NORTH KOREA – BEYOND  THE CHARADE TO THE TRULY IMPRESSIVE

Once beyond the  endless showcasing and street theater charades, there are some things to be said about the more impressive aspects of North Korea (beyond its obvious political and agricultural and human rights shortcomings).  This is a nation that, despite its 80% mountainous topography, would undoubtedly be one of the world’s economic overachievers were it not for so much repression and lack of reward for individual production.  Too much of its resources go into the military and into patriotic show projects or honorariums to the Kims for this to occur.

Among those to be discussed are Rungnado May Day Stadium (the world’s largest), its related Arirang Festival, the Pyongyang Arch of Triumph, Mansudae Hill – scene of an entire phalanx of notable monuments, including the memorable Kimsusan Memorial Palace – the Juche Tower, Unification Arch, and North Korean side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) which separates North and South Korea roughly at the 38^th Parallel.

Arch of Triumph -- Built in 1982 on Triumph Return Square in Pyongyang, the monument was built to glorify President Kim Il-sung’s unlikely single handed leadership role in guerilla resistance against the Japanese which led to Korean independence.  Like the Juche Tower, this combination of Asian and Roman styled victory arch was inaugurated on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

The structure is modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but is 10 meters taller (the world’s tallest triumphal arch and continuation of a distinct North Korean practice, until it was supplanted by a competitor in Mexico). This arch has multiple interior rooms, balustrades, observation platforms and elevators. It also has four lofty vaulted gateways 27 meters high. Prominently inscribed in the arch are the years 1925 and 1945, when North Korea claims Kim set out to liberate the country from Japanese rule and later achieved this end.

An inscription on the monument reveals the purpose of the Arch of Triumph quite well:

“The stone monument was unveiled in April of Juche 71 (1982) in reflection of the deep desire of thewhole Korean people to convey to the posterity the revolutionary feats of President Kim Il-sung, who had successfully achieved the historic cause of the liberation of the country and returned to Pyongyang in triumph.  The Arch of Triumph encourages the Korean people to the efforts to shine the immortal exploits of the President in the liberation of the country through generations and build at an early date a great, prosperous and powerful nation of Juche …”

Rungnado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang is a 150,000 spectator multi-purpose stadium, making it the largest stadium by seating capacity and the 12^th largest sporting venue in the world. This truly impressive construct was completed on May 1, 1989. It is currently used for soccer matches, a few athletics matches, but most often for Arirang Festival performances, a huge spectacle of gymnastics, art and patriotic fervor honoring Kim Il-sung and the Korean nation. 

The stadium name comes from its moorings on Rungrado Islet in the Taedong River, and May Day (international Labor Day). Its scalloped clam shell roof features 16 arches arranged in a huge ring which tops out at more than 60 meters above ground. The stadium occupies over 207,000 square meters of floor space spread over eight levels.  Since everything else of note in North Korea is named after the “Great Leader” this venue is often confused with the nearby but much smaller 50,000 seat Kim Il-sung Stadium.

The stadium is not always the scene of theatrical national passions and mesmerizing synchronization.  A commercial event called Collision in Korea, the largest wrestling event ever, took place there in April of 1995 and had a record wrestling attendance of 190,000 on the final day.  Later in that decade, a number of North Korean army generals implicated in an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-Il were reportedly executed by incineration with flamethrowers in the stadium before a large captive audience.

The Arirang Festival (often referred to as the “Mass Games” or Patriotic Games) started in June of 2002.  It is held in Rungnado Stadium. The meticulously choreographed extravaganza of dancers, gymnasts and card flashing children (many of whom participate up to retirement age) began with 30,000 participants and grew eventually to over 100,000.  It was recently opened to foreigners. These games have become an annual feature in Pyongyang -- usually in August and September (though not in 2014). The Guinness Book of Records has recognized this event as the largest mass performance spectacle in the world.

Mansudae Grand Monument is a very impressive complex of memorials on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang dedicated once again to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il and the notion of Socialist Revolutionary Progress.  The focal point of the monument is centered about two massive 22 meter bronze statues of the Kims.  Flanking the statues are two 50 meter long bronze and concrete arcades showing a procession of soldiers, workers, farmers, and teachers averaging 5 meters high each.  Each is posed in an anti-Japanese quest or demonstrating a Socialist Revolutionary spirit.

The colossal and grimly determined Soviet style statues were cast by Mansudae Projects, North Korea's government-run propaganda art factory.  The studio employs around 4,000 North Koreans at its Pyongyang headquarters. These artists produce detailed propaganda works, such as idyllic portraits of healthy farm workers, paintings of North Korea's glorious mountains, and numerous works in bronze.  All public images of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Il-sung are the work of these artists.

The most impressive part of the Hill beyond the statues is Kimsusan Palace of The Sun, the final resting place of both Kims.  This marvelous marble clad mausoleum makes the memorials of such luminaries as Mao Zedong and Napolean and Joseph Stalin look like chicken coops.  The stately memorial was the former residence and office of “Great Leader” Kim Jong-il prior to his death in 1994.

There are no cameras allowed in the mausoleum – upon entering the building you are required to empty your pockets and give up all outer clothing and electronic equipment, including cameras.  A pat-down security check follows.  Then a long walk along a motorized conveyor of nearly half a kilometer provides unhurried viewing of the two Kims in various heroic stances, or collegial poses with other world leaders.

After what seems like an eternity viewing the Kims, more statues of the father and son pair await visitors in the palace entrance hall.  Here is the first set of required bows to the two leaders.  Moving up a floor, a large wind tunnel blows off any dust that may have accumulated between visitors and the street.  Eventually you reach the somber and dimly lit Memorial Hall, where the two leaders lie in state in a crystal sarcophagus in separate viewing rooms.  Each is eternally preserved through embalming and the type of wax preservation perfected by the Soviets for Stalin and Lenin. 

A set of three separate bows are required here – something you are not really told about much in advance.  Considering what we know of the Kims, this may be difficult to do for some westerners.  I am prepped somewhat in advance.   “You don’t have to consider it homage to the Kims,” my Koryo hosts and my Korean guides tell me.  “Look at it as respect for Korean customs, respect for the Korean people, and respect for this beautiful hall.”  I bow imperceptibly, gritting my teeth all the while, but desirous nevertheless of not drawing attention from the fully armed and very stone-faced guards standing nearby.

Perhaps the most insidious part of the required bowing is the fact you are filmed.  You know these films are then shown to DPRK citizens, and elsewhere throughout the world to the gullible.  The message is clear: “We have no regime problem.  We have no respect problem.  See these westerners engage their grief, and offer their respects?  How could you possibly accuse us of human rights violations when we are so well thought of.”

