Why bother micromanaging when you don’t have to oversee anything at all? Compare 2007:
When natural hazards like floods occur in North Korea, the South Korean government sends “humanitarian assistance.” But it has turned out that the government failed to monitor whether the emergency relief aid was being used appropriately.
The government spent 221 billion won (229 [...]
Richard Halloran’s latest is posted at RealClearPolitics, “U.S. All Talk in Dealing with N. Korea.” His assessment in a nutshell, “Doesn’t sound much like a nation ready for nuclear disarmament.”
Do North Korean’s know what an actual, “rich and powerful country” is? As the Rodong Shinmun can publish this and not incite a revolution, it seems the answer is no:
Rodong Sinmun in an editorial entitled “Let’s successfully accomplish the great leader’s cause of building a rich and powerful country” lauds him as a peerless national [...]
WaPo: On North Korea, Hippocrates Not Hypocrisy
AFP: NKorea cracks down on karaoke bars, Internet cafes
Yonhap: First batch of oil ready to be shipped to North Korea
Reuters: IAEA team likely to arrive in North Korea July 14
IHT: N. Korea nuke talks to resume July 18, report says
Kyodo: Hill wants Korean Peninsula peace talks by [...]
The latest from North Korea’s unofficial spokesman, Kim Myong-chol, is available at the Asia Times: “Kim Jong-il’s military-first policy.” Kim doesn’t fail to unintentionally entertain; hints of retaking Koguryo and making the U.S. a battleground.
Via Sinchew: “Four North Koreans have entered the Danish Embassy in Vietnam in an apparent bid for eventual asylum in South Korea… The Danish Embassy in Hanoi confirmed by telephone that a family of two adults and two children had entered the building, but gave no further information on how the case would be treated.”
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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