Kim Jong Un Visits Pyongyang Construction Sites and Amusement Park

Kim Jong Un (3rd L) is briefed while touring Kaeso’n Amusement Park in central Pyongyang. Also seen in attendance are his uncle and Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Jang Song Taek (L), and Director of the KPA General Political Department (bureau) and Vice Chairman of the Party Central Military Commission, Choe Ryong Hae (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported on 25 May (Friday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited three ongoing construction projects and an amusement park in Pyongyang.  Kim Jong Un’s last reported public appearance was his inspection of Korean People’s Army [KPA] Unit #1501.  At all of his visits, KJU was accompanied by Jang Song Taek.

Kim Jong Un (L) tours the Ryugyong Health Complex in Pyongyang (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

KCNA reports on his visit to the Ryugyong Health Complex and the People’s Outdoor Ice Rink:

After being briefed on the health complex before a large map showing its panoramic view, he went round it.

Making the rounds of the exterior and interior of the complex, he learned in detail about its construction.

Entering a pine tree sauna emitting strong smell of resin, he was pleased with the successful construction of its floor and walls.

Rest halls of bathhouses look spacious and nice, he said, adding visitors will like if TV sets are available there so that they may enjoy an emotional life, having good rest there.

Going up to the last fourth story, he stressed the need to use space effectively and efficiently.

The complex is an object to which leader Kim Jong Il paid special attention, he said, adding that if it is completed, this will amount to implementing another behest of Kim Jong Il.

Noting that the complex is not only fresh and peculiar in its architectural style and contents but also on a high level from designing to building, he underlined the need for soldier-builders to finish its project till the war victory day and provide it to the people.

The next leg of his field guidance was the People’s Outdoor Ice Rink.

Noting that sporting and service facilities such as the ice rink could be built thanks to the heroic struggle of soldier-builders, he highly praised their merits.

There should be good places for providing skates and sharpening skate edges as it is a mass skating ground, he said.

He called for successfully completing the ice rink as a sports center for the country’s ice sports development and physical training of working people, youth and students.

It is also a gift the WPK will present to the people, he noted, adding it should be finished till the war victory day along with the above-said health complex.

He was accompanied by Jang Song Thaek, member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission, and Ryang Chong Song and Ma Won Chun, vice department directors of the WPK Central Committee.

Kim Jong Un tours an ongoing apartment complex construction project in central Pyongyang. Also seen in attendance are Jang Song Taek (2nd L), Ryang Chong Song (L) and Ma Wo’n-ch’un (3rd R, behind KJU) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

KJU was also reported to have visited the construction of apartment buildings, restaurants and other facilities near Mansudae Assembly Hall in central Pyongyang:

There are in Changjon Street 5 to 45-storeyed apartment houses for thousands of families, each of which having several living rooms and tens of buildings for nurseries and kindergartens, secondary school, pharmacies, educational and healthcare institutions, commercial and catering networks and various welfare and service facilities standing in good harmony.

After being briefed on the street in front of a huge map showing the panoramic view of the Mansudae Area, Kim Jong Un went round various restaurants, shops and stalls and parking lot in the basement, etc. to acquaint himself in detail with the construction of the street.

He looked round various parts of Haemaji Restaurant built in a peculiar style and was satisfied with it.

He made the rounds of various other restaurants including the combined restaurant of the Jung District and Unjong Teahouse built in diverse styles to learn in detail about their size, furnishings, decorations, ventilation, etc.

He personally sat on a chair of the restaurant and underscored the need to thoroughly abide by the principle of guaranteeing convenience first and architectural beauty next when designing and manufacturing any furniture so that it may be convenient for use and look nice.

Learning in detail about the quality and colors of the paving blocks on the passages linking the ground and the underground and the greenery outside, he indicated detailed orientation and ways to build the street into a more magnificent and fashionable one.

He also viewed the signboard designs of various catering networks in the street and indicated ways of rounding them off better.

He enjoyed a bird’s-eye view of the street and said the scenery of the street is really fantastic and its appearance has changed beyond recognition.

