[Cankor] Report #227

[cankor at cankor.ca]

Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #227 of the CanKor Report.

For articles not original to CanKor, direct links are available in the
Contents section, should you wish to consult the originals on the internet.
If the links no longer function, you may refer to the full text articles
appended to the issue.

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The CanKor team

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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

CanKor # 227

Friday, 18 November 2005
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The Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a faith-based humanitarian agency that has 
supplied more food aid to the DPRK than any other NGO, will wrap up its 
operation by Christmas. The CFGB has been a member of the consortium of NGOs 
that founded and supported the Food Aid Liaison Unit (FALU) within the WFP 
offices in Pyongyang. The DPRK has given notice that the FALU office must 
close by the end of the year.

UNICEF does not plan to close or scale down its work in the DPRK, according 
to its regional director. UNICEF is recognized as having already been 
involved in capacity building in a way that has gained the support of DPRK 
officials. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis will help the DPRK rebuild 
its medical production facilities.

ROK Minister of Unification predicts that by 2020, South and North Korea 
will have formed at least an economic union. A joint North-South bid for the 
2020 Summer Olympics may also be in the works.

Canada's new ambassador to the DPRK will travel to Pyongyang in early 
December to present his credentials. Marius Grinius is already Canadian 
ambassador to the ROK, and will join a small number of ambassadors with 
accreditation to both Koreas.

The fifth round of Six Party Talks closes inconclusively. Talks are unlikely 
to resume before the year's end. However, the DPRK did offer a five-step 
plan that included agreement not to test or produce more nuclear weapons, 
and not to transfer nuclear technology or materials to other nations. But 
these steps depend on the USA offering concessions first.

Signs of change continue to emerge in the regimented DPRK, as demonstrated 
by the interest shown by the younger generation in Western icons such as 
Harry Potter and Britney Spears. CanKor takes a peek at this anecdotal 
evidence in this week's INSIDE DPRK Focus. Reports from travelers and 
journalists now suggest that the influence of American pop culture is 
beginning to seep into the one of the world's most isolated countries. As 
the DPRK opens its borders to American tourists for the first time, a young 
woman writes about her experience as an American in Pyongyang. Despite these 
changes, there are still attempts to thwart Western influence, lately by a 
government campaign to stop North Korean women from wearing pants.
*************************************************

Contents:

1.  CANADIAN FOOD AID NGO ENDS PROGRAMME IN DPRK
    Original article, copyright CanKor

2.  UNICEF STAYS ON IN DPRK
    http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/11/16/200511160018.asp

3.  NOVARTIS TO HELP DPRK REBUILD MEDICAL FACTORIES
    http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200511/200511170016.html

4.  ROK SEES KOREAN ECONOMIC UNION BY 2020
    http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-16T051646Z_01_MCC617442_RTRUKOC_0_UK-KOREA-NORTH.xml

5.  CANADA'S AMBASSADOR TO PRESENT CREDENTIALS
    Original article, copyright CanKor

6.  DPRK PROPOSED 5 STEPS TO DISARMAMENT, SAYS ROK OFFICIAL
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-norkor14nov14,1,3761161.story?coll=la-util-nationworld-world

FOCUS: INSIDE DPRK

7.  DPRK OPENS THE DOOR TO HARRY POTTER, BRITNEY SPEARS
    http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/features/news/20051103p2g00m0fe058000c.html

8.  AN AMERICAN IN PYONGYANG
    http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=2565

9.  DPRK GOVERNMENT: NO PANTS FOR OUR WOMEN
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174552,00.html

QUIDNUNC: Does the DPRK have nuclear weapons?
*************************************************

1.  CANADIAN FOOD AID NGO ENDS PROGRAMME IN DPRK
    by Miranda Weingartner, CanKor, 18 November 2005

The Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) will wrap up its DPRK food aid programme 
by the end of the year. The CFGB is a founding member of an international 
non-governmental food aid consortium, the Food Aid Liaison Unit (FALU), 
whose offices and staff are housed within the UN World Food Programme in 
Pyongyang.

