N. Korea: Andrei Lankov writes on ridiculously grandiose treatment of Rodong Sinmun in North Korea

Korea Times via www.freenorthkorea.net ^ | 11/18/03 | Andrei Lankov

[TigerLikesRooster]

Andrei Lankov writes on ridiculously grandiose treatment of Rodong Sinmun in North Korea

This is a good example of one of Kim Jong Il and his father's obsessions - an example of a not atypical narcissistic grandiosity. Accidentally fold or damage a page of newspaper (or money) carrying Kim Jong Il or his fathers name or likeness, and you get sent to a place where you will probably DIE!

(Korea Times)

Face Value of Rodong Sinmun

In October 1997, relations between the two Koreas ran into a crisis. This crisis was so serious that North Korea temporarily halted the construction of light-water nuclear reactors _ despite the immense importance the project had for the country’s economy. Pyongyang explained this was the only possible answer to the outrageous discovery that was made in the dormitory of the South Korean specialists who were involved in the reactors’ construction.

What actually happened? An issue of the Rodong Sinmun newspaper was found in the waste bin, torn and crumpled! Its first page was damaged! ``So what?’’ might ask a Western or South Korean reader, quite accustomed to the unceremonious treatment of newspapers. Foolish them, for the attitude towards newspapers in the North, and in particular to Rodong Sinmun, is very different. The newspapers’ front pages nearly always bear the sacred portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, and this alone entitles them to special respect and treatment. And, apart from this, Rodong Sinmun is, well, Rodong Sinmun.

Rodong Sinmun is published by the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, a body that in everything but name is the supreme ruling institution in the country. It is the mouthpiece of the Party, and every single publication of Rodong Sinmun is, by definition, approved by the Party and Leader. The Rodong Sinmun is eerily reminiscent of the Soviet Union’s Pravda, but not of the mild, even occasionally entertaining Pravda of the 1970s, but of the venom-spitting Pravda of Stalin’s time.

This comes as no surprise. Rodong Sinmun was established in 1946, and for the first years of its history it was run by a group of Soviet journalists of Korean heritage. They imported not only a general style, but also a number of particular features borrowed wholesale from contemporary Soviet media culture.

One of those traditions was the special role of the unsigned editorials. In principle, everything published by Rodong Sinmun has supreme approval, but the editorials are seen as the voice of the Party in its purest form. Indeed, the topics and major ideas of the Rodong Sinmun editorials are approved in the highest echelons of government, sometimes by Kim Jong-il himself.

Westerners have always considered official communist newspapers boring. They were quite correct (the citizens of communist countries were of the same opinion). Nonetheless, few communist newspapers were ever as boring as Rodong Sinmun. This is largely a deliberate strategy. The Rodong Sinmun editors keep reminding their staff that their mission is to educate, not entertain. Human-interest stories that managed to find their way even onto the pages of Pravda and People’s Daily are exceptional indeed in Rodong Sinmun.

This solemn approach was somewhat relaxed recently, and articles about sports or popular actors began to occasionally appear in the newspaper, albeit even these articles were not free from the obligatory quotations from Kim Jong-il’s ``wise works.’’

Rodong Sinmun typically has six pages. The first four pages of the newspaper contain official material, lengthy editorials and reports about the heroic deeds of North Korean workers, farmers and soldiers. There might be some texts about the greatness and wisdom of the leaders as well. The fifth page occupies itself with the living hell of South Korean life and the sufferings of their poor Southern brethren under United States occupation (GIs shooting them at will, children begging for food and students selling their blood to pay tuition fees). The sixth page is taken up with international news.

Not all of the articles in Rodong Sinmun notify the reader about achievements and heroic deeds. Now and then the newspaper also informs its readers that in a particular part of the country there are still some problems. Some local officials were not treating the ``masses’’’ complaints fast enough. Some small factory cannot meet the allocated quotas of production. Some party organization does not work hard enough to educate the students in the right spirit. These critical materials are invariably approved at a very high bureaucratic level, and for the people mentioned in such articles, the critique in Rodong Sinmun spells out at least broken careers, if not worse.

Well, what happened to the unlucky South Korean engineers whose actions triggered the scandal in October 1997? They resumed work _ on the condition that they would treat Rodong Sinmun properly.

Korea Times

Andrei Lankov

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[OahuBreeze]

We should start a parody contest of the Nodong Shinmun and post it collectively on a website. Whoever has the funniest article wins the monthly pool.

[Steel Wolf]

Just as truth is often stranger than fiction, I think that the inane ramblings of Communist Party intellectualls (cough, cough) are funnier in and of themselves than any parody of them.