Outside is another wind tunnel for dust removal. Then on to the Hall of Lamentations.  Here demonstrations of grief sought from all over the world, are displayed for the benefit of visitors.  Another attempt once again, to trumpet alleged universal acceptance of this regime.  A woman at the entrance to the hall, chants passionately at first and then goes into peals of wailing about Kim’s magical effect on the transformation of the nation through his generosity and wisdom.  She cuts off suddenly completely dry-eyed, and resumes hysterically on cue 15 seconds later when another group appears.

Visits to the Memorial are required of all 24 million North Korean citizens, generally each five years (they are bused in en masse, even from distant villages).  I am struck by the genuine emotion (not all of it the impressionistic power of brainwashing and propaganda or from professional prompting) of citizens when viewing the two leaders, including children who were not even alive at the times of their deaths.

Our guides direct us next into a series of large rooms called “The Cabinet.”  Housed within are all the medals and honors and mementos that were presented to the Kims, both during their lifetimes and posthumously. These come from the DPRK and portions of the rest of the world – notably the formers members of the Soviet Union and tinhorn dictators in South America and Africa (the single honorarium from the US belongs to Kensington University, a paper diploma mill that was shut down by court order in 2003).  Notably absent are honorariums from western nations and democracies.

The final three rooms offer serious displays of the two Kims transport means.  That includes the train carriage for each (both were afraid to fly, and particularly Kim Jong-il).  It also includes electronically lit dot maps of their travels, their Mercedes limousines, a golf cart, personal effects such as Kim Jong-il’s oddly touted clothing collection, and his private yacht Chongsong.

The Chollima Statue, also located on Mansu Hill, is typical of the revolutionary/heroic style of the Mansudae Projects casting specialists.  This huge magnificent winged horse is said to represent the spirits of constant innovation and advancement which were especially emphasized in the reconstruction of Pyongyang.  This occurred after its near total destruction in 1950, following counterattacks by US and South Korean forces that briefly captured North Korea.

The Tower of The Juche Idea was opened on April 15, 1982 (Juche 70) and again to commemorate the birthday of President for Life Kil Il-sung … “so that his revolutionary exploits would be remembered for all ages.”  It measures 170 meters in total height.  The summit is topped with a 20 meter bright red metallic lit torch weighing 45 tons. The tower is a four-sided tapering spire containing 25,550 blocks -- one for each day of Kim Il-Sung's life.  It can be ascended by elevator, where visitors are treated to a 360 degree viewing platform just below the torch with sweeping views over all of Pyongyang.

The Juche idea is quoted as “the masters of the revolution and construction are the masses of the people and that they are also the motive force of the revolution and construction.  In other words, one is responsible for one’s own destiny and one also has  the capacity to shape one’s own destiny.  The Juche idea is the guiding idea of the Korean revolution evolved by President Kim Il-sung.  The Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic head the revolution and construction, guided by the Juche idea.”  [ Frankly, I’d like to do street intverviews with locals about their confidence in being “masters of their own destiny” ].

At the tower’s base, there are reception rooms with videos explaining the tower's ideological importance. Overall design is assumed to be modeled after the Washington Monument (which it exceeds in height by less than a meter).  Perhaps focused only on the DPRK practice of one-upsmanship on a national level, designers apparently forgot the 173 meter San Jacinto Monument, dedicated to the “Heroes of the Battle of San Jacinto and all others who contributed to the independence of Texas."

Associated with the Juche tower is an amazing in its own right 30-meter statue consisting of three idealized figures each thrusting skyward typical symbolic tools of North Korean ideological lore – a hammer (the worker); a sickle (the peasant); and a writing brush (the working intellectual). There are in addition six “smaller” groups of figures, each 10 meters high that symbolize other aspects of Juche ideology -- Juche Industry, Bumper Harvest, The Land of Learning, Juche Art, Longevity, and Impregnable Fortress.

The North Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) begins with a 2.5 hour trip south from Pyongyang along the optimistically named Reunification Highway.  A brief stop is arranged at the Reunification Arch, built in 2001 (known also as the Monument to the Three Point Charter For Reunification, named after a manifesto orated by Kim Sung-il in June of 1973 to end the partition of Korea into north and south).  The arch depicts two women clad in traditional Korean dress leaning toward each other, holding a globe with a map of a united Korea.  Under the DPRK vision this revamped nation would be called the “Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo.”

Kim’s three principals for reunification included the absence of outside interference in the reunification process, a peaceful transition, and fostering of national unity by transcending differences in ideas, ideal, and systems.  All quite reasonable on its face … until you get down to the sting of the details.  Kim never did explain how he would inspire South Koreans to give up their much higher standard of living, their personal freedoms, and the lack of want and fear in their lives in exchange for being able to see long-lost relatives on occasion.

Quite noticeable on the journey south is the absence of traffic.  I counted a grand total of seven cars along Reunification Highway on the way to Kaesong -- capital of a united Korea from 918 to 1392 and now an industrial city.  Most obvious was the complete absence of mechanization along the route.  Ill equipped, poorly clad workers in the fields labored completely by hand, occasionally supported by a beast of burden.  A diplomat friend traveling by train to China verified the same is true on the north end of the DPRK: grimy thin workers, most of them walking, and utilizing only hand tools.  Many children were also observed laboring in the fields.

Kaesong itself is notable for two things: a special status manufacturing complex where South Korean factories employ North Korean workers, whose day-to-day status can easily be determined by the weathervane of political cooperation between the two sides.  The other is the “show village” of Kijong-dong (detailed in my posts about South Korea).  Simply put, this is – like the Ryugyong Hotel, a village of show residences which are meant to convey to South Koreans that the north is equally well off economically, yet when examined closely proves to be yet another hollow shell bereft of occupants or life.

So, with my earlier posts providing much of the detail on the DMZ and its history, I will simply contrast what I found on the DPRK side with what was experienced in South Korea.  Amazingly, I found North Korea more accessible (one has to be screened three days in advance in South Korea to have access to the Peace Village of Panmunjeom).  It is clear that the DPRK is not at all worried about spooking South Koreans.  The South meanwhile, will not even allow flash photography at viewing terraces overlooking the DMZ for fear the north will take it for sniper activity and return fire.

The two nation’s strips of the 4 kilometer wide DMZ separate their visitors by days and blocks of time.  We were not able to overlap with visitors coming from the south.  That way North and South Korean citizens will not cross paths, and there will be no easy means of spycraft or information exchange taking place.  Our Koryo group visit to the Panmungak Hall, Armistice Building, and Military Commission Meeting Rooms within the northern portion of the strip were absent South Korean guards and personnel.

Unlike visiting South Korea’s portion of the strip, in North Korea our group was able to wander somewhat freely.  We were of course always within the purview of North Korean guards.  But there was no concern about offending South Korea.  The guards were much friendlier than expected.  There was the usual jingoism when reviewing a DMZ map about the imperialist and warlike nature of the United States – and how the US kept Korea from uniting -- but by this time the material was old and mainly induced yawns and quiet smiles.

