I’m often taken aback by statements from intelligent people that North Korea should not be linked to the Middle East or terrorism, or seen as a proliferation danger. Typical is this recent comment on NKZone: NK does not have any affiliation to the Moslem Middle East . . . Oh, really? Exhibit A, North Korean technical assistance to the Iranian nuclear program since the 1990s. Exhibit B, a report that Iran recently sold Russian-made cruise missiles to North Korea. Exhibit...

One of my zanier ideas has actually come to pass: wireless family reunions, which have the advantage of an absence of North Korean state minders. A few weeks ago, Mr. Han, a North Korean defector currently residing in South Korea, talked to his family in North Korea on the mobile phone of Mr. Kim. Mr. Han thought it was better to call at night for his family to lock the house and talk in the corner of a room. However,...

From the NY Times: BEIJING, Aug. 2 – Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs may be suspended or even break off altogether if the participants cannot settle on a summary of principles for future disarmament talks, the chief American negotiator said Tuesday. “Whether we have a draft that everyone agrees on, whether we have a recess of some kind, I don’t know yet,” the negotiator, Christopher Hill, told reporters here after an eighth day of the...

I’m often taken aback by statements from intelligent people that North Korea should not be linked to the Middle East or terrorism, or seen as a proliferation danger. Typical is this recent comment on NKZone: NK does not have any affiliation to the Moslem Middle East . . . Oh, really? Exhibit A, North Korean technical assistance to the Iranian nuclear program since the 1990s. Exhibit B, a report that Iran recently sold Russian-made cruise missiles to North Korea. Exhibit...

Photo of the month.

Almost. The six-nation talks appear to have deadlocked: North Korea’s main envoy said Tuesday that his country won’t give up its nuclear weapons until an alleged U.S. nuclear threat against the communist nation is eliminated, the first public comments from the North after eight days of six-party negotiations. . . . . The North has alleged the United States has nuclear weapons in South Korea, a claim both Seoul and Washington deny. However, the North could also be referring to...

I had no idea Muhammad Ali had been to Pyongyang until I read this: Because of the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, it was difficult to understand Muhammad Ali when he spoke. But at one function, we were sitting at a big, round table with a group of North Korean luminaries when one of the guys started rambling on about the moral superiority of North Korea, and how they could take out the United States or Japan any time they wanted....

Thanks to his office for forwarding the text of his recent statement to a group of Japanese parliamentarians. Full text here. Royce is a twelve-year Republican member of Congress from California and a six-year veteran of the International Relations Committee. He is a contender for chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Affairs Subcommittee if Leach moves up to become commitee Chairman after Rep. Hyde retires. Royce and his staff are also regulars at meetings relating to North Korean human rights issues.

This report suggests that most of the command machinery may be moving to Japan. A new U.S. Army command to be set up at Camp Zama in Japan would assume charge in an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, the Daily Yomiuri reported Monday. . . . . The daily said direct command of the UEX would be limited to an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, while the China-Taiwan “hot zone” and conflicts in Southeast Asia included in the “arc of...

I have deeply mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m pleased President Bush remains stubbornly cognizant of the fact he won an election fought primarily over America’s role in the world. Bolton’s nomination was an MSG-enhanced warm-over of that contest, and Bolton’s fiercest Senate opponents are once-and-potential Democratic nominees (Kerry, Biden, Clinton). Bush, of course, had every right to choose the person he wanted to represent America’s interests and Bush’s policies at the U.N. Democrats had the right and...

Shareholders are trying to limit Cisco’s alleged assistance to China in filtering out websites . . . like this one. NKZone founder Rebecca MacKinnon is quoted.

Speaking of China, its newest client state in Zimbabwe appears to have gone completely mad. The impassioned appeal of one Zimbabwean on Gateway Pundit is a must-read. If you want to know just how China expects to get paid for all of its support, this is one possible answer.

I tend to agree with Max Boot that world opinion is a mercurial thing, but there is a clear decline in anti-Americanism in the Middle East, if the latest Pew Global Attitudes Project survey is to be believed. Interestingly, there is no such similar decline in dour old Europe. Is it possible that the positive changes we’ve helped bring to Indonesia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and–yes–Iraq, might only further embitter those unaffected by those changes and simultaneously disinclined to credit us for...

OFK regular James Chen has just published this well-written piece in The American Thinker, discussing Kristof, North Korea, and the hard questions that Kristof (uncharacteristically) isn’t asking. I consider this one a must-read. Thanks for the link, too.

Take all reports from defectors with the same obvious cautions. This is the first report I’ve seen of starvation deaths in North Korea since famine began to reemerge this Spring. It’s also an interesting description of life inside a North Korean work camp.

The North’s insistence on keeping its “peaceful” uses of nuclear energy is leading to more anti-progress at the six-nation talks: There is reportedly still a wide gap over how to phrase the main goal of the talks, North Korea’s scrapping of its nuclear programs. Japanese government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said effective dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program and its verification were fundamental, as was the matter of North Korea’s kidnapping of Japanese, but nothing was clear at this stage. He...

Never believe anything you desperately wish to believe. I desperately wish to believe that South Koreans will eventually give the benefit of their compassion and outrage to the people of North Korea, even if their policy prescriptions might not necessarily match my own. Thus, I am suspicious of two tantalizing reports in today’s DailyNK, concerning the mobiblization of South Korean churches in this cause. First is this report from the Myeongdong Cathedral, traditionally the sanctuary of dissent and protest in...

The Washington Post reports on rising class warfare between the urban poor and the alliance of the state and its chosen investors: After they saw what happened to Liu, Chizhou’s self-described “common people” rose up against what they perceived as their local government’s willingness to side with rich outside investors against Chizhou’s own. By the end of the evening, 10,000 Chizhou residents had filled the streets, some of whom torched police cars, pelted overwhelmed anti-riot troops with stones and looted...