Inside NK – Page 5

December 14, 2007

Daily NK: Rising banditry in N. Korea

As respect for the law disappears and a regular market economy is not introduced in North Korea, the trend to earn money by any means ““ fair or foul – has dominated. For instance, even in the daytime soldiers or gangsters stop trucks and rob them of their freight. Such incidents are occurring frequently. [Daily NK, Yoon Il Geun] Amid a number of reports of this kind, you have to wonder about the broader implications of groups of armed men...

Inside NK

December 10, 2007

Drug-Resistant TB Hits N. Korea

I’ve previously explained my conflicted feelings about the Eugene Bell Foundation, but I would rate their reporting about the spread of disease inside North Korea as fairly reliable. A friend (thank you) passed along an e-mail message/ press release meant to recruit support for an EBF trip to North Korea. It contained this alarming news: [C]ountermeasures are urgently needed for the recent increase of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients in North Korea. After years of visiting and providing TB medicines...

Famine & Food Aid/Inside NK

December 5, 2007

South Korean Campaign Speeches Broadcast into North Korea

You’re reading this now, which means that South Korean politics probably interest you to at least some degree. But imagine how much they interest North Koreans: A U.S.-funded radio broadcaster said Monday it will transmit speeches and debates of leading South Korean presidential candidates to North Korea beginning this week. The move, coming two weeks before the Dec. 19 election, could present an opportunity for North Koreans to learn about democratic elections, Open Radio for North Korea said in a...

Deprogramming/Inside NK

November 29, 2007

Clandestine North Korean Journalism: A Step Toward True Openness?

I have never believed that Kim Jong Il would actually permit openness, reform, or transparency to breach the blockade he has painstakingly placed around his people. Fresh reports of the ghastly public execution of a factory manager for the “crime” of making international phone calls (and the deadly stampede that followed) make that point vividly enough. Despite billions of dollars in South Korean aid — aid that is ultimately paid for by the American taxpayers who finance South Korea’s defense...

Deprogramming/Inside NK

November 27, 2007

Peter Hitchens on Pyongyang

Not sure if I’ve linked this before, but Peter Hitchens (brother of Christopher) has published . He runs off the rails at the last sentence of his otherwise excellent piece, when he fails to describe just what kind of policy should be adopted, and how this would really work in practice. Whatever it is, I’m almost certain it’s been tried.

Inside NK

November 27, 2007

Still Collapsing?

The Weekly Standard publishes a very non-specific, unsourced prediction that North Korea is on the verge of collapse. Read it for yourself, but I don’t find it very persuasive. While collapse is a distinct possibility for the reasons Andrei Lankov has recently repeated (see yesterday’s post), I don’t see signs that it’s more imminent today than it was a year ago. If anything, the North Korean leadership has gained strength from its acceptance by the Bush Administration.

Inside NK/Kremlinology

October 11, 2007

Summit Perceptions

So what will be the enduring effect of the meeting between Roh Moo Hyun and Kim Jong Il? I could speculate, but others have already done that. Simply read the divergent brands and ask yourself: who is better informed and grounded in reality: a semi-random sampling of ordinary North Koreans, or a New York Times reporter? (Big hint: it’s Norimitsu Oniishi, who is almost always over his head when he strays beyond culture and fluff stories). I’ll just observe that...

Appeasement/Inside NK/Korean Politics

September 18, 2007

Chaos Conquers North Korea

I had really wanted to publish a Q&A with Professor Andrei Lankov this morning, but since Yahoo’s e-mail service has gone from bad to worse, it’s simply not possible for me to even open up my e-mail to pull up his responses. So spread the word: Yahoo! mail stinks. Meanwhile, there’s a wave of fresh evidence, most of it via the Daily NK, to support Lankov’s thesis that North Korea can’t control the spread of chaos or the erosion of...

Famine & Food Aid/Inside NK/NK Economics

September 16, 2007

Review: ‘North of the DMZ,’ by Andrei Lankov

[Update: I’ve since received some responses to specific questions I asked Prof. Lankov, so the discussion should begin either later tonight or tomorrow AM, depending on other stuff I need to do first.] I first read Andrei Lankov’s work when both of us were blogging on NKZone, through his columns in the Korea Times, and through his more recent scholarly works. I imagine that most readers have also read something of those works. The first time I met Prof. Lankov...

Books & Films/Inside NK

September 11, 2007

Newsweek Reports on Son Jong Nam, North Korea’s Only (Possibly) Living Dissident

A new Newsweek piece about North Korea’s underground movement reports on the plight of Son Jong Nam. If Son still lives, he sits on death row in Pyongyang for spreading his faith. You will recall that I previously wrote about him here, and told you how you can join in a campaign to save his life. Newsweek estimates that there are between 20,000 and 100,000 underground Christians in North Korea. You can’t bring Christianity to such a place on a...

