The Secret of Frequency A - A North Korean Comic Book

In 2009, I bought a comic book while I was in Northeast China. The following is an interesting commentary on the comic book from a professor whom I gave the book to.

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by Eom Jeong-Hui and Ko Im-Hong Translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl and Jungbin Yoon

Last year, shortly after the excerpt from Blizzard in the Jungle was published in the graphic lit issue of WWB, I ran across a blog, oikono.com, maintained by Geoffrey K. See, a Yale graduate student who travels widely and posts cultural artifacts from around the world. He had recently been to North Korea, and after reading one of my earlier translations of North Korean comic books (Great General Mighty Wing, excerpted in WWB in 2009), he posted some pages from one of the North Korean children’s graphic novels he had picked up in a bookstore in China. The first thing that struck me about the pages was that they were posted in mirror-image (by error, it turned out), but in reading them, I was delighted to find that the comic book was about an elite group of North Korean young scientists who are out to save an unnamed African nation from a mysterious evil force! Blizzard in the Jungle, which addressed a similar theme, was published in 2001, but The Secret of Frequency A had been published in 1994. On the one hand, it surprised me to see that a kind of pedagogical/propagandistic “Hardy Boys meets Tom Swift” type of story would be introduced to North Korean children before the more mature Blizzard in the Jungle addressed a similar theme for older readers. On the other hand, this chronology made perfect sense, since it suggested that the same thematic issues would be sustained over time (and also suggested that North Koreans continued to read comics as they grew up). I contacted Geoffrey See, and he graciously emailed me the scans of his pages and later sent me the comic book itself. It is thanks to him that we are able to excerpt it in WWB this year.

The Secret of Frequency A is another example of the “North Korea as world savior” genre of comic books. North Korea has been active in Africa for decades, unbeknownst to the typical American (you can read more about this issue in my introduction to Blizzard in the Jungle), but what a general reader will find more surprising in this story is that North Korea is more than familiar with much of what we, in the U.S., classify as “Conspiracy Theory.” Whereas the villains in Blizzard in the Jungle are the Mafia (oddly out of place in Africa, by our standards), the evil technology involved in Frequency A is associated with mysterious American military “research” projects like HAARP—the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, which has been blamed for things ranging from climate control warfare to mass mind control to last year’s Haiti earthquake—and the use of “chemtrails” (clouds of chemicals sprayed in the atmosphere by military aircraft) for similar purposes.

Read more at Words without Borders

Upcoming Presentations in February – Washington DC and Boston

Geoffrey See, Managing Director at Choson Exchange, will be speaking at the following events in February: Closed-door event on developments in North Korea February 6, Monday, 2-4pm Organized by John Hopkins SAIS and National Committee on North Korea At the Berstein-Offit Building at SAIS (1717 Massachusetts Avenue NW), Room 736

We will discuss North Korea’s developing investment agencies and competition among these agencies.

Panel on Social Entrepreneurship in Asia Harvard 2012 Conference - Cross-Cultural Connections: Weaving New Roads February 19, Sunday Organized by the Harvard Project on Asian & International Relations

We will discuss our approach to operating a social enterprise in the highly challenging North Korea space.

Panel on Creating the Right Business Environment for Social Enterprise Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard February 26, Sunday Organized by Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government

We will discuss the challenges of working with multiple government partners on an incredibly sensitive and politicized issue.

Please check back for updates.

How North Koreans “Bold” Kim Jong Il's Name in Speech

As I communicate with North Koreans via email quite frequently, and often scan their papers to get an understanding of the policy direction in the country, I have become accustomed to how they bold Kim Il Sung’s and Kim Jong Il’s names in their written documents. I have also seen capitalization used (in English). Bolding is also used when quoting their words. However, I never thought about how they would communicate this emphasis in conversations. On an early trip last year, our team managed to learn how they did this (or at least one way they do this). A high-ranking dignitary was sent down to convey a message from Kim Jong Il to us. At one point during the meeting, the dignitary and his interpreter jumped out of their chair, stood erect, and quoted the message verbatim. At this point, I have had a full day and was too stunned to react. Seeing my confused looks, our North Korean counterpart, who was lounging lazily on his chair, waves to me to remain sitting down.

Pyongyang’s Urban Future

Calvin Chua is an architectural designer and writer based in London. He spent the last two years researching on urban regeneration strategies for various European and Asian cities and designing new housing models that accommodate contemporary work-life patterns.

PY Urban BW 4

The BBC recently ran a story on the correlation between the construction of skyscrapers and the subsequent economic crash. While the correlation could be purely coincidental but it nonetheless points to the fact that symptoms of political and economic policies can be revealed through the urban built environment.

PY Urban BW 3

So how would Pyongyang’s urban environment change under the new leadership? Will there be more grand monuments and civic buildings or will we see the construction of office and commercial towers?

