North Korean Crowd Gives Half-Hearted Welcome to Roh

After being greeted by North Korea’s second-in-command Kim Yong Nam yesterday morning in Pyongyang, President Roh and Kim Jong Il paraded through city in an open-top car to the official summit reception area.

The parade route was about 6km long. Pyongyang residents greeted Roh along the road. North Korean authorities usually only mobilize crowds to welcome major state guests.

Previously, only former Chinese President Jiang Zemin received a reception of this type. Of course, only a handful of foreign heads of state have visited the secluded regime.

In other times, a car parade is organized to welcome North Korean athletes who come back with international championship titles

Looking deep into the details, Roh’s reception did not match those of his former Chinese counterpart or North Korean athletic heroes.

Pyongyang residents formed a single row along the road. Even if 10 people welcomed Roh in three to four rows for each leg of his reception route, the estimated turnout was less than 120,000.

Considering the parade history, Roh’s was relatively small in size. The North Korean dictator himself once confirmed that 600,000 Pyongyang people welcomed Kim Dae-jung, who visited the city for the first inter-Korean summit.

In addition, the crowd chanted a variety of slogans, such as “Unified Korea.” But none called out Roh’s name.

It is an unwritten law in North Korea to chant the name of a welcomed visitor. North Koreans, for example, chanted Kim Dae-jung’s name last time, welcoming him during a car parade.

Pyongyang residents who happened to see Roh waved their hands.

Most of the welcoming North Korean women wore traditional Korean costumes, indicating that they did not volunteer for the event. It was, however, rare to watch ordinary North Korean passers by wave their hands.

Citizens forced to attend a rally usually get up early and report to a “checkpoint” to identify themselves. Then, they are “aligned” along the parade route. When the welcoming function is over, they have an assessment session and check their attendance before going home.

If a function involves the appearance of the dictator, security details control the ins and outs of the event from nearby apartments and do not allow citizens to look out windows. If a person gets caught watching through a window, the security authorities can expel the individual from Pyongyang.

zsh75@donga.com