[Cankor] Report #271

[cankor at cankor.ca]

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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

CanKor # 271

Monday, 22 January 2007
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Russia reportedly writes off some 80 percent of the DPRK's US$8 
billion debt to the former Soviet Union, a sign of increasing 
engagement.

At a bilateral meeting with the DPRK in Berlin, US Assistant Secretary 
of State Christopher Hill says that the USA is willing to engage in "a 
bilateral process" to establish "a normal relationship" with the DPRK. 
In response, the DPRK agrees to halt nuclear activities at its 
Yongbyon reactor and allow on-site monitoring by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency as the first steps to abandoning its nuclear 
program.

In CanKor's FOCUS on the DPRK's New Year Joint Editorial, we print in 
full an English translation of the now traditional instrument of 
internal education on the coming year's programme outlined by the 
government for North Korean citizens. Professor Emeritus B. C. Koh at 
the University of Illinois in Chicago analyzes the joint editorial, 
highlighting its main points and checking for signals of things to 
come.

Two opinion pieces round up this issue: Aidan Foster-Carter comments 
on the death of DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun. CanKor editor 
Erich Weingartner reflects on his recent visits to the DPRK, and the 
difficulty of separating illusion from reality.
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Contents:

1.   RUSSIA TO FORGIVE MOST OF DPRK DEBT
     http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200701/200701050012.html

2.   USA OPEN TO BILATERAL TALKS ON TIES WITH DPRK
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011700828.html

3.   DPRK SAID READY TO SUSPEND NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES
     http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200701/200701220011.html

FOCUS: New Year Joint Editorial
4.   USHER IN A GREAT HEYDAY FULL OF CONFIDENCE IN VICTORY
     direct to CanKor from DPRK Permanent Mission to the UN in New 
York

5.   NORTH KOREA IN 2007: PYONGYANG'S VIEW
     direct to CanKor from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at 
Kyungnam University in Seoul

OPINION
6.   PAEK THE OPAQUE: ANOTHER OLD DPR KOREAN BITES THE DUST
     direct to CanKor from the author, Aidan Foster-Carter

7.   SEPARATING ILLUSION FROM REALITY
     direct to CanKor from the author, Erich Weingartner
*************************************************

1.   RUSSIA TO FORGIVE MOST OF DPRK DEBT
     Chosun Ilbo, 5 January 2007

Russia has reportedly decided to write off some 80 percent of the US$8 
billion it is owed by North Korea, it emerged on Thursday. Russia's 
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Strochak and his North Korean 
counterpart Kim Young Gil reached the agreement in negotiations from 
Dec. 17 to 22 last year, diplomatic sources in Moscow said Thursday. 
The North wants most its debt to Russia forgiven, and the two 
countries agreed to discuss in detail via diplomatic channels how much 
of it will be written off and how to settle the rest of the debt and 
conclude negotiations before March, when an intergovernmental 
commission on trade and economic cooperation between the two countries 
meets.

North Korea borrowed 3.8 billion rubles from the Soviet Union since 
the 1960s to build power plants. Russia's Vneshtorgbank and the 
Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea agreed to estimate Pyongyang's debt 
to Russia at US$8 billion on the assumption that 1 ruble equals some 
US$2 considering interest and changes in the exchange rate.

"Russia earlier said it won't continue economic cooperation unless the 
North pays its debt. But it changed its mind as it wants to relieve 
the financial burden on Pyongyang so it can persuade the North to take 
part in trilateral economic cooperation with South Korea and Russia 
and any six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program in the 
future," a diplomat said.

Moscow has become more active in engaging Pyongyang diplomatically. On 
Dec. 20 last year, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy asked 
Seoul to choose a government agency to support a project supplying 
surplus electricity in Russia's far east to North Korea. "Russia wants 
to help North Korea deal with its electricity shortages with capital 
from South Korea," a source said.

Moscow is to reappoint former ambassador to Japan Alexander Losyukov 
as its chief negotiator in the six-party talks. Losyukov visited North 
Korea for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a special 
envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin when the North withdrew from 
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003. He was already head of 
the Russian delegation in the first and second rounds of the nuclear 
talks. Moscow has also appointed a new ambassador to Pyongyang, Valery 
Sukhinin, who is to take up his post on Jan. 20. Formerly a deputy 
director in the Foreign Ministry, Sukhinin translated for President 
Putin in summits with Kim Jong-il.
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2.   USA OPEN TO BILATERAL TALKS ON TIES WITH DPRK
     By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, 18 January 2007

If North Korea gives up its nuclear programs, the United States is 
willing to engage in "a bilateral process" to establish "a normal 
relationship," the chief US negotiator said here Wednesday after two 
days of one-on-one talks with his North Korean counterpart.

"We are prepared to go on that road and to really offer North Korea a 
hand as it moves along the road," Assistant Secretary of State 
Christopher R. Hill said in a speech here in the midst of his talks, 
the first time he has met with senior North Korean officials outside 
Asia. He said he has been trying to "make sure they understand very 
clearly what we are intending to do, what our intentions are."

Hill's comments mark the first time a US official has publicly 
emphasized the possibility of such bilateral discussions, something 
the Pyongyang government has long sought. Ever since the North Korean 
nuclear crisis began in 2002, the Bush administration has resisted 
such negotiations, preferring to work through a somewhat cumbersome 
forum that also includes China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

The question of how normalization would take place was contentious 
during the negotiations that led to a September 2005 joint statement, 
in which North Korea pledged to abandon its nuclear programs. The US 
delegation specifically sought the removal of the word "dialogue" from 
the section describing the normalization of relations from the final 
draft of the statement.

Critics of the administration have urged it to provide North Korea 
more detail on possible enticements for giving up its weapons program. 
Hill's comments appeared to be part of an effort to flesh out the 
details.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was briefed by Hill on the talks 
after she arrived here from Kuwait for discussions with German 
officials on the Middle East. Asked at a news conference about Hill's 
statement, Rice emphasized the 2005 document, noting that it would 
"lead to a bilateral, a normalization of relations."

The agreement "is very clearly in the context of the 
denuclearization -- complete, verifiable denuclearization, and I 
should say irreversible denuclearization -- to the Korean Peninsula," 
Rice said. "We believe that the six-party context might allow that 
evolution to take place."

Hill also noted the September 2005 agreement in his speech, which was 
organized at the American Academy in Berlin. But the final draft of 
the agreement is vague about the process of normalization. The key 
sentence, using the abbreviation for the Democratic People's Republic 
of Korea, said, "The DPRK and the United States undertook to respect 
each other's sovereignty, exist peacefully together, and take steps to 
normalize their relations subject to their respective bilateral 
policies." That sentence was crafted after the United States balked at 
a version referring to "bilateral policies and dialogue."

