More evidence that Richardson and Schmidt were tools of the regime (or just tools).
This happens on nearly every visit. With all of Richardson's north Korean expertise and the expert advisors he has, he should have been well aware that his visit would be exploited to strengthen the legitimacy of the Kim Family Regime and Kim Jong-un. Their visit fully supports the regime's "Image First Politics" affecting both target audiences – domestic by reinforcing Kim has a leader to whom foreigners come to kowtow and internationally as this gives the perception that he is interested in the modern world and modernization giving hope to all those who think the north is about to open up and reform.
V/R
Dave
- January 11, 2013, 4:17 PM KST
How North Korea Reported Schmidt’s Visit
ByAlastair Gale
Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said the message he gave North Korea was “very, very clear”: you need the Internet to save your economy.
Associated Press
Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt stands near a statue of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung during a tour of the Grand Peoples Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea on Jan. 9.
But the message that North Korea relayed from the trip was—unsurprisingly–very, very different.
Domestic coverage of the group led by former Gov. Bill Richardson and Mr. Schmidt contained nothing about what the visitors told their hosts. Rather, as is common with high profile overseas guests, the narrative provided by Pyongyang was about how the group came to learn and pay their respects to the ruling family.
After noting the arrival of “a delegation of the Google Corp.” on Monday, the state news agency reported on Wednesday that the group visited the mausoleum that houses the bodies of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, and his son, Kim Jong Il.
“The members of the delegation paid high tribute to the statues of the peerlessly great men,” reported the Korean Central News Agency.
The group’s visit to the massive library in the center of Pyongyang known as the Grand People’s Study House was also noted. There, the visitors were “briefed on the fact that people and students acquire knowledge about modern science and technology and improve their cultural attainments,” according to KCNA.
The web site for Rodong Sinmun, the North’s biggest newspaper, carried the same report. By Wednesday, North Korea’s media had at least figured out the correct name of Mr. Schmidt’s company, referring to it as Google Inc.
Web site North Korea Leadership Watch notes that state television had similar coverage of the delegation, as well as footage of the group visiting tourist sites and the elite Kim Il Sung University.
(Continued at the link below)
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