Open Sources, May 13, 2014

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GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN TELLS TRUTH, WORLD GASPS IN HORROR:

In a rare direct attack on the North Korean regime, South Korean Ministry of Defense spokesman Kim Min-seok said the North’s statement was “deeply regrettable” and that Pyongyang regularly lies so deserves to be discredited.

“North Korea isn’t a real country is it? It doesn’t have human rights or freedom. It exists solely to prop up a single person,” Kim said at a briefing in Seoul.

“It is an unreal country that constantly lies and uses historically backward-looking rhetoric. That’s why it should cease to exist,” Kim said, using uncharacteristically aggressive language. [Reuters, James Pearson]

As one who believes that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, I enthusiastically associate myself with Mr. Kim’s remarks. It is an ancient Anglo-Saxon political tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages, to believe that supreme executive power must come from a mandate from the masses. It does not derive from strange women lying in ponds or cranes circling over dormant volcanoes.

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IN NORTH KOREA, PROGRESS toward change isn’t driven by officially approved contacts, but by officially prohibited ones.

Most North Koreans meet such claims with deep suspicion, the source reported, recalling people making remarks like, “If [defectors] live like kkotjebi with no houses and no income, then where do they find the money to send to their families [back in the North]?” and, “Isn’t it true that the people being punished for remittances got their money from family members who defected?”

Finally, the source concluded, “Someone actually piped up in the meeting and said, ‘Who in the world actually enjoys leaving their home and their family? Even if you are under your own roof, you can’t sleep soundly when you’re so worried about finding enough to eat.’ That comment really stumped the head of the People’s Unit, and he couldn’t say anything in response.” [Daily NK]

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SIGNS OF A WIDENING MILITARY-CIVILIAN DIVIDE?

[A] Daily NK source from North Pyongan Province has reported a very different atmosphere on the ground. There, ill-supplied soldiers dispatched to a state construction project are in a de facto standoff with civilians over access to food.

The state has dispatched soldiers from a total of three units to work on the construction of Satellite Scientists’ Street in Pyongsong, to the north of Pyongyang. However, the food the soldiers receive from the state is insufficient for the labor they are doing, and so raids on civilian food stocks are becoming more and more common.

The source told Daily NK on the 25^th, “Loads of soldier-builders have gone to Unjong Science District, the area where Satellite Scientists’ Street is under construction. It’s really busy now, and even though it’s far from downtown [Pyongsong], there are more soldiers than traders in the jangmadang there.” [Daily NK]

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JUST TEST THE DAMN THING ALREADY: North Korea is still threatening a fourth nuclear test, and South Korea is saying it’s ready to nuke off any old time now. I hope they do — not only because the satellite theater and foreplay have become tiresome, but because a fourth test in an American election year, when foreign policy is increasingly an issue, could well result in a policy shift in a more aggressive direction. Even South Korea is calling for tougher international sanctions if there is a test.

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CONTRARY TO NORTH KOREAN claims that it is suffering from a drought, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is predicting an above-average harvest. Still, reports from inside North Korea suggest that the fears of a drought have some basis.

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DRUMBEAT: “An international Christianity group has called for concrete international actions to improve human rights in North Korea, a U.S. radio report said Friday. The Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) called for the release of detainees as well as the establishment of an independent tribunal in North Korea in its statement issued earlier in the week, according to the Washington-based Voice of America (VOA) report. It also called for actions against North Korean officials responsible for human rights violations.”

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GEE, YA THINK? The Joongang Ilbo concludes that ski resorts, water parks, and mini-golf courses aren’t doing much good for the people of North Korea.