On Wednesday, Hill said that "we have an adequate bilateral mechanism 
within the six-party talks to exchange our views with the North 
Koreans." The comment appeared to refer to the increasingly frequent 
meetings he has held with his counterpart, Kim Gye Gwan, when the 
six-party sessions were not taking place. Previously, the meetings 
with Kim were held in Beijing, generally in preparation for another 
round of six-party talks, but no new round is currently scheduled.

At the last round of six-nation talks in December, North Korean 
officials balked at substantive discussions, insisting that the United 
States lift punitive measures intended to halt alleged 
money-laundering operations. (...)
*************************************************

3.   DPRK SAID READY TO SUSPEND NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES
     Chosun Ilbo, 22 January 2007

North Korea has reportedly agreed to halt nuclear activities including 
operations at a reactor in Yongbyon, and allow on-site monitoring by 
the International Atomic Energy Agency as the first steps to 
abandoning its nuclear program. The agreement came during a meeting of 
the chief nuclear negotiators of the USA and North Korea that ended 
Friday in Berlin, sources said.

According to diplomatic sources in Seoul and Beijing, North Korea's 
top nuclear envoy Kim Gye Gwan told his US counterpart Christopher 
Hill that North Korea will yield in return for economic and energy aid 
from the USA and assurances that the USA will seek to unfreeze North 
Korea's US$24 million in accounts with the Macau-based Banco Delta 
Asia.

The USA will discuss conditions for the lifting of financial sanctions 
in separate bilateral talks scheduled this month. The North is 
expected to implement its part of the deal once it is finalized in the 
next round of the six-nation nuclear talks, which are likely to resume 
early next month. Pyongyang and Washington agreed to use the term 
"monitoring" rather than "inspection." Other sources said Pyongyang 
demanded that Washington consider transforming the armistice that 
ended the Korean War into a peace treaty as soon as it starts 
implementing the initial measures, and the USA gave a positive 
response. The two Koreas remain technically at war since no peace 
treaty was ever concluded.

Hill flew from Tokyo to Beijing on Sunday to discuss the six-party 
talks. He said he expected the multilateral negotiations to reopen "in 
a couple of weeks." Meanwhile, Kim met with his Russian counterpart 
Alexander Losyukov in Moscow on Sunday morning. Diplomatic sources in 
Moscow said Kim told the Russian deputy foreign minister about the 
results of his meeting with Hill in Berlin and sought cooperation from 
Russia in persuading the USA to lift financial sanctions. Kim also 
reportedly discussed with Losyukov the timetable for the resumption of 
the six-party talks.
*************************************************

FOCUS: New Year Joint Editorial

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

4.   USHER IN A GREAT HEYDAY FULL OF CONFIDENCE IN VICTORY
     Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi, 1 January 2007

A worthwhile advance has begun in the country in the hope-filled New 
Year.
Last year, 2006, was adorned as a year of great victory, a year of 
exciting events, in which the dawn of a great, prosperous and powerful 
socialist nation was ushered in.

Cheers over the victorious Songun idea and politics resounded all over 
the land last year. The invincibility and rosy future of the Korean 
revolution rest on Songun. The army and people of Korea, under the 
unfurled banner of Songun, have won victory after victory in the 
showdown with the United States and in safeguarding socialism, and 
consolidated their self-defensive capabilities for the supreme 
interests of their country and the destiny of their nation.

Our access to a nuclear deterrent was an auspicious event in the 
national history as it meant the realization of our people's 
centuries-old desire to have national strength no one could dare 
challenge. Last year's victory testifies to the fact that our army and 
people were entirely right when they have invariably followed the road 
of Songun over the past 10-odd years in the face of severest trials.

Last year was a year filled with pride, a year in which an 
epoch-making phase was opened for the building of a great, prosperous 
and powerful nation. Gaining great confidence from the dawn of victory 
ushered in by the Party, our servicepersons and people waged a heroic 
struggle and thus achieved brilliant successes in all fields. In the 
crucible of the general advance of Songun revolution, the 
single-minded unity of the servicepersons and people around the 
headquarters of the revolution was consolidated in every way, and a 
springboard for a fresh leap forward in economic construction was 
secured.

Last year witnessed successes proving the resourcefulness and 
superiority of our nation. Our scientists and technicians, with 
burning revolutionary enthusiasm and creative talent, performed 
exploits noteworthy in history-they broke fresh ground for the 
cutting-edge science and technology and consolidated the country's 
strength. Our proud sportspersons achieved outstanding successes in 
women's football and other international sports games, displaying to 
the full the mettle of the nation and bringing a great joy and 
encouragement to our servicepersons and people. Masterpieces 
demonstrating the new looks of art and literature of the Songun era 
were created, and traditions and customs unique to the nation greeted 
further efflorescence in all domains of social life.

The fact that 2006 was adorned with successes and exploits to be 
specially recorded in the annals of our revolution and nation is a 
striking demonstration of the sagacity of our Party's leadership. Our 
Party steadfastly maintained its independent and principled stand even 
in the trying situation in which the country's security faced grave 
challenges, and confidently led the entire Party, the whole country 
and all the people to a general advance for a fresh leap forward. The 
leadership of respected Kim Jong Il, who, by dint of correct strategy 
and tactics, art of outstanding leadership, and unexcelled courage and 
pluck, coped with the encountering challenges and turned unfavorable 
circumstances into favorable ones, was a decisive factor in all 
successes and miraculous events.

Thanks to his tireless Songun-based leadership the overall strength of 
our nation was remarkably augmented and the day of a great, prosperous 
and powerful nation has dawned. The grand celebration last year of the 
80th anniversary of the founding of the Down-with-Imperialism Union 
was a proud display of the fact that continuity of the Korean 
revolution is definitely assured by Kim Jong Il.

The true record of revolutionary activities of respected Kim Jong Il 
and the imperishable historical exploits he performed by having raised 
the position of socialist Korea to a highest level, braving all manner 
of difficulties in the van holding aloft the great banner of Songun, 
and adorned the year 2006 as a most glorious year in the history of 
the building of a Juche-oriented great, prosperous and powerful 
country, will be handed down to posterity.

The year 2007 will be a year of great changes, a year which will usher 
in a new era of prosperity of Songun Korea. This year we are greeting 
the 95th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung as a grand 
national event. Kim Il Sung is the founder of socialist Korea, and the 
eternal Sun of Juche in the cause of the masses for their 
independence. The glorious history of the victorious advance of our 
socialist Korea and today's prosperity of Songun Korea, which is 
demonstrating its dignity to the whole world, are associated with his 
august name.

