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Confused Canadian
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:51 am Post subject: |
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The hold that Kim Jong Il has on the people of North Korea scares the crap outta me.
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SEOUL (Reuters) - Many North Koreans died a "heroic death" after last week's train explosion by running into burning buildings to rescue portraits of leader Kim Jong-il and his father, the North's official media reported on Wednesday.
Portraits of Kim and his late father, national founder Kim Il-sung, are mandatory fixtures in every home, office and factory in the hardline communist state of 23 million. All adults are required to wear lapel pins bearing images of one or both Kims. |
It's a tragedy that so many people were killed. It's an indescribable tragedy that many of them didn't have to die. Rescuing kids from a building I can live with. "Rescuing" portraits...*sigh*
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| The prison diaries of North Korean defectors refer to people imprisoned for accidentally defacing portraits of the Kims. |
I remember reading years ago about a North Korean that was sentenced to death for accidentally stepping on a 100 won banknote (not a typo, 100 banknote), which of course has a picture of Kim Il Sung on it. Apparently someone dropped the bill in a crowded market, and this poor fellow didn't even know he stepped on it. Crazy. I also remember reading that many North Koreans iron their money before going out to spend it and keep it in a silk purse around their necks.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=4&u=/nm/20040428/od_nm/korea_north_portraits_dc |
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rok_the-boat
Joined: 24 Jan 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 2:22 am Post subject: |
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"They said that of the 40 or 50 critically injured patients they saw, only two of them were on intravenous drips."
From here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3669141.stm
That was from today's news. So, what on earth happened to all the donations! Turned into buldozers and TVs!
And I bet those patients don't even get to see one of those TVs (that NK demanded, and South Korea was daft enough to give). |
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jeffusensei
Joined: 27 Jan 2004
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 3:55 am Post subject: |
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There was a front page story in the International Tribune (I think it was I.T...) speculating that Kim died in the explosion.
The official story is that his train passed through 9 hours before but he apparently always sends a decoy train before he really travels. Also, scores and scores of children with facial injuries is consistent with schoolchildren lined up to salute the glorious leader. And Kim has failed to make any appearances or statements since the accident - everything has been filtered out through the official state news agency. Combined with sudden talk of how much money it will cost the s.korean government to unify the country, there is certainly some merit to the conspiracy.
On the other hand, like in the Halifax Explosion mentioned by someone, the trains were apparently on fire for 40 minutes before exploding so the kids may have been at the window watching the accident unfold. And this wouldn't be the first time Kim has gone incommunicado for an extended period of time.
If he is dead, we're in for a rocky time. I wouldn't expect salaries to go up any time soon...more likely you'll be buying a plane ticket home as the economy implodes under the weight of a gajillion n.korean refugees lined up at the gates of Seoul. |
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