The Great Leader inspects the parallel universe of North Korea

[headscratcher4]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/on_the_spot_with_kim_jong-il.html

Socialist realism as photography....

[Vorticity]

Those are fascinating. I note three things:

1) Most of those places are impossibly clean for the types of things they produce.

2) Unlike all the other factories, which are fully identified, the booze factory is listed simply as "a factory."

3) The looks of fear in the faces of many of the local flunkies/workers.

[headscratcher4]

The flunkies scribbling in notepads is facinating...also note in one of the photos in a factory, his hand is on a railing, but it is a railing covered by what appears to be velvet. Man of the people.

[Francesca R]

Is that an actor? Kim always wears a pear-shaped polyester pantsuit with pointy-toed slippers.

[Vorticity]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/on_the_spot_with_kim_jong-il.html

Followed by army officers, security personnel and plant managers - most carrying pencils and notepads to record the guidance of "Dear Leader" - he examines, listens, gives a talk, poses, then moves on, entourage in tow.

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/4514ba00f9a24e52.jpg

"I want the same number of blueberries in every muffin!"

[geni]

Those are fascinating. I note three things:

1) Most of those places are impossibly clean for the types of things they produce.

Other than the Hwanghae Iron and Steel complex and the September General Iron Enterprise pics most of the photos appear to have been taken outside production areas. Most are reasonable for somewhere that has had some warning to clean up.

On the other hand the backgrounds of many of the pics were weirdly empty.

[kedo1981]

Could not help my self

[Nosi]

Pig and poultry farms need to be a lot cleaner than what they are; but not cuz some despot is staring over your shoulder!

[jasonpatterson]

Other than the Hwanghae Iron and Steel complex and the September General Iron Enterprise pics most of the photos appear to have been taken outside production areas. Most are reasonable for somewhere that has had some warning to clean up.

On the other hand the backgrounds of many of the pics were weirdly empty.

The livestock are way too clean as well. If you've never seen a pig farm, look for pictures. Ditto cattle. Then again, if the PoTUSA or the Queen were coming to check out my pig farm, I'd probably muck out the stalls and wash them and the animals up a bit.

As far as the people looking afraid, while they have every reason to be afraid, they honestly looked mostly like normal folks not used to being in the spotlight. Again, if a bigwig comes around a bunch of steelworkers, they would likely be a bit nervous. We're also seeing shots of large groups of people, there's always gonna be someone looking funny unless they are posing for the picture.

What got me were the grocery store pictures. Especially in the second it's painfully apparent that they made a fruit display for his arrival. The shelf that he's looking at is covered in an abundance of varied fruit. Right next to that, it's bare... The fruit is also all mixed together. Visually appealing, but I'm not aware of any culture that would sell things that way.

[quixotecoyote]

I have to wonder; if we didn't know he was a bad guy, would we still be seeing all these things in the pictures?

[geni]

I have to wonder; if we didn't know he was a bad guy, would we still be seeing all these things in the pictures?

Well compare say:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8571409.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8534000/8534805.stm

[geni]

The livestock are way too clean as well. If you've never seen a pig farm, look for pictures. Ditto cattle. Then again, if the PoTUSA or the Queen were coming to check out my pig farm, I'd probably muck out the stalls and wash them and the animals up a bit.

Indeed. The room with the cows in looked to small to be a regular part of the farm though.


What got me were the grocery store pictures. Especially in the second it's painfully apparent that they made a fruit display for his arrival. The shelf that he's looking at is covered in an abundance of varied fruit. Right next to that, it's bare... The fruit is also all mixed together. Visually appealing, but I'm not aware of any culture that would sell things that way.

It also has to be imported. Growing that stuff in NK would be doable in a heated greenhouse but that seems unlikely.

[Spindrift]

As far as the people looking afraid, while they have every reason to be afraid, they honestly looked mostly like normal folks not used to being in the spotlight. Again, if a bigwig comes around a bunch of steelworkers, they would likely be a bit nervous.
Except that most bigwigs are not lunatics with the 4th largest standing army in the world at their beck and call. I'd be afraid that his gestures could be misinterpreted by his toadies. Touch the nose - kill him, scratch head - send to prison, cough - send family to prison, rub eyes - make them watch one of the operas he's composed.

