Kim Jong Il’s Field Guidance

The Low Tech Approach to Presentations for Visiting Dignitaries

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What Is Field Guidance?• At the end of visits to factories, farms,

schools, large construction sites, etc. Kim Jong Il offers “Field Guidance” to the managers and staff of the entity.

• Field Guidance is dutifully recorded by the managers and accompanying state media.

• Field Guidance can be of a general but also of a specific, technical nature.

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Examples of Field GuidanceField Guidance to Construction Site of Huichon Power Station 2009-09-18

Noting that every minute and second in the construction sites of the Huichon Power Station witness a leaping advance and innovation and world-startling miracles are being wrought without let-up in the crucible of this high-pitched drive, he said with pride that this great speed precisely means a new Chollima speed, “Huichon speed” based on the revolutionary soldier spirit, the basis of Songun politics.

After making the rounds of the construction sites, he put forth on the spot highly important tasks which would serve as guidelines for completing the construction of the Huichon Power Station ahead of schedule.

He expressed conviction that the builders of the power station would unconditionally complete the Huichon Power Station till 2012 by displaying popular heroism and matchless devotion and thus live up to the Party’s trust and expectation with shining feats.

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Examples of Field GuidanceField Guidance to Scientific Institution 2009-07-01

Our science and technology can serve as a powerful engine for the revolution and construction and provide a scientific and technological guarantee for building a great, prosperous and powerful nation only when they are closely combined with production, he said, underlining the need for the scientists and technicians to pay primary attention to the scientific researches relying on the domestic resources.

Urging the scientists and technicians to choose, study and settle the scientific and technological issues whose solution is required by the realities, he stressed that, to this end, they should establish the revolutionary habit of keeping abreast of the pulsating reality and solving scientific and technological problems arising in different fields of the national economy and introduce their research achievements into production in good time by relying on the strength of the popular masses so that they may pay off.

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Low Tech Approach• Whether by choice or by

necessity (lack of electricity), presentations and note taking are done without electronic gadgets (PDAs or Smartphones) or computers.

• There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach as we will see in the following slides.

North Korea

South Korea

Night Time Map of the Korean Peninsula (Source: U.S. Dept. of Defense?)

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Presentations• No computers = No PowerPoint• Instead, large, custom-made, hand-painted displays are used,

either outdoors or indoors.• These kind of large displays are also popular in South Korea,

Japan, and China.

Kujang Fish Farm

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Display ExamplesMines in Komdok Area

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Display ExamplesKumyagang Power Station

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Display ExamplesMigok Co-op Farm in Sariwon City

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Display ExamplesSungni Motor Complex

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Display ExamplesNew Apartment Complex

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Large Displays = Large Pointers

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Large Displays = Large Pointers

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Large Displays Pros and Cons• Pros:

– Easily readable without projectors or darkened rooms; physical presence (like a painting in a museum); format forces you to put a lot of thought into the product before painting it (focus on the message). Everybody is standing during the presentation so nobody can doze off. A slideshow could consist of several displays in a row which could be perused during a leisurely walk (health benefit!). Could end up as outsider art in a New York City gallery.

• Cons:– Static; hard to make changes; require a lot of space; no

slide show capability; expensive to produce.

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Note Taking• Managers and staff use small notebooks to

record Field Guidance. • No PDAs or other electronic gadgets.• Notebooks are prominently displayed at all

times and eagerly used.

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Notebooks

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Notebooks

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Notebooks Pros and Cons• Pros:

– No equipment failures (dead batteries, software, lost files); no distractions (secret texting, etc.); no disruptions (cell phone ringing); inexpensive. Pages can be used as toilet paper when local co-op store runs out.

• Pro/Con: – Managers can’t delete notes (unless they eat the pages) so government

spies can always find out what is going on.• Cons:

– No connectivity; limited storage capacity; no data encryption; secret doodling; passing notes in class; small paper airplanes will poke your eyes out.

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Special TreatmentGloves: only Kim Jong Il wears gloves

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Do Gloves Interfere With Taking Notes?

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Kim’s Big UmbrellaThe big umbrella needs a

strong man to hold it

“February General Steelworks”

Jagang Provincial Institute of Forest Science

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Stories From the FieldEven on Raining Day Pyongyang, September 1 (KCNA)It was on a rainy day in July Juche 97 (2008) when General Secretary Kim Jong Il called at Kanggye Unha Clothing Factory.

The officials of the factory were surprised to see trousers of the leader getting off the car wet.

Before the officials saluted him, he requested them to enter the factory quickly as it was raining.

Looking round the production site, dress sample room and others, he familiarized himself with efforts of its officials and workers.

When he was leaving, the officials of the factory earnestly told him that he would shelter himself from rain for a while.

But he got on the car, saying that he had seen many good things at the factory and they should do much work for the people in the future, too.

When the car went out of sight, they regretted belatedly that they had not given him a suite of spare clothes.

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Stories From the FieldMeticulous Benevolent Affection

Pyongyang, July 14 (KCNA)

General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited the Hamhung Disabled Soldiers' Essential Plastic Goods Factory on April 15, Juche 92 (2003).

After a while he went back in a hurry saying that since it was the Day of the Sun the disabled soldiers of the factory might enjoy the holiday at ease only after he and his suite left it.

That evening he instructed officials to send foodstuffs to the disabled soldiers so that they could celebrate the holiday well and selected various kinds of foodstuffs one by one.

Something made him look dissatisfied. He asked officials whether they had something more.

An official spoke ambiguously, saying that there were padded clothes but it was warm. The leader talked of sending the padded clothes along with foodstuffs, adding that they might put on them next winter.

Warm, indeed, was the affection shown by Kim Jong Il for the disabled soldiers.

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All North Korean images provided by:Korea News Service (KNS)

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

An Atomic Gondola Production

The End

Kim Jong Il’s Field Guidance: “This doll is not anatomically correct!”