Return to *North Korean Studies*
Joongang Ilbo reported that the DPRK criticized the US Congress on International Religious Freedom (CIRF) for including the DPRK in a list of oppressors of religious freedom. The DPRK state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) quoted a foreign ministry spokesman on Wednesday saying, "The United States has resumed its offensive against us, claiming that our nation violate their laws on religious freedom. This is arrogant and rude behaviour, ignoring the basic principles of international laws. The United States should acknowledge and apologize their mass killing of religious followers and destruction of numerous religious facilities back in the Korean War (1950-53) before criticizing other countries. Even at this very moment the U.S., in reaction to last month's terror attack, is continuing to intensify its atrocities against innocent Muslims in Afghanistan already taking great many of their lives, thus threatening the very existence of the religion of Islam. It is only too plain that the U.S. is not in the position to lecture on the matter of religious freedom."
The DPRK also went on to blast US General Thomas A. Schwartz's remarks on October 23 that assured that no vacuum of military power exists in the ROK. Describing the remark as harshly provocative, the DPRK's state-controlled Rodong Sinmun argued that the US must give up the criminal attempt to extend the war all the way to Korean Peninsula under the pretext of fighting off the global terrorism. (Kim Hee-sung, "NORTH KOREA CONDEMNS CIRF REPORT," Seoul, 10/30/01)
Joongang Ilbo reported that the US State Department re-designated the DPRK as one of the countries of particular concern in the International Religious Freedom Act along with Burma, the PRC, Iran, Iraq and Sudan in its annual report on religious freedom on October 26. Richard Boucher, spokesman of the US State Department said that US Secretary of State Colin Powell added the DPRK to the list in accordance with the Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Boucher said, "Religious and human rights groups outside the country have provided numerous unconfirmed reports that members of underground churches have been beaten, arrested or killed because of their religious beliefs. Reports of executions, torture and imprisonment of religious persons in the country continue to emerge." ("U.S. RE-DESIGNATES NORTH KOREA IN THE LIST OF RELIGIOUS VIOLATION," Seoul, 10/29/01)
AP Network News, Oct. 27, 2001. US State Department in Washington included North Korea on the Priority Watch List where are deprived of freedom of religion. Richard Boucher, Spokesman of State Department, said, quoting Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary General, that according to the International Law on the freedom of religion, enacted in 1998, North Korea was put on the Priority Watch List. The report, submitted to the Congress on the previous day, says, “although North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of Religion, North Korean government still oppress religious activities of those who failed to be recognized officially by its government”. “Human rights as well as religious organizations in and outside North Korea continuously reported that religious people were arrested, and murdered because of their religious belief,” said the spokesman. He also added, “According to the unverified report, those who are especially connected with missionaries, working in China and borderland, seemed to be arrested and convicted heavy punishment including death penalty.
Chosun Ilbo, Oct. 26, 2001. Occupants of ordinary Pyongyang apartments usually share the same occupations, and 30-40 households comprise a people's unit. Devoid of their own management offices, dong or village offices administer apartments. The residents, on a rotation basis, do street cleaning and sweeping, and in winter, snow is removed by labor provided by one person from each household. Apartment entrance guard duties also rotate among the residents. Guards stand on duty in a four square-meter entrance guard office from morning till 8:00pm, checking and recording all visitors.
After sending their husbands to their jobs and their children to kindergartens or schools, housewives gather at the guard office to share gossips and jokes all day long. All sorts of topics are raised there; who has visited whom and what has taken place there; what kinds of goods have been brought by whom; whose children have done what sorts of mischief at school. Since no secrets can be kept, quarrels often develop. Affection shared among neighbors in everyday life, however, is deep. It's especially so with regard to refrigerators. If one gets fresh fish or meat, she has it preserved in a neighbor's refrigerator. No one rejects such a request.
The economic woes hitting the North since the mid-1990s have brought about lots of changes in the life of apartment dwellers; elevators don't function normally, little room heating is available, and the water supply is disrupted. Elevators are installed in Pyongyang apartments of 10 floors or more, which don't operate properly due to power shortages. Households having aged parents or patients undergo indescribable hardship. Even bicycles, virtually the sole means of transportation in the capital, have become a burden for occupants of higher-floor apartments because they have to be carried up all the stairs. Electric household appliances cannot be used properly without the aid of power boosters.
If winter comes, apartments become huge "prisons" because the power supply is interrupted almost daily and central heating usually does not function. Looked at from afar, apartments don't look like people's dwellings. Except the apartments in Changgwang Street, exclusively used by ranking party and administration officials, most apartments have wooden windowpanes permitting draughts to seep into rooms. They are covered by plastic paper, but it is hard for occupants to put up with severe cold as low as minus 20 degrees centigrade. Family members crouched in quilts exchange conversations as their breath rises like cigarette smoke.
Under the name of "benevolent heating", central heating is supplied two or three days on New Year's Day and Kim Jong Il's birthday falling on February 16. Since plumbing is obsolete and has long been left unused, pipes are sometimes blocked or cracked and some households fail to get the benefits of this “benevolence”. Potable water is supplied for one or two hours a day, and each household has no other way but to supply washing and toilet water themselves. Long queues form when apartment complexes have common-use water faucets or water pumps. It is quite arduous for households living in the upper storeys to carry water to their apartments. Apartment occupants in the Munsu Street fetch washing water from the Taedong River.
The raising of livestock such as chickens, rabbits and pigs at apartments is a new practice prompted by the acute food shortages. So long as it doesn't present too awkward appearance, authorities tacitly approve it. "While staying at the Koryo Hotel, I heard a rooster crow one morning at an apartment in front of the hotel," said a South Korean businessman who has recently been to Pyongyang. "I've later learned that they raise chickens on apartment verandas." The 45-story Koryo Hotel is located in Donghung-dong of the Chung-ku or Central District of the capital, adjacent to the downtown Changgwang Street that houses the central party headquarters.
Chosun Ilbo, Oct. 25, 2001. Ammunitions factories in North Korea are concentrated in Jagang Province, bordering China, and are mostly constructed underground, so while working, the munitions workers are unable to get any sunlight. ‘Factory No. 26,’ located in Kanggye City, Jagang Province, though camouflaged as a tractor parts maker, turns out missiles and shells. ‘Factory No. 38’ in Huichon of the same province, though called the ‘Combined Youth Electric Business Establishment,’ also manufactures missiles.
The munitions labourers reportedly enjoy preferential treatment and prior to the food shortages, a male worker was supplied with 800g of rice per day, edible oil and meat, among other foods, plus clothing and shoes. Even after the food crisis set in, all of them reported to work in sharp contrast with many of their counterparts in other industries who, because of suspended food rations, absented themselves from jobs, according to North Korean defectors in the South. “When food rations were halted for the munitions workers as well, some of them saved and took home one of three meals given them at factory canteens each day," said one of them. "This practice resulted in ceaseless arguments between them and guards." Even in the face of the economic woes, munitions factories continued operating, while ordinary plants suspended their operations.
Yi Jong-hui, 25 (pseudonym), a North Korean escapee here, was assigned to ‘Munitions Factory No. 24,’ a producer of automatic rifles, in the province's Jonchon county upon graduation from a senior high school. "When I entered the plant I stamped all ten fingers on a written pledge to not reveal any secrets of the work, and accepting any possible punishment in the event of a breach of the pledge," she recalled. "Senior female workers told us recruits that we have to continue working for the plant even after marriage, and that we have to find our spouses from among our male counterparts of the factory. That meant that once we were in, we could not ever get out."
