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Category Archives: DPRK

War Stories

10-Jun-08

The Korean War started in June 1950, and the Korean Cultural Centre has selected the War as the theme for the two films to be screened there this month.

Taegukgi posterThe first, on 12 June, is Taegukgi (태극기 휘날리며, also known as Brotherhood, or even Brotherhood of War), by Kang Je gyu (2004), while later in the month on 26 June will be Welcome to Dongmakgol, (웰컴 투 동막골) directed by Park Kwang-hyeon (2005). The two films could not be more different, but in their way are both a strong contrast to films about the Korean war made in the recent past.

From the late 50s through to the 70s, to generalise probably rather too much, South Korean films about the war were action-oriented with a and left no room for doubt as to who the good guys were. Directors who took a more nuanced approach could end up in trouble: Director Lee Man Hee was arrested in 1965 for portraying communists in too favourable a light in Seven Women Prisoners, which served as a warning to others to toe the party line.

From the 1980s, films began to explore other aspects of the conflict, its background and its aftermath. In the 1990s, Im Kwon Taek looked at the pre-war struggles in Taebaek Mountains (1994), while others examined the post-war relations with US troops (Kim Ki-duk, Address Unknown, 2001; Lee Kwang-mo, Spring in my home town, 1998).

Taegukgi still

Taegugki is a dramatic switch to confronting the horrors of the war itself, focusing on the impact of the war on two brothers (Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin).

Synopsis: Jin-tae shines shoes in order to save money to send his younger brother Jin-suk to university. Their mother runs a noodle shop, wishing the best for her two sons even though things have been tough since her husband has passed away. Sending Jin-suk to university has become the shining light in their everyday routine. At the start of the Korean War (25th June 1950), Jin-suk is unwillingly conscripted into the war. Jin-tae joins the war to save his brother and send him back home. Without money or influence, the only hope to save his brother is for Jin-tae to enlist in suicidal missions in order to earn the Medal of Honor. The medal will guarantee Jin-suk’s release. Jin-suk fails to understand his brother’s actions and misinterprets them as a dangerous mix of patriotism and obsession with fame and glory. It is only at the fatal end that Jin-suk realizes the truth of his brother’s sacrifice.

We are subjected to a relentless portrayal of the brutality of the fighting and the impossibility of the situation that non-combatabts found themselves in when their town was taken over by one army or the other. Not for the faint-hearted, this film is interesting for its shift from a black and white portrayal of North / South relations to shades of grey, and also (as is required by the film’s message) for its focus on solely the Korean participants in the war. The film will be introduced by a British veteran of the Korean War, who will give his own perspective on the movie.

Dongmakgol still

Dongmakgol posterMuch more light-hearted, but similar in its shades of grey in its depiction of North / South relations in the middle of the war itself, is Welcome to Dongmakgol, in which a small number of soldiers from both sides - including one US airman - happen to end up in a mysterious village which seems to have been forgotten by time – and by the war.

Synopsis: During the Korean War, soldiers from the US, North and South Korea come to a peaceful village, Dongmakgol. At first, they confront each other but soon, they start to mix with the villagers. But now the time has come when they must carry out their duties.

The enemies are able to work together to save what seems more important than their loyalties to their own sides, and seek to defend the ancient village from the destructive forces coming from outside.

Taegukgi screens at 7pm on 12 June, and will be introduced by a British Korean War veteran. Welcome to Dongmakgol screens at 7pm on 26 June. Pre-registration for both is required by contacting the KCC in the normal way.

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Chosun Ilbo border-crosser documentary footage shown on BBC

30-May-08

Newsnight last night screened a 17 minute extract from the Chosun’s documentary on North Korean border crossers in Northern China. A very brief extract, together with the BBC reporter’s write-up, can be found on the BBC website here.

The Chosun Ilbo website says that there will be more extended versions of the footage screening on BBC World over the next few days. Unfortunately, being on BBC World, no-one in the UK will be able to watch it unless they have premium cable TV: it’s not available on Freeview as far as I can see.

Here’s the details on the BBC World site - also here.

Update: the full 17 minute Newsnight piece can be found here. Thanks to Colin Bartlett for pointing this out.

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Radio Pyongyang

28-Apr-08

Anna Lindgren explores some music from north of the DMZ

Radio Pyongyang coverTwo years ago, I found myself browsing the homepage of Seattle-based label Sublime Frequencies. They offer some really interesting CDs and DVDs, but with my interest in most things related Korea the CD called “Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk and Agit Pop from the Hermit Kingdom” was the one that got me most curious. I got myself a copy and finally - here’s a review!

From Sublime Frequencies:

Schmaltzy synthpop, Revolutionary rock, Cheeky child rap, and a healthy dose of hagiography for Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, this is the now NOW sound of North Korea!

A hermit kingdom with a rich folk history and an even richer tradition in over-the-top praise for the ruling House of Kim, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remains a diplomatic thorn and a culture never Neverland. Boasting a heady mix of Stalin opera, Tokyo karaoke and brooding impressionism, the sound of present-day Pyongyang distills into warped agit-pop and lost-in-time commie funk.

Radio Pyongyang is an audio collage of various North Korean music and other sounds gathered from North Korean CDs, live performances, TV and the actual “Radio Pyongyang” (though now called “Voice of Korea”) radio station. All compiled by Christiaan Virant. The concept is brilliant! Although I can’t help to think that this doesn’t go very well with the “respect other countries’ copyright the way copyright is implemented in your country’s law” thing WIPO has imposed on everybody abiding WIPO rules. And I’m very curious to know how the American music industry would react to somebody selling a US audio collage…

While I really, really like this audio collage there are some things about this release that don’t make me all satisfied. I think it’s really poor that there’s hardly any information at all about what is actually on the CD. Sure, what I said above about where these audio pieces comes from was information I got from the CD folder, but apart from that there’s nothing much. I want to know the title of the songs featured in the tracks on this CD. I want to know who sings those songs. I want details on where it was recorded. I would’ve also appreciated some personal take on every track from Christiaan Virant himself, but I would’ve been satisfied with the basic stuff I mentioned first. Just about everything I know about the songs on here I learnt from downloading and listening to every song featured at this site (which is the reason why there’s some North Korean music quite high on my charts…). Another thing that kinda bothers me is the condescending names on some of the tracks. Sure, I can understand there’s some humour in it, but I find it to be more mocking than funny.

