crossing the line (11. 768)

In contrast and correspondence with the previous post, also on this day the following year, in 1962, twenty-one year old US army private first class Joe Dresnok (제임스 조새프 드레스녹), feeling hopeless, recovering from a recent divorce, and facing a court-martial for forging his commanding sergeant’s signature for passes to leave the army base at night, dashed across the minefield of the Demilitarised Zone into North Korean territory. The defector was apprehended instantly and taken to Pyongyang for interrogation, eventually resolved to settle there. Dresnok along with six other American service members taught English and participated in propaganda campaigns to entice more US soldiers at the border to join them. Praising Dear Leader and vowing to never return to the West, Dresnok became a celebrity, cast in several domestic films as an American villain—including a very popular 1978 mini-series called Nameless Heroes (along with fellow defector Charles Robert Jenkins as Dr Kelton, the fictional mastermind behind the peninsular conflict) in which he played the role of lieutenant colonel Arthur Cockstud, commander of a prisoner of war camp, with most North Koreans calling him “Arthur” after his character.  Dresnok died of a stroke in November 2016, confirmed by his sons the following year in an interview on state-run television. 

dmz (11. 643)

Unnerved by just concluded two-state visit by the Russian president to strengthen alliances with North Korea and Vietnam and fears that the pact may see flows of munitions not only for Russia to continue to prosecute its invasion and occupation of Ukraine but also concerns that Seoul’s neighbour would be receiving technical assistance in developing its nuclear and aerospace programmes and emboldened border incursions, South Korea is considering augmenting its support to the beleaguered nation with lethal weapons, which it has so far not provided. As counter-programming to the recently held gathering in Switzerland of eighty nations reaffirming their commitment for Ukraine support and condemnation of Putin’s war, the Russian leader re-emphasised that materiel aid for Ukraine makes other countries direct belligerents and reserves the right to do the same against the West and its allies.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the US supreme court sets benchmarks for obscenity (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

six years ago: regional linguistic delicacies plus RIP Koko the Gorilla

seven years ago: soylent, structural fungi plus procrastination and motivation

eight years ago: Sigur Rós, neighbourhood archaeology, Wedgwood heels plus more on gun violence in America

nine years ago: Max Richter’s Sleep

7x7 (11. 527)

the function of colour: more scans from a beautiful 1930 volume on design in schools and workshops

sporulate: scientist create a plastic first strengthened then digested by bacteria  

wck: resuming their mission of feeding people in Palestine, José Andrés’ cookbook is nominated for a prestigious gastronomical award  

aim high in creation: a survey of North Korea’s popular culture  

barnard 33: JWST captures a sharp image of the iconic Horsehead Nebula of Orion  

dead reckoning: the history of the Etak Navigator and other cartographical innovations  

architectural renderings: the Art Deco illustrations of Charles Perry Weimer—via Messy Nessy Chic

10x10 (11. 374)

walden 7: photographer Sebastian Weiss captures the epic nature of an outstanding apartment block in Barcelona 

shootball: January Sixth themed pinball machines and other Republican swag at the Conservative Political Action Conference—see previously 

swimming with sharks: an overview of the hidden terror that’s haunted, informed humanity for millennia  

google blobs: the animated emoji character set that ought to be brought back—via Web Curios 

38°n: a news source on North Korea rex melly: the riches of Mansa Musa of the Mail Empire—adjusting for inflation and other factors, possibly the wealthiest person in history 

shift to socials: Vice Media is folding, laying off hundreds of journalists—via Waxy—see more  

pale usher: introducing a blog mini-series on Moby Dick with a curious etymology  

every sperm is sacred: following the ruling in Alabama that grants personhood to frozen embryos—and the subsequent suspension of IVF treatment for fear of legal implications—conservative think tank forming Trump’s policy wants to end recreational sex 

batpole: homes with alternate stairwells—see previously

sacred stuggle (11. 000)