"We have been informed that our FALU office must be closed by the end of 
2005," says Jim Cornelius, CFGB Executive Director. "We are now making 
arrangements to close the office before Christmas."

"FALU was the first NGO resident presence that was permitted by the DPRK," 
says Erich Weingartner, the founding head of FALU, a Canadian who worked in 
Pyongyang between 1997 and 1999. "FALU allowed non-resident NGOs to have a 
monitoring presence in the country. The relationship with the WFP was 
extremely useful, in terms of access, diplomatic cover and better 
coordination. This multilateral concept was a very 'Canadian-style' 
initiative."

Quite appropriately, the current (and likely last) head of FALU, J.F. 
Beauchesne, is also a Canadian.

The CFGB has been implementing a major food security program in the DPRK 
since 1996, supplying 103,284 tonnes of food and seed, over CDN$1 million in 
farm inputs. The CFGB has also organized three delegations of DPR Korean 
agriculturalists to Canada.

The NGO is now considering its future programming options for Korea, 
convinced that the people of the DPRK would benefit from continued 
international cooperation and assistance. But without the "space to monitor 
and engage," options are limited.

"Whether any such space will be available to us in the future is unclear," 
says Cornelius. "I think it is safe to say that any future programme will be 
much smaller, and will likely not involve any significant quantities of food 
aid in the near future."

Many aid workers contend -- and DPR Korean authorities seem to concur --  
that increased contact with the outside world made possible through 
humanitarian programmes is having an impact on the country's sense of place 
in the world.

What role can interested nations play to entice the DPRK to embrace 
macro-economic and social policies that reflect international 
best-practices? The ROK (South Korea) is pursuing a policy of rapprochement 
with its Northern brethren, believing reunification to be inevitable. Not 
disputing the fact that the DPRK's command economy has failed, the ROK sees 
its engagement policy with the DPRK as an investment in the future of both 
Koreas. According to this view, a softer landing for the DPRK is simply 
better for business.

Foreign Affairs Canada recognizes the Asia-Pacific as "a region that matters 
to our prosperity and security." Relations between Canada and the ROK are 
stronger than ever. In 2004, two-way merchandise trade was approximately 
$8.1 billion, so lucrative a relationship that the two countries are 
currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement. The third round of FTA 
negotiations is scheduled to take place in Ottawa from 28 November to 2 
December 2005.

"There is a role to play for Canadians even in this new environment, where 
the DPRK is rejecting food aid, but requests development aid," says Erich 
Weingartner, currently Director of CanKor-Virtual ThinkNet (VTK), a 
consulting agency with an interest in DPRK capacity building. "From the 
beginning, we encouraged the DPRK to think beyond humanitarian aid, which by 
definition (and donor interest) cannot last indefinitely. They listened. I 
see their no-food-aid announcement as an opportunity for creative new 
programming."

Canadian organizations are already seizing this opportunity. At the 
beginning of November, the International Institute for Sustainable 
Development (IISD) co-hosted a workshop for five officials of the DPRK 
Department of Environment Protection (DEP) in sustainable development 
strategies and environmental assessment and reporting. The project was made 
possible following a visit by an IISD staff person to Pyongyang under the 
auspices of the Canada-DPR Korea Association, and with financial support 
from Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Global Aid 
Network (GAiN) manages a computer graphics design school in Pyongyang. 
Canadian teachers have been involved in teaching English at language schools 
in Pyongyang. CanKor-VTK is also poised to launch a significant 
capacity-building project in the near future.
*************************************************

2.  UNICEF STAYS ON IN DPRK
    by Lee Sun-young, Korea Herald, 16 November 2005

With a bumper harvest almost certain this year, North Korea is sticking to 
its earlier request for foreign aid agencies to stop emergency humanitarian 
deliveries and leave the country by the end of the year, UN officials said 
yesterday. The World Food Program and other international aid groups are 
negotiating with the communist state over the decree, but even if foreign 
aid workers have to withdraw from the country, those who have uncompleted 
projects at hand would be allowed to stay until February or March next year, 
the officials said.

