45page

45 for nortH KorEans, balloons of HopE Balloons often accompany occasions of fun and joy, but North Korea Peace has also turned them into symbols of hope. Lee Ju- seong, a North Korean defector and founder of the organization, organizes monthly balloon launches where volunteers head to the DMZ to send balloons flled with socks, worth about 10,000 won in the North, or 10 kilos of corn, sailing across the border. Lee sees reunifcation as a given, and he believes in sending the Northerners hope until then. Kill tHE dissEntErs, maKE no rEforms, control tHE marKEts; into cHina North Korea’s continued existence as a totalitarian dictatorship with an economy continually on the brink of collapse is remarkable, but something’s gotta give. Though North Korean nukes have blackmailed international communities into feeding the country, North Korean citizens are beginning to see behind propaganda smokescreens, and they more openly defy the regime. The Kim family has survived so far, but the jury’s out on how much more time the world’s last remaining communist monarchy has left. sKiing to succEss in nortH KorEa North Korea’s absence at the Sochi Olympics was in stark contrast to its London campaign, when it left with no fewer than six medals. Its athletes struggle to make an impact in events that have limited practicality beyond stadium walls. In other ways, they are ahead of the game. As many parts of eastern and northern North Korea are mountainous, with not enough land to grow food sustainably, the country produces many a competent skiier. This aptitude hasn’t translated into Olympic medals, but that is because skiing in North Korea has more practical applications. with the Kim regime. The Korean government was shell-shocked: As promoters of jaw-jaw, they faced the very real possibility that gen- erous South Korean aid flows had been de facto subsidizing Pyongyang’s nuclear war- war. The test thus slammed the door on Sun- shine, and for the last eight years that door has largely remained shut. Meanwhile, ordinary North Koreans were dealing with problems of a different order. “The railroad between Kilju and Baekam coun- ties has stopped taking trains, and repairs have started on the tunnels along the line,” said a source from North Hamgyong Prov- ince, the site of the nuclear test site. The source, one of the earliest to join Dai- ly NK’s inside network, explained that the region’s aging railroad tunnels, understand- ably not designed to withstand nuclear det- onations of any size, had been fractured by the explosion. The decision-making process that led to the placement of a nuclear test site near the Pyong-Ra line from Pyongyang up to Rajin and the Youth Baekdu Line from Kilju to Hyesan will have to wait for the open- ing of the Pyongyang archives. Who knows, perhaps the truth will come to light in another eight years. Or perhaps not: The practice of confidently asserting that North Korea is on the brink of collapse predates Groove Korea by more than a decade. Overall, North Korean market participants were ambivalent about the test, although a source in Chongjin admitted that it was the icing on the cake for incoming trader num- bers, which had already gone into decline as a result of government policy forbidding the Story by Christopher Green, North Korea columnist / Photos by Matthew Lamers and Nash Ang / Sidebar by Bry oney Hayes and Elaine Ramirez ‘I do not care whether the north Korean government dId the test or not. I am busy supportIng my famIly and do not have tIme to thInK about It.’ north Korean source 03.2012 07.2012 04.2014 sale of some Chinese goods in North Korean markets. Pushed for an opinion, the weary source’s comment was all too familiar: “I do not care whether the North Korean government did the test or not. I am busy supporting my fami- ly and do not have time to think about it.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.