Obama's reelection and Korean-American relations

With the reelection of US president Barack Obama, favorable Korean-American relations are expected to be maintained in the big framework. Despite forecasts of a super tight race, President Obama received considerable support and he was finally reelected.

The development of bilateral relations and North Korea were the two main issues. In his first four years in office, President Obama has acknowledged South Korea's leading role in Korean Peninsula affairs and paid attention to alliance concerns. With Obama's reelection, some experts believe cooperative relations will expand and grow deeper. However, there is the variable of Korea's presidential election.

 

Presidential candidates have expressed more flexible policies on North Korea than those of the Lee Myung-bak's administration. On the other hand, with the election over, President Obama can now be more assertive against North Korea's nuclear threats. However, many experts said that because the relationship between the two countries is based on mutual trust and cooperation, Both South Korea and United States will pursue a common goal of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

 

Besides, today's China has emerged as the other global superpower along with the US. To Washington, appropriately setting its relationship with Beijing has become a principal task. The Obama administration's increased emphasis on Asia will not be practicable without help from its key allies in the region, South Korea.

Original article: http://news.kukinews.com/article/view.asp?page=1&gCode=pol&arcid=0006603963&code=30801000

 

Kim Jong-il's Grandson in Rare Interview on Finnish TV

Kim Han-sol, grandson of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and eldest son of Kim Jong-nam, appeared on a Finnish television talk show and gave a rare interview, speaking about his life and family background.
He shared his thoughts on the two divided Koreas, hoping for unification, and also his experience making South Korean friends in Macau, where he grew up.

It was the first time Han-sol has given such a long interview. He appeared before the camera in a pair of fashionable black glasses and two earrings on his left earlobe which have never being seen among people in North Korea due to communism and refusing foreign culture.  He is at United World College, an international school in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina he was told from his rommate from Libya about stories that the revolution.  It was very interesting.

He never met both his grandfather and his uncle, current leader Kim Jong-un.  He really didn’t know until later on that his grandfather was a leader in North Korea and how his uncle became a dictator as well. He added his father, the oldest son of Kim Jong-il, was definitely not really interested in politics.

Kim, born in Pyongyang in 1995, spent most of his life Macau after spending the first few years in the North’s capital. He visited to North Korea every summer to meet his relatives and keep in touch with families.  He didn’t have many childhood friends from North Korea because he was very isolated when he was growing up and all his friends are from outside.  He have some South Korean friends and they came to become close freinds.

Talking about his parents, his mother is just an ordinary citizen in North Korea, not from a privileged family. She always tried to encourage him to live the same lifestyle as an ordinary citizen so that he could have a better understanding of people.

Since he saw both levels in a family of a dictator and at the same time living with ordinary citizen, it was really easy for him to form his own opinions.  He always thinks about people who are hungry and is thankful first in front of food by being taught from his father.

He also shared his future plans and hopes to return back to his home country.  He have always dreamed that one day he will go back and make things better and easier for people there.  He would like to engage in more humanitarian projects and work to contribute to building world peace.

The original article

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/10/19/2012101900256.html

The reference

http://news.donga.com/3/00/20121019/50224459/1

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/10/19/2012101900919.html

North Korea Is Keen To Erase First Lady's Singer Past

North Korea is trying to wipe out the singer past of the first lady, Ri Sol Ju. They started to confiscate CDs and tapes include her songs. Experts say this action would come out of the idea that her entertainer past is not suitable for the wife of the idol, Kim Jong Un.

(▲Ri Sol Ju)

On July 19, according to a Daily NK's new report, there were several ruckuses in the market places, caused by the national confiscations of Cds and tapes concerned with Ri.

At first, North Korea encouraged people to give their items contain the young lady's singer past to the government, but since mid-July, they have forced to do that. According to an inside source, they also crack down on the gossip about Ri's past.

(▲Ri Sol Ju is singing a song, "Soldier's Footprints")

Experts think that the Ri's singer past would run counter to the image of the first lady, 'a fond mother'. Because the people in North Korea have generally unfavorable feelings toward the person in entertainement industry. It means this action is one of the image-making operations.

The random visit, Kim and Ri recently went to, would also be one of the image-building projects. They visited a normal family and made a meal for them. And they also did the dishes after eating on that day.

However, to make the matter worse, Ko Young Hee, Kim Jong Un’s mother, was a entertainer too. She was a dancer in Man-soo-dae Arts Group. Therefore, It could be a debatable point that both his mother and wife were entertainers.

(▲Ko Young Hee)

 

A North Korean defector, interviewed with Daily Nk, said, "If the public know the first lady's dandara (a negative term indicates the entertainer in North Korea) past, she will never get the title of 'The Mother'. Furthermore, the image of ‘The Father’ would also be falling to the ground soon."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Original Article:
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/09/20/2012092000927.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euf4BTl3-yI
Images:
http://blog.joinsmsn.com/media/folderListSlide.asp?uid=malipres&folder=6&list_id=12497177
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/09/20/2012092000927.html
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ri_Sol-ju
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-un
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Young-hee
Reference:
http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-wife-and-her-pop-star-past-2012-9