Arriving his private armoured train over the sliver of a shared border between Russian and North Korea, Kim Jong Un (whom rarely leaves the country) with Vladimir Putin at the Vostochy cosmodrome to tour the facilities and discuss a weapons deal, occasioned by Russia running a deficit on munition shells due to the protracted invasion of Ukraine and turning to the heavily stockpiled peninsula dating from the Cold War, reportedly offering in exchange to the isolated and destitute nation food aid and expertise in developing reconnaissance satellites in furtherance of the developing atomic weapons programme. Though once opposed to allowing unstable neighbours going nuclear and participating in sanctions against North Korea for its pursuit, Russia now seems willing—as with its cache of drones from Iran, to take these risks including the possibility of selling on technologies to arms-dealers even less allied and a bipolar geopolitical landscape with the West on one side and Russia’s sphere of tenuous influence. Kim reaffirmed his support for “to defend its state sovereignty and protect its security” echoing rhetoric used to justify invading Ukraine and Putin graciously accepted his counterpart’s invitation for a state visit.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Poet Laureate’s tribute to the Queen, the Beatles’ Apple Electronics venture plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: your daily demon: Marchosias, more links to enjoy, the first teenage all music and dance show plus the release of Super Mario Brothers (1985)

three years ago: dissecting the original COVID hotspot, more on radio alphabets, The Stand, the stately manor that inspired Wuthering Heights plus St Venerius

four years ago: more links to enjoy

five years ago: willpower and endurance, more on the monomyth plus an ad-filled rocking chair

s1:e1 (10. 140)

On this day in 1972, the CBS television network first aired its dark-comedy series—based on the 1970 feature film—about a team of doctors and ancillary staff stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Uijeongbu during the Korean War. The first episodes, set in 1950, were broadcast while the US was still mired in the Vietnam War and were presented as the most careful kind of allegory, detached yet openly questioning the proxy wars of the Cold War and the value of offensive ideology. The ensemble cast included (by rank) Henry Blake McLean Stevenson (thanks, Dad), Loretta Swit, Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Gary Burghoff and Jamie Farr and the show became less political and more character-driven after 1975 and the withdrawal of US troops—also removing the controversial laugh-track of earlier seasons.

s11e16

Airing on this day in 1983, the series finale of M*A*S*H (see also) “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was until the Super Bowl of 2010 the most-watched event in television history and retains the title as the television episode with the most viewership, with an audience of over one hundred million tuned in. Taking place in the last days of the Korean War as ceasefire is declared (27 July 1953), the characters cerebrate decamping for a last time the mobile army surgical hospital and reflect on the fighting’s effects and legacy.

strong and prosperous nation

Negotiating the divide between cultural and historic points of reference and by being generally agreeable and approachable, former war correspondent turned photographer Stephan Gladieu was able to recently travel to North Korea and was allowed to capture portraits of the people in a captivating series. Learn more and peruse a curated gallery of scenes from North Korea at It’s Nice That at the link above.

cult of personality

Along with the birthday of his father, founder of the nation of North Korea, this Day of the Shining Star (광명성) falling on the anniversary of the birth of its second leader Kim Jong-il, 16 February, 31 Juche, according to party lore, is among the most important public holidays, codified since his 2012 death. While Kim was likely born in Siberia during his father’s exile for inciting an uprising, the foundational mythos places Kim’s birth at a secret guerrilla camp (run by Kim Il-sung) on the slopes of Mount Paektu, a place in antiquity considered holy and the origin of the Korea people, his nativity heralded by a shooting star. With celebrations spanning two days including mass gymnastics, fireworks and military demonstrations, many couples also choose this day to marry. Like a Communist version of Lent, the two-month gap between the birthday of the founder (see above) and second leader is known as Loyalty Festival Period and is interspersed with spontaneous acts of devotion and festivities throughout.

corea: the hermit kingdom

This anthology of Korean folktales collected and retold by William Elliot Griffis from Public Domain Review is interesting in its own right for the well-intentioned desire (with notable shortcomings) to bring to a Western readership some of the country’s mythology and lore, but there’s a striking side note as well with earlier publication of the above entitled in 1882, a history of the Joseon dynasty that coined the moniker, applied to isolationist policies in general. Obviously now not new, the term gained traction and currency when invoked by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to describe North Korea.

kps 9566

Though only in use domestically, the DPRK (North) Standard Korean Graphic Character Set for Information Interchange, is ISO compliant and renderable across all platforms and is an efficient approach to translating the large repertoire of Hangul into a format for programming and transmittable all around the world.
While not all glyphs in the standard have Unicode equivalents (like the symbol of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Hammer and Sickle and Brush, or personal cartouches for the country’s senior leadership) the standard is responsible for several indispensable emojis, like HOT BEVERAGE (☕) originally proposed as a map marker for a tea house, the black and white flags—again as map markers indicating battlefields, the ☔ and the ⚡, used as a lightning bolt or electricity but first used to warn of the dangers of high-voltage lines in the vicinity.

