The UN’s audit of the UNDP – which last June the internal audit was noted as being somewhat of a fiasco – has, surprise, surprise, cleared the UNDP and itself of any wrongdoing in the matter:
The case has in part revolved around accusations that some of the hard currency UNDP spent in North Korea […]
South Korean Defense Ministry officials report that North Korean patrol craft violated the Northern Limit Line (NLL) last Saturday, for a total of three violations this year, resulting in the South Korean Navy being put on alert.
The violations could be deliberate attempts by the North Korean regime to signal displeasure with the new […]
Instead of pressuring North Korea where we know the regime can be influenced, the Bush administration is setting the stage for removing the DPRK from the list of terrorist sponsoring nations, and insulting our strongest ally in the region, Japan, in the process:
North Korea appears to have met the legal criteria to be taken […]
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), sponsor of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, submitted Resolution 399, which calls for requiring several conditions before North Korea can be removed from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring nations:
The resolution urges the administration not to lift the designation until it can be demonstrated that North Korea is […]
The U.S. Navy captain was very… trusting:
North Korean sailors who fought off a hijacking by Somali pirates reportedly disagreed with their U.S. helpers over the treatment of five detained pirates. According to sources, the captain of the North Korean cargo ship Dai Hong Dan wanted to leave them in a rubber dinghy at sea […]
Koreans are generally more sensitive than other nationalities to outside (i.e., international) criticism or scrutiny and obsessed with their “place” in world rankings. So these three articles caught my attention; a series on a movement to stop foreign adoption, misleading abortion statistics, and the praises of dog meat, all of which can be seen […]
North Korean cult mythology tells us that Kim Il-sung carved at least hundreds of anti-imperialist or anti-Japanese slogans into trees throughout Korea during his time as a freedom fighter before World War II. These trees – “slogan trees” – are now national treasures in North Korea and many are protected with glass enclosures (see […]
Update: Bolton has his say:
Congressmen, human rights activists, and a former ambassador are challenging the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s plan to transfer $25 million in frozen funds to North Korea… “These are tainted funds and it would be bad enough to have a private bank handle them, let alone the Fed,” a […]
A territorial dispute between the UK and Spain over a reference to Gibraltar could delay the EU from fully enforcing sanctions on North Korea:
As is known, the ban was agreed by the United Nations last October as one of a number of sanctions against North Korea, following its testing of a nuclear device.
The aim […]
The story of how Gerry Bevers was fired from a university teaching position for what basically amounts to having an unpopular opinion on a nationalist Korean issue has made the English language Korean press (H/T Matt). A post by Andy Jackson at The Marmot’s Hole has so far generated more than 400 comments on […]
From the Dong-a Ilbo: “President of the Families of Abducted and Detained in North Korea, confirmed yesterday at a press conference, ‘A former South Korean soldier surnamed Kim is currently staying in a third country. He crossed the North Korean border at around 10 p.m. on June 14. He joined the South Korean army in August 1951 at age 17. He is now 74 years old.’”
- #GI Korea has an excellent and lengthy post on the background, events, and aftermath of the 2002 accident where a U.S. armored vehicle killed to schoolgirls. I arrived in Korea a few days after the accident, but things didn't start to heat up until two months later, as I was returning to the States.
- #Via Reuters: “…there was strong suspicion a huge shipment of methamphetamines seized at the former U.S. navy base of Subic north of Manila this week came from clandestine drugs laboratories in North Korea.” The Joker took over Batman’s abandoned cave.
- #From TimesOnline: "THE first case of murder and suicide caused by North Korea’s new food crisis has emerged with the account of a man who killed his hungry wife and children and then took his own life in despair." This report can't be confirmed, but it is entirely plausible.
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