Jump to content

Korean Friendship Association

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Frogsprog (talk | contribs) at 12:17, 28 September 2006 (→‎Andrew Morse incident, 2004). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:Kfa.jpg
KFA Logo

The Korean Friendship Association is an organization working with the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), as well as a mouth-piece for the Juche movement. The Committee for Cultural Relations is the official government cultural liaison agency for North Korea and fulfills a similar role to that of the British Council or the Alliance française. The KFA was established in Spain in November 2000.

The official line of the KFA

The KFA official line is closely linked to that of the DPRK. Members who ask questions usually receive an answer from a DPRK friendly viewpoint viewpoint, rather than the American viewpoint (anti-DPRK). On the KFA Forum[1], Any mention or discussion of critical articles is strongly discouraged while references to DPRK/KCNA articles is strongly encouraged. The KFA denies US speculation that violations of human rights in North Korea are taking place and disputes the alleged existence of North Korean concentration camps.

The KFA lists two conditions for becoming a member[2]:

  • Respect for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and its leaders.
  • Respect for the other members in the KFA and the goals of the KFA.

These are necessary but not quite sufficient conditions for becoming and staying a member, however.

The cumulative archives of messages (those not deleted by the Forum administrators, in accordance with a deletion policy similar to that of wikipedia), since the site's inception in 2002, are kept open to the public. There is a large amount of DPRK related material, and it is possible to hear views from a DPRK point of view. Although The KFA Forum site is hosted and administered in Europe, many of the members, including the international comittee speak the korean language, and all members are given links to korean language teaching sites.

Membership is done by logging into the website and putting in the password of the user, e.g. "QDzDPy1234", these passwords can't be changed as they are logged in to the forum's server. The passwords are given by e-mail to the user after they had applied to join. A reply is given in around a week.

Structure

The Korean Friendship Association has members spread across many countries with an "Official Delegate" (OD) responsible for the activities in his/her country and a "Zone Delegate" (ZD) responsible for that region/country/state/part of the country. Above the Official Delegates, the "International Organization Committee" consisting of the President, the International Counselor and an International Organization Secretary who control and direct the activities of the KFA worldwide.

Perceptions of the KFA

There are conflicting views on how to describe the Korean Friendship Association:

The KFA's founder and president, Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Perez, formerly a Barcelona-based IT consultant and since 2004 working full-time for the DPRK government, believes that his web site, although limited, is better than no site at all. Mr Cao de Benos is a citizen of Spain and is a "Special Delegate" of the DPRK government.

Kim Yong Nam, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, described the KFA as follows: "KFA is the main engine of the train of solidarity and friendship with Korea that pulls together the rest of the world and groups. Not only is it making a great contribution for the understanding of DPRK, but also for the building and defense of our socialist system." [3]

The Asia Times offers this description of the KFA [4]: "The KFA indicates clearly that they enjoy the 'support and endorsement' of the Northern regime - Kim Jong-il certified. The group's activities include 'information' seminars where the enlightened benevolence of Kim's rule is championed, all part of its 'alternative' view of the North. The ragged wretched displays of poverty and starvation are edited out and the voice of North Koreans not in the direct employ of Kim Jong-il are conspicuously absent. In place of uncomfortable reality, the KFA offers vacation photos of 'their' North Korea taken during recent, state supported visits, complete with bowling, golf, amusement parks and karaoke with young female party members. Members write glowing pieces, oblations celebrating Kim Jong-il's wise rule. No starving people, torture, summary execution, penury or despair in the Korean Friendship Association's North Korea. Just golf, great meals and evenings in the company of Kim Jong-il's beauties."

Organized trips

The Korean Friendship Association arranges delegations to North Korea for its members and other interested persons. The first of these trips was launched in 2002. Specialized "solidarity trips" have also been organized starting in the summer of 2004. Foreigners who volunteer for these visits appear prominently on North Korean newscasts, and have to participate in all activities which range from helping farmers, doing construction work, dancing and singing traditional folk songs, and attending various performances and political gatherings.

Everyone who travels to North Korea has to hand over their passports and return air tickets to North Korean officials for the duration of the trip. American visitors to the DPRK are regarded as aliens and will be held under close scrutiny at all times, although visitors of other nationalities are generally treated more warmly, Visitors may ask any question, provided that the question is sincere and not intentionally critical against the country or its leaders. Anyone who intentionally insults the country or leaders, or praises its enemies (namely the United States) are either warned, arrested, or deported out of the country, depending on the level of offence. Filming with video cameras in the delegation is not allowed because of past incidents where people filmed things that were confidential, such as military installations, resulting in the confiscation of video tapes by police.

Controversy

Andrew Morse incident, 2004

During the 2004 Reunification March, ABC News journalist Andrew Morse was said to have filmed military targets and other things that caused offence. He ignored several warnings for the first 10 days of the trip. His room was searched by police under national security regulations and 30 videos were confiscated.

When this incident was reported to Mr Cao de Benos, it led to a confrontation on the bus the delegation were travelling in, where Mr. Cao de Benos took Mr. Morse's camera and warned him not to violate again. Mr. Morse alleges that Mr Cao de Benos threatened to have Mr. Morse "hunted down" by his KFA members in China.

After this confrontation, Mr. Cao de Benos went to Pyongyang in a separate government car and searched Mr Morse's hotel room, breaking his laptop. Another American participant's room was also raided by officers accompanied my Mr. Cao de Benos and his laptop damaged. He was not charged with breaking any rule and was eventually compensated for the damage.

Mr. Cao de Benos said about the incident, "Mr. Morse broke almost every rule specified beforehand, including the DPRK law. So after several warnings that he completely ignored, appropriate measures were taken." Mr Morse claims that the charges were as ridiculous and baseless as the official letter of apology he was forced to sign in order to be allowed to leave the country. The KFA's former Communications Secretary Kristian Carter was originally suspended from the KFA after he supported Mr. Morse's attempt to seek asylum in the Swedish embassy, as a result of being threatened by Mr. Cao de Benos. After being suspended Mr. Carter resigned his position in protest and ended up getting into a physical altercation with Mr. Cao de Benos.

Footage of this incident can be seen here video link.

Fmr. KFA Communications Sec. Kristian Carter

The KFA's former Communications Secretary Kristian Carter was originally suspended from the KFA after he supported Mr Morse's disallowed request to seek asylum in the Swedish embassy as a result Mr Cao de Benos' threats.

Sometime after the 2004 Reunification March, former KFA Communications Secretary Kristian Carter sent an e-mail to KFA International Counselor Bjornar Simonsen accusing the group of slander[5]. Simonsen answered that it was not the policy of the KFA to engage in any slander.

See also

External links

Interviews with the KFA

Articles on the KFA

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Korean_Friendship_Association&oldid=78290553"