Open Sources

Several weeks ago, I blogged about the North Korean manager of a restaurant in Nepal who absconded with the till and defected. The Chosun Ilbo has several interesting updates to that story, including the fact this turns out to have been just one of two such restaurants in Kathmandu, that the manager has arrived in South Korea, and that Nepal has released the South Koreans who helped arrange the defection. Then there is this illustration of how small changes in how South Korea implements national policy can have significant effects on the North:

“Please refrain from visiting North Korean restaurants that are becoming sources of funds for the Kim Jong-il regime. Anyone who has visited such restaurants will be subject to investigation on charges of violating the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Law and the National Security Law upon returning home,” the embassy warned in an email.

A South Korean resident said the Kumgangsan and Okryugwan restaurants had depended largely on South Korean customers, so their sales must have dwindled.

It has been rumored for years that North Korean consular facilities are expected to finance their own operations. Those facilities often do so through a mix of legal and illegal activities, to include missile sales, counterfeiting, smuggling, and the trade in endangered species. Of course, legal activities are also a necessary cover for illegal activities, since they facilitate the comingling and laundering of the proceeds. This one small shift in South Korean policy could help support its policy of constricting North Korea’s finances and proliferation efforts, and perhaps even pressure it into behaving less atrociously.

Nonsense. It’s an orphanage for babies being starved by imperialist sanctions.

Poverty-stricken North Korea is spending some US$150 million building a house and office for leader Kim Jong-il’s heir apparent Jong-un, the Telegraph reported Saturday.

I have to wonder if where the Telegraph got its images. Maybe Curtis will tell us.

But thanks to the Great Leader’s wise on-the-spot guidance, North Korean women have little difficulty fitting into skinny jeans.

I’ve already blogged about reports that North Korea has somehow found the funds to build up its armor and its special forces, but this buried detail intrigues me very much:

The overall number of North Korean tanks rose to some 4,100 as of last month from 3,900 in 2008, the paper said. But most of the newly added tanks were old-style equipment deployed in the rear, a military intelligence official told a briefing on the policy paper.

Such a deployment suggests that North Korea is more afraid than ever of its own people. I can see why North Korea could conclude that its obsolete PT-76 clones are unfit for front-line service, and I can also see why it could conclude that they’re well suited for counterinsurgency or the suppression of demonstrations. The question is whether the North Koreans perceive that they face such a threat. My guess is they do.

Meanwhile, here’s another report that North Korean soldiers are continuing to go AWOL to steal food and loot local residences.

A North Korean freighter has gone down off the east coast of China with several of her crew.

The South Korean version of country music known as “trot” — usually heard on city buses or from noraebangs at 2 a.m. — does not usually evoke the word “sophistication,” but South Korea’s decision to play trot on the DMZ loudspeakers shows greater sophistication about North Korean sensibilities than playing K-pop would. I nominate Patty Kim for the playlist.

Some of the other cross-DMZ games have been a bit more menacing of late.

Tremble, Commies. Park Geun Hye is the front-runner for the next Korean presidential election. I see my favorite, Kim Moon Soo, also makes the list.

Andrei Lankov tells us about the North Korean travel pass system.