While many critics commonly read Pyongyang as a theatrical stage set aimed to impress and intimidate its subjects through monumental architectural and urban gestures, its urban planning logic is much richer than these simple assumptions. It is thus more important to understand the context behind Pyongyang’s built environment, which provides insights into its hidden potentials.

Razed to the ground after the end of Korean War, Pyongyang was built from scratch based on the urban model of the Superblock, with rows of austere residential buildings fronting wide roads, and hiding low-rise buildings that have been added over the years. Public spaces on the other hand are choreographed into well-distributed sequences of civic buildings and plazas - ranging from celebratory monuments to sport halls, theatres and museums. Such forms of development, a combination of large scale mass housing and monumental icons, embody the main ideals of Juche Architecture, a concept found in a book titled “On Architecture” by Kim Jong Il.

On a more practical level, the model of the superblock holds the key for future urban development.

1) Small Scale Development within Neighbourhood Blocks

Small scale developments can be developed within each neighbourhood block (dong) without affecting the overall logic of the urban landscape. The existing low rise buildings behind the rows of residential towers can be altered to accommodate different small scale private businesses, such as convenience stalls and restaurants, or provide civic amenities and parks. In this way, each neighbourhood block can develop its own unique identity while preserving the overall monumental image of the city.

PY Urban BW 2

2) Development vs Preservation

Heritage preservation is normally done in a selective manner, where only iconic monuments are preserved, while other parts of the city are redeveloped to accommodate new economic and social needs. In Pyongyang’s case, it is as just important to preserve the neighbourhood blocks as the civic monuments as they form the characteristics of the capital. The existing layout of the neighbourhood blocks allows new development coexist with existing residential towers and without interfering much with the overall urban fabric. New buildings can be constructed within big plots of land between residential towers.

PY Urban BW

3) New Sustainable Neighbourhoods

Concepts of sustainable development are already in on the agenda of planners in the country. In a recent planning exhibition and conference in Berlin, architects from the Paektusan Architectural Academy (the state’s design and planning body) exhibited plans for a green housing project while a sustainability conference was held in Pyongyang two years ago. To develop and implement sustainable urban technologies further, planners could tap on the gridded configuration of the neighbourhood blocks. The block layouts allow sustainable initiatives to be tested out incrementally within each neighbourhood block before efficiently rolling out to different other blocks and eventually the entire city.

Where is Ri Chol going?

Choson Ilbo has just reported that Ri Chol has left his post as head of the Joint Venture and Investment Committee (JVIC).

As we argued last fall, the name of the game for Pyongyang’s elites is securing trade and investment deals. Two main investment organs exist, the JVIC and the Daepung Investment Group.  We have in the past heard rumors of other similar international investment organizations being under consideration, also. From these overarching groups, down to smaller State Owned Enterprises, there is considerable competition to show that one’s organization can deliver.

Ri Chol was a close ally of Kim Jong Il’s and the organization he came to be associated with, JVIC, rose to prominence after he helped put together the Orascom deal and was given stewardship. He was even with Kim on his last official visit, to a joint venture supermarket in Pyongyang.

He also spent most of the 1980’s and 1990’s in Switzerland in various diplomatic capacities, not the least of which was acting as a minder to Kim Jong Il’s children as they studied at private school.

What might his departure portend?

A few possibilities come to mind.

-  Has the JVIC fallen out of favor with the new leadership? If this is the case, Ri might be tasked with building a new organization, perhaps with a similar focus. It would seem redundant to add another, rather than reform this one, but redundancy is hardly unheard of in planned economies.

-  Has Ri himself fallen out of favor? Is he being put out to pasture? Again, it is impossible to know, but it seems that such a long term friend of the Kims, who has a personal relationship with Kim Jong Un from his school days would be a key ally at this time, especially since his deals are driving economic growth in North Korea. (Though who knows? Perhaps Kim the Younger has never liked him.)

-  If not an issue with Ri personally, the move could be a part of a factional reshuffling. Bartering and dealmaking for control of the commanding heights of the economy is no doubt underway as the new government consolidates its power. It might have been deemed necessary to grant control of the JVIC to another group of Pyongyang movers and shakers - of which Ri Chol is not a part.

-  Also very possible is that the very top leadership is planning to give Ri some new responsibility elsewhere. JVIC may have been judged to be running smoothly enough that Ri's skills would be more effectively used another important organization.

This of course is highly speculative. All we really know is that Ri Chol, with a track record of securing investment, has left the JVIC. Whatever the case may be, he is worth watching in the coming months, as Pyongyang is compelled to keep investments from China and elsewhere coming.

You can read a longer bio on NK Leadership Watch.

