REWIND: NYT’s Nicholas Kristof in North Korea Shares Photos of ‘Fun’ and Pizza
Posted: January 3, 2018 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Instagram, New York Times, Nicholas Kristof, North Korea, propaganda, Pyongyang 1 Comment
Eddie Scarry reports: Liberal New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is reporting from North Korea and sharing photos on social media of school children, food and the “fun” he is witnessing in the rogue country.
“North Koreans like to have fun, too.”
— Nicholas Kristof
Kristof began tweeting and posting photos to Instagram on Tuesday and he said he has interviewed government officials and toured “a side of the country that doesn’t always come through.”
One photo showed what appeared to be an amusement park. “North Koreans like to have fun, too,” Kristof wrote in the caption of one photo that showed a park ride. “People were shouting happily on this ride on an amusement park.”
In another photo from North Korea, a country that has long faced food shortages resulting in a largely starved population, Kristof showed a meal he was having.
“Lunch in Pyongyang, North Korea, at a pizza restaurant with live music,” the caption said. Read the rest of this entry »
North Korea’s Ultimatum to America
Posted: September 6, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, Mediasphere, Self Defense, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Donald Trump, France, James Mattis, Korea, Korean Peninsula, North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea, United Nations Security Council, United States 1 Comment
Caroline B. Glick writes: The nuclear confrontation between the US and North Korea entered a critical phase Sunday with North Korea’s conduct of an underground test of a thermonuclear bomb.
If the previous round of this confrontation earlier this summer revolved around Pyongyang’s threat to attack the US territory of Guam, Sunday’s test, together with North Korea’s recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the continental US, was a direct threat to US cities.
In other words, the current confrontation isn’t about US superpower status in Asia, and the credibility of US deterrence or the capabilities of US military forces in the Pacific. The confrontation is now about the US’s ability to protect the lives of its citizens.
The distinction tells us a number of important things. All of them are alarming.
First, because this is about the lives of Americans, rather than allied populations like Japan and South Korea, the US cannot be diffident in its response to North Korea’s provocation. While attenuated during the Obama administration, the US’s position has always been that US military forces alone are responsible for guaranteeing the collective security of the American people.
Pyongyang is now directly threatening that security with hydrogen bombs. So if the Trump administration punts North Korea’s direct threat to attack US population centers with nuclear weapons to the UN Security Council, it will communicate profound weakness to its allies and adversaries alike.
Obviously, this limits the options that the Trump administration has. But it also clarifies the challenge it faces.
The second implication of North Korea’s test of their plutonium-based bomb is that the US’s security guarantees, which form the basis of its global power and its alliance system are on the verge of becoming completely discredited. Read the rest of this entry »
OH HELL YEAH: U.S. Urges All Nationals In North Korea To ‘Depart Immediately’, Bans Tourists From Visiting
Posted: July 21, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Global, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: BBC, China, Intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, Nuclear weapon, Pyongyang, South Korea, Today (BBC Radio 4), United States Leave a comment
YA THINK? The U.S. is to ban its citizens from travelling to North Korea.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that the ban would be published next week in the Federal Register, to come into effect 30 days later.
US officials linked the move to the death of jailed American student Otto Warmbier.
Once the ban is in effect, US citizens will need special validation to travel to or within North Korea.
Mr Warmbier travelled to North Korea with Young Pioneer Tours. He was arrested in 2016 for trying to steal a propaganda sign and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was returned to the US in a coma in June and died a week later.
How did the news come to light?
Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours, who both operate in North Korea, revealed on Friday that they had been told of the upcoming ban by the Swedish embassy, which acts for the US as Washington has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
Rowan Beard, of Young Pioneer Tours, told the BBC the embassy was urging all US nationals to depart immediately.
He said the embassy was trying to check on the number of US tourists left in the country.
What form will the ban take?
Ms Nauert’s statement said: “Due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement, the Secretary has authorised a Geographical Travel Restriction on all US nationals’ use of a passport to travelling through, or to North Korea.
“Once in effect, US passports will be invalid for travel to, through, and in North Korea, and individuals will be required to obtain a passport with a special validation in order to travel to or within North Korea.
“We intend to publish a notice in the Federal Register next week.
“The restriction will be implemented 30 days after publication.”
Rowan Beard said that the 30-day grace period would “give leeway for any [Americans] currently in the country as tourists or on humanitarian work”.
How have the travel agencies reacted?
Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours told the BBC the agency would still conduct tours and take Americans until the ban came into effect.
“If their country allows them to go, we will take them,” he said.
Mr Cockerell added: “It’s unfortunate for the industry but also for North Koreans who want to know what Americans are really like.”
After the death of Mr Warmbier, the China-based Young Pioneer Tours announced it would no longer take visitors from the US to the country. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] N. Korea’s ICBM Test Prompts Statement by Secretary Tillerson, July 4, 2017
Posted: July 5, 2017 Filed under: Breaking News, Foreign Policy, Global, U.S. News, War Room | Tags: DPRK, ICBMs, Intercontinental Missile, North Korea, Pyongyang, Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, U.N. Security Council 1 Comment
BREAKING: Otto Warmbier Dies Days After Release from North Korean Detainment
Posted: June 19, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere | Tags: Associated Press, Dennis Rodman, Donald Trump, Fox News Channel, North Korea, Ohio, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Rex Tillerson, United States Leave a comment
Warmbier returned from North Korea last week in a coma.
Susan Svrluga reports: Otto Warmbier, University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half, died Monday afternoon, his parents announced … (read more)
[Otto Warmbier’s father denounces North Korea]
Source: The Washington Post – New York Post
[VIDEO] North Korea: Pyongyang’s Putdowns Target Obama, Clinton, Kerry
Posted: May 9, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: China, Kim Dong Chul (businessman), Kim Jong-un, Korea, Korean Central News Agency, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology Leave a commentIn another life, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s propaganda chief could have had a heck of a career as an insult comic.
The latest screed from Pyongyang’s unnamed prince of prose (or princes — it’s unclear how many write these gems) was delivered Monday in response to Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., asserting Kim Jong Un was a “whack job.”
