A reader forwarded this speech by An Song Nam, the Executive Director at the DPRK’s Institute of Disarmament and Peace in Pyongyang, posted at Nautilus, “Process of Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and the Challenges.” The text is from a presentation An delivered at the annual Asia-Pacific Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur in June, before […]

Was it a supernote? “A Russian man attempted to pass off a phony $100 bill at the New Hampshire State Liquor store… ‘It turned a color that it’s not supposed to, and when he saw that, he grabbed the bill back and left,’ said Smith… diplomatic immunity might be involved.”

According to the article, “Kim Is Squeezed as North Koreans in Japan Switch Citizenship,” about 1,200 North Korean citizens living in Japan change their citizenship to South Korea each year, and the rate is increasing:
Kim Jong Il no longer supports the government of North Korea.
Kim is a 66-year-old businessman who owns a shoe factory […]

Now that the $25 million of formerly frozen Banco Delta Asia (BDA) funds are safely in the coffers of Pyongyang, North Korea is moving very quickly in several areas, in addition to allowing the UN’s IAEA inspectors visit the Yongbyon nuclear reactor; a) pledging to, “cooperate with the international community in stopping narcotics trafficking” […]

Asia Times: Nuclear disarmament: Over to you, Pyongyang (Ralph Cossa)
Reuters: IAEA team heads for North Korea nuclear complex
Reuters: North Korea to probe abducted Japanese: source
AP: Woman who fled North Korea returns there
Yonhap: N. Korea testing newly developed missiles
Yonhap: North Accuses South Korea of Maritime Border Violation
Yonhap: North Korea Warns Japan on Pro-Pyongyang […]

Even as it was announced that North Korea will allow nuclear inspectors from the IAEA to visit the reactor at Yongbyon, the DPRK conducted a missile test off its east cost, firing one short-range missile into the Sea of Japan. As commenter Hamilton has noted, that’s one less to shoot at USFK.

Is the U.S. being hypocritical for criticizing the UN for hemorrhaging cash into North Korea when America has a) paid $20 million for MIA remains, b) sent over $1 billion in food and energy aid (i.e., the heavy fuel oil called for as part of the 1994 Agreed Framework), and c) allowed $25 million […]

Hangŭl: 국가안전보위부
Romanization: Guk-ga-an-jŏn-bo-wi-bu
English: State Security Protection Agency
Hangŭl: 최고인민회의
Romanization: Cheo-go-in-min-heo-ŭi
English: Supreme People’s Assembly
Hangŭl: 국방위원회
Romanization: Guk-bang wi-wŏn-heo
English: National Defense Commission
Source: Page 6 of, “North Korea: A Case to Answer – A Call to Act” (PDF), a 116 page report on human rights abuses in North Korea produced in 2007 by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an NGO […]

There is probably no better way to muddy Japanese accusations that North Korea kidnapped numerous Japanese citizens than to produce a counter accusation that can’t be proved, which is far more proactive than mere denial.
The sad truth here is that a woman defected to Japan but was almost certainly faced with the prospect of […]

From the AP: “U.N. nuclear monitors arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to discuss the communist nation’s plans to fulfill its long-delayed pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor.” This is fantastic news; now we can get to the next DPRK-created artificial impasse that much faster!