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  • Wtf Is Going On In Dprk???

    This is bizarre when all taken together....
    (If you dont read all of this you wont see the magnitude of current events in the DPRK).

    They're apparently preparing for war(with china?)

    Joyful Dancing
    DER SPIEGEL

    The people of North Korea are not as submissive as they appear to be. Unnoticed by the outside world, strong opposition to the regime of dictator Kim Jong Il is beginning to appear.

    On April 22, two trains loaded with chemicals exploded in the city of Ryongchon. Although 169 people died or were horribly disfigured, including a large number of children from a nearby school, no functionaries appeared in the city to comfort the injured and the relatives of the victims. President Kim Jong Il did not even condescend to issuing a telegram offering his condolences.

    The state-owned news agency barely managed to devote a few lines to the catastrophe. Instead, the military in the capital celebrated the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the army and "Dear Leader" Kim with "joyful dancing" (the government's term).

    No pity and no compassion for the suffering victims. The regime showed its true face - once again. A few hours prior to the tragedy, Kim's special train passed through the Ryongchon train station, returning from a trip to China. Is it possible that this was not an accident, but instead an attempt by opponents of the regime to blow up the dictator and his entourage? Until now, the world has been under the impression that the North Koreans, shielded from information about the outside world, weakened by hunger and subject to the tyranny of a foolproof monitoring system, are incapable of rebelling. After all, didn't they succumb to collective hysteria in 1994 when, after living through decades of his cult of personality, they were suddenly faced with the death of Kim's father, the founder of the state, "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung? But the 22.5 million people of this country are not as submissive as they appear to be. In the bitter years of the mid-1990s, when the regime allowed up to three million people to die from malnutrition and weakness, demonstrations repeatedly flared up against the country's bizarre ruler who, with his blow-dried hair and eccentric uniforms, is partial to preaching to his exhausted citizens in so-called spontaneous lectures. Slogans against the dictator ("Down with Kim Jong Il") appeared on railroad cars, overpasses and factory walls. Flyers condemning the dynasty's unbelievable ostentation were even posted outside the Kumsusan Mausoleum in Pyongyang, where the elder Kim's embalmed body lies in state. In a new, soon-to-be-published book about North Korea, Jasper Becker, 48, a British author and journalist living in Beijing, writes that factories, military units, and even entire towns revolted against the leadership in Pyongyang. In conversations with North Korean refugees, members of the South Korean intelligence service and scientists, Becker offers a deep, virtually unprecedented look into the secretive country. For example, Becker obtained details about the biggest labor demonstrations in North Korea's history, which took place in 1998 in the industrial city of Songrim. The protests began on a cold February morning after the public execution of eight men, all managers at the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Works. Their crime? In an effort to provide food for the workers and their families, they sold parts of the factory to Chinese businessmen.

    Even though many of Songrim's inhabitants were starving at the time, the attempt to circumvent the defunct public supply system to obtain food was considered sabotage and treason. The deal with wealthy comrades from the other side of the border was quickly exposed when Chinese grain freighters were seen openly unloading cargo designated for Songrim at the port of Nampo. When the bodies of the eight functionaries, including two Central Committee members, fell into the dust, a woman in the crowd yelled: "They did not try to enrich themselves, but to help the workers. Shooting them is brutal." The courageous woman was one of the town's most respected citizens. As a nurse working in an elite hospital in Pyongyang, she had even taken care of the country's leaders. But that didn't protect her. Three soldiers grabbed the woman and shot her on the spot. The crowd, deeply fearful and horrified, quickly dispersed. A few hours later, however, the factory's employees stopped working. The peaceful protest was short-lived. The next morning, tanks broke through the factory gates and mowed down the demonstrators. According to eyewitness reports, hundreds lost their lives. Several days later, dozens of suspected agitators were shot, and countless so-called counter-revolutionaries and their families were taken away to labor camps. This was apparently not an isolated incident. Resentment against Kim is deeply entrenched in the population. Even a few of Kim's 450 hand-picked bodyguards, referred to as the "2-16 Unit," in honor of the dictator's birthday, apparently attempted to shoot their boss in the mid-1990s. Generals pushing for economic reforms planned a coup in 1992.

