Category: Anju Links

 ~ 1 ~ KAESONG FAILWATCH:  A new report from the Daily NK, containing an interview with an employee of a South Korean company that manufactures textiles in Kaesong, largely validates my post from last week. The bottom line: companies are hiding how much operations suffered from the five-month shutdown to prevent further damage to their business, such as the loss of customers who may seek more reliable suppliers. This, of course, is my cue to publicize the fact that while...

~          1          ~ I HAVE A TERRIBLE FEELING ABOUT THIS: Every now and then, North Korea says something that my gut tells me is more true than false: North Korea’s security agency said Thursday it arrested a South Korean spy in Pyongyang who intended to rally anti-government forces, a claim that intelligence officials in Seoul quickly called ridiculous and groundless.  [….] The North Korean security ministry said that the South Korean initially said...

~ 1 ~ ATTACK OF THE TROLLS: So the other day, while reading something at NK News, I noticed that some obvious troll(s) had claimed in the comments that the North Korean Human Rights Film Festival in Toronto was a “fake event” that never took place. Now, I wasn’t there myself, but this Al Jazeera reporter was, which causes me to suspect that some person or persons is or are trying to sow false information to discredit a message they...

~ 1 ~ AGREED FRAMEWORK III WATCH: Yesterday, I fisked Ambs. Bosworth and Gallucci for calling for talks with North Korea despite the concession by one of them (Bosworth) that a deal could never be verified, and despite North Korea’s repeated statements that they would never disarm. As if on cue, the North Koreans have said it again! SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) — North Korea said Wednesday that its nuclear weapons program is not a bargaining tool and slammed South...

~          1          ~ I HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF SYMPATHY FOR family members who want to bring their abducted loved ones from home North Korea after so many years, especially as we read that some of them are nearing the end of their lives, but it’s hard for me to concede that paying ransom—and just look how Jeyup S. Kwaak struggles, not quite successfully, not to use that word—is the right answer. First, the...

PEACE IN OUR TIME, Part 1: South Korea says that the North is ready for another nuke test any old time, and reveals that at the height of Sunshine and Agreed Framework II, the North was building missile silos: Several South Korean government sources confirmed yesterday that the North has numerous underground missile launch facilities around 2,000 meters (2,190 yards) south of Mount Paektu. The silos, they said, were constructed in the mid-2000s and were determined to have been completed...

IT’S CALLED AN ARMISTICE, STUPID. We learned today that our Secretary of State has been busy begging North Korea for Agreed Framework III, offering them a “Non-Aggression Pact” if they give up their nukes. Where to begin with this? First, the North Koreans reacted to that idea about as favorably as I did. Second, would this be like the non-aggression pact that North Korea signed in 1953, only to violate in 1968, 2002, 2010–and most of the years before and since–and...

WHAT’S THAT, YOU SAY? And they’re floating it into North Korea? That’s really too good to be true, and I’m checking with a contact to see if it is. One thing’s for sure–if it is true, I’ll report it before the AP does. Update, 10/14: According to a knowledgeable reader, the “conservative groups” in question are still attempting to acquire the alleged video, but do have an (again, alleged) photo of Ri naked with another man, which they’re floating into...

~          1          ~ THREE CHEERS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST: Ever since Blaine Harden, Chico Harlan, and Max Fisher have covered the story, the Post‘s North Korea coverage has been leagues beyond that of any competitor, especially The New York Times. What’s really commendable is that the Post‘s editorial board draws the necessary conclusions from what its journalists are reporting: A COMMON illusion held by dictators is that they need only to shut the borders, turn...

It’s telling that when the AP wants to exhibit its work to the readers of National Geographic, it teams David Guttenfelder’s photos with Tim Sullivan’s reporting (which has usually been good) instead of Jean Lee’s (which hasn’t). The result is better reporting: But hearing the truth is challenging while loudspeakers blast songs of praise for Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. When the government allows foreigners inside, it presents them with a delicately crafted illusion of how the regime wants the...

~          1          ~ SO, CHARM OFFENSIVE’S OVER, I TAKE IT? Pyongyang sends Chuseok greetings: Just two days ago, one of the South Koreans selected for the reunion passed away. Three others said they couldn’t make it because of deteriorating health, the South’s unification ministry said. For those healthy enough, like Park Tae-bong, 85, this reunion was supposed to be a chance to piece together decades of missing family history. He was set...

~          1          ~ QUICK! TO THE VANKMOBILE! I hate to break it to “Jonathan Smith,” but no, South Korea is not known as the “PRK,” which I assume is supposed to stand for the “Peoples’ Republic of Korea.” Smith has set up a web site intended to reassure readers that their travels in North Korea will be perfectly safe (Ken Bae and Park Wang-Ja were not available for comment). His choice of a Q&A format–along...

Reader Chris Beaumont* emailed me yesterday to draw my attention to the web site of the U.N. Commission on Inquiry on human rights abuses in North Korea. On this page, you can find links to videos of all of the Commission’s hearings in Seoul (English and Korean) and Tokyo (English and Japanese). I haven’t had time to review the complete record, but in this one, Shin Dong Hyok testifies about Camp 14 with the aid of Google Earth imagery. There...