Songun Mentality
This is not really news, but its a good indicator of who is going to benefit the most from foreign aid. Hint: not civilians
SEOUL Seo Hyang Wol, a 43-year-old North Korean housewife, has given birth to nine children, making her a shining example of a national campaign to increase birth rates.
But that is not the only thing that makes “women across the republic abuzz with talk of emulating her,” according to North Korea’s official news media.
Inspired by the leader Kim Jong Il’s “songun,” or “army-first,” policy, Seo named three daughters Chong Byol, Pok Byol and Tan Byol - or “Rifle Star,” “Bomb Star” and “Bullet Star.” A son born in 2003 and a daughter born last year were named Son Gun and Hyok Myong. Put together, the names mean “army-first revolution.”
“I produced many children hoping they will grow up and become gun-barrel soldiers for our army-first fatherland,” Seo said in an interview in March with Pyongyang Radio. The report added that names like her children’s were “fast becoming a vogue” in North Korea.
Although dismissed as ridiculous in the outside world, stories like Seo’s provide an example of how closely tied North Korean society has become to Kim’s army-first doctrine.
The doctrine promotes North Korea’s nuclear weapons, missile programs and huge military spending even as the country remains the second-largest recipient of food donations in the world after Ethiopia.
Update: Thousands “beg” to enlist in the military,
August 04, 2006 ㅡ Men and women of military age who have not yet joined the service have sent petitions to the government begging to be enlisted as soon as possible, sources close to North Korean affairs said yesterday. From behind the scenes, the government has organized similar such drives before, North Korean defectors said.
One of the sources, who recently returned from Pyongyang, said he saw gatherings at schools, factories and companies in which North Korean youth groups pledged their patriotism and signed petitions asking the ruling Workers’ Party to allow them to join the military. Such gatherings took place in Pyongyang and also around the nation, the source said.
In other words, thousands begging to cut in front of the food distribution line.