    Their leaders included the vice-commander of an army unit in Hamhung and deputy general staff commander An Jong Ho. Both were exposed and executed; their cohorts managed to escape to Russia. In the bleak northern industrial city of Chongjin, several officers attempted to take control of the port and rocket bases in 1995, as well as to convince other military units to join them and march on Pyongyang. Other members of the military plotted to fire a shell at Kim's platform during a military parade in the capital. A military resistance group calling itself "The Supreme Council of National Salvation" threw flyers from trains and trucks, reading: "We appeal to the soldiers of the People's Army and to the people to join us in our fight." The omnipresent state security service exposed the plots. Kim himself has now constructed a protective wall around himself. He constantly moves from one residence to another, and his houses in Pyongyang are connected by a system of tunnels. An elite unit of 100,000 soldiers dedicated to Kim exists solely to protect him against conspiracies.

    The uprisings happened at a time when even the privileged military was suffering and soldiers were starving in their barracks. During the 1990s, soldiers marauded throughout the country, looking for food. Most factories were shut down, the power was only on for a few hours each day, if at all, and water no longer flowed from faucets.

    The situation was not solely attributable to droughts, as the government attempted to convince its subjects. The Kim dynasty had taken the country to the brink of ruin, because it refused to loosen the reins on its calcified planned economy and allow the people to farm small private lots. It was not until 1994, when the elite began to feel the effects of this mistake, that Kim asked for foreign aid. The famine did not begin in the early nineties, as is commonly assumed, but much earlier. An agricultural expert who fled the country began discovering the first signs of famine in 1987. But in a North Korea dominated by the cult of personality, no one dared inform old Kim Il Sung about the situation. By the time the "Great Leader" became aware of the problem, it was already too late. As Becker discovered, a serious disagreement between father and son must have occurred during this period. The patriarch was furious because his son had kept the economy crisis concealed from him for so long. Kim junior apparently opposed his father's plan to reform the economy based on the Chinese model, and to seek reconciliation with his South Korean compatriots. When Kim Il Sung died of heart failure in his villa on July 8, 1994, things may not have entirely above-board. Apparently, his son forbade doctors from entering his father's room for a long period of time. Two of the five helicopters that were to take the corpse and the dead man's entourage to Pyongyang crashed, killing the doctors and bodyguards on board. Other functionaries later disappeared without a trace.

    While the North Koreans starved and the country descended ever more deeply into poverty, the younger Kim built at least ten palaces, complete with golf courses, stables and movie theaters. His garages are filled with luxury cars. The CIA estimates the family's wealth at four billion dollars, part of which is deposited in Swiss bank accounts.

    Astonishing details about the lifestyle of the current president have now come to light. In the 1980s, he launched the "Project to Guarantee the Longevity of the Great and the Dear Leader." What this means, specifically, is that about 2,000 young women serve the leadership in "satisfaction teams" (sexual service) and "happiness teams" (massage).

    Kim himself selected Ko Yong Hi, a dancer, as his life partner, even though he was already married at the time and also had a mistress. Ko bore him two sons and was given the honorary titles "Great Wife" and "Beloved Mother." She has long since died, supposedly of cancer. One of her sons may carry on the dynasty.

    ANDREAS LORENZ

    Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan


    © DER SPIEGEL 45/2004

    MORE:

    Linky

    Removal of Kim Jong Il’s Pictures from Public Places in North Korea

    Russia’s state-run communication agency ITAR-TASS reported from Beijing quoting a diplomat in North Korea yesterday that pictures of the chairman of the DPRK National Defense Committee Kim Jong Il are being removed from public places in North Korea.

    The news reported that foreigners who were recently invited to the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang noticed that only the late President Kim Il Sung’s picture remains and that Chairman Kim’s picture has been removed from the entrance.

    They stated that on the wall where Chairman Kim’s picture was originally placed, there remained yellowish trace, which seems to be all that was left after repainting the spot, and a nail.

    The informed source also conveyed that more cases in which Chairman Kim’s pictures were removed from places where they should be were observed, and it seems that although the reasons have not come to light, that a secret order to remove his pictures has been given within the North.

    A Moscow diplomacy source also said, “The removal of Chairman Kim Jong Il’s pictures from public places is well known among foreigners living in Pyongyang, and diplomats of each country are working on understanding the meaning of this.”

    He conveyed, “Opinions like ‘unsound health,’ that Chairman Kim recently got an operation, and an “internal conflict for power” are spreading, but none has been confirmed.”

    MORE:

    Consort's death rocks Kim Jong-il
    Michael Sheridan, Beijing
    15nov04

    HARDLINERS have tightened their political grip on North Korea while Kim Jong-il, the Stalinist state's dictator, has retreated into virtual seclusion after the death of his favourite consort from cancer.