"As far as UNICEF is concerned, North Korea made it clear that it wants 
UNICEF to continue its work in the country," Anupama Rao Singh, regional 
director of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Office said in an interview with 
The Korea Herald yesterday. Singh was in Seoul after a four-day trip to 
North Korea, accompanied by Pierrette Vu Thi, a UNICEF representative in 
Pyongyang.

"The North Korean officials told us too that aid agencies should shift the 
humanitarian work to development assistance." However, since UNICEF has 
worked in a way that has helped build the country's capacity, the North 
Korean officials are very supportive of its operations," Singh said.

The North has relied on foreign aid to feed its 23 million people since 
disclosing in the mid-1990s that its state-run farming system had collapsed 
after decades of mismanagement and the loss of Soviet subsidies. But, the 
country said recently its harvest will be big enough this year to feed its 
people without direct food aid. Vu Thi, who is stationed in Pyongyang, 
agreed that this year's crops are clearly looking very promising, but she 
expressed concerns over North Korea's move to refuse food aid.

"Sustainability is an issue here. The situation there is still fragile. The 
agricultural industry is prone to natural disasters and this year's good 
harvest does not guarantee (future luck)."

Singh noted that although the situation in North Korea, particularly the 
malnutrition rate of children, has improved remarkably over the past six 
years - from around 60 percent in 1998 down to 35 percent in 2004, it is 
still vulnerable and precarious. "We can not take it for granted that these 
improvements are going to be sustained in the near future." Singh said 
UNICEF plans to give special attention to target groups and areas that most 
urgently needs assistance - the worst-off regions in the country's northern 
part, pregnant women and nursing mothers with poor nutrition or medical 
conditions.
*************************************************

3.  NOVARTIS TO HELP DPRK REBUILD MEDICAL FACTORIES
    Chosun Ilbo, 16 November 2005

The Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis will help North Korea rebuild its 
medical production facilities. Novartis Korea CEO Peter Magg recently told 
reporters he discussed how the pharmaceutical company can help rebuild 
facilities with North Korean Health Minister Kim Soo-hak during a visit to 
Pyongyang. As a first step, Novartis will invite and educate North Korean 
medical experts and officials, he said.

Magg and Novartis chairman Daniel Vasella visited Pyongyang from Oct. 31 to 
Nov. 2 and donated antibiotics and baby food worth W1 billion (about US$1 
million) to the poverty-stricken country. Prior to the visit, four Novartis 
technicians inspected medical factories in Heungnam, North Korea and 
discussed measures to rebuild them.

Magg said North Korea had met 70-80 percent of its medical supply needs 
before being hit by a massive flood in 1995. Now, the country meets only 20 
percent of demand and wants to build a plant to produce 50 medical products 
within three years, he said. But building it and acquiring approval from an 
international health organization is impossible in such a short time, he 
said, so Novartis will train North Korean medical staff at an overseas 
plant.

When a disastrous explosion occurred in the border city of Ryongchon last 
year, North Korea asked Novartis to donate medical supplies through the 
North Korean Embassy in Switzerland. Magg said it agreed for humanitarian 
reasons, saying he wanted to help North Koreans and offer additional medical 
supplies to Pyongyang in cooperation with the World Health Organization.
*************************************************

4.  ROK SEES KOREAN ECONOMIC UNION BY 2020
    by Martin Nesirky and Lee Suwan, Reuters, 16 November 2005

Communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea are likely to have formed 
at least an economic union by 2020, the South's unification minister told 
Reuters on Wednesday. Chung Dong-young also said North Korea would be ready 
to accept Seoul's offer of free electricity as a stop-gap until light-water 
atomic reactors were built after a deal was reached in six-party talks on 
Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programmes.

South Korea does not aim for rapid unification, fearful of the German-style 
cost of unexpectedly welding together different systems. South Korean 
ministers are generally cautious about pinning dates on any form of closer 
ties. But when asked about a mooted joint North-South bid for the 2020 
Summer Olympics, Chung said that was a good idea and there was likely to be 
much progress between now and then.

