Challengers to DPRK Will Never Be Pardoned: CPRK Spokesman

Here is the English translation of the north Korean statements insulting Presidents Park and Obama.  It is hard to believe that there is anyone who could take the regime seriously or that there are still those who think that something like the Sunshine Policy would ever work.  I would really like to read how the north Korean apologists explain and justify statements such as these (I am sure they will say that this is just propaganda).

Challengers to DPRK Will Never Be Pardoned: CPRK Spokesman http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

Pyongyang, April 27 (KCNA) -- The spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea released a statement on Sunday assailing U.S. President Obama's tour of south Korea from April 25 to 26. The statement said: Due to the tragedy of sinking of a ferry the whole land of south Korea looks like a mourner's house. Had Obama have even an iota of ethics and morality, he should have postponed or shelved his trip. The American master and his servant staged the farce of insulting, threatening and blackmailing the DPRK during the former's criminal tour of south Korea utterly indifferent to the sorrow of south Koreans. This was entirely to serve the purpose of collusion and conspiracy in their campaign against the DPRK. What Park did before Obama this time reminds one of an indiscreet girl who earnestly begs a gangster to beat someone or a capricious whore who asks her fancy man to do harm to other person while providing sex to him. Through her ugly behavior Park answered with a war the question put by the DPRK if she wants peaceful reunification based on the inter-Korean reconciliation or a war through the confrontation of the social systems, and fully revealed that her policy of "confidence- building process" is just the same policy of confrontation as that pursued by traitor Lee Myung Bak. She, at the same time, declared before the whole world her intention to drive the situation to the worst catastrophe through the confrontation with the DPRK to the last in utter disregard of the north-south relations. She fully met the demands of her master for aggression, keeping mum about the nukes of the U.S. and desperately finding fault with fellow countrymen in the north over their nukes. She thus laid bare her despicable true colors as a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the U.S. and despicable prostitute selling off the nation. She visited together with Obama even the "south Korea-U.S. combined forces command" for the first time as a puppet chief executive and went off confrontation hysteria, crying out for "deterrence against the north" and "resolutely countering provocation from it." She even donned a dress unfit for the atmosphere of the mourner's house in the wake of the big tragedy and embarrassedly flattered Obama in a bid to please him, sparking off uproar. The anti-DPRK charade staged by Obama and his servant became a laughing stock of world people as it was nothing but an odd burlesque rare to be found in the world. The outcome of Obama's south Korean junket clearly proved that the DPRK was entirely just when it judged and determined that it should counter the U.S., the sworn enemy, by force only, not just talking, and should finally settle accounts with it through an all-out nuclear showdown. This, at the same time, only hardens the will and resolution of the DPRK to keep to the road chosen by it. Park's true colors and ulterior motive were brought to daylight. There is no remedy for Park and there is nothing to expect from her as far as the inter-Korean relations are concerned as long as she remains a boss of Chongwadae. She is steeped in sycophancy and treachery and confrontation with compatriots in the north. Her preoccupation is to realize the dream of confrontation of the social systems. Genes remain unchanged. Needless to say, her present behavior suggests that her fate will be just the same as that of her father Park Chung Hee who met a miserable death after being forsaken by his master and public while crying out for "unification by prevailing over communism" and "unification by stamping out communism". The DPRK will never pardon anyone who dares challenge its dignity, social system and its line of simultaneously developing the two fronts, the statement warned.

Ask a North Korean: "These days, many North Koreans criticize their government in front of other people."

A good read with some good insight on north Korean propaganda and indoctrination.  Just taking this at face value we can make a couple of conclusions.  On the one hand if people are openly criticizing the government it appears there would be resistance potential that could be exploited to undermine the Kim Family Regime.  And people with these attitudes will be important in a post regime collapse scenario.  If the author is correct and there are 20-30% of the population who still believe in the north's propaganda (and note the reference to anti-Japanese partisan warfare and Kim Il-sung liberating Korea and giving birth the Guerrilla Dynasty) then in a post Kim Family Regime scenario we can expect that there will be significant resistance to the ROK efforts to reunify the Peninsula as 20-30% of the population is between 4 and 6 million people (out of approximately 23 million).   In addition to targeting the 2d tier leadership in the influence campaign as well as the 17 to 19 million these 4 to 6 million people need special attention in terms of influence and it is not too early to begin that now.

