June 9, 2009

North Korea’s “Business as Usual” Publicity Tactic

John McCreary made an interesting – and I think spot-on – observation about North Korea’s current publicity tactic in his most recent NightWatch email bulletin: Whatever internal instability might be going on inside North Korea with regard to succession issues or increased tensions with the outside world, the DPRK is taking a “business as usual” approach when it comes to how it presents itself to public eyes. For example, when announcing the sentence of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the...

Categories Inside NK
June 9, 2009

North Korea’s Nuclear Tests and Camp 16

I had previously speculated that the proximity of Camp 16 to North Korea’s main nuclear test site was probably more than mere coincidence (you can see Google Earth images of both at this link; click the images).  The Chosun Ilbo has now published the first indirect evidence — really, a gathering of rumors — to support my speculation, despite the regime’s extraordinary secrecy: How were even the locals kept in the dark? The terrain around Mt. Mantap in Kilju, North...

Categories Human Rights/Refugees/The Camps/WMD
June 9, 2009

Ling, Lee Sentences Raise Interest in North Korean Labor, Concentration Camps (Updated)

Again, the North Koreans demonstrate their talent for attracting the wrong kind of attention.  Following the conviction of U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, news outlets have begin publishing sidebar stories and printing background quotes about what life is really like in a North Korean labor camp.  The L.A. Times has a full length story about it, complete with a quote by David Hawk and a diagram of what appears to be Kyo-Hwa-So Number 1, near the city of...

Categories Human Rights/The Camps
June 9, 2009

Another Day, Another North Korean Nuclear Threat

“Our nuclear deterrence capability is a powerful defensive measure to secure the peace and stability of the Joseon (Korean) peninsula and nearby regions. It will become a vehicle for merciless attacks on those who even slightly infringe upon our sovereignty,” said Minju Joson, North Korea’s Cabinet newspaper, through a commentary. [Yonhap] President Bush removed North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008 to reward its regime for promising to give up its nuclear weapons....

Categories Terrorism (NK)
June 8, 2009

Brief Organization Profile: AIMS Korea

AIMS Korea, which stands for the “Agency for International Migrant Support,” is a small non-profit helping North Korean refugees in South Korea, the US, and elsewhere.  It was started a few years ago by a young South Korean who saw a need and organized a fundraiser for NK refugees in Bangkok at the time. I was introduced to AIMS’ founder, Sejin Seo, a month or two ago, and last week had an opportunity to have lunch with her and her...

Categories Refugees
June 8, 2009

What next for Laura Ling and Euna Lee?

A sentence, as expected, has been handed down, but what happens next for Laura Ling and Euna Lee? According to a report on GMA this morning, it has been speculated that in addition to a visit from a high-ranking U.S. official, North Korea may also want an official U.S. apology to be issued in regard to this case. Apparently, either before I tuned into GMA or after I switched it off, George Stephanopoulos told the program that Hillary Clinton has...

Categories Human Rights/Ling/Lee Incident
June 8, 2009

North Korea Sentences American Journalists to Twelve Years of Hard Labor

[Update: Twelve years is also the maximum sentence. Obviously, the North Koreans are sending a message. The message is, “This one is going to cost you.”] North Korea on Monday sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor in a case widely seen as a test of how far the isolated Communist state was willing to take its confrontational stance toward the United States. The Central Court, the highest court of North Korea, held the trial of the...

Categories Ling/Lee Incident
June 7, 2009

Is Barack Obama Finding His Inner Churchill?

[Update: Clinton hints at putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and calls the charges against Laura Ling and Euna Lee “absolutely without merit or foundation.” Does that mean Clinton’s best information is that they were inside China?] I continue to be gleefully amazed by the toughness and seriousness of Obama’s words on North Korea. Now let’s see if they translate into effective action. In his young presidency, Obama has already jettisoned some of the...

Categories "United" Nations/Ling/Lee Incident/Sanctions/Washington Views
June 6, 2009

Former North Korean Spy Becomes South Korean Filmmaker

Chae Myong-Min, who works for the L.A. Times’s Seoul bureau, is trying to engineer a third dramatic career change: “Choice” tells the tale of a North Korean government agent whose lover is caught trying to defect and is sent to prison. The agent finds himself at a crossroads: Should he rescue his lover and flee North Korea, or remain loyal to leader Kim Jong Il? Chae appears distracted when asked about his project. He says little about his role as...