The factory is composed of over 100 tunnels, each of which is identified as a job site with a serial number, according to Yi. About a dozen teams, comprising 45-50 labourers, work in each of the job sites, which are divided mainly by rifle parts such as muzzle, butt, firing rod, barrel and magazine. Yi, who belonged to an assembly team, estimated the factory's capacity at about 1,000 rifles per day. Inspectors determine whether produced rifles meet required quality by test-firing some of them at a firing range available near the factory.
Security rules are so tight that workers are allowed no access to adjacent tunnels and even managers are subject to severe control in movements. To reach a job site, one has to walk down a tunnel for about 15 minutes.
The area around tunnel entrances is encircled by electrically charged barbed wire. The first gate is made of steel and the second one of rock. Workers have to go through three checkpoints manned by armed state security agents. Each time they must show their passes. One whose pass has even scratches on it is rejected entry. As they are more than 100 meters below ground level, the work sites are cool in the summer and warm during the winter. As of 1996 North Korea had 134 munitions factories - among them 35 producing ammunition; five, tanks and armored vehicles; five, naval vessels; nine, airplanes; three, missiles and guided weapons; five, communications equipment; and eight biochemical weapons. Some ordinary factories are ready to be converted into ammunition works in times of war.
Chosun Ilbo, Oct. 28, 2001. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) reported Sunday that North Korea’s estimated grain production this year will be some 3.544 million tons, a 38% rise from last year. They added that assuming some 5.01 million tons of consumption, a shortage of some 1.47 million tons will occur despite the country’s best harvest in six years. The FAO and WFP released “Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” a special report on investigations conducted in seven regions, including Pyongan and Hwanghae provinces, between September 25 and October 5 as well as images from high resolution SPOT-4 satellites on their web sites. The two UN food agencies forecast that the North will harvest some 1.139, million tons of milled rice, some 1.482 million tons of corn, some 471,000 tons of potatoes, 178,000 tons of winter/spring wheat and barley and 74,000 tons of other cereals, based on their analysis.
Joongang Ilbo reported that the DPRK has assigned Jon Hui-jong officer of External Affairs of Kumsusan Memorial Palace to replace Jang Myong-sun as DPRK ambassador to Egypt. Jon, the new ambassador in charge of Egyptian affairs was one of the high-ranking officials who received ROK President Kim Dae-jung in Sunan Airport last year during the landmark inter-Korean summit. The move was unexpected as Jang is regarded as an expert on Middle East affairs and was assigned his seat less than a year ago. More DPRK officers have been assigned to take double posts in various places. Another significant arrangement amid the general shake up was the appointment of a new ambassador in Germany. (Kim Hee-sung, "N.K. FOREIGN AFFAIRS OFFICERS UNDERGO GENERAL SHAKE-UP," Seoul, 10/29/01)
Joongang Ilbo reported that on October 23, the DPRK denounced US President George W. Bush's speech on the DPRK-US relations before his to leaving to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC). The DPRK reiterated that the Bush administration must resume a stance similar to that of Clinton administration. Bush gave a strong warning October 17 that the DPRK should not take advantage of the US preoccupation with terrorism and threaten the ROK. In the speech, Bush also expressed disappointment in DPRK leader Kim Jong-il for not rising to the occasion of reconciliatory exchange and being "so suspicious, so secretive." The DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman said via state-run Radio Pyongyang, "Such speech of our leader being suspicious and secretive was an imprudent remark."
The spokesman further explained that the "Clinton times," in which the DPRK and the US came to exchange special envoys, putting an end to hostility of the two nations, are at an end. The spokesman continued to state that the Bush administration must at least return back to Clinton administration's stance for resumption of confident bilateral dialogue. The spokesman also said the US demand in June to reduce its conventional weapon is nothing but a scheme to disarm the nation and a trap to turn down talks. (Kim Hee-sung, "NORTH CONDEMNS PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECH ON N.K. LEADER," Seoul, 10/24/01)
AP Network News, Oct. 22, 2001. North Korea is busy preparing an array of colorful programs for former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's 90th birthday anniversary which falls on April, 15, 2002, to celebrate the day as a grand festival and demonstrate its power, which the North attributes to its current leader Kim Jong-il's army-first policy and his will to rescue the moribund North Korean economy.
The (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported on Oct. 13 that Kim Il-sung's 90th birthday will be a gala occasion to show the people's will to reconstruct the country as a socialist Kangsong Taeguk, a Korean phrase meaning a strong and prosperous country. While asserting the preparations for Kim's 90th birthday the most important task to demonstrate the power of the army-first policy, KCBS stressed that the implementation of Kim Jong-il's plan requires concerted efforts to be exerted by the entire Party, the whole army and all citizens to commemorate the late Kim's birthday anniversary next year.
Earlier, last April shortly after Kim Il-sung's 89th birthday anniversary, North Korea organized committees responsible for preparing functions for Kim next year in foreign countries, including Poland, Peru, Sri Lanka and India. On July 14, with nine months away from Kim's 90th birthday anniversary, more than 100,000 Pyongyang citizens gathered in the Kimilsung Square to pledge to carry out their roles in preparing the birthday anniversary of the late Kim, who became North Korea's "eternal" president under a constitutional revision in September 1998.
Chosun Ilbo, Oct. 19, 2001. The scenic Mount Myohyang of North Korea houses the International Friendship Exhibition Hall, displaying various gifts Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have received and related photographs. Many visit the exhibition hall, but few know the fact that right nearby is an underground tunnel where all the exhibits in the hall can be stored away in time of war.
The North has all but completed underground tunnel projects where all necessary on-ground facilities can be moved underground in an emergency, while most munitions plants, concentrated in the mountainous Jagang Province, have been built underground. In addition, underground tunnels have been built to store away what are called Kim Il Song and Kim Jong Il relics such as their statues and photographs. Seeing Iraqi underground military bases busted during the 1991 Gulf War, North Koreans reinforced those projects that were then under way. "Though enlisted men were prohibited from watching the scenes of the Gulf War on television for fears of war horrors, officers watching them strongly felt the need of permanent underground facilities," reminisced a former People’s Army officer who defected to the South. Early in 1990 the supreme commander issued order No. 11 instructing an early completion of tunnel projects, and hence the tunnel projects under way then were called ‘No. 11 Projects.’
Military commanders in regions involved, and sometimes party organizations took charge of the underground tunnel projects. The second economy or munitions industry sector supplied quality raw materials like cement, reinforcing bars and lumber on a priority basis. Engineers and senior officials mobilized for these projects were accorded the level of rations and salaries given to county party guidance officers. Ordinary laborers assigned to them enjoyed preference in the supply of beef, edible oil and clothing. To boost their morale, preferential party membership quotas, an object of highest aspirations by North Korean citizens, were also allotted.
"We drilled the deepest and hardest base rock layers in mountains," recalls Kim Song-gil, 34 (pseudonym), a North Korean defector who had been mobilized for an underground tunnel project in North Hamgyong province. "The entrance of a tunnel was designed to withstand the impact of a direct enemy attack. And one has to go down 300 meters below ground level to reach the entrance of the underground storing facility."
In the 1990s young North Korean males bored blasters with chisels and hammers, while blasting explosions were heard ceaselessly for several years. Military-use underground tunnels are built wide enough for a brigade command to function and to accommodate all military equipment in relevant regions including armored vehicles and trucks. In public-use underground tunnels, priority was given to statues of Kim senior and junior and exhibits in revolutionary research institutes. Public-use tunnels have been constructed to accommodate up to 70% of paramilitary organizations like the Worker Red Guards and Young Red Guards. Built as complete underground fortresses, they are equipped with power, water supplies, and ventilation facilities.