He said with pride that the successful construction of the modern street by the efforts of Koreans as required by the new century is a demonstration of the validity of the WPK’s idea of architectural aesthetics and the potential of the Juche-based self-supporting economy.

Changjon Street is excellent in designing and high in the level of construction, he appreciated again, stressing the need to enable residents to move to new houses in mid-June.

He indicated important tasks to serve as guidelines for building Pyongyang into a more magnificent city as required by the Songun era.

Pyongyang should be built into a city for people where the revolutionary outlook on the leader is thoroughly embodied both in name and reality, he said, and went on:

As required by the developing reality it is necessary to lay out streets, build roads, distribute various buildings and ensure their styles, interior decorations, etc. in a peculiar manner under a long-term plan.

It is also necessary to distribute well educational, healthcare, sports, cultural and welfare facilities and welfare service bases on the principle of ensuring popular character, national identity and modernity.

The field of construction should steadily and thoroughly implement the WPK’s policy of applying formative art in architecture and pay deep attention to creating cultural environment including the greening of the city, in particular.

He was accompanied by Jang Song Thaek, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and vice-chairman of the NDC of the DPRK, and Ryang Chong Song, Pak Chun Hong and Ma Won Chun, vice department directors of the C.C., WPK.

Kim Jong Un (R) talks with KPA construction officials during a tour of an apartment complex in central Pyongyang (Photo: KCNA)

Kim Jong Un and other members of the DPRK central leadership watch an amusement park ride during a tour of the Kaeso’n Amusement Park (Photo: KCNA)

Kim Jong Un (2nd row, 6th L) and Jang Song Taek (2nd row, 5th R) poses for a commemorative photograph with restaurant employees during a tour of Kaeso’n Amusement Park (Photo: KCNA)

Kim Jong Un also visited the Kaeso’n Fun Fair.  The amusement park was one of the locales Kim Jong Il visited during the week that he died.

Learning in detail about the operation of the amusement equipment personally watched by leader Kim Jong Il, he noted with appreciation that the funfair is kept neat and tidy and managed regularly.

Before the merry-go-round swing, he said it is most popular, adding when he accompanied Kim Jong Il visiting the funfair last year, he had a chance to ride it.

At the electronic amusement hall he kindly asked which apparatus do visitors like more, underlining the need to set up a merry-go-round swing and electronic amusement hall at the Rungna People’s Recreation Ground now under construction.

Standing before a kiosk where wheat cake stuffed with roast chicken is served, he learned about the quality of mineral water bottle inside it.

Visiting the Kaeson Bread Restaurant in the compound of the funfair, he said he was also told that visitors liked food there and it is serving good food.

He recollected with deep emotion that Kim Jong Il promised to visit it without fail in his lifetime but he could not keep his promise.

He was greatly satisfied with the fact that the workers of the funfair are operating amusement facilities regularly and successfully operating several catering networks.

He set forth the tasks to be fulfilled to manage and operate the funfair.

He underlined the need to improve the management of equipment and technical control of them and operate the funfair in such a way as not to give even the slightest inconvenience to the visitors.

He underscored the need to provide a sufficient quantity of foodstuff to the catering networks in the compound of the funfair so that they may operate more effectively.

He stressed the need to pay deep attention to dresses of operators and service persons of the funfair and make service garments fit for seasons so that they may match the scenic beauty of the funfair.

He asked them to manage and operate the funfair well so as to bring into bloom Kim Jong Il’s love for the people for all ages and always please them.

He had a photo session with the workers of the funfair and the relevant field, expressing expectation and conviction that they would fulfill their honorable mission and duty as the true servants of the people.

He was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and director of the General Political Bureau of the KPA, Jang Song Thaek, member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission, and Hwang Pyong So and Pak Chun Hong, vice department directors of the WPK Central Committee.