We first rode in from Kaesong to the guard station and map room. Our passports are checked with great scrutiny.  Here the layout and borders of the DMZ and the buildings we will soon visit in Panmunjeom are explained.  We are not told about the four discovered tunnels witnessed to the south and built by the DPRK (of 17 suspected to exist) to bypass heavily mined or fortified ground areas above for the purpose of attacking South Korea by stealth.

We continue to Panmunjeom on raised roads passing through man made swamps (intended to keep potential massed armored attacks at bay).  Clever road barriers in the shape of huge concrete cylinders large enough to stop a tank were placed at many points above the roads, capable of being unleashed at any moment by gravity feed to block virtually all traffic.  Checkpoints and double rows of barbed wire also line the landscape.

Within full view to the west just outside the show village of Kijong-dong was what used to be the world’s largest flagpole at 160 meters.  This is really more of a tower though, so that Guinness now classifies world record flags as “unsupported poles.” This radio tower turned flagpole was meant to surpass South Korea’s nearby display of its flag, but is now only fourth largest in the world after poles in Saudi Arabia and Tajikstan and Azerbaijan.

We are shown the Joint Service Area (an 800 square meter military administrative reserve) Conference Rooms.  Here blue Quonset hut type buildings maintained by both sides are divided evenly down the middle by the Military Division Line (MDL).  This is the spot where the cessation of hostilities armistice was signed in 1953.  It is a thrill to set at that same green felt covered table where negotiations took place 64 years prior, and be able to circle the table and walk around to the south side without any intervention.  As noted previously, no South Korean guards or representatives are allowed during our time.

Military Commission meetings to discuss the 750+ acts of overt violence which have taken place inside the small JSA area (in addition to countless other DMZ wide ceasefire violations) since 1953 used to take place here.  But the meetings ended in March of 1991, after the US led United Nations Command (UNC) appointed a South Korean general as their commander.  North Korea refused to accept this and departed the table, since South Korea ironically had never been a signator to the original Armistice Agreement.

Just behind the blue conference buildings are pavilions constructed by the opposing sides.  Whatever is built by South Korea is matched by North Korea in a habitual “bigger and better” show of one upsmanship.  Hence the House of Freedom to the south, is mirrored by the Panmungak Hall in the north.  Here we get direct access to large photos of the war, maps, photos of key leaders and peace negotiators, a great territorial view, and the North Korean copy (under plexiglas) of the Armistice Agreement of July 27^th, 1953.

Returning from the DMZ, we are treated to a scrumptious 12-course meal of potatoes, cabbage, dumplings, pork, fish, tofu, cucumber, kimchi, ginseng, chicken, dog soup (yes, dog soup), rice, tea, and rice wine.  The portions – served in gold lidded painted ceramic bowls – are both plentiful and succulent.  We observe the slender waitresses surrounding us and note their occasional looks of longing, as ironically described earlier by my fellow writer Anjaly Thomas.  I particularly fall in love with the kimchi, which is otherworldly tasty and addictive.

The finale for our North Korea venture ends in an afternoon foray in to a public beer hall, one of our few chances to press the flesh with locals without encountering a scripted play of pre-selected actors pretending to be average Joes in spontaneous encounters.  This huge hall reminded me of Octoberfest in Bavaria.  Double decked carts of beer are wheeled continuously about by pretty attendants.  Six different brews are available.

No attempt is made to separate locals from visitors.  I do my very best to chat up some stained t-shirt factory locals for small talk, but the only common language is “thumbs up” and a “high five.”  Those encountered nevertheless break into huge smiles at my attempt.  We toast each other a few times with some giddiness.  I learn eventually their beer is subsidized by the government, they are entitled to roughly ten pints a week, and the cost to them is approximately 3 cents per pint.

Our group farewell dinner consists of delicious barbecued duck and imperialist, war mongering sized portions of liquor.  Endless toasts and reminiscing about the combined beauty and oddity of what we have seen over the previous four days is our preferred expression of “Single Hearted Unity.”  In between drinks, some of us reflect on what makes North Korea so odd.

For myself, I recalled there were no gas stations.  No individual homes in sight – only large, relatively ugly Soviet style concrete apartment blocks.  I did not see any pregnant women.  There were numerous impressive monuments, paid for by tens of thousands of starving people.  The military was hefty and disproportionate to population … but at what cost?  The “show locations” or performances were so transparent as to not be worthy of a seventh grade theater production.  The food was consistently fabulous (if it was only available to the locals).  The North Koreans in Pyongyang at least, were better dressed than expected.  There is no litter to be found, anywhere.

But the predominate sense is an obvious air of repression.  There is a glumness manifest everywhere, even in moments between the “make happy” performances.  Nobody is smiling, unless in the presence of a high level government or military leader.  Still, you can tell the locals want to engage.  They want to be part of the fabric of life.  They too want to know what a young man I befriended in Cuba who remains a contact asked me: “What is really going on in the world.”

You can see it in their eyes.  These folk are the same as everybody else on the planet.  They are warm inside. They want to express themselves.  They want to engage.  They want to dream.  They want to create. They want to be free.  They just have no idea who is looking over their shoulder, or what utterance today might be punishable at a later date.  You get warmth and feedback, but only to a point – then the nervous side glances begin which impart: “Who is watching?  How will this be interpreted?”

It reminds me of an account I read by a western writer who had snuck out in the middle of the night to report on the realities of the massive hollow shelled Ryugyong Hotel.  Upon returning to his room at the usual foreign lodgings in “Alcatraz” (the Yanggakdo Hotel) he was observed by a number of locals and soldiers – all of whom would have known he was not supposed to be out unattended.  They all looked the other way.

Better to “know nothing” as the affable Sergeant Schulz used to say on the seventies TV series Hogan’s Heroes, than to invite trouble.  One can easily imagine endless questions from security personnel about:  How and why did you see this man?  What is your previous connection with him? What did he say to you? Who else did he talk with? and similar in-depth probing to discomfiting lengths one can expect in a fear based totalitarian society. 

NORTH KOREA – THE STAGE IS SET AND THE ACTORS PLAY

The scene has been  set.  Our previous post outlined the previous 70 year history of North Korea under the demi-God Kims.  We have had a chance to look at the ways in which this oddest of countries continuously acts out its ongoing charade as a supposed leader of nations and a beacon of light to the working man.  Now we shall look at how this is enacted day by day for the benefit of visitors in this reclusive place.