V/R

Dave

Rations? Only after the grains are “cooked, eaten and pooped”

Ask a North Korean: "These days, many North Koreans criticize their government in front of other people."

http://www.nknews.org/2013/10/rations-only-after-the-grains-are-cooked-eaten-and-pooped/

BY MINA YOON , OCTOBER 23, 2013

      

   

Every week we ask a North Korean your questions, giving you the chance to learn more about the country we know so little about. This week Jin W. from London asks:

Do North Korean people really believe North Korea is the center of the world and its leader is superhuman?

---

I would say in North Korea, there are simply two sorts of people: people who have no doubt that North Korea is the center of the world and its leader is for sure superhuman and people who simply do not think this is true. You might wonder, then, what the ratio is like between these two groups of people.

Unfortunately, I can’t give you a clear cut number on this. That’s because in North Korea it is very hard to know what others are really thinking about. Because of the strict regulations on free speech, people cannot exchange their frank opinions with others openly, so we do not know what other people are really thinking about. However – from my very subjective impression – around 70 to 80% of North Koreans probably disagree with the idea that North Korea is the center of the world and that the country has a superhuman leader.

Let me tell you why I assume like this.

“Before 1994 people believed that they were enjoying the happiest life on earth”

Before 1994, when North Korea was ruled by Kim Il Sung, people were distributed food rations from the government. At that time, you really didn’t have much to be worried about when you finished all your given work for the day. People believed that they were enjoying the happiest life on earth in reward for their consistent loyalty to their leader. At that time, the government’s propaganda seemed to be working pretty well.

However, the situation has since changed. Far from receiving regular food rations, these days even the water and electricity supply is limited. People have to manage on their own through the markets, instead of depending on the government like they once did. Furthermore, there is too much information coming in now from the outside. As such, people don’t  believe everything told to them by the government as they once did.

However, I would assume that 20% to 30% of North Koran people still take the propaganda from the government as the complete truth. I myself used to be a living proof of the propaganda education. My father, who was a military officer, raised his kids as radical communists. Because what I learned at school exactly matched with what my father told me, I did not have to question anything.

“I myself used to be a living proof of the propaganda education”

Father used to tell me that we North Koreans had been liberated from Japanese colonization and American threats only because the people had worshiped their leader so sincerely. He said without our leader, Kim Il Sung, we would have had to live miserably just like the Japanese or South Koreans – who were deprived of all basic dignities as human beings.

Growing up I once heard horrible stories about a Korean girl who went to school in Hanbok (Korean traditional costume) and had her Hanbok  ripped off with a knife by her Japanese classmates. I also heard about South Korean kids who had to shine shoes of American soldiers to earn their own tuition. Listening to those stories of our fellow Koreans, my little heart was broken with sympathy and I often thought about possible ways to bring all those people to North Korea. But my father told me that it was because of the South Korean government and the U.S. that these people could not come to North Korea even though they wanted to. He concluded that this was why we should drive the U.S. military out of the Korean peninsula as soon as possible and reunify Korea. That was the only way that North Korean people and South Korean people could prosper together, he told me.

When I was a kid, in my eyes my father was truly a great person. He always put other people’s happiness before his own and he lived his life primarily for the community, society and nation that he belonged to. I was deeply proud of my father, who was so different from others. I often thought I wanted to be an even greater person than him and from time to time, I pictured myself becoming a party officer or an army executive member, even though I was a girl.

“My conclusion was that I should be loyal to the government”

Looking back, thanks to my father’s education, I was inspired to think thoroughly about the real definition of our society, community and nation, and agonized over what is a meaningful and valuable life to live. My conclusion from all those thoughts was that I should be loyal to the government. I believe this conclusion contributed to my later decision to serve in the military army with a gun on my shoulder. Even though the decision was a complex outcome of many different factors, I felt great pride and satisfaction working my nation’s military.

You might wonder what kind of satisfaction it was. I know it may sound a bit silly but we – I would like to use the North Korean military ‘we’ to express what I felt part of – felt good that our work had a visible influence on the attitudes of the South Koreans and Americans.  To be more specific, I was told that when we took a strong stance in developing cutting edge nuclear weapons, then the U.S. would often propose a return to negotiations in response. At those talks we could then ask the Americans to provide us with rice or other scarce resources, or lead them to unlock the economic blockade against us. That’s what I read from the education material, too. In short, I learned that ‘Our leader’s courage and audacity conquered the world.’