Ryugyong Hotel to Partially Open by April 2012

The Ryugyong Hotel as it stood from 1992 to 2007 (R) and after construction resumed in 2009 (L) (Photo: Yonhap)

KCTV image of a fireworks display held to celebrate May Day in 2009

25 years after ground was broken, part of the Ryugyong Hotel is scheduled to open by April 2012 when the DPRK commemorates the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth.  Yonhap reports that interior construction and finishing work is proceeding so that the Ryugyong’s 1st through 25th floors will be ready for occupancy by April 2012.  The DPRK plans initially plans to house European companies and international organizations on the completed levels of the 105-story structure.  Located in the Pot’ong River City District (Pot’onggang-kuyok), construction on the Ryugyong began in 1987.  It was developed in a joint venture between Paektusan Architecture and Engineering in cooperation with a French construction company.  In addition to hotel rooms, the Ryugyong was intended to have revolving restaurants, a bowling alley and night club, as well as its own medical clinic.  There were several attempts to market the space to foreign investors which included allowing the operation of hostess lounges on the premises.  By 1992, construction of the Ryugyong ceased.

The Ryugyong Hotel prior to the resumption of construction

For 16 years the Ryugyong stood as a vacant concrete shell with a solitary tower crane at its pinnacle.  The lack of activity at the site did not stop other projects from taking place nearby.  In 1993 the Monument to the Fatherland Liberation (Korean) War was officially dedicated, located 1/3 of a mile (.54 km) north of the Ryugyong.  During 2000-2003 the Chung Ju-yung Indoor Stadium, which abuts the Ryugyong site, was constructed and dedicated.  In 2008 the DPRK completed an agreement with the Orascom conglomerate which included the completion of the Ryugyong.  The building was the focal point of a fireworks display held to celebrate International Labor Day (May Day) in 2009 and has appeared on several occasions in DPRK media.  In April 2011 the construction site was visited by DPRK Premier Choe Yong Rim.

Flickr user Kernbeisser has a small gallery of ground imagery from different perspectives of the Ryugyong under different phases of construction which can be viewed here.

An image of the Ryugyong Hotel's construction site from October 2010. The yellow line at the right marks the boundary of an elite residential area where Kim Jong Il's official wife, Kim Yong Suk, resides (Photo: Google image)

The construction site of the Ryugyong Hotel in 2009 (Photo: Google image)

The unfinished Ryugyong Hotel, prior to construction resuming in 2008 (Photo: Google image)

DPRK Premier Visits Yukyo’ng [Ryugyong] Hotel Site

DPRK Premier Ch'oe Yo'ng-nim (3rd R) tours the Central Light Industrial Sample Exhibition on 6 April 2011 in Pyongyang (Photo: KCNA)

DPRK Premier Ch’oe Yo’ng-nim visited the construction of the Yukyo’ng Hotel [Ryugyong Hotel].  DPRK press belatedly reported on 11 April [Monday] that Premier Ch’oe visited two locations in Pyongyang on 6 April [Wednesday] the day before the convocation of the 4th session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly.  Ch’oe first visit was a tour of a food exhibition of products from the country’s food factories.  KCNA reports:

The premier learned in detail about the variety and quality of products presented to the Central Light Industrial Sample Exhibition by the general food factories in provinces to mark the 2nd anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il’s field guidance to the Samilpho Special Products Factory that opened a wide avenue for development of the foodstuff industry.

He underlined the need to further perfect the production system based on locally-available raw materials and increase the food production, on the condition that modern food processing centers have been built in each province under the warm care of the Workers’ Party of Korea and thus fully meet the demands of the people for them.

On the same day, he acquainted himself with the construction of the Ryugyong Hotel on the spot.

Kim Chong-il Meets with Orascom Chairman

Chang Song-taek (L) and Kim Chong-il pose for a commemorative photograph with Orascom Telecom Holding chairman and chief executive officer, Naguib Sawiris (C) Photo: KCNA

The DPRK media reported that Kim Chong-il hosted a dinner party and met with Naguib Sawiris, chairman of and chief executive officer of Orascom Telecom Holding.  Orascom operates the DPRK’s Koryolink 3G mobile network in a partnership with Korea Post and Telecom.  Orascom companies also own a cement factory (to which Kim Chong-il recently sent autographs) and contracted to finish the Ryugyong Hotel.  The visit and party for Sawiris was also the first reported public appearance of Chang Song-taek in 2011; Chang was last reported in attendance at a concert on 31 December 2010.

