Once again, I think it's important to note that whilst the DPRK is seen as 'the most inhuman government in the world' ... even by its best friends; a moot point is that the emerging new Great Leader Kim Jong Un, has the same authenticity to rule as do those who rule Saudi Arabia, Jordan and a number of other similar 'states'. Young Un has the same right and legitimacy as the Royal Families of Europe who ruled as they saw fit not so long ago anyway. "Oh how the ghosts of them cling".
So whilst it's easy and convenient to attack the officially 'demonised one', at the same time there are a plethora of others of the same dynastic authenticity who we call our friends, who go about the beheading of foes at 'the drop of a hat', who impose bizarre laws on their slaves, who torture and pillage and rape basically as they see fit on a regular, legal and righteous, 'appropriate' basis. We even have a Pope who was a member of Hitler Youth and that is quite okay and understandable. Kim Jong Un doesn't really stand out far in that crowd; and he's only a kid in his twenties anyway. I wish him well with the big job he has.
I wish DPRK well. I hope the future is brighter than the past. The people of the North can't really ever look back on the luxury of 'the good old days' like many of us can because they've never had any. If there is harmony, it is the future.I hope that socialist free market reforms enable the people to suffer less and prosper more. With any change there is uncertainty and also within uncertainty there is opportunity and true fortune, especially in the dynamic and tectonic Year of the Tiger... and the current changing of the guard is very potent in all elements... as is all North Asia right now.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Kim Jong Un
Kim Jong Un: Political crown prince of North Korea
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
(IANS)
The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has stood for months at the centre of speculation over who would succeed the strongman.
Kim Jong Un, who is about 27, has long been considered the favourite, but little is known about him.
Discussions of Kim Jong Il's family relationships are taboo in North Korea. Photographs of the younger Kim have been few and far between, and the first mention of him in state-controlled media was made Tuesday in an announcement that his father had made him a four-star general.
But Kim Jong Il's former cook Kenji Fujimori wrote in a book that the third of his three sons is most like his father - from looks to character.
He supposedly developed an early sense of authority and power, the South Korean newspaper The Korea Herald reported. And like his father, he also reportedly suffers from diabetes.
On Tuesday, he also appeared to have been made, as his father before him, the political crown prince of the isolated, impoverished Stalinist country.
The announcement that he had become a general was another indication that he could soon be nominated his father's successor.
It occurred shortly before the largest meeting in 30 years of North Korea's ruling communist party, the Workers Party of Korea, which began Tuesday in Pyongyang. During the previous meeting in 1980, Kim Jong Il was anointed his own father's political heir, eventually taking over the country in 1994 when Kim Il Sung died.
While Kim Jong Un's elevation had been predicted for months by political analysts, Tuesday was the first concrete information that he was ascending the political ladder in secretive North Korea.
Kim Jong Un had emerged last year as his father's likely successor. Since then, news has leaked out of the country that officials had been ordered to pledge loyalty to him, propaganda songs and poetry have been written about him and his birthday has been designated a public holiday.
Kim Jong Un was born in 1983 or 1984. His mother was a dancer and Kim Jong Il's third wife, Ko Yong Hi, who died six years ago from breast cancer, according to media reports.
Her son reportedly was educated under a false name in an international school in Berne, Switzerland, until 1998. The Swiss weekly magazine L'Hebdo reported last year that Kim Jong Un left the school at the age of 15 without completing his diploma.
His classmates described him as shy and introverted and added that he liked to ski and play basketball, it said. He admired the US basketball star Michael Jordan and the action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme, it reported.
Before Tuesday, Kim Jong Un had yet to appear on the political stage, but signs had been growing since last year that he would become the third person in the Kim political dynasty to rule North Korea.
Kim Jong Un was elected as a delegate to this week's party conference by the North Korean Army, according to reports Monday, in a move seen as a stepping stone to membership in the party's central committee, which dictates national policies.
Observers also saw importance Tuesday in the appointment of another four-star general, Kim Kyoung Hui, the 64-year-old sister of the country's ruler. She is married to Jang Song Thaek, who analysts consider the number two leader in North Korea.
Both are now in positions to act as mentors to Kim Jong Un, who, unlike his father, would probably not have two decades of preparations to take the reins of absolute power in North Korea.
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
(IANS)
The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has stood for months at the centre of speculation over who would succeed the strongman.
Kim Jong Un, who is about 27, has long been considered the favourite, but little is known about him.
Discussions of Kim Jong Il's family relationships are taboo in North Korea. Photographs of the younger Kim have been few and far between, and the first mention of him in state-controlled media was made Tuesday in an announcement that his father had made him a four-star general.
