Meet The Jongettes: North Korea’s First Girl Band
Can they compete with our own Supremes? No word on where to download their hit song ‘We Will Defend General Kim Jong Un at the Risk of Our Lives’. The Daily Mail reports on the debut of North Korea’s first girl pop act, who sang, played, and engaged in synchronized swimming:
Meet North Korea’s first girl band. Decked out in military uniform and close to tears, [they] played live in capital Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th birthday of Kim Jong il, who died two months ago.
Is North Korea Addicted To Meth?
Could between a quarter and half of the North Korean population be meth users? SINO-NK reports:
Though the North Korean government would never admit to outsiders that there is a drug problem in the country, the Daily NK has filed many reports over the past several years suggesting that “bingdu” (meth) is available practically at epidemic levels inside the DPRK. Articles claim, among other things, that commodity prices rise and fall depending on the harshness of ongoing crackdowns on bingdu; that middle schoolers in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, were caught producing bingdu; that teenagers give it as a birthday gift to peers; and, most recently, that Kim Jong-Un had ordered a crackdown on bingdu producers, sellers, and users.
Quotes from defectors and sources who spoke to the Daily NK report that anywhere from ¼ to ½ of the population in North Korea are using the drug. And as reported by Isaac Stone Fish…
Chinese ‘Twitter’ Claims North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un Assassinated
Reports Lucas Shaw via Reuters:
Did social media just prematurely kill off the leader of North Korea?
Rumors that Kim Jong-un, the country’s supreme leader, has been assassinated just months after he took power originated on Chinese microblogging service Weibo and have now spread all over Twitter.
Others are reporting that Jong-un, believed to be 28 years old, may be on the run rather than dead, but both reports claim that some kind of coup is taking place.
One person on Weibo wrote (loose translation): “north korea’s biggest leader kim jung un, this morning in beijing time 2:45 am, had his residence broken into and was assassinated by unidentified people, who were shot dead by his bodyguards in korea’s embassy in beijing, vehicles are rapidly increasing in number, and have surpassed 30 of them, this sort of battle formation hasn’t been seen in over two years. please verify this.”
Is North Koreans’ Grief Authentic?
Wig & Pen ponders whether the intense displays of mass, hysterical mourning of the death of Kim Jong Il are genuine, and the facials “tells” for faked sadness:
Two weeks ago, while gazing at photos of North Koreans in mourning–including grown men chewing the scenery–I recalled head shots depicting emotional states in the books and training materials of Paul Ekman. What, I wondered, would Professor Ekman, our leading authority on “reading” emotions from facial expressions, make of that frenzy of facial contortions from the Hermit Kingdom?
Kim Jong Il…knew exactly how the [his] population lined up: loyal core, 5-25%; wavering, 50-75%; hostile, 8-27%. But those who dissented–even in a whisper, even by hanging his portrait askew–ended in prison camps, subjected to forced labor and starvation.
How might Dr. Ekman audit the “grief cred” of our North Korean subjects? He’d certainly have us look for any upward angling of the eyebrows’ inner corners. It’s a…
Kim Jong-il’s Photoshopped Funeral Picture
A few stragglers were removed from the right-hand photo, released by the Korean Central News Agency. (Compare the left sides of both pictures.) The chilling thing is, why bother altering the truth over such a minor detail? Do all totalitarian regimes display the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or just North Korea’s? Via TIME Magazine:
The big question is why did the North Koreans alter the image? Aesthetically, the doctored photograph is tad bit cleaner, lines straightened, but hardly improved. Psychologically speaking though, the clone job adds order to an already tidy scene. I’ve been examining photographs released by the KCNA for years and many are strikingly beautiful—enormous, perfectly-positioned crowds, immaculate and intricately composed. Now we may know why.
Two Icons, Two Deaths, Two Worlds: The Media Simplified Them Both
The world has said goodbye to two leaders who were worlds apart. One was a widely celebrated anti-communist, the other a widely despised communist. However, both the lives and thoughts of the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Havel, and North Korea’s Kim Jung-il were given short shrift.
The playwright turned President Havel who parlayed human rights activism into becoming Czechoslovakia‘s post-Communist President was a leader for the pro-democracy Charter 77 Movement, not just a Red-hating politician on a power trip.
Yet, the press praised him more for what he opposed than what he believed. The people who loved him adored him for both.
One report: “Thousands of silent mourners have accompanied the body of Vaclav Havel through central Prague as the Czech Republic began three days of national mourning for the icon of the Velvet Revolution.
About 10,000 mourners mostly in black, some carrying Czech or Slovak flags, joined a solemn procession taking the former president’s…
Kim Jong-il Looking at Things
it does exactly what it says: pictures of Kim Jong-il. looking at things.
This blog was born in a warm autumn night, 26th October 2010, for reasons unknown. Why is it so funny? i have no idea either.
North Koreans’ Mass Weeping For The Death Of Kim Jong-Il
What happens when your godlike, iron-fisted leader ceases to exist? Mass weeping, collapsing, and hysteria in public. Extremely disturbing scenes of existential confusion sweeping the streets of North Korea, providing a lesson in the psychology of totalitarianism. I could seriously imagine this leading to mass suicide:
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il Dead
Reports David Chance and Jack Kim of Reuters:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.
A tearful television announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died on Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give “field guidance” — a reference to advice dispensed by the “Dear Leader” on his trips to factories, farms and military bases.
Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s youngest son, was named by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA as the “great successor” to his father, which lauded him as “the outstanding leader of our party, army and people.”