We must make this year a year of greater efflorescence of his wish for 
a prosperous and powerful country, a year of brisk activities across 
the country. The sacred revolutionary career of Kim Il Sung is a 
history of Songun-based leadership in that he devoted his greatest 
effort to the strengthening of the country's military capabilities. We 
must celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean 
People's Army as an all-people event that demonstrates the 
invincibility and bright future of the Songun revolution.

Our revolution which started under the banner of the great Juche idea, 
Songun idea, has greeted a new historic phase. The present new era is 
a worthwhile era of ushering in an all-round efflorescence of national 
prosperity on the basis of the victories and success of the Songun 
revolution registered in the history of the nation.

We have the great guiding ideology, invincible single-minded unity and 
powerful war deterrence built in the crucible of the Songun 
revolution. The present reality, in which all conditions for leaping 
higher and faster have been created, demands that we step up the 
revolutionary advance more vigorously to achieve the high objectives 
of the building of a great, prosperous and powerful socialist nation.

"Usher in a great heyday of Songun Korea full of confidence in 
victory!"-this is a slogan we should put up in struggle and advance. 
We should wage a dynamic offensive campaign to build a socialist 
economic power. Building an economic power is an urgent demand of our 
revolution and social development at present times and a worthwhile 
and historic cause of perfecting the looks of a great, prosperous and 
powerful nation. We should concentrate national efforts on solving 
economic problems, so as to turn Songun Korea into a prospering 
people's paradise.

The main task in the present general march is to direct primary effort 
to rapidly improving the standard of the people's living and, at the 
same time, to step up technological updating to put our economy on a 
modern footing and display its potentials to the full. We should 
successfully realize the noble intention and plan of our Party, which 
regards the improvement of the standard of the people's living as the 
supreme principle in its activities. We should, as in the past, keep 
up farming as the great foundation of the country and make an 
epoch-making advance in solving the problem of food for the people. 
The officials and working people in the agricultural sector should 
fully discharge their responsibility and role as masters in 
implementing the Party's policy on making a revolution in agriculture, 
and bend a dynamic effort to doing farm work on their own.

We should decisively improve the production of consumer goods by 
waging a revolution in light industry. We should operate 
light-industry and local-industry factories in full capacity and 
steadily increase the variety and quality of consumer goods by tapping 
to the maximum the latent resources and potentials in all sectors of 
the national economy. We should ensure that the bases of 
stockbreeding, fish farming and production of primary seasoning built 
through much effort prove effective so that the people can benefit 
from them. We should steadily improve the distribution of commodities 
and service work as required by the intrinsic nature of a socialist 
society and thus evenly provide the people with essential consumer 
goods of high quality. The officials of all units should pay close 
attention to supply service work for their employees. The public 
health sector should implement the Party's policy on public health to 
ensure that the people enjoy greater benefit from the socialist health 
care system.

Power, coal-mining and metal industries and rail transport, the four 
pilots of the national economy, must take the lead in building an 
economic power. Bearing deep in mind a high sense of responsibility 
they have assumed in the building of an economic power, the officials 
in the power and coal-mining industries should decisively ease the 
strain on electricity and coal. The sector of metal industry should 
increase the production of iron and steel by consolidating its Juche 
character and accelerating technological updating. The sector of rail 
transport should fully meet the ever-growing demand for transport 
through efficient organization and command and iron discipline and 
order. National efforts should be geared to bolstering up the four 
pilot sectors with the whole country engaged in giving active 
assistance to them.

With a foresight into the distant future of economic development, we 
should give priority to geological prospecting, develop energy and 
other resources under a long-term plan, and treasure and protect the 
country's resources as best as we can. Mining, machine-building, 
chemical, building-materials and forestry sectors should make steady 
efforts to revitalize their production.

Monumental edifices and other major projects of the Songun era should 
be built on the quality-first principle as required by the new 
century. The building sector should observe technical regulations and 
apply standard building methods in construction, and make buildings 
formative and artistic. Cities, including Pyongyang, and rural 
villages across the country should be built up as required by the 
Songun era and land administration should be undertaken efficiently, 
to turn the country into a socialist fairyland.

The Juche-oriented idea, theory and policy of our Party on the economy 
are definite guidelines in the construction of an economic power. We 
should solve all problems arising in improving the economic work and 
the people's standard of living on the basis of our Party's idea and 
theory on the economy, which reflect the requirements of the Songun 
era, the IT era. We should run the economy by our own efforts, our own 
technology and our own resources with a determination that we must 
build a socialist paradise by ourselves. We should make the most of 
the solid foundations of production and potentials existing in all 
sectors of the national economy. We should smash the imperialists' 
despicable schemes for sanctions and blockade by dint of strong 
self-respect and pluck.

Thoroughgoing implementation of the Party's policy of attaching 
importance to science and technology is a sure guarantee for the 
construction of an economic power. Latest science and technology, 
combined with the great revolutionary ideas of our Party, will bring 
about startling changes. All sectors and units should put themselves 
on a modern footing by drawing on the latest science and technology. 
Scientists and technicians should develop the cutting-edge science and 
technology in a short span of time in the revolutionary spirit of 
soldiers and in their way of work, so as to definitely guarantee the 
building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation by means of 
science and technology. All sectors and units should bring science and 
technology close to production, and unfold a mass drive for technical 
innovation.

We should undertake technical upgrading of the national economy, 
production and management activities by the method of motivating 
competent scientists and technicians. Effort should be channeled to 
education, so as to train in a great number talented people who will 
shoulder the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation.

Holding aloft the banner of Songun, we should continuously exert a 
great effort to strengthening the defence capabilities. Songun is the 
life and soul of our country and people and the dignity of our nation. 
In the future, too, we must hold fast to the Juche-based Songun idea 
and line as an invariable guiding principle of the Party and the 
revolution. We must never forget the trying days when we had to defend 
the lifeline of socialist Korea with a do-or-die determination, and 
defend the achievements of the Songun revolution gained at the cost of 
blood.

The People's Army that constitutes the key force in the independent 
defence capabilities should be steadily strengthened politically and 
ideologically, militarily and technically. It is the pillar of the 
socialist military power and the strong vanguard for national 
prosperity.

It should make a sweeping turn in its efforts for combat readiness and 
efficiency this year marking the 75th anniversary of its founding, so 
as to continually brighten its glorious history and tradition as an 
elite revolutionary army that has won victory after victory under the 
command of the generals of Mt. Paektu. The patriotic zeal and militant 
mettle of the People's Army should be given full play in the place of 
the Party's concern, the forefront of socialist economic construction. 
The men and officers of the People's Army must give full scope to 
their revolutionary soldier spirit, the might of which has been 
tempered in the crucible of the Songun-based revolution, exalting 
their honour as the major driving force of the Songun-based revolution 
in the struggle for national prosperity and people's welfare.

