Freedom protests spread to North Korea
p2pnet view P2P | Freedom:- Popular protests launched by Anonynmous in Tunisia and which have since spread across North Africa and into the Arabian Peninsula have now reach North Korea.
“For the first time in the history of the Stalinist regime, groups of ordinary citizens have protested in three cities demanding food and electricity, sources say”, according to Asia News, which goes on >>>
According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing a North Korean source, demonstrations broke out on 14 February, two days before Kim Jong-il’s birthday, in the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon, not far from the border of China.
The State Security Department (the all-powerful agency under Kim Jong-il’s direct control) investigated the incident but failed to identify the people who started the commotion when they met with a wall of silence.
“When such an incident took place in the past, people used to report their neighbours to the security forces, but now they’re covering for each other,” the source said.
Korean sources told AsiaNews that this represents a crack in the prevailing mindset. “Different factors are at play. On the one hand, the country’s worsening economic situation is certainly one reason. The regime is in fact unable to feed most of its people. On the other, changes at the top are another as Kim Jong-un (right) gets ready to succeed his father on the throne in Pyongyang.”
The younger Kim is “feared by the population,” the source said. “He is viewed as bloodthirsty and mad. “Almost everyone thinks he was behind the military attacks against ROKS Cheonan and an island under South Korean control, which led to restrictions on humanitarian aid from the South. This has further worsened standards of living in the North. North Koreans are ready to do just about anything to stop the succession.
South Korea’s military has been dropping leaflets into North Korea about democracy protests in Egypt, a legislator said on Friday, “but doubts lingered it would trigger calls for change in the tightly controlled country”, says Reuters, adding:
“As part of a psychological campaign, the South Korean military also sent food, medicines and radios for residents in a bid to encourage North Koreans to think about change, a conservative South Korean parliament member, Song Young-sun, said.
“While Seoul’s move could cause alarm in the North’s leadership, Pyongyang’s rigid refusal to respond to demands for change means its people will unlikely rise up to the type of protests against their leaders as in Egypt and Libya, analysts and officials said.”
Asia News – First public protests against the Kims’ regime, February 23, 2011
Reuters – South Korea leaflets tell North of Egypt, but change unlikely
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan
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February 27th, 2011 at 9:47 am
FYI, heard of this from Emma_A the new Anonymous Cheerleader.
Wayne