North Korean Economy Watch

First wedding performed
8/15/2006-ITAR-TASS

PYONGYANG, August 15 (Itar-Tass) — Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad has performed a marriage ceremony for Russian Ambassador to North Korea Andrei Karlov at the new Holy Trinity Cathedral – the only Orthodox temple in the DPRK.

That was the first-ever wedding ceremony at the new cathedral, which was blessed by Metropolitan Kirill on August 13. The metropolitan leads a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church on visit to Pyongyang.

The wedding was announced unexpectedly during a Monday banquet that marked the Korean liberation from Japanese colonizers.

The construction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral began in 2003 by the initiative and under personal control of Kim Jong Il. Korea fully financed the project. The church articles were delivered from Russia.

From NK Zone and Choson Ilbo:

Russian Orthodox Church to Open in Pyongyang
8/9/2006
 
A Russian Orthodox Church will open its doors in Pyongyang this Sunday, said officials with the Russian embassy in North Korea. An official said on condition of anonymity, “There are plans to invite North Korean citizens, foreigners working at the various consular establishments, and workers with international organizations.” The Russian embassy said, “The church has no nationality, anyone who is a believer in the Russian Orthodox faith is welcome.” A European diplomat said, “The church will be used to illustrate North Korea’s insistence that there is absolutely no problem with religion in the country.”

Construction began in 2003 with the blessing of Archbishop Climent of Kaluga and Borovsk (now the patriarchate’s administrator in Moscow). The missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church began in Korean around the year 1900, and believers in North and South Korea combined number around 10,000.

From the Joong Ang Daily:

First flood aid leaves for North
August 04, 2006

South Korea’s first aid package to help North Korean flood victims left Incheon yesterday, a Seoul-based international relief organization said. The eight containers full of goods include 100 tons of flour, 37,500 packs of instant noodles and 2,660 candles.

The Join Together Society, a relief agency founded by the Buddhist civic group Jungto Society, plans to send three more shipments to North Korea. Yesterday’s package, worth 120 million won ($124,262), will arrive in the North’s Nampo Harbor today, the aid group said. The aid packages will be given to flood victims of South Pyongan province, where the damage was reportedly severe.

The second shipment will include $50,000 worth of medicine and other goods including blankets and dishes, the group said. The goods will be purchased in China and sent to the North by trucks. The third and fourth shipments will be food aid, to be shipped from Incheon to Nampo.

More non-governmental groups said yesterday they will initiate fundraising drives to support flood victims in both South and North Koreas. The South Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration, an alliance of civic, social, religious and political groups, said its members will provide contributions from today till Tuesday to raise $100,000. The fundraising drive will expand to the public by the end of next month, and the money will be spent to help flood victims of both Koreas, the committee said.

A relief agency for North Korea under the National Unification Advisory Council also announced its plan to provide aid packages to support flood victims in the North. The organization said 50 million won worth of goods, including 300 hand carts, will depart Incheon on Wednesday for Nampo. Additional goods, including medicine, will be provided, and the group planned site surveys in North Korea at the end of this month to see if the victims need further assistance, the group said.

The United Nations and the Red Cross were conservative about the North’s suffering after the July floods. The United Nations estimated at least 154 North Korean deaths and 127 missing, while the Red Cross said 141 were killed and another 112 were missing. A South Korean civic group said earlier this week that up to 10,000 were missing or dead.

Meanwhile, international media reported yesterday that the North has refused aid offers from the World Food Program and Red Cross.

From the Korea Herald:
August 2, 2006

A South Korean civic group announced yesterday that it will send 130 million won ($138,000) worth of flood relief to North Korea tomorrow.

This is the first time that humanitarian aid is being sent to the North after it suffered heavy damage from the latest torrential downpours, the group said.

The Join Together Society said it shipped 100 tons of flour, 38,000 packs of instant noodles and living necessities such as clothes, shoes and candles.

JTS is a relief and development organization founded in 1994, and headed by well-known Buddhist monk Ven. Pomnyun.

