New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), that is (no relation to this author): “… the North Koreans asked for the meeting [in NM] to discuss upcoming multilateral talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program… Richardson said that while he will not act as an official representative of the Bush administration, he will do whatever he can to move the talks forward.”
In an article at the Asia Times, Riddles and enigmas from North Korea, Andrei Lankov speculates on how governments get intelligence from inside North Korea, and lists some of the other valuable sources of information from the country.
- #From Mainichi and via the Chosun Bimbo, "In his first reported appearance following news of his hospitalization, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il lost his temper while watching a college soccer match, denouncing several players' long hair as "disgusting," according to a source close to the North Korean government. The outburst was followed by a nationwide ban on long hair for men." We'll all be watching the next soccer match to see if it's so.
- #Outward Bound, an international non-profit outdoor education program, is offering fully funded (including transportation to/from sites) outdoor adventure excursions to all OEF/OIF veterans. It doesn't matter what your current military status is (active, inactive, discharged, retired) - you're eligible to attend as long as you deployed in support of OEF/OIF combat operations while in the military.
- #Via AFP: “South Korea has lifted an overseas travel ban on Hwang Jang-Yop, the highest-ranking North Korean defector ever to come here and a harsh critic of the Pyongyang regime. . . Hwang, former secretary of the ruling Workers' Party and an ex-tutor of Kim Jong-Il, defected during a trip to Beijing in 1997.” His travel restriction was due to 10 years of pro-North ROK leadership, now over.
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December 14th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Give ‘em hell.
December 14th, 2006 at 11:46 am
I’d ask them if they were aware, under Sec. 302 of the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004, that they were eligible to defect to the U.S., and would they like some assistance in getting their families out of North Korea as well?
Sewing the seeds. . . if I had the opportunity.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:49 am
Damn, the wrong Richardson went to North Korea…
April 4th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Yes, the very, very, very wrong one went… I’m just glad he dropped out of the race and isn’t making more bizarre statements about his imaginary role in North Korea deals of late.