If this is even half-way correct (Chosun Ilbo, 25 Feb 2011) it shows Kim Jong-il guilty of massive genocide against his own people.

North Korea has been begging for food aid, yet last year's harvest in the North is estimated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at 4.48 million tons, making it the best harvest in 20 years. North Korea's annual food demand is estimated at around 5 million tons. Nam Sung-wook of the Institute for National Security Strategy is quoted as saying that starvation to death happens when food output falls below 3.5 million tons. Until the present administration came to power in the South, the South gave some 400,000-500,000 tons and the international community up to 1 million tons. China has not responded to North Korea's requests for food aid, but might step in if the country nears collapse.

The main reason for the food shortage in the North is hoarding by the government and military—as much as a million tons of rice has been stored for a war, enough to feed the country's 24 million people for three months. Since 1987, North Korea has been setting aside an eighth of its rice output as emergency supplies in case of war and a further tenth for military consumption. It may also be hoarding for a grand celebration in 2012. After the severe 1995-97, when more than a million people starved, North Korea boasted of becoming a powerful and prosperous nation by then.

Blatant corruption and hoarding by the régime is also at fault. North Korean mines contain an estimated 2,000 tons of gold and 5,000 tons of silver worth billions. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has apparently stashed away more than US$4 billion in secret bank accounts overseas. Yet there are no accounts that the North sold any of the gold or silver to buy food.

Despite losing to Brazil at the World Cup, the North Korean team acquitted itself with determination, defensive skill and courtesy. Not so its country's government. The Star is one of number of papers to report that hired non-Koreans fans are behind those red banners waving in the stands in support of North Korea. Among the 1,000 Chinese fans given tickets by North Korea for the World Cup in South Africa are actors and musicians who have cheered for China in previous World Cups, according to the Xinhua news agency run by the Chinese government. . . . Many others are Chinese tourists who paid for a tour package that included a game, a safari and a trip to a casino. The Beijing office of the North Korean Sports Committee distributed the tickets to Chinese fans since almost no one in North Korea could have afforded the trip, Xinhua reported. (HT to Dan Sloan)

Koreans? "All together now!"

The South Korean team is off to a good start in the World Cup, defeating Greece 2-0 and reminding me of my visit to Korea at the time of the 2002 World Cup, when the streets were full of people wearing red tee shirts and chanting "Dae Han Min Guk" in support of the Korean national team, the fans of which are called the "Red Devils". James and I were glued to the TV as the Koreans played. We arrived in Seoul for a holiday on the same day that the grand final was to be played in Japan. Korea was not in the grand final. But the were still fans a-plenty sporting red and white T-shirts. Millions turned out to cheer the players and chant "Dae-han Min-guk!" (대한민국 the name of the republic in the Korean language).

A fascination in South Korea's 2004 World Cup campaign was the depth and breadth of support Korea's people. Enthused by their country's successes in the 2002 Cup, huge crowds were out in Korea's main cities to watch the match between Korea and Switzerland on giant video screens including 350,000 around Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul, 150,000 in front of Seoul Plaza and 100,000 in the Busan Asiad Stadium.

Vast apartment complexes and residential streets were lit up all night as people waited for the match and watched other matches. But in the end Korea was crushed 2-0 by Switzerland. Dae Han Min Guk rang through the Hanover stadium and the 'Red Devils' sang. The Koreans had several chances to score but none of them went in. Inability to convert opportunities cost Korea the match.

James and I support Australia, but would be a little torn if Korea met Australia in a final.

Artists have been invited to Australia to explain their creations to visitors at the Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, which shows work of 160 artists from 25 countries. North Korean artists are displaying their work in Australia for the first time. However, their visa applications have been rejected as part of the Australia's response to Pyongyang's missile and nuclear weapons programs.

