For the South, a TV Stunner; in the North, Fanfare Is Lacking
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
New York Times
June 15, 2000SEOUL, South Korea, Thursday, June 15 -- All day long and late into the night, the remarkable scenes from their president's visit to the mysterious brother-land to the north kept South Koreans locked to their television sets.
There was the visiting first lady, Lee Hee Ho, being entertained at an elementary school, watching impeccably dressed children perform dance and musical recitals with icy precision. She also met a former teacher, Kim Ji Han, in their first encounter in more than 60 years.
There was the strangely birdlike traffic police officer, swiveling 180 degrees with astonishing crispness as she repeatedly reversed direction and executed elaborate hand signals on a broad boulevard visibly empty of vehicles, or even pedestrians.
Perhaps most intriguing, there was the sight of the relaxed presidents of two Korean states long bitterly divided, Kim Dae Jung of the South and Kim Jong Il of the North, exchanging quips. The North Korean leader spoke of having slipped overseas secretly and dismissed his reputation in the West as an enigmatic recluse. The scenes and import were captured in the banner headline of The Korea Times this morning that read, "Two Koreas Sign Accord to Promote Peace." Like the rest of the South Korean media, it relied on joint reports filed by a pack of South Korean reporters who traveled to Pyongyang.
But the people of the North, a totalitarian society, did not even see this breath of "Truman Show"-like glimpses of history in the making. The remarkable scene of the arrival of the president from Seoul on Tuesday and his surprise airport greeting and ride to town with Kim Jong Il were shown on Northern television.
But beyond that, coverage of the summit meeting has been sparse and carefully edited. None of Kim Dae Jung's stirring words about unity, or about overcoming differences, have been broadcast on North Korean media. Indeed, as of Wednesday night's historic banquet, South Korean monitors said Pyongyang's official press had not once quoted the visiting head of state.
The North Korean media have made no special broadcasts, and it has acted without fanfare.
Instead, each time the two leaders met under the glare of South Korean video cameras, there has been an audible whir of Soviet-era cameras capturing the event on film for broadcast to the nation later. That allows editing intended to maintain the prestige and dignity of the Northern leader.
North Korean leaders watched closely, and probably with disquiet, the experience of their remaining ally in the world, China, as it has gradually relaxed political controls. And for Pyongyang, a lesson of the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, when student demonstrators invoked the name of the reformist Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, seems to be that the people must not be allowed to have competing heroes.
"If nothing else, the North Koreans have been attentive to history," a former high ranking South Korean official said. "Their priority remains controlling the messages that their people are allowed to hear."
South Korean experts said the North seemed to be treating this event according to old and familiar rules. Accordingly, those who engage with the Dear Leader, as Mr. Kim is officially known, must be seen by the public as supplicants. According to this view, even the historic car ride from the airport shared by the two leaders was an act of supreme manipulation. The unexpected scene produced tears in the eyes of many South Koreans.
Seen another way, however, whisking the visitor into a waiting limousine deprived Kim Dae Jung of a chance to read an arrival speech, depriving him of a chance to address the North in a setting that would have been difficult to edit out.
"Everything about the way this has been covered has been controlled by the North Korean authorities," Kwan Okie, a former South Korean newspaper editor, said. "In the Western sense, there has been no coverage at all. Sure, the ride together was history. But looked at another way, it was almost a hostage taking."
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