Perhaps the best example in North Korea of the Napoleonic Complex addiction to “show” construction projects for the rest of the world is the Ryugyong Hotel, begun in 1987 as the world’s tallest hotel and still not complete 27 years later.  In fact, the massive three-lobed skyscraper remains a massive 330 meter topped-out shell, complete only with its radio mast summit and exterior wrap.  The building completely dominates the Pyongyang skyline.  But as is commonly whispered locally, “nobody stays there.”

The Ryugyong was begun as an intended jab in the eye to South Korea, which declined the North’s invitation to co-host the Olympic Games in 1988 (eventually held in Seoul).  So the Kims dedicated 2% of North Korea’s gross national product ($750 million) to construction of a monument to Juche strength.  The situation is similar to a small statured strip club owner with hugely padded shoulders snarling to the owner of the adjacent but much more elegant Copacabana: “Share the parking lot.  My place has twice the game as yours.”  The reality however, is that the hotel remains a hollow shell of dusty concrete tiers, plumbing stubs, and tangles of electric wire.

The 105-story showpiece was to have at least 3,000 guest rooms (this despite the fact only 2500 westerners  a year come to North Korea, primarily Europeans), five revolving restaurants, shops, a casino and eight revolving floors of luxury suites in its spaceship like upper tier.  When the Soviet Union dissolved two years after construction began, financing support evaporated.  Construction came to a lurching halt.

The building nicknamed the “Hotel of Doom” remained nearly untouched for 15 years, and was not continued until Egyptian Telecom giant Orascom put $180 million into the project (for which it received a 75 per cent stake in Koryolink, North Korea’s only mobile phone operator) to complete its pinnacle and glass siding in 2000.  Still awaiting completion funding, it was surpassed as the tallest hotel in the world in February of 2013 with completion of the 355 meter Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai.

Other venues that attempt to add authenticity or awe to the carefully managed impression of North Korean life and infrastructure, the women of Pyongyang themselves, a bowling alley, a clothing factory and secondary school in Pyong-sung (45 minutes away), the jingoistic drum beat of the “Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum,” a ride on the local tram, and our base for the five-day stay at the Yangeakdo Hotel.

By “We” I refer to the Koryo Tour Group, the Beijing based and longest standing tour promoters for westerners in North Korea.  You can NOT travel unaccompanied anywhere in North Korea, so the best way to visit is to attach to a tour group with already scheduled itineraries.  Normally for me, this method of travel is the kiss of death.  But I found an exception in that this highly efficient group expedited arrangements for North Korea very skillfully.  North Korea was actually easier to get into than most of the 35 other countries on this Around The World trip.

Five North Koreans were assigned to our small group of 16 as guides and handlers.  They included Pak (the driver), three gentlemen named Li (our photographer, junior guide, and primary guide), and Pang (our female senior guide).  We are told emphatically by the personable but very orthodox primary guide Mr. Li to practice “Single Minded Unity.”  Meaning:  Stick together. Don’t wander. Don’t go outside the lines. Remain in sight.

Yanggakdo International Hotel is the largest working hotel in North Korea. The hotel is located on Yanggak Island in the Taedong River, two kilometers to the south-east of the Pyongyang city center. It is 170 meters in height and has a revolving restaurant on the 47th floor. The hotel is said to contain 1,000 rooms and a total floor space of 87,870 square meters.  It was begun in 1986 and opened in 1995. The hotel is jokingly called “Alcatraz” because it is on an island, and there is nowhere to go even if you could escape.

Besides the top floor restaurant, the hotel features six dining rooms, Korean and western goods at highly inflated prices that nobody really seems interested in buying, a reception lounge, bar, bookshop, large suites, and basement featuring a bowling alley, pool room, swimming pool,  barber shop, casino, and massage club.

The illusion of “Alcatraz” comes from strict confinement when not on tour and being unable to get away and compare facilities or talk to real people -- at places that locals would stay at or congregate.  It is clear the North Koreans would love to have you believe this robust facility with its large and generously appointed rooms (that suffer frequent power outages, something that can never be hidden) are normal accommodations.  “We all live this way.  This type of facility is customary” is the contrived implication.

The women of Pyongyang are included in this staged presentation.  North Korea operates on a caste system.  The connected, the beautiful, the lithe of limb are allowed to live in Pyongyang.  They may be party members, athletes, government workers, professors, or approved artists.  I saw several apartment blocks in fact where professors and artists had been given preferred housing units, complete with free furniture.  The ultimate in “go along, get along” politics.

The Women Of Pyongyang are complicit.  It is hard to fault them.  In a nation where 10% of the population is starving, they will take the best offer in a system that maximizes shows of loyalty, joy, happiness, contentment, and being at peace.  Only those fitting this profile – or willing to model it – are allowed in the city (at least where tourists are allowed).  The whole visitor central area reminded me of Disneyland, with its painted on smiles and the required/rewarded/enforced behaviors being so evident.

My Koryo travel colleague Anjaly Thomas from Dubai writes about this extensively:

“It just so happened that every woman I met in Pyongyang be it at the hotel, the ‘tourist’ sites, the flower girls at Munsudae Hill, the police-women, the girls who served us beer or just about any woman in Pyongyang – were just the right kind of women to be seen in the capital city – by this I mean, the women were beautiful, very fair, without a blemish, tall and slim..  And they always smiled.

On the other hand, there was something about these Pyongyang women that I couldn’t help notice. If you asked them a question they were not trained to answer – their faces would turn expressionless, blanched with a sudden fear – which didn’t match well with an otherwise confident portrayal of their well-defined and scripted roles.

A classic example : When we finished dining at one of the tourist restaurants (with much food remaining afterward), I asked a particularly frail waitress if she had eaten. She reacted as though I had slapped her. The reason? The help always ate at only certain times of the day and their meals mostly contained local staples.  One did not, even in their wildest dreams, think of eating what the tourists had left over, because it did not fit in with their  ’socialist’ ideals. I think it had something to do with the ideology of the Great Leader who attributed “fancy dining” to laziness and immorality and showed disrespect to a nation that believed in sharing and the equal carrying of burdens (or at least the appearance of it).

Apparently if you weren’t one of the smiling Pyongyang girls, attractive, of a certain height, and slim, you could never be a tour guide, an interpreter, a police woman, or even a salesgirl currying to tourists.  You would be assigned to live out of town.  Probably to scratch out a living for yourself and others with your hands.  We saw very little mechanization once outside Pyongyang.

There are other faces I saw when visiting nearby villages.  Those people lived in their minimal houses, slogging away in government owned fields up mountain slopes, carrying heavy weights on their shoulders, living on meager meals of corn or rice and sometimes potatoes and cabbage.  They were definitely not smiling. This is a country made up of only a few classes of people.  Your work and residency assignments within North Korea depend on that class.  The rural/agricultural class has no say in their assignments and cannot aspire beyond them.”