Like previous statements, it bucked all norms for engaging in international repartee:
“It is a serious provocation that Gardner, like a psychopath, dare to bear the evil that dares our highest dignity,” the statement said, according to a translation. “It is America’s misfortune that a man mixed in with human dirt like Gardner, who has lost basic judgment and body hair, could only spell misfortune for the United States.”
The real-world reference point behind some of the putdowns, most of which are disseminated by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, is unclear. Gardner, for instance, has a full head of hair.
But KCNA has been dealing out hits against U.S. and international politicians for years, perfecting a style that’s veered from jaw-dropping to shockingly racist.
Among the worst insults directed at former President Barack Obama, North Korea in 2014 branded him a “juvenile delinquent,” “clown” and a “dirty fellow.” Obama, the KCNA statement said, was somebody who “does not even have the basic appearances of a human being.” Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Krauthammer: North Korean Nuclear Program Faces Pressure from China, U.S. – Will Anything Change?
Posted: April 28, 2017 Filed under: China, Foreign Policy, Mediasphere, Think Tank, War Room, White House | Tags: Charles Krauthammer, ICBM, North Korea, Pyongyang, Xi 1 CommentIt seems to be a deliberate provocation by the leadership in Pyongyang, but it is not, as John Roberts pointed out, the kind of ICBM that would threaten us. It is still liquid-fueled, so it is not advanced in its technology. It seems to me simply a deliberate provocation with us at the Security Council, with our secretary of state presiding over the meeting, with all the threats, with the president saying we are near, or at least there’s a threat of a major, major conflict here – trying to challenge the Trump administration to say, “Show us what you’ve got.” And what the administration seems to be saying is, “We’ve got China.” Well, we don’t see anything from China. We just heard that the Chinese are in contact with the North Koreans to try and put pressure on them not to test. Well, they did test. So I think we are now at point where we are going to see whether the Chinese connection is an illusion whether Trump was taken in by the meeting with Xi, president of China, or whether this is really a process where they have agreed to do things over time, but we haven’t seen a thing yet, and this is a way for the North Koreans to try, at least preliminarily, to call the American bluff.
Source: National Review
[VIDEO] U.S. Keeps Its Military Threat Alive While Pressing North Korea
Posted: April 26, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Foreign Policy, Global, Guns and Gadgets, Mediasphere, War Room, White House | Tags: Bashar al-Assad, Donald Trump, Korean Peninsula, North Korea, Pyongyang, United Nations Security Council, United States, United States Pacific Command, USS Carl Vinson, White House Leave a comment
Senators briefed at WH by military, intelligence officials.
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration said it is launching an urgent push, combining diplomatic pressure and the threat of military action in a bid to halt North Korea’s advancing nuclear-weapons program.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, one of those who briefed senators at a classified briefing hosted by the White House on Wednesday, also plans to host a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, where he will propose international officials redouble efforts to enforce economic sanctions and isolate North Korea.
North Korea’s Missile Advancements
The State Department said Mr. Tillerson is considering harsh measures such as asking other countries to shut down North Korea’s embassies and other diplomatic facilities. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Pence Went To The DMZ Just To Stare Down North Korean Soldiers
Posted: April 17, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, Mediasphere, War Room, White House | Tags: Agence France-Presse, Donald Trump, Hwang Kyo-ahn, Korea, Korean Demilitarized Zone, North Korea, Pyongyang, Rex Tillerson, South Korea, United States Leave a commentVice President Mike Pence broke from his schedule Monday morning and took an unannounced trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
Though other top ranking U.S. officials have visited the DMZ in the past, Pence actually ventured outside and stared down North Korean troops.
Mike Pence (CNN)
“Yeah, you better keep walking.”
In addition to his visit to the DMZ, Pence sent North Korea a warning statement Monday morning … (read more)
Source: The Daily Caller
[VIDEO] HISTORY: Feb. 6, 1959: Titan Launches; Cold War Heats Up
Posted: February 6, 2017 Filed under: Guns and Gadgets, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, Self Defense, Space & Aviation, War Room | Tags: Ash Carter, Donald Trump, Intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim Jong-un, KN-08, Korean Central News Agency, North Korea, Pyongyang, United States, Yonhap Leave a comment(1) Titan launch test from Cape Canaveral, only first stage engine tested, 2nd stage only a dummy, engine with 300,000 lbs thrust successful (2) News In Brief – Berlin mayor Willy Brandt arrives in U.S., speaks in English (3) “Virginia” – Fort Meyer VA funeral of 6 bodies returned by Russia, crew of plane shot done by Russia, no word of other 11 crew missing (partial newsreel).
1959: The United States successfully test-fires its first Titan I intercontinental ballistic missile. The threat of global nuclear holocaust moves from the plausible to the likely.
Tony Long The Titan I was not the first ICBM: Both the United States and Soviet Union had already deployed ICBMs earlier in the 1950s (the Atlas A by the Americans, the R-7 by the Russians). But the Titan represented a new generation, a liquid-fueled rocket with greater range and a more powerful payload that upped the ante in the Cold War.
The Titan that the U.S. Air Force successfully launched from Cape Canaveral featured a two-stage 
liquid rocket capable of delivering a 4-megaton warhead to targets 8,000 miles away. A 4-megaton detonation, puny by today’s standards, nevertheless dwarfed the destructive power of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
Read the full story here, at WIRED]
The Titan’s range meant that, firing from its home turf, the United States was now capable of hitting targets in Eastern Europe, the western Soviet Union and the Soviet Far East.
The first squadron of Titan I’s was declared operational in April 1962. By the mid-’60s, five squadrons were deployed in the western United States.
The missiles were stored in protective underground silos, but had to be brought to the surface for firing. The Titan II, which began appearing in large numbers during the mid-’60s and eventually supplanted the Titan I, would be the first ICBM that could be launched directly from its silo.