Yonhap reports:

Naguib Sawiris, chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, has been in North Korea for a visit since Friday. The Cairo-based firm has been providing mobile phone service in the North jointly with a local company since late 2008.

Kim “warmly welcomed his DPRK visit taking place at a time when Orascom’s investment is making successful progress in different fields of the DPRK, including telecommunications,” Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency said. DPRK is the acronym for the North’s official name.

Kim had “a cordial talk” with the Egyptian businessman and hosted a dinner for him, the KCNA said.

Also present at the meeting was Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s brother-in-law and vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, the KCNA said.

It was the first time that Jang’s activity has been reported in state media this year.

Naguib Sawiris (L) meeting with Kim Chong-il (Photo: KCNA)

AFP reports:

Orascom said last year that mobile phone subscriptions in North Korea had more than quadrupled in the space of a year — to 301,199 by the end of September 2010 from 69,261 a year earlier.

However, it said overall “mobile penetration” remains at one per cent in the country, which has an estimated per-capita GDP of 1,700 dollars and a population of 24 million.

North Korea strictly controls access to outside information and fixes the tuning controls of radios and televisions to official stations.

It began a mobile phone service in November 2002 but shut it down without explanation 18 months later and began recalling handsets.

But in December 2008 the country introduced a 3G mobile phone network in a joint venture with the Egyptian firm.

The Egyptian group in 2007 sealed a 115 million dollar deal to invest in a North Korean cement plant. It is also reportedly involved in completing construction of the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in the capital.

The French do Pyongyang

Kim Yong-nam greets Jack Lang (Photo: KCNA)

Jack Lang, Special Envoy of the President of France, arrived earlier this week in Pyongyang.  Mr. Lang  met with DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun on Tuesday, discussing “bilateral relations and a series of issues of mutual concern.”  On Thursday, Mr. Lang met with nominal head of state (and former KWP International Secretary) SPA Presidium President Kim Yong-nam and discussed the same series of issues of mutual concern.  France and Estonia are the only EU countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the DPRK.  After 1989, the DPRK retained most of its diplomatic relations with the former Warsaw Pact countries.  In 1993 and 1995 it made outreach efforts into Western Europe, not to mention implementing a joint venture law in 1984 which was bit of a dud.   The DPRK held its first working-level meetings with the EU in Brussels in 1998.  Between 2000 and 2001 it established diplomatic relations with Italy, UK, The Netherlands (hallo!) , Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.

Perhaps, among the issues Mr. Lang discussed with his interlocutors was the Ryugyong Hotel which began construction in 1987, under the 1984 joint venture law, in collaboration with a French engineering firm.  The Ryugyong is most likely one reason for the diplomatic awkwardness between the DPRK and France.   It should also be noted that the Kim Family owns an apartment in Paris which, over the years, has accommodated Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-nam and the late Ko Yong-hui.

We can now wait to see if the black Mercedes rolls up to the Paekhwawon State Guest House, and see if Jack Lang has a meeting (and banquet?) with Kim Jong-il.

 

 

Guidance Train (Bound for Glory)

Kim Jong-il exchanges civilities with a manager of the Salmon Breeding Institute (Photo: Korean Central News Agency)

(n.b.  Kim Jong-il’s last appearance was at a music performance on 17 October)

The field guidance train (“the People’s train, the train of love”)  rolled along.  Kim Jong-il made three guidance visits this week.  Since China Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit, it may seem General-Secretary Kim has emphasized food production, home and cultural life and the environment.  But 2009 is a year which should end with North Korean citizens having participated in 250 days of labor mobilization “battle campaigns” and approximately 2/3′s of Kim Jong-il’s guidance tours relate to the North Korean domestic economy and quality of life issues.  Some of these visits have occurred at facilities administered or whose products are earmarked to the Korean People’s Army, Navy or Air Force, but the Propaganda and Agitation Department has rather cleverly folded songun chongch’i into the broader ideological narrative concerning the DPRK civilian population (including members of the Military Reserve Training Units).