First some brief background info:

  • Korean People’s Army Concert Troupe = 조선인민군협주단. Grand choir stuff of the same quality as The Red Army Choir, usually found praising Kim Il Sung / Kim Jong Il. Mostly males, but every now and then a woman can be heard singing the lead.
  • Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble = 보천보전자악단. Trot with female vocals and occasional male background vocals. Often sounds cheerful no matter the subject.

Both have released 100+ albums over the years.

Now, onto the actual contents! There are eight tracks in total and here’s a little something on them all:

1. Motherland Megamix (5:13)
The first track is like a taste of things to come - some army choir singing, some trot, some radio talk and more. It takes off with a woman and man talking pompusly about Kim Jong Il, soon followed by a piece from 당신이 없으면 조국도 없다 (No Motherland Without You). Then there are lots of random short clips preceeding a longer cut from a song I assume is performed by Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble. That one is followed by another upbeat instrumental song in the same style that actually features some italo beats! The ending is all spots from Voice of Korea by male and females in rather poor sound quality.

2. New Model Army (5:58)
The second track opens with the incredibly cheerful 통일무지개 (Reunification Rainbow). After a while it’s changed for the mellower 내 마음 즐거워라 with a solemn male voice talking to Kim Jong Il towards the end. Next comes a song with an intro that reminds me of the All In OST (probably another Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble song) followed by a woman talking about something juche-related in English while some mixed grand choir song takes off in the background with a pretty instrumental intro.

3. Numbers Game (6:38)
Something that was actually mentioned in the booklet was these number readings: “An eerie, detached female voice reading endless lists of Korean numbers” that transmitted “coded messages to foreign spies”. (Learn more about it here) Here’s some of the Korean melancholy. First the lady reading her thing without sounding too thrilled about it, then some song sung by a female that sounds really depressing. Towards the end a male talks in Korean and this continues for a while with a more dramatic soundtrack like instrumental background, sometimes mixed up with the sound of guns being fired. When this is over another song reminding me of the All In OST, this time it’s all instrumental with a trumpet taking the lead. Before the song comes to an end, there’s an almost instrumental clip with a guitar solo (!) which I’m guessing is from Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble.

4. Pride of the Nation (9:03)
Pride of the Nation opens with first a man and then a woman saying just that. To some background music the male then says in English that today is Kim Jong Il’s birthday and that the Korean people is proud to have hime as a leader. 바다의 노래 is the first song on this track and a woman actually has the lead part in this quite melodramatic piece. After this comes more army in the shape of 병사들은 대답했네. When they’re done a sad female voice is talking solemnly in Korean with some strings playing in the background. The final three and a half minutes are designated to a melancholic song with a female lead and a quite dramatic instrumental part.

5. Start ‘em Young (5:34)
This track is a collage with a bunch of songs sung by kids. The first song appears to be part of a play (there’s applause at the end) with some dialogue and militaristic wit. Then some clip with some kid singing alone, traditional style and a children’s choir singing something cheerful (I can’t really tell whether there’s a change in songs or if it just takes a different turn every now and then). The last piece starts of sung in minor with some amazing a-a-a-a melody sung in the background - I love that part!

6. Arirang (5:02)
Arirang is the name of a Korean folk song with several hundred years behind it available in a plethora of versions. This collection of Arirangs takes of with one and a half minute of 밀양아리랑 (Milyang Arirang). Next comes a minute with some other upbeat trot rendition of an Arirang I don’t recognize, but they do say 통일아리랑 an awful lot (still, it doesn’t seem to be the Tongil Arirang from the lyrics I’ve found). The last half of the song consists of a male giving info on the Arirang 2002 mass gymnastics performance in English, accompanied by a an orchestra playing Arirang in Hollywood 40s/50s soundtrack style.

7. Commie Funk? (3:38)
Like the title say this is actually quite funky, at least in the beginning. The first half is some song that I’m, again, guessing is performed by Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble (just because they appear to be featured the most on here). Same goes for the middle song. The last song is 내 이름 묻지 마세요

8. Motherland Redux (6:29)
First a couple of really upbeat trot songs: 간호원의 노래 soon followed by 젊음은 급행렬차. Then a quick spot in English for Voice of Korea by a male followed by the more solemn 우리의 총창우에 평화가 있다, which is easy to tell was originally for a grand choir despite Pochonbo’s electronic sound and female lead vocals. The grand finale of the entire album is 당신이 없으면 조국도 없다 (No Motherland Without You) - very grandiose.

My favourite track would be either Numbers Game, because of the beautiful melodrama, or Motherland Redux, since it contains so many good songs. I really like all of the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble songs on here (as well as the ones I’m only suspecting is them) since they have this (South) Korean oldies style going on that I feel so comfortable listening to.

This article first appeared in October 2006 in Anna’s journal at Last.fm, and is reproduced here with Anna’s kind permission

Links

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DPRK propaganda at London’s most famous bookshop

22-Apr-08

DPRK poster 1

To coincide with the launch of David Heather’s book on DPRK propaganda art at the end of this month, Foyles is to be decorated with some examples of DPRK posters from David’s collection.

The book, entitled North Korean Posters, comes from Prestel Publishing, and will be launched at Foyles next week. The posters will be on display from 29 April to 7 May.

Foyles is at 113-119 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0EB [Map]

The show is also listed in Foyles’s events page

DPRK Poster 2

While on a DPRK theme, here’s a video which has been doing the rounds over the past few days. Paul Koontz reports on a 4 day visit to the DPRK last year, including some DPRK propaganda posters and the Mass Games:

If it doesn’t work, you can find the video here

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Ambassador Ja in the House of Lords

05-Mar-08

Houses of Parliament

In the very same room where, nine months ago, two DPRK defectors told their stories, last night the DPRK ambassador addressed members of both Houses of Parliament and answered questions.