Categories Defectors/Refugees
June 6, 2009

Still No Word on the Fate of Euna Lee and Laura Ling

You have to wonder why a court would take three days to announce its judgment on a charge as simple as illegal border crossing. Seriously, this isn’t international money laundering or a complex stock manipulation scheme. Did they cross the border or didn’t they? The issue becomes even simpler when the results are pre-ordained the the judicial procedure is, shall we say, streamlined: […] Venezuelan poet Ali Lameda described to the human rights group Amnesty International in a written report...

Categories Ling/Lee Incident
June 5, 2009

Anticipating Kim Jong Il’s Next Move

The North Koreans seem to be itching for a fight with Lee Myung Bak, but they’re afraid he might actually tell his military to shoot back.  He knows that if that happens, he risks a national humiliation at a delicate moment.  He might, just might, be engineering a tricky sucession as we speak.  Some are even speculating that a bloody purge may be on the horizon.  What does a tyrant have to do to raise the bar from a nuclear...

Categories Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology
June 5, 2009

Obama Gears Up for “Plan B;” John Kerry Blocks Terror Re-Listing

I really don’t know what to make of this.  A young, inexperienced president, one whom the North Koreans arguably endorsed, comes into office showing every sign of being easier meat than Lance Bass in Riker’s Island.  The North Koreans, true to Joe Biden’s prophetic gaffe, and with their exquisite sensitivity to American weakness, don’t even let the man get inaugurated before they begin the noisy repudiation of every agreed framework, U.N. resolution, and armistice they can stuff into a shredder....

Categories "United" Nations/China/Counterfeiting/Money Laundering/NK Crime/NK Economics/Proliferation/Sanctions/U.S. Politics
June 5, 2009

The Issue of Grooming

While recent announcements of Kim Jong Un as the named successor have been downplayed here at OFK, I can’t help but feel that whoever will eventually take over the reins once Kim Jong Il is gone will be severely disadvantaged if the next leader is indeed directly from the Kim bloodline. Kim Il Sung spent half a lifetime being “groomed” for leadership by the Soviets, including one intense year where he was accompanied in Korea by a Soviet spin doctor...

Categories Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology
June 5, 2009

Missile Test Update

North Korea’s launch pad on its west coast is ready for a first launch: Photographic images show the launch tower and what appears to be construction materials on the launch pad, Tim Brown, a senior fellow with GlobalSecurity.org, said Thursday. He speculated that the debris may be there to make the pad appear as though it is still under construction. “The launch pad appears to be operational,” Brown said.  [AP, Pamela Hess] Compare my photo from Google Earth to the...

Categories Missiles/NK Military
June 5, 2009

The Fury of the Smoking Manure

USA Today has a long, interesting, and amusing read on North Korean propaganda, including some extensive quotes by B.R. Myers.  Read the whole thing on your own, but I can’t resist quoting this: In a wild rhetorical flourish during a 2003 confrontation with the United States, state radio charged that the Earth itself was furious at the Americans and that even “piles of manure in the fields are fuming out smoke of hatred.”  [USA Today, Paul Wiseman] I, for one,...

Categories Humor/Satire/Propaganda/Unintended Humor/WTF?
June 4, 2009

A Volunteer on a Fool’s Errand: Leon Sigal Defends North Korea from Barack Obama

Let us bow our heads and give thanks for the levity we receive from Leon V. Sigal, whom I first draped in clownish heraldry when he denied the very possibility of North Korean nuclear assistance to Syria … until he didn’t.  I can see how a professional apologist for North Korea — there’s a booth for that at career day, you know — might be in a contrite mood, but then, we often make the mistake of imputing reasonable behavior...

Categories Fiskings
June 4, 2009

Korean Church Coalition to Hold Nationwide Prayer Vigil Tomorrow; News media embargo the T-word

Laura Ling and Euna Lee are having their sham trial as we speak, so if you believe that prayer helps, this would be the time to pray for them: korean-church-coalition-press-release-for-june-5-2009-event.pdf I’m one who tends to think that tracking down and freezing all of their bank accounts would help much more, and Executive Order 13,224 would be a way to do that that doesn’t mix this case up with other sanctions under contemplation for nuke and missile tests. The Administration is...

Categories Abductions/Activism/Media Criticism/Terrorism (NK)