Christmas card photo? Kim Jong-il grinning during his guidance tour of the Salmon Breeding Institute. (Photo: Korean Central News Agency)

On that note, General-Secretary Kim’s first guidance visit this week was to the KPA-related Salmon Breeding Institute.  The account implies that this was his first visit to the facility (“he noted that the institute stands in a good place and has been well-built as required by the new century”) which must be relatively new.  For a KCNA account, there was a surprising lack of detail as to the Salmon Breeding Institute’s actual location in the DPRK and an admittedly cursory check of various publications of North Korean press turned up little.  But from the tenor of General-Secretary Kim’s remarks, the institute was tasked with taking the lead on ALL salmon production in the DPRK: “In order to increase the production of salmon it is necessary to find out all places for the ecological environment of salmon for the purpose of building more salmon breeding farms.”  So, it seems the Salmon Breeding Institute is being held up as an archetype for all fish farming in the DPRK, particularly “freshwater fish [to] provide people with greater quantities of taste and nutritious salmon.”  One might take this guidance visit in conjunction with a visit earlier this month to the Catfish Farm as a sign that fish farming may be one of General-Secretary Kim’s pathway to boost the erratic (and likely depleted) North Korean food supply: “He earnestly called on all sectors and units to continue pushing ahead with the fish breeding in an effort to rapidly boost the production of freshwater fish and provide people with greater quantities of tasty and nutritious salmon in the era of the Workers’ Party.”

A fish-producing cadre or an employee at the newly constituted Ministry of Foodstuffs might only note the first part of this statement “freshwater fish” and view the last part as tacked on to a general policy.  Can’t put all the North Korean freshwater fish into one can, I suppose.  But the guidance train rolled along into Pyongyang.  Or perhaps, General-Secretary Kim decided a day or two  later to leave the office and stroll down to Mansudae Street, Pyongyang to visit recently constructed apartment buildings.

Kim Jong-il gesturing at an apartment building while Jang Song-thaek and the Capital City Construction Ministry officials look on. The tip of the Ryugyong Hotel is visible behind the tree. (Photo: Korean Central News Agency)

Kim Jong-il walked around what appears to be a rather large housing development (albeit not yet populated; get your housing permits ready, Pyongyangites).  The KCNA report singles out the Mansudae Street apartments’ construction to “members of the youth shock brigade.”  So, perhaps Pyongyang watchers should not compose eulogies on the ineffectiveness of Workers’ Organizations, but then again this is Pyongyang, the center of the revolution.  The complex also remains under construction and there are some buildings that will need to be demolished before the complex is complete.  He remarked that “All the apartment houses built in the street are the best ones as they were designed well and constructed at a high level.”  He then toured one of the new apartments with the Party Secretaries from the Capital City Construction Ministry.  While it was not a visit to a cooperative farm tour, General-Secretary Kim did go out onto one of the apartment balconies and afforded himself a bird’s eye view of the apartment complex.

Kim Jong-il formally introduced the KWP’s proposal to build 100,000 new housing units in Pyongyang, presumably to replace older apartments buildings built in the 1970′s and 1980′s: “It is necessary to build in Pyongyang. . .in a matter of a few years as an immediate task.”  He then alluded to “Pyongyang Speed,” a mobilization movement to reconstruct post Victorious Fatherland (Korean) War-Pyongyang which was leveled during the war.  There was also a reference to General-Secretary Kim’s own propaganda accomplishments of housing construction:  “. . .and as the people in the 1970s and 1980s opened up an ‘era of prosperity in Pyongyang’ by building modern streets and great monumental edifices in a matter of 15 years and thus demonstrate once again to the whole world the revolutionary spirit of the servicepersons and people of the DPRK, successors to the great history and tradition.”