The ship will leave Incheon tomorrow and will reach the North’s western port of Nampo tomorrow at the earliest, said the Seoul-based civic group.

The move came after the South Korean government stopped aid packages as the North test-fired seven missiles into the East Sea last month. However, civic groups here have urged Seoul to revive its humanitarian aid as food shortage problems in the North got worse in the aftermath of the massive downfall.

JTS said that the flood relief will be sent to an organization that helps North Koreans residing overseas. The goods will be used to relieve flood victims in the Yangduk county of Pyeongan Province, northwest of Pyeongyang, it added.

From the Korea Herald:

A rare piece of North Korean internal educational material reveals how much troubled the North’s party and state authorities are these days by what seems to be social laxity turning worse following the 2002 economic reform measures. It also helps find answers to questions about Pyongyang’s recent moves to shun contact with the South.

“On Waging Uncompromising Struggle against the Enemies of the Class” is the title of the document, known to be prepared for the education of Workers’ Party cadre members. The material obtained and released by the Free North Korea Radio operated by refugees from the North complains that the “enemies of the class opposing our present system are intensifying their vile activities, which will result in serious consequences if we delay or neglect our alertness against them.”

The material admits there are people who “sell out the secrets of the party and the state, running mad about money, who propagate antisocial religious and superstitious acts, and those who are engaged in delinquencies refusing to work.” One has the impression that social problems are deepening in the North despite severe regimentation of the people.

We know well that North Korea is in a dire situation as a result of continued economic constriction. Its extensive economic reform measures put into force on July 1, 2002, are now believed to be causing new problems due to the people’s stronger pursuit for money which leads to “ideological corruption.” So the party educational material calls for the elimination of impure and incongruous elements in the northern society which are now accused of “even engaging in political sabotage.”

In addition to the unwanted side effects of economic openness, broader contacts with the South could be shaking even the rock-hard social order based on rigid resident control and surveillance. The entry of over 30,000 South Koreans into North Korea each year on various business purposes, the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Mount Geumgang, and the shipment of large amounts of rice, fertilizer and other aid materials including clothes and medical supplies cannot but leave significant impact on North Korean society.

While suspending and limiting inter-Korean contacts, Pyongyang authorities are now compelled to intensify the indoctrination of their people. Yet they are attempting to do something impossible. Arduous educational programs will not have much effect in keeping North Korea’s 20 million people within the state ideology as they pursue the basic human desires to get out of hunger and live in freedom.

From the dailk NK:
7/26/2006

The First On Location Record of N. Koreans ‘Life Education’ Revealed

On the 22nd, a total of 9 voice files (116 minutes), exclusively acquired by the DailyNK, discussing “life education” at North Korean a Giupso (State Owned Enterprise), were released.

It was the first time “life education” locations were revealed.

The voice files included life education information created by the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, and the front-line workers league, as well as instructions given by the Central Party leaders in May, and meeting minutes that group leaders and department secretaries delivered to workers.

These voice files include not only life education information, but also instructions the North Korean government gave to women and to the elderly. These voice files will provide valuable information to outsiders as to what ideologies and instructions the North Korean government has used in educating North Koreans.

“Life education” is an event in which a group gathers at a household to reflect on their public and private lives and constructively criticize each other.

All North Koreans belong to the Party and Worker’s League. Members of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, the Women’s League of Democracy, the Workers’ League, and the Farmers’ League all meet within their groups for “life education” gatherings.

The gatherings can be anywhere from two day-life education periods, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. The voice files were an example of weekly meetings.

“Top 10 Principles”

After DailyNK analysis of the voice files, it is evident that the North Korea government still strongly controls people through life education meetings, although some have stated that control has loosened.

The voice files show that the person in charge of the Worker’s League life education meeting emphasized following “organization regulations”.

He urged that, “Keeping in mind the top 10 principles (the 10 principles necessary for the continuation of North Korean ideology), you should reflect on yourselves, your attitudes and your perspective on the league and the government during last week. Life education begins at 7:30. You should never be absent from life education meetings. Do not be late again. Regulations will not loosen”.

