North Korean Leaders Rewrite History At Their Own Will - Andrei Lankov from Radio Free Asia

http://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/purged-01062014151151.htmlNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers his New Year's Day address in Pyongyang, hailing the execution of his once-powerful uncle as a resolute act to remove "factionalist scum."

 AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS

The purge of Jang Song Thaek has brought about many changes in North Korea. One of these changes has been the disappearance of news articles from North Korea’s state media websites concerning Jang. North Koreans are in the dark about this, but KCNA and Rodong Shinmun post articles on their websites that can be seen by anyone abroad.

These articles include those that were published recently, but also ones that were uploaded years ago. It is from these articles that the North Korean authorities have deleted any references to Jang.

They have also removed pictures with Jang’s face, and have edited out scenes from videos where Jang appeared.

A similar thing happened to Lee Young Ho after he was purged last summer. Lee was the most powerful man in the North Korean military before being purged. Soon after he was removed from his position in July 2012, any mention of him was deleted from the North Korean media and history textbooks.

Lee had stood in the first line with Kim Jong Un during Kim Jong Il’s funeral, but now even this photo cannot be seen anymore in North Korea.

This history of purging is a unique characteristic of the country and has led the world to believe that history does not exist in a country like North Korea. North Korea’s leaders may remove or distort the country’s historical facts and truths at their own will.

Removed from view

That being said, there is no denying that Jang, Lee, and others like them—regardless of whether they were good or bad—played tremendously large roles in recent North Korean history.

Now, however, North Koreans are not even allowed to mention their names.

There are many forces in this world that aim to distort history. Political forces of every color and stripe tend to distort historical facts in order to suit their own interests or values. However, the act of distorting historical fact cannot mean refusing to acknowledge truths that are already well known by the people.

Moreover, all societies have political forces that are in competition with each other, so political forces that attempt historical distortion face criticism from other political forces. It is common for rightist scholars to attack leftist scholars, whether it be in Korea, Germany, or Russia.

In such countries it is impossible to completely distort historical fact. Even if, with the intent of removing certain facts from collective memory, historical facts are not reported, the other side emphasizes and spreads those facts regardless.

'Perfect control'

North Korea is in a completely different situation, however. North Korea has no conflicting political parties, and only a very small minority of the population has a complete hold on power. The leadership has perfect control over history.

North Korea’s supreme leader may remove all mention of Jang, Lee, and other purged party members, and can choose not to talk about important historical events. North Korean leaders are also free to concoct events that never really happened and spread them as historical fact.

I will give you one example here.

North Korea’s official propaganda machine argues that Kim Il Sung commanded the Chosun People’s Revolutionary Army (CPRA) in the 1930s. A look at records from the time, though, shows that there is no written evidence that this organization existed. Kim did fight against the Japanese but fought as an officer in the Chinese Communist Party’s armed forces.

But nationalism and the need to paint Kim as a heroic leader have led the North Koreans to ignore this fact and turn the existence of the CPRA into a historical fact.

This kind of shameless distortion of history is one reason why the outside world completely ignores the North Korean version of its own history.

Translated by Robert Lauler.

Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, is a Russian historian, North Korea expert, and regular RFA contributor.

North Korea Photos 1950s

click here for great article and photos about North Korea in the 1950s.

Life under the first Kim: Snapshots found in antique shop give rare insight into North Korea in the 1950s

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• Grainy black and white photos taken in North Korea in the late 1950s
• Rare pictures unearthed in an antique shop in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia
• Taken by a doctor who travelled through country from 1955 to 1959
• Fascinating glimpse into everyday village life in post-Korean War years 
• North Korea was ruled by 'Great Leader' Kim Il-Sung at the time

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300563/North-Korea-Snapshots-antique-shop-rare-insight-life-country-1950s.html#ixzz2rzir2wYE
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Inside North Korea - Frontline

Click this link INSIDE NORTH KOREA - a frontline video and very interesting.

DPRK & Dennis Rodman, Crazy & Crazier

Can Dennis Rodman Change North Korea?

