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.
[Another Update 11/30/08] Chancelleor Michelle Rhee will be on the cover of Time Magazine. Here is the juicy bit:
Inside the magazine, Rhee reveals she’s a Democrat but came close to voting for Republican John McCain for president. She says a close friend begged her to give Democrat Barack Obama a chance.
Rhee says she is [...]
If reporting over the past two months has been accurate, it seems that Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke (or perhaps a heart attack), in mid-August, was in the hospital for a time, but is now recovering. A French neurosurgeon, Francois-Xavier Roux, is thought to have treated Kim, which would point to a stroke, though [...]
A coworker purchased these weird post cards at Insadong this summer. The URL on the other side is; blueninja.biz, which has a lot of other strange art available.
“Welcome to Seoul, the City of Beauties”
“Wonderful Korea”
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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