Tag: North Korea

This KCNA photo released on Feb. 10, 2015, introduces a newly completed foodstuff factory in Pyongyang. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)

North Korean people visit an anti-American education center in South Hwanghae Province, south of Pyongyang, on Feb. 8, 2015. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)

This Rodong Sinmun photo released on Feb. 11, 2015 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting the construction site of an orphanage in Wonsan on the east coast. (Yonhap)

Why Kim doesn’t love Hitler, and why this matters http://t.co/o7OUQUQFF5

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) February 11, 2015

To people that haven’t spent a whole lot of time in Korea these slogans may seem humorous, but domestic food security provided by rice farming and fishing are very important to the Korean people on both sides of the DMZ:

North Korea could one day become a land of fairies, where a pungent, fishy aroma permeates the air as stylishly dressed children walk to school.

This is what the reclusive communist nation actually wants its people to aspire to, according to a list of 310 national slogans released by its state media Thursday.

There are five different references to building a socialist, scientific or military-influenced fairyland, according to a translation of the Rodong Sinmun story by the KCNA Watch blog.

Several of the slogans concern food production. One calls for “fragrant smell of fish and other seafoods,” while another declares, “Let the strong wind of fish farming blow across the country!”

Other slogans are less aspirational and more educational, for example: “Fertilizer means rice and socialism.”

The slogans were printed in Korean and haven’t yet been posted in the English versions of the Rodong Sinmun or the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s primary media organs.   [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Reuters Seoul correspondent and author James Pearson to talk about capitalism in North Korea http://t.co/VdCgRNCE6D #NorthKorea @pearswick

— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) February 11, 2015

I don’t think the Chinese really mind the North Koreans having a few nukes for regime security, but the brinkmanship and continual threats against neighboring countries and the lack of Chinese style economic reforms is what I think is really causing the Chinese to snub Kim Jong-un:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may not be able to visit China on his first foreign trip if there is no progress in diplomatic efforts to persuade the North to give up its nuclear ambitions, South Korea’s ambassador to China said Wednesday.

Amb. Kwon Young-se was also cautious when talking about the possibility of a visit by Kim to Russia in May, saying it is too early to conclude that Kim’s trip to Russia would take place.

Kim took the helm of the authoritarian state in late 2011 after his father, Kim Jong-il, died. China is North Korea’s ideological ally and economic lifeline, but their political ties remain strained, particularly after the North’s third nuclear test in early 2013.

Russia has said that Kim would be among those attending the May 9th ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

“I believe that a visit by Kim Jong-un to China is connected to the issue of denuclearization,” Kwon told Yonhap News Agency in an interview.

“From the perspective of China, there is a clear aspect that it would be burdensome to conduct a highest-level exchange with North Korea at a time when North Korea shows no progress in the nuclear issue,” Kwon said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but with that all said the Chinese are not about to abandon the regime to collapse either.  They are just not providing as much to the regime as before and the regime may think buddying up to Putin may make up for the economic aid they have lost from the Chinese.

This KCNA photo released on Feb. 5, 2015, shows North Korean students marching on a mountain road during a nationwide march to celebrate Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)

Despite Chinese depredations, N.K. fishing industry growing: http://t.co/69a9KWfd3S

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) February 10, 2015

Ask a North Korean: How do North Koreans spend days off? http://t.co/zgW0tdjYrk

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) February 7, 2015