It was disappointing that so few MPs were there [1], but their absence made sure there was plenty of room for members of the public — journalists, academics, human rights activists and others — to join the gathering.

Ambassador Ja Song Nam was introduced by Lord Alton, chair of the All-Party British-North Korea Parliamentary Group, who presided over the evening’s proceedings. Lord Alton was joined by Baronesses Cox and Williams.

Ambassador Ja started by giving some historical background to the current nuclear issue, highlighting the difficulty in making permanent progress when the armistice which halted the Korean war still defines the DPRK and USA as enemies — hence the DPRK’s insistence on a proper peace treaty. He also highlighted the reversal in US policy in the current Bush era and said the stories of Syria benefiting from DPRK nuclear technology were “complete garbage”.

When it came to answering questions (the first, from Baroness Cox, asked why the DPRK had sent home Medical Emergency Relief International, who had made a promising start to their aid project), Ambassador Ja was well prepared with plenty of back-story. In addressing Baroness Cox’s question he spent much time stating the DPRK’s position on human rights (no state sovereignty, no human rights) before coming to the main point, to the extent that an unsympathetic observer might suspect an element of filibustering (that tried and tested technique employed by all experienced debaters), while the more sympathetic would put it down to a minor misunderstanding of the question combined with a desire to explain the context. But in answering the specific question he highlighted the fact that some aid agencies had abused their position, by agitating with some “hostile elements”, while others had imposed unfriendly terms and conditions on their aid efforts, which is ultimately why all NGOs were asked to leave.

In answering Baroness Williams’s question as to what were the key barriers to progress in the denuclearisation issue, Ambassador Ja emphasised that, on the DPRK side, the Yongbyon nuclear facility was being disabled, while the US did not seem to be making any progress on their side of the February agreement, namely removing the DPRK from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and terminating the Trading with the Enemy Act in respect of the DPRK.

Not being responsible for Japanese relations, the Ambassador chose to decline the question from the Japanese journalist about the abduction issue, and a follow-up meeting was agreed with Christian Solidarity Worldwide about religious tolerance.

All present seemed to agree in the positive effect of musical diplomacy. The ambassador was sure that the visit of the DPRK State Symphony Orchestra (coming to the Festival Hall in September) and the hoped-for reciprocal visit by Eric Clapton, would boost UK-DPRK relations. In respect of relations with the US, the ambassador said that what was most needed was confidence-building.

While seasoned Korea-watchers maybe will not have noted anything new from the Ambassador’s words, what was new was the event itself. As noted in the invitation from the All-party British-North Korea Parliamentary Group, this was the first occasion for a DPRK Ambassador to address a meeting of members of both Houses, and was a valuable opportunity to raise questions and discuss all relevant topics of concern to Members and the international community generally. Such an event is to be welcomed in building mutual understanding.

Links:

  1. Those present included John Stanley and Gordon Prentice[back]
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Americans in Pyongyang

28-Feb-08

NYPO in Pyongyang - from AFP

With typically bad timing my travel arrangements didn’t work out. I caught the Star-Spangled Banner and the first movement of the New World Symphony in the car on the way to the airport, but missed the North Korean anthem which opened the broadcast, and of course all the encores — including the tearful Arirang (by that time I was in the departure lounge and out of reach of WQXR national public radio 96.3 FM.)

NYT front pageOn Monday, the New York Philharmonic’s trip to the DPRK was on the front page of the Arts section of the New York Times. On Tuesday, the day of the NYPO concert itself, the trip was on the front page of the main section, reporting on the concert that the Koreans had put on for their American guests the previous day. The next day there was still room for a photo on the front page of the main section (right), while the reports of the NYPO concert were on inside pages.

The FT, as the only UK newspaper with a permanent bureau in Korea, was well placed to provide coverage, and Anna Fifield made the trip to Pyongyang to report on the historic act of cultural exchange. She also broke the news of the invitation to Eric Clapton to visit Pyongyang — in return for the North Korean State Symphony Orchestra’s planned visit to London later this year. Kim Jong-il’s second son Kim Jong-chol is a well-known Clapton fan, having been spotted at a Clapton gig in Germany in the summer of 2006.

Journalists vied with each other to come up with swords-into-ploughshares musical metaphors. The NYT came up with the following rather ponderous sentence:

They came bearing bows and basses rather than the arms and armor Americans carried the last time this large a contingent set foot in the North Korean capital.

As a former oboist myself, I prefer the opening sentence of the FT’s leader:

Hostile states do not usually send their best oboists across the border to infiltrate the enemy.

In Pyongyang, the audience took a while to warm up, but things were a lot more emotional by the end. Lorin Maazel was reported to have said

We just went out and did our thing, and we began to feel this warmth coming back… It was a stunning reaction. We haven’t seen that kind of enthusiastic reaction in a long time, and we have had some very successful concerts.

The 5 minute ovation was brought on primarily by the final encore, an Arirang.

The next day Maazel conducted the North Korean State Symphony Orchestra in an informal masterclass. Maazel was “totally blown away” reported the NYT, which also rather churlishly added that the musicians “had clearly rehearsed to within an inch of their lives”.

Most interesting was a chamber music session on the Wednesday, with the Americans and Koreans performing Mendelssohn’s Octet (inevitably, the Koreans playing second fiddle). While it seems that the minders prevented much verbal interaction, chamber music can only work with good non-verbal communication, and the musical interplay said it all:

The Americans said the North Koreans played with flexibility and responsiveness, matching their subtle shifts in tempo, blow pressure and vibrato, and used body language to communicate. [The NYPO principal cellist] called them “consummate chamber musicians” who played without tentativeness.

