<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">Dear colleagues,<BR>
<BR>
1. I just came across <B>a very useful Who's Who of prominent North Koreans</B><BR>
on KBS's English website: <BR>
<BR>
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/event/nkorea_nuclear/general_05.htm<BR>
<BR>
This lists 73 members of the Pyongyang elite; mostly with photographs,<BR>
up-to-date biographical information, and brief but insightful commentary.<BR>
<BR>
This is the best resource of its kind that I have found. Perhaps colleagues<BR>
would care to share any others they know of, be it in Korean or English?<BR>
<BR>
(Though this calls itself an A to Z, it is actually from K to H - since it<BR>
follows Korean rather than western alphabetical order.)<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
2. Does anyone know <B>why some North Koreans alter their names?</B><BR>
- albeit only slightly. For example, as KBS's lists confirm:<BR>
<BR>
* Foreign minister Paek Nam Sun was at one time known<BR>
as Paek Nam Jun.<BR>
<BR>
* Kwon Ho Ung, senior cabinet councilor and chief delegate <BR>
to the inter-Korean ministerial talks, was first known as Kwon Min.<BR>
<BR>
* Jon Kum Jin, Kwon's predecessor, formerly went by the name of <BR>
Jon Kum Chol.<BR>
<BR>
I can add another:<BR>
<BR>
* Ri Jong Hyok, vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee<BR>
- in effect, in charge of relations with South Korea - was definitely<BR>
Ri Dong Hyok when I knew hin in the 1980s in Paris, where he headed<BR>
North Korea's quasi-embassy and Unesco delegation.<BR>
<BR>
What is the point of this? The changes are so small that they hardly count<BR>
as a proper disguise - unlike Kim Song Ju, known to history by his <I>nom de<BR>
guerre </I>Kim Il Sung; or his grandson Kim Jong-chol, who reportedly<BR>
is attached to that same Paris office under the alias Kim Chol-song<BR>
- that is, when not skiving off to Eric Clapton gigs in Germany; see<BR>
<BR>
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200606/kt2006061617473010510.htm<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1095836.ece<BR>
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<BR>
cheers<BR>
Aidan FC<BR>
<BR>
AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER<BR>
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University <BR>
Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK <BR>
tel: +44(0) 1274 588586 (alt) +44(0) 1264 737634 mobile: +44(0) 7970 741307 <BR>
fax: +44(0) 1274 773663 ISDN: +44(0) 1274 589280<BR>
Email: afostercarter@aol.com (alt) afostercarter@yahoo.com website: www.aidanfc.net<BR>
[Please use @aol; but if any problems, please try @yahoo too - and let me know, so I can chide AOL]<BR>
<BR>
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