Inside the 'Hermit Kingdom'

GULF TIMES time out MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2009 Inside the ‘Hermit Kingdom’ A special report on North Korea. P2-3 time out • Monday, August 10, 2009 • Page 3 widespread human rights abuses, to the South Korean news agency Traffi c lights are in place, but rarely is a luxury. although many of their accounts Yonhap, he has described himself as used. North Korea has a long history of inside date back to the 1990s. an Internet expert. Pyongyang’s eight cinemas are tense relations with other regional According to a report from the He is thought to have fi nally said to be frequently closed due powers and the West — particularly UN High Commission for Human annointed the youngest of his three to lack of power; when open, they since it began its nuclear Rights this year: “The UN General sons Kim Jong-un as his heir and screen domestic propaganda movies programme. China is regarded Assembly has recognised and “Brilliant Comrade”, following with inspiring titles such as The Fate as almost its sole ally; even so, condemned severe Democratic his reported stroke last year. Even of a Self-Defence Corps Man. relations are fraught, based as much People’s Republic of Korea human less is known about this leader- The state news agency KCNA as anything on China’s fear that rights violations including the in-waiting. Educated in Bern, runs a curious combination of brief the collapse of the current regime use of torture, public executions, Switzerland, the 25-year-old is said news items such as its coverage of could lead to a fl ood of refugees and extrajudicial and arbitrary to be a basketball fan. His former Clinton’s visit, angry denunciations growing US infl uence on its border. detention, and forced labour; the classmates say he also spoke highly of the treachery of “puppet Although North Korea is thought absence of due process and the rule of Jean-Claude Van Damme. authorities” in South Korea and to have begun seeking nuclear of law; death sentences for political The Dear Leader’s eldest son, long tales of the leadership’s care for weapons as early as the 60s, because Motoring off ences; and a large number of Kim Jong-nam, is believed to have ordinary people. it feared attack, the issue fi rst began PAGE prison camps. fallen from favour after Japanese In the 60s, North Korea was making waves in 1993, when it said The pint-sized iQ from Toyota has a “The government operates a authorities caught him trying one of the most industrialised of that it planned to withdraw from head-turning design. But there are semi-hereditary system of social to enter their country on a fake East Asian nations. But there is no the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 4 several other factors that could be discrimination whereby all citizens passport in 2001, apparently clearer way to see its stagnation Treaty and refused to allow fine-tuned for a better drive. are classifi ed into 53 subgroups seeking to visit Tokyo Disneyland. than to compare it to its neighbour, inspectors access to its nuclear under overall security ratings — But most analysts suggest China — once a poor relation, now sites. As relations deteriorated, the ‘core’, ‘wavering’, and ‘hostile’ — that whoever takes over will be a capitalist powerhouse. Travel US braced itself for war — averted based on their family’s perceived essentially a fi gurehead or arbitrator down the river which marks the two when a visit by Jimmy Carter helped Heartfelt love loyalty to the regime. This rating rather than a sole ruler. They countries’ border and the disparity to pave the way for a breakthrough PAGE determines virtually every facet of a suggest the elite is composed of is striking. On one side, neon blazes deal. The emotion felt on the part of the person’s life, including employment three broad interest groups rather at night; on the other, there is Despite ups and downs in the car owner is very important and it is and educational opportunities, than factions — the Kim family, almost complete darkness. relationship, Madeleine Albright 5 emotion that automakers play on to place of residence, access to medical the military and other offi cials “The scarcity of cars, the early — then secretary of state — visited commit customers to a particular car facilities, and even access to stores.” — who know that their fates are nights, the almost total absence of Pyongyang in 2000 and an arms model. North Korea is the world’s only intertwined and who all wish to entertainment places, combined control treaty was agreed. With communist dynasty: Kim Jong-il maintain the status quo. with the electricity shortages, the arrival of George Bush — who inherited power on the death of The Democratic