From the British Government:
A TU-154 operated by Air Koryo from Beijing to Pyongyang crash landed at Pyongyang airport on 15 August 2006.
Air Koryou crash in August 2005!
August 16th, 2006ROK flood aid to DPRK III
August 16th, 2006from Yonhap:
More S. Korean relief goods head to flood-hit N. Korea
A freighter left for North Korea Wednesday with tons of flour, instant noodles and other relief goods for flood victims in North Korea, South Korean aid groups said.
The total value of the shipment was not officially disclosed, but the donations included 60 tons of flour, 1,300 boxes of instant noodles and medical supplies, they said.
The shipment, the third of its kind since early this month, comes as the South Korean government, through its Red Cross, is planning large-scale relief aid for North Korea which suffered heavy human losses and property damages in rain-caused floods in mid-July.
There has been no official North Korean announcement on its rain damages but international workers there reported that several hundred people were killed or missing. Crop damages are expected to be 100,000 tons, they said.
South Korean aid workers said their shipment Wednesday will arrive at the North’s western port of Nampo in a day or two.
They said they were planning more shipment in the near future.
Donors for Wednesday’s shipment included the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, the Korean Foundation for World Aid and the Council of Civic Groups for North Korean Aid.
Angered by North Korea’s defiant missile launches on July 5, South Korea has officially stopped food aid for its impoverished communist neighbor but it has recently relented, saying that it could contribute to civilian relief activities.
South Korean Red Cross officials have indicated that their planned aid package would include 100,000 tons of rice and an unspecified amount of construction equipment.
Concerns have risen over the possibility of a new famine in North Korea like the one that hit the country in the 1990s, which reportedly left millions of people dead.
DPRK citizens listening to KBS
August 14th, 2006From the Daily NK:
Pyongyang Residents Secretly Watch KBS 9pm News
“On the Second-Hand TVs Imported from Japan”
By Kwon Jeong Hyun, Dandong of China
8/14/2006
It was found that Pyongyang residents in North Korea have secretly watched KBS 1 TV on high-fidelity receivers smuggled from China and TVs made in Japan.
The North Korean government has prohibited the North Korean people from watching South Korean TV programs. In order to prevent TV or radio waves from South Korea, it has done blanketing. Yet, it has been know that such control have not prevent the North Korean people from secretly watching KBS 1TV programs including 9pm News, and rather such trend has been spreading all over Pyongyang.
On the 30th last month, Kim Jin Ho(pseudonym, 42) staying in China to see his relatives said that, “Receivers smuggled through trucks from China are sold at 120 to 150 yuans (45,000 to 56,000 won of North Korea)at Jangmadangs “, adding “Quiet many people watch South Korean TV programs in Pyongyang”.
Kim told that, “Because of control of the government, people can not see soap dramas. They just usually watch 9pm news to know the trends of the world”, and “Family members and friends talk about them together”.
Kim said that receivers to receive the South Korean TV programs are 3m high and have two-edged looked like bones of fish. Kim said he is watching through the receivers only at night. The receivers are called ‘yagi receiver’, which are usually used as territory receivers. Given that the yagi receivers that have been used in the 70’s and 80’s are impossible for satellite broadcasting, people have received KBS program waves over the truce line.
Park Gi Chang(pseudonym, 34) from Pyongsung, South Pyongan province, said that, “Now if one does not know the trends of the outside world, he or she can not join the conversation” and “We can know about what the North Korean government did”. However, Park said that because of the strict control of the government, we have to be careful.”
Park said that, “I have watched KBS programs on a receiver purchased at Jangmadang after I saw my relatives seeing the programs in Pyongyang.”
Because North Korean TV standard is PAL(Phase Alternating Line) different from NTSC(National Television System Committee), we can not still see the South Korean program on the North Korean TVs. Seeing South Korean programs is possible only on the TVs made in Japan and China. Japanese TV standard is NTSC.
In addition, recently it was known that PAL and NTSC TVs are imported from China and Japan.
North Korean has imported TVs made in Hitachi, Japan since the 80’s in bulk. Some second-hand TVs had often been imported into North Korean, which were replaced by receivers only for North Korea.
A staff in charge of KBS broadcasting transmission said that, “No-person head end or transmission tops around the truce line area send electronic waves, which are possible to reach at Pyongyang”, and “it is surprising that we do not send electronic waves toward North Korea. But Pyongyang residents have received them”.