North Korea built underground tunnels in earnest following its capture of the U.S. navy spy ship Pueblo in 1968, when Kim Il Sung instructed the fortification of the country. The Pyongyang subway, the first phase of which was completed in 1968, is over 100m below ground level so that it may be used as an air-raid shelter in war. The construction of underground tunnels across North Korea was accelerated in the wake of the 1976 butchering by North Koreans of American army officers in the joint security area of the armistice village of Panmunjom. Though they are believed to have been completed by the mid-1990s, some underground tunnels are apparently still under construction.
Chosun Ilbo, Oct.19, 2001. The temperature falls below freezing point in mid-October in Yanggang, North Hamgyong and Jagang provinces, marking the start of the long winter. For people living in these northern provinces of North Korea, it is imperative to prepare for this harsh time. Most essential is to secure fuel and so in September, or early October men fell trees to prepare firewood, making use of their leaves. Loggers crowd many places in the mountains, while those looking for coal loiter around coalmines.
Fuel for winter costs between NKW2,500 and NKW3,000, compared to monthly wages that range from NKW80 to NKW100. Until the 1990s little firewood or briquettes were available in the marketplaces and users brought home wood or coal dust aboard rented trucks or tractors for the purpose of making firewood or briquettes. In recent years, however, bundled firewood and briquettes have become available on the market.
Before it gets really cold, they have to remove ashes accumulated in the passages of under-floor heating systems and paste new straw paper on windowpanes. To withstand severe cold winds, windows are covered by plastic sheets on their outsides. Also needed are winter clothes and shoes. Thick cotton-padded military winter shoes are quite popular, though cotton-padded military trousers and jackets cost as much as NKW2,000. Military winter uniforms are in great demand because they are durable and can be worn outside.
Women exert themselves to prepare kimchi or pickled vegetables, important enough to be called "half-a-year food." In cold regions, kimchi is prepared in cold weather when thin ice is formed. They enter into the so-called ‘kimchi battle’ in mid-October. Since few other side dishes are available throughout the winter, a reasonably well-off household consumes hundreds of cabbages. For transporting cabbages and radishes, all sorts of transport means including motor vehicles, tractors, handcarts and A-frames are used
The Associated Press reported that the DPRK said on October 21 that it needs to bolster its military to counter a US plan to deploy more fighter jets to the ROK. DPRK official, Rodong Sinmun, said "The present complicated situation compels North Korea to increase its military power with heightened vigilance." It added that the DPRK "will cement its revolutionary position in every way to actively cope with any situation." ("NORTH KOREA CALLS FOR MILITARY ALERT," Seoul, 10/21/01)
There is no doubt that the elements are unkind to North Korea, with the latest vicious cycle of drought and flood being particularly devastating on the rice crop. Yet weather, being no respecter of man-made borders, has also been unkind to South Korea - and it has had a bumper rice yield this year, indicating that the situation might not be as bad in the North as it is made out to be.
The Korea Herald reported that an ROK official said on October 20 that DPRK's grain harvest for 2001 is expected to be around average, but the DPRK will again face a 1-million-tonne food shortage next year. The senior government official said on condition of anonymity, "Despite a severe dry spell in spring, North Korea's grain production for this year is expected to be around average." He said the dry spell, lasting from March until June, affected the yield of barley, wheat, and potatoes. However, according to the source, the rice harvest in fall is better than average because of good weather from July to August. ("NORTH KOREA FACES ANOTHER YEAR OF STARVATION: SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIAL," Seoul, 10/22/01)
The Korea Herald reported that the DPRK on October 21 blamed the ROK for stalling their rapprochement process, claiming that the ROK is escalating tension. The DPRK also insisted on Mt. Geumgang in the DPRK as the venue for planned inter-Korean talks. The North Korean ruling party's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland charged that Seoul has not yet responded to the DPRK's earlier proposals for the talks. The committee said in a statement, which was broadcast on the North's two official radio stations, "The South, instead, is reacting to our sincerity with slander against us." (Kim Ji-ho, "N. KOREA BLAMES SOUTH FOR DEADLOCKED RELATIONS," Seoul, 10/22/01)
By Sophie Roell. A Dow Jones Newswires Column. May 14, 2001
PYONGYANG -- At the foreign exchange counter at the self-proclaimed 'deluxe' Koryo Hotel, an electronic screen posts the daily rate of the North Korean won against various international currencies. Quotes for a dozen or so currency pairs light up in red digital numbers, one after the other. One rate that doesn't shift too much is the dollar-won, which generally hovers at or around 2.16 won to the dollar. Speculation has it that the government has fixed the won's rate against the dollar around that level to commemorate the February 16 birthday of Kim Jong-il, the country's semi-divine leader.
Sounds strange? The fact is, in this quasi-theocratic country, if it looks like adulation, it probably is. This is, after all, the nation that holds a weeklong exhibition (in mid-February, of course) to admire the Kimjongilia, the national flower. In any case, whether there is a peg at 2.16 or not, North Korea's currency bears little relation to economic fundamentals...
YUKIFUMI TAKEUCHI
A wave of market-driven economic reforms has started to take hold in North Korea, which has long resisted Chinese-style market liberalization. To take a firsthand look at North Korea's economy, a group of 22 Japanese business executives, scholars and former bureaucrats led by Hisao - Kanamori, adviser to the Japan Center for Economic Research made an - eight-day tour starting July 13, 2000. They visited the high-tech plants in and around Pyongyang and the free-trade zones in Rajing and Sonbong near the Chinese and Russian borders.
The top workers at a clothing factory outside Pyongyang are called ''pioneers in self-reliance'' in recognition of their outstanding performance. Their photos are displayed prominently on the wall along with a chart showing production records of various work teams. Such high-profile morale boosters common in many Chinese factories are still rare in North Korea...
AP Network News, Oct. 15, 2001. Heavy rains and a tidal wave that hit North Korea's eastern coastal areas left at least 81 people dead, 82 injured and 27 missing in Kangwon Province, according to a report released by international relief organizations and NGOs Friday. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Pyongyang said an evaluation of the flood damage in Kwangwon Province from Oct. 9-10, conducted jointly with the North's Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee, also found that floodwaters had forced 11,207 people from their homes.
Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2001. Floods caused by heavy rains last week have killed at least 81 people and injured 82 in North Korea, a U.N. report said Monday. The report, jointly prepared by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and North Korea's Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee, said torrential rains also damaged vast amounts of cropland just ahead of the fall harvest. A large number of people, including children, were mobilized to save as much of the rice harvest as possible, it said.
Last week, North Korea's media reported that the already famine-stricken country suffered "some loss of human lives" and damage to its farm land, but it did not release figures. Up to 15 inches of rain fell on the North's southeastern Kangwon province alone on Wednesday, leaving 11,207 people homeless, the report said. The floods also destroyed many buildings and cut off rail links. More than 32,110 acres of rice paddies were submerged in Kangwon province alone, the report said. It emphasized that the damage reports were estimates and may change. North Korea is in its seventh consecutive year of food shortages and has relied on outside aid to feed its 22 million people.