After the Octet

After the Octet - photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

In Seoul, the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, and the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club convened for the Tuesday broadcast. There was some scepticism among those present that musical diplomacy could produce any positive diplomatic or political impact. This clearly makes sense. An American orchestra playing Arirang is not going to make any different to anyone’s compliance with six-party-talk deadlines. But the general consensus among the press — and also articulated by North Korean pianist Kim Chul-woong at the recent Chatham House conference — is that these types of engagement can only be helpful. Here’s Fifield’s account of what happened after the final Arirang:

As the piece closed, the applause was electric. And it put on full display something rarely seen in North Korea: spontaneity. The entire audience was on its feet but this time it was not just the women in traditional dress who were smiling, it was the previously implacable bureaucrats too.

It’s not going to cause regime change, but will help to change perceptions.

Links

As a postscript, Tom Coyner was monitoring the Tuesday broadcasts at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club and reports as follows:

I noticed that one had a choice of live television feeds from Pyongyang of the concert. The one we watched most of the time was from CNN who got their feed from the [North] Korean Government. The other feed was from MBC. When I was watching the first part of the concert and switching among channels, I immediately noticed that the MBC broadcast was ahead of the CNN broadcast. In other words, there was a time delay within the DPRK broadcast whereas the MBC broadcast was a true live feed.

Furthermore, as the concert came to the end, those of us watching CNN saw the image abruptly switch to a N Korean talking head commentator for a half second before CNN resumed its programming. We then switched over to MBC where we could watch in progress the prolonged audience and orchestra post-concert interaction.

In other words, those North Koreans who were fortunate to have electricity running were able to watch just the concert and no more. Those who experienced or witnessed the emotional interchange were purposely limited to the elite who comprised the audience and the outside world.

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Paul French: Chollima Speed to Slow Motion Famine

27-Jan-08

In Cambridge and London this week.

First, Tuesday, 29th January, 2008 at 5pm in the Common Room, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge Department of East Asian Studies presents an East Asia Institute seminar:

Paradise Lost: From Chollima Speed to Slow Motion Famine How North Korea Got Where it is Today

To be given by:

Mr Paul French
Access Asia, Shanghai

From one of the worlds 20 largest economies in 1975 to an estimated two million dead from famine twenty years later and then to the worlds most isolated and little understood nuclear power. How did North Korea manage to so spectacularly mismanage its economy, manage its people, seal its borders and get the bomb? Paul French, the author of North Korea: Paranoid Peninsula A Modern History (Zed Books, London, 2005) details the rise, fall and dynamics of North Koreas economy, society and political leadership and the likelihood of future change.

Since the breakthrough agreement between North Korea and the USA in February 2007 it appears that the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula has some forward motion at last. However, while the nuclear threat is being tackled North Korea itself remains in a state of advanced economic collapse, food shortages and political ossification. The talk will include a round up of the current state of North Koreas economy, the possibilities of economic liberalisation and the current views from Washington, Pyongyang and Beijing on the DPRK.

Paul French is a founder and the Chief China Representative of Access Asia based in Shanghai. Founded ten years ago, Access Asia specializes in providing information on Chinas economy and consumer/retail markets. He is also a contributor to the China Economic Quarterly and the China Editor of Ethical Corporation Magazine. French is also a member of the board of international advisors for the North Korea Investibility Index (NKII). He studied Chinese and Asian studies at the University of London and socialist theories and movements at the University of Glasgow.

French was the co-author of the 1998 book One Billion Shoppers: Accessing Asias Consuming Passions and also the author of North Korea The Paranoid Peninsula (2005) and A Tough Old China Hand The Life, Times and Adventures of an American in Shanghai (2006) a biography of the legendary Shanghai based journalist and ad man from the 1930s. His next book Fat China: How Expanding Waistlines Will Change a Nation will be published in 2008.

The talk will be re-run at SOAS on Friday evening, 1 Feb, at 5pm as part of the Spring term evening seminar series.

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North Korea - New Approaches

14-Jan-08

Received from Chatham House:

North Korea: NEW APPROACHES
The 8th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees
January 22, 2008 - London, UK

Venue: Chatham House — The Royal Institute of International Affairs
10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y4LE

AGENDA
Language of proceedings: Korean/English

Tuesday, 22 January, 2008

09:00 Registration (Chatham House, 10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE)

09:15 Opening Session (Conference Room — Chatham House)

Welcoming Remarks
Dr Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House
Jan Ramstad, Chairman, The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, Norway

Keynote Speech
Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister, President, Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, Norway

Opening Speech
Stephen Lillie, Head of Far Eastern Group, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK

10:15-12:30 Discussion 1
A. Changing Perceptions in North Korea

Moderator:
Jim Hoare, Former UK Ambassador to Pyongyang,UK
Panelists:
Political Leadership of North Korea, Professor Dae-Sook Suh, USA

Culture and Music in the DPRK, Cheol Woong Kim, North Korean Pianist, ROK

Scientific and Technical Cooperation with the DPRK, Maurizio Martellini, Professor, Secretary General, Landau Network-Centro Volta, Italy

Discussion:
Aidan Foster-Carter, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK

12:30- 14:00 Luncheon (Chatham House)
Welcoming Speech: Carl Gershman, President, NED

14:00 — 16:30 Discussion 2
B. North Korea’s Path to Development. Socio-Economic Rights. Investments

Moderator:
Dr. Rüdiger Frank, Professor of East Asian Economy & Society,
University of Vienna, Austria
Panelists:
Atypical transitions from Communist Central Planning: in Search of Clues, Jan Winiecki, Professor of Economics, Expert on Centrally Planned Economies and Economic Transition, University of Information Technology and Management Rzeszow, Poland

Investments and their Socio-Economic Impact, Paul French, Access Asia, China

Humanitarian Assistance Experiences in the DPRK, Hwan-Cheol Youn, Director, Korea Peace Institute, ROK

Discussion: Geir Helgesen, Senior Researcher, NIAS, Denmark
Myeong-ho Park, Captain, North Korean Air Force, ROK

16:30 Break (Tea/Coffee)

16:45 — 19:30 Discussion 3
C. Helsinki Process in Northeast Asia?

