Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Perez
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| Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Perez | |
|---|---|
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| Chosŏn'gŭl: | 조선일 |
| Hanja: | 朝鮮一 |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Cho Sŏn-il |
| Revised Romanization: | Jo Seon-il |
Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Pérez (born 1974) is the president of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and has been an advocate of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) since 1990. He is currently an honorary Special Delegate of the DPRK's Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and his activities are occasionally mentioned in bulletins from the Korean Central News Agency. His Korean name, Zo Sun-il ("Korea is One"), is officially recognized by North Korea. He has lived in Tarragona and Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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[edit] North Korean positions and awards
According to the KFA[1], Cao has received several North Korean awards including the International Friendship Order from the DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly, diplomas from the Central Committee of Radio and Television of the DPRK and the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and a personal gift from Kim Jong Il [2].
[edit] Official activities in North Korea
Cao founded the Korean Friendship Association in the year 2000, setting up the first officially approved DPRK website ([3]). The original site was heavily graphics-based, which led to it often being described as tacky and amateurish. Recent parts of the site are created with more modern methods and include a media section and a web-shop where badges, CDs of North Korean music and other items can be bought on-line.
Cao travels regularly to Pyongyang, organizing international delegations for the foreign press, cultural exchanges and business meetings, which entail working with DPRK officials in many ministries in both cultural and diplomatic affairs. He has written numerous articles on matters relating to the political situation in the Korean Peninsula, as well as giving interviews for television, newspapers, radio and internet press. As one of the few foreigners to devoutly follow the DPRK party line, he continues to be greatly involved with the Korean Friendship Association as well as with North Korean international relations, and the reunification of the Korean peninsula.
[edit] Poetry
Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Pérez is also a eulogistic poet in connection with his political activities. Cao's tributary poems have earned him some degree of acclaim in North Korea, specifically a Literary Award from the DPRK Government. A typical example of his state-approved poetry is the following, from Lodestar (2004):
- Beyond the Bektusan
- The Motherland oppressed for so many centuries
- Our beloved Leader transforms the history
- The paradise on earth emerges
- Korea salutes to the eternal Sun of the Juche
- By the streets of Hyangsan
- a child question to his father
- How it is the life beyond the Bektu?
- People kill for money
- The egoism is king
- There's no peace neither harmony
- just a nightmare, nothing else
- Ten years of life are enough to pull a trigger
- Ten thousand are needed so that the miracle takes place
- What is our fortune?
- From the sky came a great warrior
- With a heart purer than the diamond
- He rescued us from the suffering
- Brought the happiness and pride
- to this horizon
- To live and to die following his steps
- There will be no tear lakes that fill the emptiness
- But guns and soldiers who will defend his conquest
[edit] Controversy and criticism
Cao is known to expel and blacklist members of the KFA for "disrespect." He has also been accused of threatening and intimidating journalists who are critical of the DPRK. When ABC News' Andrew Morse visited North Korea in 2004, Cao removed his camera and allegedly threatened to have him "hunted down" when he returned to China, because he did not approve of his choice of language while describing the Kochang co-operative farms . He went on to search Morse's Pyongyang hotel room, damaging his laptop, and forced him to sign a letter of apology in order to be able to leave the country.
In 2002, Michael Moynihan, author of political blog The Politburo, attempted to enter an essay contest being run by the Korean Friendship Association [4]. He received the response from Mr. Cao that because of his earlier criticism of North Korea - which Cao described as "insulting marketing" - he would receive no help from the KFA to obtain a visa to enter the country. Cao's response also included Moynihan's personal address and phone number, apparently in an attempt to intimidate him.
Various critics of North Korean policies have accused Cao of being a "useful idiot" for the North Korean government; the same remark is also applied to the KFA as such.
Cao describes life in Spain as "Starbucks coffee flowering like mushrooms and CNN as the only true bible in my screen".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Video: I Will Be A Soldier of Marshal Kim Jong-il at Google Video: a profile of Alejandro Cao de Benos broadcast on Korean Central Television.
- People's Korea An interview with Alejandro Cao de Benos in People's Korea, August 28th, 2004
- North Korean Website A National Public Radio interview with Mr. Cao de Benos, Weekend Edition - Saturday, January 4, 2003
- Joongang Daily (PDF format) An interview of Mr. Cao de Benos in a South Korean newspaper, April 14th, 2005
- DearLeader.com: Kim Jong Il's fanboy home page Slate.com's tech editor reviews Cao de Benos' website.