Inside NK/Religion/Resistance

September 9, 2007

North Korea Is Losing Control of Its Border

[Update: Someone “Dugg” this post –thanks — and it’s climbing fast. The digg permlink is here. Page one of “Digg” gets far more attention than just about anything out there, so your diggs are greatly appreciated and are a great way to spread the word. Thank you.] Last week, North Korea announced that several “spies,” possibly including a foreign national, had been caught. The Daily NK informs us that North Korea’s National Security has claimed credit for the arrests. The...

Deprogramming/Inside NK/NK Military

September 1, 2007

Shot for Watching ‘Winter Sonata’

“There have been two or three reports of public executions of North Korean young people in major cities including Chungjin, as punishment for having illegally copied and distributed South Korean visual material,” said Kang Chul Hwan, vice-chairman of the Seoul-based Committee for the Democratization of North Korea. “It is not an overstatement to say that the Kim Jong Il regime is waging war on the South Korean TV drama,” he said, adding that the North Korean authorities have intensified surveillance...

Censorship/Human Rights/Inside NK

May 2, 2007

Anju Links for 2 May 2007: North Korea Denies Abducting Any S. Koreans, May Day in Kaesong, and North Koreans’ Growing Meth Problem

* It has now been 18 days since North Korea violated all of the denuclearization commitments to which it agreed last February. I blame Bill Richardson, who obviously must have said something tactless and belligerent while being led around the deck of the U.S.S. Pueblo. It’s time for us to get serious about diplomacy and offer some carrots. How many of our soldiers’ lives is Catalina Island really worth? How many times must the canonballs fly, Bill? * ...

Anju Links/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/Geopolitics/Human Trafficking/Inside NK/Six-Party Talks

March 12, 2007

Kim Jong Nam’s Bachelor Pad Burgled, and How the Other Side Lives

The Zhuyuan Haoyuan villa complex is 15 minutes from downtown Macau and its 80 villas are among the territory’s most exclusive. The average price of each villa is estimated HK$15 million, roughly US$1.92 million. Yellow sunflower symbols adorning the doors of nos. 361 and 371 easily identify them as Kim Jong-nam’s. [Chosun Ilbo] If Kim Jong Nam is really estranged from his father, you really have to wonder where this money came from. Meanwhile, the Daily NK reports on the...

China & Korea/Famine & Food Aid/Inside NK/Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology

March 7, 2007

Food Crisis Update

It may be the first good news I’ve ever reported on the subject: rice prices have actually fallen slightly in some of North Korea’s most vulnerable areas, as the Daily NK reports in persuasive detail. There’s even a city-by-city price chart. The price drop is modest — roughly 25 to 30% — but this is the time of year when you’d expect food to be in very short supply, with rapid price increases, if we were headed for an imminent...

Famine & Food Aid/Inside NK

March 6, 2007

Peace Is at Hand!

* Accountability Is So Last Month: For those who are thirsty for some rare news of someone holding Kim Jong Il accountable for anything lately, Opinion Journal has more on the end of the U.N. Development Program’s highly questionable North Korea operations, and some unsolicited advice for Chris Hill. * ‘There’s Nothing to Wait for Here:’ Those words, from the North Korean delegate who passed reporters on his way into “normalization” talks, could be the truest...

Appeasement/Deprogramming/Famine & Food Aid/Inside NK

March 5, 2007

‘Inside North Korea’ Tonight: Don’t Miss This One

A reader reminds me: National Geographic Explorer is airing a special tonight at 9 p.m., “Inside North Korea.” This program, done by Lisa Ling while traveling undercover, is not going to be the standard guided tour we’ve come to expect from the networks. Do yourself a favor and read NGEO’s teaser. This one looks good. Update: It is good. Channel 109 on Comcast. Update 2: This was definitely one of the best NK docus I’ve seen, if for...

Deprogramming/Inside NK/Media Criticism

February 28, 2007

Daily NK: Hoeryong Party Official Caught Dealing Dope

As with a lot of the more chaotic stories lately, it comes from Hoeryong: In an interview on the 24th, the source from Hoiryeong said “On Feb 24, 20 or so officials from the National Security Agency made a search warrant in the home (#42, Sanup-dong, Hoiryeong) of Suh Kyung Hee (49) Chairwoman of Hoiryeong City’s North Korean Democratic Women’s Union. On location, they found 15kg of drugs known as “ice,” US$30,000 and approx. 200,000 North Korean won (approx. US...

Drugs & N Korea/Inside NK

Category: Inside NK