    Chinese and Western sources say the regime has prepared for a state of siege as it confronts a re-elected US administration under George W. Bush that is determined to break Pyongyang and disarm it of nuclear weapons.

    As Japanese envoys tried to persuade the North Koreans last week to rejoin multinational talks, Mr Kim's absence from the scene led to speculation a debilitating power struggle might have paralysed the ruling group.

    This followed the death of Koh Young-hee, a dancer who had provided Mr Kim with an heir-apparent to the world's only communist dynasty.

    "The loss of this woman was a blow," said a foreign diplomat.

    "But (US Democratic candidate) John Kerry's loss in the US election was a harder one. These are now very worried men."

    Diplomats and aid officials in Pyongyang noticed the first signs of a clampdown when some members of their North Korean staff were abruptly reassigned to new jobs and others became more nervous than usual about discussing current affairs. Restrictions had been imposed on foreigners' movements, they said.

    Telephones used by foreign residents have been cut off and the secret police have assumed control of the country's mobile phone service.

    Entry permits for foreigners have been curtailed.

    The story of how personal bereavement and international crisis became intertwined began with the shipment of an elaborate coffin from Paris to Pyongyang during the summer.

    North Korean diplomats had ordered it for Koh, 51, who flew home to die after specialists at an exclusive Paris clinic decided she could not be saved from breast cancer.

    There was no public funeral, but North Koreans noticed that extravagant praise for a figure called Omonim ("respected mother") had vanished from propaganda documents.

    Koh, whose family arrived from Japan in the 1960s, caught Mr Kim's roving eye when she was dancing in the renowned Mansudae Art Troupe.

    The dictator, 63, has had at least two wives and many affairs, but defectors say Koh emerged as the most influential woman in a regime beset by dynastic rivalries.

    In 1981, she gave birth to their son Kim Jong-chul, who was educated in Geneva and now works in the propaganda department of the ruling Korean Workers Party. A second son, Kim Jong-un, followed three years later.

    South Korean intelligence officials have identified Jong-chul as Mr Kim's chosen heir, displacing his eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, whose mother, Song Hye-rim, died in Moscow in 2002 after seeking treatment for depression.

    Chinese, Japanese and Russian diplomats have all urged the North Koreans to return to the negotiating table to avoid a showdown with the US. The response was a demand that the US President renounce a refugee law he signed to help North Korean refugees.

    Meanwhile, the human toll of China's treaty of friendship with North Korea is mounting. The Chinese have sent home 62 defectors caught in police raids, knowing they are destined for concentration camps. The deportations, commented Chosun Ilbo, the South Korean newspaper, were "tantamount to telling them, 'Go and die"'.

    The Sunday Times

    privacy terms © The Australian

    FINALLY:

    From Captain's Quarter's:
    www.captainsquartersblog....003094.php

    Quote:The Soviets used to keep their transitions secret until the last moment, usually attributing a premier's absence from official duties to a cold. When the Soviets lost a few premiers within a couple of years in the 1980s, people joked that the Russian cold was apparently fatal. This unusual activity in Pyongyang looks suspiciously like the Russian cold has migrated to the Korean Peninsula.



    and from the comments

    Quote:
    This bears watching. The Soviets and Chinese put their own guy in charge of North Korea in 1951 because Kim Il Sung's regime was incapable of providing necessary support for Chinese forces following their intervention to save his regime. Kim & Co. were incompetent. And still are. Kim got rid of his foreign sponsored rival after the Korean War ended.

    But recent Chinese troop movements (something like 250,000 - 400,000 forces are in Manchuria now) indicate that something is up.

    I have said in print that this will likely be North Korea's last winter. It doesn't have an army or government anymore - the latter is at best a gangster confederacy whose sole interest is looting the place and getting the loot elsewhere. The army ceased to exist when conscript enlisted starting taking their weapons off base to rob civilians. The first big Chinese troop movements into Manchuria were to stop those guys from crossing the Yalu to rob Chinese banks.

    Now the Nork civilians are ripping up the railroad rails & ties, plus the electric power cables which run the trains, to sell as scrap and buy food. The place is falling apart fast.

    Nothing the Chinese can do can prop up the North when the people presently at the top are just looting what they can. The Chinese can only put their own people in charge and have them run the place like a normal government.
    Posted by: Tom Holsinger at November 16, 2004 01:53 PM

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    WTF is going on over there?