Today, ICBMs can be launched from silos, from mobile launchers and, most effectively, from submarines. Read the rest of this entry »
China Tests Missile With 10 Warheads
Posted: January 31, 2017 Filed under: Asia, China, Guns and Gadgets, Mediasphere, Space & Aviation, War Room | Tags: Ash Carter, Beijing, Donald Trump, Intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim Jong-un, KN-08, Lockheed Martin, Missile, Missile Defense Agency, Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, North Korea, Outer Space Treaty, People's Liberation Army, President of the United States, Pyongyang, RIM-161 Standard Missile 3, South China Sea, The Pentagon, Yonhap Leave a comment
Multi-warhead weapon tested amid growing tensions with the United States.
The flight test of the DF-5C missile was carried out earlier this month using 10 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs. The test of the inert warheads was monitored closely by U.S. intelligence agencies, said two officials familiar with reports of the missile test.
The missile was fired from the Taiyuan Space Launch Center in central China and flew to an impact range in the western Chinese desert.
[DF-5 launch]
No other details about the test could be learned. Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Gary Ross suggested in a statement the test was monitored.
“The [Defense Department] routinely monitors Chinese military developments and accounts for PLA capabilities in our defense plans,” Ross told the Washington Free Beacon.
The test of a missile with 10 warheads is significant because it indicates the secretive Chinese military is increasing the number of warheads in its arsenal.
Estimates of China’s nuclear arsenal for decades put the number of strategic warheads at the relatively low level of around 250 warheads.
U.S. intelligence agencies in February reportedthat China had begun adding warheads to older DF-5 missiles, in a move that has raised concerns for strategic war planners.
Uploading Chinese missiles from single or triple warhead configurations to up to 10 warheads means the number of warheads stockpiled is orders of magnitude larger than the 250 estimate.
Currently, U.S. nuclear forces—land-based and sea-based nuclear missiles and bombers—have been configured to deter Russia’s growing nuclear forces and the smaller Chinese nuclear force.
Under the 2010 U.S.-Russian arms treaty, the United States is slated to reduce its nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed warheads.
[Read the full story here, at freebeacon.com]
A boost in the Chinese nuclear arsenal to 800 or 1,000 warheads likely would prompt the Pentagon to increase the U.S. nuclear warhead arsenal by taking weapons out of storage.
The new commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, stated during a Senate confirmation hearing in September that he is concerned about China’s growing nuclear arsenal.
“I am fully aware that China continues to modernize its nuclear missile force and is striving for a secure second-strike capability,” Hyten told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Although it continues to profess a ‘no first use’ doctrine, China is re-engineering its long-range ballistic missiles to carry multiple nuclear warheads and continues to develop and test hyper-glide vehicle technologies,” Hyten added. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Dr. K: North Korea Would Be the First ‘Insane Regime’ with Long-Range Nukes
Posted: January 2, 2017 Filed under: Asia, Global, Mediasphere, Terrorism, Think Tank, War Room | Tags: Donald Trump, Intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Korean Central News Agency, List of leaders of North Korea, North Korea, Nuclear weapon, Pyongyang, South Korea Leave a commentNorth Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017
“If this occurs, if the North Koreans test an intercontinental ballistic missile, that means they could wipe out Los Angeles tomorrow, if they can mount a warhead on it. That would be the single most important and threatening action that one can imagine for 2017. When Trump says “It’s not going to happen,” I don’t know what he quite means. But if he means a preemptive attack by the United States or something of that sort, we are looking at a crisis of the ultimate proportions.”
“…he’s aware of the fact that we are looking at what could be a strategic hinge point in history. That would be really serious. This is an insane regime with the ability to push a button and wipe out a U.S. city. That has never happened. We have had the Chinese, the Russians, but they are not insane. That’s quite different. I think he is recognizing we have an issue. I think he ought to be asked in the next press conference, ‘What exactly do you mean by ‘It ain’t gonna happen’?”
Source: National Review
North Korea Able to Launch Nuclear Warhead on Missile, US Military Official Warns, But Controlling it? Not So Much
Posted: December 11, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Global, Guns and Gadgets, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Associated Press, Center for Strategic and International Studies, China, Hermit Kingdom, Kim Jong-un, Korea, North Korea, Pyongyang, United States, United States Armed Forces 1 Comment
WASHINGTON — North Korea now has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday, adding that while the U.S. believes Pyongyang can mount a warhead on a missile, it’s not clear that it can hit a target.
“It is the threat that keeps me awake at night, primarily because we don’t know what the dear leader in North Korea really is after. Truthfully, they have the capability, right now, to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon. They’re just not sure about re-entry and that’s why they continue to test their systems.”
The official said it appears that North Korea can mount a nuclear warhead on a missile, but may not have the re-entry capabilities for a strategic strike. That would include the ability of the weapon to get back through the atmosphere without burning up and the ability to hit the intended target. The official said North Korea continues to try and overcome those limitations.
The Pentagon continues to revise itscontingency plans regarding a North Korean strike, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity. The military routinely develops plans for all threat possibilities.
“It is the threat that keeps me awake at night,” the official said, “primarily because we don’t know what the dear leader in North Korea really is after. Truthfully, they have the capability, right now, to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon. They’re just not sure about re-entry and that’s why they continue to test their systems.”
U.S. officials have steadily expanded their assessments of Pyongyang’s nuclear abilities. Adm. William Gortney, then-head of U.S. Northern Command, said in March that Pyongyang may have figured out how to make a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a long-range missile. Read the rest of this entry »
Japan and South Korean Governments Expand Unilateral Sanctions Against North Korea
Posted: December 2, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Japan, Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un, Korean Central News Agency, North Korea, North Korea and weapons of mass destruction, Nuclear weapons testing, Park Geun-hye, Pyongyang, SEOUL, South Korea, United Nations Security Council Leave a comment
The government decided Friday to strengthen unilateral sanctions against North Korea using measures such as expanding the range of entities and individuals subject to asset freezes.
The decision follows North Korea’s repeated nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches.
The new measures, which are in line with the unilateral sanctions introduced in February, include expanding a reentry ban to include people who have traveled to North Korea.
The government intends to urge Pyongyang to change its position by stringently blocking the departure and entry of people linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments and flow of funds, according to sources.
“I intend to take further unilateral measures in cooperation with the United States and South Korea,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a meeting of Cabinet ministers concerned with the issue of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea, held at the Prime Minister’s Office the same day.