Subsequently, he pointed out that, “People are afraid of individuals rather than organizations. So there are not enough critical comments”, complaining that the atmosphere of life education meetings is not aggressive enough.

Youth League life education meeting emphasized, “First of all, we should have the strong desire to defend our only Leader. We should follow the revolutionary creed that the Great Leader (Kim Jong Il), is our nation and we should be a strong guardian of him”.

When a person at the meeting began a comment with the words, “according to the 10 principles” (refering to the 10 principles of NK ideology), the person in charge of the meeting corrected him, instructing him to say instead, “Regarding the top 10 principles necessary for the one and only ideology system of the Party to be established, Great Leader Kim Jong Il pointed out as follows”.

Furthermore, the North Korean government still emphasizes that “our own socialism is the absolute belief of the Great Leader”, illustrating that the North Korean government has no desire to give up on ‘our own socialism’, contrary to international expectations that North Korea will open its economy and pursue reformation and liberalization.

In the Youth League, the meeting mediator said that, “We should have a deeper belief in socialism. We should confront enemies ideologically as well as physically. If we possess a strong ideology and creed, enemies will never succeed in conspiring against us. Our socialism is that of the Great Leader”.

He also said that, “(The outside world) is attempting to overthrow our nation by producing a mass of impure claims and spreading them throughout the country. Today, we should overcome political, ideological interventions, schemes, and conspiracies with great hostility”. This illustrates the degree to which the North Korean government is afraid of the external influence, and is struggling to prevent the influx of information.

Meanwhile, in a meeting held for group leaders and their families, a village secretary reiterated the instrctions given on May 1st by Kim Jong-Il, declaring an extensive ideological fight against enemies.

The instructions commanded people to “support the legal struggles against illegal defectors, the unemployed, vagrant beggars, illegal traders, smugglers of metals and cash, and against violent criminals such as murderers and burglars”.

1. Enemies have attempted to overthrow our nation by spreading false claims throughout our nation. They have attempted to employ psychological warfare against our republic. They have conspired to distribute 200,000 pieces of impure information a month into our nation, via third nations and spies. Today, enemies are openly trying to overthrow our nation. We should confront this ideological intervention by our enemies with strong hostility.

However, some people who forget their duties, and have impure ideological attitudes, have strayed from our socialist beliefs by distributing socially and culturally impure information such as lecherous video tapes provided by our enemies. The impure information creates an illusion of capitalism as an oasis, but betrayes our nations beliefs. Our young people should rightly acknowledge how dangerous the conspiracy against our republic is, and actively participate in the fight to protect our nation.

How shall we do that? First of all, we embrace the Great Leader and guard him. As our enemies aim to destroy our firm ties to the Great Leader, our young people should vow to guard the Great Leader against the ideological and cultural intrusion of our enemies. With the revolutionary ideal that the Great Leader is our nation, we must be strong enough to risk our lives for the Great Leader. Next, we must have a deeper belief in socialism. The fight against our enemies is not only physical but also ideological. If the ideology is strong enough, our enemies will not be able to destroy us. Belief in socialism is the absolute reverence towards the Great Leader.

File 2.

“What is your name?”
“○○○”
“Why are you late? I told you not to be late before. Do you have your life education note? Why are you late? Don’t you belong to the Workers’ League?”
“Today I was not late for life education”
“Do you say that you were not late? Hey! When does the education start? When does the education start?”
“At 7:30”

“Were you here by 7:30? Why are you late? XXX, you are always so sloppy”
“Life education started at 7:30. You sneaked in here right before the class ended. Don’t you think you should be here before the class starts?”
“The next life education also starts at 7:30. Youth League and Workers’ leagues do, as well.
“Do you think that life education starts at 8:00? XXX”
“Do not be late again. Why do you think you are criticized for that? Every Giupso knows that life education starts at 7:30. You must have known it. Then why are late? At 8:00 Giupso has a morning meeting. You should attend the meeting”
“Sit down. Anybody want to reflect on themselves?