Joongang Ilbo reported that Jo Myong-rok (71), first vice-chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission and Director of the General Political Department of the Korean People's Army (KPA) has underwent surgery just last month in a hospital in Paris, France. Jo, otherwise referred as the number two man in the DPRK was admitted to a hospital in Paris late September and had a surgery according to a diplomatic source in Seoul. The source said, "Vice-Chairman Jo went through a surgery from September 26 - October 6 in a hospital in Paris." Jo is currently suffering renal failure, a disease caused by weakened liver that fails to prevent waste materials from being circulated into the bloodstream. (Brent Choi, "N.K. VICE-CHAIRMAN JO AGAIN HOSPITALIZED IN PARIS," Seoul, 10/15/01)
AP Network News, Oct. 11, 2001. Pyongyang on Oct. 8 reaffirmed its position that its prime governing tool in North Korea is the military, and not the Workers' Party, the North's Communist Party. The occasion for reiterating the key role being played by the People's Army for the Pyongyang regime was ironically the North's celebrations marking the day four years ago when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il took the top office of the Worker's Party as general secretary.
In a speech delivered during a ceremony to commemorate the day, Choe Tae-bok, associate member of the Party's Politburo and secretary of the Party Central Committee, said: "Great Comrade Kim Jong-il introduced the ideology valuing the gun and the philosophy of the gun, which stipulates that the Army equals the Party, the state and the people." The function for Kim was held in the People's Palace of Culture in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, where a huge portrait of the ruler was hung on the front wall behind the podium. Full and associate members of the Party Central Committee and most of the other senior officials from an array of sectors participated in the event.
Stressing, however, that success in all programs will be guaranteed when the leading role of the Party is increased, Choe said, "Strengthening the revolutionary armed forces is the most important state project which guarantees all fruitful results in realizing the Party's army-first politics." Choe served as chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), North's rubber-stamp parliament, when the North formally inaugurated the Kim Jong-il regime in the first session of the 10th-term SPA held on Sept. 5, 1998, more than four years after the death of former ruler Kim Il-sung.
An editorial in Rodong Shinmun, the newspaper published by the Party, also emphasized the role of the army, employing the convoluted rhetoric: "The invincible power of our Party and revolution is the power of the army-first politics.... The army-first politics of our Party made the People's Army invincible and made the socialism of our own style a stronghold which is invulnerable under all trials." Under strict orthodox Communist theory, the army is no more than a tool used by the Communist Party to carry out the revolution.
A similar position by the North was expressed also in a lengthy editorial carried on Oct. 10 in Rodong Shinmun to mark the 56th founding anniversary of the Party, which said: "In our country the army equals the Party. Under any circumstances there will be no change in our Party's army-first working formula which was completed and cemented under the polished leadership of Respected Comrade Kim Jong-il."
In North Korea today, however, Kim Jong-il rules the North in the capacity of chairman of the National Defense Commission, and not as general secretary of the Party. During the first session of the 10th-term SPA, Kim Yong-nam, who was named to serve as titular head of state there, said: "The NDC chairmanship is the highest post of the state with which to organize and lead the work of defending the state system of a socialist country and the destinies of the people, and to strengthen and increase the defense capabilities of the country and state power as a whole through command over all the political, military and economic forces of the country."
Kim Jong-il became general secretary of the Party on Oct. 8, 1997, merely through a joint announcement of the Party Central Committee and the Party Central Military Committee, a violation of the Party charter under which only the Party Central Committee is entitled to elect the top leader of the Party. The announcement followed a series of rallies of representatives of Party chapters in nine provinces, three major cities and key government offices, plus the People's Army. The announcement said the committees decided to honor Kim as general secretary of the Party, "reflecting the will and desires of all Party members, all servicemen of the army and all other citizens."
Being predictably skittish, Pyongyang has called off the latest round of reunions for families divided between North and South Korea. Although the reunions are far from ideal given the limited number of people involved and the cruelly short time for which they are allowed to meet, they are a start. And it is incumbent on North Korea that they continue until all Koreans are finally free to embrace their long-lost loved ones.
North Korea abruptly requested Friday that a scheduled reunion next week of 200 separated family members in the two Korean states be postponed indefinitely, the South Korean government said. North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a powerful party organization, mentioned "a situation that has been formed in South Korea," said Seoul's Unification Ministry. The committee's statement, broadcast by the North's Central and Pyongyang Radio Stations, did not elaborate on the nature of the "new situation in South Korea" that compelled it to request the postponement. At a Cabinet-level meeting in Seoul in mid-September, the two Koreas agreed to stage a new round of reunions for 100 separated family members from each side for three days starting on Tuesday. It would have been the fourth round of family reunions since leaders of the two divided Korean states met last year to work together for reconciliation and national unification. The Associated Press. Thursday, October 11, 2001; 10:18 PM SEOUL,
Еще месяц назад изысканные дипломаты из Южной и Северной Кореи лучезарно улыбались друг другу и обменивались рукопожатиями, объявляя о достигнутом соглашении, которое обещало оживить столь долго откладываемый процесс примирения между двумя частями разделенного полуострова. Однако уже на этой неделе после того, как Северная Корея внезапно отменила очередной раунд встреч, направленных на воссоединение семей, настроение в Сеуле было далеко от эйфории: подспудно бурлящее недоверие к сталинистскому режиму северян вновь прорвалось наружу.
"Северная Корея взялась за старое. Им просто нельзя верить. Удивляемся, как долго наше правительство будет терпеть презрительно-надменное поведение северных соседей", - именно такие реплики преобладают сегодня в южнокорейских деловых и политических кругах. Напомним, что в пятницу 12 октября Северная Корея остановила запланированное объединение 200 семей, разделенных войной 1950-1953 годов и последующим периодом охлаждения в мире и на полуострове, в частности. Мероприятия, связанные со встречей разлученных родственников должны были проходить в течение трех дней, начиная со вторника 9 октября.