  • #2
    I guess you lazy bastards need a summary:

    Huge public photos of Kim Il Jung have just dissapeared all over PyongYang

    China has massed 400,000 troops on the N. Korean border

    No one has heard or seen from Kim Il since his favorite concubine died.

    Either a coup, or a death of Kim Il, or some kind of crazy Chinese invasion is going on there.

    Comments?

    Comment


    • #3
      Haha, actually this place has been India-Pakistanized.

      However I saw some official (perhaps he was an analyst, actually) come on Sky News and he said Kim's portrait removal's just an attempt by him to make the place look normal. You know the whole portrait thing is too Arab Monarchy thing.

      Either thats true, or the analyst reaaally played down the issue.

      Comment


      • #4
        N.Korea Drops Use of Most Laudatory Kim Title

        TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korean media have dropped most laudatory references to leader Kim Jong-il, just days after reports that his portrait had been removed from some public places, an analyst at Radiopress, a Japanese news agency that monitors North Korean media, said on Wednesday.

        Instead of being referred to as "dear leader of our party and our people" as had been customary, Kim has been merely called by his job titles, said Noriyuki Suzuki, chief analyst at Radiopress.

        The omission, in both radio and print media, was especially glaring in a report on Wednesday by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Kim's visit to a military unit.

        Kim was referred to by his three main job titles -- Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the National Defense Commission.

        The change comes amid reports that portraits of Kim Jong-il, ubiquitous in homes, offices and public buildings across North Korea, had been removed from some public meeting halls.

        "It's still hard to say, but taken in context with the reports about the portraits, this dropping of the most laudatory title may be an attempt by Kim to play down his cult of personality," Suzuki said.


        He added, however, that the apparent curtailment of Kim's personality cult did not suggest anything major had changed in the power structure of the reclusive communist state.

        www.iranpressnews.com/eng...01327.html

        Comment


        • #5
          Roger L Simon - A North Korean Freedom Movement?

          Hopeful signs have apparently surfaced.

          It's Thursday in Japan and I have received email from Kyoto from Mongai Kome, frequent commenter on this blog. His morning paper (Sankei Shinbun) is reporting anti-regime flyers being posted in over fifty places in North Korea. This public display of disobedience in that benighted country is unprecedented and has been going on for the last month. Here is Mongai:

          The most prevalent flyer is called the "sixteen lies" of tyrant Kim and his tyrant father and it takes apart the fundamental myths and propaganda regarding the cult of the Kims and outlines the failings of the regime. Another flyer is based on the thesis that Kim Jong-il killed his father (perhaps some propaganda in and of itself but a brilliant move given the traditions of the Korean culture.)

          Here is hoping things happen in twos and in Iran and North Korea justice will be done, and done soon, and done of, by, and for the people there with a little help from friends.

          From earlier in his email, Mongai means Bush and Rice who he is happy are in office, considering the circumstances. But I think if Kim Jong-il is finally going to be gotten rid of, we already know who is going to do it. teamamerica.com/

          Comment


          • #6
            I don't know how reliable this source is but this would make things infinitely more interesting...

            www.indiadaily.com/editor...18b-04.asp
            North Korean Leader Kim Jong il decides not to make the same mistake as Saddam – Democracy in North Korea?
            Kiran Jha, Special Correspondent
            November 18, 2004
            North Korean leader Kim Jong il finally decided not to make the same mistake a s Saddam. It can dangerous to portray oneself as staunch anti-American and try to rule a country that really has no real friend. Saddam’s biggest problem was he was over confident about what America and allies would do! He made a mistake in 1990 when he occupied Kuwait and stayed there for a while in spite of American warnings. He again made a mistake in not opening the doors for UN inspectors wide enough to really reveal that he did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction.

            Kim Jong II of North Korea decided it is better to step down than be challenged by the world. Sources say his age and vigor are not favoring either.

            According to Stratfor, a global think-tank and strategic political analyst, portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il are being removed from public sites in North Korea continue to circulate. The removal of the official portraiture, which might have begun as early as August, could signal another shift in Pyongyang's attempts at economic and political evolution. Even more intriguing is the prospect that the missing pictures, if true, could signal the end of plans for familial succession once Kim is no longer the leader.

            It is possible a negotiated peace settlement may be reached with US with Kim’s voluntary departure from power and allowing North Korea to go for a democratic regime elected by people like in Afghanistan.

