Get Your Goose Step PѲÑn Here
Via a reader — thanks — I get this very nicely filmed clip of that big, expensive parade in Pyongyang a month or so ago to celebrate the ascension of Kim Jong Eun, who looks even fatter when filmed from an angle below his chins. At 1:29, you’ll get a good look at the Pokpung-Ho (Storm), North Korea’s latest modification of the Soviet T-62 main battle tank. At 1:56, you’ll see the new Musudan medium-range missile, a weapon so deadly it probably killed thousands of orphans while still in development.
And what’s this at 1:47? In the middle there? Grrrr.
I saw this video for the first time Monday. It was imbedded at the end of an interview with Hannah Song, president of LINK.
http://gggozu.tumblr.com/post/1460813418/hannah-song-pregnant-women-who-are-in-the-camps-are
I have since shown this (and China’s Hell March) to some of my high school students to remind them that there are countries out there thet have weapons and don’t particularly like us (they don’t get much of that in their history classes).
Speaking of the women at 1:47 — the two on the left seem to have had double eyelid surgery. Am I seeing things? What does that mean??
Also, I would love to hear the actual sound. I wonder if it was eerily quite except for the marchers or did they pipe in music or?
Also interesting were the mini-signs (a la the style found on the sides of hills) on the front of the tanks.
Clever title Joshua. Thanks for the footage.
OP:
Again, not to sound like a broken record, but I think that’s a mischaracterization by outside media sources. While the big national meeting was utilized to squeeze Kim Jong-un into a launchpad position, the Korean- and English-language media coming from Pyongyang about the parades and other celebrations carried barely any mention of KJU at all, and then only as part of a list of many other people.
Instead, the KCNA reports surrounding the celebrations were heavily focused on Kim Jong-il himself. It was a resounding confirmation that he is firmly in power. Yeah, the one standing up straight, looking quite happy and alert, and waving both arms that just last year we were all writing off as near death (well, not all of us).
Of course, the old man’s continued health bodes well for his son eventually taking over, but I think acceptance of that is not nearly the done deal it’s been made out to be. As Barbara Demick noted, “I wouldn’t say he’s the successor. I would say he’s daddy’s favorite.”
Note also at the end that KJU isn’t even visible as KJI waves and walks off the dais with his entourage. This was not a celebration about his ascension.
Kushibo, you have an interesting point, and I can see its merits; why you and others might think that the outside media, including Daily NK, are over-egging the pudding.
But you are also long enough in the tooth, I’m guessing, to know how Kremlinology used to work. And you know Kumsusanology works the same way. People charged with this thankless task count bodies on podiums (or in mausoleums, or in walls, or in cemeteries in suburban areas), they count appearances at various locations, they count the number and type of those locations, they scan photos etc etc and so on. It sounds like thankless work, and I’m glad I don’t do it.
Of course, on the other hand, the parade on October 10th was nominally a commemoration of the Party founding. Kim Jong Il leads the Party. So it is logical that he would have been the center of attention. In addition, proving that he still has the strength to rule was part of the aim, and that happened, too. It goes without saying that none of it could have been accomplished without putting him on screen.
But what all this poring over uncomfortably scanty indirect evidence also seems to be telling us is that, for example, Kim Jong Eun is spoken of with a degree of deference reserved, in the official media, for his father and grandfather, and that when you put a clock on it, he appears on TV almost as much as his dad.
The most recent soundbite in Seoul through which people (who care) are characterizing the lesser Kim’s ascent is “from seventh to second in forty days”. I’m paraphrasing, obviously, and quite poetically, I feel, but that is the crux. It doesn’t mean he might not lose his position, but at the moment I am, more or less, comfortable enough to call him “the successor”.
I’ve always been curious as to why totalitarian states always have their armys goose stepping on parade. Untill I watched this vid I’m sure I’ve never seen Women doing the goose step…yikes it looks wierd. Anyone have any theories? I have to admit that I enjoyed that auto dealer baloon in the backround.
@Ray
What better way to show your complete, annihilating control over your people than to demand that they march in the most difficult and painful way possible?
Also, you gotta admit… it LOOKS pretty badass.
chris wrote:
Could be a bunch of reasons. More such articles means more attention and more funding (which they need; I’m not faulting them for trying to play to the audience to get funds for the work they do). They may also feel that their talk, whatever direction it takes, can itself affect (in their favor) the outcome of events.
At the same time, though, I’m quite wary of anyone claiming to know what’s going on up there when up until very recently everyone knew so little about Kim Jong-un that they thought his name was ê¹€ì •ìš´ based on the McCune-Reischauer-inspired English spelling Kim Jong Un. Now suddenly, everyone’s an expert on the guy. Color me highly skeptical, just as I was when the usual suspects were claiming Kim Jong-il would be dead any minute now.