"The vision of the Republic of Korea -- my personal vision as a 
politician -- is that by 2020 we will be a welfare state, and also at the 
same time, the South and the North will be able to communicate freely, that 
we will at least have developed into a joint economic union," he said.

Chung, who covered the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall as a television 
journalist, did not elaborate on what form an economic union between Asia's 
fourth-largest economy and one of the world's poorest countries might take. 
But he said the North appeared headed for an economic opening similar to 
China and Vietnam, which both retain communist rule. The North has already 
begun some piecemeal market reforms.

Noting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was meeting in the 
southern city of Pusan, Chung said leaders were likely to declare support 
for the six-party talks, which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia 
and the United States.

"The significance of this, both historically and substantively, is that the 
leaders and the people of all the countries in the region, and not just the 
countries taking part in the six-party talks, will support peace and 
stability on the Korean peninsula and will be doing so right here," he said.

The 52-year-old former leader of President Roh Moo-hyun's Uri Party, said 
the six-way talks were unlikely to resume this year after last week's 
session ended with little tangible progress.

"What's clear is it will be held, the second phase of the talks will 
definitely take place," he said at his office in the central government 
compound near the presidential Blue House many South Koreans assume he 
aspires to work in. He declined to be drawn on his political ambitions, 
saying his focus for now was North-South reconciliation.

The North's proposal at the last round was a list of five points covering 
such matters as a nuclear test freeze and a halt to transferring fissile 
material rather than a step-by-step plan, said Chung, who occasionally broke 
into fluent English during an hour-long interview conducted mostly in 
Korean. That could prove significant as countries hammer out their positions 
because the sequencing and timing of the North's nuclear dismantling in 
return for aid, reactors and diplomatic recognition are arguably the 
toughest part of the negotiations. Chung said people should not be too 
pessimistic about the talks process, particularly after all sides agreed to 
a joint statement in September on an outline aid-for-disarmament plan. But 
he indicated he thought an early deal was unlikely.

"I think there is a view to underestimate the fifth round of the six-party 
talks in Beijing," he said. "But if you take the process of dismantling the 
North's nuclear programmes as a long one that will take at least three years 
or longer, I think it is significant there was an agreement on basic 
principles."

Chung said it could take a decade or more to reach a deal and then build the 
nuclear reactors the North wants in return for ditching its nuclear weapons 
programmes.

"They are saying it would be a good idea if the South would tentatively 
provide electricity during that period," he said, referring to what the 
North has said about the South's offer to donate 2,000 megawatts a year in 
return for atomic disarmament.
*************************************************

5.  CANADA'S AMBASSADOR TO PRESENT CREDENTIALS
    by Miranda Weingartner, CanKor, 18 November 2005

Marius Grinius, Canadian Ambassador to the ROK, will travel to Pyongyang 
early December to present his credentials as Canada's ambassador to the 
DPRK. Among the small list of countries whose ambassadors are accredited to 
both Koreas (Belgium, Greece, Luxemburg, the Netherlands New Zealand, and 
the European Union), Canada is the first to switch its DPRK representation 
from Beijing to Seoul.
*************************************************

6.  DPRK PROPOSED 5 STEPS TO DISARMAMENT, SAYS ROK OFFICIAL
    The Los Angeles Times, Seoul, November 14, 2005

North Korea proposed a five-step plan to abandon its nuclear weapons 
programs at the round of disarmament talks that ended last week, a South 
Korean Cabinet official said today.

Under the plan, North Korea would drop its intention to test nuclear weapons 
and agree to not transfer nuclear technology or materials to other nations, 
Unification Minister Chung Dong Young said in Seoul.

The North would agree to not produce more weapons, then suspend and later 
dismantle its nuclear program, subject to verification, Chung said. Finally, 
the North would rejoin the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and adhere to 
safeguards under the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said.

