North Korean Economy Watch

According to Yonhap:

In a clear indication North Korea is paving the ground for a power succession, a Web site operated by a university in the communist state is calling for picking the right successor to leader Kim Jong-il, possibly alluding to his son.

“Only when the successor to the leader is selected right can the leader’s ideas and revolutionary exploits be firmly maintained and spectacularly passed down,” said a post on Kim Il-Sung Broadcasting University’s website, uriminzokgangdang, seen here on Wednesday.

Citizens in South Korea, which bans the communist state’s propaganda material citing years of enmity between them, are blocked from accessing the Web site at http://www.ournation-school.com.

…

The uriminzokgangdang post, written in early September in the form of an answer to an apparently pre-arranged question, also said the successor must establish exclusive authority because, until that happens, political turmoil could emerge.

“Not everyone can be a successor to the leader, and just because someone is presented as a successor, it does not mean he can carry out significant tasks as such,” it said, making it clear that the country faces a “succession issue.”

Uriminzokgangdang means “lecture hall of our nation” in English.

…

It was not immediately clear where the Kim Il-sung Broadcasting University is located. Media reports from Pyongyang indicate the school is based in the capital. The university has been operating its Web site since 2004 to give online lectures on such topics as the ideology of “juche” or self-reliance.

Yang said the school appears to be based in Pyongyang since it bears the name of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994 after years of grooming his son, Kim Jong-il, as his successor.

Does anyone know if this web page is accessible on the DPRK’s Kwangmyong intranet system?

Also, I cannot find any information on this university.  Can a reader who is fluent in Korean please go through their web page and find the school’s Korean name, English name, picture and address (if any of this information is available)?

Read the full story here:
N. Korean website raises succession issue ahead of key party meeting
Yonhap
Sam Kim
9/15/2010

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 at 9:55 am and is filed under Communications, Education, Internet, Political economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.