Политический демарш северян задел правительство Южной Кореи, которое надеялось восстановить "сияющий" образ своего президента Ким Де Джунг, "налаживающего добрососедские отношения с Севером", - отмечает сегодня местная пресса. Также отмечается, что охлаждение отношений может привести и к отмене плана правительства Южной Кореи направить голодающему Северу 400 000 тонн риса и других зерновых культур, сообщает
MIGnews.com.15.10.2001 (in Russian)
AP Network News, October 9, 2001. North Korea reported that the female proportion in the public of office is 48.8% in the second periodic report of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Lee Won-ung, professor of Kwan-dong University, who participated in the observation of the second periodic report, made a speech in the academic forum launched by Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. According to his announcement, The female proportion in the public office is as follows;
Health, Commerce, Art: 70%
Education, Post, Culture: 34%
Industry, Agriculture, Construction: 15%
Delegates of Supreme People’s Assembly: 20.1%
Delegates of Provincial, and Municipal Assembly: 21.9%
Central Government Officer: 10%
Koreatimes reported that a day after the US and Britain launched military attacks against Afghanistan's Taliban regime, the DPRK state-run media reported details of the attacks without attaching DPRK's customary commentary. The DPRK Broadcasting Station reported on October 9, "Strikes were launched against targets in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and the cities of Kandahar and Herat also came under raid." The station said the military action caused extensive damage to the targets and killed at least 20 people, the station said. (Staff reporter, "DPRK MEDIA REPORTS STRIKES ON TALIBAN", 10/09/01)
Reuters and The Associated Press reported that the DPRK said on Tuesday that the world was facing a war after the US-led retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan and vowed vigilance against what it called US hostile policy toward the DPRK. In the first comment on the military action launched on October 7, the DPRK Foreign Ministry said the country opposed terrorism but armed forces should not be used to aggravate regional stability and kill civilians. A DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman on KCNA said, "The world faces another war. We hold that the action of the United States should not be a source of a vicious circle of terrorism and retaliation that may plunge the world into the holocaust of war. The use of armed forces or a war to kill innocent people and aggravate the regional situation and disturb regional stability... cannot be justified under any circumstances." He added that the DPRK "had done what it was obliged to do to combat terrorism" but complained the US still kept the country on its list of sponsors of terrorism. The spokesman said, "Under this situation the DPRK is following the situation with vigilance. The DPRK is proud that it has increased its national defense capabilities of its own choice in every way no matter what others may say. The DPRK will closely watch the developments in full readiness to cope with any case." It did not elaborate on the DPRK's capabilities. (Martin Nesirky, "NORTH KOREA: WORLD FACES WAR AFTER US-LED RAIDS," Seoul, 10/9/01) ("NORTH KOREA URGES RESTRAINT OVER U.S. ATTACKS ON AFGHANISTAN," Seoul, 10/9/01)
Reuters reported that panelists at a symposium in Seoul on inter-Korean reconciliation on Tuesday said the September 11 attacks were likely to raise US concerns about DPRK missile proliferation and the state's weapons programs. Kim Sung-han, an analyst at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said, "The United States after terrorism will more concentrate on verification over weapons of mass destruction and missiles with regard to North Korea. [The US] will be more nervous about some Arabic countries possessing ballistic missiles, so it will make further efforts to stop the export of North Korean missiles and related technologies to those countries." Joel Wit, a DPRK expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that he was "cautiously pessimistic" despite the prediction of some observers that the attacks would spur the US actively to engage the DPRK. Wit said, "I don't think this is going to be translated into a more pragmatic policy, given the (Bush administration's) views on North Korea." ("ATTACKS MAY HARDEN U.S. STANCE ON N.KOREA-EXPERTS," Seoul, 10/9/01)
Joongang Ilbo reported that DPRK officially expressed regret toward the September 11 terror attacks in the US during the United Nations General Assembly and called for appropriate countermeasures to combat the crime for the first time. During the UN General Assembly to discuss elimination of international terrorism, the representative from the DPRK, Ri Hyong-chol officially disclosed last Friday the DPRK's rejection toward all kinds of terrorism. Ri added however, that it would be wrong to unfairly brand certain nations as being responsible for terror attacks and crush them with all kinds of sanctions and incursions. "Such would be another kind of terrorism one country commits to the other that also holds sovereign rights," he said. (Kim Hee-sung, "DPRK EXPRESS REGRET TOWARD U.S. TERROR AT UN ASSEMBLY," 10/07/01)
Joongang Ilbo, September 27, 2001. North Korea is likely to see 30 percent increase in its corn production, a great relief to the Stalinist Regime long suffering under the poverty and still expecting one ahead for this year. Professor Kim Soon-kwon of the Kyungppok National University who has just returned from his 10-day trip to North Korea from Sept.15 pointed out to the upbeat prediction today. Kim, also known to be leading the International Corn Foundation is referred as 'Corn doctor' for his achievements in the development of high-yield corn strains.
"According to what I've witnessed in the corn fields of nine collective farms in the North's various provinces there's a good chance of 30 percent increase in the Notch's corn production compared to same time last year," Kim said. "North Korea is likely to reap the largest corn yield since the launch of inter-Korean corn cooperation in 1998." "The circumstances were simply not good in the beginning of the year with unprecedented famine in spring and other disturbing factors," Kim said. "However the weather seemed to have come around by July with no hurricane and other possible disasters."
"Thanks to last year's extremely cold winter that greatly reduced the disease and harmful insects the corn production is likely to make it through the harvest along with rice and bean production which is a great relief to the upcoming food shortage." "Super corn is faring well so far in the 10 collective farms," Prof. Kim said in relations to his ongoing research of super corn seed. "We have almost reached the stage in which it could yield 50 percent more than the existing seed and contain strong resistance to the harmful insects." Calling this year's achievement as a success that actually reduced the corn-research period by 2-3 years Mr. Kim went on to add he plans to spread the super corn seed throughout the nation and proceed with experimental cultivation in over 100 collective farms in the North. (Kim Hee-sung, "NORTH'S CORN PRODUCTION TO INCREASE BY 30%," Seoul, 09/27/01)
by Aidan Foster-Carter
On the face of it North Korea is sitting pretty, with no reason for the United States to go after it and with talks with the South resumed. But underlying everything is the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear program, which, in this new era of heightened tension, might give Washington cause to change tack.
Korea Times reported that ROK officials said on September 24 that the DPRK contacted the US immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., telling the US that it regretted the attacks and did not have anything to do with them. A senior ROK official said, "The North sent a 'private communication' to that effect to the US State Department via the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang. The US appreciated Pyongyang's prompt expression of its anti-terrorism stance. It is likely to improve Pyongyang's image and help resume their suspended bilateral talks on a more conciliatory note." The DPRK Foreign Ministry, in the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), condemned the attacks on September 12, the day after they took place, saying that they were tragic and regretful events. Sources say, however, that the DPRK's private communication was more strong-worded than its official announcement. Evans Revere, deputy chief of the mission at the US Embassy, said on September 21 that the terrorist attacks would not adversely affect the US engagement effort toward the DPRK. (Oh Young-jin and Son Key-young, "NK SENT US PRIVATE CABLE ON ANTI-TERRORISM," 9/24/01)
Chosun Ilbo, September 24, 2001. SEOUL--South Korean President Kim Dae-jung may approve an opposition proposal to give 300,000 metric tons of rice to hungry North Korea, Reuters reported on Sep. 21. In a move aimed to lessen South Korea's rice glut, and support domestic farmers, the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) urged the government to send the rice as a "long-term loan," the South Korean paper Chosun Ilbo reported. The opposition party, which claims that Pyongyang has done little to reciprocate previous South Korean help, demanded guarantees the rice would not go the communist North's military. The ruling and opposition parties would hold discussions soon to decide whether and how to send North Korea surplus rice from the South.
North and South Korea remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with truce agreements that were never replaced by a formal peace treaty. North Korean officials had asked Kim for fresh rice aid last week during a 4-day visit to Seoul for bilateral ministerial talks. North Korea has been plagued by grave food shortages since at least 1995 due to natural disasters and mismanagement. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans believed to have died from famine or related diseases. The U.N. World Food Program is feeding a third of the country's 22 million people. The South Korean government has given $577 million worth of emergency food, medicine, and fertilizer to the North since 1995, or 29% of total aid sent by the international community.
On Sep. 21, the South Korean Red Cross met to screen 300 elderly Southern candidates for reunions with relatives in North Korea they haven't had contact with since the Korean War. Seoul's Red Cross will then send its Pyongyang counterpart a list of 200 names of South Koreans with family in North Korea, which will send its own list of 200 to the South. After the lists are checked to confirm which family members are still alive, each Korea will send 100 people to the other's capital for reunions from October 16 to 18 under an agreement announced by North and South Korean ministers this week.
Korea Times, September 21, 2001. The housing supply rate in North Korea is estimated at between 56 and 63 percent, with each person living in 5.9 to 7.5 square meters of space, according to a report submitted to the National Assembly by the Korea National Housing Corp. (KNHC) yesterday. The report was based on two books published in 1991 in South Korea that introduced North Korea's territory and population. In 1990, North Korea's population totalled 22.95 million and the number of households in the communist country was estimated to be 4.81 million. The number of houses, however, remained at only 2.69 million to 3.04 million, resulting in a housing supply rate of only 55.9 to 63.2 percent.
