<div dir="ltr">Dear Koreanists,<div><br></div><div style>This afternoon my local NPR station aired Sweeney discussing his trip to the North (the tone was very similar to the news article linked above). This evening on their BBC news hour they will be airing more of Sweeney. I called the station and asked them to consider not airing that segment, explaining the problems with Sweeney's "investigative journalism." Recognizing that they would be unlikely to change their evening coverage based on my phone call, I asked them to consider introducing Sweeney's report as something that should be received with a critical ear. I signed off by asking the program desk staff member to google the issue so that he could confirm what I was telling him. Perhaps some of the rest of you would consider doing something similar if your local station airs BBC coverage.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Happy spring,</div><div style>CedarBough</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 5:01 AM, Aidan Foster-Carter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" target="_blank">afostercarter@aol.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><font color="black" size="3" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif">Dear Keith and all,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>No firewall. The Indy article is here:</div>
<div><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/students-on-bbc-panorama-trip-are-threatened-by-north-korea-8574189.html" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/students-on-bbc-panorama-trip-are-threatened-by-north-korea-8574189.html</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The Mail also has it:</div>
<div><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309255/Panorama-Students-BBCs-North-Korea-trip-received-threats.html" target="_blank">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309255/Panorama-Students-BBCs-North-Korea-trip-received-threats.html</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It would be good to see a full copy of the NK letter, and who exactly it came from.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I too have found this a very useful threat. I mean thread. (Genuine typo, too good to change).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers</div>
<div>Aidan</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Cambria">Aidan Foster-Carter<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Cambria">Honorary Senior Research Fellow in
Sociology & Modern <u></u>Korea<u></u>,
<u></u><u></u>Leeds University<u></u>, <u></u>UK<u></u><u></u></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Cambria"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Cambria"> </span></i><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Cambria"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-family:Cambria">E</span></em><span style="font-family:Cambria">: <a href="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" title="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" target="_blank">afostercarter@aol.com</a> <a href="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com" title="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com" target="_blank">afostercarter@yahoo.com</a> <em>W</em>:
<a href="http://www.aidanfc.net/" title="http://www.aidanfc.net/" target="_blank">www.aidanfc.net</a> <u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Cambria">W in <u></u><u></u>Korea<u></u><u></u>: </span></i><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090202080126/http:/aidanfc.net/index.html" target="_blank">http://web.archive.org/web/20090202080126/http://aidanfc.net/index.html</a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Cambria"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Cambria"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Cambria">Address/mail:</span></i><b><span style="font-family:Cambria"> </span></b><span style="font-family:Cambria">Flat
1, <u></u><u></u>40 Magdalen Road<u></u>,
<u></u>Exeter<u></u><u></u>, <u></u>Devon<u></u>, <u></u>EX2 4TE<u></u>, <u></u>England<u></u>, <u></u><u></u>UK<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-family:Cambria">T:</span></em><span style="font-family:Cambria"> (+44, no 0) 07970 741307 (mobile); 01392
257753 (home) </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Cambria"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Cambria">Skype</span></i><span style="font-family:Cambria">:
Aidan.Foster.Carter <em>Twitter:</em> @fcaidan <u></u><u></u></span></div>
</div><div><div class="h5">
<div><br>
<br>
<br>
<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: kh <<a href="mailto:kh@soas.ac.uk" target="_blank">kh@soas.ac.uk</a>><br>