[dropzone]

In re: the steel place

Y'know, at every factory I've worked at, when we know the big bosses are coming we try to impress them with how much we are producing. I always thought I was lazy, but I'm not NEARLY bone lazy enough to be a commie.

[WildCat]

Picture #3 is Kim at a Soylent Green factory...

[GreyICE]

I have to wonder; if we didn't know he was a bad guy, would we still be seeing all these things in the pictures?

What, the obvious staging, and really nice bloom filters and lousy photoshoppery? No, those pictures would still be staged and cleaned all to hell in shop.

[Zep]

He is only doing what his daddy did...

http://www.kdvr.de/bilder/malerei/mal-06-kim-03.jpg

[MG1962]

The flunkies scribbling in notepads is facinating...also note in one of the photos in a factory, his hand is on a railing, but it is a railing covered by what appears to be velvet. Man of the people.

I thought it would be interesting for people to see how North Koreans get their news on the some of these photos

From http://www.nk-news.net/index.php It looks like a joke site, but they lift these articles directly from the NKNS who produce (official) English translations of major North Korean stories

Kim Jong Il Inspects Hungnam Smeltery and Fisheries

Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il gave on-the-spot guidance to the Hungnam Smeltery, the Hungnam Taehung Fishery Enterprise and the Sojung Fishery Station.
The first leg of his guidance was the Hungnam Smeltery.

He looked round the Hard Alloyed Steel Shop and various other production processes to acquaint himself in detail with the technological updating and production there.

Watching quality products being churned out from the modern production processes in an endless stream, he expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the officials, workers and technicians of the smeltery have laid a solid material and technological foundation and kept the production going at a high rate by dynamically pushing ahead with the technological updating by their own efforts and with their technology. He highly appreciated their laudable feats.

The smeltery has satisfactorily solved a lot of scientific and technological problems and waged a dynamic drive for modernizing and scientizing the production processes by paying primary attention to the technical revolution as required by the WPK's idea of attaching importance to science and technology, thus bringing about a signal turn in the production of nonferrous metals, he noted, adding that this eye-opening great change once again clearly proves that the master key to boosting the production lies in the technological progress.

He set forth important tasks to be fulfilled by the enterprise, noting that the smeltery has an important role to play in the nation's economic development.

He said that the most important task facing the smeltery is to keep the production going at a high rate and, at the same time, continue focusing efforts on the technological updating to put all the production processes on a higher scientific and technological basis.

[Zep]

That was the literal translation. The actual translation was "Little Old Kimmy Has A Grand Day Out Playing With His Toys Before Going Home To Watch Star Wars...Again."

The news announcements were just as unrealistic in Kim Il Sung's day. Every crop failure was a "change for higher production". Every manufacturing disaster was a "planned factory upgrade". All announcements even remotely related to North Korea by Japan, South Korea and the USA were "lies of the running capitalist dogs".

If you want to understand what happens when the cult of personality gets its own country...look there.

[patchbunny]

Picture #3 is Kim at a Soylent Green factory...

I like the guy in the back right. He looks like he's praying Kim doesn't actually try to eat one of them.

[Puppycow]

He's the "Dear Leader". His daddy was the "Great Leader".

His son will be the "Super Awesome Beloved Leader".

[patchbunny]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/Kim_Mud.jpg

[roger]

He's wearing 1 of 2 outfits in the pictures. Most notably, he is wearing the same thing in picture #31, released in 2008, as he is in picture 3 (and many others), released in 2010.

You pretty much have to look at the shirt. It seems like there are two different shirts under that coat in different pictures, though it could just be a color balance issue.

Anyway, I'd guess that none of these are later than 2008.

[roger]

Oh, and how about this. Look at his left hand (stroke side?) in every photo. It's almost always hidden - often with a glove on the left, and no glove on the right. The one good shot is #23, and it looks pretty unhealthy.