This illusion of “Pyongyang presentability” showed up in a tram ride we experienced.  We were told over and over how privileged we were to share in this ride with local residents.  Said fellow travelers, of course, were carefully coiffed and buttoned down in bright, shiny clothing, uniforms, and shoes.  They spoke little English.  They also never initiated contact with us, though they were polite in response. Like props, they never alighted from our ride.

Immediately outside at one stop and allegedly quite by coincidence, we just happened to run into a stationary set of cheerful, smiling, waving and well-dressed school children.  They were each adorned in patriotic red Youth Explorer scarves and uniformly white shirts. They all spoke English.  What were the odds?  We were supposed to believe this was a genuine and spontaneous interaction that somehow reflected reality in North Korea.  We knew better.  Every Koryo group going through Pyongyang mentions this ‘chance’ encounter.

Roughly the same thing happened at a bowling alley we were encouraged to visit (either that or stay in the bus).  A choice much like “be staked out in the sun to be eaten alive by fire ants, or come inside for ice cream.”  Mixing was not encouraged.  There was no interaction with the locals.  Mostly party members and their friends and children habited this R&R retreat and stage for westerners.  What was being presented once again was: This is open to everybody.  We all have access to this.  Despite the airs power went out three times in one hour, making for rolling challenges to scorekeepers as blackouts repeatedly occurred in the middle of frames.

Another fascinating example of incongruity between reality and presentation exists at the otherwise marvelous Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang (built in 1993).  This is a beautiful world class military museum.  It commemorates the so-called victory of the DPRK over imperialist Americans during the 1950-53 Korean War.  As one of the few westerners visiting, the locals (many of whom are required to visit, including new recruits) looked me over like I was a war criminal.  And no wonder …

Inside were crude displays of US casualties on the battlefields of Korea, in macabre positions of disfiguration or being eaten by crows.  A particular section was devoted to “US Wartime Atrocities.”  Another spoke of over 80,000 violations by US troops since the Armistice agreement of 1953 … and none on the part of DPRK troops (South Korea is not mentioned).

The myths are sustained with crude propaganda films showing the US starting the war in June of 1950 by invading North Korea (only trouble was the films actually depict US counterattacks six months later, after narrowly surviving compression into the Pusan Perimeter in South Korea).  It did not matter that the US had less than 1000 troops in South Korea in June of that year.  Since that time the US has made peace with former enemies China, Russia, and Viet Nam.  The impression one is left with is that the world has moved on.  Yet North Korea still fights a war that ended 70 years ago.

Of particular fascination at the museum is the presence of the USS Pueblo, a US electronic spy ship which was captured by DPRK gunboats in 1968 while supposedly in International waters.  It took 11 months for the crew to be released, and only after signing apologies and detailed “confessions” admitting their alleged aggressions against North Korea.  The boat itself remains moored in Pyongyang.  New recruits to the North Korea Army are required to board.  The message: “This is what happens to bullies.  Mess with us at your own peril.  We have beaten you before, and we can do it again.”

A day trip to Pyongsung, about 45 minutes away (where much camaraderie was warmly cemented finally with our guides when they told jokes and sang to us in both English and Korean on the bus) resulted in impressive visits to the Pyongsung Taedonggang Clothing Factory and the Kim Jong Suk (Kim Jong-il’s Mother) Higher Middle School for gifted children.

The secondary school was solidly built, if somewhat boxy in design, with excellent lighting and electrical circuits.  The children were eager to query us and very eager to practice their English.  They were earnest in their curiosity about the thoughts of westerners in a frank if controlled question and answer session.  The school featured a basketball court, vegetable garden, solar panels, and especially a biology room with virtually every stuffed animal known to man that was smaller than a kid goat.

The illusory part of course, was that this was a common middle school.  We only learned that the children were gifted and had been previously identified and in some cases removed from their families earlier.  It saddened me in part, to see these bright faces stretching so diligently to connect, and yet knowing they would eventually become government functionaries and ideologues devoted to the state rather than captains of industry, guides, translators, doctors, writers, diplomats, and humanitarians.

Second verse, same as the first …The Taedonggang Clothing Factory in Pyongsung is a concrete shell displayed for us due to its production of sporting goods apparel primarily.  It turns out 50,000 pieces a month.  Management bragged about how the workers only had to work eight hours a day (six days a week) and received actual water breaks.  We noticed the labels on virtually every item said “Made in China.”

Once again, you can fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time, but … a few of us who were a bit more inquisitive went up to the fourth floor.  It was not monitored.  Only the lead designer was engaged there with new designs.  We looked out over hidden large interior courtyards at the rear of the factory, where the workers lived (tenements in East London in the last century were more picturesque).  Photos were taken.  The designer looked up and was startled at our cameras not being directed at her.  She yelled out for the handlers and monitors downstairs.  We were gone before they could arrive, taking care to switch out memory cards before descending the stairs.

One final event I wish to report on prior to describing some of the best aspects of North Korea (in my next North Korea post) is an unmonitored conversation I had with one of our guides during our five days of traversing the country by bus.  I mentioned that no, the United States did NOT start the Korean War by invading the north.  It was explained that is why the United Nations sent troops from 20 countries to assist South Korea.

I also mentioned we westerners are free to live where we wish, travel where we wish, work where we wish and for whom we please, and contact whomever we please as well.  I added that we got to select from among multiple candidates in elections.  That we could run for office ourselves without needing to be a member of a particular party.  That we did not have to worry about police breaking down our door at night in raids if the government was displeased with us. That we could travel as we pleased.  And most of all, we could criticize the government and even our leaders, without fear of reprisal.

I told him the world did not feel about the Kims or North Korea or Juche in the ways portrayed for him by his government.  The government told him what they wanted him to hear, and only allowed him to see certain realities … that they certainly were not allowing him to see or hear about regular DPRK executions or the high percentage of starving citizens in his country.  The young man reflected on this and said: “I think you are lying to me.”

But he continued to ask questions.  He admitted he’d seen photos of skyscrapers in South Korea and was aware how successful its economy was.  We discussed additional limitations in North Korea that westerners were aware of that could not be hidden.  We then contrasted those with western freedoms.

“You know,” I told him, “I can make a call to anybody in the world I want.  I can write a letter to anybody.  I can send a package anywhere.  I can fax wherever I wish.  I can read a newspaper from anywhere in the world.  I can send or receive e-mails from anywhere in the world. You can not say the same.  You have only one source of information -- your government.  I have every source of information from multiple countries available to me.  Think about that when you accuse me of lying.”

He thought about that briefly.  I could see the gears whirring in his head.  He bit his lip, looked at me, looked away several times, and looked at me again.  He finally spoke.  “Is it really true you can criticize your government, and your leaders?”