[Read the full text here, at The Japan News]
Under the new measures, the range of asset freezes will be expanded to 54 entities and 58 individuals, the sources said.
The list includes a trading company in Liaoning Province, China, that was sanctioned by the United States in September for its alleged involvement in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by North Korea. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Pranking Military Guide! North Korea Day 3
Posted: November 25, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Censorship, Entertainment, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Advice and consent, Korean Peninsula, North Korea, Pranking Military Guide, Pyongyang, United Kingdom, United States, video Leave a commentOur 3rd day in North Korea the most isolated nation on earth! I’m trying to focus on positive things in the country and combat the purely negative image we see in the Media.
Japan Prepares for Nuclear War with North Korea by Warning Citizens to Shelter in Event of Kim Jong-Un Bomb Attack
Posted: November 25, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Global, Japan, War Room | Tags: Baidu, Beijing, China, Government of China, Kim Jong-un, Korea, List of leaders of North Korea, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Pyongyang 1 Comment
Japanese people are bracing themselves for nuclear attack with chilling advise on what to do if Kim Jong-un presses the red button.
For the first time since North Korea began a series of nuke tests, people in Japan are being issued with terrifying instruction on how to deal with nuclear war.
A downloadable pamphlet is now available on the island nation’s civil defence website.
Called “Protecting Ourselves against Armed Attacks and Terrorism,” it outlines emergency measures in the event North Korean missiles are fired at the country.
It bears similarities to the creepy Protect and Survive documents issued in Britain and Northern Ireland during the early 1980s following the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Like the UK’s booklet it give top-tips on how to avoid being fried and radiated. Read the rest of this entry »
Naval Drill: US and Korean Navies Simulate Strikes Against North Korean Nuke Facilities
Posted: October 11, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Global, War Room | Tags: Austal USA, Boeing P-8 Poseidon, Government of South Korea, Kim Jong-un, Minister of Foreign Affairs (North Korea), North Korea, Nuclear weapons testing, Pyongyang, Republic of Korea Navy, Ri Yong-ho, Rodong-1, South China Sea, South Korea, United States Navy 1 Comment
U.S. and South Korean naval forces are holding a large-scale military exercise this week.
Franz-Stefan Gady reports: In a show of resolve to underline the United States’ defense commitment to the Republic of Korea (ROK) amidst North Korean saber rattling, the United States Navy (USN) and Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) are conducting a series of naval exercises off the Korean peninsula from October 10 to 15, according to a USN press release.
“This exercise is yet another example of the strength and resolve of the combined U.S. and the ROK naval force. The U.S. and the Republic of Korea share one of the strongest alliances in the world, and we grow stronger as an alliance because of our routine exercises here in South Korea and the close relationship and ties that we forge from operating at sea together.”
— Rear Admiral Charles Williams
The six-day joint exercise, dubbed Invincible Spirit, “will consist of a routine bilateral training, subject matter expert exchanges, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare drills, communication drills, air defense exercises, counter-mine planning and distinguished visitor embarkations,” the USN notes.
[Read the full story here, at The Diplomat]
According to South Korean media reports, the exercise also involved long-range strike exercises against North Korea’s nuclear facilities, testing the concept of “Korea Massive Punishment & Retaliation” (KMPR) and improving the strike capabilities of USN and ROKN ship-to-ground missiles. Read the rest of this entry »
China Paper says U.S., South Korea will ‘Pay the Price’ for Planned Missile System
Posted: October 2, 2016 Filed under: Asia, China, Self Defense, Space & Aviation, War Room | Tags: Barack Obama, Korea, Korean Peninsula, North Korea, Pyongyang, SEOUL, Shinzō Abe, South Korea, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, United Nations Security Council, United States, Xi Jinping, Xinhua News Agency 1 Comment
BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States and South Korea are destined to “pay the price” for their decision to deploy an advanced missile defense system which will inevitably prompt a “counter attack”, China’s top newspaper said on Saturday.
“If the United States and South Korea harm the strategic security interests of countries in the region including China, then they are destined to pay the price for this and receive a proper counter attack.”
Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high this year, beginning with North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January, which was followed by a satellite launch, a string of tests of various missiles, and its fifth and largest nuclear test last month.
In July, South Korea agreed with the United States to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to protect against any North Korean threats.
South Korea aims to deploy the system on a golf course, a defense ministry official said on Friday.
But the plan has angered China, which worries that THAAD’s powerful radar would compromise its security and do nothing to lower temperatures on the Korean peninsula.
In a commentary, the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said China’s opposition to THAAD would never change as it was a serious threat to the regional strategic security balance.
“Like any other country, China can neither be vague nor indifferent on security matters that affect its core interests,” the newspaper said in the commentary, published under the pen name “Zhong Sheng”, meaning “Voice of China”, often used to give views on foreign policy. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] North Korea TV Show Mocks Obama
Posted: September 15, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Barack Obama, Kim Jong-un, Korea, North Korea, Nuclear weapons testing, Pyongyang, Songun, South Korea, United States, White House Leave a comment
“Are you all right Mr. President?” the North Korean playing a White House aide said to the other actor whose head is wrapped with a bloody bandage, NK News reported.
“I smacked my head on the bathroom floor and broke four tiles on it,” the president answered, “as I was so shocked from the North’s hydrogen bomb detonation!”
“So Mr. President, you were testing the hardness of your skull while the North was testing its hydrogen bomb? ” the aide joked, according to NK News.
“I smacked my head on the bathroom floor and broke four tiles on it, as I was so shocked from the North’s hydrogen bomb detonation!”
The 80-minute comedy show’s title roughly translates as “The stage of optimism that Songun (military-first policy) presented — Volume 11.” The skit was televised Sept. 1, according to a South Korean government database. Read the rest of this entry »
North Korea Conducts Fifth Nuclear Test as Regime Celebrates National Holiday
Posted: September 8, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Global, War Room | Tags: Kim Il-sung, Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Korean Central News Agency, Korean Peninsula, List of leaders of North Korea, North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea 1 Comment
The governments in both South Korea and Japan convened emergency meetings to discuss the test.
