Category: Miscellaneous

~   1   ~ BREAKING: N. KOREAN WARSHIPS CROSS NLL: “Three North Korean military vessels briefly crossed the western maritime border on Tuesday, prompting the South Korean military to fire warning shots to force their retreat, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. ‘Two patrol boats and one government ship from North Korea crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea at around 4 p.m. in succession,’ the JCS said in a statement.” ~   2  ...

Last August, the Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim Jong Un had ordered the executions of former girlfriend Hyon Song Wol and the other members of the all-female performing group, the Unhasu Orchestra, for making porn videos. Media around the world leapt all over the story, but as you will recall, I reacted skeptically. I mocked the sensationalism of it, writing, “Three million deaths is a statistic, but a dead porn star is a headline.” I then explained the reasons for...

~   1   ~ LiNK WILL HOLD ITS ANNUAL SUMMIT from June 12th through 15th, at Pepperdine University, in Malibu, California. Here’s the agenda and list of speakers. You have just over two weeks to register. ~   2   ~ IF YOU’RE READING THIS FROM SEOUL, THE FREEDOM FACTORY, under the able leadership of Casey Lartigue, has a full schedule of events in your area for the next few months. On May 14th, it will screen, “North Korea: Life Inside...

I’m slightly ashamed to admit this, but when I awoke yesterday morning, the first thing I looked forward to was KCNA’s reaction to the mild Tourette’s episode of a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman the other day, in which he questioned the stability and legitimacy of the illegitimate and possibly unstable regime in Pyongyang. Pyongyang, May 13 (KCNA) — The National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK Tuesday released a crucial report in which it declared it would finally settle...

~   1   ~ GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN TELLS TRUTH, WORLD GASPS IN HORROR: In a rare direct attack on the North Korean regime, South Korean Ministry of Defense spokesman Kim Min-seok said the North’s statement was “deeply regrettable” and that Pyongyang regularly lies so deserves to be discredited. “North Korea isn’t a real country is it? It doesn’t have human rights or freedom. It exists solely to prop up a single person,” Kim said at a briefing in Seoul. “It...

~   1   ~ EVENT AT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION, TOMORROW AT 10: “With China characteristically blocking UN action, what can be done to address human rights violations and improve conditions for the North Korean people? Join us as distinguished panel of human rights experts discuss potential follow-on actions.” The panel will include Greg Scarlatoiu of HRNK and John Sifton of Human Rights Watch. Jared Genser, unfortunately, can’t appear because of a scheduling conflict. Bruce Klingner will host and moderate....

~   1   ~ SPEAKER SERIES IN SEOUL: The North Korea Strategy Center writes in, asking me to post links to two of its upcoming events, which I’m happy to do. On April 30th at 7 p.m., Joanna Hosaniak will present a talk entitled, “NKHR and the International Community,” and on May 7th at 7 p.m, Sokeel Park will present, “Accelerating Bottom-up Change in North Korea.” ~   2   ~ FOR EVERY ONE WHO MADE IT, A THOUSAND...

~  1  ~ THOSE NORTH KOREAN UAVs look exactly like a model manufactured in China. Not that it’s needed, but it’s yet more evidence that China isn’t enforcing U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea. I hope the U.N. Panel of Experts is paying attention. Speaking of which, the POE’s new head will be French missile expert Erik Marzolf. I wish him luck in his important work. ~  2  ~ PUTIN IS BECOMING A PROBLEM ON NORTH KOREA: It looks...

I’m sorry I’ve been too busy to post quite as much this week, although I have a number of posts half-finished and in the queue. Today, however, my thoughts are with the families of the many young lives lost in the terrible tragedy off the coast of South Korea. Like everyone, I’m eager to know how this could have happened in calm seas, when the ship was reportedly near its intended course, and why the crew told the passengers to...

~   1   ~ YONGBYON JUST KEEPS GETTING SCARIER: OFK readers will remember the day the North Koreans blew up the cooling tower of their 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon to feign compliance with George W. Bush’s Agreed Framework 2.0. This was the modest pinnacle of Chris Hill’s diplomatic career, and came even as North Korea was submitting false declarations about its nuclear programs, denying the existence of a (since revealed) uranium enrichment program, and submitting samples of aluminum tubing...

~   1   ~ A THIRD NORTH KOREAN UAV has been found in the mountains near South Korea’s east coast. It’s another low aspect ratio wing design, similar to the one found in Paju last week. ~   2   ~ NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES A NEW CRACKDOWN on Christians: “A Pyongyang source explained the details. ‘Having sent 30 people off to prison camps, I am told that a total of around 100 more residents have been taken in for...

slavery n 1. (Law) the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune; 2. the subjection of a person to another person, esp in being forced into work; 3. the condition of being subject to some influence or habit; 4. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) work done in harsh conditions for low pay A good test of whether any particular “engagement” program with North Korea has lived up...

~  1  ~ CONSEQUENCES: The State Department sends a strong hint that it’s mulling more sanctions on North Korea in response to the North’s recent missile tests, including two medium-range missiles fired toward Japan, but offered no details on the type of sanction or whether they would be unilateral or at the U.N. This separate report, however, says that our U.N. ambassador is talking with other members of the Security Council. If State does press for U.N. sanctions, that would...

“At the end of the Second World War so many people said ‘if only we had known… if only we had known the wrongs that were done in the countries of the hostile forces’,” he said. “Well, now the international community does know… There will be no excusing of failure of action because we didn’t know,” he said, at a news conference at UN headquarters in Geneva. “Too many times in this building there are reports and no action. Well...

~  1  ~ SO U.S. NAVY SEALS HAVE BOARDED that North Korean-flagged tanker in Libya, and we may soon find out if the ship was connected to North Korea after all, Pyongyang’s denials notwithstanding. If North Korea was up to something fishy, disavowing it wasn’t a smart move. That gave us grounds to call the vessel stateless and board it. Update: Marcus Noland has a possible explanation, but my intuition says this isn’t the whole story. ~  2  ~ IF...

~  1  ~ I’LL HAVE MUCH MORE TO SAY ABOUT THE U.N. PANEL OF EXPERTS REPORT later this week as I read through it during my spare time, but I can’t resist telling you that there is such a thing as “The Gorgeous Bank of North Korea.” ~  2  ~ MICHAEL KIRBY ANSWERS HIS CRITICS on the left, thus illustrating the widening difference between “liberal” and “progressive.” I miss liberals. I didn’t always agree with them, but I almost always...