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.nknews.org/2013/10/rations-only-after-the-grains-are-cooked-eaten-and-pooped/

Backpack Bombers a Propaganda Tale (north Korea)

For those who missed the video I sent yesterday here is the photo with what looks like an nKPA attempt to show us they have some kind of atomic demolition munitions (ADM) or "backpack nukes."  I am sure they are saying in Korea something like "be afraid, be really afraid." And instead we are saying do you really think we could take such a photo seriously?  As someone said on one of the blogs, they probably painted the radiation symbol over some hello kitty backpacks they stole from Japan.

V/R
Dave

Backpack Bombers a Propaganda Talehttp://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=10788

By Lee Sang Yong [2013-07-29 17:40 ]

▲ "Backpack bombers" made an appearance during the July 27th military parade. (ⓒChosun Central Television capture) A unit of North Korean soldiers carrying what appeared to be representations of "nuclear backpacks" (a variation on the "briefcase bomb" concept) appeared during a military parade held on Saturday as part of North Korea’s commemoration of its “victory” in the Korean War. However, it is thought unlikely that North Korea has the technical capacity to produce such a high-tech nuclear device.  A spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, Kim Min Seok told a regular briefing on the morning of the 29th, “Nuclear backpacks are an extremely small type of nuclear weapon; you need very advanced skills in order to miniaturize like that," before noting, "Experts do not believe that North Korea has reached the ability to manufacture these backpacks.” (Continued at the link below) http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=10788

The Market Shall Set North Korea Free

Some important insights and commentary.  I wish we could remind all pundits and those who think that we can negotiate with the Kim Family Regime based on international norms and standards to always remember these three key points:

All of us at the United Front Department — also known as “the window into and out of North Korea” — learned three tenets of diplomacy by heart: 1. Pay no attention to South Korea. 2. Exploit Japan’s emotions. 3. Ply the United States with lies, but make sure they are logical ones. 

Kim Jong-il stressed the importance of these three tenets as the framework within which we were required to implement his vision for Pyongyang’s foreign relations. North Korea’s dealings with South Korea, Japan and the United States always hewed closely to these principles.

V/R

Dave

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

The Market Shall Set North Korea Free

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/opinion/global/The-Market-Shall-Set-North-Korea-Free.html?ref=global&pagewanted=all

Sung Choi

By JANG JIN-SUNG

Published: April 26, 2013

I DEFECTED from North Korea in 2004. I decided to risk my life to leave my home country — where I worked as a psychological warfare officer for the government — when it finally sunk in that there are two North Koreas: one real and the other a fiction created by the regime.

Although in my job I had access to foreign media, books with passages containing criticism of our Dear Leader Kim Jong-il or his revered father, Kim Il-sung, had large sections blacked out. One day, out of deep curiosity, I made up an excuse to stay behind at work to decipher the redacted words of a history book.

I locked the office door and put the pages against a window. Light from outside made the words under the ink perfectly clear. I read voraciously. I stayed late at work again and again to learn my country’s real history — or at least another view of it.

Most shocking was what I discovered about the Korean War. We had been taught all of our lives how an invasion by the South had triggered the conflict. Yet now I was reading that not only South Korea but the rest of the world believed the North had started the war. Who was right?

It was after my harrowing defection — in which I bribed my way to a border crossing and escaped by running across a frozen river to China — that I recognized the existence of a third North Korea: a theoretical one. This is the North Korea constructed by the outside world, a piecemeal analysis of the regime and its propaganda that misses the political and economic realities of the country.

All of us at the United Front Department — also known as “the window into and out of North Korea” — learned three tenets of diplomacy by heart: 1. Pay no attention to South Korea. 2. Exploit Japan’s emotions. 3. Ply the United States with lies, but make sure they are logical ones.

Kim Jong-il stressed the importance of these three tenets as the framework within which we were required to implement his vision for Pyongyang’s foreign relations. North Korea’s dealings with South Korea, Japan and the United States always hewed closely to these principles.

Our department’s mission was to deceive our people and the world, doing what was necessary to keep our leader in power. We openly referred to talks with South Korea as “aid farming,” because while Seoul sought dialogue through its so-called Sunshine Policy, we saw it as an opening not for diplomatic progress but for extracting as much aid as possible. We also successfully bought time for our nuclear program through the endless marathon of the six-party talks.

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/opinion/global/The-Market-Shall-Set-North-Korea-Free.html?ref=global&pagewanted=all

Pyongyang Marathon versus the Boston Marathon

Someone asked what the Kim Family Regime will do in response to the attack at the Boston Marathon.  Some speculate that this is problematic for the regime since it is knocking it from the headlines and others wonder if the north would try to take credit for the event.