Despite the ex-basketball player's eccentricity, he has got something few others have, access to Kim Jong-Un.

12:58pm UK, Wednesday 08 January 2014

Dennis Rodman at Beijing Airport on his way to North Korea

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Mark Stone

China Correspondent

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On the face of it, an eccentric American basketball player fraternising with one of the world's most ruthless dictators is an uncomfortable sight.

Dennis Rodman has visited North Korea four times now.

He has been seen enjoying meals with Kim Jong-Un; they have been photographed laughing together at a basketball match; others on their trips have talked of the two men "getting wasted" together.

On Monday, I was passed a photograph showing Rodman riding a horse said to belong to Mr Kim. The photo, I am told, was taken at the reclusive leader's ranch outside the capital, Pyongyang.

Protesters in South Korea wear masks denouncing Rodman's visit

It’s all a little uncomfortable because of what Mr Kim and his regime represent.

The stated aim of his government is to destroy the US.

The country is actively pursuing its nuclear weapons programme. It is already a nuclear state, defying numerous UN resolutions. It has proved it is capable of launching ballistic missiles. It wants to marry this technology with its nuclear capability.

The result would be a nuclear-armed missile which could flatten the South Korean capital, Seoul. 

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Key questions answered on the very public purge of Kim Jong-un's hitherto powerful uncle

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a politburo meeting in Pyongyang: it is unclear whether the purge is a move to consolidate his power. Photograph: Kcna/Reuters. Click on image for full article.

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Preparing for Reunification?

How Reunification Cost Is Calculated

The Unification Ministry on Monday explained how the government estimates the cost of reunification, saying the estimates factor in "all expenses needed in the process, from unifying two different political systems to integration and stabilization." The announcement follows President Lee Myung-bak's proposal of a "unification tax" on Sunday to prepare for what could be an astronomical outlay. 

The total includes the estimated cost of crisis management in the initial stage of reunification for emergency food and medical supplies for North Korea. For example, if all North Koreans are to be provided with grain for two months, that would require 13,000 tons of grain per day for 23 million people to take in at least 1,600 calories a day. The cost would be about US$500 million, including transportation and incidental expenses, to supply North Koreans with 700,000 tons of corn at $420 per ton for two months. An additional $250 million would be needed supposing that medical expenses and costs for daily necessities account for 50 percent of the minimum food expenses. 

The cost of integrating the political, military, economic and social systems of the two Koreas after reunification would also be huge. A government official said money will be needed, for instance, to provide soldiers in both parts with the same uniforms. But the biggest issue would be the currency union. 

After German reunification, West Germany allowed East Germans to exchange their money for Deutschmarks at a rate of 1:1. In fact East German marks were officially valued at a mere one-third of the West German currency, with the black-market exchange rate at 1:8. The total cost of German reunification was estimated at 2 trillion euros between 1990 and 2009. 

Then there would be the enormous cost of closing the income gap between South and North. Money will be needed to raise the North's per capita income of $1,000 to 70 to 80 percent of South Korea's $20,000. Infrastructure spending is also included in this segment. 

German reunification prompted South Korea to start researching reunification costs in the 1990, but unsurprisingly researchers have produced wildly different estimates. 

This year, the RAND Corporation predicted that it would cost $62 billion to double North Korea's GDP in five to six years, but $1.7 trillion to raise it to the South Korean level -- a 27-fold difference depending on what the target is presumed to be. 

In 2000, Goldman Sachs predicted that it would cost W1.7 trillion (US$1=W1,188) to raise North Korea's labor productivity to 50 percent of the South's in 10 years after reunification, and W3.55 trillion to increase it to South Korea's level. It was based on an assumption that Korea would be reunified in 2005. 

Researchers have different approaches to gauging the cost of reunification using different categories. Kim Suk-woo, a vice unification minister during the Kim Young-sam administration, has seen a number of estimates. "There was a large gap in those estimates based on different assumptions of timing and conditions of the reunification. But really we shouldn't worry so much,  because the added value created in the process of developing North Korea will offset reunification costs as time goes by," he said.