From a Bangkok schoolroom to the democratic farce of North Korea

[webfact]

From a Bangkok schoolroom to the democratic farce of North Korea
Martin Vengadesan
The Star
Asia News Network


This undated photo released by North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 12, 2014 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ® visiting the 1st contest of the Korean Peoples Army art squads./AFP PHOTO/KCNA via KNS

(The Star) Almost unnoticed, North Korean democracy is at work. While most Malaysians are undergoing a collective soul-searching experience over the missing MH370 flight, citizens of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea have dutifully gone to the polls and voted for the government. In overwhelming numbers.

Let's not be too impressed though.

The choice was stark: vote for Kim Jong-un & co or not vote for his party and run the risk of being "exposed" as a traitor.

By all accounts this means a swift execution or a lifetime of hard labour in brutal prison camps.

What most of the world takes for granted, even under many other iron-fisted regimes - a protest vote for the opposition - is simply not an option in North Korea for there is no opposition.

Voting is compulsory and there is only one state-approved candidate to vote for.

And so, as it has done for every election since 1948, the party of Kim Jong-un and his ancestors/predecessors has bagged 100 per cent of the vote.

Technically Kim's Workers Party is the dominant one in a coalition government called the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland.

There are also a couple of smaller puppet parties and a few independents. But basically all real power is concentrated in the hands of the emperor and his acolytes, in the name of a workers' paradise.

Hard as it is to believe, it was not always thus.

After the end of World War II and Korea's liberation by the Allied powers, Kim Il-sung had to fight for supremacy with other factions in the North.

Korea's Communists at the time included some from the South, those who had formed anti-Japanese resistance in the North, and others trained by the Chinese and by the Soviets.

Far from the obvious choice at first, Kim Il-sung succeeded in outmanoeuvring his rivals by the late 1940s and disposed of them in a round of purges a decade later.

By that time his all-powerful cult of personality was well established.

One of the quirkier experiences I had growing up was at the International School of Bangkok.

For three months in 1989, I sat in between a North Korean and a South Korean at study hall.

Oddly enough the North Korean Hong was a bubbly fellow while Kim the South Korean was taciturn and paranoid.

For two months I was in the rather awkward position of talking to each of them in turn.

Hong was eager to find out about the outside world, but he didn't really tell me much about life in Kim Il-sung's Korea.

He did expose me to an interesting point of view when I tried to tell him about religion, and he called it superstition, and I tried to debate the difference between the two, and couldn't really provide an adequate explanation to him.

Kim on the other hand was quietly driven but very anxious that his words not be overheard by his countryman.

The ice in this mini Cold War finally thawed when Kim brought in a Korean-English dictionary and Hong just couldn't fight his own curiosity.

Within minutes he was practically leaning over my desk and when he posed a question to Kim, the latter stared in shock into space for a few seconds before he decided to talk.

They started conversing haltingly and then a bit more animatedly, while I stepped back, feeling like I'd done my bit for world peace.

It didn't last long though, as both left school during the summer holidays.

The world has taken divergent paths since then.

South Korea racing ahead economically and even socially with horror movies and Gangnam style (although I can't always tell which is which).

It's hard to tell how true reports are of North Korea being one big concentration camp, but there are little signs to indicate otherwise.

Perhaps one day, the people of North Korea can go to the polls and deliver a result which shows that perfection doesn't always mean 100 per cent.


-- The Nation 2014-03-14

[chooka]

So was little Kimmie educated in Bangkok?

[bangkapi]

Timmy Geithner was... and he is a financial terrorist.

[klauskunkel]

"Hey you guys, have you heard the one about the North Korean General who was going to be executed by dogs? Well, turned out the dogs didn't like Korean food..., the cats, however, were not that fussy! 55555!!"

[pmarlin]

So was little Kimmie educated in Bangkok?

according to Wikipedia he wasn't

[NumbNut]

Anything this bloke said would be funny if you're standing next to him eh... wouldn't it?

Maybe that second bloke is just laughing at his haircut though.

Them army dudes have got some serious fruit salad action happening there too eh.

Edited March 14, 2014 by NumbNut

[eeworldwide]

what a completely dull article. sorry!

[Chang_paarp]

Bloke in the background grinning like an idiot looks like an older Thaksin.

[Dap]

Anything this bloke said would be funny if you're standing next to him eh... wouldn't it?

Maybe that second bloke is just laughing at his haircut though.

Them army dudes have got some serious fruit salad action happening there too eh.

Yeah ... A lot like the "fruit salad" here, on the "uniformed" personnel.

I am always wondering what ... those ribbons are all about. Anyone???

[NumbNut]

Anything this bloke said would be funny if you're standing next to him eh... wouldn't it?

Maybe that second bloke is just laughing at his haircut though.

Them army dudes have got some serious fruit salad action happening there too eh.

Yeah ... A lot like the "fruit salad" here, on the "uniformed" personnel.