Did an account in the North Korean press just use the “S” word?  For those on permanent succession watch, one can juxtapose General-Secretary Kim’s indirect use of “successor” with the “youth shock brigade.”  It does not actually mean much of anything, but it could create muted ideological conditions for a power transfer somewhere down the line.  Although it should be noted that Jang Song-thaek (who was present at this guidance tour) managed the youth construction units on the the building of the Kwangbok Street housing and sports facilities in the late 1980′s.  More interestingly from Kim Jong-il’s statement, is what is not included which is to say any reference to the 1990′s or the early 2000′s.  So, perhaps the

Kim Jong-il mounts his custom bird's eye view sans customized shades. (Photo: Korean Central News Agency)

new Pyongyang Speed will compensate for lost time, and  this is also the closest thing General-Secretary Kim will get to a product roll-out.

Kim Jong-il’s final trip for the working week was to two (2) “newly-built” hog farms (which is to say, a pork production facility), built by a KPA construction brigade tout suite: “He highly appreciated the feats of the shining feats of the soldier-builders, expressing great satisfaction over the fact that they successfully built this modern farm in a matter of one year.”   One might wonder if this facility qualifies as the product of the 150 Day Battle Campaign, even if construction of the place preceded the campaign’s official start.   As with the visits to the salmon farm and the apartment complex, General-Secretary Kim placed the two hog producers as an example for other hog and meat production facilities to emulate.  This guidance tour found Kim Jong-il holding forth on environment-related policy.  These accounts have references to “greenery” and “greening,” but in this instance he actually speaks to organic fertilizers: “It is very good that the farm is making a great contribution to the grain production by building a modern organic fertilizer composite fertilizer factory…”   We can only expect the guidance train to keep-a rolling into next week.

General-Secretary Kim, or whatever Personal Secretariat employee who coordinates these guidance tours, is on top of external reporting on the DPRK both in media and NGO sources.  It is well-established that he uses satellite television and web resources to circumvent the official reports he receives.  He also used this week’s guidance tours (and possibly tours held earlier this month) to play defense against a UN report about hunger and rights in the DPRK, or at least to create the pretense that he is involved in some attempt to do something.  This can also convey to hungry, alienated North Korean citizens that the General-Secretary is taking the lead (which he also demonstrated at last week’s appearance at Migok Cooperative Farm); of course, the bleary-eyed North Koreans can shrug their shoulders and ask where they have heard these assurances before.  In terms of ideological themes, General-Secretary Kim is moving away from a typically obdurate martial stance and trying to re-emphasize the figure of a kindly, caring leader, not a General pointing and shouting out impractical orders.  One may contrast this with some of the late President Kim Il-sung’s guidance tours (and indeed, General-Secretary Kim’s) where one is presented with vituperative scolds of local cadres and farm official alike.

While there are references and allusions to “the songun era” and “soldier-builders” there is little trace of the North Korean military in these guidance tours.  Perhaps with the recent celebration of the official 64th Birthday of the Korean Workers’ Party, October is Party month in the DPRK.  But these reports all contain references to the the “the WPK policy” or the “era of the WPK.”  One realizes that the “era of Songun” and “era of the WPK” are concurrent, so it is likely that references to the Party are something on which external observers can chew.  It can also establish to the North Korean population, or in the least create the illusion, that more basic resources may get to the civilian population and not gobbled up by the military.  If one want to see Premier Jiabao’s influence (and this is less likely) then in propaganda the DPRK is turning the volume down on military glorification: fight the resourcing battles at home, and not against fighting other nation-states.  Then again, Songun found its emphasis in a national two-day meeting in Pyongyang.