The exhibition's website explains that the Mansudae Art Studio

is an official artist studio (changjaksa) in Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK), which employs over 1000 artists across the disciplines of painting, drawing, embroidery and mosaics. There is a rich cultural heritage associated with artistic production in North Korea (DPRK), and ink painting in particular is a revered practice. Artistic themes vary and may be revolutionary, social, political and historical in content, or purely aesthetic, and are expressed in different media such as sculpture, poster art, ceramics and painting. Installed in streets, schools, cinemas and official buildings, they function as a form of public art. These works are created with virtuosic technical skill by groups of artists, reflecting the state’s collective ethos. This new body of work, created specifically for APT6, addresses the nature of work and collectivism, the process of collaboration and the fundamental role played by the studio in artistic practice in North Korea. This important project, developed in collaboration with Nicholas Bonner, will be the first presentation in Australia of contemporary art from North Korea (DPRK).

Australian Immigration officials say the studio produces propaganda artworks that glorify the North Korean government. North Korean nationals are forbidden from visiting Australia because of their country's missile and nuclear weapons programs. To make an exception for these artists "would have sent an inappropriate message to the North Korean regime", says the official statement by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "'The artists concerned are from a studio that operates under the guidance of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Il. The studio reportedly produces almost all of the official artworks in North Korea, including works that clearly constitute propaganda," the statement says.

"That's just the most stupid thing I have ever heard," counters Beijing-based British filmmaker Nicholas Bonner, who for the past five years, alongside curators from the Queensland gallery, worked on the exhibition with eight North Korean artists from the Mansudae Art Studio and now accuses Australian authorities of censoring free debate.

This is the first time anyone has ever seen this style of art in the Australia and it is a pity its creators cannot tell us about it. Trouble is, employees in North Korea are all 'government officials' and all are under the 'guidance' of Kim Jong-Il.

Pictured: Choe Yong Sun | North Korea (DPRK) b.1958 | The construction site 2005 | Linocut on paper | 65.5 x 52.5cm | Collection: Nicholas Bonner, Beijing
Im Hyok with his work "Break Time" at the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang.

I've commented previously that B.R. Myers is a particularly enlightening and informed commentator on North Korea. In this Wall Street Journal piece (1 Oct 09) Myers writes on North Korea's codification of its "extreme, nationalist regime" in a new constitution, noting it to be national-socialist (fascist?) not communist.

The average North Korean doesn't know the country's national constitution well, but at least he has a solid excuse: Kim Jong Il keeps the working masses ignorant of the rights that are formally granted them, which include freedom of speech and demonstration. But just because Pyongyang's constitution is hardly worth the paper it is written on does not mean that alterations to it are beneath notice. For the ruling elite, its preamble and first few articles serve as a broad indication of the regime's ideological direction.

Which is why the latest version of the North Korean constitution, made public on Monday by the South Korean government, is worth paying attention to. Unlike earlier versions, it omits all mention of communism, while referring here and there to the "military-first" brand of socialism that has guided the regime since the mid-1990s. It also designates the National Defense Council Chairman—Kim Jong Il, of course—as "supreme leader" of the country. Last weekend a North Korean press representative explained to South Korean officials that Kim did not consider communism to be viable "as long as U.S. imperialism exists."

These changes do not reflect a sudden shift in policy. Despite the world media's tradition of referring to North Korea as a "hardline communist" or "Stalinist" state, it has never been anything of the sort. From its beginnings in 1945 the regime has espoused—to its subjects if not to its Soviet and Chinese aid-providers—a race-based, paranoid nationalism that has nothing to do with Marxism-Leninism. (This latter term was tellingly dropped from the constitution after the collapse of the East Bloc.) North Korea has always had less in common with the former Soviet Union than with the Japan of the 1930s, another "national defense state" in which a command economy was pursued not as an end in itself, but as a prerequisite for rapid armament.

North Korea is, in other words, a national-socialist country—one lacking imperialist ambitions, to be sure, but one that must still be seen on the far right and not the far left of the political spectrum. The only thing that has changed over the past 15 years is the country's readiness to show its true colors to the world. Despite this, some foreigners continue to misinterpret the regime's sporadic efforts to regain total control over the economy in terms of an attempted "re-Stalinization." In fact it has made no serious effort to resocialize the enormous amount of property, including real estate, that has been amassed by traders and officials in the past 15 years. Nor has it stamped out open-air markets. Instead it tries to control and monitor these markets better, with a view to preventing the diversion of able-bodied workers from farms and factories, and stopping the trade in items stolen from state industry. In short, Kim wants to call the economic shots to maintain internal security and to pump as much money as possible into the army; Stalin doesn't enter into the equation, let alone Marx.