TOKYO — Anna Fifield reports: North Korea conducted its fifth atomic test Friday morning, South Korean officials said, as Kim Jong Un’s regime continues to defy international condemnation of its nuclear and missile programs and waves of sanctions.
The test, which analysts said appeared to be of a large nuclear device, came at exactly 9 a.m. local time on Friday, the 68th anniversary of the formation of the communist regime by Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather, and a national holiday.
“We believe this is a nuclear test,” South Korea’s defense ministry said Friday morning after the United States Geological Survey reported a 5.3-magnitude earthquake near Punggye-ri. “Possible explosion, located near the location where North Korea has detonated nuclear explosions in the past,” the USGS said on its website.
[Read the full text here, at The Washington Post]
Analysts said that the earthquake was artificial. “USGS is calling it an explosion because it has all the hallmarks: The waveform is sudden, unlike an earthquake, the depth is shallow, the location is the North Korean test site, and it happened on the half-hour,” said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia nonproliferation program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif.
“This is clearly a nuclear test,” Lewis said, estimating the size at between 10 and 20 kilotons — a size that, if confirmed, would make this the biggest of North Korea’s five tests.
The governments in both South Korea and Japan convened emergency meetings to discuss the test. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: North Korea Unveils Mission to ‘Plant Flag on the Moon’
Posted: August 4, 2016 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: Associated Press, Flag of North Korea, Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Intercontinental ballistic missile, Jonathan McDowell, Kim Jong-un, List of Earth observation satellites, North Korea, Pyongyang, United States Leave a comment
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean space officials are hard at work on a five-year plan to put more advanced satellites into orbit by 2020, and don’t intend to stop there: They’re also aiming for the moon, and beyond.
“Even though the U.S. and its allies try to block our space development, our aerospace scientists will conquer space and definitely plant the flag of the DPRK on the moon.”
— Hyon Kwang Il, director of the scientific research department of North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration
In an interview with The Associated Press, a senior official at North Korea’s version of NASA said international sanctions won’t stop the country from launching more satellites by 2020, and that he hopes to see the North Korean flag on the moon within the next 10 years.
“Even though the U.S. and its allies try to block our space development, our aerospace scientists will conquer space and definitely plant the flag of the DPRK on the moon,” said Hyon Kwang Il, director of the scientific research department of North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration.
North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
An unmanned, no-frills North Korean moon mission in the not-too-distant future isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem. Outside experts say it’s ambitious, but conceivable. While the U.S. is the only country to have conducted manned lunar missions, other nations have sent unmanned spacecraft there and have in that sense planted their flags.
“It would be a significant increase in technology, not one that is beyond them, but you have to debug each bit,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who maintains an exhaustive blog on international satellites and satellite launches, said in an email to the AP. Read the rest of this entry »
Faith in Government Collapsing Everywhere: Kim Jong-Un Photographed Smoking a Cigarette While Visiting a Middle School
Posted: July 5, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Health and Social Issues | Tags: First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Il-sung, Kim Il-sung Square, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Kim Yong-nam, National Defence Commission, North Korea, Pyongyang, Rodong Sinmun, Smoking, Supreme People's Assembly, tobacco 1 Comment
The heavy smoker had reportedly stopped smoking in public for 80 days after the government intensified its anti-smoking campaign.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has smoked a cigarette while visiting a school, a photo released by the North’s mouthpiece media shows, Sunday.
“It’s difficult to understand why the North Korean media stressed the detrimental effects of smoking and then showed Kim doing exactly that.”
In images provided by Korean Central Television (KCT), Kim is seen smoking in a gym and in a classroom while touring a middle school in Pyongyang.
The heavy smoker had reportedly stopped smoking in public for 80 days after the government intensified its anti-smoking campaign.
But he resumed smoking earlier last month at the Mangyongdae Children’s Camp in Pyongyang.
A North Korea expert said Kim may have resumed smoking in public to inspire nostalgia toward North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, who also smoked. Read the rest of this entry »
NORK Senior Intelligence Officer Defects
Posted: April 11, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Global, War Room | Tags: Blue House, CNN, Kim Dong-Chul, Korean American, Korean Central News Agency, North Korea, Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea Leave a comment
More than 28,000 people have fled North Korea since the end of the Korean War, but high level defections are rare.
A senior North Korean military officer who oversaw spying operations has defected, say South Korean officials.
The officer has not been named, but the defence ministry in Seoul said he was a senior colonel in the Reconnaissance General Bureau and left last year.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a source as saying the colonel was seen as elite by other defectors.
More than 28,000 people have fled North Korea since the end of the Korean War, but high level defections are rare.
Last week, 13 North Koreans who had been working in one of the North’s restaurants abroad defected as a group.
Yonhap said a number of senior political figures had defected while working overseas recently.
It quoted government officials as saying this was a sign the leadership of Kim Jong-un was cracking.
‘Valuable information’
Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said the South could not release further information on the colonel.
One unnamed official told Yonhap the man was the highest-level military official ever to have defected.
“He is believed to have stated details about the bureau’s operations against South Korea to the authorities here,” said the official.
The Reconnaissance General Bureau handles intelligence gathering and spying operations, as well as cyber warfare, said Yonhap.
The BBC’s Stephen Evans in Seoul said such a figure would likely have valuable information about the workings of Kim Jong-un’s government.
How do you leave North Korea?
For most North Koreans it is almost impossible. The borders are heavily guarded and few people have the resources to fund an escape. Many previous defectors have escaped across the Yalu River into China. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Japanese Professor Collects North Korean Everyday Objects
Posted: April 3, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, Asia, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Alejandro Cao de Benós de Les y Pérez, Carnegie Mellon University, Hermit Kingdom, Kim Jong-un, Korea, Korean Central News Agency, North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea, United States Leave a comment
Professor Toshio Miyatsuka is one of Japan’s leading experts on North Korea. He has filled his office with mundane objects such as toys and packs of cigarettes, all from the Hermit Kingdom. Photo: Miho Inada/The Wall Street Journal
[VIDEO] North Korean Propaganda Video Depicts Nuclear Strike on Washington
Posted: March 26, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Mediasphere, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: 2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea, CNN, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), North Korea, Pyongyang, SEOUL, South Korea, United States, Virginia Leave a commentSEOUL, South Korea — Choe Sang-Hun reports: North Korea released a propaganda video on Saturday that depicts a nuclear strike on Washington, along with a warning to “American imperialists” not to provoke the North.
