Word: kim
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...group, Western journalists granted a rare visit to the North by Kim Jong Il's secretive regime, would get no closer to this supposedly showcase example of economic reform. The government's reluctance to show off anything that smacked of capitalism was symptomatic of an ominous new mood in Pyongyang. Recent baby steps toward reform and greater openness kindled a glimmer of hope that the North could be coaxed out of isolation. Now Kim, perhaps fearful that private enterprise and greater contact with the outside world would undermine his power, seems to have reversed course. Earlier this month, Pyongyang banned...
...didn't ask us to help in a transition to a market economy," said a European diplomat who attended. "They barely participated. There was no debate." The country desperately needs to rebuild its economy. But any liberalization could lead to a loss of the absolute political control enjoyed by Kim. The dilemma is evident during a visit to the Kumsung Educational Institute. Boys recruited from around the country are learning English and computer skills beneath portraits of Kim and his father, state founder Kim Il Sung. In one class, students are studying Microsoft PowerPoint on Taiwanese computers, and 10-year...
...join in his grassroots effort to fight poverty yesterday in a speech that was moved to the lawn outside the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) to accommodate a large turn-out. Approximately 850 students braved the cold to hear the former vice-presidential candidate, according to his spokeswoman, Kim Rubey...
...suggesting Kim and his minions have turned nice. Just more pragmatic. Their economy has shrunk an estimated 30% in the past five years, and persistent food shortages are threatening to turn into famine. Even their prized armed forces are deteriorating for lack of food, fuel and modernization. U.S. defense strategy is anchored on preparations to fight two major regional conflicts at almost the same time, and the Pentagon has long counted North Korea as one of the two. But that contingency may be fading. The North's leaders are now showing they are interested in survival, not destruction...
Pyongyang has decided to seem cooperative. That way it can count on resuming the vital programs that were frozen after the submarine incident: food and humanitarian-aid shipments, new nuclear power reactors paid for largely by South Korea, relaxation of the U.S. trade embargo. Kim & Co. may still believe they are only becoming more realistic in order to save the regime and stay in power. But, one is scarcely sorry to observe, their turn away from ideology and toward reality could mean the death of Stalinism...