But Kim Jong Il's former cook Kenji Fujimori wrote in a book that the third of his three sons is most like his father - from looks to character.
He supposedly developed an early sense of authority and power, the South Korean newspaper The Korea Herald reported. And like his father, he also reportedly suffers from diabetes.
On Tuesday, he also appeared to have been made, as his father before him, the political crown prince of the isolated, impoverished Stalinist country.
The announcement that he had become a general was another indication that he could soon be nominated his father's successor.
It occurred shortly before the largest meeting in 30 years of North Korea's ruling communist party, the Workers Party of Korea, which began Tuesday in Pyongyang. During the previous meeting in 1980, Kim Jong Il was anointed his own father's political heir, eventually taking over the country in 1994 when Kim Il Sung died.
While Kim Jong Un's elevation had been predicted for months by political analysts, Tuesday was the first concrete information that he was ascending the political ladder in secretive North Korea.
Kim Jong Un had emerged last year as his father's likely successor. Since then, news has leaked out of the country that officials had been ordered to pledge loyalty to him, propaganda songs and poetry have been written about him and his birthday has been designated a public holiday.
Kim Jong Un was born in 1983 or 1984. His mother was a dancer and Kim Jong Il's third wife, Ko Yong Hi, who died six years ago from breast cancer, according to media reports.
Her son reportedly was educated under a false name in an international school in Berne, Switzerland, until 1998. The Swiss weekly magazine L'Hebdo reported last year that Kim Jong Un left the school at the age of 15 without completing his diploma.
His classmates described him as shy and introverted and added that he liked to ski and play basketball, it said. He admired the US basketball star Michael Jordan and the action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme, it reported.
Before Tuesday, Kim Jong Un had yet to appear on the political stage, but signs had been growing since last year that he would become the third person in the Kim political dynasty to rule North Korea.
Kim Jong Un was elected as a delegate to this week's party conference by the North Korean Army, according to reports Monday, in a move seen as a stepping stone to membership in the party's central committee, which dictates national policies.
Observers also saw importance Tuesday in the appointment of another four-star general, Kim Kyoung Hui, the 64-year-old sister of the country's ruler. She is married to Jang Song Thaek, who analysts consider the number two leader in North Korea.
Both are now in positions to act as mentors to Kim Jong Un, who, unlike his father, would probably not have two decades of preparations to take the reins of absolute power in North Korea.
Change in DPRK
Young successor ripe for elevation to North Korea presidency
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
According to North Korean media, the son of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has been made a general by the country's ruling party.
It is believed that Kim Jong-il persuaded members of the Workers Party to install his son into the position during the first day of the largest political meeting in decades.
It has recently been reported by South Korean intelligence services that 68-year-old leader, Kim Jong-il, is battling several illnesses, including the aftermath of a stroke.
Since the reports of illness, speculation has arisen that the meeting of party officials in Pyongyang will officially anoint Kim Jong-un as the chosen successor to Kim Jong-il, who himself was anointed in the same way by his own father at the last major party event in 1980.
If Kim Jong-un receives a senior party position as a complement to him being made a general, it is likely he will soon take over from his father, who is seen in the country as a god-like figurehead.
It is believed the younger man has been working in the influential Workers Party Bureau of Organization and Guidance, which is involved in the hiring, firing and promotion of the country's elite.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim Jong-il's sister, Kyong-hui, was also named a general.
Kim Jong-un, a little known figure in North Korea, is Swiss-educated and in his mid-20s.
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
According to North Korean media, the son of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has been made a general by the country's ruling party.
It is believed that Kim Jong-il persuaded members of the Workers Party to install his son into the position during the first day of the largest political meeting in decades.
It has recently been reported by South Korean intelligence services that 68-year-old leader, Kim Jong-il, is battling several illnesses, including the aftermath of a stroke.
Since the reports of illness, speculation has arisen that the meeting of party officials in Pyongyang will officially anoint Kim Jong-un as the chosen successor to Kim Jong-il, who himself was anointed in the same way by his own father at the last major party event in 1980.
If Kim Jong-un receives a senior party position as a complement to him being made a general, it is likely he will soon take over from his father, who is seen in the country as a god-like figurehead.
It is believed the younger man has been working in the influential Workers Party Bureau of Organization and Guidance, which is involved in the hiring, firing and promotion of the country's elite.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim Jong-il's sister, Kyong-hui, was also named a general.
Kim Jong-un, a little known figure in North Korea, is Swiss-educated and in his mid-20s.
