By So says the Chosun Ilbo:
A North Korean document supports the conclusion that North Korea attacked the Navy corvette Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island last year to whip up domestic support for the succession of leader Kim Jong-il’s son, Jong-un.
The document, which the Chosun Ilbo obtained from a source in China on Tuesday, claims that Kim junior was deeply involved in both attacks. Titled “Lecture Materials,” the document was apparently drawn up for military propaganda officers early this year.
According to its wording, Kim Jong-un told military leaders that the inter-Korean situation “will become very tense in February and March.” He made the comments around the end of January last year, two months before the attack on the Cheonan. The document claims South Korea and the U.S. “concocted a plot about the sinking of the Cheonan, but it failed.”
The source, who claims to do frequent business with trading companies under the North Korean Workers Party, said that propaganda officers have been indoctrinating North Korean soldiers to show absolute loyalty to Kim Jong-un based on those materials. “They even have to take a test after their indoctrination classes,” he said. [Chosun Ilbo]
Like with anything coming out of North Korea this news should be treated with a suspicious eye, but at the same time not automatically discounted either because the rationale is plausible.
She hasn’t seen...
1:40 pm on August 4th, 2011 1
I wonder about something. The date “2010년 1월” stands out as odd when one sees that in North Korean newspapers the “Western” date is typically hand in hand with the 주체 date (주체 99년 or some such).
Anybody have familiarity with actual North Korean documents to know if the above is a reason to find this document suspect?
9:52 pm on August 4th, 2011 2
I posted this before, but I’ll say it again. It wouldn’t surprise me if “Kim Jong il, Jr” actually pushed the button to launch the missles in a room with Daddy and the generals standing all around him just to see if he had the “guts” to do it.
3:19 pm on August 5th, 2011 3
#1,
Good eye, Kushibo. Yes, that is an excellent point. I would imagine that “trader” in question is fluent in Korean, most likely an ethnic Korean Chinese. It would be interesting to see what a forensic discourse analysis of the text would come up with on its authorship.
5:09 pm on August 5th, 2011 4
ArchieB, that’s plausible. But I don’t think it fits in with the more likely scenarios about what’s really happening up there.
Teadrinker, you may already be aware that I am deeply suspicious of the mountain of evidence, eagerly printed up in the Chosun Ilbo and repeated in the Japanese and Western press, that comes from what could be described as an Evidence Mill™ run by people who make money and/or enhance their stature from supplying this stuff. While I think most defectors/refugees are genuine people and can give us valuable insight, it seems to me that a handful of folks might be looking for personal gain à la that Iraqi guy who supplied all of the information used back in 2002 and 2003 to justify going to war against Saddam Hussein.
Of course, from Kim Jong-il not being at death’s door, to Ling and Lee having willingly entered North Korea, to Kim Jong-un’s coronation not being imminent, my views on North Korea have others viewing me at first as crankily contrarian and out of touch and then later as eerily prescient.
9:15 pm on August 5th, 2011 5
kushibo 4, are you referring perhaps to Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi aka Curveball?
5:38 pm on August 6th, 2011 6
#4,
Yes, there is much financial and political gain to be made with the right document.
There are forensic linguists in South Korea. I’m suspicious of the fact that the Chosun Ilbo apparently did not pony up the baekmanwon it would have cost to have the document authenticated. My guess is they would rather not want to know.
If only I were more fluent in Korean, I’d have an excellent source of material for when I get around to study for that PhD in applied linguistics I’ve been wanting to get.