To: don kirk <<a href="mailto:kirkdon@yahoo.com" target="_blank">kirkdon@yahoo.com</a>><br>
CC: Jim Hoare <<a href="mailto:jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK" target="_blank">jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK</a>>; DavidMcCann <<a href="mailto:dmccann@fas.harvard.edu" target="_blank">dmccann@fas.harvard.edu</a>>; Korean Studies Discussion List <<a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws" target="_blank">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a>>; Ruediger Frank <<a href="mailto:ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at" target="_blank">ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at</a>><br>
Sent: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:09<br>
Subject: Re: [KS] BBC journalists pose as LSE university students in NorthKorea<br>
<br>
<div>
Thank you for everybody who has responded to this thread. It has been a very useful discussion, and informed my discussions with a number of journalists yesterday. While the story will no doubt disappear in the next few days, <i>The Independent </i>has a further twist in its edition this morning (alas, I think it is behind a firewall, so I have not been able to find it on the web), under the title 'North Korea issues threats to students as BBC airs controversial documentary':
<div><br>
</div>
<div>'An email sent to the students by a North Korean tourism official on their return stated: "I warn you that I will make public to the world… the lies made in the name of LSE students. I reserve the right to make public and publish all personal data, including all your passports, to demonstrate that while we have been direct and honest with you, you have broken the DPRK law."'<br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The documentary, as many suspected it would be, was primarily tourist videos and library materials. Sweeney stood out from the students in a way that, as many of you expected, would surely mean that the North Koreans did know exactly who he was.</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<span style="border-collapse:separate;font-family:Helvetica;border-spacing:0px;font-size:medium"><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px">
<div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div>Keith Howard</div>
<div>Professor of Music, SOAS, University of London. <a href="mailto:kh@soas.ac.uk" target="_blank">kh@soas.ac.uk</a></div>
<div><a href="tel:%28%2B44%29207%208984687" value="+442078984687" target="_blank">(+44)207 8984687</a> (O); <a href="tel:%28%2B44%297805%20048801" value="+447805048801" target="_blank">(+44)7805 048801</a> (M)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</span><br></span><br>
</div>
<br>
<div>
<div>On 16 Apr 2013, at 01:36, don kirk <<a href="mailto:kirkdon@yahoo.com" target="_blank">kirkdon@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</div>
<br><blockquote type="cite"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="font:inherit">
<div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font:inherit;font-family:arial;font-size:10pt">Thanks -- Your experience was no doubt revealing. My own trips have ranged from four nights to two weeks, that's it. (Was there for 12 days last summer.) You have no doubt had many varied encounters. I was referring only to interaction with guide-minders on brief trips. They never said anything to me that was revealing beyond the authorized briefings they gave when looking at stuff, on the bus etc. Humanitarian workers, ranging over broad areas, would have different impressions and experiences. You err in thinking I or others would have no regard for the fates of guides and their families. In my experience there was never any instance in
which such issues arose. Guides were always quite pleasant -- except when warning that anyone who veered outside the group would be told to leave the country.
(They never came close to carrying out the threat.) I never heard of anyone "extracting a confession from guides." Nor do I know of anyone "with article written no matter what they see." My own articles from last summer are accessible through links on the "hermit kingdom" page of my website, <a href="http://www.donaldkirk.com" target="_blank">www.donaldkirk.com</a>. A problem in writing them was there wasn't a lot to go on, but I did my best with what I had. Another listee, Mr. Hoare, seems to think it's possible to get a journalist's visa any time. These are difficult and in most cases impossible to get. The AP in Pyongyang has been noteworthy for writing soft non-critical stories. (Check out recent articles by Ethan Epstein, The Weekly Standard, and a piece I did for 38North: <a href="http://38north.org/2013/03/dkirk032213" target="_blank">http://38north.org/2013/03/dkirk032213</a>/.)