Moderator:
Peter M. Beck, Executive Director, U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Panelists:
Why we need a Helsinki process with a Korean face, Lord David Alton, Chair, British-North Korea All-Party Parliamentary Group, House of Lords, UK

The Emerging Architecture of Security and Cooperation in Northeast Asia, James E. Goodby, Former U.S. Ambassador, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA

North Korean Human Rights in Reform Policy: Search for Multilateral Approach Referring to “Human Dimension” of Helsinki Process, Man-ho Heo, Professor, Kyungpook National University, Director of Research, Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, ROK

19:30 Closing Remarks
Benjamin H. Yoon, Representative, Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, ROK

19:45 Reception hosted by Organizers (Chatham House)
Reception Opening: Changrok Soh, Dean, Korea University GSIS, ROK

Contact with Coordinator of the Conference:
Joanna Hosaniak
Head of International Cooperation Team
Coordinator of the 8th International Conference North Korea New Approaches
Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights
Room 301, Shimji Bldg. 10-22 Gyobuk-dong,
Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-090, South Korea
Tel 82-2-723-1672 // Fax 82-2-723-1671
www.nkhumanrights.or.kr
nkhuman@nkhumanrights.or.kr; citizens.nkhr@gmail.com

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DPRK art show, part 2

06-Jan-08

Autumn in Mt Myohang by Kang Song Ryong

Autumn in Mt Myohang - by Kang Song Ryong

Such was the quantity of good material that Mansudae sent to London last year for the exhibition at La Galleria that there wasn’t enough space to show it all. So for two weeks this month there will be an opportunity to see some of the work that didn’t make it on to the walls. Last year we saw mainly watercolours, embroideries and mineral paintings. This month we will be seeing the oils.

The exhibition runs from 9 to 21 January, again at:
La Galleria Pall Mall
units 2 and 30 Royal Opera Arcade
London SW1Y 4UY
Tel 0207 930 8069 - 0207 930 7558
email- enquiries AT lagalleria DOT org

Enthusiasm - by Pak Hyon Cho

Enthusiasm - by Pak Hyon Cho

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DPRK new year editorial

03-Jan-08

A Joint New Year Editorial of the leading DPRK newspapers, recently forwarded by the DPRK embassy.

Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) — Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi today released the joint New Year editorial “Glorify This Year of the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the DPRK as a Year of Historical Turn Which Will Go Down in the History of the Country” on the occasion of the New Year, Juche 97 (2008).

Today we are greeting the New Year Juche 97 (2008) with a great ambition and optimism in the hope-filled future of socialist Korea.

The New Year Juche 97 (2008) is a year of gigantic struggle, a year of jubilation in the national history, when a great change will be brought about in the history of our country and our revolution.

Kim Jong Il said:

“We must make our country, our motherland, ever more prosperous true to President Kim Il Sung’s intention and cause.”

This year we are commemorating the 60th anniversary of the DPRK, our glorious motherland.
We should constantly increase the military strength of our Republic by holding fast to the Party’s Songun-based revolutionary line.

Strong defence capabilities are symbolic of the independent dignity of Songun Korea and a basic guarantee for its prosperity. Our Party is consistent in its revolutionary stand to hold the idea of giving prominence to the military affairs as the basic strategy in building a great, prosperous and powerful nation.

The Korean People’s Army is the backbone of self-defensive capabilities, and the might of the socialist military power is precisely that of the KPA.

Last year witnessed a turning point in achieving national reunification.

The historic inter-Korean summit meeting was held in October and the Declaration for Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity adopted at the meeting amid great interest and expectation of all the compatriots. This was a significant event in advancing the cause of national reunification onto a new stage under the banner of the June 15 Joint Declaration. With our nation’s enthusiasm for reunification mounting higher than ever before, the inter-Korean high-level negotiations took place and the road to many-sided cooperation was opened.

The source of war should be removed and lasting peace be ensured. Peace is most precious for the Korean nation that has been living in the constant danger of war for more than half a century. All the Koreans should launch a vigorous anti-war, peace campaign to foil the war moves of the hawks at home and abroad. An end should be put to the U.S. policy hostile towards the DPRK and the Armistice Agreement be replaced with a peace pact. The aggressive joint military exercises and arms buildup should be discontinued and the U.S. military bases be abolished in south Korea. The idea of confrontation regarding the fellow countrymen as the archenemy should be discarded, the military tension be eased, and the elements of dispute be removed.

At present, defending global peace and security and advancing along the road of independence are the irreversible trend of the times. The reality shows the strong-arm policy and arbitrariness of imperialism do not work anywhere.

Korean-style socialism that has tided over the storm and stress of history under the WPK’s Songun leadership is vibrant with great vigour winning victory after victory, and the day is coming towards us when the building of a great, prosperous powerful country will emerge victorious. In the 60-year annals of the DPRK never has there been such a time as today when its dignity and power have reached the highest stage and the soldiers and people are full of confidence in the future and are burning with the enthusiasm for bringing about an upswing.

As there are the experienced and seasoned leadership of the WPK, the strong political and military might and the fervent patriotic zeal of all the soldiers and people, a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country of Juche will surely be built on this land and shine to the world.

Let us all work harder for the prosperity of the country and the completion of the revolutionary cause of Juche rallied closely around the headquarters of the revolution headed by Kim Jong Il.

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Insult me again

19-Dec-07

A frivolous post for election day.

About a year ago, when I was more assiduous in reading the Chosun’s celebrity pages than I am now, I noted a trend in mindless prose, particularly when the paper was commenting on the most recent commercial featuring some skimpily-clad popstrel or other. I was convinced that the text was generated by a computer and, in an idle moment, thought it might be worth reverse-engineering that august organ’s VPGA (the Chosun Ilbo Vapid Prose Generation Algorithm).

The algorithm must run something like this:

[Insert name of celebrity here]
shows off her
[sexy dance moves / copper skin-tones / etc ]
while revealing her
[girl-next-door looks / wholesome charm / etc]

I never got further than that, having rather lost interest in the project (or maybe the celebrities themselves), and thus I never built up enough observations to reconstruct the algorithm.

Someone over at nk-news.net has been working on a similar project, having a little bit of harmless fun at the expense of Pyongyang’s central news agency. They proudly bring to you …

The KCNA Random Insult Generator

Enjoy.