A researcher at a electronic waves research center under the Ministry of Information and Communication stated that, “Generally, waves sent towards Seoul reach at Cheonan or even Dangjin, the nearly southernmost part of S.Korea”, and “given the nature of waves, North Korea can not prevent the waves from South Korea”.
Kim Gi Hyuk, defector Producer of Free North Korea Broadcasting, said that, “I can remember that in Hoicheon, South Pyongan province, I watched a news announcing that Hwang Jang Yop came to South Korean as a political asylum, and saw a South Korean car advertisement through the receiver”, and “on the rainy day, the waves were better caught in the receivers”.
A staff of VideoLap, a video specialized company, said that, “If TVs’ standard is PAL, screens turn into black so we can not totally watch programs. However, sometimes the TVs work well”.
A government official briefly mentioned, “I heard that some North Korean people watch South Korean TV programs”.
The North Korean people have gotten world news on the broadcastings such as RFA or Korean Social education broadcasting. Furthermore, VCD and TV programs have been spreading. It has made the North Korean people free from informational isolation of the past.
China eyes Mt. Pektu II
August 12th, 2006From the Donga:
China Fencing Border With N. Korea
8/12/2006
It was confirmed on August 11 that China has been building wires along its border with North Korea, around the source of the Duman River near Mt. Baekdu.
Speculations are that the wires are meant to prevent defection of North Koreans to China, or that they are aimed at drawing a clear Sino-Korea borderline in an apparent attempt to incorporate an ancient Korean kingdom into a Chinese historical timeline.
The border between North Korea and China has so far been marked with 21 boundary stones from Mt. Baekdu to the source of the Duman River.
The Chinese government was alleged to have kept fencing since the end of 2004 to prevent North Korean residents from defecting to China, but this is the first confirmation that the wires are actually in place near the mountain and the upper Duman River.
The wires are a series of 1.5 to 1.7 meters high and two to three meters wide T-shaped concrete pillars, similar to those along the Military Demarcation Line on the Korean peninsular.
Beijing reportedly claimed that the fence is there to stop North Korean defection. One Chinese source said that the Chinese government has set up wires near Mt. Baekdu around the Duman this summer and that it plans to extend them to Samhap and Yenbien where many North Korean defectors stay.
However, some raise doubts that the construction work is part of Chinese efforts to incorporate Korea’s ancient history into its own.
Given that Beijing fears that the Sino-DPRK border area will be absorbed into Korean influence in the process toward unification of the two Koreas, the world’s most populous country’s recent move could be interpreted as part of its “historic reorganization.”
Furthermore, Beijing tried to have Mt. Baekdu registered in UNESCO World Heritage and World Geopark, while developing its tourist programs near Mt. Baekdu.
Professor Kim Woo-jun at the Institute of East and West Studies said that China is set to make a clear-cut borderline on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of China’s Northeast Project ending next year. He went on to say that the wires are built up for both blocking defection and securing its sovereignty.
This view is widely held as many North Koreans pass the areas near Mt. Baekdu and the Duman River to flee their country.
Furthermore, the border fencing has something to do with the recent Sino-DPRK relations estranged by Pyongyang’s missile tests.
Professor Kim Tae-ho of the Hallym Institute of Advanced International Studies said that the change in the bilateral ties is transforming the concept on the areas between North Korea and China from “the frontier” to the “national border.” He also said that after the second North Korean nuclear crisis in October 2002, armed police border patrols were replaced with a standing army in September 2003.
Pyongyang/Beijing tighten visa requirements
August 12th, 2006from the Hankyoreh:
Pyongyang, Beijing halt visa waivers
Move a sign of chilled relations between the two
North Korea and China have reportedly reached agreement that visas must be obtained prior to arrival in the other country, except for visits for ’official affairs.’ Previously, travel between the two countries had been largely free of visa requirements.
A Chinese source familiar with North Korean affairs said that the dispute over visa regulations – which has caused a controversy between the two allies since the beginning of this year – was partly resolved when Pyongyang and Beijing agreed that North Korean laborers working in China will first have to get a permit of employment from China’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security. They so far have enjoyed ’no visa required’ status.
Under Beijing’s revised regulations on visa and employment, almost 50 North Korean restaurants located in Chinese major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Yanji, and Dalian are expected to be hit more severely. Workers of these restaurants will be allowed to stay in China after obtaining a permit from the Chinese Labor Ministry.