<div>Don Kirk<br>
<div><br>
<br>
--- On <b>Mon, 4/15/13, Frederic OJARDIAS <i><<a href="mailto:fojardias@hotmail.com" target="_blank">fojardias@hotmail.com</a>></i></b> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16,16,255);margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px"><br>
From: Frederic OJARDIAS <<a href="mailto:fojardias@hotmail.com" target="_blank">fojardias@hotmail.com</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [KS] BBC journalists pose as LSE university students in NorthKorea<br>
To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <<a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws" target="_blank">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a>>, "Ruediger Frank" <<a href="mailto:ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at" target="_blank">ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at</a>><br>
Cc: "Jim Hoare" <<a href="mailto:jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK" target="_blank">jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK</a>>, <a href="mailto:BAKS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK" target="_blank">BAKS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK</a>, "Keith Howard" <<a href="mailto:kh@soas.ac.uk" target="_blank">kh@soas.ac.uk</a>>, "DavidMcCann" <<a href="mailto:dmccann@fas.harvard.edu" target="_blank">dmccann@fas.harvard.edu</a>><br>
Date: Monday, April 15, 2013, 10:24 AM<br>
<br>
<div>
<div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Dear Don,</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">This is funny how you can show at the same time
so much interest for human rights in DPRK, and so little regard for the fate of
these North Korean guides and their families.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">You take great pride and legitimacy in your
numerous short trips to DPRK. But I can tell you one thing : I
lived approximately a year in North Korea (working for different
humanitarian organizations, in Pyongyang and in the countryside) and I know how
dangerous life can be for all the staff (drivers, guides, translators,
etc) who deal daily with us, foreigners. Some disappear.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">"No shred of evidence", you say ? Ask
humanitarian workers. They will not agree with you. I saw real fear in the
eyes of some of our DPRK counterparts when something went wrong. Working with us
is dangerous.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Brave journalists who go to DPRK one week (with
their article already written no matter what they will see), have fun, extract
confessions from their guides, escape their minders, take footage and put at
risks the life of the people they filmed (and their families) are not much worth
the regime they feel so superior to.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Frederic Ojardias</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Radio France Internationale</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Seoul correspondant</font></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Verdana"></font> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma">
<div><br>
</div>
<div style="BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><b>From:</b> <a rel="nofollow" title="kirkdon@yahoo.com">don kirk</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Monday, April 15, 2013 8:34 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a rel="nofollow" title="koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Korean Studies Discussion List</a> ; <a rel="nofollow" title="ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at">Ruediger Frank</a> </div>
<div><b>Cc:</b> <a rel="nofollow" title="jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK">Jim Hoare</a> ; <a rel="nofollow" title="BAKS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK">BAKS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK</a> ; <a rel="nofollow" title="dmccann@fas.harvard.edu">DavidMcCann</a> ; <a rel="nofollow" title="kh@soas.ac.uk">Keith Howard</a> </div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> Re: [KS] BBC journalists pose as LSE university students in
NorthKorea</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<div>This palaver is regrettable. There's no shred of evidence any
NKorean ever got into trouble for the shenanigans of visitors -- the BBC
mission having been one of many such ventures. I ran into the same head
guide for my visit in 2005 and again 2008. He talked to me at some length.
KNTO and Koryo Tours (the latter never handled my visits incidentally)
will go on as usual. Nobody's claiming heroics -- nothing heroic about
going there, very simple once you get the visa. Visitors may be among the
world's best protected people, shielded from all harm while also shielded
from seeing stuff they don't want seen. Trips can be quite routine when
you're led to some of the same places every time, but
they're the best one can do when the place is closed to the kind of
reporting one can do even in repressed dictatorships.(No other country on
earth compels visitors to line up in front of statues of their deceased
leaders, bow and place flowers.) It's unfortunate some listees don't
respect what the BBC, and others, are trying to do. Some listees seem to
place higher priority on sensitivities about which they have no evidence
than the need to attempt, against odds, to convey a modicum of
understanding to the rest of the world.</div>
<div>Don Kirk<br>
<br>
--- On <b>Mon, 4/15/13, Ruediger Frank
<i><<a href="mailto:ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at" target="_blank">ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at</a>></i></b> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px"><br>
From:
Ruediger Frank <<a href="mailto:ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at" target="_blank">ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [KS]
BBC journalists pose as LSE university students in North Korea<br>
To:
"Korean Studies Discussion List"
<<a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws" target="_blank">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a>><br>
Cc: "Keith Howard"
<<a href="mailto:kh@soas.ac.uk" target="_blank">kh@soas.ac.uk</a>>, "Jim Hoare" <<a href="mailto:jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK" target="_blank">jim@JHOARE10.FSNET.CO.UK</a>>,
<a href="mailto:BAKS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK" target="_blank">BAKS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK</a>, "don kirk" <<a href="mailto:kirkdon@yahoo.com" target="_blank">kirkdon@yahoo.com</a>>, "Morriss,
Peter" <<a href="mailto:pete.morriss@NUIGALWAY.IE" target="_blank">pete.morriss@NUIGALWAY.IE</a>>, "McCann, David"
<<a href="mailto:dmccann@fas.harvard.edu" target="_blank">dmccann@fas.harvard.edu</a>>, "Balazs Szalontai"
<<a href="mailto:aoverl@yahoo.co.uk" target="_blank">aoverl@yahoo.co.uk</a>><br>
Date: Monday, April 15, 2013, 2:19
AM<br>
<br>
<div>
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial';FONT-SIZE:12pt">Dear all,<br>
I
find this behavior highly unethical and irresponsible, for a number of
reasons. <br>
In addition to the many points made already, let's not
be too self-centered. The feelings of LSE students and potential aid
workers are important, but one affected group we have ignored so far.