North Korea Fashion Watch Part 2: North South Korea 80s Fashion Face-Off

When we last visited Pyongyang, we were given a catalog belonging to North Korea's Daesong Group that contained fashion photos from the 80s and 90s. We have decided to share more of those photos here as part of a New Year gift to readers. We welcome viewers to see more photos at our Facebook page and while you are at it, feel free to subscribe to our Twitter feeds. For our previous post on North Korean fashion catalogs, please see here. Also, we seek to raise funds to expand our economic policy workshops in North Korea this year. Please consider supporting our cause. We accept donations via Paypal and credit card. For larger sums, please contact us at CETeam@chosonexchange.org. We have invited Tad Farrell from NK News, a news aggregation site focusing on North Korea, to share his views on a 80s/90s North-South friendly fashion face-off. All views are those of the author and do not represent Choson Exchange’s institutional position on fashion in Korea, especially since we know nothing about this field.

Guest Piece by Tad Farrell with edits by Geoffrey See

Fashion in North Korea is an interesting topic, with large variations in style dependent on age, geography, and income. Today, younger North Koreans can buy cheap and fashionable clothing imported from China that often mimics the styles of South Korea. Older people might not have clothes that are as colorful, but can be spotted wearing brands such as Paul Smith or Burberry in the wealthier districts of Pyongyang. These pictures remind us that North Korean fashion in the 80s/90s lagged international trends.

It is not clear if the fashions included in this brochure were designed for the internal North Korean market. And with language in English throughout, it seems more likely that the brochure was designed for the export market. Nevertheless, many of these fashions could have been found in North Korea at the time (although probably only among the wealthier segments of Pyongyang), so it is interesting to contrast them with South Korean clothes of the same period.

Despite still being under a dictatorship and with strict rules on dressing in the 1980s, Seoul fashion was significantly more Westernized than that of the North during this period. For affluent young South Korans of the time, pop music hairstyles, shoulder pads, bright colors, polka dots and stripes, high rise jeans, etc were all commonplace. Young women were starting to also focus on ‘westernizing’ their looks as far as possible through eye makeup, short-skirts, and tight-fitting tops. South Korean singer (Kim Wan Sun) helped cement Western trends at the time and was known to her contemporaries as “Korean Madonna” (see picture. In contrast, these brochure pictures show how different the styles of the privileged classes of North Korea were at the time from international fashion.

If we assume the catalogue to have been designed for the export market, it is hard to say what the appeal for North Korean clothes in English speaking countries may have been like in the 1980s. Nevertheless, during the 1980s there may well have been some demand for North Korean clothing exports from the communist bloc, and internally, from the wealthier segments of North Korean society. But this doesn't help explain this fashion houses decision to publish an English language brochure. Perhaps, it was just an ill-informed attempt at accessing a new market without really understanding the potential customers there.

Editor's Note: Talking about Korean Madonna, I recall a conversation in Pyongyang in 2010. A North Korean lady was telling me how much she likes Madonna (the Western one). Without any prompting from me, she suddenly became very flustered and kept repeating “I only like her [Madonna’s] music, I don’t know what kind of person she is.”

See more photos at our Facebook page

---------------------------------------------- 우리의 임무

우리는 제정을 포함한 사업, 경제 그리고 법률 지식을 공유하기 위해 고품질의 혁신적인 프로그램을 이용한다. 이 프로그램은 북한/북조선의 젊은 사람들뿐만 아니라 각 기관들과 협력하여 북조선/북한의 장기적인 경제 발전을 지원한다.

우리의 역사

북조선/북한 엘리트 대학의 학생들은 비즈니스와 경제학을 그들 국가의 삶의 질을 향상시킬 열쇠로 보고 있다. 하지만 고품질의 교육을 접할 기회는 제한되어 있으며 이러한 분야에서 실제 경험을 할 수 있는 기회도 제한되어 있다. Wharton 스쿨의 학생으로서 Geoffrey는 북한/북조선을 방문했고 여자들도 좋은 비즈니스 리더가 될 수 있다는 것을 증명하기 위해 여성사업가가 되기를 원하는 김일성 대학은 한 학생을 만났다. 다른 북한과 관련된 경험들과 함께 이 일은 Geoffrey가 2007년에 조선 익스체인지를 만들게 된 계기가 되었다.

조선 익스체인지는 싱가포르에 등록되어 싱가포르, 대중화권, 대한민국, 유럽 그리고 미국에 소재한 단체와 함께 사회적기업으로써 운영되고 있다. 조선익스체인지의 조직은 여러 가지 방법으로 북한 사람들과 교류하여 왔고, 북한/북조선의 사회 이슈들, 국민들 그리고 국제사회에서 북조선/북한을 평화적으로 통합하려는 것에 흥미를 가진 북한 사람들을 보았다.

DPRK's 2012 Joint Editorial - More Songun or Less?