I do not think we will see north Korea taking responsibility for this attack in Boston.  I think it knows that it would be dangerous to do so and perhaps if it really did conduct the attack (I am not even speculating that they might have) it would most likely be the one thing that would provoke a US unilateral attack on the regime despite the presence of north Korean nuclear weapons.

However, I am sure that the north Korean propagandists are busy putting together their next video that will be comparing the recent Pyongyang marathon with the Boston marathon to illustrate how dangerous it is to live in America versus how safe it is to be in Pyongyang.  And if the attack turns out to be domestic terrorism the north will really exploit that in its future propaganda with the narrative that the violence is evidence of a corrupt government against which its people are rebelling.  They will probably even say that America is facing regime collapse.

North Korea's propaganda machine grips defector 11 years on

We cannot forget about the people in the north.  This provides some useful insight into how effective the 60 years of indoctrination is on many people to include those who have left north Korea.

V/R
Dave

North Korea's propaganda machine grips defector 11 years on

By Kyung Lah, CNN

updated 9:19 PM EDT, Fri April 12, 2013

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/world/asia/north-korea-brainwashing-propaganda-lah/

Brainwashed by North Korea

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Chae Young Hee abandoned North Korea for the South 11 years ago
• She experienced starvation as well as the brutality of the regime
• But seeing images from her native land fill her with pride
• "This is how you are brought up since birth. Even I can feel the pull in my heart"

Seoul (CNN) -- To the outside world the images from North Korean state television are nearly comical -- weeping soldiers chasing Kim Jong Un into the freezing sea, elderly women screaming as the young leader approaches, and North Koreans unleashing dogs at a poorly made effigy of a South Korean leader.

But as Chae Young Hee watches, her eyes begin to brim with tears and her lips tremble uncontrollably with national pride.

Chae is not a North Korean anymore, having defected to South Korea 11 years ago, abandoning the totalitarian regime.

READ: 'OK, N. Korea, you have our attention'

In the North, she experienced starvation, the brutality of the regime and fled with her daughter in hope of a better life in the free world. But as Chae watches KCTV, the North's only television channel its citizens can view, the power of the propaganda she grew up with takes hold.

READ: N. Korea missile report sparks intel controversy

"They're God," she says, referring to North Korea's trinity, Kim Jong Un, his father Kim Jong Il, and grandfather Kim Il Sung.

The tears are now running down Chae's perfectly made up face and she chokes back a sob. "This is how you are brought up since birth. Even I can feel the pull in my heart. I thought I forgot about this feeling since it has been so long.

READ: Can China convince Kim to back off?

"But seeing this now, I feel I'm back in North Korea. I don't know how to express myself. He is really great and I feel we will all die without him."

Chae stops talking and asks for a glass of water. She tries to compose herself.

"I know their sincerity," she says, as she watches a group of soldiers sing and sway before Kim, their faces red with emotion and streaked with tears. "This is not a lie. It is not an act. It is real. If anything happens, they will give up their lives. They will even jump into fire."

Chae seems to fall into an other-worldly trance, unable to answer questions as clearly as she did before the North Korean television started to play. She watches children's programs, which always have the evil American or South Korean villain that must be defeated. Prime-time movies are often war movies or romantic tales where the North Koreans defeat the American imperialists.

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/world/asia/north-korea-brainwashing-propaganda-lah/

The Art of Narrative Propulsion: Mistranslating North Korea’s “State of War,” and Conjuring Chinese Troops on the North Korean Frontier

Some interesting analysis of north Korean propaganda.  Videos at the link as well.
V/R
Dave

The Art of Narrative Propulsion: North Korea’s “State of War,” and Conjuring Chinese Troops on the North Korean Frontier

http://sinonk.com/2013/04/06/the-art-of-narrative-propulsion-north-koreas-state-of-war-and-conjuring-chinese-troops-on-the-north-korean-frontier/

BY ADAM CATHCART ON APRIL 6, 2013 • ( 3 )

Kim Jong-un radiates hypnotic grace at an impressionable young Mangyongdae cadet | Image from Korean Central TV, modified by SinoNK

Whizzing bullets, flying missiles, falling bombs, the fog of war: none of these things aid accurate reporting. But what happens when that fog is little more than a rhetorical device in a broader propaganda narrative? Can or should the media be picking, choosing and reporting verbatim on stories peddled by a state-run news agency of KCNA’s ilk? Or should they, as Professor Andrei Lankov put it in an Australian news report that whizzed around the social network-o-sphere last week, just ignore the entire thing?