In order to lower the unemployment rate, Chinese authorities are requesting foreign companies hire locals in positions except for technical posts. As a result, a large number of North Korean restaurants will have to close, or replace their employees with Chinese citizens. According to the source, four North Korea restaurants moved out of China last month.
Pyongyang has up to now issued three kinds of passports: those for public affairs, those for general affairs, and those for official business trips. North Koreans working at restaurants in China could enter China without visas, using passports for official business trips. However, from this year, China has required those passport holders to obtain visas in Pyongyang, as well.
Some sources note that the new visa measure indicates that the relationship between the two allies is changing from that of a closely linked socialist bond to that of ’ordinary’ nations.
Kim Jong Il’s latest film released
August 11th, 2006From the Washington Post:
New North Korean movie is proletariat pleaser
By Jon Herskovitz
8/11/2006
The king of the summer movie box office is none other than North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, or at least that is what the communist state’s official media has been saying this week.
The biggest movie sensation of the season has been the film made under Kim’s wise leadership called “Diary of a Student Girl,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.
“(It) is screened before full houses in Pyongyang every day, evoking lively response from people of all walks of life,” it said.
Unlike the big movies from Hollywood this summer, there are no pirates, animated cars or mutants making a last stand in the North Korean movie billed as a “close companion of life.”
North Korea’s student girl works with her younger sister in pursuit of scientific endeavors. Through their work they overcome hardships, better understand their parents and are instilled with pride in the nation and its military-first policy.
Even before it was released, official media said it would be listed as a masterpiece.
Minister of Culture Kang Nung-su praised the film as “the fruit borne under the wise leadership of Kim Jong-il, a great master in art,” KCNA reported.
And audiences indeed loved it: “The viewers make up their mind to live as the heroines do, saying that they want to see the film again,” the official agency said.
North Korea has made numerous movies that are low on special effects but high in messages that support the state’s communist ideology.
Kim’s official biography says the man known as the “Dear Leader” is an accomplished director who has made several award-winning films.
Kim is also suspected of kidnapping a South Korean director and his actress wife in order to boost North Korean cinema. Those close to him say he has a collection of thousands of movies.
North Koreans do not have a lot of choice when it comes to entertainment. Their radios have to be set to the official state station and they can get thrown in jail for watching foreign movies or listening to Western music.
As for Kim himself, it was not certain if he has sat through the latest movie. According to official media, he has not been seen for several weeks following Pyongyang’s decision to defy international warnings and test-fire seven missiles on July 5.
China-DPRK open trade zone
August 10th, 2006From NK Zone:
Few details are available, but the zone will be in the Namyang Workers’ Zone in Unseong county, Hamgyeong Bukdo province in the extreme north of North Korea, opposite the Chinese city of Tumen
The report notes that there are roads and railways crossing the border and the area is a transit point for Chinese, Korean and Japanese goods and that citizens of third countries have access.
The agreement was signed at the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang between the head of the foreign affairs department of Hamgyeong Bukdo, Kim Cheol-geun, and the Chinese consul-general, Sun Xianyu
The report does not say if the agreement has NK central government approval, which is apparently a sticking point in the much bigger deal under which the Chinese city of Hunchun will lease the NK port of Rajin.
ROK flood aid to DPRK II
August 10th, 2006North Welcomes Aid
Korea Times
8/4/2006
North Korea’s Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee took a positive stance yesterday toward accepting humanitarian aid from South Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported.
“There’s no reason for us to reject flood relief from the South as long as it’s not politically motivated,” Kim Song-won, head of the committee said from Dandong, China.
The remark is the first positive comment from a North Korean official on flood relief from the South amid chilly inter-Korean relations following last month’s missile threats.
Hyundai to Deliver Aid for NK Flood Victims
Korea Times
8.8.2006
Hyundai Asan, a South Korean company in charge of North Korean business projects, said Tuesday it will send relief goods to victims of flooding near a scenic mountain on the southeastern coast of the communist country.
From Wednesday to Saturday, Hyundai Asan will deliver 500 tons of cement and 200 tons of flour, worth about 100 million won ($104,000), by trucks across the inter-Korean border for North Korean victims in the inner part of Mount Kumgang, the company said. It would be the second relief delivery from South Korea after North Korea was devastated by torrential rains late last month.
On Monday, a pro-North Korea newspaper in Japan, the Chosun Sinbo, reported at least 549 North Koreans were killed and 295 others missing, hit by floods last month.
