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.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS