The clappers and the marchers
The problem is that one gets the impression that North Koreans spend most of their time either clapping or marching.
Now that the British police has arrested Julian Assange, for allegedly trying to dip his wick in the land of the Vikings and getting rebuffed in the bargain, and one has learnt that his sensational disclosures on WikiLeaks are going to be pushed off the air waves, we will once again have to turn to the local television for entertainment. This is not a very edifying thought, what with those infernal talk shows, cooking programmes and reruns on HBO. Fortunately, every once in a while, international news cameras focus on that austere rugged strip of land north of the 38th parallel, referred to by western democracies as the Hermit Kingdom, where a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers' Party follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance.
The problem is that one gets the impression that the North Koreans spend most of their time either clapping or marching. In fact, if one is as addicted to BBC and CNN as this writer is, one develops the notion that the North Koreans are the world’s greatest clappers and their children have probably been taking lessons in the fine art of applauding ever since they stopped using pacifiers. But they are also the world’s greatest marchers. Of course, every now and then they take a turn to name a successor, which they do with panache. And the viewer gets a wonderful glimpse of the hawks in the pecking order wearing caps that are two sizes too large, breaking into rapturous applause and wiping away tears of joy after learning with feigned surprise the identity of the successor.
The only problem is, the Korean clips don’t last for more than 16 and a half seconds and one is impatient to get an insight into how these people live. However, during that time the viewer gets an idea of how socialist dynasties operate in the East and how decisions are taken in a totalitarian regime. And one can savour the spectacle of hundreds of soldiers doing the goose-step in all its glory.
What is, however, unfortunate is the regime’s hostility to foreigners and its reluctance to encourage foreign tourism. But can one really blame the Dear Leader who doesn’t have a friend in the world? North Korea is now the world's most militarised nation with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve and paramilitary personnel. This has something to do with the fact that a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a devastating famine caused the death of two million people. This induced Kim Jong-Il to adopt the policy of Songun — which, translated into English, means ‘military-first’ — in order to strengthen the country and its government. And so the lads and lasses in uniform get pork chops while the peasantry remains hungry. Is it any wonder that everybody wants to join the army?
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2010.
The problem is that one gets the impression that the North Koreans spend most of their time either clapping or marching. In fact, if one is as addicted to BBC and CNN as this writer is, one develops the notion that the North Koreans are the world’s greatest clappers and their children have probably been taking lessons in the fine art of applauding ever since they stopped using pacifiers. But they are also the world’s greatest marchers. Of course, every now and then they take a turn to name a successor, which they do with panache. And the viewer gets a wonderful glimpse of the hawks in the pecking order wearing caps that are two sizes too large, breaking into rapturous applause and wiping away tears of joy after learning with feigned surprise the identity of the successor.
The only problem is, the Korean clips don’t last for more than 16 and a half seconds and one is impatient to get an insight into how these people live. However, during that time the viewer gets an idea of how socialist dynasties operate in the East and how decisions are taken in a totalitarian regime. And one can savour the spectacle of hundreds of soldiers doing the goose-step in all its glory.
What is, however, unfortunate is the regime’s hostility to foreigners and its reluctance to encourage foreign tourism. But can one really blame the Dear Leader who doesn’t have a friend in the world? North Korea is now the world's most militarised nation with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve and paramilitary personnel. This has something to do with the fact that a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a devastating famine caused the death of two million people. This induced Kim Jong-Il to adopt the policy of Songun — which, translated into English, means ‘military-first’ — in order to strengthen the country and its government. And so the lads and lasses in uniform get pork chops while the peasantry remains hungry. Is it any wonder that everybody wants to join the army?
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2010.