Writing happy news stories in North Korea is probably the most difficult job in journalism considering the material they have to work with (concentration camps, famine, repression and all that).
However, I could not imagine that even our friends up at (North) Korean Central News Agency would be so desperate for good news that we would see a headline like this:
Cambodian King Sends Large Floral Basket to DPRK Embassy
For anyone who doesn’t want to visit a Nork site for whatever reason, here is the full post:
Pyongyang, February 20 (KCNA) — Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni sent a large floral basket to the DPRK embassy in Phnom Penh on the occasion of the birthday of Kim Jong Il.
A delegation of the Ministry of the Royal Palace of the Cambodian government headed by Kong Sam Ol, deputy prime minister in charge of the Royal Palace, visited the embassy on Feb. 16 and laid the floral basket before the portraits of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il upon the authorization of the king.
The deputy prime minister asked the DPRK ambassador to convey the king’s best wishes for Kim Jong Il’s good health and happiness and greater success in his noble cause.
32 Comments
This is pretty standard fare for KCNA.
I was going to say, they do tons of that stuff every important calendar date. KCNA really doesn’t do “news” as that is understood outside of the the DPRK.
So what other world leaders rate a birthday basket of flowers delivered to their country’s embassy from the King of Cambodia?
If Kim Il Sung is the only one — now that would be a story.
Yeah, this is nothing new– reporting about so and so sending flowers. They do it on their shortwave broadcasts as well. The only thing that stands out is that it is the king of Cambodia, as opposed to some random member of the “Juche Appreciation Society of Benin” or along those lines.
..an edit for the OP: “For anyone who doesn’t want to visit a Nork site for whatever reason or can’t be bothered to set up a proxy server to circumvent South Korean anti-nork blockers…”
…who exactly blocks North Korean sites, anyway? My ISP (KT Megapass)? The ROK Government? Military?
who’d have imagined that brutal dictators could be so thoughtful?
My favorite one was titled “Seminar on Kim Jong Il’s Greatness Held”
Why more seminars like that regarding yours truly are not heled, I do not know.
I’m working on cranking out a Python script that will crawl over the entire KCNA website and track the frequency some keywords over time…this is especially difficult considering I’ve never used Python (or any programming language save for AppleScript) before. If anyone has already made one, feel free to gimmie gimmie
Huh.. Didn’t know Cambodia was a monarchy. More You Know (*Star sweep*)
This proves that bum isn’t as smart as he sounds.
#7: Mmmm… a Python script…nothing comes to mind, except perhaps this one:
ARTHUR: How do you do, good lady. I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Who’s castle is that?
WOMAN: King of the who?
ARTHUR: The Britons.
WOMAN: Who are the Britons?
ARTHUR: Well, we all are. We’re all Britons and I am your king.
WOMAN: I didn’t know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.
DENNIS: You’re fooling yourself. We’re living in a dictatorship. A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes–
WOMAN: Oh there you go, bringing class into it again.
DENNIS: That’s what it’s all about if only people would–
ARTHUR: Please, please good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
WOMAN: No one lives there.
ARTHUR: Then who is your lord?
WOMAN: We don’t have a lord.
ARTHUR: What?
DENNIS: I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
ARTHUR: Yes.
DENNIS: But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting.
ARTHUR: Yes, I see.
DENNIS: By a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs,–
ARTHUR: Be quiet!
DENNIS: –but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more–
ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
WOMAN: Order, eh — who does he think he is?
ARTHUR: I am your king!
WOMAN: Well, I didn’t vote for you.
ARTHUR: You don’t vote for kings.
WOMAN: Well, ‘ow did you become king then?
ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake,
[angels sing]
her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur.
[singing stops]
That is why I am your king!
DENNIS: Listen — strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
ARTHUR: Be quiet!
Judging from the content of the KCNA archives, the past 20 years have been a slow news day in North Korea. But yeah… pretty standard to see something like this peppered amongst the ‘Dear Leader Provides Guidance at Yugong Underwear Facility #4′, ‘People’s Committee of South Korean Citizens for the Appreciation of Kim Jong-il’s Pimple Scars Condemns Joint US-ROK Clam Bake,’ ‘Workers at Ingyang Manure Processing Plant #21 Spontaneously Cheer Dear Leader for 20 Minutes,’ ‘Korean Scientists at Hamhung Polyp Research Institute #8172 Develop Amazing New Cure for Hypochondria,’ and ‘New Facts Unearthed Concerning Random Patriot’s Feats of Bravery During Fatherland Liberation War’ stories…
As I recall, back in ‘98 after they shot a missile over Japan, KCNA ran a story claiming that the DPRK had just succeeded in launching “the first artificial satellite…”
…in the world.
Isn’t this common news for the DPRK, especially during Kim’s birthday bash?
The man sure does like his people to know that he is recieving gifts from countries they are taught to belieive are dutifully in support of him.
Dear Leader gives us bean paste and sweet potatoes! We surely are the envy of the world!
