As we have previously discussed, North Korean human rights groups are sending leaflets across the DMZ in balloons. Dr. Petrov provides a link to what is written on these brochures, which can be read in Korean here.
I have aso put the flyer into a PDF which you can download here.
Here is the gist in English:
1st section: Starts off saying that FFNK intends to set the facts straight; that the people in the DPRK need to know the truth. Key messages: the hunger and the poverty in DPRK is not due to SK or US but due to the habitual negligence and selfishness of Kim Jong il (They say “devil-like KJI”) and that the DPRK government was the puppet government of the Soviet Union, adding that a September 25, 1945 document containing the verification of this fact was released publicly in 1993.
2nd section: Titled, “The Truth about the 6.25 war (Korean reference to the Korean war),” states that it was in fact the DPRK who attacked the south. In march 1949, Kim il Sung went to Moscow and “begged” Stalin for permission to attack the South to unify Korea under the socialist flag. After KIS’s 48th attempt, Stalin gave his consent in early February 1950 and Kim attacked on 6.25.1950. The leaflet stresses that this info has been verified by the US and Russia.
3rd section: Titled, “The Reason for the Fall of DPRK,” claims it wil be due to KIS and KJI depleting natural resources and exploiting the people as their personal banks and slaves. The leaflet claims that they disguise their greed/exploitation by pretending/lying that they are also the sons of the people and that what is good for the party is also good for the people. A direct quote states: “While the NK people were starving, KJI dined like a king with meals prepared by his Japanese chef,”and that the DPRK is the only country in the world where laws are embodied by a man. This section also lists many economic and social statistics that contrast the DPRK and RoK. Another direct quote: “In other words, KIS and KJI have made you a mindless drone/slave of the modern age mentally, physically and through your hunger. KJI is solely responsible for this atrocity/disaster.”
4th section: Titled, “What Kind of Human is KJI? Here’s the Truth (they use the Korean word for ‘human’ rather than ‘person’.” His birthday is actually 1941.2.16 but was changed to 1942 to coincide with the year his father came to power. His birthplace is not Mt. Baektu a hospital in the Soviet Union. When “Yura” graduated from his middle school, he announced that he was ‘issued’ a Korean name and would henceforth be called JI. His Siblings: unconfirmed older sister, younger brother “Shura,” who drowned while playing with JI in a river, younger sister kim kyung hyui. Wife: officially married to Kim Young Sook, but separated. He lived with a former movie actress Song Hae Rim, who gave him Kim Jong Nam, but when she committed adultery, he exiled her to Moscow. She died in 2002. His next wife, Ko Young Hui, gave him 3 kids, but she died 2004. Kim has probably lived with tens of women. The leaflet asks “are these the actions of the face of the respectable/high-minded communist country, the innocent, modest and loving leader of the people?”
I do wonder how the word for “human” rather than “person” came to be used with a pejorative connotation. Of course I’m not entirely sure how it’s used in the North, but it certainly is the case in the South.
Finally, I’ve been able to learn about the contents of the messages. Thanks.