People’s Republic means that by midnight Pyongyang deemed the North the third his father Kim Il-sung in 1994, of Korea was formally established in is eff ectively a ghost city until six member of the “axis of evil”, although the latter remains eternal 1948. Korea had been divided at the the next morning,” writes Paul alongside Iraq and Iran — all bets president and his son is instead Dear 38th parallel following the defeat French in his book North Korea: The were off . In 2006 the North’s fi rst Leader. of its occupier Japan in World War Paranoid Peninsula. Only around nuclear test brought international Offi cial biographers say that the II; the Soviet Union administered half of households have bicycles, condemnation. But not long 67-year-old was born in a military the North and the US the South. leaving most to walk to work. afterwards, six-party aid for camp on Baekdu Mountain, his birth When they were unable to reach a From 2002, the country has disarmament talks began. foretold by a swallow and heralded deal, separate governments were experimented with economic Those hit a wall last year after by the appearance of a double established — both maintaining reforms, such as opening markets Washington and Pyongyang clashed rainbow over the mountain and a they were the legitimate rulers of — although stock is usually very over how to verify disagreement. new star in the heavens. According the whole peninsula. Kim Il-sung, limited. Although Chinese goods Tensions were also rising on the Riddles of Oz to Soviet records, however, he was an anti-Japanese resistance fi ghter, are now available, most products peninsula thanks to the South’s PAGE born in a Siberian village. took the reins in the North. are unique to North Korea — such election of Lee Myung-bak, who No Hollywood film has been more In addition to his celestial In 1950, following a series of as Vinalon, a widely used synthetic ended his predecessor’s “sunshine dogged by rumour, legend and myth endorsement, Kim is a three-time clashes along the border zone, textile made from limestone. policy” of free-fl owing aid. 6 as The Wizard of Oz. Seventy years on, Euna Lee (left) and Laura Ling, two American journalists who were arrested in March after allegedly crossing into elected member of the country’s the North invaded the South with But many analysts suggest that Since then, the North has how true are these claims? *North Korea from China, speak with reporters as former president Bill Clinton and former vice President Al Gore look hanks to his trademark rubber-stamp parliament. The the approval of the Soviet Union, the North has now virtually given ratcheted up its rhetoric, tested on after the two arrived at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California on Wednesday. Cover photograph: North Koreans Mao suit and Elvis- country goes to the poll once every but only limited military support. up on such reforms. And in May, as another nuclear device and walk by a statue of the late leader Kim Il-sung in the capital Pyongyang in this May 1, 2004 file photo. style sunglasses, and to fi ve years and there is one candidate Despite initial successes, UN forces tensions on the peninsula escalated, launched a Taepodong 2 long- North Korea’s nuclear per seat; turnout in 2003 was led by the US pushed the troops it announced that it was tearing up range rocket. Though the rocket Art & Culture Tprogramme, Kim 99.9%. back and captured Pyongyang. the contracts for the Kaesong joint fl ew rather further than on its PAGE Jong-il has become an instantly Kim is said to have a fear of fl ying; China’s entry into the war led to industrial complex it established fi rst test three years ago, when it With prized pieces on loan from New recognisable fi gure and his country his state visits to Russia and China a bloody stalemate; around 2.5mn with the South — a rare source disintegrated within seconds, it was York’s Museum of Modern Art, the a regular feature in news headlines. have been made by armoured train. people are believed to have died. A of much-needed income, which far from successful. 12 avant-garde movement’s biggest-ever Yet most people know little about Only once is his voice thought ceasefi re was eventually agreed in employed 30,000 North Koreans. On the plus side, most experts exhibition, Bauhaus — A Conceptual the “hermit kingdom”; a title to have been broadcast: in 1992, 1953, but a peace treaty has never In the countryside, the situation regarded its escalating actions this Model is drawing good crowds. World’s only fi rst applied to ancient Korea, but during a military parade, he told the been signed and the Demilitarised is more pressing than in the towns.

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