A Secret Look Into The City Of Pyongyang, North Korea
TIME offers an interesting look into a trip to Pyongyang, North Korea via a ’secret video’ taken by photographer Steve Gong. With constant military surveillance in North Korea very little images of everyday life are released to the global public. Using a Canan 5D hanging around his neck, Steve Gong brings the world Pyongyang:
Pyongyang Style from Steve Gong on Vimeo.
Activists Hijack North Korean Tweets
It seems North Korea’s internet borders are the only ones capable of being breached. Via BBC News:
Hackers have taken over social media sites associated with the North Korean regime, to make derogatory posts.
On 8 January, a Twitter account affiliated to the North’s regime began posting messages calling for an uprising.
Meanwhile a video appeared on the regime’s YouTube channel, depicting heir-apparent Kim Jong-un driving his sports car into women and children.
Users of a popular South Korean website have claimed responsibility.
The attacks coincided with Jong-un’s birthday.
[Continues at BBC News]
North Korea’s Most Sought-After Consumer Items: Skinny Jeans, Ramen, Porn, And Human Manure
Wondering what objects people ruled by the world’s most repressive dictatorship would like to get their hands on? A Seoul-based professor who interviewed recent North Korean defectors was told that the hottest consumer goods from the past year include skinny jeans, ramen soup, porn films, and even human feces. The Korea Herald has the story:
Skinny jeans, blue crabs, pig-intestine rolls and even human manure were some of the hottest items among North Korean consumers this year, according to a South Korean professor who has interviewed recent defectors from the communist country.
Kim Young-soo, a political science professor at Seoul’s Sogang University, said in a conference on Tuesday that adult movies, television dramas and instant noodle “ramen” made in South Korea are also selling “like hot cakes” in North Korea.
Skinny jeans refer to slim-fit pants that have gained popularity around the world, said Kim who interviewed about 2,000 defectors this year as part…
WikiLeaks Revelation: Israel Bombed Syrian Nuclear Facility in 2007
The Jerusalem Post reports:
Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria, apparently built with North Korea’s help, former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said to State Department officials in April 2008, according to Yediot Aharonot quoting a cable recently released by Wikileaks.
The cable is the first official confirmation of the incident, and details the intelligence gathered before the attack, the collaboration between the US and Israel, the government’s move to bomb the Syrian reactor and concern that Syrian President Bashar Assad would retaliate with war, Yediot Aharonot reported, quoting the cable.
“We have avoided sharing this information with you until now for fear of and in an attempt to avoid a conflict,” Rice says in the cable.
“I would like to inform you that the Israeli attack was aimed at destroying the secret reactor built by Syria in a desert area in the east of the country called al-Kibar,” the cable quotes her…
North Korea ‘Ready For Sacred War’
Sibling refugees during the 1950-53 war, the last time North Korea shelled innocent civilians until last month's attack on a Southern Island. Photo: 1951, Major F.V. Spencer, UAF
Via The Korea Herald:
North Korea on Thursday reiterated its warning of nuclear warfare, with a top North Korean military leader saying that the North is ready to launch a “sacred war” against South Korea on the basis of its “nuclear deterrent.”
According to the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Young-chun, minister of the People’s Armed Forces, made the warning while reading a report during a ceremony in Pyongyang marking the 19th anniversary of leader Kim Jong-il gaining supreme commandership of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).
“The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK (North Korea) are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at any time necessary to cope with the enemies’ actions…
Video: Inside North Korea
A group of North Koreans have been risking their lives secretly filming within the regime’s borders. Smuggling tapes across the Chinese border, they hopes to expose the condition of North Korean life to a global audience. From The Telegraph:
Images Released Of North Korean Heir Kim Jong Un
New images have been captured of Kim Jong Un, the son of Kim Jong Il, and the new heir in North Korea. The Wall Street Journal reports:
The first public images of Kim Jong Un as an adult, released Thursday by North Korean state media, showed the son of dictator Kim Jong Il bearing a striking resemblance to his father and grandfather, putting to rest one of the biggest mysteries about the nation’s heir apparent—what he looks like today.
The younger Kim, believed to be 26 or 27 years old, stood out in sea of older faces in video images and a photo of top North Korean officials taken Tuesday at a meeting of more than 1,000 representatives of the ruling Workers’ Party.
[continues at The Wall Street Journal]
Via Associated Press:
Kim Jong Il Names Son As Successor, But Who Is He?
This will be the third member of the family to take over the position, but Kim Jong Il’s youngest son is a mysterious one. There isn’t must information about him, other than he is in his twenties and went to school in Switzerland. With the lack of information being provided (not that it’s anything new for N. Korea) it allows room to question if this is his son at all or someone standing in as his son as a way to keep the leadership in the family. PBS News Hour reports:
A major conference of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang has raised the expectation of a handover of power from Kim Jong Il to his youngest son.
The transition appears to have been underway for months. In June, Kim (pictured at right) promoted his brother in law to a top leadership post and made other Cabinet changes in what many considered preparation for…
North Korea Tweets
After the launch of North Korea’s YouTube channel (majority of which are postings of government propaganda) the country has created a Twitter account. It’s nice to see that North Korea is taking a steps towards joining the global internet community, next step, joining the rest of the global community. BBC News reports:
Last Thursday, the North Koreans created a Twitter account – @uriminzok, a shortened version of a Korean word that translates as “our people”.
It already has more than 4,500 followers.
The move to Twitter follows last month’s launch of a North Korean YouTube channel, which now hosts close to 80 videos.
“The North Koreans are technologically literate,” says Hazel Smith, a long-time North Korea researcher at Cranfield University in Britain.
Ms Smith says that the North Koreans have been investing heavily in information technology now for more than 20 years.
“They have a cadre of people who can use modern social networking sites. But the…
