The latest edition of the Military Review, a publication of the US Army’s Combined Arms Center located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has an excellent paper on, “Finding America’s Role in a Collapsed North Korean State.” (PDF) An excerpt:
American military and political thinkers today are focused on creating policies to govern stability operations, but this […]
Dr. Andrei Lankov’s latest article on reunification is out and is as usual a must read. Some of the points he covers are:
While both Koreas say they want reunification, in reality neither is prepared for the costs to their side; loss of power for the elites in North Korea, and severe financial hardship in […]
Update 3: See DPRK Forum for several related Al-Jazeera videos.
Update 2: There has been very little new information on the possible North Korea-Syria nuclear tie, though South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Song Min-soon, took it upon himself to dismiss the reports:
“If Syria received nuclear materials from North Korea, it must have a facility to store […]
Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland have an article in the latest Newsweek International (h/t OneFreeKorea) concerning the apparent change in North Korea’s attitude towards negotiations to denuclearize. While I don’t agree with all they suggest, this is what to take away from this article:
We think we know why North Korea is softening, or at […]
I don’t normally follow New Zealand politics, but this cartoon portraying Winston Peters, NZ FM and head of the New Zealand First Party who was recently invited to visit North Korea by DPRK counterpart Pak Ui-Chun (date TBD), indicates he’s a bit unpopular, at least with some:
Not sure if he’s an egomaniac or not, […]
This photo is from the article linked to in yesterday’s post on a Swiss report questioning the veracity of U.S. claims that North Korea is behind the supernote counterfeits.
Although supernotes have been described as more perfect than genuine $100 bills, it’s interesting to be able to see that the ink in the original bleeds […]
This report raises some questions, and while I’m no currency expert, I’m not sure they’re valid question (seems they’ve already been answered):
The Swiss federal criminal police, in a report released Monday, expresses serious doubt that North Korea is capable of manufacturing the fake bills, which it said were superior to real ones.
The Swiss report […]
As soon as I go on a vacation, things go badly! Market crash in Asia, Bush 43 folds on Iran…
But first, here is a strange coincidence. I crossed paths with Ambassador John Bolton at the men’s room (!) of the United Airlines Red Carpet Lounge at Dulles on my way out of […]
Yesterday Gypsy Scholar commented on an opinion piece in the Washington Times by Robert Carlin and John Lewis titled, “What North Korea Really Wants” (27 Jan). Their argument is that:
Above all, it wants, and has pursued steadily since 1991, a long-term, strategic relationship with the United States. . . The North Koreans believe in […]
In his latest op-ed, Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, says that Japan can become in East Asia what Israel is in the Middle East, a “wildcard”:
In part, that’s because Israel acts as a kind of wildcard in the Middle East. The United States can decide what it is (and is not) prepared to […]
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 and intense regimen compare more to the likes of Stuyvesant (my alma mater) in NYC or T.J. in Virginia (both highly selective, but publicly-funded high schools).
- #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.
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