A reader sends this interesting note on the DPRK Embassy in Vietnam:
I scouted out the NK embassy in Hanoi. The entire building is shuddered all the time. It’s next door to the Thai embassy. This is a building of the same design, but in much more active use. The NK embassy has no visa services [...]
The World Tourism Directory has a fairly extensive list of North Korean tourism-related addresses. For example, the ever popular, “Yacht Racing Association of the D.P.R. of Korea,” is located at: Munsingdong 2, Dongdaewon District, Pyongyang, E-Mail: gfasa@silibank.com. Lots more like that. Also a list of embassies and consulates with addresses, which is perhaps more useful.
This list of books on North Korea includes my own favorites, as well as a few books recommended to me that I’ve not yet read but plan to. If you have any suggestions, please post them in a comment.
Kim Il-sung: The North Korea Leader, by Suh Dae-sook (1995)
Kim Il-song’s North Korea, by Helen-Louise Hunter (1999)
The [...]
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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