By the way, nk-news.net is worth visiting in its own right, being a useful aggregation of all KCNA press releases, with some interesting analytics.

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Welcome to North Korea

08-Dec-07

A documentary by Peter Tetteroo and Raymond Feddema

If you have an hour to spare, this is worth a look despite being a couple of years old. Thanks to Robert Koehler over at Seoul Magazine for the tip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ6E3cShcVU

Rating: NR Running Time: 60 Minutes Starring: Directed by: Peter Tetteroo, Raymond Feddema PLOT DESCRIPTION The winner of the 2001 International Emmy award for Best Documentary, Welcome to North Korea is a grotesquely surreal look at the all-too-real conditions in modern-day North Korea. Dutch filmmaker Peter Tetteroo and his associate Raymond Feddema spent a week in and around the North Korean capital of Pyongyang — ample time to produce this outstanding film. Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs; from www.archive.org

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Musical diplomacy

04-Nov-07

Suzannah ClarkeA while ago I posted about Jason Carter’s trip to Pyongyang to participate in the annual Friendship Festival. While in Pyongyang, Carter met up with Middlesborough opera diva Suzannah Clarke, who has been performing at the Friendship Festival every year since 2003.

Clarke’s North Korean connection is through football. She’s had a long association with the beautiful game, warming up the crowds at Wembley at the opening celebrations for Euro 96. She also sang at the England - Albania world cup qualifier recently, singing the Albanian national anthem in the language it for which it was written.

In 2001, while filming The Game of their Lives, Nick Bonner and Dan Gordon brought the surviving members of the 1966 North Korean soccer team to visit Middlesbrough, the scene for their dramatic victory over Italy. Clarke welcomed them in their language singing the North Korean Song of Friendship at Middlesbrough FC’s new ground the Riverside Stadium.

Suzannah Clarke in Pyongyang

Suzannah Clarke in Pyongyang - from www.suzannahclarke.co.uk

This was the beginning of a remarkable relationship which is continuing not only with concerts but also with fundraising. Clarke has raised money to buy musical instruments for North Korean schools, and now she is hoping to bring a North Korean orchestra over to London next year.

Thus reports Michael Rank, who came across Suzannah at a Chatham House talk earlier this year. He recently profiled her in the Asia Times Online, where he also notes the seemingly universal popularity of Danny Boy (a lollipop performed by Clarke in Pyongyang and recently by South Korean tenor Lim Hyung-joo at St John’s Smith Square)

Clarke’s site has a page devoted to her North Korean connections:

The North Korean government granted Suzannah access to see the work of the World Food Programme and she visited hospitals, kindergartens, schools and local council meetings.

We wish her well with her plans to bring the Pyongyang orchestra to the west - a not inconsiderable funding challenge.

Links:

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Paekho’s architectural art

24-Sep-07

Panorama study - history of the Netherlands (detail)

I happened to arrive at the DPRK embassy at the tail end of the afternoon, after the reception which welcomed numerous dignitaries to the exhibition of work produced by the Korea Paekho Trading Corporation. I therefore had the works to myself: it was just me, Pak Chang Sop (People’s Artist and president of the corporation), the interpreter, and the man with the camcorder.

Like the exhibition of works from the Mansudae studios in La Galleria earlier this year, there was a wide range of work on display: propaganda posters, oils, one or two more traditional watercolours. There were no paintings of Mt Kumgang, but one or two of Mt Baektu. Pak Chang Sop himself had painted the atmospheric oil of Lake Chon, in the crater of Mt Baektu, and also a jewel painting of a Mt Baektu tiger.

The jewel painting is one of Paekho’s specialities. Surprisingly, given some of the vivid colours in these works, I was told that all the colours occur naturally in the minerals that are pulverised to make these pictures, and no artificial colour is added. This means that the pictures are particularly suitable for external work, as they are waterproof. Paekho were keen to emphasise that all the the works on display, in whatever medium, could be reproduced in any size.

One area of work which was not on show in La Galleria is the grand design for external projects. Paekho has been quite successful in selling its vast panoramas, which can be over 100 metres in length. There was a study for a grand panorama depicting the history of the Netherlands which had been installed in the embassy’s back garden:

Panorama study - History of the Netherlands

Also on display were some architectural designs for a waterfront convention centre, along the lines of Sydney:

Architectural design #2

Atchitectural design #1

Both the panorama and the architectural designs are speculative, with no specific client in mind, but show the style of work that Paekho can produce. While the panoramas have already found an international market, Paekho have yet to have the opportunity to realise one of these large building projects.

Links:

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More DPRK art in London

19-Sep-07

October War Panorama

This is proving to a bumper year for North Korean Art in London. The exhibition in Pall Mall is just winding down, and we have yet more this week, in no less prestigious a location (albeit less central): on DPRK territory itself.

On Friday and Saturday this week there will be an exhibition of work from North Korea in the DPRK Embassy in Acton. The work on display will be from the Korea Paekho Trading Corporation, a general trading company which, among its many activities, employs hundreds of artists - architects, sculptors, painters and craftsmen. They produce oils, jewel paintings, and their speciality… huge panoramas. One or two of these have been created outside of the DPRK: The Fourth Middle East War (1998) in Syria, and October War (1988) in Cairo. To give an idea of the scale of these works, the October War is the image at the top of this post, with a detail below:

October War Panorama - detail

The President of the Korea Paekho Trading Corporation, People’s Artist and Kim Il-sung prizewinner Pak Chang Sop will be present at the London exhibition, along with some of the other artists. I’m sure that commissions are welcome.

The exhibition is for two days only (I’m not sure what works will be on display, but probably there won’t be any room for one of the panoramas…), Friday 21 September 12:30 - 6:00pm and Saturday 22 September 10:00am - 1:00pm at the DPRK Embassy, 73 Gunnersbury Avenue, London W5 4LP [Map]. Nearest tube Acton Town.

Pre-booking is required using the form linked below.

