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Secret weapon: N. Korean troops get high with karaoke

Special to World Tribune.com
EAST-ASIA-INTEL.COM
Thursday, January 4, 2007

North Korea's military already gets first dibs on food and supplies in the impoverished country. Now soldiers are getting an added bonus: karaoke machines ordered for them by supreme leader Kim Jong-Il himself.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center, inspects a Korean People's Army Unit at an undisclosed location. Kim reportedly said "the atmosphere changed completely" in divisions with karoke machines. AFP
Kim is shipping the karaoke machines to military units after finding they boost soldiers' morale, according to a recent edition of the Rodong Sinmun, organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party.

"I plan to send more song-accompanying machines to the People's Armed Forces," Kim was quoted as saying. In a meeting with military commanders, Kim said, "the atmosphere changed completely" in divisions that were provided with karaoke machines.

Kim said soldiers and officers were competing for high marks on machines that assess their singing, Rodong said.

The North Korean leader is known to be an avid film and music lover with his own karaoke machines and a library of Hollywood movies.

According to Seoul's intelligence sources, North Korea operates Web sites that provide karaoke services featuring North Korean songs, music videos starring North Korean actors and popular recipes.

Kim depends on the military to run the troubled country and rules in the capacity of the supreme military commander.

Kim's public activities focus on the military under his much-touted "army-first [Songun]" policy, in which he has given top policy priority to military affairs, calling on hunger-stricken North Korans to bear mounting economic hardships.


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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