Despite the proposal, North Korea has stuck by its insistence that it won't 
make any move until the United States offers concessions to the North for 
giving up its arms. "We will never move first," Vice Foreign Minister Kim 
Gye Gwan said Saturday in Beijing.
*************************************************

FOCUS: INSIDE DPRK

*************************************************

7.  DPRK OPENS THE DOOR TO HARRY POTTER, BRITNEY SPEARS
    Mainichi Daily News, 3 November 2005

The 20-year-old college student looked puzzled.

"Have I heard of Harry Potter?" asked Paek Su Ryon as she bit into a cabbage 
pancake at the Pyongyang Friendship Culture Restaurant. "What nationality is 
he?" Her friend laughed and then she got it.

"Oh, the book!" she said, blushing. "I like it very much."

In a land that denies its people access to cell phones and curbs Internet 
freedom, and which weighs every printed or broadcast word for ideological 
purity, the magical world of Harry Potter is creeping into the upper reaches 
of society. So are Britney Spears, "Titanic" and trendy clothes.

"There is by all accounts a nascent youth culture in Pyongyang," said Brian 
Myers, an American assistant professor of Korean studies at Inje University 
in South Korea. "Sons and daughters from well-connected families have more 
access than most to black-market cultural products from South Korea, China 
and the West.

"These students have taken to imitating South Korean dress, hairstyles and 
slang to an extent that is causing the party concern."

For journalists and academics making a rare and carefully orchestrated visit 
to North Korea, it's almost impossible to gauge the full impact of pop 
culture on what is probably the world's most regimented society. But 
encounters with young people like Paek and fellow student Yon Ok Ju, both 
daughters of government officials, yield many surprises.

Paek wears a powder-blue hair clip and beige trench coat and carries a pink 
plastic purse -- a contrast to the utilitarian fashions that dominate the 
capital. A third-year student at the Pyongyang University of Foreign 
Studies, she studies English, speaks it fluently, and was assigned, along 
with Yon, to translate for the group on visits to the city's historic 
landmarks. But at times, the conversation turned to lighter matters.

Paek, it emerged, can play the theme song from "Titanic" on the piano, but 
also likes North Korea's version of a pop music group -- Pochonbo Electronic 
Ensemble. Pochonbo is a village where Kim Il Sung, the country's communist 
founder, is supposed to have fought Japanese forces as a World War II 
guerrilla.

She has read "Jane Eyre" and "Romeo and Juliet" ("It's a love story, a sad 
story"), but her favourite is the North Korean novel "Kang Yong Ae," which 
she translated as "The Problem of Human Beings." Yon, daughter of a foreign 
trade official, lived in India for three years. She said she prefers state 
TV dramas, documentaries and travel pieces to Western fare.

"Every North Korean song and every movie has a meaning," Yon said. "The 
Western movies and songs have no main gist."

State TV is dominated by propaganda -- the 60th anniversary of the ruling 
Worker's Party, military choirs singing patriotic songs, "great leader Kim 
Jong Il" visiting factories, exhibitions of flowers named for him and his 
father. For children, there are North Korean cartoons featuring animal 
characters having adventures.

Peter Beck, an official in Seoul for the International Crisis Group, an 
independent think-tank, said North Koreans he met on a recent trip to 
Pyongyang "were very curious about music, about culture ... about politics, 
about Western views of the North." At the Pyongyang central library, Beck 
saw thousands of donated foreign books and a music room whose offerings ran 
from Mariah Carey to the Beatles. One student told Beck she had heard a 
Britney Spears song.

In a packed computer room with a wall chart saying "A global means of 
connecting people around the world," Beck saw fashionably dressed young 
women chatting online with school friends through an internal network.

"There is no pop culture in the Western sense of the word; all culture is 
controlled by the Workers' Party and subordinated to party goals," said 
Myers, the professor in South Korea. "But North Korea is now in a 
post-totalitarian phase. Even though the party retains control of all media 
and publishing outlets, it is producing more films, TV shows and songs that 
are virtually devoid of political content."

At the Korean Feature Film Studio, officials proudly reveal that leader Kim, 
a renowned film buff, has visited 590 times "to guide the movie-making." The 
studio is producing a 24-part historical drama for South Korean TV and 
spokesman Kim Man Suk said it has just made a film with a Chinese company 
about pro wrestling -- "The Secret of Two Hands." SEK Studio has won 
European and South Korean customers with its animation skills.

