Defectors as Reporters
Probably the most exciting new source of information about North Korea today is DailyNK, for which I’m honored to be a Correspondent in Washington (I take no credit for making up that title, and of course, it’s unpaid, like all of my activities on North Korea).
Information from defectors, of course, comes with special cautions about biases as well as special insight. For all of its occasionally clumsy English (including my own), Daily NK is breaking new ground–by putting North Koreans into the electronic newsrooms and partnering them with South Korea’s New Right, a movement that claims rapid growth among young South Koreans who are disillusioned with both the left and the old authoritarian right. My primary New Right associate actually spent time in prison for political offenses during Roh Tae-Woo’s rule.
Definitely have a look at several stories on Daily NK today, including the story of a North Korean soldier who defected across the DMZ, the reasons behind the mini-spike in sea-borne defections, and this report on the evolution and different control levels in the North Korean gulag system:
Originally there were 10 gulags in North Korea, but from late 1980s to early1990s, many were moved and joined with other ones, so now there are 5 currently existing gulags. Before they were moved, it was known that the number of prisoners range from 5,000 to 50,000 inside one gulag, but after they were moved, it is estimated about 200,000 prisoners all together.
In fear of exposure, the government of North Korea moved the gulags closely located to the border area and joined them with those ones more in land. It is also known that there was a mass strike in the Onsung gulag #12 in May 1987 and as a result 5000 political prisoners were killed, and due to this incident the government of North Korea feared that in case of a war the political prisoners could strike and form “the second line (against the North Korean government). As a result, gulags formerly located in Onsung and Jongsung were joined with the Huiryeong gulag.
There was also this report on North Korea’s curious reaction to the U.S. freezing the assets of several North Korean companies involved in WMD component proliferation:
North Korea too seemed to take appeasement policy toward the US. It was surprising to see people standing up when they played the American national anthem at the sports stadium in Pyongyang. It was a unprecedented incident. Lee Keun, director for US department of the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs flew to the US to send the message about improve DPRK-US relations. However, North Korean seems to be left dumbfounded as the US unexpectedly took an aggressive step.
Another laurel for Machiavelli’s tomb: in Pyongyang, be feared, not loved. To see North Korea accused of appeasement was almost too delicious for words.
Update: I see I’m not alone in noticing some change in tone . . . which shows how meaningless our own rhetoric really is to them.