Religions
I must admit that I'm not a fan of the Great Religions. My experience of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Tibetan Mahayana Yellow Hat Buddhism is that they take from the poor and unimportant and powerless to make themselves rich and important and powerful, and then make insane, divisive, unilateral proclamations in the name of Someone Else who they all represent.
I feel a lot more confident dealing with a businessman from Shanghai in that we both know what the deal is and what it is about. There's an appreciated honesty in that dishonesty; a crusty insouciance that would go well, I'd think, with lemons in a naturally sour salad.
As for Roman Catholicism, well... it would be wrong to say that the cover-up of extensive sexual abuse currently under way under the guidance of the Pope is any form of aberration of that holy institution. It is no aberration, but rather abuse is the Rock upon which that Church is built and it is the reason the Church has done so well for so long on Earth. the idea of putting odd celibate men in charge of and in total control of pubescent youth...how could anyone on Earth, not only now, but ever, ever, for one minute, have thought that that was or is a really good idea? Islam, Christianity etc these were/are the seats of human wisdom? The Great Thinkers? Yeah, sure.
I don't know anything about Hinduism, thank Christ.
I feel a lot more confident dealing with a businessman from Shanghai in that we both know what the deal is and what it is about. There's an appreciated honesty in that dishonesty; a crusty insouciance that would go well, I'd think, with lemons in a naturally sour salad.
As for Roman Catholicism, well... it would be wrong to say that the cover-up of extensive sexual abuse currently under way under the guidance of the Pope is any form of aberration of that holy institution. It is no aberration, but rather abuse is the Rock upon which that Church is built and it is the reason the Church has done so well for so long on Earth. the idea of putting odd celibate men in charge of and in total control of pubescent youth...how could anyone on Earth, not only now, but ever, ever, for one minute, have thought that that was or is a really good idea? Islam, Christianity etc these were/are the seats of human wisdom? The Great Thinkers? Yeah, sure.
I don't know anything about Hinduism, thank Christ.
Some rivers find the sea yet that is not their sweet reason
Thinking of Michel de Montaigne at 3am.It’s best to not get so caught up in what has been wrong or right over a span of time. Right and wrong changes just like flags in windy weather; this way and then that way. Life goes on within us, and as George Harrison duly noted, after a time without us, and him. Life is a river we are, yet cannot grasp, because we are all true to our nature; and no other can be imposed.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Kim Jong Un/ General
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong-il has named his youngest son as a military general, state media said early on Tuesday, marking the first stage of a dynastic succession.
It was the first time the 20-something Kim Jong-un had been mentioned by name in the North's media, and his appointment came just hours before the start of a rare ruling party meeting to elect its supreme leadership.
Kim Jong-il, 68, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but despite his declining health is not expected to go into retirement just yet, experts say. They say his son is too young and inexperienced to fully take the reins.
State news agency KCNA said Kim had issued a directive bestowing military rank on six people including Jong-un, the leader's sister Kyong-hui and Choe Ryong-hae, who is considered a loyal aide of Kim and his family.
Kim Jong-il "indicated in the directive that he ... confers the military titles to members of the Korean People's Army with the firm belief they will complete their honorable mission and duty on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea," the report said.
Intelligence officials say the youngest son of the "Dear Leader" was identified last year as next in line to take power in a country which for years has been punished by international sanctions for trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The son is believed to have been born in 1983 or 1984 but little is known about him, even by intensely secretive North Korean standards, beyond the sketchy information that he went to school in Switzerland and has been his father's favorite.
It was the first time the 20-something Kim Jong-un had been mentioned by name in the North's media, and his appointment came just hours before the start of a rare ruling party meeting to elect its supreme leadership.
Kim Jong-il, 68, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but despite his declining health is not expected to go into retirement just yet, experts say. They say his son is too young and inexperienced to fully take the reins.
State news agency KCNA said Kim had issued a directive bestowing military rank on six people including Jong-un, the leader's sister Kyong-hui and Choe Ryong-hae, who is considered a loyal aide of Kim and his family.
Kim Jong-il "indicated in the directive that he ... confers the military titles to members of the Korean People's Army with the firm belief they will complete their honorable mission and duty on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea," the report said.
Intelligence officials say the youngest son of the "Dear Leader" was identified last year as next in line to take power in a country which for years has been punished by international sanctions for trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The son is believed to have been born in 1983 or 1984 but little is known about him, even by intensely secretive North Korean standards, beyond the sketchy information that he went to school in Switzerland and has been his father's favorite.
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