What Happens Now the Dear Leader has Gone to Hell?

[Rogie]

Some naive newspaper in China fell for this rather pathetic prank. That's about the only mildly amusing aspect to this very unfunny and far-too-contrived piece.

 

The Onion is proud to announce that North Korean supreme leader KimJong-un, 29, has officially been named the newspaper’s Sexiest Man Alive for the year 2012.

 

With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile.

 

“He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time,” Onion Style and Entertainment editor Marissa Blake-Zweibel said. “And that’s the quality that makes him the sort of man women want, and men want to be. He’s a real hunk with real intensity who also knows how to cut loose and let his hair down.”

 

Added Blake-Zweibel, “Ri Sol-ju is one lucky lady, that’s for sure!”

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/kim-jongun-named-the-onions-sexiest-man-alive-for,30379/?ref=auto

[kokopelli]

There are a number of other Dear Leaders in the world waiting to join Kim Jong in Hell; hopefully they don't have a long time to wait.

[Rogie]

Kim Jong-online

 

(Couldn't resist stealing that headline from the BBC website, and notice the dear leader's name in size 18 font!- I wouldn't wish to be disrespectful).

 

What is it like to surf the internet in the most secretive country on Earth? The short answer is - strange, at least by the rest of the world's standards. But as North Koreans begin to put their lives at risk just to connect to the outside world, it could mark a dramatic moment in the country's history.

 

There's a curious quirk on every official North Korean website. A piece of programming that must be included in each page's code.

 

Its function is straightforward but important. Whenever leader Kim Jong-un is mentioned, his name is automatically displayed ever so slightly bigger than the text around it. Not by much, but just enough to make it stand out.

 

It's just one facet of the "internet" in North Korea, a uniquely fascinating place.

 

In a country where citizens are intentionally starved of any information other than government propaganda, the internet too is dictated by the needs of the state - but there is an increasing belief that this control is beginning to wane.

 

"The government can no longer monitor all communications in the country, which it could do before," explains Scott Thomas Bruce, an expert on North Korea who has written extensively about the country.

 

"That is a very significant development."

 

There's just one cybercafe in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.

 

Anyone logging on at the cafe would find themselves at a computer that isn't running Windows, but instead Red Star - North Korea's own custom-built operating system, reportedly commissioned by the late Kim Jong-il himself.

 

A pre-installed readme file explains how important it is that the operating system correlates with the country's values.

 

The computer's calendar does not read 2012, but 101 - the number of years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's former leader whose political theories define policy decisions.

 

And what about mobile phones?

North Korea's reluctance to connect citizens to the web is counteracted by an acceptance that, as with trade, it needs to open itself up slightly if it is to continue to survive.

 

While China has its infamous "great firewall" - which blocks out the likes of Twitter and, from time to time the BBC website - North Korea's technology infrastructure is described as a "mosquito net", allowing only the bare essentials both in and out.

 

And it's with mobile that the mosquito net is most porous.

 

While there is an official mobile network, which does not offer data connections or international calls, North Koreans are increasingly getting hold of Chinese mobile phones, smuggled across the border.

 

The handsets generally work within about 10km (6 miles) of the border between the two countries - but not without considerable danger.

 

"The level of risk that people are taking now would be unthinkable 20 years ago," says Nat Kretchun, co-author of a groundbreaking report into the changing media environment in North Korea.

 

And surely a novel way to avoid detection!

 

"In order to make sure the mobile phone frequencies are not being tracked, I would fill up a washbasin with water and put the lid of a rice cooker over my head while I made a phone call," said one interviewee, a 28-year-old man who left the country in November 2010.

 

"I don't know if it worked or not, but I was never caught."

 

But each step on this path brings the people of North Korea something they've not had before - honest information, which can have a devastating effect on secretive nations.

 

"But I do think that people are now expecting to have access to this technology - and that creates an environment of personal expectation that cannot be easily rolled back."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20445632

[Guest fountainhall]

Seems like the Outstanding Leader has just succeeded in putting the Great Leader and the Dear Leader's remains into orbit to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the former and the 1st anniversary if the death of the latter. Now they will whizz around the planet forever looking down on the world which so despised them!

 

I'll bet the Chinese are more than a bit worried now.