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Good bye, for a while

To all of the regular and not-so-regular OFK readers–

Thank you for your regular visits, comments, criticisms, and interest over the last nine years. This morning, I begin work on an important project that is incompatible with continued posting, so I must suspend posting for a few months. That won’t be easy for me. This site had become an outlet for recreational thinking, and for beliefs I hold strongly. It had also become a part of my daily mental equilibrium (I’m prone to bouts of crankiness when I don’t post). I expect, like a few of you, I’ll go through a period of withdrawal, but the hiatus isn’t permanent. I’ll be back in August.

No, this is not an April Fool’s joke.

Until then, I’ll leave this post as a moderated open thread for all of you to carry on the conversation among yourselves. Fortunately, the list of terrific North Korea blogs has grown in recent years, and if you continue to check back here by sheer force of habit, you’ll see updates to some of the best of these in my sidebar feed. Finally, if you agree that some of issues, particularly human rights issues, deserve greater attention, then by all means start your own blog, write a Wikipedia page in English or in another language, join LiNK, or contribute to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea or the North Korean Freedom Coalition.

Good bye for a while, stay safe, and keep the people of North Korea in your thoughts. They need you.

60 Responses

  3. I look forward to August. There are many good NorK blogs … but none of the other blogs have the jugularity of this one. Success with your real job!

  7. I keep hoping against hope that it is an April Fools joke, but the only joke here has been how the AP thinks they’re doing good work on N. Korea.

  8. Will truly miss this blog for the next months as this is a page I open every morning for news and read first…I guess it’s time to troll around the interwebs for a few other sites to keep my eye on the happenings in the DPRK. On the other hand, I could just meet Rodman out at Gibson’s since I’m in Chicago. Will report on the expert’s opinions next time I see him in town.

  9. How ironic, I subscribed to your feed yesterday 😀

    Hope to see you back soon. Good luck with your current project.

  14. Oliver Salzburg, maybe if you’d showered more often 😉

    So long, Joshua, and thanks for all the fish. Here’s a recent burbling of mine on pimatgol.

    ~alec

  15. Well, there goes one of my daily habits. I’ve always been surprised at how few comments your blog gets, but maybe the market for intelligent commentary on North Korea is a smaller niche than I’d expected. Sad. I’m looking forward to August.

  16. Sorry to hear you won’t be posting for a while. I’ve enjoyed the blog and it inspired me to start my own, which I’m enjoying even though I started it at a very turbulent time for Korea.

  19. Thanks for your blogging. Since visiting the DPRK for a week some years ago, this site has been my weekly go-to site for DPRK analysis, and with the current instability on the peninsula your insights will be missed all the more. I hope that whatever you are doing will serve to put your knowledge and talents to use for the suffering people of the DPRK–people I will never forget and for whom I often pray. Thanks for all the work you’ve put into this over the years.

  21. You helped laid the groundwork for more sensible North Korea commentary. I can say that without a doubt that reading your blog was instrumental in my shift of views on North Korea. And without your blog I wouldn’t have gotten into reading Andrei Lankov and Sung-Yoon Lee.

  23. How sad for me! Since this is probably my 2nd most visited site. All the NK drama lately too, it was really getting good. :p Good luck and we shall see you soon!

  25. Is he really leaving? He posted it on April 1. I don’t know if I’m smart or a jerk for thinking that he’d be joking.

  26. Anonymous has attacked and defaced a number of DPRK sites: http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/04/04/anonymous-takes-control-of-north-koreas-twitter-and-flickr-accounts-defaces-websites/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories

    There are some interesting claims in there.

    On the face of it, it’s satisfying, but I’d be interested in looking at it in light of the Do No Harm principle. Who on the inside is gonna get punished for this?

  28. Ahhh! This is so depressing. This is my favorite site for analysis on North Korea. Good luck on your project! See you in August (you better come back)!

  30. Very sad to hear this Joshua – your blog has turned into my essential “go to” for all things North Korea. You will be missed badly during your hiatus – especially with all the Korea news in the headlines right now.

    If things escalate I’ll certainly be checking here first to see if you have broken your hiatus.

  34. Come back.

    Look what is happening at the moment. In need of your insights, analysis and understandings.

  35. First of all, does anyone know of a forum for North Korea discussion which is well-populated and not filled with silly memes or anything?

    Second, does this time period seem like KJU is desperate, that if he doesn’t get his negotiations and concessions this time as his dad was able to do so many times, that he will be in trouble? If so, isn’t this then a perfect opportunity to just simply not respond with any offers to negotiate, to leave KJU in this rut with no Kaesong and no win whatsoever? Then double-down and institute smarter sanctions, get China on board which it has indicated is possible this time around (though I’m still skeptical about that)?

  37. A plan to dismantle North Korea.
    1.UN Forces (i.e., US and South Korean) advance to 39 deg 30 min North, and halt.
    2.Chinese forces advance to 39 deg 30 min North, and halt.
    3.UN and Chinese forces will not fire on each other.
    4.China has 6 months to dismantle all North Korean nuclear materials in its zone of occupation.
    5.After six months, the South Korean forces, without any other troops or advisors, advance north to the prior borders of North Korea, and Chinese forces withdraw to China.
    6.Within a further six months, all US and other UN forces withdraw from the Korean Peninsula.
    7.The new unified government of Korea signs the non-proliferation treaty and declares the peninsula a nuclear-weapon-free zone.

  38. I just found your site when searching for more information on these “camps” in North Korean. Thank you for putting this together. This is, without question, the most comprehensive website on the subject and I will most definitely share it with friends to do my part to raise awareness. If anyone else knows of any great websites to check out, can you please post them? Thx!

  39. Please return to blogging, Josh. What a terrible time to halt publication of this blog! Yours is the most comprehensive of all North Korea websites, and I would love your insight on the current situation. I can only hope that your project is related to current world events. Thanks again for this incredible website, we hope to see you back soon.

  40. If anyone else would care to join, Koryo Tours’ “#WhenIwasinNorthKorea” hashtag love-fest needs challenging with a dose of reality.

  41. Joshua, you are sorely missed. Perhaps in the interim, you can deputize a trusted commenter or two or three to post things (after they get the OFK seal of approval).

  42. You will be missed. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication over the years. Will look forward to your return.

  43. I wish you all the best on your ongoing project and i really look forward to the day you start posting here again 🙂 The best website on North Korea. Great Job 🙂

  45. Dan Gillerman, Israeli’s former permanent representative to the UN, told Fox News, “If North Korea continues on this course, it should be wiped off the face of the map.” Here he is on YouTube.

  49. John, I see your book, Communist Perspectives on North Korea, is selling for 99 cents on Amazon, and free for prime members. Glad to see that even Marxists must bow to the law of supply and demand.

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