Friday news dump! State Dep’t releases terrorism report, and it’s the same old crap (updated)

The threats against “The Interview,” the sundry assassination and kidnapping plots against defectors and activists, the weapons shipments to Hezbollah, the U.S. and South Korean court decisions finding North Korea responsible for acts of terrorism, all go unmentioned once again. There’s not even a suggestion that North Korea is being considered for re-listing.

Overview: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987. In October 2008, the United States rescinded the designation of the DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism in accordance with criteria set forth in U.S. law, including a certification that the DPRK had not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period and the provision by the DPRK of assurances that it would not support acts of international terrorism in the future.

Four Japanese Red Army members who participated in a 1970 jet hijacking continued to live in the DPRK. The Japanese government continued to seek a full accounting of the fate of 12 Japanese nationals believed to have been abducted by DPRK state entities in the 1970s and 1980s. In May 2014, the DPRK agreed to re-open its investigation into the abductions, but as of the end of 2014 had not yet provided the results of this investigation to Japan. [U.S. State Dep’t, Country Reports on Terrorism 2014]

For all of the reasons why this is legally and factually false, read my full report (opens in pdf). I will have much more to say about this, naturally, but I hope you don’t mind that I’d prefer to say it to a wider audience.

But really — for this, we waited for a report that was two months late?

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Update: On the same day State released its report, the Korean TV network MBC alleged that North Korea ordered its agents to “punish” 24 North Korean defectors, including those who testified before the United Nations about crimes against humanity in their homeland. The report is in Korean only, but hopefully, some of the British and American journalists who read this site will inquire further into the sourcing of the story.

MBC claims to have obtained documents in which staff of the North Korean Embassy in Beijing offered South Korean businessmen doing business in the North to reduce their business debts if the businessmen would obtain personal information and addresses of the targets.

The report also alleges that last month, a North Korean agent was arrested for attempting to assassinate prison camp survivor, author, journalist, and activist Kang Cheol Hwan.

Discuss among yourselves.