Open Sources, March 25, 2013

MUST SEE: Marcus Noland, speaking to the Lowy Institute in Australia, thinks that North Korea is slipping back into famine.  He thinks that the North Korea people have adapted enough that a 1990s-scale famine can be avoided, but consider this in the context of Noland’s finding that the regime itself has probably had a current account surplus since 2011.

On the other hand, Kim Jong Un loves Mickey Mouse, amusement parks, the NBA, and dolphins, so reform, prosperity, and perestroika are probably just around the corner.  Right?

Update:  This was fed to me by my Google search-bot, but on rare occasions, those bots feed me old links, and I assumed this was new.  The video is still worth watching, and the predictions have (to a degree) been validated, but note the date.

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NO, CHINA ISN’T going to enforce sanctions against North Korea, and here’s why.

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BUT WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?  The U.N. Human Rights Council votes to begin an inquiry into human rights violations in North Korea.

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SAY, THIS KENNETH BAE FELLOW is still in North Korean captivity, in case you’d forgotten.

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JOE BIDEN VISITS WITH THE AUSTRALIAN FM to talk sanctions enforcement.  Good — that’s exactly what we should be doing.

Correction:  A previous version of this link said that Biden was the visitor; in fact, the Australian FM is the one who visited Biden.  Thanks to a reader for pointing that out, and my apologies for the carelessness.

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VIA NEW FOCUS, the story of Camp 55.