Joshua at OneFreeKorea writes: “The most consistently astonishing thing about genocide in our time is how little those who write and speak movingly about the genocides of the past often seem to say and do about genocides that can still be stopped.” Again a must read.
North Korean cult mythology tells us that Kim Il-sung carved at least hundreds of anti-imperialist or anti-Japanese slogans into trees throughout Korea during his time as a freedom fighter before World War II. These trees – “slogan trees” – are now national treasures in North Korea and many are protected with glass enclosures (see […]
I don’t normally follow New Zealand politics, but this cartoon portraying Winston Peters, NZ FM and head of the New Zealand First Party who was recently invited to visit North Korea by DPRK counterpart Pak Ui-Chun (date TBD), indicates he’s a bit unpopular, at least with some:
Not sure if he’s an egomaniac or not, […]
In an article at the Asia Times, Riddles and enigmas from North Korea, Andrei Lankov speculates on how governments get intelligence from inside North Korea, and lists some of the other valuable sources of information from the country.
- #From Mainichi and via the Chosun Bimbo, "In his first reported appearance following news of his hospitalization, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il lost his temper while watching a college soccer match, denouncing several players' long hair as "disgusting," according to a source close to the North Korean government. The outburst was followed by a nationwide ban on long hair for men." We'll all be watching the next soccer match to see if it's so.
- #Outward Bound, an international non-profit outdoor education program, is offering fully funded (including transportation to/from sites) outdoor adventure excursions to all OEF/OIF veterans. It doesn't matter what your current military status is (active, inactive, discharged, retired) - you're eligible to attend as long as you deployed in support of OEF/OIF combat operations while in the military.
- #Via AFP: “South Korea has lifted an overseas travel ban on Hwang Jang-Yop, the highest-ranking North Korean defector ever to come here and a harsh critic of the Pyongyang regime. . . Hwang, former secretary of the ruling Workers' Party and an ex-tutor of Kim Jong-Il, defected during a trip to Beijing in 1997.” His travel restriction was due to 10 years of pro-North ROK leadership, now over.
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