Friday morning (9:00 A.M. Japan time)a news/current events dicussion program on the Asahi network (affiliated with the Asahi Shimbun) is talking about a North Korean flyer they say they have acquired that is titled The Ten Great Lies of Kim Father and Son. So, it’s no longer just the Sankei Shimbun.
Some commenters on here had questioned Sankei Shimbun’s reputation. As any beer drinker knows, Asahi is the best (just kidding). Obviously something is happening. Maybe it is Team America’s fault.
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21 Comments
1. CERDIP:Cartoon Here
Nov 18, 2004 - 5:27 pm 2. mongai:Roger,
I too watched Asahi this morning and saw the same discussion. Of course they did not give Sankei any credit for breaking the story first. As an earlier post of mine on another entry hints at the far far left here, which finds its voice through Asahi and to a lesser extent Mainichi, has a knee-jerk reaction to Sankei. Especially these days. Not unlike the Democrats in the U.S. the communists and socialists here have taken an electoral beating the last few years and their supporters who are readers of Asahi often characterize Koizumi and pro Japanese-American alliance think tanks and newspapers like Sankei as “wacky” et al. It reminds one of attacks by Rather and friends on the blogs, all wind and angst and few facts to make a case. In fact for the last ten years of all the papers in Japan Sankei has been the most dependable on stories dealing with what has been happening inside North Korea. Asahi on the other hand….Also Roger thanks for clarifying that one of the flyers is entitled “The Ten Great Lies” and not what I mistakenly first told you. My apologies. The reason for the “mistake”, put better an inside joke, I’ll explain to you at another time. Perhaps over beer, but not Asahi no matter how delicious it may be. It is like drinking Le Monde or The Guardian.
Nov 18, 2004 - 6:13 pm 3. lindenen:This Der Spiegel article from Oct. 30 has a lot more information including speculation as to whether that large train explosion several months ago may have been an assassination attempt. In the meantime, here’s some more NorK weirdness from the article.
“While the North Koreans starved and the country descended ever more deeply into poverty, the younger Kim built at least ten palaces, complete with golf courses, stables and movie theaters. His garages are filled with luxury cars. The CIA estimates the family’s wealth at four billion dollars, part of which is deposited in Swiss bank accounts.
Astonishing details about the lifestyle of the current president have now come to light. In the 1980s, he launched the “Project to Guarantee the Longevity of the Great and the Dear Leader.” What this means, specifically, is that about 2,000 young women serve the leadership in “satisfaction teams” (sexual service) and “happiness teams” (massage).”
Blech.
How do the Swiss manage to look themselves in the mirror? You’d think at a certain point they’d decide that it was WRONG to aid and abet so many criminals.
Nov 18, 2004 - 7:01 pm 4. dr. sanity:So, is it beginning to look like he’s dead? Interesting that he would go at the same time as Arafat. No, no…it wouldn’t be good for a psychiatrist to be paranoid (in a happy way). Maybe the Mullah will have a sad accident soon.
Nov 18, 2004 - 7:07 pm 5. chuck:How do the Swiss manage to look themselves in the mirror?
I suppose they feel safe while the world is nuts. Might as well make a buck off the crazies. I think the Swedes are similar but less forthright: they pretend to a special virtue. That’s my $.02 anyway. If someone actually knows something about these countries, feel free to comment
I go along with those who suspect a (military) coup. A coup in the best NK tradition of secrecy. We shall see.
Nov 18, 2004 - 7:27 pm 6. Dishman:I suspect he’s still alive, but losing a vote of confidence. He probably still has the loyalty of those who control his personal security, but that’s it. At some point, I’d expect his own guards to finally get the message and put him down… like shortly after their rations stop arriving.
Nov 18, 2004 - 7:28 pm 7. Homer:Well, whatever’s happening couldn’t be without the help of the NK security services. I guess we will find how good our spys are soon enough. Our asia friends must be getting nervous by now. Hope this ends quickly, and with little blood spilled as possible.
Nov 18, 2004 - 8:14 pm 8. Charlie (Colorado):How do the Swiss manage to look themselves in the mirror? You’d think at a certain point they’d decide that it was WRONG to aid and abet so many criminals.
Hah. See “World Wars, banking and diplomacy of”.
Nov 18, 2004 - 8:25 pm 9. Stace:America, F*** Yeah!!!
Nov 18, 2004 - 8:52 pm 10. geezer:I’d pay at least a dollar to peek into South Park Studios right about now… those schmekalehs have got to be rolling on the floor at the prospect they’ve sent some goofy, Stalin wannabe over the edge.
Knowing “Dear Leader’s” fixation on cinema, this is definitely a victory for the decadent West.
Show me ordering a copy of “BASEketball” pronto.