So far, the United States government has never been interested enough in North Korean ideology to look beyond Pyongyang's lip service to communism. An element of wishful thinking is involved, given that Washington wants the current nuclear stand-off to end as peacefully as the Cold War did. Perhaps this new constitution will finally make America realize who it is dealing with: a leader who derives his entire legitimacy from a pledge to maximize his country's military might. Kim is aware that he cannot disarm without committing political suicide. This unfortunately means that negotiations with Pyongyang, whether bilateral or multilateral, can never bear the sort of fruit that détente with the Soviet Union did.

Some in Washington have suggested that negotiations can nonetheless be an effective adjunct to sanctions, the hope being that the U.S. can chatter away with the Kim regime until it finally collapses from a lack of funds. But if North Korea is not a communist country, there is no reason to expect it to fold like one. Party propaganda derides the old Soviet Union for nothing so much as the way it went down "without a shot." With the Dear Leader's uranium centrifuges spinning every hour, running out the clock seems a very dangerous strategy indeed.

Go Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, observes (JoongAng Daily, 2 Oct 09) that the new constitution "provides the constitutional and systematic groundwork for North Korea as a military nation."

The Constitution of 1972 established the "Revolutionary Leader Theory" and the 1998 revision established the system of the National Defense Chairman by providing for "Seongun," or a "military-first" policy. [. . . ] The newly revised Constitution dramatically reinforces the authority and duties of the chairman and stipulates the powers that have been executed by the chairman. The chairman [. . .] not only leads national projects in general but also has the authority to ratify and abandon treaties and declare states of emergency. The Constitution seems to give the chairman [Kim Jong-il] authority similar to those of a president in a Western country.

North Korea has advocated military-first politics as the basic ruling system of the Kim Jong-il era since the death of Kim Il Sung. When the Constitution was revised in 1998, it created a government system centered on the National Defense Commission but did not reflect a specific leadership philosophy for the military-first policies.

The latest Constitution states that North Korea takes military-first policy and the juche ideology of self-reliance as "the leadership guideline of activities," and adds military servicemen as one of the sovereign classes. While the 1972 Constitution included "soldiers" as sovereign power holders, they were dropped in the 1998 Constitution. The most recent revision replaced soldiers with "military servicemen." By adding military-first policy as a leadership ideology and including military servicemen as sovereign power holders, North Korea wishes to constitutionally complete a military state. The military-first doctrine is not at the same level as the juche ideology, but more of an embodiment of it.

It is notable that "communism" has been removed in the revised Constitution. When socialist countries are collapsing and struggling to keep people well fed, communism is a far-fetched idea. The socialist objective of realizing distribution based on labor is hard to attain under present conditions, and the communist idea of realizing distribution based on demand is not in sight.

China assumes that becoming a socialist state is a long process that takes over 100 years. It is pursuing rapid economic growth as a primary socialist stage. North Korea also proposes its own socialist theories and is more interested in resolving immediate challenges. It seems to have omitted the communist objective since defending socialism is the highest priority in the confrontation with imperialism.

In response to the international community's demand for improved human rights, a human rights clause has been added to the Constitution, but it also contains new clauses on reinforcing the ideological revolution, labor classes and collectivism, reflecting an intention to tighten control over society. Clauses on much-anticipated economic reforms are nowhere to be found. After all, the Kim Jong-il regime seems to want to remain a military nation centered on armed forces. Meaningful policy change and legislation will only be possible when the North-U.S. hostility is resolved and Pyongyang has confidence in the system's stability. A more serious change in policy direction will be made after 2012, a period when Pyongyang says it will become a powerful and prosperous nation.