It is important to develop rock-solid our great army-people unity, the 
first of its kind in the world. The climate of people supporting the 
army and the latter helping the former and the oneness of army and 
people in terms of ideology and fighting spirit should be promoted. 
Constant importance should be attached to the military affairs so that 
all the people would acquire military knowledge and the entire country 
be turned into an impregnable fortress. Primary efforts should be 
concentrated on the development of munitions industry for steady 
consolidation of the material foundations of our military 
capabilities.

We should strengthen in every way the unity of revolutionary ranks in 
ideology and purpose, so as to demonstrate the might of our country as 
a political and ideological power. The revolutionary headquarters is 
the centre of unity, centre of leadership, and also the symbol of 
strength and dignity of Songun Korea. The whole Party, the entire army 
and all the people should loyally uphold the idea and guidance of the 
leadership, cherishing the unshakable spirit of defending their leader 
at all costs. They should all become ardent fighters, who trust and 
follow only their leader and share his idea, purpose and destiny on 
the road of arduous struggle for accomplishing the Juche-oriented 
revolutionary cause.

Socialist construction advances amidst sharp class struggle. We should 
deal a merciless blow at the enemy's psychological warfare and their 
attempt for ideological and cultural poisoning aimed at destabilizing 
socialism of our own style. The revolutionary principle, the principle 
of the working class, should be strictly maintained in all fields of 
the revolution and construction.  The present stirring reality demands 
that a radical innovation be made in ideological education. We should 
get rid of formalism and stereotype in ideological work, to conduct 
all types of ideological work in a novel manner as required by the 
Songun era. Positive examples manifested among Party members and other 
working people should be found out and given wide publicity. Art and 
literary works, mass media and all other information and motivational 
means should be enlisted for dynamic ideological education.

A decisive guarantee for victory in this year's campaign lies in 
undertaking the organizational and political work and command in a 
revolutionary way, arousing the entire Party, the whole country and 
all the people to the general advance for the thriving country. The 
Party should be strengthened, and the militant role of Party 
organizations enhanced continuously. The entire Party should display 
to the full a strong sense of organization and discipline by which it 
moves as one in accordance with the ideas and intention of its leader.

Our Party is a party striving to build a great, prosperous and 
powerful nation, and a mother party that serves the people. All Party 
organizations, in line with the mission of our Party and its fighting 
objectives, should gear their work to bringing about radical 
innovations in economic work and improving the standard of the 
people's living.

To work miracles and make innovations in this year's general advance, 
Party organizations at all levels should conduct the Three-Revolution 
Red Flag Movement as the work of Party committees and push ahead with 
the movement by motivating the working people's organizations.

It is important to develop a higher sense of responsibility among the 
officials of economic institutions, including the Cabinet, and enhance 
their role in bringing about a fresh turn in the building of a great, 
prosperous and powerful socialist nation. The Cabinet should carry on 
economic operation and management in a responsible manner with 
strategic insight in conformity with its important position and 
mission to steer the socialist economic construction.

This year's general advance is calling on young people to make 
unprecedentedly heroic efforts and perform great feats. They are 
masters of a great, prosperous and powerful nation of the future and 
the most vital combat unit in implementing the cause of the Party. 
Greeting the 80th anniversary of the formation of the Young Communist 
League of Korea, youth league organizations and young men and women 
should staunchly defend President Kim Il Sung's achievements in the 
Korean youth movement and the traditions of the movement and add 
brilliance to their honour as a reserve force and a special detachment 
of the Supreme Commander.

The youth should volunteer to work at labour-consuming sectors 
including the construction site of the Paektusan Songun Youth Power 
Station to display their mettle and feats. They should render 
distinguished services for the Party and motherland to become young 
heroes and patriotic youth praised by the people.

Organizations of trade union, agricultural workers' union and women's 
union should intensify ideological education of their members in line 
with the requirements of the developing reality and inspire them to 
the general march for the building of a great, prosperous and powerful 
nation.

The dawn of reunification is breaking on this land with over 
six-decade history of division. Last year witnessed the demonstration 
of the vitality of the independent reunification movement and the 
might of the June 15 reunification era. Holding aloft the banner of 
the North-South Joint Declaration, and under the slogan of independent 
reunification, peace against war and great national unity, all the 
fellow countrymen unremittingly followed the road to national 
reunification, foiling the frantic anti-reunification moves towards 
war of bellicose forces within and without. Last year's reality 
reaffirmed that the Korean people of the same stock are a dignified 
nation with a strong sense of national self-respect and no force on 
earth can check the current of national history advancing towards a 
great, prosperous and powerful reunified nation.

The three principles of national reunification-independence, peaceful 
reunification and great national unity-put forth by President Kim Il 
Sung, the Sun of the nation, are the immutable guidelines in the cause 
of reunification, and it is the unshakeable will of Kim Jong Il to 
realize reunification in our generation true to the instructions of 
the President.

This year all the fellow countrymen should hold high the slogan, "Add 
brilliance to the June 15 reunification era by attaching importance to 
the nation, maintaining peace and achieving unity!" The stand of 
attaching importance to the nation should be maintained steadfastly.

To attach importance to the nation is a basic stand and motto the 
Koreans who are subjected to division and war by foreign forces should 
hold fast to. Neither outside forces nor ideal can be put above 
national interests. National demand and interests should be regarded 
as an absolute yardstick in dealing with all the affairs, and the 
principles of maintaining independence and giving priority to and 
defending the nation in the face of any pressure and blackmail of 
outsiders should be advocated. Inter-Korean relations and 
reunification movement should be developed in accordance with the 
ideal of "by our nation itself." Proud of being a homogeneous nation 
with a 5,000-year-long history, all the Koreans should preserve the 
Juche character and national identity and categorically reject the US 
interference in the internal affairs of the nation and its 
obstructions against it.

The banner of defending peace should be upheld. Peace is a key to the 
reunification of the country and common prosperity of the nation. 
Today the United States is desperately clinging to war moves against 
the DPRK and the country's reunification in an attempt to stem the 
trend of the situation on the Korean peninsula towards reunification 
by the Korean nation itself and realize its wild ambition to dominate 
the whole of Korea. Due to the vicious schemes of the United States, 
peace and security on the Korean peninsula are under grave threat.