The four-minute video clip, titled “Last Chance,” uses computer animation to show what looks like an intercontinental ballistic missile flying through the earth’s atmosphere before slamming into Washington, near what appears to be the Lincoln Memorial. A nuclear explosion follows.
This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 26, 2014 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting a shelling drill of an artillery sub-unit under Korean People’s Army (KPA) Unit 681 at undisclosed place in North Korea. AFP
“If the American imperialists provoke us a bit, we will not hesitate to slap them with a pre-emptive nuclear strike,” read the Korean subtitles in the video, which was uploaded to the YouTube channel of D.P.R.K. Today, a North Korean website. “The United States must choose! It’s up to you whether the nation called the United States exists on this planet or not.”
Such remarks are in line with recent threats and assertions from North Korea about its nuclear and missile capabilities. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] North Korea’s Satellite-Launch Plan Condemned
Posted: February 3, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Diplomacy, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Beijing, Canada, China, Kim Jong-un, Korean Central News Agency, Media of South Korea, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea Leave a comment
The U.S., South Korea and Japan condemned North Korea’s plan to launch a long-range rocket that Pyongyang says is carrying an earth-observation satellite. Photo: Airbus Defense & Space and 38 North satellite imagery.
[PHOTOS] Military Parade, North Korea
Posted: October 12, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, Guns and Gadgets, War Room | Tags: Choe Ryong-hae, Communism, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Lu Chao, Military of North Korea, Military parade, Nationalism, North Korea, Nuclear weapon, Nuclear weapons testing, Photography, Pyongyang, Workers' Party of Korea Leave a commentCHILL: China Asks United Nations to Impose International ‘Code of Conduct’ on Internet
Posted: October 11, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Censorship, China, Global | Tags: Beijing, China, John Kerry, North Korea, Pyongyang, SEOUL, United Nations, United Nations Security Council, Workers' Party of Korea, Xinhua News Agency 1 Comment
Rudy Takala reports: A Chinese official on Friday called on the United Nations to impose an international code of conduct on the Internet.
“It is highly necessary and pressing for the international community to jointly bring about an international code of conduct on cyberspace at an early date.”
“It is highly necessary and pressing for the international community to jointly bring about an international code of conduct on cyberspace at an early date,” said Wang Qun, director-general of the Arms Control Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in comments to the U.N. General Assembly.
“China, for its part, will continue to commit itself to establishing a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace and pushing for an early international code of conduct acceptable to all.”
Wang’s comments were reported by China’s main state-owned press outlet, the Xinhua News Agency.
“China, for its part, will continue to commit itself to establishing a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace and pushing for an early international code of conduct acceptable to all,” Wang added. Read the rest of this entry »
[PHOTOS] North Korea Celebrates 70th Anniversary with Massive Military Parade
Posted: October 10, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, War Room | Tags: Beijing, China, Choe Ryong-hae, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Lu Chao, Military parade, North Korea, Nuclear weapon, Nuclear weapons testing, Photography, Pyongyang, Workers' Party of Korea Leave a comment
North Korea Celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the Ruling Worker’s Party with a Massive Military Parade in the Streets of Pyongyang
Participants wave flowers towards North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (not pictured) as they pass through Kim Il-Sung square during a mass military parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2015. North Korea was marking the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party. ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
North Korean soldiers ride atop armoured vehicles during a mass military parade at Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang on October 10, 2015. North Korea was marking the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party. ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
Participants wave flowers towards North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (not pictured) as they pass through Kim Il-Sung square during a mass military parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2015. North Korea was marking the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party. ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
Source: TIME
[VIDEO] The Meaning of Socialism: Q&A with National Review‘s Kevin Williamson
Posted: August 18, 2015 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Beijing, Hugo Chávez, Iran, Iranian Revolution, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, Korean War, North Korea, Pyongyang, United States 3 Comments
What’s the real definition of socialism? How is it distinct from regulation and a social welfare state? Why are intellectuals still enamored of a system that brought us Stalin, Hitler, and more recently Hugo Chavez and Kim Jong-Il? And what can the United States learn from Sweden about free enterprise and capitalism?
Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Kevin Williamson, who is deputy managing editor of National Review and author of a new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism, to discuss the meaning of socialism in history and the current moment.
Analysis: Why U.S. Diplomacy is Leading the Way to a World of Nuclear Proliferation
Posted: August 10, 2015 Filed under: China, Global, History, Russia, Think Tank, War Room, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Barbara Tuchman, Bill Clinton, Democrat, G.W.Bush, Iran, Iran Deal, John Kerry, North Korea, Nuclear proliferation, Nukes, President Bush, Pyongyang, Republican, Vienna 1 Comment
How North Korea made the Iran deal inevitable.
Michael Auslin writes: The deal between Iran, the United States, and the European Union on Tehran’s nuclear program, if it becomes operationalized as scheduled, will ensure that Iran will have nuclear weapons by 2025, if not well before. As Michael Mandelbaum has explained , the Obama Administration’s unwillingness to credibly threaten the use of force against Tehran resulted in the abandonment of decades of U.S. nuclear principles designed to prevent the spread of uranium enrichment, combined with the removal of effective sanctions that squeezed the regime.
“With U.S. diplomacy having midwifed one failed deal and generated a new flawed one, the future will almost certainly see the further spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes.”
By any account, the Vienna negotiations were an unqualified success for Iran. The reason for that is simple: America’s failed bipartisan North Korean policy set a model for would-be proliferators on how to negotiate one’s way to a nuclear weapon. Now, the unwillingness or inability of Washington to learn the lessons of the past appears to ensure that regimes desiring to proliferate have a proven roadmap to follow.