“Don’t lie. Just say ‘yes, I was a little bit late’. Never tell a lie. Telling a lie means deceiving others. Yes, the Great Leader said that ‘a lie is the first step of betrayal. The first step of betrayal’. The first thing betrayers do is tell a lie. This is not the first time. You are always late. Betrayers are far from here. Betrayers are not on the distant hill. Betrayers are right within this fence, and right in this room. Right next to you. Betrayal starts from telling a lie. Why do you keep telling lies? I saw you standing outside the room. When I sat down you hid yourself. Why do you do that? Why do you hide behind the window? Just say ‘I was late, because of something. I will not be late again’ That is what you should have said. Liars also have problems at home. Workers’ League, train your members better from now on”.

“I have something to tell you. When you quote what the Great Leader said and the top 10 principles, say it this way: Great Leader Kim Jong Il pointed out through the top 10 principles for the only and one ideological system to be established as follows. Do not just say ‘according to the top 10 principles’. This should be corrected. Next, being late is a serious problem. Some people are late for morning meeting, as well. Organization regulations seem to have loosened! People should be afraid of the organization, not each other. That’s why no one makes any critical comments of each other. Turn in your life education notes here.

File 3.

The Party instructed to employ moral characteristics and verbal decorum. The Party strongly urged people not to use vulgar words.

Do not use vulgar words such as XXX, stupid, use our traditional words and correct the vulgar words. Do not use vulgar, insulting words with your spouse. Workers and young people also should try to enhance their language and show devotion to organizations and groups by loving them more than themselves.

Love and take care of revolutionaries’ families, the war dead, families of victims and honorable soldiers, and take interest in their lives and business. Be polite to the old, seniors and pregnant women by offering your seats to them and comply with public rules in public places such as on trains, buses and in theaters.

Do not have alcohol at gatherings, or go dancing. Respect our traditional customs. Confront anti-socialism and establish a sound social lifestyle. Leagues will review people again on June 20 after they carry out the instructions of each League. The ideological fight will start on June 25, going through mid-July. This were the instructions of the Great Leader Kim Jong Il. A high-level meeting will first take place, after which lower-level meetings will be held in which problem-solving methods will be discussed. We must thoroughly prepare for them.  Obey like children. First men should act as roll models. Group leaders and secretaries should do so as well.

May 20, instructions of the Party
Some people have paid to learn Chinese from Chinese-N. Koreans. Others have sold possessions in order to pay. We must fight against this. Children must keep their parents’ medals safe, but instead they often bring them outside for play. Fathers will know how important the medals are. Yet children do not know. So fathers should educate their children about it. Next, I would like to talk about raising rabbits. First of all, group leaders and secretaries should act as good role models. Write a report about regarding the rabbits each weekend. Discuss how many rabbits are there, and other details. All Giupsos should discuss the matter of raising rabbits. If the Party gave instructions, all should follow them. Do not overlook anything.

from the BBC:

N Korea cancels gymnastics gala

North Korea has cancelled a massive festival featuring thousands of gymnasts, soldiers and performers because of flooding earlier this month.

The two-month long Arirang festival has in the past been popular with western tourists and visitors from South Korea.

The event features spectacular synchronised acrobatic displays and is seen by Pyongyang as a way of boosting leader Kim Jong-il’s popularity.

Floods in North Korea this month killed more than 100 people.

According to the UN’s food agency, some 60,000 people were left homeless by the floods, which followed torrential rains.

Strained relations

Han Song Ryol, a North Korean envoy to the United Nations, told the Associated Press news agency the festival had been “cancelled due to flood damages”.

He did not say whether the event would be rescheduled.

Pyongyang had planned to invite up to 600 tourists every day from South Korea to see the festival, South Korean news agency Yonhap reports.

The agency said South Korean officials were concerned that the cancellation of the festival could lead to contacts between the two Koreas being curtailed.

