MYSTERY SOLVED? So, according to the world’s least credible TV news service — also, our most credible source here — the mystery woman standing next to Kim Jong Un is his wife, and her name is Ri Sol Ju. We know almost nothing else about her. Assuming the new report is true, contrary to previous reports sourced to South Korean officials, she is not married former entertainer Hyong Song-Wol. Or maybe, as the Daily NK reported, Hyong Song-Wol is actually...

WELCOME BACK, SOUTH KOREA: Readers in South Korea and my visitors’ log tell me the site is now accessible from the ROK. With the assistance of my ISP and faithful reader, we traced the problem down to a bad node at Korea Telecom. KT actually sent a report back to my reader in English, and here’s where it gets interesting: After reviewing your request , we found that your requested IP address was blocked by our team member according to...

COMMS CHECK:  Some of you are reporting difficulty accessing this site, particularly from South Korea, and my visitors’ log agrees.  I suspect shenanigans, and I’ve been in contact with my ISP, but I’ve just been too busy to pursue the problem.  If you’re reading anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region, I’d be interested in hearing whether you can access this site. —————————————- THIS TIME, THE WOLF IS REAL — HONEST!  I don’t doubt that this is an exceptionally dry year in...

AS REGIME FORCES SHELL REBEL-HELD SUBURBS of their own capital, reports emerge that the CIA is funneling anti-tank weapons to some rebel groups, who are steadily expanding their reach throughout the country. The regime, heavily armed with weapons of mass destruction that could hit one of America’s closest allies in minutes, is backed by China, Russia, and Iran. The war follows years of steady proliferation and a corresponding frustration of diplomatic efforts to disarm it and settle its territorial disputes...

ON RARE OCCASIONS, I CONSIDER KCNA to be authoritative, and this is one of those occasions: In a dispatch headlined “To Expect ‘Change’ From DPRK Is Foolish Ambition,” the North’s Korea Central News Agency in stark terms confronted and put down speculation and comments by outsiders that its authoritarian government might change its ways. [….] Then the spokesman said that South Korea’s government – which it blames for many of its problems  –  “let experts in the north affairs and...

I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST being provocative to achieve some diplomatic or political purpose, but what exactly is the purpose we achieve by using the North Korean flag as a live fire target?  This looks like a case of the South Koreans involving our forces in their childish tit-for-tat.  Take this principle to its logical conclusion and you can see one of the reasons I’ve wanted our Army out of South Korea ever since I was a part of it....

U.N. + NORTH KOREA = KLEPTOCRACY: The U.N. is funneling millions of dollars worth of tradable carbon credits to corrupt nations worldwide, including Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Uzbekistan in an attempt to encourage clean energy projects in the developing world. [….] North Korea is hosting seven hydroelectric dams, which may generate over $1 million in CERs annually. North Korea, Sudan, and Uzbekistan are among the 10 most corrupt nations worldwide, according to Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index. It...