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North Korea opens up, a little
PYONGYANG, North Korea — It used to be a regular shtick at the People's Army Circus here. To the delight of crowds, clowns would don kamikaze wartime caps and lampoon Japanese. Then they'd clamp on big noses and ridicule Americans.
That kind of mockery, however, ended a few months ago.
"There's no ridiculing of foreigners now," said a Western diplomat who attends the circus regularly.
It's a minor change, but one that reflects a shift in the isolated North Korean capital, where the official attitude toward foreigners has softened and North Korea's propaganda machinery is playing down the nation's military might — and its nuclear weapons program.
excerpt
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story....html#comments
PYONGYANG, North Korea — It used to be a regular shtick at the People's Army Circus here. To the delight of crowds, clowns would don kamikaze wartime caps and lampoon Japanese. Then they'd clamp on big noses and ridicule Americans.
That kind of mockery, however, ended a few months ago.
"There's no ridiculing of foreigners now," said a Western diplomat who attends the circus regularly.
It's a minor change, but one that reflects a shift in the isolated North Korean capital, where the official attitude toward foreigners has softened and North Korea's propaganda machinery is playing down the nation's military might — and its nuclear weapons program.
excerpt
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story....html#comments