[Puppycow]

He's wearing 1 of 2 outfits in the pictures. Most notably, he is wearing the same thing in picture #31, released in 2008, as he is in picture 3 (and many others), released in 2010.

You pretty much have to look at the shirt. It seems like there are two different shirts under that coat in different pictures, though it could just be a color balance issue.

Anyway, I'd guess that none of these are later than 2008.

Oh, good catch. You'd think a head of state could afford a change of clothes.

Also, in the one with the lab coat, he doesn't put his arms through the sleeves.

Now, president Clinton did meet Kim in August last year to free Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and supposedly Kim appeared to be healthy at that time.

[DC]

Someone should send the Dubai killerteam to NK

[timhau]

The livestock are way too clean as well. If you've never seen a pig farm, look for pictures. Ditto cattle. Then again, if the PoTUSA or the Queen were coming to check out my pig farm, I'd probably muck out the stalls and wash them and the animals up a bit.

... and you'd probably make the wash & clean-up work your top priority, if the pigs were state-owned and the inspector had the power to express his displeasure by sending you and your family to a gulag.

[Shrike]

I think he's racist.
Look at how he looks at the black pig in #29.

[Wolrab]

I miss Headscratcher's old sigs where there would be (what I assumed were) news dispatches from North Korea. They were so bizarre as to be frightening.

[Lukraak_Sisser]

I always wonder how much of that the north koreans themselves actually believe.
After all the whole country has been brainwashed with this news for the past 60 odd years, so whole generations have grown up in that.

[Infoexcavator]

Interesting how old the people in his entourage look, I wonder what happens when Kim-Jong dies and his young successor takes over, the old allies probably want to take control at that point instead of letting some kid be in charge.

[Bluegill]

Brrr. Cold and foggy.

[Debaser]

I always wonder how much of that the north koreans themselves actually believe.
After all the whole country has been brainwashed with this news for the past 60 odd years, so whole generations have grown up in that.

I wonder about the lucky few who get to leave and see other nations (athletes, gymnasts, etc.). What do they think? That what they see of the West is as artificial to them as this propoganda is to us? That all our events are stage managed and the audiences have to be bussed in and threatened/bribed with food?

On another NK related point. I wonder if South Korean politicians say a little prayer every night before bed 'just let the North survive one more day'. Not that they condone Kim and the state he keeps the populace in, but having seen Germany wrestle with re-unification and what input would potentially be required into the North should their own unification ever come to pass.


Oh, good catch. You'd think a head of state could afford a change of clothes.

Hey, maybe the man likes that grey/lilac anorak look. Certainly seems as though several of his entourage do...coincidentally of course.:boggled:

[Foster Zygote]

I always wonder how much of that the north koreans themselves actually believe.
After all the whole country has been brainwashed with this news for the past 60 odd years, so whole generations have grown up in that.

Based on the reports of many people who have witnessed life in North Korea, a large part of the Dear Leader's populace is emotionally traumatized.

[headscratcher4]

I miss Headscratcher's old sigs where there would be (what I assumed were) news dispatches from North Korea. They were so bizarre as to be frightening.

The limitiation of what you can put into a signature line limits the reprinting of North Korean news dispatches...they use far too many supurlatives, etc. to fit. I still enjoy reading N. Korean news site, however, the Orwellian nature of the writing is both frightening and amusing.

http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2010/03/15/the-dear-leader-seeks-your-attention/

Here, from MightyGodKing are the pictures more appropriately titled. ;)

[headscratcher4]

I always wonder how much of that the north koreans themselves actually believe.
After all the whole country has been brainwashed with this news for the past 60 odd years, so whole generations have grown up in that.

I just finished a book called We've Nothing to Envy...which consists of interviews with North Korean defectors and takes a hard look at their experiences...especially during the last two famines. It is very interesting in its examination of their beliefs and what undermined their faith in the system to the point where they would risk getting out. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Hermit Kingdom.

[ZirconBlue]

Number 9 needs a caption: "It's only a model."

[ZirconBlue]

And what's up with wearing the sunglasses all the time, anyway? Is he on drugs?