To safeguard peace is a just patriotic undertaking to defend the land 
for the existence of the nation, and victory in this effort is in 
store for the Korean people who are ready to sacrifice themselves to 
the defending of national independence. All the Korean people should 
turn out in the struggle for peace against war in order to smash the 
military pressure, war exercises and military buildup that threaten 
the nation. They should see through the US hegemonic and aggressive 
nature, and launch a dynamic campaign to drive the US occupation 
troops, the root cause of war, out of south Korea.

The entire nation should unite. Unity is a way to national existence 
and prime mover of the cause of the country's reunification. Koreans 
in the north, south and abroad should bring the atmosphere of 
reconciliation and unity to a crescendo under the banner of 
independent reunification, and further promote solidarity and alliance 
among different reunification movement organizations with the June 15 
All-Korean Committee as an umbrella body.

Opposition to conservatives in south Korea is part of the effort for 
realizing great national unity and a decisive factor for the advance 
of society and reunification movement there. The "Grand National 
Party" and other reactionary conservatives are now making desperate 
efforts to realize their traitorous attempts and ambition for 
regaining power with the help of the outside forces. Broad segments of 
the south Korean people desirous of independent and democratic society 
and the country's reunification should realize a broad 
anti-conservative alliance and launch an energetic campaign on the 
occasion of this year's "presidential elections" to decisively destroy 
the treacherous pro-US conservative forces.

The June 15 North-South Joint Declaration is a beacon of hope that has 
paved the way for national prosperity. All the Koreans in the north, 
south and abroad should strive to implement the joint declaration 
without letup in the face of any trials and difficulties, and smash 
every attempt to emasculate and obliterate it.

Songun politics is an all-powerful sword for national defence that has 
proved its invincible might and patriotic character in the practical 
struggle to shape the destiny of the nation. Cherishing the boundless 
national pride and self-respect in the present reality in which the 
national dignity is being demonstrated worldwide on the strength of 
Songun politics, all the fellow countrymen should staunchly support 
Songun politics.

All Koreans in the north, south and abroad should bring about a heyday 
of the cause of independent reunification by turning out as one in 
implementing the three tasks-attaching importance to the nation, 
defending peace and achieving unity-with confidence in and optimism 
about the rosy future of a reunified country. The present trend of 
global situation shows that the strong-arm policy and high-handedness 
of the imperialists are doomed to failure and that the people's 
struggle for independence can never be checked. We will remain 
faithful to the last to our historic mission in safeguarding global 
peace and security and advancing the cause of independence of 
humanity, and continue to intensify international solidarity with the 
progressive peoples under the ideals of independence, peace and 
friendship.

A great era of prosperity is smiling on our motherland. Kim Il Sung's 
Korea is a formidable socialist power that is dignified by a great 
idea, powerful with the single-minded unity and ever-victorious with 
the strong military capabilities. No force can obstruct the vigorous 
advance of our army and people, who are endeavoring to bring earlier 
the day when they would enjoy happiness in socialist paradise with 
nothing to envy in the world.
*************************************************

5.   NORTH KOREA IN 2007: PYONGYANG'S VIEW
     by B. C. Koh, IFES Forum No. 07-1-8-1, 8 January 2007

[B. C. Koh is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois in 
Chicago.
IFES Forum is published by the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at 
Kyungnam University in Seoul.]

For the 13th consecutive year North Korea published a joint New Year's 
Day editorial in the daily organs of its ruling party, armed forces, 
and youth league. A practice introduced in 1995 in lieu of the New 
Year's Day messages the late Kim Il Sung used to give, the joint 
editorial presents the North Korean ruling group's enumeration of the 
main accomplishments of the preceding year as well as its vision of 
the tasks that lie ahead in the new year. It merits a close 
examination, for one can gain insights into Pyongyang's self-image, 
priorities, and goals.

Although this year's editorial does not mention the Six-Party Talks, 
of which the Second Session of the Fifth Round was held in December 
2006, the latter merits an assessment as well. This essay therefore 
will begin with a scrutiny of the salient features of that session.

THE SIX-PARTY TALKS: THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIFTH ROUND

Two things made the convening of the second session a significant 
event: First, it occurred after an interval of 13 months, thus 
narrowly preventing 2006 from going down as the only year in which 
six-party talks were not held since they began in August 2003. Second, 
it marked the first time that the six states participating in the 
talks -- the USA, China, Russia, Japan, and the two Koreas -- got 
together after the North conducted a nuclear test on October 9.

There were two novel features pertaining the session. First, it was 
preceded by two rounds of preparatory talks in Beijing. The first, 
held on October 31 among Wu Dawei, Kim Kye Gwan, and Christopher Hill, 
chief delegates to the six-party talks representing China, the DPRK, 
and the USA, respectively, produced a commitment by the North to 
return to the talks. The North made it clear, however, that its 
decision to return to the talks was predicated on the premise that the 
"issue of lifting financial sanctions will be discussed and settled 
between the DPRK and the USA within the framework of the six-party 
talks."

The second round of preparatory talks, attended by the same trio, 
materialized on November 28 and 29. The USA was reported to have 
offered a "detailed package of economic and energy assistance in 
exchange for North Korea's giving up nuclear weapons and technology." 
The offer marked a departure from the Bush administration's previous 
policy of refusing to "make clear to North Korea exactly what kind of 
aid it would receive if it agreed to begin taking apart facilities 
like the plutonium reprocessing facility that turns spent fuel into 
weapons and to provide a list of all its nuclear facilities." The 
package offered to the North also included "a pledge by the United 
States to work with North Korea toward finding a way to end the 
financial restrictions placed on a Macao bank, Banco Delta Asia, that 
was a main hub of the North's international financial transactions."

Second, in accordance with the agreement noted above, talks between US 
Treasury Department officials and North Korean banking officials 
occurred on the margin of the six-party talks. To the North, however, 
these talks carried more weight than the six-party talks. In the 
latter's plenary session as well as in one-on-one contacts held on the 
sidelines, the North adhered to the position that a resolution of the 
financial sanctions issue was a precondition for substantive 
discussion of the nuclear issue.

What needs stressing, nonetheless, is that contrary to the impression 
of total failure conveyed in the press coverage, the Second Session of 
the Fifth Round did accomplish something. According to US Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice:

"We did not make the progress that I think we would have liked and 
that we believe that the North Koreans need to come in a more 
constructive spirit. But that does not mean that there were not very 
productive discussions that went on during that round...I think that 
because some of the groundwork was laid there, if the North Koreans 
are prepared to demonstrate that they are, indeed, now prepared to 
come with a constructive response, we could be back at six-party talks 
fairly soon."