Once every two years, the Pyongyang Film Festival allows a select few to 
watch movies from distant lands like Egypt, Iran and Algeria. Last year 
audiences saw a dubbed and censored version of "Bend It Like Beckham," the 
British hit about a soccer-playing schoolgirl. Cinemas, however, show only 
strongly patriotic North Korean offerings, advertised with vividly coloured 
posters.

Paek and Yon describe a wholesome, old-fashioned existence for their circle 
of young North Koreans -- school, homework at the library, time with their 
families, ice skating, tennis and ping pong. In spring and fall, they spend 
up to a month helping with planting and harvesting in the countryside, where 
millions still face food shortages. Boyfriends? They giggle and say they 
have neither the time nor the desire.
*************************************************

8.  AN AMERICAN IN PYONGYANG
    Seoul Times, 18 November 2005

As an American resident in Beijing, I've known a handful of people who have 
gone to North Korea, and I have always been fascinated by their stories.

Knowing that Americans are not usually allowed in, I didn't ever think much 
about going. But as soon as I heard the news that North Korea was issuing 
visas to US citizens in October, I jumped at the chance. We arrived in 
Pyongyang on an old 1960s Russian airplane.

At the airport we were quickly rushed through customs, asked to hand in our 
cell phones and divided into groups, with Americans separated from 
non-Americans. The first thing our English-speaking tour guide did was 
introduce us to the North Koreans on our bus -- including a cameraman "who 
will be observing all of your behaviours."

Before we set off, we were forewarned that the tour guides might tease us 
for being "American imperialists," but that they would eventually warm up to 
us.

To be honest, I was surprised with how friendly and warm-hearted they were.

They had their photos taken with us, told stories about their lives, 
answered our questions -- some to more of an honest degree than others --  
sang songs and had a few beers with us in the evenings.

Other than our tour guides, waitresses and store clerks, we didn't get much 
of a chance to speak with local Koreans. Obviously there was a language 
barrier, and the local people were also somewhat hesitant in speaking to us.

That's not to say that they weren't friendly, though. If we waved and 
smiled, they would wave and smile back. If we offered the children candy, 
they would happily accept it.

Though North Korea has been labelled the Axis of Evil, the people there 
didn't fit the stereotype - in fact they shared many of the same values as 
we hold; concern for family, politeness and courtesy. We were told that, in 
the past, anti-American billboards and slogans could be found around the 
city. They have now been taken down. In fact the only remaining 
anti-American propaganda I found was at the Kaesong Youth Park. There, you 
could throw darts at an outline of a long-nosed American, or toss a ball 
into a hole in a picture of an American soldier with his hands cut off.

When we went on what we called the "Ride of Death," which did not have any 
seatbelts or harnesses, I did silently think to myself that they might like 
to see one of us get hurt. But that's all speculation, and to be honest 
there was no way for most North Koreans to know that we were American.

When we were looking across the border to South Korea at the DMZ 
(demilitarised zone) in Panmunjom, one of the first things a guard there 
said to us was that North Koreans typically don't have warm sentiments 
towards Americans. But we got the feeling, as he continued to talk to us --  
holding a box of American-made Marlboro cigarettes in his hand -- that it 
was possible for people to separate the US government with the American 
people.

In fact regardless of nationality, all foreigners face restrictions when 
travelling in North Korea. Guides must always accompany foreign tourists --  
even for a short three-minute walk outside the hotel -- and permission must 
be granted for any photograph taken. The authorities didn't think it was 
appropriate for Americans to see the Great Leader's Mausoleum, and we also 
missed out on the Military Museum, where paintings of historical events take 
the place of real pictures.

We were there on 10 October, which marked the 60th anniversary of the 
founding of the Korean Workers Party. On that day, masses of people, dressed 
in their finest traditional dress, walked for miles to make it to the centre 
of the city for a military parade in the morning and a soiree in the 
evening.