Relations between the two countries are already strained over Pyongyang’s recent decision to test new, long-range missiles, ending a self-imposed moratorium on such tests.

Froom Joong Ang Daily:

Citing flooding, North pushes back a festival
July 31, 2006

The North Korean Arirang festival, which was to have begun on Aug. 15, was postponed until next spring, according to the president of the Korean American National Coordinating Council. Rain damage in North Korea was cited as the reason for the delay.

Yoon Kil-sang, the president of the council, posted the postponement announcement Friday (in the United States) on Minjok, an Internet news site there. He said he was notified by the North Korean mission to the United Nations of the postponement.

But South Korean groups said they knew nothing of the change of plans. An official at the South Korean committee preparing for a joint celebration of Liberation Day, Aug. 15, said the committee had not been told.

“In order to prepare for the Arirang festival, working-level meetings should have been nearly finished, but we have not heard from the North,” the official said.

Despite the recent North Korean missile test salvo, Seoul said last week that it would allow a private South Korean delegation to participate in the holiday commemoration and the festival.

Chosun Shinbo, published by a pro-Pyongyang group in Japan, reported on Friday that an area where the festival was to be held was hit hard by recent flooding. It said 1,200 trees were down and roads had been destroyed.

The Arirang Festival, which was first held in 2002, is a patriotic festival praising the country’s leaders and system using phalanxes of people with flash cards, dances and circus shows. Last year, in its second staging, 7,000 South Koreans attended. The festival was originally scheduled to run from mid-August to mid-October.

Separately, in a relatively rare admission of problems in paradise, the Chosun Shinbo also reported in detail on the flood damage in the North. Reportedly, the Pyongan provinces near Pyongyang were hit hard, with 10,000 people affected by floods and 30 bridges destroyed. North Hwanghae province, the agricultural center for much of the country, also suffered substantial damage, the newspaper reported.

Last week, the United Nations World Food Program estimated that 60,000 North Koreans had been left homeless and 30,000 hectares of farmland were destroyed in the recent flooding.

Kwon Tae-jin, a researcher for the Korea Rural Economic Institute, said yesterday that it took several years for the North to repair damage from a flood in the mid 1990s and that the recent flood was likely to cut into food production substantially. But he said if paddy walls could be rebuilt quickly and quarantine measures taken to prevent the spread of disease, damage could be minimized.

Yonhap
7/24/2006

N. Korea advances to semifinals of regional football tournament

The North Korean women’s national football team reached the semifinals of the Asia Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup as they beat South Korea 1-0 in Adelaide, Australia, on Monday.

The nine-country tournament doubles as an Asian regional qualifier for the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in China next year. FIFA is world football’s governing body.

From the Joong Ang Daily:

Seoul gives its blessing to view North’s festival

July 21, 2006-The Roh administration said yesterday it would allow a private delegation to participate in North Korea’s celebration of Liberation Day, the August 15 anniversary of Japan’s surrender in 1945. It will also allow South Koreans to attend the annual Arirang Festival that begins the same day and runs for two months.

The festival is widely seen by critics as an extended paean of praise to Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder and leader until his death in 1994.

Lee Jong-seok, the unification minister, told a news conference yesterday that non-governmental exchanges such as those for the holiday and the festival would go ahead “according to procedures.” He said no decision had yet been made on whether Seoul would send an official delegation to participate in the North’s Liberation Day rites.

After the press conference, a Unification Ministry official said permission to travel to North Korea would be given to all comers except for those barred by law from traveling there. The latter group once included those convicted of National Security Law violations or those under investigation for alleged violations of that anti-communist statute; now, only those involved in a current criminal investigation of any kind are barred.

Tensions in the region escalated rapidly after North Korea test-fired seven missiles on July 5. Ministerial talks a week later collapsed after Seoul refused to continue providing material aid, and the latest sign of tension came yesterday when Pyong-yang, following through on an earlier threat, told Hyundai Asan to repatriate 150 workers from the construction site at Mount Kumgang for a separated family reunion center.