I have some idea, but I was a kid back then, a Gen-Xer born during the Reagan administration (his administration in Sacramento, but still, not really “long in the tooth”).
Yes, yes. I see your point, but if you go and look at the myriad KCNA articles I’ve linked, you will get no sense whatsoever that Kim Jong-un has been elevated. Make no mistake, he is poised to be elevated, but his utter absence from the Juche hagiography even now, as new works are being put forward proclaiming how wonderful Kim Jong-il and his father are, doesn’t jibe with the claims being made that they are “celebrating his ascension” or other such claims.
But you are missing my earlier point: The KJU bandwagon is saying that the parade was “celebrating Kim Jong-un’s ascension” when in fact he was mentioned as nothing more than an “also in attendance” afterthought, at most.
The KCNA reports in English and Korean do not support your claim. He is hardly spoken about, when he is spoken about it is to add his name to a list of people who were present, and there are many, many, many articles where his father or other high-ranking people appear but he does not. He is not the second-most referred to person in the KCNA reports; he is a distant fifth or sixth, and that’s only if you count the ones where he is part of a list.
Methinks the soundbites in Seoul have got it wrong. The KCNA is still blocked in South Korea, no? How would they even know if he has gone from “seventh to second,” and how would you know if they’re being accurate about that? (They aren’t.)
Well Jennifer you are probably right and it does look spooky. Whoever chose the music for that clip was on the money too. Creepy!
happy to leave it at that exchange of views as far as the succession goes, but just to clarify re: KCNA.
it is blocked officially here, but it, Chosun Central TV, Chosun Central Broadcast et al are recorded by the Ministry of Unification and then provided to the media/analyzed from there. in short, we aren’t blind.
in addition, people closer to the border sometimes get KCNA and Kaesong Broadcast more or less by accident.
When satan goes marchin’ in.
Field Marshall Prince Leopold developed the goose step for the Prussian army in the eighteenth century. Many other countries adopted it; Peter the Great introduced it in Russia. After the Second World War, the West Germans dropped it, but the East Germans kept it. Today’s unified Germany doesn’t use it. Some post-communist countries use it, and others don’t. It’s very common in Latin America. The English-speaking countries never adopted it, so it looks strange to us. My one piece of advice for the North Koreans would be: wear pants when you’re going to goose-step, because it looks awkward in a skirt.
For more information on the goose step, look it up in Wikipedia.
Music is “Hell March” by Frank Klepacki from the game “Commmand and Conquer: Red Alert”.
Kushibo,
I wholeheartedly, 100% agree with your claim that:
But I just wanted to point out two things:
1) KCNA and other NK-affiliated websites—while technically illegal—are easily accessible through proxy servers. Also, the MoU runs a North Korea Resource Center (ë¶í•œìžë£Œì„¼í„°) at the Central Public Library (êµë¦½ì¤‘ì•™ë„서관) in Seocho-Gu. The center is open to the general public (though the hours suck for all us working stiffs who have non-NK related day jobs) and there one can freely view copies of the Rodong Shinmun and other periodicals as well as novels, textbooks, and other works to one’s heart’s content. I would also assume that most NK studies departments here also have their own private collections of such materials. Regarding KCTV, broadcasts can easily be picked up in northern Seoul and border areas; provided one can scrounge up an old-school PAL TV set (South Korea uses a different encoding system for its TV broadcasts rendering the use of jammers unnecessary).
2) KCNA reports did in fact use honorifics when talking about the actions of Kim Jong Cartman in the context of a visit by a Chinese delegation. In the article, Guo Baoxiong, vice chair of the PRC’s Central Military Commission, gave (드리다) a gift to KJU (께). If you search through the KCNA archives, you’ll note that such honorifics are only reserved for KJI, KJU, and KSI’s wife, the Eternal Mother, Kim Jong-suk. Other high ranking officials, including Kim Yong-nam, Choe Yong-rim, and Chang Song-taek, Ri Yong-ho, and Kim Kyong-hui are not afforded such honors, nor are “brotherly†foreign leaders like Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.
KJU’s name, however, is not yet preceded by a catalogue of obsequious adjectives in the same fashion as his father and grandfather. At this point, he is merely a “comrade†(ë™ì§€) on par with all the others.
A point of order: I’ve said for years now that one of the Kim sons could only be elevated as a figurehead, not to hold real power. I adhere to this view. But the available evidence does suggest that KJU is being elevated as a figurehead, and that this elevation is causing a significant popular backlash. In this sense, the false perception of KJU’s leadership role is as important to North Korea’s future as the reality, and perhaps much more important.
milton and chris, I just wanted to point out that, yes, I am aware that there are means through which someone can gain access to North Korean media, including news reports. I myself have done it.
