So Much for Sunshine
Xenophobia, the last refuge of a despot:
North Korea is aggressively asserting greater control over domestic and international communications, apparently out of fear the United States could launch a preemptive military strike on the country, two sources with close connections to North Korea have suggested.
Starting in April, the sources said Pyongyang blocked 90 percent of its international phone lines to hinder leaks of information to the outside world. Before April, the North operated 970 international phone lines, but the sources said a direct order came from the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, to cut the lines.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry is now said to operate with just two lines, while the North’s military operates another two and the Ministry of Foreign Trade possesses one. In another measure, the sources said Pyongyang has also impounded 20,000 cell phones since May of last year after the North Korean authorities came to believe cell phone calls leaked news of a massive explosion at the rail station in the town of Ryongchon.
North Korean citizens who paid $1,200 as a deposit on the cell phones are said
to have been angered because the deposits are not being returned.
This inspires several obvious reactions.
First, is the cruel ridiculousness of Samsung’s new unification-through-girl-talk-themed Anycall cell phone commercials finally too much to bear, if it wasn’t already? North Korea: the land of no deposit, no return.
Second, how exactly are we expected to negotiate with a nation whose foreign ministry has two international phone lines, one of which is probably used for looking at porn at least five hours a day?
Third, beneath the Luddite madness of it all, this is a hopeful story. The unwritten subtext is that this regime is very afraid. North Korea–Kim Jong Il’s best efforts notwithstanding–is reforming where it really matters: in the minds of its people. Notwithstanding South Korea’s efforts to cooperate with the North’s efforts to make engagement an exclusive prerogative of the regime, defiance of its petty despotism is the real agent for change. North Korea’s public consciousness appears to be entering the phase that George Orwell and Natan Sharansky called “doublethink.” It’s a good illustration of why reform and change in North Korea should be viewed as things that will happen in spite of the regime, not because of it.
At times like this, I recall the wise counsel of Roh Moo-Hyun:
Then, do the North Koreans want to reform and open their country? I would like to say “yes” to this question. I have noticed many signs of North Koreans’ strong desire to reform and open their country. It’s very clear that North Korea accepts market economics, and that is an irreversible situation. They have also shown us their clear desire to trade among corporations between North and South.
They must also take strict precautions, because if the process proceeds too rapidly, then their regime might be faced with a dangerous situation, and that reform and openness will bring social unrest and political disturbances.
“Social unrest,” for you less sophisticated types, is another description for 22 million new citizens who will absolutely never vote for the people who spoke to them in their darkest hour and said, “Rot in hell.”