Today I attended the funeral for Kevin Kim’s mother, in Alexandria, Virginia. I’ve been to many funerals and, as they go, this one went extremely well. Sad at her loss, but celebrating her spectacular ability to help family and friends, this was one to remember. Rest in peace.
Joseph Bermudez, author of several books on North Korea’s military and intelligence services, has launched a new journal focusing on the Korea People’s Army (KPA), KPA Journal. It will be online later this year, but the first iteration can be found at NK Econ Watch.
The lack of recent posts will continue for an unknown period of time as I’ve been busy at work, and engaged in other projects at home. I do plan on resuming daily posting at some unknown point in the future. I also still monitor all things North Korea daily and likely will post [...]
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.
The Clan Records: Five Stories of Korea. Kajiyama Toshiyuki. University of Hawaii Press, 1995 (translated).
The Clan Records is a collection of five short stories by a Japanese author who was born in Seoul (then called Keijo) in 1930, where his father was a civil engineer, and grew up there until he was repatriated [...]
Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) programs don’t pop-up overnight, especially in third-world backwaters like North Korea. Yet North Korea has announced via state-run media that it is capable of the “final stage of uranium enrichment.”
How shocking! There were no clues! There was no way to know this!
Well, not really. All [...]
Erik van Ingen Schenau of the China Motor Vehicle Documentation Centre has posted a collection of photos of vehicles manufactured in North Korea. A larger variety than I realized, and more than a few named Chollima (천리마).
Former President Kim Dae-jung (김대중) died today at age 83 (85 by Korean reckoning) of complications related to pneumonia. Kim was the Republic of Korea present from 1998 to 2003.
Although Kim had a long political career as an opposition leader – not an easy thing in Korea at the time – he [...]
Theorized about for a long time, now in the news:
“Currently there are eight companies in Seoul alone that provide services matching North Korean women with South Korean men. Two of them opened between 2005 and 2006 and the other six last year or this year. “It’s a niche market for South Korean men who [...]
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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