Via the Joongang Ilbo: “Lee Jong-seok, the unification minister, put the official financial aid given by Seoul to Pyongyang at $1.7 billion during the Kim Dae-jung administration and his successor’s to date.
After missile and nuclear tests and uranium enrichment, the U.S. sanctions North Korean firms while Pyongyang reverses, making overtures. It’s not an accident, it’s a pattern of strategic disengagement.
- #Vanity Fair, of all publications, has a lengthy article on North Korea’s counterfeiting operations, including Office 39. Well worth a read. (h/t NE Asia Matters)
- #The Chosun Ilbo has an article about a new book by Chang Jin-song (formerly affiliated with the North Korean Workers' Party) that details Kim Jong-il private life, including the inside scoop on all his lady friends. According to Chang, one unfortunate young lady to get Kim's attention was, "brutally executed after she spurned Kim's persistent advances and fell in love with another man."
- #Gizmodo has an excellent array of Kim Jong-il photos; In Which We Provoke Kim Jong Il in 77 Offensive and Hilarious Ways. Some are sure to become often used classics.
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October 13th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
That’s much, much lower than other estimates we’ve seen ($7B). Given Lee’s tenuous relationship with the truth, I question his stats.
Either way, a lot of money.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
And just think, this is only the cash. There have been other South Korean tranfers to North Korea over the past 30 years or so….