Free The Hidden People of North Korea by Ralph Hassig, Kongdan Oh Page B

does not enjoy this.” 47 Although the visit did not produce anything other than the usual formal document of friendship, the papers treated the visit as a historic occasion. “The world watched each step of the respected and beloved general while holding their breath. This was how things went. It was obviously a shock. It was a shock that instantly shook the world. … Every day, some 5 billion people of the world’s five continents saw and heard news of the respected and beloved general’s historic official visit.” 48
    Kim Speaks Frankly to Loyal Korean Japanese
    In April 1988, Kim met with a group of visiting delegates from Japan’s North Korea association, Chongnyon (Japanese: Chosen Soren or Chosoren). 49 In the presence of this friendly crowd, Kim spoke frankly, dispensing opinions right and left and saying things he would not want the public to hear (a tape or transcript of the meeting was procured by a Japanese intelligence organization). In his talk, Kim adhered to the North Korean custom of referring to Americans, Japanese, and South Koreans as “bastards” ( nomduri , “devils” in polite parlance).
    On the subject of the United States, he said,
Our People’s Army regards the United States as its sworn enemy but our people [who are] engaged in trade address the Americans with much respect. This is called the principle of “hard inside, soft outside.”
    On the North Korean economy, he said,
We continue to ask the World Red Cross for food assistance, because we are in fact short of food; but the main reason is that our seeds have degraded thanks to Suh Kwan-hee’s treachery. … We are replacing them with better seeds but it will take about three years to fully recover. … Suh became a traitor in 1950. [Suh, the DPRK’s agriculture minister, was made a scapegoat and publicly executed.]
Earlier, when foreigners had come on visits, we used to take them only to the best-looking places and best-working places to make them think we are living happily without being envious of other countries. But more recently, we have come to think that now when enemies are scheming to isolate and annihilate this country, the better way of doing things for us is to use a buffer and conduct a “crybaby operation.”
    On socialism and capitalism, he said,
Our socialist system is people-centered and we say that we serve the people, but the truth of the matter is that our economic system is not quite like that. In a capitalist society, customers are catered to and their pockets are picked clean in every possible way. The socialist system is ice-cold and indifferent to the customers. In our country, our store workers take the attitude that they don’t care if the customers buy anything or not. Instead of servicing the customers and trying to sell something, they would rather that patrons did not show up so that they won’t have to do anything.
Today, Party cadres and security officers operate outside the law without exception. ... In a capitalist nation, even the prime minister and president are prosecuted if they break the law. We must study how to strengthen our legal system.
    On foreign policy, he said,
Now, if you take a look at the United States, Japan, and South Korea, you will notice that they have become weak-kneed and friendly toward us since the point of time when we made “military-first” our forefront policy. Because the American bastards have started approaching us, taking a low posture, the Japanese and South Korean bastards have started to say they are willing to provide us with anything we want. South Korea is the most anxious one of them all.
    Kim Addresses an Audience at Kim Il-sung University
    In April 1997, the South Korean news magazine Wolgan Chosun published the text of a lecture that Kim Jong-il had allegedly delivered the previous December on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Kim Il-sung University. 50 The lecture was not intended for publication in the North Korean press, so it was not