NK NEWS BRIEF | May 22, 2013

A visit by KJU and his wife to a children’s camp in North Pyongan province sparks hysteria | Photo: KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images

NK INTERNAL

• NK has reopened overland tour routes for Chinese tourists that had been suspended since 10 April.

• The NK military churn continues as General Kim Kyok-shik replaced Hyon Yong-chul to become the chief of the KPA again, a post he held before in 2009. Kim was recently replaced as defence minister by Jang Jong-nam.

• NFI: “Park Jae-ho, who defected from Pyongsung in 2011, told us “Today’s teenagers are beginning to question the divinity of the cult of Kim in North Korea. They ask, “Why?” when it comes to the system under which they live. It’s safe to say a questioning attitude is on the rise.” … the more repetitive propaganda the North Korean state releases, the more weary the citizens appear to become. This is perhaps compounded by their increasing access to the outside world through illegal DVDs and the like.”

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• Daily NK: Rice-planting season means that the entire population has been mobilized to work on the farms, including children. Official market hours are also restricted. Refugee: “People complain that ‘If they don’t give us food and force us not to work our own farms properly, does that mean they want us to starve to death?’ …But if you don’t want punishment, you have to participate.” Authorities are also reportedly taking the unusual step of mobilizing elementary school children under 10 years old.

• UNFPA provided 500,000 USD worth of medical aid to NKorean mothers and children last month.

• SKorean NGOs report that aid to NK has effectively been frozen in the face of heightened inter-Korean tensions.

• UN OCHA: “Humanitarian agencies in the DPRK have warned that a lack of funding is limiting their ability to meet the most pressing needs of people and communities. Over the past decade the UN and its partners have seen a dramatic reduction in donor support to one of the world’s most protracted humanitarian emergencies.”

HUMAN RIGHTS

• HRW press release calls on NK to stop its crackdown on economic crimes: “The government’s predatory behavior towards those involved in trading activities is underpinned by a willingness to arbitrarily arrest and abuse traders taken into custody, and then squeeze them for bribes in order to be released. Economic desperation will continue to fuel movement and trading, leaving local officials in the driver’s seat of North Korea’s unofficial market economy.”

• Geneva-based NGO UN Watch is to award the 2013 Moral Courage Award to Shin Dong-hyuk.

• Amb King’s trip to Seoul was mysteriously cancelled.

• Amb Sung Kim: “It’s very heart-wrenching to see NKorean citizens. NKorean citizens are not eating well, not living well and not receiving medical treatment because their government has chosen to be irresponsible. It is very unfortunate that NKorean citizens are not given the opportunity [to live a decent life] because of the horrible, horrible human rights situation in NK.”

REFUGEES

• Chico Harlan’s piece on alleged defector-spy Yoo, whose sister retracted a ‘confession’ she said was made after mistreatment by NIS agents. Lawyer: “… maybe this is a lesson, because a lot of people don’t know what defectors go through during interrogation. They are not briefed on their rights, and they are kept in solitude. Human nature is to get out of that process as quickly as possible.”

• Daily NK source on a recent re-defector: “Kang, who had been a missing person, reappeared in Namyang on or around April 23rd. From before that, people who looked like NSA agents had been coming and going to her home. Her family did not get punished at all even though she had defected. On the contrary, her son-in-law and son were both promoted. That’s why a lot of people in Namyang assume she was an NSA spy. People think she got orders to go to South Korea for espionage and just came back.”

• NFI on suspicions of kidnapping in re-defection cases: “After receiving a call from a broker based in Dandong, who allegedly delivered a message to him from relatives in North Korea who wanted to set up a business with him, Moon traveled to China on May 1st. His mobile phone has remained off since that time, and inquiries made through brokers in Dandong have yielded no results.”

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• After news of the seizure caused a backlash among Chinese netizens and the Chinese MFA said it would work to secure their release, NK released 16 Chinese fishermen that had been held for more than two weeks. The owner said that NKoreans wearing military uniforms had hijacked the ship, syphoned fuel off and beat up the captain. The NKoreans did not get their demanded ransom of 100,000 USD and were suspected of acting as a rogue unit rather than being coordinated by PY. Daily NK: At the beginning of this year, three other fishing vessels were released following the payment of a ransom.

• NK state media reported that KJU sent Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae as a “special envoy” to China. The last public visit by a senior official was Jang Song-taek in August 2012.

• NK tested six short range missiles and the US tested a Minuteman 3 ICBM. All missiles successfully hit the sea, frightening an unknown number of innocent fish.

• Japanese envoy Iijima’s trip to PY – outed by NK state media – was criticised as “unhelpful” by SK’s MFA spokesman.

• NK attacked the ROKG for trying to “deceive public opinion” in the buck-passing game around the closure of the KIC.

• The SKorean basketball league has received permission from the MOU to contact NKorean basketball officials to set up an inter-Korean basketball tournament in August.

• Demick on rising support in SK and Japan for going nuclear.

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• John Delury on Choe’s trip to China: “China wants to have good relations with both Koreas … They don’t want to go too far with a great splashy meeting [with PGH next month] while things are still off-kilter in the North Korean relationship. For its part, North Korea may want to recalibrate; they wanted a bit of distance from Beijing, but they don’t want to push it too far.”

• Giorgio Cafiero and Shawn VL: “Clearly, Washington does not want Iran to take away the impression that developing nuclear weapons and conducting a belligerent foreign policy can lead to greater international legitimacy. Thus, many policymakers in Washington contend that recognition of North Korea’s nuclear status would bode poorly for Western efforts to deter Iran from continuing its enrichment of uranium. Undoubtedly, the Obama administration’s words for North Korea are intended to reach an audience in Tehran, too.”

• Lankov: “Therefore, there is some reason to believe that the Kaesong industrial zone has been closed for good. It is not certain of course, but it is not impossible. The regime’s decision makers may have judged that their political and, perhaps, even physical survival is more important than an extra $80 or $90 million.”

• Lauron examines the repetitive nature of rhetoric on cancelling the armistice, sanctions, and threats of destruction during various ‘crises’ over the past two decades. “… the strategic interests of the same actors remain fundamentally unchanged, and today, the level of high politics is no closer to any solutions than it was twenty years ago.”

MISC.

• Great little claymation production of a defector’s story: Purpleman.

• Lafforgue’s photos of the KPA.

• On the anniversary of the 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju (SK), conservative cable reports used defector testimony to claim that the uprising was partially stimulated by NK special forces. Daily NK notes that such rumours exist within NK without any evidence.

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