Just returned from three weeks in Korea - Inchon (Un-seo-dong), Tae-an, Kong-ju, and Sokcho; but not Seoul - and will have a few posts on that over the next week. If felt like a helluva lot longer than three weeks, but that’s a different story. I didn’t have net access most of that time, so of course Kim Jong-il reportedly had a stroke!
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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September 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Welcome back!!!!
I hope you had a Great Chusok with In-laws.
You said that you didn’t have much of access to the net? I thought ROK was one of the most wired country in the world with PC-bang in every corner?
September 29th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Tongil! Welcom home.
September 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Welcome back! Looking forward to your next post.
September 30th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
All - much appreciated. I’ll post more after the jet lag passes… right now too tired to care. Of course that could be later today…
October 1st, 2008 at 10:21 am
Nice to see you back my friend. I recently started blogging again, albeit on more general topics. North Korea seems to be on many slow news days.
Anyway, I hope you at least took in some soju.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 am
Sorry I missed you dude. The trip really took its toll.