Korea: The Big Lie Gets A Public Apology

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Korea: The Big Lie Gets A Public Apology

June 10, 2014: The May 13 thapartment building collapse in the North Korean capital is turning into a nightmare for the government. That began before the dust had even settled on the collapse of the 23 story building. Some survivors trapped in the rubble used cell phones to call for help. But the government did not immediately send construction equipment to aid in the rescue effort. Initial rescue was done by hand with government officials ordering hundreds of people to aid in the effort. This is believed to have led to more deaths. In an unprecedented move the government later publically apologized for the collapse (apparently caused by the growing corruption throughout the country). This is all very embarrassing for the government because most of the state built housing goes up in the capital for the benefit of military and government employees. Tall apartment buildings in particular are reserved for high ranking officials and their families. Now everyone housed in recently built tall buildings are living in fear. Thus all the victims in these buildings and those in similar buildings are wives, children and parents of mid-level officials. These people know about the corruption and now they know it can hit them where it hurts the most. This also means that the officials responsible for the corruption that led to the building collapse will be punished, perhaps publically. That sends a chill throughout the military and government bureaucracy because the corruption is quite widespread now but that knowledge is still considered a state secret. It later turned out that the military was responsible for putting this building up and that casts a bad light on the military which always insisted that it was largely immune to the spreading corruption. That is a lie, as anyone in the military (or their families) has realized for some time. What is really shocking is that the corruption has gotten to the point where it would endanger the families of military personnel. That is a line that no one thought even corrupt soldiers would cross. The government has a big morale problem on its hand as a result. Worse, officials believe that more people will blame the new leader, Kim Jong Un, for being unable to stem the growing corruption and for the deterioration of the economy and most everything else.

In sharp contrast to the collapsing government people cant help but notice how different things are in the growing (legal and illegal) market economy. Most of the new housing in the country is being built by the new entrepreneurs and no shoddy construction practices are tolerated. While many of the new entrepreneurs are corrupt (often of necessity to get around government anti-business laws) they are responsive to their customers. This is in sharp contrast the government, which let nearly two million citizens die of starvation in the 1990s and hasnt improved much since. People expect lies and deception from the government. A recent example was the exposure of the government rebranding of Chinese cell phones to make it appear that they were made in North Korea. This was discovered when some of these phones were dissembled (or had internal components exposed via an accident) and it was discovered that all the components were Chinese.

North Korean fears that North Koreans allowed to legally visit China are the source of the growing number of security leaks and that has led to a sharp cutback (over 80 percent) in the number of visas issued for travel to China. The government is also paranoia about North Koreans coming into contact with Christians and possibly bringing these subversive beliefs with them. Normally up to a hundred North Korean a day travel to China. This is part of a program that included North Korean secret police being sent to China to arrest North Koreans who had overstayed their visas and were apparently refusing to return to North Korea. This paranoia is also showing up more in North Korea itself, where orders have gone out to assign more civilians to duty guarding and beautifying the thousands of statues and pictures of members of the ruling Kim family found all over the north. The increased incidence of graffiti and other forms of vandalism against these sites has upset many senior officials. The government has also added new laws that make it a serious offence to use a cell phone illegally, look at foreign videos or have improper contacts with foreigners. All these violations can now be punished with the death penalty. Apparently at least one man, caught using a Chinese cell phone to call outside the country, was executed for this illegal activity. At the same time the government is trying to entice some of those who fled to China to return. This is being done with promises that there will be no retribution. It is implied that such returnees would also get family members out of prison camp. Its common for immediate family (parents, siblings or even more distant kin) are sent to prison camp to punish escapees.

A recent survey to measure unhappiness in countries (using things like unemployment, high crime rates, economic growth rate, inflation, shortages, high prices, political strife and so on) ranked Venezuela as the most miserable country in the world followed by Iran, Serbia, Argentina, Jamaica, Egypt, Spain, South Africa, Brazil and Greece. Where is North Korea? Like many of the most miserable nations on the planet the needed statistics for the ranking are state secrets. Japan is the least miserable (out of 89 nations ranked) followed by Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. The U.S. ranks 71st and China 82nd. Misery often leads to instability and an atmosphere where criminal activity flourishes.

North Korea has released video showing its warships firing what appears to be a Russian Kh-35 anti-ship missile. Russia denies it sold the missiles to North Korea thus the only other likely source is Burma, which has been conducting an illegal (and always denied) arms trade with North Korea for over a decade. The Kh-35 is similar to the American Harpoon but lighter (610 kg/1,340 pounds, compared to 728 kg/1,600) and has less range (130 kilometers compared to 224 for the latest version of Harpoon). The Kh-35 (also known as the SS-N-25 or Switchblade) can be fired from helicopters, aircraft, ships, or shore batteries.

June 9, 2014: South Korea recently confirmed that it is not buying American SM-3 anti-missile missiles for its three Aegis equipped destroyers or for use on land. Instead South Korea is buying PAC-3 anti-missile missiles for its land based Patriot systems and developing its own anti-missile missile with capabilities similar to the SM-3. South Korea has built a substantial arms industry in the last two decades and wants to demonstrate that it can handle really high-tech stuff (like anti-missile systems).

Singapore is prosecuting a local shipping company and a Singaporean citizen for complicity in the 2013 incident where a North Korean ship was caught in Panama trying to carry out an illegal arms deal between Cuba and North Korea.

June 8, 2014: North Korea issued unspecified threats against the UN for establishing an office in South Korea to monitor the worsening abuse the North Korean government is inflicting on its own people.

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Korea: The Big Lie Gets A Public Apology