Better late than never:
The Unification Ministry has adjusted the content of unification education for both adults and students with President Lee Myung-bak’s North Korea policy, emphasizing the importance of national security and North Korea’s human rights issues.
Some left-leaning lecturers, who have been slammed for propagating distorted views on North Korea for the past […]

Young Korean Herrenvolk engaging in their version of Agoge, at least according to the New York Times. The two Korean schools mentioned in the article are similar to Exeter or Andover in the United States in someways (they are private academies that serve children of affluent parents). But my guess is that the studious atmosphere […]

During a meeting in P’yŏngyang on 04 October 2002, North Korean Deputy Foreign Minster Kang Seok-Ju admitted to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly that North Korea had a uranium enrichment program. That was the public beginning of the end of the 1994 Agreed Framework.
Now the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) has revealed […]

North Korea claims that on 25 April 1932 the Korean People’s Army (KPA, 조선인민군/ Chosŏn inmin’gun) was formed. However, the more likely accurate date is 08 February 1948. It is celebrated as “Military Foundation Day” in Kimland.

A joint statement (DOC) was issued at the conclusion of the fourth round of Six-Party Talks in September, 2005 that “reaffirmed that the goal of the Six-Party Talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.” It was hailed, by most, as a great breakthrough in coaxing North Korea to […]

As a former immigrant, I revere America’s car culture. Automobile, to me, means freedom — to go where one wishes, rather than to be limited by the rail tracks or bus routes that the government determines. This freedom of mobility might increase in China as more Chinese buys cars, including foreign cars. This is […]

Sorry I missed the anniversary, but better late than never: yesterday was the 48th anniversary of the 4.19 Revolution of 1960, which brought down Syngman Rhee (이승만) government.
The background to this “revolution” is complex, but it can be simply summarized as the final act of revulsion toward the increasingly autocratic rule of Syngman Rhee’s […]

I like all of it (courtesy of WaPo):
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said today that he will propose setting up a high-level diplomatic channel between North Korea and South Korea, including creating the first liaison offices in the two nations’ capitals. [Snip]
Lee has said that the relationship between the two countries must take a […]

This site offers a tool that allows you to write Hangul (and many other alphabets) from any computer, using buttons that form the text, which can then be copied into an email, document, etc. Very handy for use from work or while traveling.

Update: Dr. Petrov notes in comments, per input from Ruediger Frank on the Korean Studies Mailing List, that there are at least two other common forms of address for Kim Jong-il, which have been added as the last two rows of the table below.
Original post: Today while (finally) reading Andrei Lankov’s, “North of […]