Tunisia, Egypt, Libya….North Korea?!

Sometimes it starts in small waves.

There is evidence that anti-government activities are starting to increase in North Korea of all places, as well as China. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reports on tremors. When soldiers are complaining about a lack of food and refusing orders, that’s not a good sign for the regime in power. Hopefully these tremors will soon turn into an earthquake. Some excerpts:

“Will the ‘Jasmine Revolutions’ of the Middle East sweep through China and North Korea? Hopes are rising as accounts emerge from the North about pockets of resistance in the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon in North Pyongan Province on Feb. 14, two days before North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s birthday.

No concerted anti-government protests have broken out in North Korea, but there have been continuous small protests by people demanding food.

There are also accounts of hungry soldiers staging mass protests. North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a group of defectors, said soldiers with a unit that mines uranium rejected orders handed down the chain of command on Jan. 17 because they were hungry. Even food rations for soldiers are apparently being handed out irregularly, despite the country’s ‘military-first’ doctrine.”

But a note of caution...

“Unlike people in the Middle East, North Koreans have virtually no access to the Internet, and they have no experience staging organized protests. ‘The only political experience North Koreans have is the Chosun Dynasty, Japanese colonial occupation and the Kim dynasty dictatorship,’ a defector said. ‘They just don’t have a lot of awareness about democratization or regime change.'”

Nevertheless…

The North Korean military is nonetheless on high alert, concerned about the spread of the small outbursts of discontent, as China is also seeing signs of public uprisings including a protest in the Wangfujing district downtown Beijing. Quoting sources in Onsong, North Hamgyong Province, the DailyNK said Friday that news of the protests in Egypt are spreading in North Korea via Chinese TV channels or phone calls with defectors. ‘Officials are having a tough time trying to keep the rumors from spreading,’ it said.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported on Monday that North Korean authorities have stopped renting mobile phones to visiting foreigners, and an editorial in the North’s official Rodong Shinmun daily stressed ‘unity.’ ‘Calls for democracy have reached China, so North Korea will deploy the security forces to crack down on its people,’ a defector said.”