The work, funded by Seoul, was scheduled to be completed in June 2007 at a cost of 50 billion won ($53 million). North Korea’s Red Cross told its counterpart in the South earlier this week that if rice and fertilizer stopped flowing north, the family reunions could not be held.

The decision to allow civilians to travel for the festivities is in line with Seoul’s expressed intention to keep channels with the North open, but critics said darkly that North Korea was certain to abuse that good will.

At the failed inter-Korean talks last week, Pyongyang demanded that Seoul end its restrictions on where South Koreans in the North can travel. It wanted those visitors to be able to visit what it called “holy places and landmarks,” a reference not to religion but to the cult surrounding Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong-il, his father’s successor as the country’s leader. Those “holy places” include Kumususan Memorial Palace, where Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum is located.

Critics also saw a train wreck, in their view, in North Korea’s contention at the recent Busan ministerial meeting that South Koreans are being protected by North Korea’s “military-first” policy. The Arirang Festival performances in recent years have been heavy in praising that policy, and some of those allegedly “protected,” they say, will be in attendance.

by Lee Young-jong, Ser Myo-ja 

Update: from the Daily Comet (Its in Louisiana)

An Orange County pastor who wrote the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life” has delayed a planned visit to North Korea amid heightened tension with the U.S. over the country’s recent missile launches.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church, had planned to meet with North Korean officials Monday to arrange a future preaching trip, Warren’s spokesman A. Larry Ross said.

The trip has now been delayed, but may be rescheduled within the week, a statement from the church said.

The statement did not say whether the delay was due to the increased tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which have flared since North Korea test fired seven missiles on July 4.

Warren was in Seoul, South Korea Sunday for meetings with church and government leaders and U.S. troops.

The proposed March 2007 preaching trip to North Korea would be to commemorate the 100th anniversary of a Christian revival in Pyongyang, now the country’s capital, and was to include a rally at a 15,000-seat stadium.

A 2002 U.S. State Department report estimated the country of 23 million has some 10,000 Protestants and 4,000 Catholics.

The U.S. does not maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea, though it has participated in negotiations over ending the country’s nuclear program.

Original Post: 7/8/2006

This is too bizarre to be fiction.  From World Net Daily (Which I do not read, BTW):

‘Purpose-Driven’ pastor to preach in N. Korea
Warren planning 1st evangelical stadium crusade in 60 years inside communist

Rick Warren may be put to a tough test next year when the Southern California preacher holds the first evangelical stadium crusade in 60 years in North Korea.

Warren, who is on a 40-day, 13-nation tour, will visit Kaesong on July 17 to plan for the March 2007 crusade after being invited by a group of North Korean businessmen who visited him at his Saddleback Church’s Lake Forest office last month.

“I will be the first preacher in 60 years to speak publicly in North Korea,” Warren told the Orange County Register. “I’m honored.”

He said the North Korean government would allow him to preach in a stadium seating 15,000 but a larger venue would be provided if he could fill the seats.

Because there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries, the businessmen, who say they met with Warren and extended the invitation to preach with approval of the North Korean government, are facilitating his visit next week.

“We are ready to go on our end. We’re just waiting for information back on approval and access,” Anne Krumm, a spokeswoman for the church, said.

North Korea’s missile tests have cast uncertainty on whether Warren, who is presently in Indonesia, can enter North Korea as planned.

“They’re trying to figure out how they can get in and how to do that,” she said.

Warren compares his opportunity to preach in the communist state to Rev. Billy Graham’s visit to the then-Soviet Union, saying he hopes to be able to promote religious freedom where it has been severely restricted since 1945.

“When you go in they have to loosen up on religious freedoms,” Warren said. “They have to just by your presence. It’s like Mandela going into a country. Automatically people start loosening up.”

Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition isn’t so sure.

“To go in there and believe that you could actually preach freely is an illusion. It won’t do anything to help the church. It will only put the true church at risk, and it will be used as a propaganda piece by the Kim Jong Il regime.”