            __________________________________________________ ______________

            The comments on Roger Simons blog have some interesting tidbits apparently the flyers circulating around NK are of Chinese origin... any way check it out:
            www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-ar...korean.php

            Comment


            • #7
              HIS personality cult has so fully saturated North Korean life, it seems, that Kim Jong Il can get noticed now only by making himself scarce. The Russian news agency Itar-Tass created a stir this week by reporting that portraits of Mr Kim have been removed from some buildings in Pyongyang. An unnamed foreign diplomat told the agency that, in places such as the People's Palace of Culture, only empty rectangular spaces can be seen next to the customary portraits of Mr Kim's dead father, Kim Il Sung—still the Stalinist state's president in perpetuity. The younger Kim's portraits remain in many other buildings. But the strange news has had North Korea-watchers in overdrive.

              This reaction is a sign of how hard it is to deal with Mr Kim's regime. Outsiders know little about how it functions, and what might make it collapse or lash out recklessly. Yet much hangs on the answer. Any collapse could send millions of refugees flooding into China and South Korea, and some experts fear that the missile-equipped regime could now have as many as ten nuclear weapons. So spooks and diplomats must feed on the most meagre scraps. In 2002, they made a feast of a government telephone directory that fell into their laps.

              Another juicy morsel arrived this summer, when North Korean agents in France were seen buying an extravagant coffin and sending it back to Pyongyang. This and a few other scraps fuelled rumours that Koh Young Hee, one of Mr Kim's wives and the mother of a potential heir, had died. Mr Kim has hardly been seen since.

              Is he grieving, or is something else wrong? Are his portraits being refurbished? Is Mr Kim cutting back on his own propaganda? Or have the pictures been removed as some sort of protest, and if so, why? While the speculation continues, one fact to remember about Mr Kim is that his nemesis, George Bush, has just won re-election. Thus emboldened, and having replaced the more doveish Colin Powell this week as secretary of state, Mr Bush will want to keep pressing Mr Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions. Yet this will hinge on how much authority and leeway Mr Kim has at home, and whether he will react better to a hard or a soft line. The awkward truth is that nobody really knows. It is not a pretty picture.
              http://www.economist.com/world/asia/...ory_id=3403179

              Comment


              • #8
                Something's going on...

                Comment


                • #9
                  What Do the 'Strange Signs' in North Korea Mean?

                  Photographs from Ministry of Unification's data collection on Kim Jong-il.


                  Related Articles
                  - North Korean Media Drop Kim Jong-il's 'Dear Leader' Title
                  - Where Have All Kim Jong-il's Portraits Gone?
                  - NK Foreign Ministry Denies Removal of Kim Jong-il Portraits
                  - Rumors Fly Concerning State of Affairs in North Korea

                  There have been unprecedented signs of changes in North Korea, a country that has maintained its hereditary succession system and cult of personality for more than half a century.

                  The Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported Tuesday that portraits of the country’s leader Kim Jong-il had been removed from some public buildings. Then on Thursday, the Japanese news agency Radiopress, which monitors North Korea’s media, reported that the country’s official news agency dropped the honorific “Dear Leader” from its report of Kim’s visit to an army unit. Some foreign press also made a series of reports on the removal of Kim’s portraits.

                  Such changes, however, are partial yet. On the same day that the Korean Central News Service dropped its glorifying description of Kim as “Dear Leader,” other broadcasting agencies, such as Central Broadcasting and Pyongyang Broadcasting, referred to him as “Dear Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il” three times.

                  It seems obvious, however, that there are some strange signs in the previously perpetual idolization of Kim Jong-il. What do these signs mean?

                  A government official said that no signs had been detected that showed there was some trouble with Kim’s grasp on power, adding that he heard portraits of Kim in some public places where many foreigners visited were removed on orders from the North Korean leader himself.

                  Another official said the removal of portraits should be viewed as North Korea’s tactic to focus the cold eye of the international community on Kim’s idolization elsewhere, not as signs of changes in Kim’s power or idolization policies. He added that Kim once ordered his portraits in North Korean schools in Japan to be taken away ahead of summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2002.

                  The foreign press offered similar analysis. Itar-Tass said the removal was to dispel foreigners' perception that North Korean people idolize Kim. Prof. Nam Sung-wook of the North Korean Studies Department at Korea University said because North Korea still faced economic and diplomatic difficulties, Kim may have judged that hanging his portraits alongside his late father Kim Il-sung could work as a disadvantage to him.

                  In any case, if the North Korean leader is considering changing his status, which is the most sensitive issue in North Korea, it could affect the situation on the Korean Peninsula in the future. This is why all eyes are on Kim.