the day of the sun: juche 109

Deriving its name from the meaning of Il-sung for “becomes the Sun”—one of the revolutionary leader’s noms de guerre, this day stepped in founding mythology marks Kim’s birthday, the founder and Eternal President of North Korea and has been an official holiday, the highest annual observance since 1968, proclaimed as the titular celebration in 1997—three years after Kim’s death. Simultaneously the country adopted the regnal Juche (the concept of self-reliance) calendar, reckoning dates from Kim’s birth in 1912 onward. The usual festivities have been cancelled this year with citizens urged to hold customary merriment and thanksgiving at home.

a destiny pictures production

The pool of reporters gathered (including those who could speak Korean since apparently that iteration played before the English version) in Singapore covering the meeting between Trump and Kim could have been easily forgiven for thinking that the clip that heralded Trump’s entrance was a propaganda video crafted by the North, having a similar look and feel to it, when in fact this mess of a message was a gift that Trump had produced for Kim to mark the occasion of their historic summit.

Watch closely to spot the stock footage of a Trump property in Florida. No one is owning up to having cleared this for use in statecraft (especially after all those riffs on “America First” but [Insert Your Country Here] Second came out) and Trump attempted to preclude further questioning by saying that the effort could be recycled and reused for another country—possibly with Canada to get the action film treatment next.

it takes one to know one

We’ll see how much history is determined by the historic meeting between the leadership of the US and North Korea but it does already strike me as a little hollow and quite asymmetrical with the regime of Kim Jung-un being accorded the legitimatising recognition that it’s sought for some time and preternaturally under the same terms and conditions that Trump bewailed his predecessor as concessions to Iran, making America look weak and dopey.
Much in the same way that the Manchurian Candidate’s revolting behaviour has markedly improved the image of loveable, old war-criminal Bush II, not only does his eagerness to meet with Kim deflect attention from the hermit kingdom’s atrocious human rights standards (zero freedom of movement, zero freedom of speech and mandatory, universal adoration—not to give Dear Leader any more ideas) with the optics, this plum bargain asks little in concrete terms from North Korea while having US military presence on the peninsula characterised as “provocative” (after so much mutual sabre-rattling) and pledges to suspend large-scale training exercises with the South and Japan.

la repubblica popolare democratica di corea

Hyperallegic directs our attention to a modest gallery owner and art broker in a small Tuscan village who is responsible for the vast majority of North Korean art—inspiration, motivation placards, ephemera, propaganda posters and fine art—that enters into Western markets. The article also discusses the thousand-strong studio that produces much of what the gallery resells and that has executed monumental consignments for various institutions and world leaders at steeply discounted prices.

dear jong letter

baby steps

One immediate outcome of the historic summit between the leadership of North and South Korea was to re-align Pyongyang’s and Seoul’s time-zones.
This disparity of half-an-hour having itself arose only three years ago under the direction of Kim Jong-un to mark the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the peninsula from occupying Japan as a reassertion of independence from colonial rule. The synchronisation will occur this Saturday (5 May) but there’s no word if the North will keep its Juche calendar, which numbers its years on the birth of founder Kim Il-Sung in 1912, though its not unusual to record time in eras and reigns as a supplement to civil time in many cultures, and many societies tend to use even our modern time-keeping conventions (abolishing day-light savings time, having a single, broad time zone irrespective of the sun) to present a united, national front.

panmunjom

우정의 다리, мост дружбы

With a working-group being appointed to explore fording a second link between Russia and North Korea to supplement the Friendship Bridge—the sole crossing built in 1959 to allow train service over the Tumen River by special arrangement only and notably since last year a fibre optic cable, Calvert Journal correspondent Tom Masters candidly shares his railway journal from Pyongyang to Vladivostok. The account makes for an interesting read and the trip is illustrated with a lot of photographs. One of the only other points of entrance and egress for the country is the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge over the Yalu River, originally spanned by the Japanese Imperial Army when it occupied north-eastern China and the Korean peninsula during WWII, which allows both trains and cars but no pedestrian traffic.

rock, paper, scissors

Marking perhaps a heartening turn in the tone of sabre-rattling rhetoric, North Korea appears in its latest propaganda video to be challenging America to a dance-off, as Gizmodo correspondent Matt Novak reports, rather than the usual fare of nuclear warheads striking Guam or San Francisco.  Of course, Dear Leader has produced many counterpoints to this spectacle and there is naturally such ill-will between the two as they are too much alike and need their egos protected.  The narrow characterisation of the North Korean regime does the rest of the world a disservice as the country understands very well that it has the strategic upper-hand at what is at stake, which is nothing short of global thermal nuclear war.