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Opinion

Columnists

Thu, November 26, 2020 | 10:47

Andrei Lankov

Photography in N. Korea

Nowadays, it is easy to create and reproduce digital images. Almost all of us have a mobile phone with a camera in our pocket. These digital cameras deliver a level of quality that a few decades ago was beyond the reach of anybody but a handful of professionals.

2015-10-18 16:58

Founding of Workers' Party

On Oct. 10, North Korea is going to hold a major celebration. All North Korean citizens have been issued bonuses equaling their monthly salary, and massive festivities are expected. If you ask the average North Korean what happened on Oct. 10 to warrant such celebrations, they are likely to reply with little hesitation: “On that day, Oct. 10, 1945, the Great Leader Kim Il-sung established the North Korean Communist Party.” Perhaps, 99.9 percent of North Koreans believe this statement. However, not a single word of it is true - with the possible exception of the verb “to establish” and some p...

2015-10-04 17:02

Birth of a missile power

So, the North Korean government made a public statement, claiming it has restarted its nuclear facilities, will soon launch another prototype long-range missile (or peaceful satellite, as they prefer to describe it) and perhaps will conduct a nuclear test.

2015-09-20 16:58

Seoul was quiet again - with reasons

Nowadays, it is easy to create and reproduce digital images. Almost all of us have a mobile phone with a camera in our pocket. These digital cameras deliver a level of quality that a few decades ago was beyond the reach of anybody but a handful of professionals.

2015-09-06 17:07

World's most reclusive leader

So, it happened again: Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, failed to show and greet a visiting foreign dignitary. This time, the dignitary was Lee Hee-ho, widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. She visited North Korea in early August, following an official invitation from Kim. Given the role that her husband played in starting the Sunshine Policy some 15 years ago, one would expect that she would be granted an audience by the North Korean leader. However, this did not happen.

2015-08-23 17:01

The looming missile launch

Recent reports seemingly confirm that the North Korean government has entered the final stages of preparation for a missile launch. The launch site in Tongchang-ri, near the Yellow Sea, has recently been expanded and upgraded. In late July North Korean engineers also built a protective roof over the launch pads. The most likely purpose of this roof is to cover the final preparations from the preying cameras of foreign satellites.

2015-08-09 17:54

How to outsmart old regulations

Recently, one of my North Korean friends told me that she had sent another money transfer to her native town deep in the North Korean countryside. This did not surprise me at all. This woman, in her mid-30s, has spent the last 10 years supporting her family which includes a son in his early teens back in North Korea. She is a North Korean refugee, of course, and she wires money to her hometown twice a year.

2015-07-26 17:37

N. Korean trade: Business as usual?

Every May or June, South Korean research centres publish North Korean trade statistics. Surprising though it sounds, this is what the South Koreans do. The North Koreans made trade statistics (and most other statistics) classified back in the early 1960s and have only once - in 1984 - released such figures. However, trade figures are relatively easy to reconstruct. It takes two to tango, all international trade requires two countries. Since all of North Korea’s major trade partners reliably report their trade stats, a reconstruction is not too difficult.

2015-07-12 17:16

The last couple of weeks were marked by another outburst of alarmist reporting on North Korea. This time the topic is the drought which has hit the country and, as some people speculate, will produce grave consequences, perhaps even famine.

2015-06-28 17:22

On jobs good and bad

On jobs good and badBy Andrei Lankov When you talk to North Koreans, you often hear the person you are talking to become deferential when talking about sales clerks or drivers. Such jobs are referred to in terms similar to the way the average Westerner would probably describe a doctor or lawyer. On the other hand, in North Korea medical doctors are considered to be run-of-the-mill white-collar occupations that do not carry any prestige and do not have good salaries.

2015-06-14 17:24

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