There were <u>North Koreans</u> responsible for that trip:
folks from KNTO (the tourism organization) and others. They will now,
away from the public eye and not protected by a Western passport, face
allegations of not having done their job properly. I have always been
deeply annoyed by the fact that such allegedly "heroic" behavior by
Westerners - seriosly, what can happen to us in the worst case? - is
taking place at the expense of those nameless people who are left behind
in NK and who will have to bear all the wrath of the regime. We talk
about human rights in NK and so on in our Sunday speeches, but in fact
we don't give a bloody damn about the people there. This is
disgusting.<br>
Besides, the NK state has also been lied to. Such
behavior enforces stereotypes about Westerners who cannot be trusted.
Not that anyone would care, but I wanted to at least mention
that.<br>
Great, good job. And all that for stuff (I suppose) that I and
1000 others have filmed again and again before? Wow.<br>
I have decided
not to give any interviews to BBC anymore. Well, they'll
survive. <br>
Prof. Rudiger Frank, Vienna<br>
PS: I forgot the tour
operator, most likely Koryo tours. Their business is not going to get
easier. But why should the BBC care? It's in the holy name of truth
(about others), isn't it. Collateral damage, so what.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
on
Sonntag, 14. April 2013 at 22:15 you wrote:<br>
<br>
</span>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#0000ff" width="11"><br>
</td>
<td width="1142"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'arial';FONT-SIZE:12pt">I trust that some
list members have heard of the lead news story today on the BBC,
about three BBC journalists who accompanied students from the LSE
– under the disguise of themselves claiming to be students. A BBC
spokesman has claimed that to film the documentary (due to be
broadcast tomorrow), it was worthwhile putting students at risk
(Can this be right? – it was what their spokesman said on Radio 4
this afternoon). <br>
<br>
See: </span><a rel="nofollow" style="FONT-FAMILY:'arial';FONT-SIZE:12pt" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22144667" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22144667</a><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'arial';FONT-SIZE:12pt">.<br>
<br>
I would be
interested in colleagues' reactions. <br>
<br>
Prof. Keith
Howard<br>
SOAS, University of London<br>
Thornhaugh Street, London
WC1H 0XG, UK<br>
</span><a rel="nofollow" style="FONT-FAMILY:'arial';FONT-SIZE:12pt" href="http://us.mc1623.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kh@soas.ac.uk" target="_blank">kh@soas.ac.uk</a><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'arial';FONT-SIZE:12pt">; 0207 8984687;
07805
048801</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
</div>
</blockquote></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table></div>
</td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote></div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div></font></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><div>CedarBough T. Saeji</div>
<div><br></div><div>Research Affiliate, Center for Korean Studies at UCLA </div><div>(현) UCLA 한국학연구소 연구원 </div><div>Ph.D. in Culture and Performance, UCLA, 2012</div><div>UCLA 문화와 공연학 (옛 민속학) 박사, 2012</div><div>M.A. in Korean Studies, Yonsei University, 2006</div>
</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">연세대학교 국제학대학원 한국학 석사, 2006</div></div><div><br></div><div>220 Snowberry Lane, Lopez Island, Washington, 98261<div>
<br></div><div><a href="http://www.karjamsaeji.com/" target="_blank">http://www.karjamsaeji.com</a></div><div><a href="http://www.cedarbough.com/" target="_blank">http://www.cedarbough.com</a> (still being built)</div></div>
<div></div>
</div>