South Korea's housing supply rate was tallied at 92.4 percent as of 1998 when its population was 44.6 million. Families in North Korea lived in 28.7-36.3 square meters on average as of 1990 while those in South Korea lived in a space of 82.8 square meters as of 1995. The level of houses in North Korea was divided into five grades, dependent on class. Houses with more than 198 square meters of space with a bathroom and garden were taken by vice directors and the upper classes of the workers' party. Newly built apartments with 66-82.5 square meters were provided for professors and bureau chiefs of the party. Most workers lived in publicly financed houses with only 26.4-33 square meters of space.
The Korea Herald reported that the inter-Korean talks that opened in Seoul on September 16 are drawing attention to the position of the DPRK delegates on terrorism. ROK officials believe that an inter-Korean declaration on terrorism would not only contribute to inter-Korean peace, but will also help the DPRK improve its international image on terrorism. DPRK delegates to the ministerial talks did not clearly disclose their position on the issue. Asked about the terrorist attacks in the US, the chief DPRK delegate, Kim Ryong-song, said, "We feel it is regrettable. But I believe the incident is unrelated to this meeting, which is supposed to be a discussion of internal national issues." (Kim Ji-ho, "N.K.'S POSITION UNCLEAR ON ANTI-TERRORISM DECLARATION," Seoul, 09/17/01)
Newsweek, September 15, 2001. Millions of North Koreans depend on Catherine Bertini for their next meal. As executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, she oversees a humanitarian operation that has sent over $900 million in food aid to North Korea since 1995 and currently feeds about one-third of the country’s people. This year alone, the WFP will distribute more than 800,000 tons of food, working within a system administered by a hardline communist regime that refuses to implement meaningful economic reforms. Critics, among them aid workers who have pulled out of North Korea, argue that economic assistance, even food, props up dictator Kim Jong Il and simply perpetuates suffering. NEWSWEEK’s George Wehrfritz recently spoke to Bertini. Excerpts:
Newsweek:
Why should the world keep feeding North Korea?
Catherine Bertini: If we don’t send food, children will starve. Period. That’s the argument.
Newsweek: It’s that simple?
Catherine Bertini: Yes.
Newsweek: Some members of the aid community have come to believe that food aid is enabling Kim Jong Il’s regime and preventing the kind of change that will ultimately be necessary to fix North Korea. Isn’t that a valid argument? And therefore all the food aid should be stopped so that, for heaven knows how long, people would starve to death because we don’t like the government?
Catherine Bertini: That’s an immoral position.
Newsweek: Is it always the case that where there is famine the WFP gives aid?
Catherine Bertini: As long as we can have access to distribution and [understand] the management of the process, we send food. We never say: “We don’t like the government so we won’t send food,” if that food is the difference between life and death. We send food to southern Sudan where we have to spend millions of extra dollars dropping it out of airplanes, we send food to Angola, we send food to Afghanistan. We send food everywhere.
Newsweek: You’ve just returned from your fourth trip to North Korea. What’s the situation today?
Catherine Bertini: I was there in ’97 [at] the depth of the crisis. The difference, in terms of the health of the children especially, is immense. In 1997, we saw many children in schools who were malnourished. Who had orange hair, extended bellies and were skeletal. Our monitors have been going to the schools since [then], and so they’ve seen that the children are far healthier. But we also saw children in pediatric hospitals who were emaciated, malnourished and had diarrhea. The [situation] is stable but precarious.
Newsweek: How confident are you that WFP food aid is getting to the hungry in North Korea?
Catherine Bertini: Monitoring is always challenging. We have the largest contingent—56 international [aid workers] in Pyongyang and five sub-offices. We’re fairly confident for several reasons. One is that most of our aid goes through institutions like schools that we can visit. When you go time after time, you not only see how the children progress, but you also see the routine during feeding. Do [recipients] know what to do when food arrives? Is it orderly or is there a panic? After you’ve been in this business for a while you can tell a lot from that. Second, we send foods that are self-targeting, which [in North Korea] are primarily wheat and corn. These are not staples in the North Korean diet, so other people wouldn’t want to eat them unless they were really hungry. Third, a lot of our food for children is processed in the country. The factories operate all day. We go to them regularly to see how they’re doing.
Newsweek: Do you or your colleagues sense that any reform effort is afoot to revive agriculture in North Korea?
Catherine Bertini: No. There are small, incremental changes, like an initiative that started a couple of years ago to grow more potatoes. Double cropping has had some success. When we send in a crop assessment mission in early October, I’m asking them to look at whether [fertilizer aid from South Korea] was effective. Agricultural exports say that with improved agricultural practices, with more fertilizer, North Korea still will not grow enough to feed itself. It just doesn’t have the right kind of land and climate. Other countries are in the same situation. But many of those countries have the ability to purchase food somewhere else. North Korea doesn’t, or doesn’t choose to do it. But they can afford to purchase weapons from Russia and limousines for the elite. That must be frustrating. We have to keep our eye always on our purpose, and our purpose is to end hunger. We don’t have the luxury of deciding whether or not we like the government or its priorities. That’s just not an option for us, and I don’t think it’s an option for any human being in this world.
Newsweek: Is it getting harder to find willing donor states?
Catherine Bertini: This is our sixth year in North Korea and each year we’ve been virtually fully funded. This year we’ve requested 810,000 tons [of grain], enough to feed one third of the population. It’s the largest request we’ve ever made, and so far we have 91 percent of the volume sourced. What next year will be like, I don’t know. Seven years into the famine and the WFP made its highest aid request ever for North Korea in 2001.
Newsweek: Are you concerned about donor fatigue, and is there an exit strategy?
Catherine Bertini: There’s not right now. If there is a decent harvest this year we won’t have to ask for as much aid. And if there’s good weather and a good harvest and more fertilizer next year, we’ll still have to ask for more. The country will need food aid over the long term. Really, the major thing that will change it is having an economy that allows for importing food.
Newsweek: And the barrier to that is ideological.
Catherine Bertini: There may be many barriers: political, ideological, commercial. Humanitarians can do this lifesaving work that I believe we are doing, but it is left to the political leadership of North Korea and other countries to make the difference over the long term. That relates to peace and stability and growth.
AP Network News, September 13, 2001. This year North Korea marked its 53rd anniversary by an array of functions, highlighted by a ceremony held in Pyongyang on Sept. 8, and an editorial carried the next day in Rodong Shinmun , Pyongyang's most influential newspaper published by the Workers' Party of Korea, the North's Community Party. But as in the past, the anniversary has served as an occasion to promote the extreme personality cult of former and current North Korean leaders, Kim Il-sung and his son Jong-il, and to call upon all North Korean citizens to display unconditional loyalty to them, rather than to address the many problems facing their poverty-stricken country.
"It is an immortal historic exploit performed by Great Suryong (Leader), Comrade Kim Il-sung on behalf of the homeland and people, the times and the revolution that he led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to build a human-centered Korean-style socialism on this land and set a genuine example of socialist nation-building," Kim Yong-nam, who is serving as the North's titular head of state, said during the Pyongyang ceremony. As for junior Kim's achievements, Kim Yong-nam said, "Respected Comrade Kim Jong-il has ever boosted our republic's power by proposing the task of dyeing all society with Juche Idea as an ultimate mission of the republic and achieving great progress in all programs to reform human beings, nature and society under the flag of revolution in the arenas of ideology, technology and culture."