We were not allowed to attend those events, though we accidentally caught a 
glimpse of the end of the parade on the way back into town. But we did see 
annual Arirang mass games, depicting a tragic Korean story involving lovers 
and separation that has come to symbolize the separation and future 
unification of North and South Korea.

We stayed at the three to four star Koryo Hotel, which has clean rooms and 
typical facilities - a billiards room, swimming pool, tea room and bar, and 
we had no problems with electricity, heat or water. But outside our hotel, 
it's hard to say what local people were experiencing. The first night, we 
went to an embroidery museum as the sun was setting and there were 
approximately 20 young women working on their pieces in dim light.

In order to save electricity, most roads are not lit up at night, and young 
men and women stand at major intersections, directing traffic with a glowing 
baton like the Luke Skywalker sword. We were told that when it gets too cold 
for people to direct traffic in the winter months, they revert back to the 
use of traffic lights. But each window in the apartment buildings had a 
light that was on, which was not only beautiful but also quite eerie. When 
was the last time everyone in your apartment complex was home at the same 
time?

Initially I had a few reservations about going to North Korea. But having 
been, I highly recommend that others take any opportunity they can to go and 
see for themselves what Pyongyang is like - as soon as they can, as it won't 
be the same forever. And there wasn't a single moment that I didn't feel 
safe - except maybe for a fleeting instant when the mass games performers 
each pointed a rifle at the audience as part of the performance!
************************************************

9.  DPRK GOVERNMENT: NO PANTS FOR OUR WOMEN
    Fox News, 4 November 2005

North Korea's communist government is urging women in the country to wear 
traditional Korean clothes instead of pants, according to a North Korean 
monthly magazine.

"Keeping alive our dress style is a very important political issue to adhere 
to specific national cultural traditions at a time when the US imperialists 
are manoeuvring to spread the rotten bourgeois lifestyle inside North Korea 
," the Joson Yeosung (Woman) magazine said, according to South Korea's 
Yonhap news agency.

The magazine said exotic dress dampens the revolutionary atmosphere in 
society and blurs national sentiment and asked the public to reject clothes 
that aren't North Korean style. Instead, it counsels women to wear Hanbok - 
the brightly colored, loose-fitting dresses that are traditional in the 
Koreas. The campaign comes as North Korea struggles to tighten its control 
over an influx of outside influences, which it claims is part of a US 
psychological offensive aimed at toppling the communist regime -- a charge 
Washington denies.

Early this year, the North also launched a social campaign against men with 
long hair, calling them unhygienic, anti-socialist fools. The North, which 
demands unquestioning allegiance of its citizens and controls all media, has 
stepped up the ideological education of its people to counter outside 
influences. However, the country's loosely controlled border with China has 
led recently to increased traffic in smuggled recordings of music and videos 
from the outside.
***********************************************

QUIDNUNC

In this section of CanKor, we invite you to send questions and/or answers, 
or to augment or dispute answers of other readers. Answers should be limited 
to 150 words. Postings may be edited for space. Send to: editor at CanKor.ca

*************************************************

DOES THE DPRK HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS?

The best guesses are the United States intelligence community. According to 
official US government statements, North Korea may not yet have any nuclear 
weapons. But experts believe North Korea probably has enough highly 
radioactive plutonium to make several atomic bombs. North Korea has claimed 
since April 2003 that it has several nuclear weapons and is prepared to 
"demonstrate" that they work.

North Korea also has everything it needs to make more plutonium. At its top 
secret Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, 8,000 nuclear fuel rods have been 
removed from storage. North Korean diplomats claimed in July 2003 that their 
country had completed extracting plutonium from these rods. If this is true, 
then North Korea has enough plutonium to make upoward of eight nuclear 
weapons.

[Answer taken from Kenneth Quinones, "Understanding North Korea," Alpha 
Books, p. 21]
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WHAT NOW?

How big is the DPR Korean People's Army?

[Answers and questions should be e-mailed to: editor at CanKor.ca]
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End CanKor # 227

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