For where are the signs of an impending conflagration on the Korean peninsula? Is North Korea mobilizing its forces to the inter-Korean border? Do two missiles caught on satellite images offensive postures make? Are camera-toting anti-imperialist tourists in pin badges prohibited from flying into Sunan Airport, much less forbidden from flying out again? None of these things, it appears, are the case. 

Meanwhile, the diplomatic corps in the North Korean capital has thumbed its communal nose at the idea, suggested yesterday, that its members might even consider leaving North Korea since “their safety cannot be guaranteed in the event of war.” Perhaps they treated the notion as what, thanks to a pithy utterance from he of “The Cleanest Race” fame published in the New York Times last week, SinoNK has taken to calling a “Myers Conditional”: a uniquely implausible hypothetical concept predicated on an extraordinarily unlikely event. 

North Korea, it is abundantly clear, is a past master in public relations. And, because they know well that newspapers can hardly afford not to report on the latest KCNA missive, and are equally well aware that just by putting “special” (특별) in front of “declaration” (설명) they can double down on the fog and double up on the column inches, the tensions rise. Adam Cathcart quadruples the size of our data set.- Christopher Green, Co-editor

The Art of Narrative Propulsion: Mistranslating North Korea’s “State of War,” and Conjuring Chinese Troops on the North Korean Frontier 

by Adam Cathcart

Recent events around the Korean peninsula have generated a tidal wave of op-eds and analysis. Interpretation is important, but so too is having data that is reasonably comprehensive, and reasonably accurate. Prognostication is fine, and the attempt to discern patterns is admirable. But we must occasionally turn toward the difficult task of cleaning up and assessing what we already know, and what we think we know.

This essay will endeavor to take on two data points of potential significance: 1) The DPRK’s own pronouncement of March 30, which helped to escalate and channel Western attention to Korea significantly, and 2) the subsequent rise of a rumor that Chinese troops were moving toward North Korea in force.

North Korea in “State of War” |  News flash: Scholar B.R. Myers thinks the quality of Western analysis of the DPRK is, to put it bluntly, junk. Why?

It’s an undiplomatic point to make, but the inconvenient truth is that most North Korea-watchers in the United States don’t speak Korean and don’t read Korean. They’re not able to read even the legend on a North Korean propaganda poster.

Rather than quibble with the man by brandishing an essay by Bruce Cumings in an act of intellectual bullfighting, let’s take his criticism seriously. Be proactive and dive into the Korean, because North Koreans tend to make pronouncements in Korean, and those texts might be different from the ones we read in English.

(Continued at the link below)
http://sinonk.com/2013/04/06/the-art-of-narrative-propulsion-north-koreas-state-of-war-and-conjuring-chinese-troops-on-the-north-korean-frontier/

North Korea video shows 'US city' hit by missiles

The video is set to the tune of the song "We are the World."  It shows a rocket launch and  space shuttle like vehicle flying around the globe and then what looks like a city on US soil exploding.  Interesting timing for the release of this piece of propaganda.   Will have to get the rest of the Korean text translated in addition to this:

"Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing," reads a caption. "It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze."

V/R
Dave 

North Korea video shows 'US city' hit by missiles

• From: AAP February 05, 2013 7:39PM
• http://m.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/n-korea-video-shows-us-city-under-attack/story-fnd134gw-1226571107223

North Korea has posted a video on depicting a US city resembling New York engulfed in flames after an apparent missile attack.

NORTH Korea has posted a video on YouTube depicting a US city resembling New York engulfed in flames after an apparent missile attack.

The video was uploaded by the North's official website, Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the state media.

The video is shot as a dream sequence, with a young man seeing himself on board a North Korean space shuttle launched into orbit by the same type of rocket Pyongyang successfully tested in December.

(Continued at the link below - video is also at the link)

http://m.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/n-korea-video-shows-us-city-under-attack/story-fnd134gw-1226571107223

Kim Jong-un Mutters Dark Threats

I think he is doing a little more than muttering.  I think the regime propaganda machine is in full swing.  This except though should help us realize that the regime will not give up its nuclear program as it does truly believe it is key to regime survival.