Links

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DPRK travellers’ tales

15-Sep-07

Pyongyang Guitar (photo: Jason Carter)

Two travel accounts have recently been highlighted in the BAKS list. First, a long account by guitarist Jason Carter of his 10-day trip to Pyongyang earlier this year to perform in a spring music festival. Like many DPRK travel accounts, we find the author having moments of frustration with the minders as well as appreciating contact with the people he meets.

Carter shared the festival with hundreds of other performers, and turned up not knowing what he was expected to play. He gave them one of his own compositions, though the minders wanted something a bit jollier.

For those who have been hanging around the various DPRK themed events in London this year, there will be a familiar name - Suzannah Clarke, the operatic soprano who is regularly seen in Pyongyang as well as occasionally in Chatham House. She and her mother were his constant companions. And a familiar face - People’s Artist Kim Song Min (left) who was recently in London exhibiting some of his paintings. He ended up sharing a table with Jason Carter (centre) at a big dinner in Pyongyang:

Pyongyang banquet (photo: Jason Carter)

Second, an account of an Air Koryo flight from Beijing to Pyongyang, by Paul Karl Lukacs at Knife Tricks.

Be sure to visit both blogs.

Links:

Photos from Jason Carter’s site.

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North Korea - Behind the Headlines

07-Sep-07

As often happens with events related to Korea, one has to make choices. On 20 September one has to choose between the Anglo-Korean Society Chuseok dinner and something more sombre.

Earlier this year two reports were published on North Korean human rights by Anti-Slavery International and Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Meanwhile the BBC have been working on a documentary, extracts from which will be screened on 20 September. Here are the details:

Spotlight on Slavery
North Korea - behind the headlines
7.00pm, 20 September 2007,
 
This event will provide insights into different human rights issues in North Korea including a screening of part of the documentary Access to Evil. Access to Evil features footage from inside North Korea where more than one hundred thousand of people are thought to have been imprisoned without charge because their relatives are believed to be critical of the regime.
 
Following the screening there will be short presentations and a question and answer session. The Panel will include representatives from Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Human Rights Watch and Olenka Frankiel, BBC journalist and presenter for Access to Evil.
 
The event will also feature an exhibition of Jonathan Barnbrook’s art work on North Korea. Mr Barnbrook is a London based graphic designer who believes that design has the possibility to change people’s viewpoints and provides a different perspective on North Korea.
 
Venue: The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA [Map]. No booking is required.

Links

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The fate of North Korean returnees

10-Aug-07

Border Crossing

“The only way I’m going back to Korea is in a coffin” said a North Korean woman now living in China. Her story, recently told in the Daily Telegraph, is typical of the experience of a certain category of North Koreans in China. What that category is called depends on your orientation — economic migrants, illegal border crossers, refugees — but one thing is clear: if you get caught by the Chinese police you are likely to get sent back to North Korea, and a less than friendly welcome awaits.

The Telegraph article coincides fortuitously with the publication of a report on forced labour in North Korean prison camps by Anti-Slavery International, the UK-based human rights organisation. ASI’s report, based on interviews with 30 former inmates at North Korean labour camps, focuses on the harsh treatment in those camps. The case studies contain some first hand accounts of some fairly brutal treatments, but the report also notes that things aren’t as bad as they used to be. For example, the practice of forced abortion, particularly where a returnee is bearing a child fathered by a Chinese man, seems no longer to be practised.

But depending on the severity of your crime, treatment can vary. The report notes that returnees who can convince the camp authorities that the reasons for crossing the border were purely economic, and can show that they did some honest agricultural labour in China, fare better than those who are suspected of being Christian, or who were in contact with South Koreans, or who had less “honest” work in a bar.

The report also describes some of the work which inmates of the different types of labour camps are required to perform — tree felling, mining, and opium cultivation — the latter to earn export dollars.

Within China, the migrants have a precarious existence, living in fear of being caught by the Chinese police and repatriated. The interviewee in the Telegraph describes how she had to give the Chinese police all her savings (and more) as the price for letting her stay, and is now reduced to working in a massage parlour where the owner pays off the local police.

The ASI report describes the typical lifestyle of the migrants they interviewed: marrying or living with a Chinese farmer (often old or handicapped — someone unable to find a Chinese wife, who are in short supply). They provide useful benefits to the Chinese rural economy and, arguably, as a result there is a small amount of evidence that the attitude of the Chinese authorities to them is getting a little more lenient — for example it is becoming easier for them to register their Chinese-born child so that the child has legal status within China. But the Korean women themselves are still vulnerable to being sent home if caught by an unsympathetic official.

Despite the risks and insecurities many find their life in China preferable to the life back in North Korea: even after release from the detention camp, former border-crossers can be ostracised or harassed within their local community thereafter.

The report argues that the fate that awaits an illegal border-crosser on their return is justification for treating such people as refugees sur place ((A person who is not a refugee when he or she left the country of origin, but who becomes a refugee at a later date)). Such a status, if recognised by the Chinese authorities, would permit access by the UNHCR so that it can “seek a safe and permanent solution to their situation”.

Links

Pictured above: Sign on the North Korea / China border saying “Illegal border crossing is pubishable by law”.

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Crossing the Line screening, with Q&A

04-Aug-07

Crossing the Line

One of these last-minute things I’m afraid. I just checked my least-used email account to find information about a screening of Crossing the Line at the Frontline Club (near Paddington Station) tomorrow, Sunday. There was to have been a Q&A hosted by director Dan Gordon, but he’s had to pull out due to ill health, so Keith Howard will be stepping in.

From the Frontline Club website:

Screening: Crossing the Line
Sun 5th August, 4.30pm Price: £5.00
Followed by Q&A with filmmaker Daniel Gordon Keith Howard
Location: 13 Norfolk Place, London, W2 1QJ

This is the story of Comrade Joe, the last American defector to North Korea, who became a coveted star of the North Korean propaganda machine, but then disappeared from the face of the known world. He later found fame acting in North Korean films, typecast as the evil American.

In 1962, a U.S. soldier sent to guard the peace in South Korea deserted his unit, walked across the most heavily fortified area on earth and defected to the Cold War enemy, the communist state of North Korea.