“By any account, the Vienna negotiations were an unqualified success for Iran. The reason for that is simple: America’s failed bipartisan North Korean policy set a model for would-be proliferators on how to negotiate one’s way to a nuclear weapon.”
With U.S. diplomacy having midwifed one failed deal and generated a new flawed one, the future will almost certainly see the further spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes.
[Read the full text here, at The American Interest]
At almost every step of the Iran negotiations, the Obama Administration repeated past mistakes made by it, the Bush, and the Clinton Administrations. To paraphrase Barbara Tuchman, we are witnessing a nuclear march of folly. In order to prevent future similar outcomes, it’s of paramount importance that we understand the North Korean case.
An Iranian worker at the Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan. (photo credit: AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The first mistake made by successive U.S. administrations, Democratic and Republican alike, in dealing with North Korea was perhaps the fatal one. Each set of U.S. negotiators assumed, or convinced itself, that a deal could be reached that would ultimately persuade Pyongyang to abandon its goal of achieving a nuclear or ballistic missile capability. Read the rest of this entry »
The Iran Deal Isn’t Anything Like Nixon Going to China
Posted: July 27, 2015 Filed under: Asia, China, Diplomacy, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Fareed Sakiria, George W. Bush, North Korea, Nuclear program of Iran, Presidency of George W. Bush, Pyongyang, Richard Nixon, Taiwan, Thomas Friedman, United States 1 Comment
Historical analogies most popular with the administration reveal precisely why this deal is so fraught with risk.
Analogies, Sigmund Freud once wrote, decide nothing, but they can make one feel more at home. President Obama is explicitly comparing his diplomatic triumph with Iran to President Nixon’s opening to China in 1972. Nixon, the president explained in a July 14 interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, “understood there was the prospect, the possibility, that China could take a different path” of “very important strategic benefit to the United States” — a point repeated in supportive commentary by Fareed Zakaria, and others. Meanwhile, former Obama National Security Council official Phil Gordon has cast the president’s breakthrough with Iran as a noble contrast to the George W. Bush administration’s alleged rejection of diplomacy with North Korea, claiming that Pyongyang developed nuclear weapons because Bush refused to implement a similar disarmament framework with North Korea negotiated by President Bill Clinton.
It is not surprising that an administration that came into office rejecting geopolitics and poo-pooing strategy in favor of “don’t do stupid [stuff]” would treat history as a plaything for twitter-sized talking points. But the historical analogies most popular with the administration reveal precisely why this deal is so fraught with risk.
Chairman Mao Tse-tung, left, welcomes US President Richard Nixon at his house in Beijing (AFP)
[Read the full text here, at ForeignPolicy.com]
Nixon was right to play the China card against the Soviets in 1971 — but for reasons that simply do not apply to Iran. First, in 1971, China already had nuclear weapons and Nixon never asked Mao to abandon them. Second, the Soviet threat to Washington and Beijing, which ultimately drove the two countries together, was incalculably graver than the threat posed by the Islamic State to either Iran or the United States (the president and National Security Adviser Susan Rice have dismissed the Islamic State as “the JV team” and “not an existential threat” so perhaps they do not even really believe their own Nixon analogies). Third, the more militant, pro-Soviet faction in China led by Lin Biao had been purged by 1971, whereas Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force are on the ascendance and, in fact, will gain billions of dollars as a result of being delisted from the sanctions list. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] ‘Kumbaya’: Activists & Feminists Cross Demilitarized Zone Between North and South Korea to Buy the World a Coke
Posted: May 24, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Demilitarized zone, Gloria Steinem, Korean Demilitarized Zone, Korean War, Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize, North Korea, Panmunjom, Pyongyang, South Korea Leave a commentThe group wants to promote peace, love, harmony, understanding, and reconciliation between the two sides
A international group of female activists crossed the border between North and South Korea on Sunday to promote peace between the two countries, which have yet to sign a peace treaty 60 years after the Korean War ended.
“Several groups have criticized the march, arguing that the women should have crossed the North Korea-China border, which is more dangerous than the DMZ. Others called the crossing “empty,” blasting the activists for allowing North Korea an opportunity to cover up its record of human rights abuses.”
The group of about 30 women, WomenCrossDMZ, was taken by bus across the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), CNN reports, which was created by a 1953 armistice that halted, but never ended, the Korean War.
U.S. activist Gloria Steinem, sixth right in front, two Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Maguire, from Northern Ireland, second from right, Leymah Gbowee, from Liberia, third from right, and other activists march to the Imjingak Pavilion with South Korean activists along the military wire fences near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, May 24, 2015. International women activists including Steinem and two Nobel Peace laureates on Sunday were denied an attempt to walk across the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea, but were allowed to cross by bus and complete what one of them called a landmark peace event. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
The crossing was sanctioned by both sides, and included feminist Gloria Steinem and Nobel laureates Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland.
Several groups have criticized the march….(read more)
[TIME]
[VIDEO] Kim Jong Un’s High-Caliber Purge
Posted: May 15, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Anti-aircraft warfare, Capital punishment, Hermit Kingdom, Hyon Yong-chol, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea 2 CommentsSouth Korean intelligence reports executions of a number of high North Korean officials by supreme leader Kim Jong Un, using methods including antiaircraft fire. The WSJ’s Deborah Kan talks about what the recent purge could mean for the Hermit Kingdom.
[VIDEO] North Korea: Satellite Imagery Captures What Analysts Say is Public Execution 북한 공개처형 장면 위성사진에 포착
Posted: May 13, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Anti-aircraft warfare, Capital punishment, Hyon Yong-chol, Kim Jong-un, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea, U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, ZPU Leave a commentA U.S. civic group has released satellite images of North Korea that appear to show a public execution
Radio Free Asia reported Thursday that the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea made public its analysis report on the photos that were taken last October from above a military training area located near Pyongyang.
Analysts indentified six anti-aircraft machine guns lined up across from some blurry objects with distinct shadows that appear to be people also lined up side-by-side on a firing range.
Whatever… or whoever… was in the images was no longer there in another picture taken nine days later.
The committee says the most plausible explanation is that a public execution had taken place there.
