Via the Times: “The exhibition features 400 hand-painted posters dating from the peak of the Dear Leader Kim Sung Il’s power in the 1950s to the present regime led by his son, Kim Jong Il.” The article has only one image, but has several interesting propaganda quotes.

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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.

From the AP: “Three North Koreans defectors left Thailand for the United States early Monday, becoming the latest refugees accepted by Washington under a 2004 law. . . A South Korean activist said the three were among 29 North Korean refugees who launched a hunger strike in a Bangkok detention center last week to […]

What would have been Kim Il-sung’s (김일성) 96th birthday, had he not died on 8 July 1994, is today (in Korea), 15 April. The “Great Leader” was born in Mangyondae in what is now North Korea, on the day the Titanic sank.

Dr. Lankov’s latest in Foreign Affairs: “Despite international calls for reform, the North Korean government is doing its best to maintain the domestic status quo — and with good reason, at least from its perspective. Still, change is coming in very slow motion thanks to international aid and illegal exchanges with the outside world, […]

Via AFP: “[Abdul Qadeer] Khan, who has been under effective house arrest since confessing on television in 2004 to running a proliferation network, [said] ‘I saved the country for the first time when I made Pakistan a nuclear nation and saved it again when I confessed and took the whole blame on myself…’ ” […]

Jack of DPRK Forum points to some footage of Kim Il-sung, including some vintage stuff from 1956. Note that what would be Kim Il-sung’s 96th birthday is coming up on 15 April (same day the Titanic sank).