NORTH KOREA – A CHARADE ATTACHED TO A  RIDDLE INSIDE AN ENIGMA

Where does one begin to describe the “Was that real or was that Memorex?” Alice in Wonderland charades that are the essence of The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea?  The world’s ultimate quirky rabbit society crossed with the most xenophobic leadership on the planet.  That “Crazy Hermit Nation” we know globally as North Korea …

Let us start with the name.  There is nothing Democratic about the northern half of the Korean Peninsula.  Nor are its citizens thought of in any manner whatsoever during political decision making in the most secretive society presently known to man.  Nor is it a Republic.  More like an enduring personality cult, devoted to hero worship and deity making of Kim Il-sung and his patri-linear successors.

This hero worship is mandated in many forms and is reinforced night and day.  It is manifested constantly in martial music broadcasts in public places, patriotic posters, movies, radio, TV, film clips, slogans, photos, statues, and monuments.  There is only one purpose and one subject: homage to The Kims – Kim Il-sung, “The Great Leader” (1912 to1994), his son Kim Jong-il, “The Supreme Leader” (1941 to 2011) and now his grandson Kim Jong-un, the “Brilliant Comrade” and “Great Successor” (born either 1980 or 1981).

Unusual lengths are extended to play out this hero worship.  There is some question about who the intended audience is.  Is it the world stage, to show North Korea can not only flirt with nuclear weaponry and splashy rockets and the world’s largest monuments but also create a great society?  Or is it a captive audience of 24 million citizens, needing assurance that their starvation diets to support an overbearing military machine and a government controlling every aspect of their lives can truly lead them down a better path?

It is difficult to say, though my read leans toward the latter.  Those rare North Koreans who have been allowed to travel outside their own borders know the outside world is not as painted for them.  They know South Korea has one of the most productive economies in the world.  They have seen photos of modern Seoul.  They have seen satellite pix of South Korea at night, lit up like a torch while North Korea hibernates in near darkness.

No.  My studied guess is that an elaborate and continuous stage play of one-upsmanship of everything South Korean or American, is to reinforce for the northern populace that their sacrifices are not in vain, their pitiful standard of living is for a greater cause, and that continued hero worship of the all-knowing Kims is the only way forward in a hostile world lurking with predatory enemies.

I will detail my personal observations of five days in North Korea in my next post.  But for the moment, I wish to provide some necessary background on the three megomanical Kims that have led the country since 1945 (when the Soviet Union handed supreme political power to the senior Kim in their zone of control in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, following Japanese surrender in World War II).

It is hoped this review might help explain the unique brand of leadership exercised by the Kims that somehow blinds the North Korean people, whose willing acceptance of regime proclamations contrasts so sharply with what they actually see, hear, feel, and experience in their daily lives.

There is much controversy about Kim Il-sung's political career before the founding of North Korea.  Some sources report he was an impostor assuming the name of a Korean war hero who died leading early Korean resistance against the Japanese.  One Russian officer who helped train Kim in Manchuria claimed he was essentially "created from zero." For one, his Korean was marginal at best -- he'd had only eight years of formal education, all of it in Chinese after being raised in Manchuria.

In 1935 Kim took the name Kim Il-sung, meaning "Become the Sun". Kim was appointed commander of a resistance troop in 1937 at the age of 24, controlling a few hundred men. While in command of this group he executed a raid on and briefly captured Poch’onbo, a small Japanese-held town just across the Korean border.  This minor victory was nevertheless considered a notable success at the time, when guerrilla units had experienced difficulty in capturing any enemy territory. This accomplishment elevated Kim among Chinese guerrillas, and North Korean biographies would later expand on it as a great victory for Korea (the Japanese themselves always lauded Kim as a fighter).

It was while fighting the Japanese that Kim met the man who would become his mentor as a Communist, Wei Zhengmin, his immediate superior officer. Wei reported directly to Kang Sheng, a high-ranking communist party member close to Mao Zedong unil Wei’s death in battle early in the war.

By the end of 1940, Kim was the only Korean guerilla army leader still alive. Pursued by Japanese troops, Kim and what remained of his guerilla army escaped into the Soviet Union. Kim was sent to a camp where Korean communist fighters were retrained by the Soviets. He became a Major in the Soviet Red Army and served in it until the end of the war.

The official version of Kim's guerrilla life is believed to be heavily embellished as a part of developing his subsequent personality cult, particularly his portrayal as a boy-conspirator who joined the resistance at 14 and had founded a battle-ready army at 19.

The Soviet Union belatedly declared war on Japan in August 1945 in the final days of WW II following the drop of atomic bombs by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Red Army entered Pyongyang with almost no resistance a few days later, on August 15^th of 1945.  Red Army and Communist leader Joseph Stalin had instructed his chief of secret police to recommend a Communist leader for the Soviet-occupied territories.  Kim Il-sung was the party recommending to Stalin.

In December 1945, the Soviets installed Kim as chairman of the North Korean branch of the Korean Communist Party. With backing from the Soviets he became the premier Korean political leader in the North.  Kim needed considerable language coaching initially, including preparation to deliver a speech at a Communist Party congress three days after he arrived back in Korea.

To solidify his control, Kim established the Korean People’s Army (KPA), which was closely aligned with the Communist Party.  A core of guerrillas and former soldiers who had gained combat experience in battles against the Japanese and later against Nationalist Chinese troops provided its leadership. Using Soviet advisers and equipment, Kim constructed an oversized army skilled in infiltration tactics and guerrilla warfare.

Prior to Kim's invasion of the South in 1950 (triggering the KoreanWar) Stalin equipped the KPA with modern, Soviet-built heavy tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms. Kim also formed an air force, equipped at first with Soviet-built propeller-driven fighters and attack aircraft. Later KPA pilot candidates were sent to the Soviet Union and China to train in jet aircraft at secret bases.

Despite United Nations plans to conduct all-Korean elections, the more heavily populated South Korea declared independence as the Republic of Korea in May of 1948.  With Kim as the Soviet puppet premier, North Korea followed suit and declared independence as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on September 9^th, 1948. The Soviet Union recognized Kim's government a month later as sovereign of the entire peninsula, including the south.

By 1949, Kim and the Communists (called The Workers Party of Korea or WPK) had consolidated totalitarian rule in North Korea and all parties and mass organizations were either eliminated or consolidated into the WPK. Around this time, the Kim "cult of personality" was initiated by the Communists, the first statues of Kim appeared, and he began calling himself "Great Leader" – much like his counterpart in China, Mao Zedong.

The decision to invade South Korea was Kim's initiative and not a Soviet one, according to archival materials discovered since the fall of the Soviet Union. Soviet intelligence, through its espionage sources in the American CIA and British SIS, had obtained information on US limitations following decomissioning of troop levels and defense cuts at the end of the war, leading Stalin to conclude that the US Truman administration would not intervene in Korea.

