Monthly Archive: September, 2012

?? ????? ???????.   NKnet’s second North Korean Human Rights International Film Festival in Seoul on September 20-21, 2012. There will be new films, documentaries, animation, and commercially made films. This year’s films are from South Korea, Japan, and the US, and the festival’s themes are: • Journey To Freedom & Human Rights (Refugees) / ??? ??? ?? ?? (??? ??) • Those Who Have Not Returned (Abductees) / ???? ?? ??? (???) • Get Rid of the Barbed Wire (Political...

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) Hearing  North Korea: Ongoing Human Rights Violations in an Era of Change Wednesday, September 19, 2012 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM 340 Cannon House Office Building Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the status of human rights in North Korea. Following the death of Kim Jong-Il, his son, Kim Jong-Un, has taken over as the leader of North Korea.  Despite the transition of power, a majority of North Korean...

MELANIE KIRKPATRICK’S BOOK ABOUT NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES is out, and while I doubt I’ll have time to read it for weeks (if not months), John Bolton has published a review here, at National Review. Not only does the ludicrously named Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continue its nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs unchecked, but the oppression and misery of its citizens remain unequalled. Not even Kim Jong Un’s recent hereditary accession to power as his family’s third Communist dictator has caused serious...

NORTH KOREAN REFORM WATCH, PART I: Marcus Noland writes that inflation has risen sharply, and that “macroeconomic instability” has returned to North Korea: Recent anecdotal reports of price changes conveyed in both press reports and in private communications from travelers returning from North Korea suggest a surge in inflation. Simple calculations suggest that the value of the won may have depreciated at an annualized rate of 200 percent or more over the past 6 months, with some evidence of an...

It seems odd that almost none of the news services reporting on the Cairo and Benghazi attacks are mentioning that they were carried out on 9/11 by affiliates or sympathizers of Al Qaeda. The flag the Egyptian demonstrators raised over our embassy was Al Qaeda’s flag, and Ayman Zawahiri’s “reformed” brother was one of leaders of the mob. Now, I don’t think there’s much this administration could or should have done to prevent the overthrow of Mubarak, and I still...

LEVI AMMUNDSEN IS BIKING ACROSS NORTH AMERICA to raise awareness about human rights in North Korea. Ammundsen attributes his inspiration to Blaine Harden’s “Escape from Camp 14.” —————————————— MICHAEL TOTTEN watches the ascendancy of the Salafists from Syria’s formerly non-violent, pro-democratic protest movement and concludes, “I’d like to sketch a plausible endgame for Syria that isn’t horrifying, but it gets harder and harder each month.” I’d add that the longer it takes us to identify and empower the least offensive...

THE OTHER PARTS OF MY LIFE HAVE CROWDED OUT the part I don’t get paid to do recently. Sorry – that might continue for a while longer. —————————————————— NORTH KOREA, WHICH WAS REMOVED from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008, is targeting South Korea-based human rights activists for assassination. —————————————————— AN INTERESTING EPILOGUE to a Chinese investor’s criticism of North Korea. —————————————————— MORE ASMA CRAP about Ri Sol Ju: “Just days after triggering a debate...