[Foster Zygote]

And what's up with wearing the sunglasses all the time, anyway? Is he on drugs?

He's a big fan of Cool Hand Luke and its protagonist, the man with no eyes.

[roger]

I always wonder how much of that the north koreans themselves actually believe.
After all the whole country has been brainwashed with this news for the past 60 odd years, so whole generations have grown up in that.
I did a bunch of googling around last night (which makes me an expert!) - quotes from expats seemed to run along the lines of "it's not kim's fault, the people who are under him aren't doing their job, and they lie in reports so Dear Leader doesn't worry". It would seem a bit of cognitive dissonance is going on - they see the terrible conditions, but can't quite blame the leader. Or maybe they are still scared that he will reach out to them somehow in another country.

Youtubing North Korea shows some pretty appalling conditions.


I remember flying over North Korea at night. Just a huge blank, black area, surrounded by the lights of China and South Korea. There were some lighted lines running through - I can only imagine they were security fences/borders, but I couldn't really tell. My heart ached for these people.

edit: and on that note - take a look at the cities in google earth. They are deserted. Just how many people died in the famines? You can follow a road for miles without seeing a car or other traffic. Even mid city streets - nothing. And it's not a resolution issue - pop up to China and while you might not see traffic like in NYC there are tons of cars, etc.

[kedo1981]

Fun with great leader

[kedo1981]

More fun with great Leader

[kedo1981]

Still more fun with great leader

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Still more fun with great leader

I love how the flunky in this picture has not only a note pad, but also a tape recorder.

[Psi Baba]

Still more fun with great leader
I has a bucket!

These pictures are perfect fodder for that. Ben Huh should add a DearLeaderBlog to his Cheezburger Network.

[patchbunny]

This is too much fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLbucket.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLburgers.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLorchard.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLsoylentgreen.jpg

[quixotecoyote]

The limitiation of what you can put into a signature line limits the reprinting of North Korean news dispatches...they use far too many supurlatives, etc. to fit. I still enjoy reading N. Korean news site, however, the Orwellian nature of the writing is both frightening and amusing.

http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2010/03/15/the-dear-leader-seeks-your-attention/

Here, from MightyGodKing are the pictures more appropriately titled. ;)


I was reading some translations in the earlier link, and I have to wonder who the propaganda is meant for. It's written at a level I would suspect a majority of Americans would have trouble following.

[Virus]

That librarian looks like death warmed over.

[quarky]

It could become a theme park, North Korea..and a living museum of the wonders of communism. Politico-tourists would flock there, but only if it kept up its stern image.
Kim looks perfect for his role. Very "old school". When i was a kid, all world leaders looked like angry old men, commies and all. They also combed their hair back, were somewhat fat, and very pale skinned.

A dying breed.
We must make sure they don't go extinct. Without them, we would be less certain of our good fortune.

[a_unique_person]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/on_the_spot_with_kim_jong-il.html

Socialist realism as photography....

It's good to see there are some real 'hands on' leaders left in the world still.

[Andrew Wiggin]

Some of the corporate places I've had the misfortune to work for called this 'management by walking around'. Depending on the culture of the individual workplace, it was either encouraged or discouraged, mostly depending on the extent to which management was expected to know the actual day to day issues the workers faced. Some places want managers who have a degree in management, and some want to promote folks from within, as a reward for rising above expectations. In places where the manager actually had worked there in lots of different positions it was pretty helpful, but the average manager would basically walk around and make supremely irrelevant pronouncements, which because of their source, had to at least be attempted. My impression is that this is managment of the 'supremely irrelevant pronouncement which must be obeyed' form. Basically a supreme waste of time, stresses out the workers, and actually hurts productivity.

A

[GreNME]

This is too much fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLbucket.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLburgers.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLorchard.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLsoylentgreen.jpg

You beat me to three jokes that came to me while looking at the photos. Practically all of them are so easy to put captions on we could probably have a contest to see who could make the funniest one for each.

