Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Timing
When you look at the timing of the torpedoing of the South Korean ship, it was probably a decision of Un as a payback for a nasty ship-sinking incident the year before that South Korea deemed as an unfortunate accident. They opened a dam spillway and a NK touring ship was sunk down river. Many died. Oops. The DPRK is not a 'forgive & forget' kind of nation. Just because the Americans decided where the sea border is that separates the Koreas, it doesn't mean the the DPRK agreed to that unilateral decision. Both DPRK and the South are highly geared emotionally charged regimes with a stark and direct capacity to express aggression, grief and rage with succinct and usually proportional actions.
It's interesting to note that DPRK philosophy is an almalgam of neo-confucianism, Buddhism, Shamanish, and even Catholicism. The Shamanism, in profound expression, explains the high emotional range, and willingness to display anger and to fight anyone, of many people in North Korea, no matter what the odds of victory,and should be seen as an important and impressively defining and abiding social and cultural aspect that will not change.
North Korea still has good friends. Mao's son was killed in the last war by the Americans. Family heroes aren't forgotten; and those bonds forged in war and blood don't break. It is not like the West where national loyalties and human honour are deals done on a dime.
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More from Wikipedia
According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:
1.The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
2.Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
3.Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
4.The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.
The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the revolutionary party and leader. In North Korea, these are the Workers' Party of Korea and Kim Jong-il, respectively.
In official North Korean histories, one of the first purported applications of Juche was the Five-Year Plan of 1956-1961, also known as the Chollima Movement, which led to the Chongsan-ri Method and the Taean Work System. The Five-Year Plan involved rapid economic development of North Korea, with a focus on heavy industry, to ensure political independence from both the Soviet Union and the Mao Zedong regime in China. The Chollima Movement, however, applied the same method of centralized state planning that began with the Soviet First Five-Year Plan in 1928. The campaign also coincided with and was partially based on Mao's First Five-Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward. North Korea was apparently able to avoid the catastrophes of the Great Leap Forward.
Despite its aspirations to self-sufficiency, North Korea has continually relied on economic assistance from other countries. Historically, North Korea received most of its assistance from the USSR until its collapse in 1991. In the period after the Korean War, North Korea relied on economic assistance and loans from "fraternal" countries from 1953–1963 and also depended considerably on Soviet industrial aid from 1953-1976. Following the fall of the USSR, the North Korean economy went into a crisis, with consequent infrastructural failures contributing to the mass famine of the mid-1990s. After several years of starvation, the People's Republic of China agreed to be a substitute for the Soviet Union as a major aid provider, supplying over US$400 million per year in humanitarian assistance.[
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More from Wikipedia
According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:
1.The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
2.Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
3.Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
4.The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.
The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the revolutionary party and leader. In North Korea, these are the Workers' Party of Korea and Kim Jong-il, respectively.
In official North Korean histories, one of the first purported applications of Juche was the Five-Year Plan of 1956-1961, also known as the Chollima Movement, which led to the Chongsan-ri Method and the Taean Work System. The Five-Year Plan involved rapid economic development of North Korea, with a focus on heavy industry, to ensure political independence from both the Soviet Union and the Mao Zedong regime in China. The Chollima Movement, however, applied the same method of centralized state planning that began with the Soviet First Five-Year Plan in 1928. The campaign also coincided with and was partially based on Mao's First Five-Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward. North Korea was apparently able to avoid the catastrophes of the Great Leap Forward.
Despite its aspirations to self-sufficiency, North Korea has continually relied on economic assistance from other countries. Historically, North Korea received most of its assistance from the USSR until its collapse in 1991. In the period after the Korean War, North Korea relied on economic assistance and loans from "fraternal" countries from 1953–1963 and also depended considerably on Soviet industrial aid from 1953-1976. Following the fall of the USSR, the North Korean economy went into a crisis, with consequent infrastructural failures contributing to the mass famine of the mid-1990s. After several years of starvation, the People's Republic of China agreed to be a substitute for the Soviet Union as a major aid provider, supplying over US$400 million per year in humanitarian assistance.[
Juche- the North Korean Principle (from Wikipedia)
The first known reference to Juche was a speech given by Kim Il-sung on December 28, 1955, titled "On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work" in rejection of the policy of de-Stalinization (bureaucratic self-reform) in the Soviet Union. In this speech, Kim said that "Juche means Chosun's revolution" (Chosun being the traditional name for Korea). Hwang Jang-yeop, Kim's top adviser on ideology, discovered this speech later in the 1950s when Kim sought to develop his own version of Marxism–Leninism.[2]
The Juche Idea itself gradually emerged as a systematic ideological doctrine under the political pressures of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. The word "Juche" also began to appear in untranslated form in English-language North Korean works from around 1965. Kim Il-sung outlined the three fundamental principles of Juche in his April 14, 1965, speech “On Socialist Construction and the South Korean Revolution in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”:
1."independence in politics" (chaju)
2."self-sustenance in the economy" (charip)
3."self-defense in national defense" (chawi).
Current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il officially authored the definitive statement on Juche in a 1982 document titled On the Juche Idea. He has final authority over the interpretation of the state ideology and incorporated the Songun (army-first) policy into it in 1996.
The Juche Idea itself gradually emerged as a systematic ideological doctrine under the political pressures of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. The word "Juche" also began to appear in untranslated form in English-language North Korean works from around 1965. Kim Il-sung outlined the three fundamental principles of Juche in his April 14, 1965, speech “On Socialist Construction and the South Korean Revolution in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”:
1."independence in politics" (chaju)
2."self-sustenance in the economy" (charip)
3."self-defense in national defense" (chawi).
Current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il officially authored the definitive statement on Juche in a 1982 document titled On the Juche Idea. He has final authority over the interpretation of the state ideology and incorporated the Songun (army-first) policy into it in 1996.
Changing of the Guard
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.
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.
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.
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