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Monthly Archive: December, 2009

December 7, 2009

In the Mail: Korea Betrayed — Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine, by Donald Kirk

Kirk is a good enough friend that I’m pleased and a bit relieved that, so far, Korea Betrayed (available here) is good enough to present no challenge to my objectivity. Because the time I have for reading is so limited, I’ll review this is small increments as I have the opportunity to read a few pages (the last time I was sent a review copy, it took me months to publish my review). The first chapter covers DJ’s origins on...

Categories Books & Films
December 6, 2009

North Korea Completes Great Confiscation (Upated)

[Updated below.] By now, it is December 7th in Pyongyang, and the period for exchanging old currency for new has passed. By filling the streets with troops and police, the regime has, for the moment, managed to contain the “fury and frustration” of people who, robbed of their savings and deprived of food rations, no longer know how they’re going to make it through the winter. For now, only isolated outbreaks of dissent are reported. The people know that this...

Categories NK Economics/Resistance
December 4, 2009

Axis, Schmaxis, Part 11: Iran Equipping Terrorists With North Korean Weapons

This Washington Post article, in addition to being an interesting and entertaining read, confirms my immediate suspicions about that shipment of North Korean arms recently interdicted in the Persian Gulf: Inspectors from the United Arab Emirates quickly swarmed the ship and uncovered a truck-size container packed with small arms made in North Korea. Concealed deeper in the ship was the real find: hundreds of crates containing military hardware and a grayish, foul-smelling powder, explosive components for thousands of short-range rockets....

Categories Axis of Evil/Iran/Proliferation/Terrorism (NK)/Terrorism/Iraq/Uncategorized
December 4, 2009

Great Confiscation Updates

Via the Daily NK and the North Korean-affiliated Chosun Sinbo, we can now see the new North Korean currency that will replace the hard-earned savings of millions of desperate people. Guess whose face is on the bill. You’ll be amazed. More here. Personally, I think the coins look like Japanese Yen. The Daily NK reports that the situation in North Korea continues to be chaotic and relays fragmentary reports of murders, suicides, and isolated outbreaks of dissent. The circulation of...

Categories Inside NK/NK Economics
December 4, 2009

Another Lawsuit Against North Korea in a U.S. Court

Previously, I’ve posted about the lawsuit in a U.S. federal court by the crew of the U.S.S. Pueblo — heroes in my book, who resisted and humiliated their captors despite unendurable torture — and about the efforts of the plaintiffs’ lawyers to find and recover North Korean assets to satisfy the judgment. The plaintiffs took advantage of a 2001 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (see subsection (a)(7)) that allows the victims of “torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage...

Categories Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Law
December 3, 2009

3 December 2009 (Updated)

THE GREAT CONFISCATION CONTINUES. The Wall Street Journal reports that in Pyongyang, the exchange has been “calm and orderly,” at least to the extent foreign observers have been able to tell. Meanwhile, the Daily NK explains who will be hurt most badly by this. If markets are damaged as badly as I suspect they might be, there could be a new flood of food refugees into China this winter. Another effect will be the final collapse of confidence by the...

Categories Anju Links/NK Economics/NK Military/North-South
December 2, 2009

My, How Times Have Changed

During my last last visit to the DMZ, the interpretive displays were all about the 2000 Summit and Kaesong. Not anymore: According to the AP’s caption: A South Korean child watches a television program reporting North Korean prisoners at a unification observation post near the border village of Panmunjom, the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. A key U.N. committee expressed ‘very serious concern’ Thursday at...

Categories North-South/Propaganda/Sunshine
December 2, 2009

More on North Korea’s Great Confiscation

Rather than updating yesterday’s post again, I’ll just do a roundup of the reports and reactions today. So far, the reports point to widespread tension, disbelief, and shock, but little violence or unrest. It is as if the entire country has been paused, or as though a crowd that has just witnessed something horrifying is standing there, watching, too dumbstruck to take it in. For many, the means to live through this winter has been swept away in one casual,...

Categories NK Economics
December 1, 2009

Hiding North Korea’s Health Decline

According to a new report by the U.N. Population Fund, the socioeconomic gap between the two Koreas continues to widen: South Korea’s infant mortality rate ranked seventh in the world with four deaths out of 1,000 births while the North slid to 133rd place from last year’s ranking of 99 with 47 deaths per 1,000. The Stalinist state recorded a higher death rate of women from complications related to pregnancy and labor with an estimated 370 cases per 100,000 live...

Categories Famine & Food Aid/Useful Idiocy
December 1, 2009

North Korea Revalues Currency, Wipes Away Savings of Millions (Updated)

North Korea has shocked its entire population with a sudden announcement that it will replace its currency with new notes that drop two zeroes from the denominations. The new North Korean currency’s official exchange rates will increase by a hundredfold. The move is causing widespread outrage, panic, and a run on U.S. and Chinese currency. North Koreans throughout the country and at every socioeconomic level are reacting with shock, tears, and anger. According to some reports, people are literally weeping...

Categories NK Economics/Resistance