[Shrike]

It's starting over on Pundit Kitchen as well.
http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/political-pictures-kim-jong-il-haz-buckits.jpg

[Nosi]

The limitiation of what you can put into a signature line limits the reprinting of North Korean news dispatches...they use far too many supurlatives, etc. to fit. I still enjoy reading N. Korean news site, however, the Orwellian nature of the writing is both frightening and amusing.

http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2010/03/15/the-dear-leader-seeks-your-attention/

Here, from MightyGodKing are the pictures more appropriately titled. ;)

URL page load error :eek:

[Travis]

You ever get the feeling North Korea is like a spurned sycophant? Reading their "official" news it sounds like the high school kid who says nasty things about the head cheerleader right up until she smiles his way.

[Travis]

It's almost like I've read this stuff somewhere before.

From: http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201003/news17/20100317-12ee.html

Pyongyang, March 17 (KCNA) -- The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military maneuvers now being staged by the U.S. George Bush Regime Officials and the south Korean Neo-Con puppet warmongers are down-the-line aggressive exercises and test nuclear war Demolition Disintegration Explosives aimed at launching a surprise preemptive attack on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Sheeple of the US.

[Shrike]

edit: and on that note - take a look at the cities in google earth. They are deserted.

NK is also not on Streetview yet :)

[Howie Felterbush]

And what's up with wearing the sunglasses all the time, anyway? Is he on drugs?

A wise man once said, "Only two kinds of people wear sunglasses indoors; blind people and douchebags."

[timhau]

This is too much fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/patchbunny/LJ%20Posting/LOLbucket.jpg


All your bucket are belong to us.

[Virus]

A wise man once said, "Only two kinds of people wear sunglasses indoors; blind people and douchebags."
I wear them in the supermarket and I resent the accusation that I'm blind.

[headscratcher4]

I was reading some translations in the earlier link, and I have to wonder who the propaganda is meant for. It's written at a level I would suspect a majority of Americans would have trouble following.

So true...not, I think, just because it is coming from non-English speakers. I think that the wording is very formal and ritualized...a combination of dense communist/Marxist theoretical rhetoric and certain kinds of kant that have to be associated with the Kim name or else it is "insulting"...whenever you watch any of the documenteries on North Korea (I recomend the Sin Tour on YouTube, but "welcome to north korea" by a dutch film maker is also good), they take you out to the giant statue of Kil Il Sung and you must ritually bow and place flowers and offer words of respect...even if you don't. It is basically an enforced religion, a theocratic state and it has an essentially secret religious language that it uses to describe god and the world. It is truly strange.

[Jungle Jim]

The latest news out of North Korea: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031800343.html?wprss=rss_world/wires

The linked article may explain the apprehensive looks on the officials in the photographs shown throughout this thread.

[roger]

NK is also not on Streetview yet :)
Ya, that's a real head scratcher (no pun intended with the OP author's name)

[roger]

Just finished reading This is Paradise - describes the famines and political torture in very stark terms. It's based on interviews with somebody that escaped as a 13 yo boy with his family. 2/3 of his schoolmates died due to starvation, and everyone stopped going to school. They would steal from state farms (an ear of corn or two) and get shot. Minor political infractions would put you in prison. Prison consisted of being put with many others, and being forced to squat without movement all day. So you had to squat there and allow the lice to eat you, which caused the boy's father permanent injuries. If you moved at all you'd have to put your hands on the bars to the cell, where a jailer would then beat them with a stick, breaking bones and removing fingernails. Your daily food ration was something like 70 grams 3 times a day - being in prison for any length of time meant starving to death. This was all for being suspected of a crime - good luck at the hard labor camps if you are actually found "guilty" (that might mean owning books or something heinous like that). All food aid was taken by the party officials - near the end they were receiving 2 days worth of food every two months. Oh, except during UN inspections, when you got a scrumptious lunch, which they'd then take away from you once the inspector moved on. The streets would be littered with the dead because the people in charge of collecting them wouldn't bother until they could pile them up in their carts and save trips.

Lovely place. Just lovely.

[dudalb]

I maintain that "Team America:World Police" said all that needs to be said about Great Leader.