North Korean leader Kim Jong-il recently fired his top TV official for airing a series of advertisements, apparently out of concern that the commercials represented too much influence from capitalism, a news report said yesterday.
Since early July, the North’s state TV had aired rare advertisements on beer, hairpins, ginseng and quail meat in what appeared to be the country’s first such commercials, sparking speculation that the country might launch broader market reforms.
Kim, however, was angered when watching the advertisements recently, saying: “Such commercials are what China did when it started its reforms and openness,” according to Yonhap news agency.
Yonhap, citing sources it said are privy to North Korean affairs, said that Kim subsequently fired Cha Sung-su, head of a government committee in charge of state-run television.
China is still North Korea’s biggest source of economic aid and diplomatic support, but bilateral relations drifted apart in recent decades as Beijing embraced free-market reforms while Pyongyang remained a defiantly closed, totalitarian state.
North Korean defectors have said there are limits to how far the North would go with its recent economic changes, saying Kim fears Chinese-style economic reform and openness coming to his country.
The report said that Cha’s committee began airing the advertisement after Kim instructed it to make TV programs in a “more interesting, diverse” manner. Yonhap said the commercials haven’t been seen on state TV since late August.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said it couldn’t immediately confirm the report. Calls to the National Intelligence Service — the country’s main spy agency — went unanswered.
North Korea has long tightly controlled its economy and is wary of capitalistic influence. North Korean TV programs normally have no advertisements and usually consist of news, factory description and documentaries on Kim and his father, Kim Il-sung.
However, signs of a nascent market economy have been emerging in recent years as the communist country suffers chronic food shortages and relies on aid to feed its 24 million people since famine killed an estimated 2 million people in the 1990s.
In June, the North opened its first fast food restaurant in Pyongyang in cooperation with a Singaporean company, according to the Tokyo-based Choson Sinbo.
The paper, considered a mouthpiece for the North’s government, also reported that the country opened its first Italian restaurant last December on Kim’s orders.
The regime introduced economic reforms in 2002, including regular street and farmers’ markets. But the government backtracked in 2006 after the reforms failed to revive the economy and resulted in an influx of foreign goods.
RSS