Search Results for: border

From today’s Times of London comes this remarkable report headlined, “Chairman Kim’s Dissolving Kingdom.” It paints a picture of rapid decay among the state’s mechanism of control, as if only inertia and an initial spark are delaying the regime’s rapid (and most likely, violent) collapse. It’s a long report and an absolute must-read, but here are the major points one distills from the piece: 1. The erosion of the fear state is equally visible to casual observers and insiders. The...

From today’s Times of London comes this remarkable report headlined, “Chairman Kim’s Dissolving Kingdom.” It paints a picture of rapid decay among the state’s mechanism of control, as if only inertia and an initial spark are delaying the regime’s rapid (and most likely, violent) collapse. It’s a long report and an absolute must-read, but here are the major points one distills from the piece: 1. The erosion of the fear state is equally visible to casual observers and insiders. The...

According to this report (from a defecting NK soldier, via DailyNK), 681 North Korean soldiers in Hoeryong received dishonorable discharges for taking bribes from smugglers and illegal border-crossers. One could assume that their next stop will be a very bad place. The hot contraband? American, South Korean, and Chinese music, and VCRs. Hoeryong was also the location for the North Korean dissenters’ video from last week. Sounds like someone in Pyongyang decided to send an inspection team up there. Factor...

According to this report (from a defecting NK soldier, via DailyNK), 681 North Korean soldiers in Hoeryong received dishonorable discharges for taking bribes from smugglers and illegal border-crossers. One could assume that their next stop will be a very bad place. The hot contraband? American, South Korean, and Chinese music, and VCRs. Hoeryong was also the location for the North Korean dissenters’ video from last week. Sounds like someone in Pyongyang decided to send an inspection team up there. Factor...

Yonhap reports that North Korea has shut down its casino along the Chinese border, as I predicted here two days ago. It’s simply amazing how reasonable Kim Jong Il can be when China starts fiddling with the valve on the fuel pipeline.

Yonhap reports that North Korea has shut down its casino along the Chinese border, as I predicted here two days ago. It’s simply amazing how reasonable Kim Jong Il can be when China starts fiddling with the valve on the fuel pipeline.

That North Korean along the border with China has apparently become the final (at least as far as China is concerned) resting place for billions of yuan in Chinese public funds. In what must be the week’s most delicious irony, China is now asking the North Koreans to close it down, despite the fact that it has to be one of Kim Jong Il’s prime sources of foreign exchange. North Korea, in addition to receiving most of its fuel and...

That North Korean along the border with China has apparently become the final (at least as far as China is concerned) resting place for billions of yuan in Chinese public funds. In what must be the week’s most delicious irony, China is now asking the North Koreans to close it down, despite the fact that it has to be one of Kim Jong Il’s prime sources of foreign exchange. North Korea, in addition to receiving most of its fuel and...

Well, in retrospect, it may have been a mistake for China to piss these guys off. The folks at Reporters Without Borders are journalists who advocate for other journalists, which means that if you mess with them, they’re going to smear you with a lot of very black ink. That’s exactly what’s happening: Washington Post L.A. Times Washington Times New York Times I especially recommend the WaPo story. The lesson? If you really want to give someone a royal P.R....

Well, in retrospect, it may have been a mistake for China to piss these guys off. The folks at Reporters Without Borders are journalists who advocate for other journalists, which means that if you mess with them, they’re going to smear you with a lot of very black ink. That’s exactly what’s happening: Washington Post L.A. Times Washington Times New York Times I especially recommend the WaPo story. The lesson? If you really want to give someone a royal P.R....

Surgeon General’s Warning: Holding your breath while awaiting apologies from nuclear-armed Asian septuagenarians may be hazardous to your health. Insert your own “hey, what are you smoking?” reference here. Say the Grand National Party’s own Beijing Four ©: We demand apology and punishment of those responsible for the sabotage of South Korean lawmakers’ press conference with the int’l media. On Jan. 12 (Wed), 2005, at a conference room on the 2nd floor of the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing,...

Surgeon General’s Warning: Holding your breath while awaiting apologies from nuclear-armed Asian septuagenarians may be hazardous to your health. Insert your own “hey, what are you smoking?” reference here. Say the Grand National Party’s own Beijing Four ©: We demand apology and punishment of those responsible for the sabotage of South Korean lawmakers’ press conference with the int’l media. On Jan. 12 (Wed), 2005, at a conference room on the 2nd floor of the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing,...

North Korea is cracking down on illegal border crossings again. We are hearing about such border crackdowns with increased frequency, and yet there always seems to be an urgent need for another one a few weeks later. It never helps when the guys who are supposed to be watching everyone else are on the take: Pyeongyang has launched a large-scale crackdown on “anti-state activities” along its border with China, targeting not only border crossings by North Koreans, but the smuggling...

North Korea is cracking down on illegal border crossings again. We are hearing about such border crackdowns with increased frequency, and yet there always seems to be an urgent need for another one a few weeks later. It never helps when the guys who are supposed to be watching everyone else are on the take: Pyeongyang has launched a large-scale crackdown on “anti-state activities” along its border with China, targeting not only border crossings by North Koreans, but the smuggling...

Maybe you’ve heard of the “Korean wave” that hit Japan recently. Apparently, so have many North Koreans, and the Dear Leader–or whoever is running things up there these days–doesn’t approve. Note that the reporter is none other than North Korean defector Kang Chol-Hwan: A former high-ranking official who recently entered South Korea as a defector said, “These days, among young North Koreans, South Korean culture is rapidly spreading. . . .” An ex-government official of the North who recently visited...

Maybe you’ve heard of the “Korean wave” that hit Japan recently. Apparently, so have many North Koreans, and the Dear Leader–or whoever is running things up there these days–doesn’t approve. Note that the reporter is none other than North Korean defector Kang Chol-Hwan: A former high-ranking official who recently entered South Korea as a defector said, “These days, among young North Koreans, South Korean culture is rapidly spreading. . . .” An ex-government official of the North who recently visited...

One of my regular readers is a teacher in Seoul who has visited North Korea and now volunteers his time to assist and teach English to North Korean defectors. Several weeks ago, I asked him if he would pose some questions to his students, contingent on them being comfortable answering. My correspondent asked me to be patient while he found the right circumstances to pose the question to the group. Today, I am pleased to report the responses of the...

One of my regular readers is a teacher in Seoul who has visited North Korea and now volunteers his time to assist and teach English to North Korean defectors. Several weeks ago, I asked him if he would pose some questions to his students, contingent on them being comfortable answering. My correspondent asked me to be patient while he found the right circumstances to pose the question to the group. Today, I am pleased to report the responses of the...