The USA may have expanded the incentive package offered to the North 
at the second preparatory talks noted above. One addition may have 
been an offer to remove North Korea from Washington's list of states 
sponsoring terrorism. A long-standing demand by Pyongyang, such 
measure would pave the way for the North to join the International 
Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank, which 
in turn would allow it to apply for low-interest, long-term loans.

As US chief delegate Hill complained, however, Kim Kye Gwan appears to 
have been under "strict instructions" from Pyongyang "not to engage in 
official discussions on the nuclear issue until the banking measures 
are lifted." Kim's need to report to his superiors at home on the new, 
expanded offer was largely responsible for the decision reached by the 
delegates to recess, rather than adjourn, the talks, with a commitment 
to return "at the earliest opportunity."

The North was reported to have put forward a long list of demands; in 
addition to the abandonment by the United States of its "hostile" 
policy toward the DPRK -- of which the financial sanctions was a key 
manifestation -- the North demanded a light-water reactor; supply of 
energy, i.e., heavy fuel oil, while such reactor is being installed; 
withdrawal of US troops from the South; and a jettisoning of the 
Proliferation Security Initiative. Kim Kye Gwan, who enumerated these 
demands in his keynote speech at the opening session on December 18, 
warned that should the demands be ignored, his country would 
strengthen its "nuclear deterrent" capability.

More than anything else, North Korean behavior reflected its enhanced 
confidence that the October 9 nuclear test had elevated its position 
and strengthened its bargaining leverage vis-à-vis the USA. In 
Pyongyang's eyes, it was now on a par with the USA at the negotiating 
table; such self-confidence was on display when Kim Kye Gwan demanded 
that should the USA persist in discussing the nuclear issue, the 
six-party talks should be transformed into arms control or disarmament 
talks, with the aim of reducing or dismantling both sides' nuclear 
arsenals.

The North's often-repeated assertion that "denuclearization of the 
Korean Peninsula as a whole is both the instruction left by [the late] 
President Kim Il Sung and the ultimate goal of our Republic" should be 
construed in this light.

Whether the newly-inaugurated financial talks -- aimed at resolving 
the dispute over the US Treasury Department's designation in September 
2005 of the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in the Chinese territory of Macao 
as a "primary money laundering concern," which in turn led to the 
BDA's freezing of an estimated 50 North Korea-related accounts valued 
at $24 million -- will prove to be more productive than the six-party 
talks remains to be seen. Two days of talks lasting 8 hours ended with 
the announcement that they would reconvene in January in New York. As 
of this writing, however, when or where the talks will resume remained 
uncertain.

HOW PYONGYANG ASSESSES 2006

Turning to the joint editorial by Nodong sinmun (Labor News), Choson 
inmingun (The Korean People's Army), and Ch'ongnyon chonwi (Youth 
Vanguard), the North hails the past year as the "year of a great 
victory" in the building of "a great powerful and prosperous country" 
(kangsong taeguk) as well as the year in which a "great leap" was 
made.

Inferentially referring to the nuclear test, the editorial labels the 
"acquisition of nuclear deterrent" the "fulfillment of our people's 
long-cherished dream of possessing indomitable national power," a 
"cause for national celebration." "Our armed forces and people," it 
added, "are now in a position to crush the threat of a nuclear war and 
aggressive schemes of any and all enemies and to safeguard the 
Socialist fatherland."

The editorial goes on to claim proud accomplishments in other fields 
related to the construction of a kangsong taeguk. It cites the 
invincible solidarity of the people firmly united in support of the 
headquarters of the revolution; an improvement in agricultural 
production; an energetic pursuit of technological innovation in all 
fields of the people's economy; the bolstering of a production base 
for the improvement of the people's standard of living; and the 
sprouting of "monumental creations" all over the country. The 
editorial also mentions the feats of North Korean athletes in 
international competition, noting in particular the scintillating 
performance of its women's soccer team.

GOALS IN 2007

The lofty objective of building a "great powerful and prosperous 
nation" encompasses both military and economic components. The nuclear 
test of October 2006, in North Korean eyes, helped the North make a 
quantum leap in military power. In 2007, therefore, priority shifts to 
the economic arena.

All-out efforts need to be made, the editorial points out, in order to 
raise the living standards of the people. To accomplish that goal, an 
"epochal advance" is necessary in agricultural production so as to 
solve the problem of feeding the people. No less urgent is the task of 
decisively improving the production of consumer goods. Not only does 
their quality need to be raised but they must also be supplied to the 
people in a timely and efficient manner.

The four priority fields in the people's economy -- (1) electricity, 
(2) coal, (3) metallic industry, and (4) rail transportation -- need 
utmost attention and redoubled efforts. The editorial also underscores 
(1) the need to accelerate the exploration and development of energy 
and other resources and to revitalize production in the extractive, 
machine-building, chemical and construction industries as well as 
forestry; (2) the importance of completing the projects to build 
monumental structures befitting the era of songun (military-first); 
and (3) the task of beautifying the "fatherland's landscape" 
encompassing Pyongyang, other cities, and farming villages.

As for the means with which to achieve the foregoing, the joint 
editorial reiterates the familiar slogans of self-reliance, adherence 
to chuch'e, and "great solidarity between the Army and the people" 
(kunmin taedangyol). Accent on ideological indoctrination, however, is 
balanced by an emphasis on raising the responsibility and role of 
workers in "Cabinet" and, especially, economic organs. The insistence 
on upholding "socialist principles" in economic management, while 
pursuing interests pragmatically but in "our own way" seems to open 
the door to limited experiments in "market socialism."

Turning to inter-Korean relations, the editorial extols (1) emphasis 
on minjok -- i.e., the ethnic identity of the Korean people -- (2) 
preserving the peace, and (3) the realization of unity with a view 
toward realizing the ideals of the June 15, 2000 North-South joint 
declaration. Pyongyang's blunt message is that the brethren in the 
North and the South should join hands to pursue common interests and 
oppose the United States. The editorial goes so far as to call on the 
South Korean people to "bury" the "traitorous, pro-US, reactionary, 
conservative forces," namely, the Grand National Party (Hannara-dang) 
in the forthcoming Presidential election.

AN ASSESSMENT

How does Pyongyang's rhetoric stack up against reality? Did 2006 
indeed mark a turning point in its quest for kangsong taeguk? Did its 
nuclear test bring it closer to the goal of a "powerful" country in a 
military sense? How credible is its claim that it now possesses 
"nuclear deterrent" potent enough to "crush the threat of a nuclear 
war and aggressive schemes of any and all enemies"? Although the 
North's underground nuclear test on October 9 appears to have been but 
a partial success -- given that its estimated explosion yield was less 
than a kiloton -- it may nonetheless have changed the strategic 
equation on the Korean peninsula. At a minimum, a pre-emptive 
"surgical" attack on the North's nuclear installations, something the 
US was reported to have contemplated in the early 1990s, may no longer 
be a viable option.