The People’s Republic of China agreed reluctantly to the idea of Korean reunification after being told by Kim that Stalin had approved the action. The Chinese did not provide North Korea with direct military support (other than logistics) until United Nations troops led by the US had nearly reached China’s border at the Yalu River in late 1950.

At the outset of the war in June and July, North Korean forces captured Seoul and occupied most of the South except for a small section of territory in the southeast region of the South called the Pusan Perimeter. But in September, the North Koreans were driven back by a US-led counterattack which started with a UN flank landing at Incheon Island, followed by a breakout South Korean-US-UN offensive from Pusan.

By October, UN forces had retaken Seoul and invaded the North to reunify Korea for the first time since the end of WW II. On October 19th, US and South Korean troops captured Pyongyang, forcing Kim and his government to flee eventually into China.  North Korean history emphasizes that the United States had illegally occupied the South, with the intention of pushing north and eventually into the Asian mainland.  Based on these portrayals, it paints its invasion of the South as a defensive necessity.  

On October 25^th of 1950, after sending various warnings of their intent to intervene if UN forces did not halt their advance, one million Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River and entered the war as KPA allies. Yet tensions grew between Kim and the Chinese government.  Kim had been warned of a bypass amphibious landing at Incheon which was ignored. There was also a sense that the North Koreans had made little sacrifice in the struggle against “imperialism” compared to the Chinese who had fought for their country for decades against foes with superior technology.

UN troops were forced to withdraw south and Chinese troops retook Pyongyang and then Seoul in January of 1951. In March, UN forces began a new offensive, retaking Seoul and advanced north once again, halting at a point just north of the now famous 38th Parallel. After a series of offensives and counter-offensives by both sides, followed by a grueling period of largely static trench warfare which lasted from the summer of 1951 to July 1953, the front was stabilized along what eventually became the permanent "Armistice Line" of July 27^th, 1953. Over 1.2 million people died during the Korean War.

Chinese and Russian documents from that time reveal that Kim became increasingly desperate to establish a truce, since the likelihood that further fighting successfully uniting Korea under his rule was increasingly remote with the UN and US presence. Kim also resented the Chinese taking over the majority of the fighting in his country, with Chinese forces stationed at the center of the front line, and KPA troops being mostly restricted to the coastal flanks of the front.

Restored as leader of North Korea after the armistice, Kim immediately embarked on a large reconstruction effort. He launched a five-year national economic plan to establish a command economy, with all industry taken over by the state and all agriculture collectivized. The economy was focused on heavy industry and arms production. Both South and North Korea retained huge armed forces to defend the 1953 DMZ, although no foreign troops were permanently stationed in North Korea (all Chinese troops that fought with the KPA during the war were removed from North Korea by 1957).

During the late 1950s, Kim was seen as an orthodox Communist leader, and an enthusiastic satellite of the Soviet Union. His speeches were liberally sprinkled with praises to Stalin. But Kim sided with China during the Sino-Soviet split, opposing the reforms brought by Nikita Khrushchev.  Kim distanced himself from the Soviet Union, removing mention of his Red Army career from official North Korean history, and began aligning the country along its own independent course.

Kim was seen by many in North Korea, and in some parts elsewhere, as an influential anti-revisionist leader in the communist movement. In 1956, anti-Kim elements encouraged by de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union emerged within the Party to criticize Kim and demand reforms. After a careful “wait and see” period, Kim instituted a purge, executing many who had been found guilty of treason and forcing the rest into exile.

By the 1960s, Kim's relationship with the great communist powers in the region had become difficult. Despite his opposition to de-Stalinization, Kim never severed his relations with the Soviet Union. He found the Chinese unreliable allies due to Mao Zedong’s shifting policies.  The net effect was to leave the DPRK somewhere in between both sides. The Cultural Revolution in China eventually prompted Kim to side with the Soviets, a decision reinforced by the policies of Leonid Brezhnev. This infuriated Mao and the anti-Soviet Red Guards. As a result China immediately denounced Kim, fomented anti-Kim propaganda, and warmed relations with the United States.

At the same time, Kim was expanding his already pervasive personality cult.  North Koreans were taught that Kim was the "Sun of the Nation" and could do no wrong. Kim developed the policy and ideology of Juche (“Two Chay,” meaning self-reliance) rather than having North Korea become another Soviet or Chinese vassal state.

In the mid-1960s, Kim became impressed with the efforts of North Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh to reunify Vietnam through guerilla warfare and thought something similar might be possible in Korea. Infiltration and subversion efforts were greatly stepped up against US and Korean forces and South Korean leadership. These efforts culminated in an attempt to attack the Blue House (South Korean equivalent of the US White House) and assassinate President Park Chung-hee.

North Korean troops thus took a much more aggressive stance toward US forces in and around South Korea, engaging US Army troops in frequent firefights along the DMZ. The 1968 capture of the spy ship USS Pueblo and its crew in international waters was part of this campaign.

A new constitution was proclaimed in December of 1972. Kim was named “Eternal President” of North Korea. In 1980, he had decided upon his son Kim Jong-il as his successor, and increasingly delegated  to him daily function of the government. The Kim family continued to be supported by the army, due to Kim Sr’s revolutionary record. 

From about this time, North Korea encountered increasing economic difficulties. The practical effect of Juche was to cut the country off from virtually all foreign trade in order to foster self-reliance. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping in China from 1979 onward meant that trade with the skeletal economy of North Korea held decreasing interest for China. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union starting in 1989 added to North Korea's increasing isolation.

To ensure full adherence to the leadership of his designated successor Kim Jong-il, Kim turned over his chairmanship of North Korea's National Defense Commission—the body mainly responsible for control of the armed forces as well as the supreme command of the country's now million-man strong military force (the KPA) — to his son starting in 1991.

In early 1994, Kim began investing in nuclear power to offset energy shortages brought on by continuing economic problems. This was the first of many nuclear related crises in the DPRK. In May of 1994, Kim ordered spent fuel to be unloaded from western contested nuclear research facilities at Yongbyon. Despite repeated chiding from Western nations, Kim continued to conduct nuclear research with uranium enrichment. To the astonishment of the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kim later agreed to stop his nuclear research program in exchange for economic aid and seemed to be opening up to the West.

By this time, North Korea was isolated from the outside world, except for limited trade and contacts with China, Russia, Vietnam and Cuba. Its economy was crippled by huge expenditures on armaments, and the agricultural sector was unable to feed its population. Floods and storms contributed to North Korea’s demise. At the same time, the state-run North Korea media continued to heap praise on Kim and crow about the nation’s status among nations.  Kim passed away July 8 of 1994.