Now, after 45 years, he uses Korean as his daily language, has three sons from two wives and has lived in North Korea twice as long as he has in America. At one time, there were four Americans living in North Korea. Today, just one remains. Crossing the Line is the story of Comrade Joe, the last American defector in North Korea, told for the first time.

Links:

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New Labour Britain: North Korean policies, South Korean branding

28-Jul-07

July has seen two dramatic changes in Britain. A new regime in Westminster and the implementation of a draconian measure in the name of public health.

On the latter point, England is catching up with Scotland, who implemented a smoking ban last year. And also with North Korea:

The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, has reportedly become the latest city to impose a smoking ban.

However, rather than being for the good of the general public, it is all about the country’s leader Kim Jong-il.

The move comes after doctors advised Mr Kim to stop smoking and drinking after a recent heart operation, reports say.

“Kim’s home, office and all other places he goes to have been designated as non-smoking areas,” a former South Korean lawmaker said.

Meanwhile the young turks in Brown’s new cabinet are issuing policy statements using language which will be familiar to Korea-watchers. We all know about South Korea’s aspirations to be recognised as a regional hub. But our new foreign secretary has grander hopes, according to an interview in the FT:

“We’ve got the opportunity to be a global hub,” he says. Britain is a “global hub” economically, through the City of London, and culturally, too. But it is also a “global hub” politically, with “a unique set of alliances” to the US, EU and India. Maintaining this is his goal, “maximising the opportunities of globalisation and minimising the risks”.

HubyMaybe we should be bracing ourselves for a national rebranding exercise next.

Links:

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DPRK Foreign Ministry Spokesman Blasts Anti-Chongryon Campaign in Japan

03-Jul-07

An interesting prelude to the two talks at Chatham House this week…

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK on Sunday issued the statement :

Japan has taken harsh actions against Chongryon and Koreans in Japan such as forcible search of its facilities and their houses, assaults and arrests of them last year and this year. Not content with this, it is working hard to force upon Chongryon the sale of the plottage and building of the Hall of its headquarters through the Resolution and Collection Corporation.

The Abe group instructed the corporation to raise an extremely discriminative and unfair demand to Chongryon, persistently turning down its sincere and reasonable proposals to redeem debts. It has thus unilaterally hamstrung Chongryon’s efforts for the solution of the problem.

Chongryon is a legitimate overseas compatriots organization of the DPRK whose mission is to protect the democratic national rights of the direct victims of the criminal drafting of Koreans by the Japanese imperialists in the past and the Koreans in Japan, their descendants.

Abe is now feeling uneasy about the steady decline of the support rate for him with the election to the House of Councilors slated to take place late in July.

The aim sought by Japan in chilling the efforts to bring about progress at the six-party talks designed to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is to drag on the settlement of the problem in a bid to use it as a pretext till its militarization has become a reality.

As Japan is behaving so dastardly with a black-hearted intention, the DPRK cannot but raise a serious question as to whether there is any need for its continued participation in the six-party talks.

The DPRK will never remain a passive on-looker to the Abe group’s harsh suppression of Chongryon and its relevant field will take necessary steps against it.

Links:

And while on the subject of Japan / DPRK relations, a couple of recent news stories:

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New report presents evidence of crimes against humanity

20-Jun-07

North Korea: A Case to Answer - A Call to Act.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide yesterday launched a new report, seven years in the making, which concluded that there is a prima facie case that the DPRK regime is guilty of crimes against humanity. The report has had input from lawyers familiar with the international human rights regime and is based, inter alia, on interviews with 80 North Koreans in three continents - including both prison camp guards and their former prisoners.

The report was launched yesterday at a breakfast meeting at London’s Foreign Press Association, and then made its way to the Houses of Parliament where the report was highlighted as part of an evidence session following the annual general meeting of the All-party British-North Korea Parliamentary Group. Two North Korean defectors told their story: Ahn Myeon-cheol, a former prison camp guard at camp number 22 who had to make his escape when his well-connected father committed suicide following some indiscrete criticisms of the regime; and Shin Dong-hyok, a former prisoner who was actually born inside camp number 14. Both had moving stories to tell, and the scene seemed vaguely incongruous as they sat dwarfed beneath the massive biblical oil painting in the neo-gothic splendour of the Moses Room in the House of Lords. In the afternoon the two defectors went on to meet Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

In the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 7, a crime against humanity is defined as any of 11 crimes. The report accuses the DPRK of 9 of those crimes: murder, extermination, enslavement, forcible transfer of population, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, persecution, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts. The report also finds evidence of a 10th crime, rape and sexual violence, but no systematic policy of committing it. The only crime of which the report finds the regime innocent is apartheid. The report also examines evidence for genocide in relation to Christians.

The report is published in the week leading up 25 June - the anniversary of the start of the Korean War - which has been designated a day of prayer for North Korea.

Links:

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British-North Korea Parliamentary Group meeting

08-Jun-07

The All-party British-North Korea Parliamentary Group is holding an evidence session at 11:00am on Tuesday 19 June in the Moses Room in the Houses of Parliament. The purpose of group, chaired by Lord Alton, is

to engage in dialogue with the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; to develop links between parliamentarians in both countries; and to foster democracy and democratic institutions.

At the session on 19 June, North Korean defectors will share first hand experience of life inside the North Korean political prison camp system. All are welcome, and the session is likely to last around 90 minutes.

You are advised to arrive at least 15 minutes early to clear security. Access via the St Stephens entrance to the Houses of Parliament.

Links:

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What makes Juche bigger than Judaism?

13-May-07

In a rather strange survey, adherents.com have produced a ranking of major “world” “religions”.

Let’s take a look at the list.

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion

OK so far. Let’s carry on.

3. Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist: 1.1 billion

Sorry? “Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist” is a world “religion”? Oh well, I suppose there’s got to be a bucket for the “don’t knows”. Let’s skip to number 10: Juche. So what makes Juche a religion?

From a sociological viewpoint Juche is clearly a religion

explains the website, without further elaboration. The site elsewhere explains what qualifies as a religion for the purposes of the list:

We are using the groupings