We also praised the current North Korean ruler for his establishment of the "army-first politics" as a basic political formula for the North, his saving of the country and its people by shattering the plots of the imperialists and the anti-socialism, anti-DPRK elements to stifle and suffocate the republic to death, and his opening of an era for rebuilding the country as a socialist Kangsong Taeguk (a nation which is powerful ideologically and militarily and prosperous economically).
The tone of the Rodong Shinmun editorial was similar to the remarks of Kim Yong-nam, who conducts the ceremonial job of representing North Korea in relations with foreign countries in the capacity of chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's rubber-stamp parliament. Calling the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as Kim Il-sung's Korea and Kim Jong-il's country, the editorial said: "Respected Comrade Kim Jong-il is a politician for the century admired by all Koreans and all progressive human beings as the sun of the 21st century."
The North's position on Kim Il-sung, however, is nothing new. Extolling the late Kim as a "genius ideological theoretician, a genius art leader, an ever-victorious, iron-willed brilliant commander, a great revolutionary and politician, and a great human," the North Korean constitution, which was revised again in September 1998, declares: "The DPRK is a socialist fatherland of Juche which embodies the idea of and guidance by Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-sung." The constitution, named as "Kim Il-sung's constitution," also says North Korea and all of its citizens will uphold the late Kim as the "eternal state president."
In the speech during the ceremony, Kim Yong-nam even exploited Kim Jong-il's recent visit to Russia and talks with Chinese leader Jiang Zemin for the promotion of the personality cult of the North Korean ruler, saying: "He once again demonstrated to the whole world his noble aspect as a great man and his extraordinary revolutionary activities." Then Kim urged all North Koreans to show unconditional loyalty to their leader, believe firmly in him and be faithful to his ideology and leadership.
Among the North Koreans' missions set by Kim was the further strengthening of their "revolutionary armed forces." But he said the most important "revolutionary" mission facing the North is to "accelerate" the economic construction, a requirement for reviving the moribund North Korean economy. The Rodong Shimun editorial, however, showed a different view, asserting that the power of a country does not lie in its economic power or its weapons, but in the unity of its citizens. "Our single-hearted unity means the unity of the entire Party and army and all the people in thought and purpose as they share their ideas and intentions with Respected Comrade Kim Jong-il, breathe the same breath with him and act as they are taught by him, and it represents kindred ties as they share destiny with each other because of the noble sense of moral obligation and reverence," the editorial added.
Forbes.com reported that Kansai University Professor Lee Young-hwa, Japanese freelance journalist Jiro Ishimaru, and Pyon Jin-il, publisher of Korea Report, said that Japanese Red Army terrorists have been moving frequently between the DPRK and the Middle East for the past decade. They also said that the DPRK government has been manufacturing large quantities of heroin, amphetamines, weapons and counterfeit US dollars to finance its weapons development programs, and selling them either through criminal gangs in Japan or via Russia and the PRC to the US and Europe. They added that members of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also help finance the DPRK regime in exchange for bribes.
Lee said that when Japan gave 500,000 tons of rice aid to the DPRK last year, politicians received kickbacks. He stated, "I was with a North Korean official as he phoned a Japanese member of parliament and told him a shipment of free fish had been sent to a company he owns." Kiyoshi Ueda, a member of Japan's opposition Democratic Party, said that Japan's ruling party has begun preparations to bail out credit cooperatives linked to the DPRK government with payments of public money that have amounted to US$3 billion so far and could rise to over US$10 billion.
Lee stated, "They are now trying to quietly use public money to restart these institutions with the same people in charge as those that drove them to bankruptcy in the first place." According to The Crimes of Fuji Bank, a book by Mineo Yamamoto, Fuji paid US$350 million to DPRK organizations in Japan in exchange for debt collection services. Ishimaru said that the real risk associated with the DPRK is that "nobody really knows what is going on there." Pyon added, "Nobody knows how much money goes from Japan to North Korea." ("NORTH KOREA: ANOTHER OUTCROPPING OF TERRORISM," 09/18/01)
Pyongyang, September 12 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry today answered the question put by KCNA as regards the large-scale terrorist attacks on the United States. He said: " This very regretful and tragic incident reminds it once again of the gravity of terrorism. As a UN member the DPRK is opposed to all forms of terrorism and whatever support to it and this stance will remain unchanged. The DPRK approaches the incident from this point of view." North Korea's official television network reported Wednesday evening that the unprecedentedly deadly attacks in the United States threw the whole nation into great confusion Tuesday, citing CNN and the Voice of America.
Reuters reported that the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the DPRK has refused entry to a Japanese delegation scheduled to inspect the distribution and use of Japan's rice aid to the country on September 11. Delegation officials were notified of the last-minute decision in Beijing, a ministry official said. No reason was given for the decision. An official said, "We had been told by the WFP, which has been coordinating this program, that North Korea would allow entry of the delegation. But North Korea notified the delegation yesterday that they were not ready to accept them and also said the same today." The official said the mission would return to Japan and would work to reschedule the visit. ("NORTH KOREA REFUSES ENTRY TO JAPAN AID DELEGATION," Tokyo, 9/12/01)
The Korea Herald reported that the DPRK has threatened to end a moratorium on missile test launches, saying Japan's test of a satellite launcher was a threat to peace. A DPRK foreign ministry spokesman said that Japan's rocket test last week was "a bid to incite military confrontation." In a statement issued late on September 11, the spokesman added, "This serious development compels the DPRK to reconsider its moratorium on the satellite launch." A DPRK official was quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying, "The DPRK's missile program is of a peaceful nature but it will deal a merciless blow to those who dare infringe upon its dignity and sovereignty." ("N.K. THREATENS TO END MISSILE MORATORIUM," Seoul, 09/12/01)
Joongang Ilbo reported that informed sources said on September 5 that during the PRC-DPRK Summit on September 3, DPRK leader Kim Jong-il reiterated a promise to RPC President Jiang Zemin that the DPRK will suspend its missile testing activities until the year 2003. Kim had made the same moratorium pledge to Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Sources said the two leaders also expressed their opposition to the US missile defense plan. (Kim Hee-sung, "NK REAFFIRMS HALT TO MISSILE TESTS UNTIL 2003," Seoul, 09/06/01)
by Aidan Foster-Carter
North Korea is routinely referred to as a Stalinist state, often more from habit than with any real thought. Think about it though, and the appellation is not entirely accurate, although in the final analysis, Stalin has a lot to answer for.