The Ryugyong Hotel received some attention when the KWP blasted fireworks around its perimeter this past Spring.  It is well known at this point that the Egyptian conglomerate Orascom has been working on the Ryugyong.  Yet this is the first occasion when the Ryugyong Hotel appeared, even subtly, in a guidance tour.  It was not the full pyramid, but only the structure’s tip which one can see rising from the tree line in the background of the photos from the apartments tour.  The Ryugyong guidance tour is certainly the one many a Pyongyangologist, and a general audience, longs to see.  This is most likely the first time since the reincarnation of the Ryugyong’s construction that General-Secretary Kim is seen in any context with the peculiar concrete giant.

Final guidance at the Mansudae Street apartments. (Photo: Korean Central News Agency)

And, to chase the will o’ the wisps of cohort analysis, several new players joined General-Secretary Kim in various travel parties this week.  Not seen since an early July guidance tour to a land reclamation is Organization and Guidance Department Senior Deputy Director Ri Je-gang, who participated in all three (3) of this week’s guidance tours.  Another personality on the July guidance tour, but who makes appearances in the North Korean press is Deputy OGD Director, National Defense Commission member and Second Economic Committee Vice Chair Ju Kyu-chang.  Mr. Ju was present only for the tour of the Mansudae apartment complex.  The final resurrected cadre in the guidance travel party, previously not seen or explicitly identified since May, was OGD Deputy Director Ri Jae-il, who appeared on the last two (2) tours this week.  The guidance tours are never complete these days without Secretary Kim Ki-nam, Financial Planning Director Pak Nam-gi, dos amigos Gens. Ri Myong-su and Hyon Chol-hae and General-Secretary Kim’s confidante and Party deputy Jang Song-thaek.

One is reluctant to read too much significance into the presence of the two Mr. Ri’s of OGD.  They were previously identified as rivals to Jang Song-thaek.  Then again Mr. Jang’s position as Director of the Central Committee’s Administration Department indicates that General-Secretary Kim decided a while ago to check the enormous (and potentially power threatening) influence of the Organization and Guidance Department.  It should be noted with a report given this week (here) that alleged the succession of Kim Jong-un may be temporarily sidelined (along, possibly, with Mr. Jang), that in 2004 Ri Je-gang and Ri Jae-il were said to be avid supporters of the Morningstar General.  Ri Je-gang and Ri Jae-il were also said at that time to be alleged rivals to Mr. Jang, and had initiated within OGD the accusations of factionalism (based on a grand wedding reception Mr. Jang and Kim Kyong-hui hosted in 2003) that got Mr. Jang suspended in 2003.  Where did Mr. Jang end up after his suspension?  The Party end of the Capital City Construction Ministry.  But, then again, Jang Song-thaek (unlike the two Mr. Ri’s) has membership on the NDC, is the most powerful conduit for Party personnel to General-Secretary Kim, so the presence of the senior leadership at Organization Guidance on a guidance tour is more a matter of General-Secretary Kim setting and settling policies for his subordinates, under the particular auspices of the 100-Day Campaign.  October is Party month, comrades.

Kim Jong-il at the 26 September Pig Farm. One may note Gen. Hyon Chol-hae at the far right (partially obscured) without his KPA uniform. (Photo: KCNA)

Table for 7 ?

There are no outward signs that the Six-Party Talks are set to immediately resume.  But that has not stopped the intervention of world politics’ favorite busybody, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, from inviting himself to a party that seems indefinitely postponed.  The Lisbon Treaty (the accord which will attempt to solidify the EU’s foreign affairs) is not yet completely ratified, and according to Yonhap New Agency, the French President has appointed France’s former Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, as a special envoy to the DPRK.  France and the DPRK have an erratic history.  The best-known North Korean-French joint project may be the Ryugyong Hotel.  And yet, there are other EU countries which have closer diplomatic relations with the DPRK than France; Germany, Austria and Sweden immediately spring to mind.   One can only think with all the scuttlebutt about a possible Tony Blair EU Presidency, Mr. Sarkozy (profoundly unpopular in his home country) is making a diplomatic foray to burnish his foreign policy credentials in order to challenge Mr. Blair.

Europe could participate in compensation for N. Korea’s denuclearization: French envoy

Tony Chang, 7 October 2009

Yonhap News Agency