Martin Uden

Seoul is shocked - but not so much by the North

Even though it was a Bank Holiday in London, it didn't seem anything like a holiday here.  We first had the tragic death of former President Roh on the Saturday, and then the DPRK exploded a nuclear device on Monday morning, followed in the afternoon by three short-range missiles, with more missile tests subsequently.

As with messages expressing condolences for former President Roh, London was very quick to react to the nuclear test.  Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary David Miliband very quickly issued statements condemning the test, and then our team in New York took part in the UN Security Council discussions and continue to work for a strong, unified international response.  The FCO Minister, Bill Rammell, was in Hanoi at the time for the EU/ASEM meeting and so was able to speak to regional players there.  He also phoned the DPRK Ambassador in London to convey our strong opposition to the test; he is also expected to call in the DPRK Ambassador when he returns to London to explain our position in person.

The entire international community appears united on the issue and is intent on sending a very clear message to Pyongyang.  If the DPRK wants to play any part in international society, it cannot continue to pretend that only the US and the Republic of Korea are opposed to its nuclear plans.  China and Russia are making their opposition clear as well.  The EU has made a very strong statement of condemnation.

In Seoul itself, both these issues are of course getting enormous attention.  But I would say that the average Korean is more concerned about the death of former President Roh than about North Korea.  To some extent, the nuclear test and short-range missile firings are things they have seen before - and although Koreans know how serious these developments are, they don't have the same emotional resonance as the suicide of a former President.  Looking at the long lines of people just outside our Embassy waiting to pay their respects at an altar set up outside the Doksu palace, it is clear that particularly young people feel the loss of President Roh very deeply and want to find ways to express their sorrow. We should remember that whatever the circumstances are that surround his death, President Roh was a generational figurehead for many and had been the democratically elected Head of State of a modern nation that is well respected around the world; it really is a sad loss.

Posted at 17:09 27 May 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[5]

DPRK Rocket Launch

It was a tense weekend for Embassy staff as we waited for the DPRK to launch their satellite.  I was at the airport on Saturday morning waiting to welcome President Lee Myung-bak back from London when the DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency announced that all the preparations were complete for the launch.   But instead of launching then, it was Sunday before the launch went ahead. 

We had already discussed the proposed launch with the Korean government here at the highest levels: in a bilateral meeting with President Lee in London last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke of the UK’s serious concerns over any launch by the DPRK. Regardless of whether the rocket carried a satellite or not, such a launch would be a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1718, as it contributed directly to a ballistic missile programme.

When the launch did take place on Sunday, Foreign Secretary David Miliband released a statement  immediately condemning the launch, and colleagues in New York reacted to the Japanese request for a meeting of the UN Security Council.  Here in Seoul, we made sure of our facts, checked with various contacts and sent a short report to London.  For now, the main focus of action now is going to be in New York, but we will also need to continue to monitor and report local reactions here.

Posted at 17:22 06 April 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[0]

Guest Blogger-Peter Hughes, British Ambassador to North Korea

I am delighted to have been asked to contribute a few paragraphs about Pyongyang to Martin Uden's blog while he is away taking a well earned break.

Spring seems to have arrived in Pyongyang, much the same as I suppose it has in Seoul. The weather during the weekend was relatively warm and sunny for the elections of  the 12th Supreme People's Assembly that took place on Sunday 8 March. There was a very festive atmosphere throughout the city. Many people were walking to or from the polling stations, or thronging the parks to have picnics or just stroll. Most of the ladies were dressed in the colourful traditional hanguk pokshik and the men in their best suits. Outside the central polling stations there were bands playing and people dancing and singing to entertain the queues of voters waiting patiently to select their representatives in the country's unicameral legislature. The booths selling drinks and snacks were very popular with the crowds and everyone seemed to be having a good time. The list of successful candidates was published on Monday. There was a reported turn-out of over 99% of the voters and all the candidates, including Kim Jong Il, were elected with 100% approval. In a few weeks time the Supreme People's Assembly will open for business which will include voting for the Chairman of the National Defence Committee (presently Kim Jong Il), and drawing up the budget for the coming financial year.

The city has returned to normal since the weekend, and people are going about their business much as they usually do. However, the sunny weather and warmer temperatures have encouraged the parks and roadside verges to begin turning green again after the long winter. During the afternoons, long columns of schoolchildren can be seen marching through the streets in their blue uniforms with red neckerchiefs, carrying red banners and flags that encourage the people to launch a "general offensive in response to the Party's call to make a historic leap on all fronts, and sounding the advance for opening the gate to a strong, powerful and prosperous nation in 2012, the centenary of the birth of the Great Eternal Leader Kim Il Sung". The children sing songs and chant slogans as they either walk gaily hand in hand, or march solemnly by.

There has been a lot of activity preparing the small plots of land around blocks of apartments for sowing a spring crop of vegetables and herbs, and last week the government announced a nationwide 'reforestation' programme under which millions of saplings are to be planted throughout the country. The people in Pyongyang have taken this programme very seriously and have planted young trees every six metres or so along all the pavements, and within the apartment complexes. Every evening people can be seen tending the saplings they put into the ground just a few days ago, while at intervals ladies are sitting selling cigarettes or sweets from small tables they have set up by the roadside.

Posted at 15:28 13 March 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[29]

"Blood and Bamboo"

A bit unusual to do a book review in my blog, but I received a copy of James Church’s latest Inspector O novel, “Blood and Bamboo,” before Christmas and have only just finished it.  Church is apparently a “former Western intelligence officer” – and I can honestly say that’s all I know about his identity.  

This is his third mystery about a North Korean police inspector, but this is the first I’ve read.  I’m told that this isn’t a bad place to start, since chronologically this one is set back in the 90s during the severe famine that hit North Korea and so gives some background to the other stories.  The Inspector is sent to various places to piece together a mystery surrounding the murder of the wife of a North Korean diplomat.  A lot of the plot takes place in Geneva, centring on negotiations then going on between the DPRK and the USA on missile proliferation. The image of the leader of the DPRK negotiations trying to find anybody in his team who was awake and listening to a particularly tedious part of the talks is all too realistic.  But what impressed me most about the book was just how credible a picture it painted of Pyongyang and the grim struggle for survival that must have been the reality of North Korea during the 90s.

I'd be very interested in your thoughts about the book, or Church's other two novels.  Especially if you have been to North Korea, do they strike you as realistic, or should we just take them as decent thrillers instead of thinking we are learning anything about Pyongyang from them?

Posted at 04:52 16 January 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[1]