Gift to Kim Jong Il from Egyptian Figure

The Korean News ^ | Feb. 22, 2005

[jwalburg]

Pyongyang, February 22 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il received a gift from Yehia Jakariya Khairallah, chairman of the Egyptian Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea. The gift was handed to the DPRK ambassador to Egypt by the chairman on Feb. 15. There the chairman said that they wish Kim Jong Il invariable health and happiness in constantly developing and enriching the Juche idea that lights the path of the present times.

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Floral Basket to Kim Jong Il from Libyan Leader Pyongyang, February 22 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il received a floral basket from Colonel Moammer el Gaddafi, leader of the Great September First Revolution of Libya, on the occasion of his birthday. The floral basket was handed to an official concerned by Mahmoud Masoud Amer, acting secretary of the People's Bureau of Libya in Pyongyang, on Feb. 21.

[jwalburg]

Maybe this is just standard diplomacy, but only these two Muslim countries were mentioned, so I wondered.

[Arkie2]

Juche: definition- You starve while I gorge myself on western food and whiskey.

[jwalburg]

This juche idea thing is curious, too. Looks like a kind of commie international unification deal with Korean flavor:

Here's the English version

Juche Idea England

[GSlob]

But that very juche would, if Kim is good at practicing it, preclude his using of any gifts from others - even of that flower basket. If he eats the flowers, he is no longer self-sufficient in food, right?

[AmericanVictory]

Ju Chey anything, you dead! That's the principle.

[JerseyHighlander]

There's a hilarious write up of an American who slipped into N. Korea as a japanese student. He has a diary of his visit to the museum of gifts to Kim Jong Il and the other kim... Just one excerpt:

Ever wonder why CNN seems to be the only Western news organization regularly allowed into North Korea? The next room perhaps offered a clue. In the 'Gifts from America' room a whole section of one wall is taken up by gifts from CNN. A few engraved plaques, a coffee cup (yeah, a freaking coffee cup!), a logo ashtray, etc. Probably at most a couple hundred bucks worth of crap that nonetheless get pride of place in the museum - for they reveal obvious signs of respect from a world famous news organization. The people at CNN are certainly using their heads and showing they know how to play the game. Though one wonders how that fits in with journalistic integrity . . .

Here's the link