Notes from the Editor

10

Notes from the Editor of the Day

The following is a message smuggled out of North Korea via a micro memory chip in a diplomatic pouch. It is included in this work because it concerns one of the few countries in the grip of the iron fist of an entrenched dictatorship, which has precluded transition there as in Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. Hopefully by the time you read this, the writer’s hopes will be realized.

I will also include an update regarding Iran.

- Beatrice Allen, Editor of the Day

To the big world outside,

I will not give my name, because I hope to live long enough to continue working for change.

I am writing on behalf of all of the people in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Most of us know nothing of the world outside, except that something has happened that has changed most of the world into a wasteland of barbarism against which we must always be prepared to defend ourselves. Our Glorious Supreme Leader and our army are all that stands between us and them.

For those in the Hostile and Wavering castes, that is all that they know. It is all that they can know. They are closely watched and their every word and move is scrutinized.

For those of us in the Core caste, there is a little more access to information. That is how I accidentally came upon this book about The Cure. Of course I reported it to my superiors as a potential threat. They told me to read it and prepare a threat assessment. I did so, but what I read touched off some deep thinking.

There was a lot of it that I didn’t understand. It had to do with the world outside. All I know about it is what our Glorious Supreme Leader has told us, and a few glimpses I’ve had in my job in national cybersecurity work.

I understood enough to see that our Glorious Supreme Leader is just like those modern feudal lords in the book. And I have learned that whatever it was like in the world outside before transition, it is much better now. I realize that transition is like the embodiment of the intention of our core value of juche. We have fallen behind.

I know that no one will intervene in the internal affairs of the DPRK, but we need some help if there is any way. I am risking my life just writing this, as is my friend who is helping me take this out to the world outside. I hope my precautions are enough. By the time anyone reads this, I may be dead. But I don’t mind this risk.

We are so tightly controlled and monitored that the kind of planning process or even dissemination of the book that is suggested is not possible here. Yet I know that many in our country would be receptive. We just need a way to get the information to many people in all three castes without getting them imprisoned or killed. And we don’t know how to free ourselves of the Kim dynasty.

I’m asking for advice and any technical assistance that is possible. The hidden metadata encoded in this message will give you a way to make contact, if not with me then with another trusted person.

I hope I live to see my country free itself and transition to a new world to know the true meaning of juche.

- Anonymous

Note from Editor of the Day on Iran:

We have news from contacts inside of Iran of a current expansion in propagation of The Cure within the country. It has taken longer than in almost any other country, but it is finally approaching critical mass. Transitionaries there have used some ingenious methods and tricks to share, spread, and study The Cure. To protect their work, we won’t share what those methods are; but as of the time of this writing, there are a growing number of Huffaz who, in addition to the Koran, have memorized the long and short versions of The Cure in Farsi. They share the view of most serious contemporary Islamic scholars that transition is fundamentally in harmony with the teachings of Islam and does not contradict it in any way.

Analysts estimate that Iran will be ready to transition within one to two years. Advisors are working with transitionaries in Iran to map out a strategy. It is expected that if the timing is right, a general strike of between one and two weeks will destabilize the government enough to force a regime change. Then when people return to work, the reverse strike will begin, and transition will be complete.

Let us all be ready to render them any support that they may need!

- Beatrice Allen, Editor of the Day