DPRK Ambassador thanks CanKor

[Ambassador Sin Son Ho, the DPRK ambassador to Canada and Permanent Representative to the United Nations headquarters in New York, expressed his “deepest thanks” to CanKor Editor-in-Chief Erich Weingartner for the message of condolence on the death of DPRK leader Kim Jong Il. A PDF file of the signed letter on UN Mission letterhead can be found here. The text of the letter is as follows. –CanKor]

CanKor Editor Erich Weingartner with DPRK Ambassador Sin Son Ho.

New York, 12 January 2012

Dear Mr. Erich Weingartner,

I would like to express my deepest thanks to you for your message of condolences on 19 December 2012 on the sudden passing of His Excellency KIM JONG IL, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army.

Your message of condolences in sharing the sorrow with us represents a great support and inspiration to our people, who have turned their grief over the loss of their leader into courage and strength and are fully resolved to surely build a socialist prosperous and powerful country, upholding the behest of great leader KIM JONG IL and single-mindedly unite around His Excellency KIM JONG UN, Supreme Leader of the Party, State and Military of DPRK.

Best regards,

Sin Son Ho

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Related articles

• Death of Kim Jong Il: Official DPRK Announcement (CanKor.ca)
• DPRK Mourns Death of “Dear Leader” (CanKor.ca)
• The DPRK Interregnum: Window of Opportunity for the International Community by Victor Hsu (CanKor.ca)
• Is Canada quietly feeding North Koreans? by Erich Weingartner (CanKor.ca)
• CanKor Report #340: Islands of Probability in a Sea of Uncertainty (CanKor.ca)

Six North Korean professors study economics at UBC

Sauder School of Business (Photo by UBC)

[CanKor Brain Trust member Prof. Park Kyung-Ae, director of the Center for Korean Research at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, is host to six DPRK Professors who are studying economics for 6 months at UBC. CanKor has been aware of this project for some time, but honoured Dr. Park’s request for discretion, considering the sensitivity of the guests and the subject they are studying. The article we are reprinting here appeared first in the Yonhap News Service and is taken from The Korea Times. An earlier article in Asahi.com by Yoshihiro Makino, under the title “N. Korean professors start capitalism studies in Canada” contained some factual errors which have been corrected in the current article. The DPRK’s Ambassador (to Canada) Sin Son Ho, accompanied by two of his colleagues from the DPRK Permanent Mission to the United Nation in New York visited Vancouver from 11 to 14 August to meet with the visiting professors, who are the first group to have been invited under the Canada-DPRK Knowledge Partnership Program, which Professor Park helped launch at UBC last year. –CanKor.]

SAN FRANCISCO (Yonhap) — Six North Korean professors are studying economics and other related subjects at a university in Canada on a months-long program initiated by the school, the program director said Wednesday, opening a rare opportunity for the people of the repressive regime.

Cheonan investigation: Clarification on Canadian role

Numerous reports and rumours about the non-existent role of Canada in the “The Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group” (JIG) have been circulating in the media. DPRK Ambassador Sin Son Ho told a Press Conference in New York that “Canada officially announced that it would send its experts to south Korea on 16 May 2010, four days before the release of the ’investigation result’ by south Korea and nothing is known about when they arrived in south Korea and whether they really participated in the joint investigation.” Similar comments can be found in John McGlynn’s paper in The Asia-Pacific Journal, and CanKor reader “Jay” asked detailed questions about Canada’s role as a comment in the CanKor Blog.