Nov 19, 2004 - 1:07 am 11. David Thomson:ìWhat this means, specifically, is that about 2,000 young women serve the leadership in “satisfaction teams” (sexual service) and “happiness teams” (massage).”î
This is comforting news. Kim Jong Il is not a ìtrue believer.î He may be indifferent about other peopleís lives—but he loves his own. The scum bag does not wish to die. Kim will will only go so far to give the United States the proverbial middle finger. Osama bin Ladin and the Islamic terrorists are much more dangerous. They are seeking death to enjoy their seventy virgins—Kim Jon Il wants his goodies in the here and now. The heck with that after life stuff.
Nov 19, 2004 - 1:15 am 12. David Thomson:I should also add that I suspect that the religious leaders in Iran also wish to stay alive and enjoy the pleasures available, only for sure, on this side of the grave. Our policy towards them to should emphasize informing them that they will be the first to die if the stuff hits the fan. Iran is not an Arab nation. It does not seem to me that suicide bombing and other self destructive behavior are the norm. Could I be wrong?
Nov 19, 2004 - 1:22 am 13. chuck:Re Iran, David said:
It does not seem to me that suicide bombing and other self destructive behavior are the norm.
Well, the current suicide craze may have started amoung the arabs, but that doesn’t mean it will stay there. Look at the spread of headchopping and other modern entertainments.
Nov 19, 2004 - 7:59 am 14. RogerA:What I find interesting is the CIA apparently knows little about this–perhaps they are too busy leaking memos to the WaPo and not reading the asian papers. I do wonder how much the President’s reelection precipitated these events.
Nov 19, 2004 - 10:15 am 15. Terrye:Could it really be true that the fearless leader is dead?
I have heard this from several sources now.
Nov 19, 2004 - 10:54 am 16. Matt Ward:“It does not seem to me that suicide bombing and other self destructive behavior are the norm (for the Iranians).”
During the early stages of the 1980-88 war, the Persians pioneered sending waves of Iranian youth to clear minefields in front of Basra. Actually clutching gold-plated “keys to heaven,” thousands of these bright-eyed boys would gambol over the fields until…BOOM!…another mine was eliminated and another martyr was on his way to heaven.
Suicide is a Sunni-Shia-Arab-Persian-Pakistani-Tamil phenomenon.
Nov 19, 2004 - 11:54 am 17. David Thomson:ìDuring the early stages of the 1980-88 war, the Persians pioneered sending waves of Iranian youth to clear minefields in front of Basra.î
But did the Mullahs send in their own children to die? I contend that they wish to live the good life, and are not in the least bit interested in dying for Allah. Is their any evidence to indicate that they personally possess an existential need to commit suicide?
Nov 19, 2004 - 5:02 pm 18. Roberts:I wouldn’t say that the Iranians pioneered human wave attacks. Probably couldn’t say who exactly did, although the Soviets certainly perfected it.
Nov 19, 2004 - 6:05 pm 19. Derek Lowe:I have to take my hat off to anyone who’s willing and able to print up an anti-government flyer in North Korea. Think of the risk, doing that in the middle of a working scale model of Hell. . .
Nov 19, 2004 - 6:22 pm 20. TmjUtah:This link from Drudge takes you to a news item digest generated by the Korean Central News Agency, house organ for the Nork regime.
I’ve read it daily for at least the last five years. I wish I had thought to save a page a week as an archive; the tone of the last week has definitely changed from anything I’ve seen before.
Before, out of the six or a dozen stories, you could count on two things: Dear Leader Kim Jong Il would be mentioned by name in half of them and there would be at least two stories condemning U.S. imperialist ambitions and/or threatening war.
The last three or four days, it’s been ‘Leader Kim Jong Il’ when he is mentioned at all. And the incidence of military and government members being identified by name, rank, billet, and what foreigners they met or appeared with, seem to have increased in frequency.
I lack the analytical skill to make anything concrete of the changes that I’m seeing. There is something different there, and it is a departure from the routine variation in the level of howling moonbattery that normally defines the product.
I finished Rogue State: How a Nuclear North Korea Threatens the World” about a week ago. Depressing stuff.
Nov 19, 2004 - 11:07 pm 21. mongai:TmjUtah,
As usual you have been on the job doing the needed daily research. I have seen the link on Drudge a number of times but was not wise enough and too lazy to get my daily fill of howling moonbattery. I too lack the analytical skills to say anything, but I did just a few hours ago talk with someone who knows people in the North Korean community here in Japan. On the one hand with regards to the removal of pictures and other things there does not seem to be a great sense of concern, even the dropping of honorifics could be an initiative as opposed to the results of a power struggle, but on the other hand with Bush’s reelection, Japan threatening economic sanctions, and China becoming more and more perturbed there is a sense a “perfect storm” is possible and the situation may spin out of control. But who knows. And needless to say my friend and his acquaintances also lack proper analytical skills so take all this with a grain of sand.
Mongai
Nov 20, 2004 - 1:12 am