Page 1 of
2 SPEAKING
FREELY Bitter tears behind Pyongyang's
games By Kim Hyun-sik
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
Among the many tales
of North Korea - anecdotes and observations from
my own life as a professor at the Pyongyang
University of Education for nearly 40 years - is
North Korea's
internationally famous mass
games, a grand spectacle of rigorous gymnastics,
elaborate group dance and dazzling flashing cards.
The games - also known as the Arirang mass
gymnastics games - represent the sum total of
North Korea's ideological and aesthetic
expression. The performance, which involves the
participation of 100,000 Pyongyang City students,
is not only a composite blend of art with
gymnastics, but aspires to aesthetic perfection by
employing the highest degree of human athleticism
and creativity. But beneath the outward grandeur
flow the blood, sweat and tears of children.
North Koreans, down to every single man
and woman, insist that the United States is a
country of enemies with which they cannot coexist
under the same sky, and that Americans are wolves
in sheep's clothing. However, oddly enough, the
North Korean authorities have been admitting
American tourists into Pyongyang since the summer
in order to lure them to the mass games.
What lies behind North Korea's new
invitation to Pyongyang for the much-maligned
Americans?
First, it is because there is a
need now, more than ever, to increase the sense of
loyalty of North Koreans towards "Dear Leader" Kim
Jong-il, because the country presently faces a a
bevy of problems, challenged by fierce opposition
to its brinkmanship and economic sanctions from
the US, that are having an adverse affect on the
people.
At a time like this, a tour of
Pyongyang for the Americans provides a potent
panacea to boost the morale of the North Korean
people and encourage their loyalty to Kim. North
Korea advertises the Pyongyang tour for Americans
thus: "Even the Yankees are making a pilgrimage
over a great distance to come to Pyongyang in
order to emulate North Korea, led by the Dear
Leader General Kim Jong-il, and to meet for
themselves those who enjoy freedom and happiness
in a paradise on Earth."
North Koreans
actually believe this propaganda is true. They
swell with pride at such notions and reaffirm
their determination to support their leader at any
cost. When I was in North Korea, I, a university
professor, also believed such words without a
doubt.
Secondly, North Korea intends to
turn these American tourists into North Korean
supporters and sympathizers. Kim Il-sung had
already decreed in the 1970s: "We must influence
the foreign visitors to Pyongyang with our
socialism so that they will all become our
sympathizers or supporters. In order to do this,
we must decorate Pyongyang in such a way as
fitting for the Mecca of socialism and we must
also adequately arm our ideological soldiers who
are engaged in virtual combat."
In
accordance with Kim Il-sung's commandment,
Pyongyang was spruced up into a fancy stage set.
The scripts were written and the actors (guides)
were selected. And the response of the foreign
visitors was extremely positive. For 20 years I
was also chosen as an actor (guide). I did such a
good job of acting that I was awarded a medal of
commendation.
I wish to tell the world
that the Arirang mass games the American tourists
will see in Pyongyang is nothing but an elaborate
show. It is an act to show off the North Korean
people's loyalty, solidarity and iron will in
serving their Kim Jong-il. North Korea wants
everyone to recognize that North Korea is a
country that is completely different from
Afghanistan or Iraq; that North Korea is indeed an
impenetrable fortress that no aggressor dares
attack.
Pyongyang also wants to earn
foreign currency from American tourists. Pyongyang
has been suffering greatly since North Korea's
printing of counterfeit US$100 bills was revealed
to the world. Currently, Pyongyang is in a
position where it would not be able to maintain
the regime unless it struggles to earn every
foreign dollar that it possibly can.
Through the mass games, the North Korean
leadership is trying to brandish its power
vis-a-vis the outside world, especially to the
countries hostile to its interests, while at the
same time earning precious foreign currency. It
should be remembered that the money spent by
American tourists to Pyongyang is helping to prop
up the crumbling North Korean regime, and that the
foreign infusion of money is aiding the regime's
war preparations.
American tourists should
be keenly aware of the bitter tears that
Pyongyang's young students and their parents shed
from their participation in these mass games.
Almost all the elementary, secondary and college
students living in Pyongyang, totaling 100,000,
participate in the games.
The background
(cards) section alone requires some 20,000
participants. Participation in the mass games is
not voluntary; rather, it is unconditional and
mandatory, in accordance with the orders of the
Workers' Party. The students move together in
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
