There’s a lesson in this story. Ironic the Times Editorial board misses it, completely. North Korea is a shining example of the complete failure of central state planning. These folks think people in China are free!
Yet we continue, slowly, down the same path.
The website for Kim Jong-Il says he’s setting world fashion trends.
Uriminzokkiri, quoting an article in communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, said the modest-looking suits have gripped people’s imagination and become a global vogue.
“The reason is that the august image of the Great General, who is always wearing the modest suit while working, leaves a deep impression on people’s mind in the world,” it said.
“To sum it up, that is because his image as a great man is so outstanding.”
The article quoted an unidentified French fashion expert as saying world fashion follows Kim Jong-Il’s style.
“Kim Jong-Il mode which is now spreading expeditiously worldwide is something unprecedented in the world’s history,” the stylist was quoted as saying.
North Korea has shut off communication with the rest of the world, so the folks there don’t know anything other than what the state tells them. Remember that when the FCC decides to regulate the internets.
Although some of the fawning over our own Dear Leader isn’t all that far from this:
Rainbows supposedly appeared over sacred Mount Paekdu where Kim Jong-Il was allegedly born, and he is said once to have scored 11 holes-in-one in a single round of golf.
Is it?
Via Drudge
Laura Ling and Euna Lee have released a statement about some of their ordeal in North Korea.
I’m impressed with their courage and their apparent success protecting those people who gave them information, and I’m really not all that interested in digging deeper into what AlGore’s Current TV had them doing there. I’m also really glad they are out.
There’s a lot in their short story, but I wanted to comment on this brief passage:
Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.
We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
The guide running away I kind of understand, given it’s possible he was in on the whole thing, and if not may not have survived the capture. But the producer? Mitch? What kind of man runs away and leaves two women to be captured by North Korean soldiers?
A Pussy.
Were I the brother of one of these two women, little Mitch and I would be having a quite unpleasant conversation. I guess you have to expect it from some little liberal weenie working for AlGore, but I think even ‘ol Al has enough manliness to make sure the women make it back.
What happened to manliness? What happened to courage? Honor?
Makes me sick.
Windy Recycling Day 