KCNA New Year

North Korea’s top three newspapers - Rodong Shinmun (Worker’s Newspaper), Joson Inmingun (Korean People’s Army) and Chongnyon Jonwi (Youth Vanguard), published this year’s Joint New Year Editorial on, well, New Year’s Day. Equally unsurprising was the dominant theme of the editorial, which was titled: "Glorify This Year 2012 as a Year of Proud Victory, a Year When an Era of Prosperity is Unfolding, True to the Instructions of the Great General Kim Jong Il."

Catchy titles aside, linking the government’s policies and campaigns for 2012 to the plans laid out by Kim Jong Il is kind of a no-brainer. It emphasizes that the ideas of Kim Jong Il are the inheritance of the new government. With less than a fortnight between the announcement of Kim’s death and the New Year, the editorial was understandably less specific than many in previous years, in terms of setting out goals and strategies. No doubt, the editorial that had been carefully prepared weeks in advance was scrapped and a new one hurriedly crafted after Kim’s passing.

It’s main role then, was to emphasize the statements made and signals sent since the 19th of December - that things would not be changing, that everyone agrees on the successor, that it is business as usual in North Korea.

The first quarter of the article serves entirely to laud Kim Jong Il’s achievements, before it swiftly transitions to the issue of succession and Kim Jong Un’s leadership. “The dear respected Kim Jong Un,” it states, “is precisely the great Kim Jong Il.”

The immediate need for those in change of managing the succession is for the DPRK’s citizens and for international actors to perceive ideological and administrative congruence with what has come before.

As such, the editorial references light industry and quality of life far less than last year. (a good summary is here)

Those themes had begun in earnest two years ago and can be see as part of the initial attempts to wean the DPRK off Songun (military-first) and onto a program more focused on economic progress. This year, such statements are still present:

“The flames of Hamnam for great innovation should flare up more fiercely in the sectors of light industry and agriculture, the leading sectors for the building of a thriving country.”

However, for the sake of continuity, the greater emphasis was on phrases like: “the Korean People’s Army is the pillar and main force of the Songun revolution and the vanguard in the building of a thriving nation.”

At the same time, there remain hints that Songun is not going to be the long term focus of the new government and that the ‘weaning off’ is going to continue in the near future. The terms “Juche” and “Songun” were used in equal measure (though to be fair, one of the “Juches” was in the date). We will probably hear more and more about Juche and slightly less about Songun in the coming year.

Another hint of the balance between the military and Party lies in this statement:

“True to the intention of our Party, which set this year for the KPA as a year for the people, it should make devoted efforts to bring their happiness into full bloom, thus implementing with credit Kim Jong Il's idea of army-people unity.”

So the military’s legitimacy is exogenous: it comes, ultimately, from the party.

A quick caveat – this isn’t by any means attempting to claim that militarism in North Korea is going to be abandoned. It is and will remain one of the most militarized societies in history. Even in the North Korean context, however, the balance between the military and other influential organizations is important. As much as maintaining continuity with the balance Kim Jong Il struck –military first - is important for the new leadership, there are many who want to nudge the balance back towards what it was under Kim Il Sung. We shall have to wait and see the degree to which this takes place in the next year or two.

On another note, the exhortation that “sports should be encouraged further by enhancing social interest in physical culture and sports and making them part of people's every day life and habit” is good news for those of us who would like to see ultimate frisbee develop in the DPRK.

Choson Exchange 2011 Annual Report

On behalf of the Choson Exchange team, I would like to present our 2011 Annual Report. Our report covers the following areas: Plans for 2012, Activities & Feedback, Research, Communicating Our Work, Management, Financial Situation and a List of Media Coverage for 2011. Read our 2011 Annual Report here. -----------------------------------------------------------

Just 5 days before Kim Jong Il passed away, we had finalized our programs for 2012 with our North Korean partners. A few days after Kim Jong Il’s passing, we got in touch with our North Korean partners and they still expect us to proceed with programs for 2012. We see in this transition period an important opportunity to broaden the impact of our work through dialogue with an emerging generation of leaders. Our core mission remains the same, although we will need to expand fundraising as we ramp up our efforts for this critical period.

After reviewing previous and current programs, we decided that we will continue to focus on a rigorous selection process to pick exceptional young North Koreans for exceptional learning opportunities.

In addition, we intend to identify areas of potential policy changes in partnership with North Koreans and focus on training in those areas. This will allow us to bring training closer to actual implementation of knowledge. We also decided that a major long-term emphasis should be to build cross-institutional linkages and in developing institutions that can facilitate these linkages. This follows feedback from North Koreans who observed that economic-policies in North Korea can benefit greatly from greater communication and coordination among economic agencies.

Yours sincerely, Geoffrey See Managing Director at Choson Exchange