The KorComs are getting Antsy

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-11-15 10:38am

Joyful Dancing
DER SPIEGEL
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

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
© DER SPIEGEL 45/2004

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-11-15 11:19am

Sure they're getting antsy. They've been starving for a generation or more, their leader is absolutely insane, and no one is doing shit. Really, it's not suprising. The thing of it that suprises me is that there isn't more in the way of rebellion and demonstrations.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-11-15 01:04pm

It is a police state and they will shoot you or send you to a concentration/death camp for trivial reasons. Although it does seem we are getting closer to the final straw needed to break the camels back.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-11-15 02:00pm

Imperial Overlord wrote:It is a police state and they will shoot you or send you to a concentration/death camp for trivial reasons. Although it does seem we are getting closer to the final straw needed to break the camels back.

Something else that a lot of people nowadays forget, the USSR looked strong and healthy right until its collapse, so could it be with North Korea. As it is, they might already be breaking, and we've just started to learn about it...

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-11-15 02:21pm

I hope the do a Ceaucescu on his ass.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-11-15 02:47pm

two steps foward, one step back. we're trading usa and russia heading more police state for n korea thinking less.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2004-11-15 03:50pm

I don't see this as that encouraging. If things get too unsettled up there, Kim might start another war to save his ass from his own people.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-11-15 05:12pm

Guardsman Bass wrote:I don't see this as that encouraging. If things get too unsettled up there, Kim might start another war to save his ass from his own people.

But who'd fight it? If his military's getting sick of him as well, he'll end up like King Nothing. Where's your crown now, King Nothing?

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-11-15 05:47pm

His only chance, if there was an out-and-out rebellion brewing, would be to win an international conflict against South Kora or Japan and the US. Neither one of those is a possibility, but another attempt to "reunify" the Korean Peninsula might temporarily stabilize his position at the expense of everyone else in the region.

Julhelm · Post by **Julhelm** » 2004-11-16 01:29am

Take that airborne laser thing, put it on a space shuttle, launch it into orbit and snipe the fucker from outer space.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-16 08:12am

Julhelm wrote:Take that airborne laser thing, put it on a space shuttle, launch it into orbit and snipe the fucker from outer space.

if it is the ABL you are refering to, the USAF hasn't even found a way to fit it onto a 747-400 yet. How the hell do you plan on shoe hornin gone into the goddamn spaceshuttle?

*beats Julhelm about the head with a hardcover copy of Silver Tower by Dale Brown.

thats what you get for believing this nonsense!

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-11-16 08:16am

Col. Crackpot wrote: if it is the ABL you are refering to, the USAF hasn't even found a way to fit it onto a 747-400 yet. How the hell do you plan on shoe hornin gone into the goddamn spaceshuttle?

*beats Julhelm about the head with a hardcover copy of Silver Tower by Dale Brown.

thats what you get for believing this nonsense!

Not to mention the various treaties that the USA signed forbidding weapons in space. Even if you could fit it onto the shuttle, I think you'd have to drastically up the power.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-11-16 08:21am

Cpl Kendall wrote:Not to mention the various treaties that the USA signed forbidding weapons in space.

"Ink on a page!" /Lord Refa.

Isn't that treaty supposed to be about nuclear weapons testing in space? I don't actually know, for some reason that's what I think of.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-11-16 08:23am

Stofsk wrote: "Ink on a page!" /Lord Refa.

Isn't that treaty supposed to be about nuclear weapons testing in space? I don't actually know, for some reason that's what I think of.

I know it forbids nuclear weapons in space. I'm not entirely sure if it extends to lasers or not. But think of the international outrage if the USA were to arm the space shuttle and use it against NK.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-16 08:24am

Stofsk wrote:
Cpl Kendall wrote:Not to mention the various treaties that the USA signed forbidding weapons in space.
"Ink on a page!" /Lord Refa.

Isn't that treaty supposed to be about nuclear weapons testing in space? I don't actually know, for some reason that's what I think of.

yes it is. I don't believe that there is a treaty banning space based weaponry. Even if there was, surely there must be a clause for an "anti-asteroid defense system"

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-11-16 08:26am

Cpl Kendall wrote:I know it forbids nuclear weapons in space. I'm not entirely sure if it extends to lasers or not.

Well, since when have we had a laser cannon?

But think of the international outrage if the USA were to arm the space shuttle and use it against NK.

