(NOTE: As the title implies, the following is just some random, wild speculation.)
I was watched a little Arirang TV over the weekend (hey, somebody has to).
In the middle of the program, a long ad came on which mostly featured talking heads extolling the virtues of the upcoming summit between Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il.
Towards the end of the love fest, the ad goes for some balance by talking about a human rights problem that should be addressed at the summit. The producers could have talked about; an entire people in bondage, religious persecution or the estimated 3,800 South Koreans abducted by North Korea since the end of the war, but they did not.
Instead, they choose to highlight reunions of families divided since the war. This is something that has come up many times, many because it is an issue that Pyongyang uses to manipulate Seoul. It seemed a little strange to me that a (ROK) government-backed organization would choose to highlight a humanitarian issue that Pyongyang would prefer Seoul concentrate on.
(Get paranoid, Andy.) This makes me suspect that Arirang was either choosing to point out some low-hanging fruit that Roh should be able to get some result on while ignoring broader issues that would actually require some effort on the part of the Roh administration.
(Get more paranoid, Andy.) The boys and girls at Arirang might have even gotten the word from upstairs, directly or indirectly, that this was an issue that should be hyped before the summit.
The ad featured the story of Renate Hong, a (former East) German woman who was seperated from her North Korean husband, Hong Ok-geun, when the Kim Il-sung regime ordered all NK students abroad to return. Her husband is reported to still be alive in North Korea. Perhaps the producers of the ad just wanted to put an international face on the issue, but maybe there is more to it.
(Get crazy paranoid, Andy.) Maybe Renate will see her husband soon after the summit; a nice thing that would surely be hyped to the international media.
Of course, this is all wild speculation from one guy watching Arirang TV while getting sleepy-headed from eating too many Chuseok left-overs. But, considering the level of transparency that the Roh administration has been operating under, wild speculation is all we have.
BTW and speaking of super-crazy paranoia, I assume that someone somewhere has pointed out that the timing of the summit and recess of the six party talks could give Kim and Roh a major opportunity for some serious grandstanding (along the lines of Roh trying to get some credit for the work of the six party process and years of sanctions/diplomacy, and then using that to try to influence the presidential election).
6 Comments
The short answer is you shouldn’t watch Arirang. It’s crap.
Yes, but it does give the boys and girls down at the foreign press club a chance to develop their Sunday morning talk show skills.
“Paranoia means having all the facts.”- William Burroughs
For some interesting facts, check this out:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines...../index.htm
From the couple times I have been at the foreign press club, I don’t think any of the regulars will be alive on a Sunday morning.
Rummy’s hypocrisy is worse than the fact that most Dems also were more than happy to give KJI a light water reactor?
eh, arirangtv… come on.. last time I watched it, there was a “eat korean KIMCHI! delicious korean kimchi” blah blah blah. every commercial break it was “eat korean kimchi” commericial.
somebody upstairs is DEFINITELY controlling the remote. “hey, let’s sell kimchi!”
I don’t know why. i get embarassed when i watch those commericials. I was watching CNN and I saw the “Dynamic Korea” commerical and I felt really embarrassed. Zip few years forward and I watched “Korea Shining” commerical, and man, was I embarrassed.
ArirangTV… Everytime I watch it, I hope that foreigners never discover it.