Though Cao de Benos grew up
and was raised in the Spain, he is now a delegate of North Korea’s Foreign
Ministry. I was very surprised when I found out about this. A successful, Spanish
technology consultant, is a highly enthusiastic North Korean govt. employee and
advocate.
What I
am even more curious about is how and why he came to idealize the North Korean
communist system. The article says that he first immersed himself in communist
ideology when he was just 15 years old. What drove him into communism in the
first place? To me, this is highly interesting, though I must admit, I am
slightly weirded out.
Also,
it is not even as if he is unaware of the bad situation in North Korea. He even
readily admits that he has seen the starvation in the North. Yet he is still
such a fervent advocate and supporter of North Korea. He even produced
self-funded propaganda for Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, before he was
granted an official government job.
It is also strange to me that even after such
a trivial disagreement over a North Korean famine with Andrew Morse, a
journalist, that he would resort to such harsh behavior as to ransack Morse’s
room and confiscate 32 hours of videotape. Why is this famine so important to
Cao de Benos that he would actually take the tape from Morse?
All in
all, I find Cao de Benos to be a mysterious and strange person. Much of his
role in North Korea is unknown and some people even think him to be a double
agent. What an interesting article.
A thoughtful entry, Philip. I, too, wonder as to the circumstances that led Mr. Alejandro Cao de Benos to admire the communist policies of North Korea. The article explains that, as a child, Alejandro witnessed his father "go from being a nobleman to a laborer." That the author of the article chose to add this piece of information may suggest a belief as to causality. Had I been in such a situation, I suppose I would come out with a jaded view towards capitalism, seeing it as fickle and capricious. Perhaps this was the case for Alejandro? It is quite telling that Alejandro read Karl Marx. Admittedly, his writings can be quite persuasive, easily able to stoke the passions of young, open-minded individuals. In any event, I look forward to future posts.
ReplyDeleteAs I read your blog, I had the same idea as you; what a weird man!!! Cao is truly one of the few people born out of North Korea to want to get in North Korea and live in its unsophisticated ways. I believe that Cao's irrational behavior about the food shortage stems from his job as a North Korean government worker.
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