People's Daily reported that Rim Tong Ok, vice chairman of the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, sent a message on September 2 to his ROK counterpart, proposing a resumption of inter-Korean dialogue. In the message to ROK minister of unification Rim Dong Won, Rim Tong Ok said that the historic June 15 inter-Korean joint declaration gives great impetus to the improvement of inter-Korean relations and the reunification of the nation. The message noted that the joint declaration has won the support and welcome from people at home and abroad as the days go by and the will of the Korean people to fully carry it out at any cost is getting stronger. ("DPRK PROPOSES RESUMED TALKS," Pyongyang, 9/3/01, P3)
The Korea Times reported that in an apparent move to assuage criticism in the ROK regarding the disputed inter-Korean Liberation Day festivities, the DPRK proposed on August 28 that festival organizers from the ROK and the DPRK soon hold a meeting to implement civilian exchange programs. The statement released by the DPRK's Council of National Reconciliation emphasized how the DPRK values the agreement struck up during the August 15-21 inter-Korean festivities in Pyongyang, in which 337 ROK citizens participated. The statement said, "We will make every effort to implement them." (Seo Soo-min, "NK OFFERS CONTACT ON CIVILIAN EXCHANGE," Seoul, 08/29/01)
The Washington Post reported that Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program, said that international food aid to the DPRK has been "absolutely a success." While Bertini said that the DPRK government has done little to relax controls on aid workers, she disputed charges that significant amounts of the food are being diverted to members of the military and Communist Party. She stated, "Ultimately, we have to appeal to the publics [of donor countries] to say there's enough food in your country to keep these children alive, and it's your responsibility not to let the children starve." Bertini said that during her recent trip to the DPRK, she visited a pediatric hospital where "the children were really in sad shape. A large number of them were malnourished. It was primarily little kids under 2. Their mothers were very thin. A lot of the mothers didn't have enough milk to give, and there wasn't enough baby food." She added, however, "In 1997, there was incredible desperation. Just looking at the children and adults, many of them were skin-and-bones, lots of distended bellies and orange hair. Now, we really can see the progress. The children are healthier. They are more active." She concluded that while there are "still people in a very precarious situation, this is a success story. Without these massive amounts of aid, we would be reading dire reports of millions of people every year dying of starvation." (Doug Struck, "U.N. SAYS AID AVERTED N. KOREAN FAMINE," Yokohama, 08/24/01, A21)
Joongang Ilbo reported that the DPRK has been intensifying its internal ideological education since June 2000 in order to brace up for the influence from abroad. The textbook titled "To Sharpen Our Class Struggle for the Upcoming Change" is being distributed to members of the workers party and common people nationwide. The book gives definitions for US imperialists, Japanese militarists, ROK anti-forces and the anti-regime forces within its own nation as the top class enemy and directs people "to block foreign enemies before establishing firm footing in the nation and smash down if such people are found within the regime." ("IDEOLOGY EDUCATION INTENSIFIED IN N.K. IN FEAR OF OUTSIDE WORLD," Seoul, 08/29/01)
In the few short years that aid agencies have been allowed to operate in North Korea, they have encountered a number of obstacles and tough moral choices. In the first part of a two-part article, Aidan Foster-Carter writes that as a result, some agencies have simply stopped operating in the country.
Reuters reported that the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that torrential rains in early August killed more than 10 people. The report stated, "Thousands of hectares of cultivated land, hundreds of dwelling houses and public buildings went under water or buried under silt." It added, "No harvest is expected from many fields. Railways and roads were destroyed to paralyze transport and communications." The district of Hyesan was hit by 12.6 inches of rain in the first several days of August, while Kangwon Province was hit with 468.6 mm (18.5 inches) of rain in three days beginning late on July 31. ("NORTH KOREA DETAILS EARLY AUGUST FLOOD DAMAGE," Seoul, 08/15/01)
The Korea Times reported that in an interview with the ROK-run Korea Broadcasting System, former US President Jimmy Carter said on August 6 that late DPRK leader Kim Il-sung approved of the presence of US forces in the ROK (USFK). Carter said that during his meeting with Kim in June 1994, Kim recognized the need for the USFK's presence for regional security, and pointed out the necessity of a mutual armed forces reduction. Carter said, "He (Kim Il-sung) also said that North Korea should reduce 50 percent, South Korea should reduce 50 percent, and the U.S. should reduce 50 percent, but to allow U.S. forces in Korea, that's what he promised." Carter, who is in the ROK from August 5-11 for the Habitat for Humanity project, said that he is willing to make another visit to the DPRK and urge its leader to make the return visit to the ROK. Carter said, "Kim Jong-il should make a return visit to Seoul regardless of what Washington says." (Seo Soo-min, "KIM IL-SUNG ACCEPTED PRESENCE OF USFK," 8/9/01)
An expert Italian pizza chef is lured from Italy to exhibit his skills in North Korea. In the first of this three-part series, Ermanno Furlanis describes how he was recruited, wined and dined, and held a virtual prisoner in a "gilded cage" in Pyongyang...
Plucked from the security of Italy, a master pizza chef finds himself in the strange world of North Korea, where he is to pass on his skills to eager novices. In the second of a three-part series, Ermanno Furlanis, after a mind-opening journey to the seaside from Pyongyang, finally gets to show off his talents. This article is presented as a part of an Asia Times Online collaboration with Heartland.
In the third part of a three-part series, Italian pizza chef Ermanno Furlanis finally gets down to the business that took him to North Korea - cooking for the elite at a luxury seaside resort. In between, he plays soccer with a bunch of kids on a supposedly deserted island, goes sightseeing and 10-pin bowling. And the Great Man eats.
Nowadays readers are spoiled for choice on books on North Korea, from detailed descriptions of its armed forces and nuclear program to statistics. Aidan Foster-Carter dusts off a few...
The New York Times reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il repeated a promise on August 4 to suspend ballistic missile launchings until 2003. In an eight-point "Moscow Declaration" issued after a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kim said that his nation's missile program "does not present a threat to nations respecting North Korea's sovereignty." The joint declaration, issued at midday, was a striking exception in which Putin appeared to give moral support to the DPRK. The statement was the second iteration of that guarantee and the first such overture to US President George W. Bush.
The declaration committed the DPRK and Russia to the "formation of a new fair world order" framed by international law and beyond the domination of any single power. However, it also pointedly committed them to combat international terrorism. The declaration also repeated that the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty should remain the foundation of arms control efforts. Russia also expressed "understanding"--though not agreement--for the DPRK's demand that the US remove its forces from the ROK. Sergei Karaganov, deputy director of the Council of Europe, said this week on the Moscow news radio station Echo Moskvy, "South Korea is the more important partner of Russia, by force of at least economic considerations, than is North Korea. We're interested in military and technical cooperation with South Korea, first of all because they have money. Keeping in mind that there will be a process of reunification in the future, we should try to reap the maximum benefits." (Michael Wines, "NORTH KOREAN LEADER VOWS TO CURB MISSILE PROGRAM," Moscow, 8/5/01)
Joongang Ilbo reported that the DPRK on Wednesday, August 1 condemned the US for being responsible of cutting the inter-Korean dialogue and reviving the Cold War sentiment within the Korean Peninsula. Yang Hyong-sop, Vice President of the Presidium of the DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly, insisted that the US has tried to crush the DPRK with a hard-line policy during the reporting assembly held in People's Palace of Culture, reported state-controlled Radio Pyongyang the same day. (Ju Yong-jung, "NORTH BLASTS U.S. RESPONSIBLE FOR HALT IN INTER-KOREAN DIALOGUE," Seoul, 08/02/01)
Обрушившиеся в последние дни на Северную Корею проливные дожди вызвали мощные наводнения, из-за которых в общей сложности более 10 тыс. человек лишились жилья. По поступившим в Токио сообщениям, затоплено более 24 тыс. га пахотных земель, в ряде районов стихией разрушены мосты, автомобильные дороги и железнодорожные магистрали. Общий ущерб, по предварительным данным, будет исчисляться десятками миллиардов долларов. Ситуация осложняется тем, что во многих районах страны из-за оползней оборваны линии связи. Мощные дожди обрушились на Северную Корею сразу после длительной засухи, которая продолжалась в стране более трех месяцев. //РИА «Новости» ( in Rissian )