The casualty figures were seen as the highest so far in North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated nations. y
North wants aid, just not those noodles
Joong Ang Daily
8/10/2006
August 10, 2006 ㅡ North Korea formally asked South Korean civic groups for humanitarian aid for its flood victims ― but it doesn’t want instant noodles.
The country said it does want construction materials, construction equipment, blankets and medicine, according to a fax sent from the communist country to a South Korean civic group. The message was the first formal request from the North seeking aid. The North Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration sent the message to its South Korean counterpart yesterday, thanking the civic groups here for helping the North’s flood victims. In the message, North Korea specified what they prefer to be included in the aid package. Instant noodles and clothes were singled out as less-wanted items.
The South Korean committee will meet with its North Korean counterpart tomorrow at the Mount Kumgang resort to further discuss assistance. The South Korean committee has launched a fundraising drive for North Korean flood victims. Aid packages by some civic groups have already been sent to the North, and more were on their way yesterday from Incheon.
Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok is scheduled to meet today with Han Wan-sang, South Korea’s Red Cross chief, to discuss the government’s flood relief program for the North. Floor leaders of the five political parties will also meet today to discuss the aid to the North.
Government to give aid, rice, to the North
Joong Ang Daily
8/11/2006
After consultation with the South Korean Red Cross, the government has agreed to provide an aid package including rice to help North Korean flood victims, a Unification Ministry official said yesterday. The government will announce today its official participation in an emergency relief program for the North, led by the Red Cross and civic groups here.
After the North fired seven missiles last month, the South withheld its previously promised rice and fertilizer aid in protest.
In his meeting with Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, South Korea’s Red Cross president, Han Wan-sang, asked the government to help send goods to benefit North Korean flood victims. Mr. Han said rice and construction materials are such items. Mr. Lee agreed to that proposal.
The government and the Red Cross will discuss further the shipment schedule and amount of aid.
Mr. Han was quoted by Yonhap News Agency yesterday as saying the aid package will be prepared by the end of next week.
Floor leaders of political parties, including the conservative Grand Nationals, also met yesterday to discuss the need for humanitarian aid to the North. They encouraged the government to send food, medicines and construction materials. A Grand National Party spokesman said that the food aid should include rice, although strict monitoring should follow to make sure the grain is provided to flood victims in urgent need.
The governing and ruling parties also agreed to approve a supplementary budget for the aid if necessary.
Seoul offers W10b in aid to N. Korea
Korea Herald
8/12/2006
South Korea will contribute 10 billion won ($10.5 million) to civilian relief efforts for flood-hit North Korea, an official said yesterday.
The contribution is part of an aid package that Seoul plans to give to the North, reversing an earlier decision to suspend aid in protest against the North’s missile launches last month.
Besides the contribution, the South also plans to ship official aid supplies to the North via the Red Cross.
The decision came at a policy coordination meeting between the government and the governing Uri Party, which was attended by Seoul’s point man on North Korean affairs, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, as well as Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.
Earlier this week, North Korea asked for help from the South to recover from devastating floods in mid-July that left at least 549 people dead and 295 missing.
The North had previously refused South Korean aid from the Red Cross, saying it would take care of the problem itself.
The Unification Ministry is to allocate the money from its inter-Korean cooperation fund, which will be used to match the funds raised by each civic organization, the ruling party official said.
A ministry official said civic organizations have so far raised over 9.8 billion won in funds and goods. Other ministry officials said the fund will be used to purchase emergency relief aid, such as rice, flour, medicine and equipment.
The government held a meeting with civic organizations yesterday to decide on the size of its support for each civic organization.
The ministry and the South Korean Red Cross agreed Thursday to provide large amounts of assistance, mainly rice, that would be “substantial enough” to help flood-hit North Korea, according to Red Cross chief Han Wan-sang.
Rep. Noh Woong-rae, a vice floor leader of the ruling Uri Party, hinted Friday that the Red Cross aid may amount to more than 70 billion won worth of goods.
“(The government) gave 70 billion won worth of support (to the North) through its Red Cross when the Ryongchon incident” took place, Noh said, referring to an explosion at a train station in a North Korean town bordering China in April 2004, which left over 160 people killed and thousands injured.
“This (the previous amount) would be considered in determining the size of its aid, but the fact that the size of the (flood-affected) area is so large this time will be considered,” he said.
South Korea has been cautious in providing assistance to the North because of its no-aid pledge over the missile crisis.
But growing public calls for aid to the North have emboldened the government. The country’s main opposition party, which has been skeptical of aid provisions to the communist state, has also been supportive of emergency aid to the North.
