NORTH KOREAN REFORM WATCH, PART I: Marcus Noland writes that inflation has risen sharply, and that “macroeconomic instability” has returned to North Korea: Recent anecdotal reports of price changes conveyed in both press reports and in private communications from travelers returning from North Korea suggest a surge in inflation. Simple calculations suggest that the value of the won may have depreciated at an annualized rate of 200 percent or more over the past 6 months, with some evidence of an...

It seems odd that almost none of the news services reporting on the Cairo and Benghazi attacks are mentioning that they were carried out on 9/11 by affiliates or sympathizers of Al Qaeda. The flag the Egyptian demonstrators raised over our embassy was Al Qaeda’s flag, and Ayman Zawahiri’s “reformed” brother was one of leaders of the mob. Now, I don’t think there’s much this administration could or should have done to prevent the overthrow of Mubarak, and I still...

LEVI AMMUNDSEN IS BIKING ACROSS NORTH AMERICA to raise awareness about human rights in North Korea. Ammundsen attributes his inspiration to Blaine Harden’s “Escape from Camp 14.” —————————————— MICHAEL TOTTEN watches the ascendancy of the Salafists from Syria’s formerly non-violent, pro-democratic protest movement and concludes, “I’d like to sketch a plausible endgame for Syria that isn’t horrifying, but it gets harder and harder each month.” I’d add that the longer it takes us to identify and empower the least offensive...

THE OTHER PARTS OF MY LIFE HAVE CROWDED OUT the part I don’t get paid to do recently. Sorry – that might continue for a while longer. —————————————————— NORTH KOREA, WHICH WAS REMOVED from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008, is targeting South Korea-based human rights activists for assassination. —————————————————— AN INTERESTING EPILOGUE to a Chinese investor’s criticism of North Korea. —————————————————— MORE ASMA CRAP about Ri Sol Ju: “Just days after triggering a debate...

Before I go any further, let me clear the air about something. Back on the First of July, after reading this New York Times story, among others, I wrote that “if these new reports are correct, I see little to criticize in President Obama’s current Syria policy.” Unfortunately, most evidence now suggests that those reports were wrong, even allowing for what ordinary citizens don’t know about CIA activities in Syria. Whatever support we’re giving the Free Syrian Army is modest...

ON THURSDAY, I HAD DINNER WITH ANDREI LANKOV, which gave me the opportunity to rib him personally about his statement that Mickey Mouse shows “are by no means trivial.”  We don’t agree about that, but as usual, we found plenty of other things to agree about.  For one, we agreed that the food supply is a significant tool of control, so significant agricultural reforms would be meaningful to the North Korean people (we agreed to wait until spring to see what evidence...

SO PARK GEUN-HYE HAS WON THE NOMINATION, as we knew she would all along. I wish Ms. Park the best of luck. This isn’t because I’m an especially great fan; Ms. Park has shown an authoritarian mindset and a lack of vision about achieving unification, as opposed to maintaining deterrence. It’s because Ms. Park is smart, tough, and would be an effective executive if — if — she can resist the temptation to overreach, and because the alternatives are so...

WHEN I WAS A KID, I LOVED HIKING IN THE DESERT.  I remember seeing those great pools of blue water on scorching July days and thinking of how good the water would taste and feel, especially as I watched them recede and vanish as I got closer to them.  North Korea watching is another vocation where sensible folk must train themselves not to chase mirages: Many of the changes appear purely symbolic at first glance ? like, for instance, the...

I’D LIKE TO BELIEVE THIS: An underground, democratic movement is active inside North Korea, a human rights advocate claimed Monday, surprising many observers skeptical that any organized opposition could exist in one of the world’s most secretive, totalitarian states. Kim Young-hwan said he and three other South Korean activists were arrested in Dandong, China, near the North Korean border, on March 29 after they met with North Korean dissidents who had slipped into China. The North Koreans were later deported...

NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO ‘PUNISH’ DEFECTORS and activists beyond its borders for criticizing its regime.  While I’ll tip my hat to the Chosun Ilbo for this one, I prefer KCNA’s original prose: In case the DPRK’s just demands are not met, there will follow corresponding measures including punishment of criminals involved in monstrous terrorism and other subversive and sabotage acts against the DPRK and the operations to lure and abduct its citizens. We declare that among the targets to be...

DON KIRK HAS JUST RETURNED from a trip to Pyongyang and Hamhung, and files a series of stories and commentaries (see also here and here). Kirk sees modest improvements in the standard of living in Pyongyang, but doesn’t think he knows what’s really going on behind the facade, or that any of his journalist colleagues really do, either. He seems skeptical about the regime’s sincerity about any deeper commitment to reform and openness. That sounds about right to me, but...

You’d think that the profession of journalism would have learned something from Vogue‘s embarrassment over its Asma Al-Assad pictorial, but to expect moral depth from some people might be expecting too much. The Asma Syndrome requires a meeting of evil minds that hold nations with shallow minds that hold syndication agreements, but a little corruption also helps to catalyze things: The glowing article praised the Assads as a “wildly democratic” family-focused couple who vacation in Europe, foster Christianity, are at...