                  ([email protected] )

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I have seen no indications of troop movements northwards. 75-80% of the DPRK's forces are still within 100 miles of the DMZ. There are only two regforce corps facing the Chinese (you can debate whether these are internal security or actual front line troops ready to stop the Chinese).

                    Aside from that, the Chinese don't have do much to collapse Kim. Just stop shipping rice and electricity would do the trick.

                    The problem for the Chinese is the same problem the Cubans have for the Amerians. Remember when Castro emptied his jails and tossed them on rafts on their way to Florida? The Chinese wants to keep the NKs in Korea. They do not want a refugee crisis inside their own borders.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Officer of Engineers
                      The problem for the Chinese is the same problem the Cubans have for the Amerians. Remember when Castro emptied his jails and tossed them on rafts on their way to Florida? The Chinese wants to keep the NKs in Korea. They do not want a refugee crisis inside their own borders.
                      what if they turned them south? :)
                      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                      Leibniz

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Refugees tends to go away from the fighting. As much as these articles would like to point to another picture, the Chinese ain't ready for a war in the Korea. The Military Regional HQs facing Korea are understrength and under-equipped except perhaps a few Rapid Reaction Force brigades. Most of the "250,000 - 400,000" troops are People's Armed Police, not mechanized infatnry. The best the Chinese could manage is a corps in 60 days.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Kim Jong-Il badges vanish from North Korean chests

                          Thu Nov 25, 2:47 AM ET


                          SEOUL (AFP) - Badges depicting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, a key symbol of his cult of personality, are disappearing from peoples' chests in the communist country.

                          South Korea (news - web sites)'s Unification Ministry confirmed that lapel badges of Kim were no longer worn by North Koreans travelling from the Stalinist state to China on official business.


                          In the past, they wore either a badge portraying Kim or a similar badge portraying his father, the Stalinist state's founder Kim Il-Sung who died in 1994.


                          "North Koreans travelling to and from China who formerly wore the badge of either Kim Il-Sung or Kim Jong-Il on their chests, have stopped wearing the Kim Jong-Il badge," Yang Jeong-Hwa, a ministry official, told AFP, adding that her ministry could indirectly confirm the change.


                          "They are wearing only the Kim Il-Sung badge."


                          Ten years after his death, the elder Kim is still revered in North Korea (news - web sites) where he is frequently described as president for eternity.


                          But the pervasive personality cult built around his son appears to be shrinking.


                          Reports of the disappearing lapel badges follow recent confirmation that Kim Jong-Il's portraits have vanished from key sites visited by foreigners in Pyongyang.


                          The Unification Ministry is still analyzing the nature and significance of these changes, Yang said.


                          Media reports in South Korea said the phasing-out of the Kim Jong-Il badges was widespread and affected business people, diplomats and other North Koreans who come into contact with foreigners.


                          "We learned recently that North Koreans at the country's foreign missions and trading companies, as well as those guiding foreigners inside the North are not wearing the Kim Jong-Il badges," an unnamed Seoul official told the Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo.


                          The official said Kim Jong-Il himself ordered the Mansudae Art Studio, the North's main producer of propaganda materials, to stop manufacturing his badges late last year.


                          The Kim Il-Sung badges first emerged in November 1970. They have since spread fast to North Koreans. After Kim Il-Sung's death, the Kim Jong-Il badges began superseding the senior Kim's badges.


                          He said North Koreans were told to take off their Kim Jong-Il badges for the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Kim Il-Sung's death in July this year.


                          The apparent downsizing of the Kim cult of personality has led to speculation that changes may be taking place in the power structure of the tightly controlled communist country.


                          But Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Wednesday said the Stalinist state was stable and big changes were not imminent.


                          "The politics are stable, the economy is developing and the leaders are thinking seriously about economic reform," Wu Dawei told a briefing in Beijing as he described his September visit to Pyongyang.


                          Choson Sinbo, run by the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, said the measures reflected the "noble will of General Kim Jong-Il who wants to hold up only President Kim Il-Sung aloft."

                          Analysts said it it is virtually impossible to confirm exactly what is going on inside the secretive nation.

                          Kim's portraits have long been ubiquitous in homes, offices and public buildings across North Korea, where they have hung prominently beside a picture of his late father.

                          The junior Kim took power when his father, who founded the hermit nation, died in July, 1994.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I've been watching all of this too, but have no ideas what could be happening...
                            No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
                            I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
                            even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
                            He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

                            Comment

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