Via the AP: “Kim Jong Il, has been quoted as saying… “Staying up all night is my habit,” … Lee Young Kook, who served as one of Mr Kim’s elite bodyguards for a decade before defecting, said… Once, Mr Kim dropped by his office after midnight and stayed for 11 hours…” 눈치 없다.
Daily NK: NK’s Up-and-Coming Upper Class Do Not Want Regime Change
KBS Global: 8th US Army Command to Stay in Korea
Yonhap: IAEA to station inspectors at N. Korea’s nuclear reactor
IHT: NK says it could shut down reactor as soon as aid arrives
Reuters: North Korea says may shut down nuclear plant early
AFP: UN agency meets to approve [...]
Born on 15 April 1912, the day the Titanic sank, Kim Il-sung died in the midst of negations leading to the October 1994 Agreed Framework. His embalmed body is a public mausoleum at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace.
From the AP: “Officials in Chongqing are preparing to submit an application to Guinness World Records to have the free four-story [1,000 toilet] public bathroom listed as the world’s largest… ‘We are spreading toilet culture. People can listen to gentle music and watch TV… After they use the bathroom they will be very, very happy.’ [...]
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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