The deadline for North Korea to shutdown the Yongbyon nuclear reactor passed over six weeks ago, yet the North Korean negotiators had the gall to complain about a delay in rice aid:
North Korea’s Chief Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho Ung told South Korea’s Unification Minister Lee Jae Joung that the South has failed to implement an [...]
Earlier this year there were rumors that North Korean’s overseas, particularly diplomats, defied an order from Kim Jong-il to return all but one child to North Korea. True or not, there is now a rumor that all North Korean students in Beijing have been recalled:
All North Korean students studying in Beijing have returned to their [...]
Via Military.com: “In an about-face by the Pentagon, the US military is putting many more amputees back on active duty-even back into combat, in some cases… [due to] advances in battlefield medicine [and] better prosthetics… [of ~600 amputees, 31] have gone back to active duty, and no one who asked to remain in the [...]
CSM: From rice to nukes, Koreas find little unity (Don Kirk)
Daily NK: More Defectors Fleeing Directly to South Korea
Hankyoreh: In reclusive North, signs of economic liberalization [grain of salt alert]
NYT: U.S. Seeks to Break Deadlock in North Korea Talks
Bloomberg: Hill Tells North Korea to Close Its Nuclear Reactor
AP: SKorea to North: Shut Down Nuke Reactor
VoA: [...]
This handy website lists embassies in a selected country as well as that country’s embassies in other nations. Check out the DPRK page.
Update 2: Did some testing with the plug-in referred to below. It appears to work, but with some glitches, so I’ll be waiting to do the final upgrade to WP 2.2.
Update: If you use any K2 based theme, you’ll need this plug-in to disable widgets in WP 2.2, at least until K2 works this issue [...]
Compare these pics at Google images to that of 51 year-old Chen Yan (h/t Bodhi):
A middle-aged woman has bemused her countrymen by bringing China’s famous leader Mao Zedong back to life.
Dressed in a grey, button-up waistcoast Chen Yan is the spitting image of the deceased Communist leader, who ruled China with an iron grip for [...]
From the Dong-a Ilbo: “The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is a national academy of China… one of the academy’s research projects… concluded that Gojoseon, Goguryeo and Balhae are part of the history of China.” Could be an interstesting next couple of weeks.
Chosun Ilbo: Rumors Say Kim Jong-il’s Health Deteriorating
Joongang Ilbo: Despite rumors, source says Kim Jong-il is healthy
Chosun Ilbo: KEDO to Shut Down for Good
Yonhap: US Congress likely to require quarterly intel report on NK nuke program
Hankyoreh: Roh took Bush’s advice to postpone aid to North: source
KBS Global: ‘US Proposed New Solution to BDA [...]
Via Craigslist (h/t reader): “The Embassy of the Republic of Korea(Washington DC) announces one vacancy for the position of Research Assistant in the Economic Section and one vacancy in the Political Section… Research and prepare reports on economic and political topics… for Embassy diplomats and staff.”
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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