BLOSSOM FIGHT! ‘Cherry Blossom is Chinese, Not Japanese,’ Claim Growers in China
Posted: March 30, 2015 Filed under: Asia, China, Japan | Tags: Ambassadors of the United States, Cherry blossom, China, Espionage, Japan, Korean Central News Agency, North Korea, Pyongyang, SEOUL, South Korea 1 Comment
Old literary references prove flower synonymous with Japan originated on Chinese soil, argues association, after South Korea has also laid claim to the species
Alice Yan reports: A group in China has weighed into the debate about the 
origins of a flower synonymous with Japan, the cherry blossom, saying it was first found on Chinese soil.
“We don’t want to start a war of words with Japan or Korea, but we would like to state the fact that many historical literary references prove that cherry blossom originated in China. As Chinese, we are obliged to let more people know about this part of history.”
He Zongru, executive chairman of the China Cherry Blossom Association, told a press conference that historical references proved that the flower originally came from China.
He’s comments came after media reports in South Korea earlier this month suggested that cherry blossom was first found in the country’s southern province of Jeju.
”To put it simply, cherry blossoms originated in China and prospered in Japan. None of this is Korea’s business.”
“We don’t want to start a war of words with Japan or Korea, but we would like to state the fact that many historical literary references prove that cherry blossom originated in China. As Chinese, we are obliged to let more people know about this part of history.” he was quoted a saying by the Southern Metropolis News.
He said the species spread to Japan from the Himalayan region during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
Zhang Zuoshuang, an official at the Botanical Society of China, was quoted as saying that among the 150 types of wildly-grown cherry blossoms around the world, more than 50 could be found in China. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Dwarf Village’: A Shining Example of North Korea’s Spectacular Human Rights Record
Posted: March 15, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, Health and Social Issues | Tags: Customs officer, Dhaka, Human rights, International sanctions, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, Pyongyang, SEOUL, South Korea, United Nations 1 Comment
Little people sterilized, forced to live in remote area
TOKYO – Bill Gertz reports: The abuse of North Koreans who have dwarfism, a genetic condition that produces short bodies and disproportionate limbs, is the latest disclosure of widespread human rights abuses within the country. A U.N. commission report a year ago charged the regime with “crimes against humanity.”
Several North Korean defectors disclosed the existence of the village, called Yeonha-Ri, and said it is located in Kimhyongjik County, a border region in northeastern Ryanggang Province. The province is named after North Korea’s founding dictator Kim Il-Sung’s father, Kim Hyong-Jik.
“It is tempting to see the treatment of little people as evidence of the revolutionary state’s obsession with the purity of the race…”
Dwarfs are persecuted by the regime under a policy that combines Korean superstitions about physical deformities manifesting from personal or ancestral sin, and the hardline communist regime’s demand that all citizens must work, according to North Korean defectors.
“…But when you consider that Kim Il-Sung himself had a goiter the size of a fist on his neck that didn’t appear to disqualify him from leadership, I fear we have to look for other explanations.”
— Michael Breen, a Seoul-based specialist on North Korea
As part of the anti-dwarf measures, all people under 120 centimeters in height, or just under four feet, have been forced to relocate to the farming village at Yeonha-Ri.
One defector, who disclosed details of the village on condition of anonymity, said the North Korean government originally planned to exterminate the dwarfs as part of a policy of eliminating those within the population with undesirable physical traits. But concerns about international reaction to the population “cleansing” instead resulted in allowing the dwarfs to set up the farming village.
“I think that in this case…the nanny state in its zeal for social engineering is simply expressing the harsh and superstitious culture that it derives from.”
The goal of the separation is to prevent the dwarfs from marrying and reproducing. To that end, they are forced to undergo sterilization.
Also, North Korean dwarfs face a greater risk of starvation because they are not given the same food rations as other North Koreas.
Travel is also restricted under the dubious claim that as little people the dwarfs could be crushed while riding on crowded train cars.
The defector said stories related to the village include reports that during some of North Korea’s frequent famines, women would move in with Yeonha-Ri’s men who had reputations for being resourceful and good providers.
Michael Breen, a Seoul-based specialist on North Korea, said the treatment of the dwarfs is typical of the systematic abuse of human rights in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
US Ambassador Attacked in South Korea
Posted: March 4, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Foal Eagle, Korean People's Army, Military exercise, Missile, North Korea, Pyongyang, Republic of Korea Armed Forces, SEOUL, South Korea, Yonhap Leave a comment
The U.S Ambassador to South Korea has been attacked in the country’s capital, according to local reports.
YTN shows the blurred suspect image who attacked US Amb to S.Korea @mwlippert pic.twitter.com/PnRXZ8bF5H
— Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) March 4, 2015
Photos from South Korea’s official news agency show Ambassador Mark Lippert with blood on his hand and holding his face after he was attacked by what the Yonhap news agency says was “an armed man.”
Developing…
South Korean Activist Plans to Launch The Interview DVDs into North Korea
Posted: December 31, 2014 Filed under: Asia, Censorship, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Activism, DVD, Human Rights Foundation, Kim Jong (table tennis), North Korea, Pyongyang, SEOUL, Sony, South Korea, USB flash drive 1 Comment
A South Korean activist said Wednesday that he will launch balloons carrying DVDs of Sony’s “The Interview” toward North Korea to try to break down a personality cult built around dictator Kim Jong Un.
The comedy depicting an assassination attempt on Kim is at the center of tension between North Korea and the U.S., with Washington blaming Pyongyang for crippling hacking attacks on Sony Entertainment. Pyongyang denies that and has vowed to retaliate.
“North Korea’s absolute leadership will crumble if the idolization of leader Kim breaks down.”
— Activist Park Sang-hak
Activist Park Sang-hak said he will start dropping 100,000 DVDs and USBs with the movie by balloon in North Korea as early as late January. Park, a North Korean defector, said he’s partnering with the U.S.-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation, which is financing the making of the DVDs and USB memory sticks of the movie with Korean subtitles.
Park said foundation officials plan to visit South Korea around Jan. 20 to hand over the DVDs and USBs, and that he and the officials will then try to float the first batch of the balloons if weather conditions allow. Read the rest of this entry »
pundit from another planet 