I am always wondering what ... those ribbons are all about. Anyone???

They're campaign and bravery ribbons, a US page here with info regarding US campaign/bravery awards:-

http://www.fruit-salad.com/ribbons.html

[Thai at Heart]

So was little Kimmie educated in Bangkok?

according to Wikipedia he wasn't

Switzerland

[thailiketoo]

Anything this bloke said would be funny if you're standing next to him eh... wouldn't it?

Maybe that second bloke is just laughing at his haircut though.

Them army dudes have got some serious fruit salad action happening there too eh.

Yeah ... A lot like the "fruit salad" here, on the "uniformed" personnel.

I am always wondering what ... those ribbons are all about. Anyone???

They're campaign and bravery ribbons, a US page here with info regarding US campaign/bravery awards:-

http://www.fruit-salad.com/ribbons.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_campaign_medals

[NumbNut]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_campaign_medals

Jeez Aussie has been in some blues eh...

Edited March 15, 2014 by NumbNut

[OmegaRacer]

So what is this 'article' trying to say?

[Dap]

Anything this bloke said would be funny if you're standing next to him eh... wouldn't it?

Maybe that second bloke is just laughing at his haircut though.

Them army dudes have got some serious fruit salad action happening there too eh.

Yeah ... A lot like the "fruit salad" here, on the "uniformed" personnel.

I am always wondering what ... those ribbons are all about. Anyone???

They're campaign and bravery ribbons, a US page here with info regarding US campaign/bravery awards:-

http://www.fruit-salad.com/ribbons.html

Thanks for that NN (and thailiketoo) but I understand what the ribbons mean in the military as I have a

few of my own. Have always wondered what they're all about on these pencil pushers on "uniform day"

all over Thailand

Edited March 16, 2014 by Dap

[asiaexpat]

So what is this 'article' trying to say?

Seems pretty clear the author has provided a obvious example of one understanding of democracy- the right to vote. A vote is meaningless if in a contrived election controlled by a single party based on a cult of personality. Thais should learn from this recent Democratic election in DPRK.

As to the two Koreans in the authors school class, the North Korean can be carefree since he is part of the DPRK elite and the state will care for him, whereas the apprehensive South Korean lives in a highly competitive environment and must be a high achiever to succeed. Populations that perpetuate a cult of personality will never achieve true freedom or equality.

[NumbNut]

So what is this 'article' trying to say?

Seems pretty clear the author has provided a obvious example of one understanding of democracy- the right to vote. A vote is meaningless if in a contrived election controlled by a single party based on a cult of personality. Thais should learn from this recent Democratic election in DPRK.

As to the two Koreans in the authors school class, the North Korean can be carefree since he is part of the DPRK elite and the state will care for him, whereas the apprehensive South Korean lives in a highly competitive environment and must be a high achiever to succeed. Populations that perpetuate a cult of personality will never achieve true freedom or equality.

Thanks asiaexpat, very good summation. I was confused regarding the whole 'Bangkok schoolroom' angle, as was Chooka (first post). I thought he'd literally been educated in Bangers and spent some time here eh... which could have been a potentially great excuse for his wingnut behaviour, what do you reckon?

[bendejo]

And so I says to him "ok, you're a taxi!"

Edited March 16, 2014 by bendejo

[asiaexpat]

And so I says to him "ok, you're a taxi!"

Kim jong-un was born in 1983 so I doubt he would have been a class mate of the author and his dad was ruling DPRK at that time. The consensus is that KJU was educated under a false name in Switzerland. My years in Korea taught me that those in the north live in a different world and the Kim family are treated as Gods.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[ABCer]

So was little Kimmie educated in Bangkok?

according to Wikipedia he wasn't

According to the results he surely was!

[wellred]

The author has failed to miss the main point of why the voting even takes place. It's so that they can compare with other data and flag any missing persons I.e defectors. Pressure can then be applied on the family to divulge information.

[speedtripler]

Anything this bloke said would be funny if you're standing next to him eh... wouldn't it?

Maybe that second bloke is just laughing at his haircut though.

Them army dudes have got some serious fruit salad action happening there too eh.

Yeah ... A lot like the "fruit salad" here, on the "uniformed" personnel.

I am always wondering what ... those ribbons are all about. Anyone???

They're campaign and bravery ribbons, a US page here with info regarding US campaign/bravery awards:-

http://www.fruit-salad.com/ribbons.html

Thanks for that NN (and thailiketoo) but I understand what the ribbons mean in the military as I have a

few of my own. Have always wondered what they're all about on these pencil pushers on "uniform day"

all over Thailand

there is a old security guard in the big C complex at ratchada rd who wears a blue shirt covered in ribbons

and badges like hes some kind of 5 star general .........no idea what they all represent

maybe blowing whistles or catching the odd shoplifter gets you decorated like a christmas tree

in the security industry.........