I see NASA getting a phenomenal budget increase. The Space Shuttle with laser cannons! That's beyond awesome.

Julhelm · Post by **Julhelm** » 2004-11-16 08:30am

Cpl Kendall wrote:But think of the international relief if the USA were to arm the space shuttle and use it against NK.

Fixed.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-16 08:32am

Stofsk wrote:
Cpl Kendall wrote:I know it forbids nuclear weapons in space. I'm not entirely sure if it extends to lasers or not.
Well, since when have we had a laser cannon?

But think of the international outrage if the USA were to arm the space shuttle and use it against NK.
I see NASA getting a phenomenal budget increase. The Space Shuttle with laser cannons! That's beyond awesome.

meh, they'd get a better bang for their buck by loading the shuttle up with Missiles. But then again there is the the issue of the Space Shuttle being a flying hunk of unreliable 1980's space trash.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-11-16 02:43pm

but travellers are reporting that amid a tightening of security,

some portraits of Kim Jong-Il have been removed from public display in N. Korea, leaving only pictures of Kim Il Sung and an empty rectangle where Jong-Il's portraits used to be.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-11-16 02:46pm

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.”

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-16 02:50pm

wow. a potential coup in an unstable, nuclear armed thrid world shithole filled with people that have nothing to lose. Warms my heart

oh, maybe thats just the radiation.

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2004-11-16 04:10pm

ominous.

is there any definite evidence that Kim Jong-Il is still in charge right now?

Coalition · Post by **Coalition** » 2004-11-17 02:27am

Col. Crackpot wrote:
Julhelm wrote:Take that airborne laser thing, put it on a space shuttle, launch it into orbit and snipe the fucker from outer space.
if it is the ABL you are refering to, the USAF hasn't even found a way to fit it onto a 747-400 yet. How the hell do you plan on shoe horning one into the goddamn spaceshuttle?

*beats Julhelm about the head with a hardcover copy of Silver Tower by Dale Brown.

thats what you get for believing this nonsense!

Got the book. According to the diagram inside, there was a laser module, a power plant module, and a control module. For the rest of the station, was the life-support, the radars, the fuel, the thrusters, and other gizmos.

So it would require 3 shuttle trips to set up the laser array, and even then it wouldn't have any life-support, communications, or targeting ability.

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2004-11-17 02:47am

Cpl Kendall wrote:
Col. Crackpot wrote: if it is the ABL you are refering to, the USAF hasn't even found a way to fit it onto a 747-400 yet. How the hell do you plan on shoe hornin gone into the goddamn spaceshuttle?

*beats Julhelm about the head with a hardcover copy of Silver Tower by Dale Brown.

thats what you get for believing this nonsense!
Not to mention the various treaties that the USA signed forbidding weapons in space. Even if you could fit it onto the shuttle, I think you'd have to drastically up the power.

the treaty forbids weapons of mass destruction in space. Not laser batteries. Ther is a laser armed 747-400 but no it could not hit and kill a man from orbit.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-11-17 06:18pm

Report from Sankei (Japanese) newspaper (conservative) coming in today (per link).

Said that a number of hand made circulars have been circulating widely around North Korea (Pyongyang, Nampo, Chonjin, Sinuiju), etc. The flyers are by an underground anti-Kim Jong-il group active in North Korea.

Sankei says they support the defector Hwang Jang Yop, who is now in South Korea.

There are several flyers which counter the common DPRK Party myths and deifications about Kim Jong-il, showing Kim as a spoiled aristocrat rather that a man of the people, with the Russian nickname "Yura" who did not even grow up nor was born in North Korea. Driving wedges between Kim and the starving people, commenting on the rich food he eats while people starve. Saying the "Chuche" Ideology of the North is a big farce which merely enslaves the Korean people. Another underground flyer (again hand written and many copies run off) that is making the rounds in North Korea says "Kim Jong-il killed his father Kim il-Sung".

Sankei reports the North Korean Secret Police is mobilizing in an attempt to find out who is doing this. They have re-instituted/re-fortified a civilian registration system in Pyongyang to track citizens with an eye toward cracking down on this type of subversion. The flyers also contain detailed personal information on Kim Jong-il that only those in select positions would know. Accordingly, north Korean defectors theorize that these flyers are gaining some cooperation from some people in positions of power in the NK military or Party (anti-Kim elements emerging?).

Copies of these flyers have been spotted (or made it out to) China and picked up by sources there.

(Developing)