Some people like Maximillion Cooper think this is a sign that North Korea is opening up, I think otherwise:

For 16 hours this week, the reclusive North Koreans opened their doors to a raucous gang of skateboarders, dot-com moguls, actors, fashion designers, Middle Eastern sheiks and a Playboy Playmate, and let them party.

The globe-trotting crew from Gumball 3000, a glitzy road rally cum marathon VIP party, sang karaoke, skateboarded and generally enjoyed themselves, but not too much; one rallygoer worried about getting tossed into a North Korean jail.

The founder of the 3,000-mile rally that marked its 10th anniversary this year said the North’s decision to allow them in was a sign that the authoritarian country was loosening up.

“Even though it’s pop culture thrown straight in there, it definitely shows a relaxed approach by the North Korean government,” 36-year-old British entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper said.

The 8-day tour began in San Francisco and finishes Saturday in Beijing. Pyongyang, however, is far from the typical stop on the global party scene. The North Korea visit ending Thursday was a dramatic study in contrasts. [AP via One Free Korea]

Here is the real reason this rally was allowed to be held in North Korea:

Entrants paid up to $112,000 per car to enter the rally, which includes five-star accommodations and lavish parties at every stop. North Koreans’ average monthly salary is about $2.

Rallygoers are driving some of the world’s most expensive supercars, from Lamborghinis to Ferraris. In North Korea, cars are only for the elite few; the more fortunate ride bikes but most people simply walk.

I went over to the Gumball 3000 website and tried to find out how many people were participating in this rally and could not find a number. However I did find a picture of the rally cars back in the US and this should give everyone an idea how much money the North Koreans made from this rally:

There is at least 50 cars in the picture if not more and if each of them is paying $112,000 to enter North Korea that means the Kim Jong-il regime made $5.600,000 from this rally. When you add in other additional expenses because I’m sure these people through their money around North Korea with their partying, I am willing to be the North Koreans made around $10 million dollars for allowing a rally that lasted 16 hours.

Take a look at the organizer of the Gumball Rally 3000 Maximillion Cooper who thinks giving millions of dollars for 16 hours in Pyongyang is a good thing:

He thinks it is such a good thing that he is even trying to organize a rock concert to be held in Pyongyang that would funnel even more millions of dollars to the North Korean regime and of course he is using the farce of the New York Philharmonic trip to Pyongyang as rationale for giving millions to Kim Jong-il.

Maybe Mr. Cooper should first take a look inside Camp 22 before giving millions to the Kim Jong-il regime. Better yet maybe he should have a talk with the 66 year old South Korean grandma who had to launch her own rescue operation to free her kidnapped husband from North Korea. Mr. Cooper can also talk to the thousands of North Korean refugees currently in South Korea that fled the regime he is willing to give millions to. The last leg of his car rally is in China. In China if he wanted to he could talk to the tens of thousands of North Korean sex slaves currently in the country. If he can track down Miss Ban she would tell good old Maximillion what she really thinks of his buddy Kim Jong-il.

If Mr. Cooper wants to give millions to someone, how about holding a music concert to raise money for the North Korean human rights groups? I guess that wouldn’t be as cool as saying you drove your pimped out car in downtown Pyongyang which is what this whole car rally is really about. Rich people looking for something unusual to do to brag to the rest of their rich buddies about.

Sadly as pathetic as this Gumball Rally 3000 is for its support of the world’s most repressive regime, it is actually in line with our own State Department and Bush administration policies of giving millions of dollars and aid to North Korea for little to nothing in return. That still doesn’t excuse Maximillion Cooper of being a useful idiot for the Kim Jong-il regime.

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