You Say It’s Your Birthday: North Korea Imports Chinese Automobiles as Gifts

The Huanqiu Shibao reports that North Korea has purchased more than 100 Chinese automobiles as gifts to be given by Kim Jong Il (during the three-day period that marks his father’s birthday).  According to the report, Kim spent more than 5 million US dollars on the automobiles, and plans to give them to mid-level cadre, particularly in the security sectors, who are disgruntled as a result of having lost their savings in the disastrous December currency revaluation.  They (the cars, not the cadre) moved through the Chinese city of Dandong a few days ago.

And speaking of Sino-North Korean relations and father-son duos, the Huanqiu has been running some interesting stories of late dealing with (son of Mao Zedong) Mao Anying’s time behind the lines of the Korean War battlefields (not to mention more info on Lin Biao during the Cultural Revolution).   Apparently the young Mao was, according to this story, skillful enough in English to interrogate an American POW captured by the Chinese armies.