{"id":1102,"date":"2005-10-10T21:56:32","date_gmt":"2005-10-11T02:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=1102"},"modified":"2005-10-10T21:59:42","modified_gmt":"2005-10-11T02:59:42","slug":"mini-skirt-soldiers-dance-as-n-korea-ponders-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=1102","title":{"rendered":"Mini-skirt Soldiers Dance as N. Korea Ponders Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, this story<\/a> certainly has one of the stranger headlines I’ve seen in quite a while. Disclaimer: the accompanying picture is a dramatization.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Women danced in mini-skirted military uniforms as North Korea marked the 60th anniversary of its communist party on Monday, while speculation mounted over whether its leader would use the occasion to name a successor.<\/p>\n

At an event attended by leader Kim Jong-il and thousands of his military brass and cadres on Sunday, the emphasis was on Pyongyang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-standing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153songun\u00e2\u20ac\u009d military-first policy and its \u00e2\u20ac\u0153juche\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ideal of self-reliance.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We should fully embody the party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s songun politics, an all-powerful treasured sword for victory in revolution under any circumstances and conditions, and direct primary efforts to the strengthening of the Korean People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Army,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the North\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s No. 2, Kim Yong-nam, said in remarks carried on the KCNA news agency.<\/p>\n

The anniversary of the Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Party of Korea is a time when the reclusive country revels in mass games and provides its citizens with a few extra bowls of rice to celebrate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hey, nothing captures the fun-loving nature of a repressive commie dictatorship like martial trollops flaunting their gams and cavorting for the party. And hey, extra rice. Bonus!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is also a serious side to this story.<\/p>\n

But for this anniversary, outside attention has been focused on whether Kim Jong-il will name one of his three sons to a key post in the ruling party, which in effect would amount to naming a successor-in-waiting in the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only communist dynasty.<\/p>\n

The Russian news agency Itar-Tass last week quoted a diplomatic source in Pyongyang as saying Kim may use the event to announce a successor. Analysts said the precise timing and which son he would pick were anyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guess.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alas! The odds are not in favor of the oldest of Kim’s brood.<\/p>\n

The eldest of his known sons, Kim Jong-nam, has apparently fallen into disfavour for trying to sneak into Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmmm … yeah, I could see how that could be considered a strike against him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, this story certainly has one of the stranger headlines I’ve seen in quite a while. Disclaimer: the accompanying picture is a dramatization. Women danced in mini-skirted military uniforms as North Korea marked the 60th anniversary of its communist party on Monday, while speculation mounted over whether its leader would use the occasion to name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-wtf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}