Japan has successfully launched a satellite into space with a new rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads. Although the space program isn’t technically military, Japan intends to launch spy satellites to watch North Korea in the near future.

Japan has successfully launched a satellite into space with a new rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads. Although the space program isn’t technically military, Japan intends to launch spy satellites to watch North Korea in the near future.

Rev. Doug Shin e-mailed this very interesting report today, and although the main subject matter is the visible unraveling of the regime from the border town of Dandong, China, here is the first thing that I thought would interest readers, and Doug himself is the source:

From subtle rewordings in the state press and from reports Mr. Shin receives from a high-ranking North Korean official, he believes a band of military generals has already sidelined Mr. Kim. Most unusual, Mr. Shin said, is Kim Jong Il’s virtual disappearance from the public eye. “This kind of thing on this scale has never happened before,” Mr. Shin said. “Kim Jong Il has never spent more than five months away from outsiders’ view.” Yet even photos released of Mr. Kim with Chinese envoy Wang Jiarui in late February appear dated. The same entourage from Mr. Wang’s North Korea visit last year is shown.

Mr. Shin said official news organs are increasingly highlighting subordinates more than Kim Jong Il. At a Feb. 2-3 meeting of the “General Onward March for the Songun Revolution,” a pow-wow of the Communist Party leadership introduced 10 years ago by Mr. Kim to reinforce military-socialist indoctrination, the rhetoric shifted slightly away from praising Mr. Kim alone and toward the military leadership around him. An editorial in the country’s state-run newspaper, the Rodong Shinmun, carried “very unfamiliar terminology,” Mr. Shin said. “It said all the people have to protect and follow–usually Kim Jong Il–but this time also the head leadership. It was a plural concept with Kim Jong Il at the peak.”

Read the rest on your own. There is much information and speculation about possible sidelining of the civilian leadership, but as with all reports on North Korea, it rests on very few sources and should be consumed cautiously.

Still, there comes a point at which quantity of information begins to take on a degree of quality from its sheer cumulative and uncontradicted weight. I’d find some fresh videotape of Kim Jong Il or an announcement that the Dear Leader is rolling his special train into Beijing far more persuasive, but the lack thereof after so many diplomatically tense months is also starting to get persuasive.

Rev. Doug Shin e-mailed this very interesting report today, and although the main subject matter is the visible unraveling of the regime from the border town of Dandong, China, here is the first thing that I thought would interest readers, and Doug himself is the source:

From subtle rewordings in the state press and from reports Mr. Shin receives from a high-ranking North Korean official, he believes a band of military generals has already sidelined Mr. Kim. Most unusual, Mr. Shin said, is Kim Jong Il’s virtual disappearance from the public eye. “This kind of thing on this scale has never happened before,” Mr. Shin said. “Kim Jong Il has never spent more than five months away from outsiders’ view.” Yet even photos released of Mr. Kim with Chinese envoy Wang Jiarui in late February appear dated. The same entourage from Mr. Wang’s North Korea visit last year is shown.

Mr. Shin said official news organs are increasingly highlighting subordinates more than Kim Jong Il. At a Feb. 2-3 meeting of the “General Onward March for the Songun Revolution,” a pow-wow of the Communist Party leadership introduced 10 years ago by Mr. Kim to reinforce military-socialist indoctrination, the rhetoric shifted slightly away from praising Mr. Kim alone and toward the military leadership around him. An editorial in the country’s state-run newspaper, the Rodong Shinmun, carried “very unfamiliar terminology,” Mr. Shin said. “It said all the people have to protect and follow–usually Kim Jong Il–but this time also the head leadership. It was a plural concept with Kim Jong Il at the peak.”

Read the rest on your own. There is much information and speculation about possible sidelining of the civilian leadership, but as with all reports on North Korea, it rests on very few sources and should be consumed cautiously.

Still, there comes a point at which quantity of information begins to take on a degree of quality from its sheer cumulative and uncontradicted weight. I’d find some fresh videotape of Kim Jong Il or an announcement that the Dear Leader is rolling his special train into Beijing far more persuasive, but the lack thereof after so many diplomatically tense months is also starting to get persuasive.

Lullaby Thought of the Day:

The two countries whose nuclear programs have raised alarms of late may be cooperating more closely than previously known. North Korea agreed six years ago to stop flight-testing longer-range ballistic missiles, which could deliver nuclear or chemical warheads, in exchange for relief from U.S. economic sanctions. Pyongyang still claims it is sticking to the deal, but some Administration officials think it may be cheating by using Iran as its proxy.

Sugarplums. Lollipops. Sunshine. Jimmy Carter. Demerol. People sitting down, talking, and getting in touch with each other’s points of view and learning to trust each other. Feel better yet?

UPDATE: Maybe all is not lost. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards are worried about keeping a lid on all the unrest, if this report (courtesy Dr. Zin at Regime Change Iran) is accurate. Personally, I view this as an illustration of how things could get out of hand. It’s just too hard to verify what we hear from Iran, for some of the same reasons that apply to North Korea. All we can do is use what influence we have to create opportunities for the forces of change.

UPDATE II: More here, from National Review (not even Michael Ledeen). Unf, most of it is for subscribers only.

As usual, Dave at No Illusions goes several levels deeper in researching and analyzing the story.

Funny, but true . . .

“We could stop the melon trade. Then Kim Jong Il wouldn’t be able to eat delicious melons and he would be furious,” said Ichita Yamamoto, a ruling party lawmaker. “He would ask, ‘Where are my melons?’”
. . . .

“North Korea is unlike other countries in that most of its trade is done by the party or the military,” said Shinzo Abe, the head of an LDP committee pushing hard for sanctions and a major hawk on North Korea. “By blocking money flows, we could deal quite a blow to the center of power.”

They get it.

Lullaby Thought of the Day:

The two countries whose nuclear programs have raised alarms of late may be cooperating more closely than previously known. North Korea agreed six years ago to stop flight-testing longer-range ballistic missiles, which could deliver nuclear or chemical warheads, in exchange for relief from U.S. economic sanctions. Pyongyang still claims it is sticking to the deal, but some Administration officials think it may be cheating by using Iran as its proxy.

Sugarplums. Lollipops. Sunshine. Jimmy Carter. Demerol. People sitting down, talking, and getting in touch with each other’s points of view and learning to trust each other. Feel better yet?

UPDATE: Maybe all is not lost. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards are worried about keeping a lid on all the unrest, if this report (courtesy Dr. Zin at Regime Change Iran) is accurate. Personally, I view this as an illustration of how things could get out of hand. It’s just too hard to verify what we hear from Iran, for some of the same reasons that apply to North Korea. All we can do is use what influence we have to create opportunities for the forces of change.

UPDATE II: More here, from National Review (not even Michael Ledeen). Unf, most of it is for subscribers only.

As usual, Dave at No Illusions goes several levels deeper in researching and analyzing the story.

Funny, but true . . .

“We could stop the melon trade. Then Kim Jong Il wouldn’t be able to eat delicious melons and he would be furious,” said Ichita Yamamoto, a ruling party lawmaker. “He would ask, ‘Where are my melons?’”
. . . .

“North Korea is unlike other countries in that most of its trade is done by the party or the military,” said Shinzo Abe, the head of an LDP committee pushing hard for sanctions and a major hawk on North Korea. “By blocking money flows, we could deal quite a blow to the center of power.”

They get it.