Happy Birthday, Dear Leader: KCNA File No. 10
North Korean Mourners in Rajin | Rodong Sinmun, March 26, 2012
Click here for the full text of the KCNA-China File No 10 (Feb 12-Feb 18, 2012)
Happy Birthday, Dear Leader: KCNA File No. 10
Compiled and analyzed by Evan Koepfler, Pacific Lutheran University
Amid the array of stories this week that focused on the honoring of DPRK leaders with floral baskets and official statements, and various accounts of Sino-North Korean arts and sports exchange, KCNA published several important articles focusing on China’s growing prominence on the world stage. KCNA found the Chinese Foreign Ministry stressing the importance of dialog in settling the Iran nuclear issue, illustrating China’s support for open communication and cooperation even through its unrelenting condemnation of the West’s attempts to resolve the issue through sanctions to the country.
KCNA also brought to the fore aspects of how the U.S. Presidential race may be reshaping international themes. Coverage of Singapore’s warning to the United States that its “anti-China” rhetoric is more damaging than realized is one such case in point, wherein inflammatory claims about China by American politicians “can spark [a] reaction which can create a new unintended reality for the region.”
China’s ambassador to the DPRK, Liu Hongcai, twice made news this week, thanks to an articles and statements laudatory of Kim Jong Il’s friendship (often shown through opera) to the Chinese people. By praising past leaders, and supporting new ones, the Chinese government can both maintain the façade of traditional cooperation and claim that the two countries, as Kim Jong Il intended, are entering an era of increased cooperation and mutual benefit. By the same token, when such pro forma communications are not forthcoming, one can seek for areas of possible behind-the-scenes disagreement.
Finally, this week KCNA published a story about the Venezuelan government’s plans to launch a Chinese-made satellite this coming fall. Over the past weeks, KCNA has published multiple stories detailing China’s emergence into satellite technology by launching several of its own satellites, but now, it is clear that China has expanded into the field by exporting satellites for other countries to use. Clearly this activity had been of interest to the DPRK, and allows for speculation that the two sides had discussed the possibility of collaboration in the field, if only to reject it.
Click here for the full text of the KCNA-China File No 10 (Feb 12-Feb 18, 2012)