While Pyongyang's new emphasis on economic construction with the aim 
of bolstering the other pillar of kangsong taeguk is laudable, whether 
it can really achieve its goals is open to question. As the joint 
editorial makes plain, the North has yet to attain the rudimentary 
objective of feeding its people, continuing to be dependent on 
humanitarian food aid from the international community, including, 
especially, China and South Korea.

Bad weather, notably torrential rains and drought, is not the sole, 
perhaps not even the primary, problem bedeviling North Korean 
agriculture. Policy failure, structural bottlenecks, and the lack of 
incentives to farmers are more serious impediments.

The regime's reluctance to implement sweeping changes -- to embrace 
bold policies of reform and opening -- remains a major problem. The 
continuing salience of party control and ideological exhortations in 
the joint editorial does not give much hope in this regard.

What are the prospects for a breakthrough in the six-party talks? 
While the BDA issue remains a major stumbling block, its resolution is 
within the realm of possibility. A partial lifting of US sanctions --  
that is, the unfreezing of some but not all of the accounts -- may be 
one option.

The most important question pertains to whether or not the North is 
willing to give up its nuclear weapons and programs. For the time 
being or foreseeable future, a complete, verifiable, and irreversible 
dismantlement (CVID) of North Korean nuclear programs will likely 
remain elusive. That does not mean, however, that a deal cannot be 
forged under which some steps toward an eventual CVID can be taken in 
exchange for significant rewards. Such scenario may indeed be 
contained in the enhanced package the USA is believed to have offered 
to the North in Beijing during the latest round of the six-party 
talks. The goal of implementing the joint statement of September 19, 
2005 should, of course, be pursued energetically. The road ahead, 
nonetheless, remains long and bumpy.
*************************************************

OPINION

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

6.   PAEK THE OPAQUE: ANOTHER OLD DPR KOREAN BITES THE DUST
     by Aidan Foster-Carter for The Straits Times, 6 January 2007

[This is the original version of an Op-ed piece which was published by 
the Straits Times, Singapore on 6 January 2007 under the title 
"Another quiet death in N. Korea's elite". See: 
http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.70300a17785a04285f53bcd7d3a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=5066c5660b2ff010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:5066c5660b2ff010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD:vgnpdate:1168120740000]

Everyone is famous for 15 minutes, at least according to the late 
American pop artist and cultural icon Andy Warhol.

For Paek Nam Sun, that was literally true. North Korea's foreign 
minister since 1998, who has just died, hit the headlines just once in 
all his 77 years -- and then only on the inside pages, mainly of the 
regional press in Asia.

COFFEE WITH EVIL -- IN BRUNEI
That was in August 2002, when for a quarter of an hour Paek sipped 
coffee with his rather better known US opposite number at the time, 
Colin Powell. The place was Brunei; the occasion, the ASEAN Regional 
Forum (ARF).

Senior American and North Korean leaders rarely meet at the best of 
times, which this was not. Earlier that year, President George W Bush 
had famously labelled Kim Jong Il's regime, along with Iran and Iraq, 
as part of an "axis of evil". So for his Secretary of State to dally 
thus with the enemy, even briefly, raised eyebrows in some quarters.

We know now, as suspected at the time, that Powell was keen to engage 
North Korea. But vice-president Dick Cheney was dead against, and 
Cheney had Bush's ear.

Any hopes of renewed dialogue were dashed later in 2002. Accused by 
Washington of a second, covert nuclear programme, North Korea 
restarted its first one - precipitating a crisis that continues, 
climaxing (so far) in its testing a nuclear device on October 9.

Paek low in the pecking order With the nuclear crisis ongoing, we 
might have expected to see more of Paek Nam Sun. But they do things 
differently in North Korea.

A senior diplomat (and sometime ambassador to Poland) who had also 
been active in early contacts with South Korea since the 1970s, as 
foreign minister the genial Paek was a largely ceremonial figure: 
trundled out for occasions like the ARF. As such he was in Kuala 
Lumpur last July, where he reportedly also had medical treatment.

Serious negotiations, on the other hand, were and are the province of 
Paek's nominal deputies: two above all. The better known is deputy 
foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan, who heads Pyongyang's delegation to the 
on-off six party nuclear talks. A skilled and confident negotiator, 
Kim even gave an unscripted if brief press conference after the latest 
round of talks, held in Beijing last month, ended inconclusively.

But the real heavy hitter is first vice foreign minister Kang Sok Ju. 
He it was who negotiated the October 1994 US-DPRK Agreed Framework 
(AF); defusing an earlier North Korean nuclear crisis (plus ca 
change), back in the Bill Clinton era, which in mid-1994 had come 
perilously close to unleashing a second Korean War. If the six-party 
process ever gets anywhere, which is doubtful, Kang will be wheeled on 
again. For now, the more junior Kim Kye Gwan does the honours.

PUZZLING PSEUDONYMY
So Paek Nam Sun's passing will hardly send a tremor through North 
Korea's foreign policy. But it does shed light on the curious way they 
order matters in Pyongyang.

For one thing, what was his real name? The man who first showed up in 
the 1970s for Red Cross talks with South Korea was known as Paek Nam 
Jun. But after he became foreign minister, the J mysteriously morphed 
into an S.

Peculiar, but not unique. Ri Jong Hyok, Pyongyang's current point man 
for ties with Seoul, was Ri Dong Hyok in the 1980s when he headed 
North Korea's quasi-embassy in Paris. There are several other such 
cases. It's hardly a disguise, so what gives?

(En passant, the French connection is intriguing. Nominally the last 
EU state to resist full recognition of the DPRK, in practice France 
has hosted a North Korean legation since the 1970s. And both Kang Sok 
Ju and Kim Kye Gwan majored in French: the traditional language of 
international diplomacy.)

DYING OFF
Another oddity: North Korean elites hardly ever retire. Like Paek, 
they mostly die in post, often at an advanced age. Communist regimes 
tend to gerontocracy: think China, at least until recently. But North 
Korea has taken this, like most things, to extremes.

Since Kim Jong Il succeeded his father Kim Il Sung as leader in 1994, 
the nominally ruling communist party, the Worker's Party of Korea 
(WPK), seems to be frozen - at least at the top. No new appointments 
to the Politburo have been announced in over a decade. Instead its 
ranks have been thinned by the remorseless march of mortality.

