korea.
3. He is believed to have attended the International School of Berne in Switzerland until 1998 under an assumed name.
4. Classmates said he was an avid lover of skiing, basketball and James Bond.
5. According to an anonymous high-ranking North Korean source, once Kim got older and put on weight, he started playing 15-ball pool instead of basketball, the Seoul-based North Korea Strategy Information Service reports.
“The game of pool has become increasingly popular among North Koreans in the past five years, in large part thanks to Kim Jung-un being an avid player. He even installed four Chinese brand-name pool tables in his grand mansion,” the source said. Read the rest of this entry »
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is dead, state television in Pyongyang has announced.
Kim, who was known as the “dear leader” by his people, reportedly died “from great mental and physical strain” on a train on Saturday 17 December.
Power in the nuclear-armed state is now expected to transfer to Kim’s son Kim Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s and was named as successor before his father’s death.
“All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
KCNA added in a release titled ‘Medical Analysis of Kim Jong Il’s demise’ that Kim suffered an “advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock.”
The leader, who took power in 1994 after the death of his father Kim Il-Sung, was reported to have suffered a stroke in 2008. However he had appeared relatively healthy on recent trips around Asia, despite reports he may have been suffering from cancer.
Kim’s funeral will be held in Pyongyang on 28 December, and his son will lead the funeral committee state media reported. There will be a period of national mourning from 17 to 29 December.
State media portrayed the reaction inside North Korea as one of deep sadness and shock. News announcers shook and wept as they announced the news.
President Obama snogging Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez? Unlikely.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu smooching with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas? Never.
President Sarkozy cuddling up to German chancellor Angela Merkel… Actually, that one we could see. Somewhat disturbingly.
These images and more are all part of a new advertising campaign by clothing brand Benetton, who in an attempt to spark sales conversation have released six highly controversial images of world leaders engaging in some very close diplomatic discussions.
The ‘Unhate’ campaign is intended to promote a new way of looking at hatred, the brand says.
“It means not hating,” Alessandro Benetton, deputy chairman of Benetton Group SpA, told the Wall Street Journal. “In a moment of darkness, with the financial crisis, what’s going on in North African countries, in Athens, this is an attitude we can all embrace that can have positive energy.”
Nepal - the country of the Buddha and the Mt. Everest 