Media Roundup

It’s come to this–Kang Chol-Hwan tells us that North Korea is building a border fence and tiger traps to kill and maim refugees. If there were a futures market on North Korea, I’d be indicted for insider trading. As you heard me speculate here, the NK secret police suspect an assassination attempt by “rebellious forces” was behind the Ryongchon explosion; they’re in full purge mode and are confiscating every cell phone they can find.

The Korea Herald may be onto something. They are starting to suspect that the U.S.-Korea alliance is in trouble. This piece in the NYT might explain why (hint–revelations that North Korea sold uranium to Libya were greeted with yawns in Seoul). The USFK is talking like we haven’t seen the last of the troop reductions. Coincidentally, the lack of foreign investment and its domestic ripple effect is worrying South Korean business leaders.

Over in Japan, several political parties are unhappy with Koizumi’s visit to Pyongyang and his offer of aid to NK in exchange for some of the hostages’ families. They intend to show that by finally barring NK ships from Japanese ports. Meanwhile, several former hostages tell us the lengths to which North Korea went to hide them from curiosity. They report that from 1997 to 2002, they were kept in isolation, which is saying a lot in North Korea.