The aid decision boosted hopes for an improvement in inter-Korean relations, which chilled after North Korea strongly protested Seoul’s decision to halt rice and fertilizer supplies until the North resolves concerns over its missile and nuclear programs.
North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world after natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the mid-1990s. The country relies on foreign assistance to feed its 23 million people.
Orhtodox Church in Pyongyang
August 9th, 2006First 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.
Lankov on DPRK/ROK/PRC relations
August 8th, 2006From the Korea Times:
Elusive Welcome Mat
By Andrei Lankov
It is believed that some 40,000 to 80,000 North Koreans live in Northeast China, earning money through unskilled work, or living with their Chinese partners. Some five years ago, their number was much greater _ perhaps, up to 250,000.
At first sight, defection to South Korea would be the most logical next step for these people. After all, the South Korean Constitution does not recognize the existence of North Korean state, thus every North Korean is, by definition, a citizen of the Republic of Korea (ROK), eligible to special rights and protection. However, such defections are rare _ only a few thousand North Koreans have move to the South over the last few years. Why?
The major reason is the unwillingness of the South Korean government to help refugees gain safe conduct to Korea. When a refugee manages to contact the South Korean embassy or consulate in China, he or she does not find support there. Those who have relatives in the South can use the expensive services of people smugglers (at least, $5,000 up front), but the majority have no chance to get to the South without some official support _ and this support is not forthcoming.
Among those who have been denied assistance there have even been some who would have been seen as god-given propaganda gifts 10 or 15 years ago. In 1996, for example, the South Korean Embassy in Beijing was visited by a family of six whose father, an exemplary “shock worker,’’ was once granted a rare honour _ to have his picture taken with Kim Il-sung himself. The diplomats advised the family that they were unable to do anything for them and wished the would-be defectors good luck. But they had no such luck _ they were arrested, deported back to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and severely punished. A 36-year-old military officer from an elite security unit fled to China in 1996. He spent 1996-2002 repeatedly applying for permission to move to the South. He contacted the South Korean Embassy a number of times but every time the diplomats advised him “be patient and wait.’’
A defector once told a South Korean journalist: “When I first fled the North I thought that it would be easy to go to South Korea. With the help of ethnic Koreans I arrived in Qingdao [China] in August 1996. But at the Korean Consulate, on which I had pinned all my hopes, [I] was told: ‘Under the present circumstances, this is difficult.’ [I felt like] the heavens collapsed.’’
Only those who represent an exceptional propaganda value (or have had access to very important intelligence) can count on official assistance these days.
Are you going to have an outburst of righteous disgust about “heartless Seoul bureaucrats?’’ Alas, it is not that easy. There are good reasons why the South Korean officials act in such a way…
First of all, the ROK does not wish to create problems with China, which carefully maintains its neutrality in the Korean conflict and does not wish to become a transition zone for crowds of refugees heading for Seoul. South Korean officials are also wary of ethnic Koreans from China who might try to pass themselves off as North Koreans to get access to ROK citizenship.
Admittedly, those refugees who manage to cross the border again, and reach the South Korean missions in South East Asia might count on better treatment and help. But the way across China is expensive and dangerous, especially since the Chinese police are on the lookout for likely refugees from North Korea.
Nevertheless, it appears that the major reason behind Seoul’s passivity is not a set of diplomatic calculations but a tacit understanding that refugees _ largely uneducated peasants _ have little hope of adjusting to South Korean society. Indeed, the defectors seldom fare well in the South _ in spite of the generous if recently curtailed aid packages. Encouraging defection would entail a great increase in spending on the already large aid programs.
In addition, Seoul does not want to destabilize its ex-enemy. A large-scale exodus of North Koreans to the South would likely cause a serious political crisis in Pyongyang. This is exactly the scenario that South Korean diplomacy strives to prevent: in recent years the notion of “German-type unification’’ is seen as a nightmare, to be avoided at all costs. Economic considerations play a major role, but one should not forget the remote but real chance that a cornered Pyongyang would start a new Korean War as a last resort.
Are these considerations sufficient enough to justify inaction? Frankly, I do not know. Alas, in real life people often have to make difficult choices between two evils, and attempts to present such choices in black-and-white are likely to lead to more tragedies. Seoul’s policy toward the North in the recent decade has been a basket of choices between bad and worse _ even though politicians were wise enough not to call a spade a spade, guarding the feelings of the majority who prefer to comfortably see the world in black and white. But that is another story…