But I also know that the public is lazy (not just in South Korea, but just in general), and that allows the various news outlets (including non-traditional news outlets) a wide berth in telling a story. KCNA reports are available to those who seek it out, but they are not widely consumed by the general public, and that means that news agencies can be a bit, um, interpretive with various stories.
Having worked in news media in Korea, I also know there is a very strong resistance to bucking the mainstream trends. That means that when some unexpected “fact” ends up on your desk, there’s a strong reluctance to go with it.
We have seen this already. In 2008 and 2009, everybody was running with the story that Kim Jong-il was near death. Now we’re seeing that Kim Jong-un’s ascension is in full swing and is virtually a done deal as far as the regime is concerned.
What we have is one-eyed folks telling stories to blind people, with embellishments being made to make up for what they can’t see in their peripheral vision.
Oh, and I didn’t mean that in a snarky way, gentlemen. I really did appreciate your feedback on my contrarian position.
Dissecting this a bit more, at one point did we start seeing Kim Jong-il’s portraits up and about, or people wearing Kim Jong-il pins? What are the pins called in North Korea? It would seem very odd — and not ìˆœì¡°ì„ ì–´ish — if they were called 뱃지.
I would submit that Kim Jong-un has indeed arrived and is much more of a shoo-in if his visage is used in this way.
(But depending on when KJI’s appeared, respective to his father’s decline, KJU may not appear in this way until well after his ascension does in fact become a done deal, so it may not be the best gauge of anything. If his visage is up, he’s definitely in, but if his visage is not up, it doesn’t mean he’s not in.)
Kushibo,
I wouldn’t call your position “contrarian,†it’s just well-informed and skeptical (in the good way). Not only do the media frequently “get it wrong,†but given the dearth of reliable facts, there’s also a tendency to mix in speculation and rumor with what little empirical evidence we have and presenting it as the truth, or a tendency to quote an expert’s opinion—or more likely some beltway pundit passing themselves off as an expert—on a certain NK matter and taking it as reality.
As Joshua said above, the evidence is strong that the elevation process is in full-effect. But we don’t yet have a reliable guide as to how far along the process is moving or how successful it’s been to date. Some evidence seems to point to resistance among the population and among certain segments of the elite, but we can’t really be sure and it’s far too early to tell how this will all play out.
Some indicators to watch out for are: the publication of a mythical biography, monuments built in KJU’s honor, badges, more propaganda, a growing number of news articles, TV and radio programs, and novels dedicated to extolling KJU’s virtue, and perhaps most important for all of us amateur Kumsusanologists (nice neologism) is photographs. When KJI was undergoing his succession process he was photographed and painted standing next to and just behind his father while everyone else was in the background. This would be a good indication that KJU is on the fast track to become second-among-equals. So far, to my knowledge, such a photograph has yet to be printed.
Also, I believe the aforementioned badges are called ì´ˆìƒíœ˜ìž¥.
milton, I agree pretty much with everything you say. I also agree with Joshua that the process is clearly underway (his new military position alone is evidence of that), but my beef is that while I agree he is being positioned for an effort to elevate him into the leadership role, much of the media already talks, incorrectly I believe, as if that effort is already is in full force and even largely visible to the people of North Korea.
As for pictures of KJU released by the KCNA, here and here are two from the KCNA service. KJU is hanging back in the crowd, not positioned as KJI had been with his father. If KJU were twenty years younger in those photos, you’d imagine KJI just couldn’t get a babysitter that day so he had to take him to work and told him not to get in the way and don’t break anything.
Again, I quote Barbara Demick: “I wouldn’t say he’s the successor. I would say he’s daddy’s favorite.†For now, at least, that’s where we are. And think a lot could happen that could block him from becoming the successor. An awful lot.
I’m not sure if this has been posted on this site before but the link below, I feel, pretty much sums it up what’s going on in North Korea. Scary and sad.
Worse Than 1984
North Korea, slave state.
http://www.slate.com/id/2117846/
The rest of the world doesn’t seem to understand that North Korea is the perfect example of what tyranny, brainwashing and dictatorship can do to a country.
I’m surprised the international community and media is taking more notice of this.
Sorry but I wanted to correct something on my previous post.
“I’m surprised the international community and media isn’t taking more notice of this.”
Yes, I second the Japanese chef remark. And what is more, I’ll raise you a “do you know how much he gets paid for public appearances?”
Suffice it to say, I would prefer he taught me to cook, and I am sure it would be cheaper.
As for the succession; so its me and China vs Kushibo? Ha ha, things are hotting up.
Want to see the state of the goose-stepping art? Enjoy the set-up, then watch the fun begin at 1:00.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnl1URCH3w&feature=grec_index