Latest to go was Kye Ung Tae, who as KWP secretary for national 
security wielded far more power than Paek Nam Sun. Kye died of lung 
cancer on November 23, aged 81. That leaves just six full Politburo 
members. One - anti-Japanese guerilla veteran and honorary vice 
president Pak Song Chol - passed 93 last September. Three others are 
over 80. Titular head of state Kim Yong Nam turns 79 on February 4, 
just before the "dear leader" Kim Jong Il - a mere lad by comparison - 
reaches his 65th birthday.

That would be retiring age in most normal countries. But Kim Jong Il 
has yet to name a successor, among several competing sons and other 
contenders. His health is said to be not of the best - although such 
rumours have proved premature in the past.

A nuclear North Korea is indeed a worry, but it is not the only one. 
The world, and even Pyongyang, will take the death of Paek Nam Sun 
(who?) in its stride. But Kim Jong Il could go just as suddenly. In 
that case all bets for North Korea would be off.

The writer is honorary senior research fellow in sociology and modern 
Korea at Leeds University in the UK. Also a freelance consultant on 
Korea, he has followed Korean affairs for over 35 years.
*************************************************

7.   SEPARATING ILLUSION FROM REALITY
     by Erich Weingartner, United Church Observer, January 2007

"Did you notice any changes since the last time you visited North 
Korea?"

It's the inevitable question faced by every repeat traveler to the 
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Unfortunately, it's an 
obvious question without obvious answers. In a country as closed as 
the DPRK, change is often in the eye of the beholder.

The way visitors react to the DPRK is like a Rorschach test, according 
to Karin Lee, Executive Director of the National Committee on North 
Korea in the USA. As you stare at the folded inkblot, you tend to 
project on it all your anxieties, fears, and hopes.

"Because there is so much unknown about North Korea," says Lee, "what 
somebody says about it is as much a reflection or projection of their 
own belief system about the world as it is a concrete understanding of 
what takes place in or is believed by the DPRK."

Those of us old enough to remember Cold War phobias will look for - 
and find - a state of unrepentant oppression, a system designed to 
violate human rights and religious freedom, a militaristic regime 
aggressively intent on reunifying the Korean Peninsula by force. Those 
of us who believe that peace can only be achieved by engaging the 
enemy through dialogue will look for - and find - a regime genuinely 
afraid of external powers intent on its eradication, national and 
local administrators trying their best to cope with a crumbling 
infrastructure, and millions of ordinary people struggling for their 
economic survival against all odds. There is strong evidence 
supporting both perceptions.

"Has anything changed?"

The question hovered over my head from my arrival at Sunam airport to 
my departure from the "hermit kingdom" a week later. It had only been 
three months since my last visit, but for North Koreans the earth had 
shifted from its axis in the intervening period. In defiance not only 
of their chief enemy, the USA, but also of their closest ally and 
benefactor, China, the DPRK had fired seven test missiles into the 
Eastern Sea, one of them a multi-stage intercontinental missile 
(though it failed 30 seconds after launch).

Caught by surprise, and with considerable loss of face, China punished 
its ally by siding with the USA in a United Nations Security Council 
resolution condemning the tests and authorizing a number of sanctions. 
A month after my visit, the DPRK poured salt into the wound by proudly 
announcing the completion of their first underground nuclear test.

Did I see armoured vehicles in the nation's capital, or evidence of 
military mobilization in the countryside? Not really-other than the 
usual uniformed guards at the entrance of government offices and 
warehouses, off-duty soldiers on bicycles, and military units helping 
farmers harvest rice and corn.

Did I notice increased militaristic slogans and propaganda? Not 
really-other than the cartoonish poster of a giant fist crushing a 
tiny American soldier that has been posted on the street outside the 
House of Culture and Friendship for months.

Did I hear sirens or see people engaged in civil defense exercises? 
Not really-other than the siren that awakens people for work every 
morning. As for exercises, I saw school children practicing routines 
in Kim Il Sung Square for yet another national festival.

Most people seemed quite oblivious to the diplomatic storm that was 
raging in the world outside. I saw crowds filling buses and trams on 
their way to and from work. I saw hundreds of men, women and children 
in fields-both farmers and volunteers-struggling to reap the harvest 
with their bare hands because of energy shortages. I saw the roofs of 
farmhouses covered with drying peppers and corn, ablaze in red and 
gold.

In a longer-range perspective, things have actually changed 
considerably since the devastating famine of the mid-1990s. High-rises 
are under construction in many cities, entire villages are being newly 
built in the countryside. There are more cars and a great many more 
bicycles. One can see more markets and private stalls, enterprising 
individuals selling handicrafts, baked goods, farm produce, surplus 
manufactured items, and commodities from cross-border trade with 
China. The number of restaurants in Pyongyang has mushroomed-many 
privately owned and well attended. Even a North Korean variety of fast 
foods has become popular: small booths on the street sell not only 
drinks and ice cream, but a choice of pre-cooked meals in plastic 
containers.

Not all changes have been beneficial, unfortunately. The economic 
reforms of 2002 have resulted in an increased gap between winners and 
losers. In one restaurant I saw a man pay his tab by peeling US dollar 
bills from a thick wad he pulled from his pocket, while in a park next 
to the foreign-owned Potonggang Hotel a sad teenager in tattered 
clothes surreptitiously begged from passing hotel guests.

The political balance between the Workers Party and the military has 
been strained by the new economic power of entrepreneurs, who are 
increasingly outside the control of the central government. It is one 
of the less visible internal dynamics that has prompted Kim Jong Il to 
rely more heavily on the military to stabilize his regime.

Unfortunately, his "military first" policy doesn't play well in the 
international arena. When improved harvests and a growing trade with 
South Korea and China prompted the government to ask international 
agencies to shift from food aid to development assistance, donor 
governments almost without exception decided to give neither food aid 
nor development assistance.

Despite Canada's long-standing policy that food should not be used as 
a political weapon, we have cut off all aid to the DPRK-whether 
through the WFP or through Canadian NGOs working on a variety of 
assistance projects. Our Ambassador to North Korea went to Pyongyang 
in late November to deliver a "tough message" from our government. He 
went empty-handed. No reward for bad behaviour.

"You have abandoned us," said a good friend at a crowded, 
standing-room-only worship service at Chilgol Church. I was at a loss 
for words. In my heart I knew he was right. In our eagerness to 
punish, we lost sight of whom it is we are punishing.

The sanctions now imposed by the UN Security Council (plus additional 
measures by some governments) run the risk of plunging the most 
vulnerable in North Korean society into yet another famine. Only this 
time the international community will have lost its appetite for 
mounting a rescue mission. We will be content to stare at the inkblot 
that mirrors our own perceptions of reality.

Besides, delivering threats is always cheaper than delivering hope.
*************************************************

End CanKor # 271

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

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