There are over 500 statues of Kim Il-sung in North Korea. The most prominent are at Kim Il-sung University, Kim Il-sung Stadium, Mansudae Hill, Kim Il-sung Bridge and the Immortal Statue of Kim Il-sung at his mausoleum in Kamsusan Palace. Some statues have been reported to have been attacked by explosions or damaged with graffiti by North Korean activists.

Yŏng Saeng ("eternal life") monuments have been erected throughout the country, each dedicated to the departed "Eternal Leader", at which citizens are expected to pay annual tribute on his official birthday or the commemoration of his death. It is also traditional that North Korean newlyweds, immediately after their wedding, go to the nearest statue of Kim Il-sung to lay flowers at his feet.

Kim Il-sung's image is especially prominent in places associated with public transportation, and is visible at every North Korean train station and airport. It is also placed conspicuously at the border crossings between China and North Korea. Thousands of gifts to Kim Il-sung from foreign leaders (primarily tinhorn dictators) are housed in the DPRK’s International Friendship Exhibition.

The most telling legacy attributable to Kim Sr however, according to R.J. Rummel, an analyst of global politically-caused deaths, is Kim Il-sung's record with over one million regime deaths resulting from concentration camps, forced labor, and executions.

Soviet records show that his son Kim Jong-il was born Yuri Irsenovich Kim in the village of Vyatskoye in 1941, where Kim Il-sung commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade (made up of Chinese and Korean exiles). Inside his family, Kim Jong-il was nicknamed Yura, while his younger brother Kim Man-il (born Alexander Irsenovich Kim) was nicknamed Shura.

However, Kim Jong-il's official biography states he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain in Japanese occupied Korea on February 16^th, 1942. Biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow across the sky over the mountain, and a new star in the heavens.

At the time Kim Jr had been appointed his father’s successor the title "Dear Leader" and “Supreme Leader” was adopted as the government began building another personality cult around him patterned after that of his father, the "Great Leader." Kim Jong-il was regularly hailed by the media as the "fearless leader" and "the great successor to the revolutionary cause."

In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an accord designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program in exchange for funding of two power-generating nuclear reactors. Eight years later, Kim Jong-il's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons since the 1994 agreement. Kim's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes — citing the presence of US controlled nuclear weapons in South Korea and renewed tensions with the United States under President George W. Bush. On October 9^th, 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.

Kim Jong-il was the beneficiary of the elaborate personality cult developed for his father. Defectors have reported that North Korean schools deify both father and son. One defector wrote, "To my childish eyes and to those of all my friends, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il were perfect beings, untarnished by any base human function. I was convinced, as we all were, that neither of them urinated or defecated. Who could imagine such things of Gods?"

Kim Jong-il was always the focus of attention during his reign in the DPRK. On his 60th birthday, mass “spontaneous” celebrations occurred throughout the country. Many North Koreans believed that he had the "magical" ability to control the weather. North Korea media reported in 2010 that Kim’s distinctive clothing had set worldwide fashion trends.

The prevailing point of view internationally is that the people's adherence to Kim Jong-il's cult of personality in the DPRK was solely out of respect for Kim Il-sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage. DPRK sources refer to this apparent awe and respect as inspired hero worship. The song "No Motherland Without You", sung by the KPA State Merited Choir, was created especially for Kim in 1992 and is frequently broadcast on the radio and from loudspeakers on public streets.

According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, the North Korean government under Kim was "among the world's most repressive governments," having up to 200,000 political prisoners.  Also cited in the report were no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equal education: "Virtually every aspect of political, social, and economic life is controlled by the government."  Kim's government was also accused of "crimes against humanity" for its alleged culpability in creating and prolonging the 1990s famine.

The field of psychology has long been fascinated with the personality assessment of dictators, a practice that resulted in a lengthy personality study of Kim Jong-il. The report, compiled by Frederick L. Coolidge and Daniel L. Segal (with the assistance of a South Korean psychiatrist considered an expert on Kim Jong-il's behavior), concluded that the "big six" group of personality disorders shared by dictators Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Saddam Hussein (sadistic, paranoid, antisocial, narcissistic, schizoid and schizotypical) were also shared by Kim Jong-il — coinciding primarily with the profile of Saddam Hussein.

Following his death on December 17^th of 2011, North Korea tagged Kim Jong-il the "Eternal Leader" and announced his body would be displayed along with his father at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Officials indicated they would also install statues, portraits, and "towers to his immortality" across the country. His birthday of February 16th has been declared "the greatest auspicious holiday of the nation", and has been named the “Day of the Shining Star.”

Before Kim Jong-il’s preservation wax had hardly settled the following announcement emenated from Pyongyang: "Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un is our party, military and country's supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong-il's ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage."  The Korean Central News Agency described Kim Jong-un as "a great person born of heaven", a propaganda term only his father and grandfather had enjoyed, while the ruling Workers' Party said in an editorial: "We vow with bleeding tears to call Kim Jong-un our supreme commander, our leader."

Many reports indicate that the human rights violations under the leadership of Kim Jong-il are continuing under Kim Jong-un and have in fact been amplified.  Such violations include ordering the killing of defectors, conducting public executions and sending large numbers of citizens to political prison camps. It is assumed that Kim Jong-un was involved in the sinking of a South Korean vessel and the bombardment of South Korean islands to strengthen his military credentials and facilitate a successful transition of power from his father.

A 2013 report on the status of human rights in North Korea by United Nations Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman proposed a United Nations commission of inquiry to document the accountability of Kim Jong-un and other individuals in the North Korean government for alleged crimes against humanity. The report of the commission of inquiry was published in February 2014 and recommends making Kim Jong-un accountable for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

One report by the Japanese Asia Press in January 2013 claimed that in North and South Hwanghae provinces more than 10,000 North Koreans had died of famine. Other international news agencies have begun circulating stories of cannibalism. One informant based in South Hwanghae, said: "In my village in May, a man who killed his own two children and tried to eat them was executed by a firing squad.”

After Kim Jong-Il's death in 2011, people who were deemed not to have mourned intensely enough, were sent to a labor camp for six months by Kim Jong-un.

In October 2013, it was reported that Kim Jong-Un ordered the execution of his ex-girlfriend Hyon Song-Wol because she had a popular hit song in North Korea. However, she appeared on North Korean state television the following May delivering a speech. Days after she reappeared in public, Kim ordered the execution of engineers and architects involved in the construction of a Pyongyang apartment block which had collapsed days earlier.  More than 500 people are said to have died in the collapse, which was blamed on shoddy workmanship.

Kim himself went missing from public view in early September of 2014, prompting claims that he may have been overthrown.  Upon his return six weeks later, defectors report he ordered the execution of six senior officials.  Kim was also accused in a rumor out of China to have removed his uncle as a threat to his leadership by stripping him naked and forcing him into a large room to be eaten alive by 120 starving dogs.