Warren said he is aware that some might misinterpret his visit as an endorsement of the North Korean regime.

“When Billy Graham went to the Soviet Union, there was a lot of criticism of: ‘Well, they’re using you.’ And he said: ‘Well, yeah, they’re using me, but I’m using them too.’,” Warren said.

Graham was criticized following his 1982 visit to Moscow for letting himself be used by the communists when he said he had seen no evidence of religious persecution by the Soviet government and observed that religious freedom was somewhat greater among the people than he had anticipated.

When preaching at the Yelohovski Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Graham exhorted his audience to be better members of the communist state: “God can make you love people you normally would not love. He gives you the power to be a better worker, a more loyal citizen because in Romans 13 we are told to obey the authorities.”

Since 2001, North Korea has been designated a “country of particular concern” for violations of religious freedom. Its citizens may not belong to unauthorized religious groups, and believers who proselytize or have ties to evangelical groups in China are arrested, tortured or executed, a 2005 State Department report said.

Given North Korea’s history of persecution, Scholte’s fear is that the government will use the crusade to identify Christian believers who will be “rounded up and sent to a political prison camp” once Warren leaves the country.

Addendum from the Korea Times:

According to Warren’s own account posted on his Web site, a delegation of South Korean businessmen visited him at Saddleback Church in late June and invited him to speak at the public outdoor Christian service to be held in the North Korean capital in March next year marking the 100th anniversary of the Pyongyang Revival in 1907. The South Koreans had obtained permission for the service, which will be the first of its kind in 60 years as the dictatorial North Korean regime virtually bans any religious activities in public.

“My hope is that these visits will promote religious freedom in a country where the practice of individual faith has been tightly controlled and virtually prohibited since 1945,” he wrote.

Youtube has the video.

This is the most “traditional” sounding I have ever heard North Korean music.  Not one single accordian! shocking…

The 4th World Choir Games were held in Xiamen China from the 15th to the 26th of July, 2006.

I don’t know who won. 

From the Daily NK:

North Korean Women Responsible for 90% of Family Living…Recent Increase in Divorce 

Recently, it has been found that the divorce rate of North Korean women is rapidly increasing.

According to a newsletter published by a support organization for North Korea ‘Good Friends’ on the 29th, the majority of North Korean women bound to this battle of life are responsible for more than 90% of the family’s living and are caught in a severe lifestyle where they even have to gather bribes to the liking of security officers and protection officers.

It was reported that “The majority of women wake up at 3.30am to make rice and work outside the home all day. On returning home, they are still in charge of domestic housework such as cooking, washing, cleaning. For these reasons divorce has rapidly increased.”

The newsletter also reported “In the case of North Hamkyung province, in spite of divorce proceedings being complicated and approval difficult, of the people married the actual figure of couples living separately or undergoing divorce has reached 20%.”

The major basis of divorce is the burden of women to fulfill duties both in society and traditional female roles within the home.

In addition, it was explained that the reason divorces rates are rising is “During the period of full mobilization to farms like in May and June, not only is it difficult to eat three proper meals a day, but the number of husbands that help in domestic affairs does not even reach 10%.”

From the Korea Times:

Wild Rocambole Band _ Tallae Umakdan in Korean _ an all-female band of six North Korean defectors will release their first album here this August. Most studied at music schools in North Korea, or performed with state-run troupes.

Included on the album is “Hong Kong Lady,’’ one of the most beloved trot songs in South Korea along with several songs they learned in North Korea.

Leader Han Ok-jung, 28, who escaped the North in June 1998 is good at singing and Chinese while dancer Heo Su-hyang, 22, who fled in 2001, is well-versed in apparatus gymnastics and singing.

Kang Yoo-eun from Pyongyang, and Lim Yoo-kyung from North Hamkyong Province, both 19, sing and play the accordion.

To protect their families who remain in the North, two of the members, who are now South Korean citizens, use false names.