Posted on 07/29/2006 7:25:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has canceled a massive propaganda event because of floods that devastated the country this month, a North Korean diplomat said Saturday.
The event known as the "mass games" features thousands of synchronized gymnasts and performers in a stadium where the stands are turned into a giant animated mosaic by children flipping pages of multicolored books.
Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York, told The Associated Press by telephone that the event, which had been set for next month, "has been canceled due to flood damages."
He didn't elaborate or say whether the spectacle would be rescheduled.
Heavy mid-July rains killed at least 154 North Koreans and left at least 127 others missing, the United Nations said this week. North Korea's official media has said the disaster caused "hundreds" of casualties and that roads, bridges, railroads and communications had been cut off.
The flooding has raised concern for the food supply of the impoverished nation, which is unable to sustain its population without outside help.
The event, which takes place almost every year in the communist North, pays tribute to the legacy of the country's founding ruler, Kim Il Sung, in an attempt to bolster domestic support for the regime led by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Citizens are transported from across the country to see it, and foreigners have been allowed in for rare visits. The event had been scheduled to run for two months starting in mid-August.
Then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited a mass game in Pyongyang in 2000, where a mosaic displayed an animated missile flying into the sky.
"This will be our last missile," Kim Jong Il reportedly told Albright.
The North this month test-fired seven missiles — including a new model believed capable of reaching the U.S. that failed shortly after takeoff — in violation of a self-imposed moratorium on long-range launches.
Secretary of State Rice is in the mideast again, and there's talk of a Lebanon solution. Yet, Israel mobilized 30,000 reservists.
That simple fact begs the question, why would Israel call up such a large number of troops if nothing else would follow.
This strikes me as a forewarning to Israel that Syria is in the crosshairs.
Just my opinion and it's late.
Probably cause the kids were too weak to hold up the flash
cards.
Go to YouTube and type in "Arirang." Man that is some serious f'd up sh!t those North Koreans do.
"concern for the food supply of the impoverished nation, which is unable to sustain its population without outside help"
And they shouldn't be getting any. Perhaps the more they suffer, the more they'll realize that this is their government's doing.
I had heard that 30000 were notifed to be ready but only commanders got called up,, so far, syria is the odd man out in this mess even though they're knee deep in it, they stand to take a heckuva bigger walloping than Iran at this point,,
Video.................
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-31Y59Ow3U&search=faithless%20more
The world will be a much better place when Kim Jong-Il assumes room temp.
Cancelled!? Won't the NY Times improvise for them?
I think Code Pink has a Rapid Fill-in the Space Squad, maybe they can send them.
The transit point from Iran is through Syria.
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