Archive for the 'Japan' Category

Reports from Inside North Korea: Rimjingang

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

The magazine that “feature[s] reports on North Korea only using accounts from people based in the country,” has started a Japanese version (the Korean-language version came out last year).
Defectors who agree to go back into North Korea are given cameras to document life there, which means that those who are discovered stand a […]

Drug Smugglers in for the Long Haul

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

From Japan Today: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a high court decision sentencing four men to prison terms of 11-20 years for smuggling several hundred kilograms of amphetamines into Japan from North Korea in 2002.”

Japan Sent 22 Fighters to Intercept Russian Bomber

Saturday, February 9th, 2008

From the AP, via Japan Probe: “A Russian air force bomber briefly violated Japanese airspace over an uninhabited island just south of Tokyo on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said… Japan’s navy scrambled 22 fighter jets, including F-15s, and two airborne warning and control aircraft known as AWACs…” See video from Japanese TV at Japan […]

Remember Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

Read about it at the Naval Historical Center.

U.S. Strong-armed Japan into Comfort Woman Retraction

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

These tactics would be better used on South Korea’s Roh Moo-hyun, generally, but I do agree in using them on one of our top allies in this specific case:
The United States warned Japan in March that Washington could no longer back Tokyo on the issue of North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese unless then […]

Daily Press Briefing: Japan’s New PM, Santions on NK Company

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

Excerpts from the 25 September Department of State Daily Press Briefing on the election of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and new sanctions on North Korean company producing missiles. Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey is responding to questions:
QUESTION: A new Japanese cabinet was formed today under the LDP leader Yasuo Fukuda and what are U.S. expectations […]

“Yakuza Moon”

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Though there is no mention of it in the Reuters article, I wonder if “Yakuza Moon” reveals anything about North Korea’s connection to the drug trade in Japan (there is a known connection with reports as recent as March 2007):
The elaborate dragons, phoenixes and a medieval courtesan with one breast bared and a knife […]

Koreans in Japan Changing Citizenship from DPRK to ROK

Friday, June 29th, 2007

According to the article, “Kim Is Squeezed as North Koreans in Japan Switch Citizenship,” about 1,200 North Korean citizens living in Japan change their citizenship to South Korea each year, and the rate is increasing:
Kim Jong Il no longer supports the government of North Korea.
Kim is a 66-year-old businessman who owns a shoe factory […]

Probable Route North Korean Boat Defectors Took to Japan

Monday, June 18th, 2007

Below is the most likely route (dark red line) across the Sea of Japan the family of four North Korean defectors – who arrived in Seoul on Saturday – took last month, followed by a detailed summary of related events to date. This map of currents helps explain how they traveled nearly 900 km […]

Chosun Soren Lose “de facto embassy of North Korea” in Tokyo

Monday, June 18th, 2007

Update: Also see Joshua’s post on this.
Original post: Japan continues to keep pressure on North Korea in yet another move that will stifle the flow of currency and goods from Japan to North Korea. The Chosun Soren clearly brought this upon themselves:
The de facto embassy of North Korea in Japan may lose its headquarters […]