It makes me wonder, are South Koreans even allowed to view the KCNA news site?
It is probably blocked. I just read in the Chosun Ilbo website yesterday that a South Korean comedian who recently visited the North was shocked that North Korea was only 12 kilometers away. It seems that they know less about North Korea than non-Koreans do. How on Earth is Korea going to Unify without self-destruction? The Northeners think it can only be done under the Sungon might of Kim Jong Il. Those million Northern soldiers stationed near the DMZ would faint if they ever saw Seoul. They are taught since birth that South Korea is a war torn wasteland. I do not even know if “Winter Sonata” and other South Korean movies have penetrated that deep in the North. Most importantly, the North Koreans now look like an entirely different race from southeners. They would be like Hobbits in a land of Giants.
North Koreans are still Korean. My family is from the north, so if you are trying to be subtle about the righteousness of a potential Chinese invasion into Korea you are dead wrong.
Yeah and if your family was still in the north they would look like Hobbits compared to South Koreans. I am just stating what is fact.
And what the hell kind of drugs are you on to even put China into what I said?
Paranoid much?
I’ve been outside the embassy in Phnom Penh. Very big and very centrally located (not to mention a great place to stop your rented bike/scooter for a few minutes to check out North Korean propaganda pictures outside.) I think that along with his film director dad (King Sihanouk) the present king would have spent a couple of years in exile in North Korea during the late 70s. I suppose that’s why North Korea ended up with one of the most impressive diplomatic missions in Cambodia and gets flowers on the fat man’s birthday.
On an aside, I was passed a fake $5 bill in Phnom Penh. Guess who both locals and expats in town thought may have been responsible for its production?
It’s unlikely the $5 was North Korean. The denomination is too small to be worth a major counterfeiter’s effort. I’ve heard rumors of North Korean $20 bills long ago, but mostly makes Benjamins (they also make Baht, Yuan, Yen, and in all probability, South Korean won).
Actually, the largest source of counterfeit U.S. currency is Colombia. North Korea is notable not for the quantity of its production, but for the quality.
@ditto, possibly but China is intent on invading North Korea, so a comment on N.Koreans being different than S.koreans warrants a reponse.
I don’t see how this is any different from the Herald or Korea Times devoting entire pages nearly every day to congratulate [insert piss-pot country name here] on their national day. It’s infuriating.
“I don’t see how this is any different from the Herald or Korea Times devoting entire pages nearly every day to congratulate [insert piss-pot country name here] on their national day. It’s infuriating.”
Or Seoul Magazine looking for “Western journalists” to write about the ROK on the local gov’t’s dime.
joshua, you’re probably right about the $5. This was in 1999, prior to more recent talk of superbills, and obviously it was an older looking note, but I agree that it wouldn’t make sense to crank out fivers when you can make c-notes. I thought it was interesting that nine years ago, people living in Cambodia - though they may well have been totally wrong - were quick to mention the North Koreans as a possible source.
“I don’t see how this is any different from the Herald or Korea Times devoting entire pages nearly every day to congratulate [insert piss-pot country name here] on their national day. It’s infuriating.”
It is annoying/silly, and I’m not sure that Iran - to give an example of an upstanding member of the global community I somehow never fail to see featured each year - needs to be congratulated by Korean papers on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. (Unless, of course, landing oil or construction-related contracts somehow require this kind of ass kissing.)
#20…I’ve never heard that China wants to invade North Korea. Thats something I’ve never heard before. Haven’t they waited too long? If the North Koreans really do have an atomic bomb, wouldn’t the Chineese be hesitant to invade? I should think they would have done something like that earlier? And, why would they want to? It’s like the United States trying to invade Iran after they’ve developed the nuclear bomb? I’d like to know what you know about this…
#25 Yeah, you would think that if China wanted to invade North Korea, they would have done so back in the 50s, when they had a few hundred thousand troops there. ‘Course, when did reality ever get in the way of a nice paranoid fantasy?
@#23:
In China, I came across counterfeit yuan of all denominations, including obviously fake Y1 bills, worth about 15 US cents. It all spends, and clerks are less suspicious of smaller bills.
Flowers are always the smart gift and shows that one cares. I wish someone would send me flowers.
“Wedge” really got a laugh out of me. Was that an actual Monty Python script? It is brilliant satire.
#20
Sorry for the misunderstanding Joe, If I were in your shoes I could probably understand better the weariness of the situation.
#28: Yes, from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Surely we’ve all seen this classic?
You’d think it’s too insignificant of a gesture to make the news, but North Korean propagandists are so desperate to portrait Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung has a being well connected and respected that they created this huge museum that houses pretty much anything that has been given to them, no matter how ugly or insignificant the gifts may be (I read they even have a CNN coffee mug on display in that museum).
“(they also make Baht, Yuan, Yen, and in all probability, South Korean won).”
I’ve often wondered about that looking at the old 10 000 won notes because no two were exactly the same.