Kim also echoed more irate statements last week from various arms of the regime, saying the North "must defend its sovereignty by itself" while there "can be no denuclearization of the Korean peninsula before the world has been denuclearized," KCNA reported.

But perhaps instead of the 6 party talks maybe the north would be amendable to working on Global Zero.

V/R

Dave

Kim Jong-un Mutters Dark Threats

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/01/28/2013012800643.html

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a meeting with a new panel of top security officials and diplomats pledged "substantial and high-profile state measures," apparently in response to fresh UN sanctions.

The official KCNA news agency on Sunday quoted Kim as uttering the obscure threat "in view of the prevailing situation," which is being read as a reference to the latest UN Security Resolution condemning the North's rocket launch and intensifying sanctions.

Kim also echoed more irate statements last week from various arms of the regime, saying the North "must defend its sovereignty by itself" while there "can be no denuclearization of the Korean peninsula before the world has been denuclearized," KCNA reported.

Immediately after the UN resolution, the North's Foreign Ministry vowed to boost its arsenal, while the National Defense Commission threatened a "high-level" nuclear test.

The committee of security officials and diplomats seems to be a new setup and has sparked some speculation among pundits here. KCNA only said the meeting took place "recently."

"It looks like North Korea formed a taskforce of sorts copying the U.S.' National Security Council," said a Unification Ministry official here. "Perhaps the plan is to demonstrate how serious the situation has become due to the UN Security Council sanctions." North Korea watchers also note that the KCNA report came out at the unusual time of 2 a.m., which is noon in the U.S.

The committee is a mixed bag, including top military brass like new army chief Hyon Yong-chol and the army's top ideologue Choe Ryong-hae, Minister for State Security Kim Won-hong, Pak To-chun, the man overseeing nuclear arms development, party bigwigs Kim Yong-il and Hong Sung-mu who deal with foreign policy, and Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, a comparative moderate and long the point man in negotiations with the U.S.

The hardline officials in charge of propaganda and surveillance against the South were absent, suggesting to some pundits that the regime is not yet willing to burn its bridges with South Korea's incoming Park Geun-hye administration.

Meanwhile, a Chinese North Korea expert reflected Beijing's growing impatience with North Korea's grandstanding and predicted that Beijing could use its growing diplomatic clout to "widen its strategic sphere" and meet that challenge. Ding Gang, writing in the English-language Global Times, warned that anyone who tries to put China in a tight spot will live to regret it.

Ding said a nuclear arsenal would not only fail to bring security to North Korea but go directly against China's national interests. He added North Korea faces no threat from outside its borders and the best way to ensuring its security is economic development.

(Continued at the link below)

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/01/28/2013012800643.html

'Google Delegation' Becomes Propaganda Tool

No kidding.  Our theme song for dealing with north Korea should be the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."  Every time we deal with north Korea we should be playing that song.  Richardson and his expert advisers should have known better.  This is classic north Korean propaganda and a blind man should have seen this coming:

“There’ve been these lectures about how, with the world enthused at how we managed to conquer space under the sage leadership of the Marshal (Kim Jong Eun), even a delegation led by the head of a famous American Internet company came to pay a congratulatory visit to our country.”
 “The whole world, including America, was astonished by the success of the launch of our artificial earth satellite,” the lecturer reportedly continued, going on, “The enemy, cowed by the power of our strong country, even sent a congratulatory delegation.”

V/R
Dave

'Google Delegation' Becomes Propaganda Tool

By Choi Song Min [2013-01-15 21:22 ] http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=10235

The North Korean authorities are now using the recent visit of Internet search engine Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, in post-“Gwangmyungsung-3” launch public propaganda lectures. A source from the northerly city of Hyesan told Daily NK today, “There’ve been these lectures about how, with the world enthused at how we managed to conquer space under the sage leadership of the Marshal (Kim Jong Eun), even a delegation led by the head of a famous American Internet company came to pay a congratulatory visit to our country.” “The whole world, including America, was astonished by the success of the launch of our artificial earth satellite,” the lecturer reportedly continued, going on, “The enemy, cowed by the power of our strong country, even sent a congratulatory delegation.” That’s not all: according to the source, the visit of Schmidt, who was in North Korea as part of a delegation led by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, his advisor Tony Namkung, the head of Google Ideas Jared Cohen and Professor John Delury of Yonsei University, has featured in not only newspaper and television broadcasts but also on the so-called "3rd Broadcast," the fixed line radio system wired into the fabric of homes and public buildings across North Korea. (Continued at the link below) http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=10235