Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
Yesterday, rumors swept the Internet, primarily via Twitter, that the new leader of North Korea had been assassinated in Beijing: The claim that Kim, supreme leader of North Korea since the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December, had died apparently stemmed from a message sent out by a man who works near [...]
The Daily Mail reports that Kim Jong-Un and his underlings are punishing citizens perceived not to have sufficiently mourned the death of his father: North Korea’s hardline regime is punishing those who did not cry at the death of dictator Kim Jong-il, according to reports. Sentences of at least six months in labour camps are [...]
A few people over at Reddit have discovered an odd detail from photographs of yesterday’s memorial service for Kim Jong-il: At the Wire today, Dashiell Bennett highlights the North Korean state news agency’s apparently random manipulation of an image from yesterday’s funeral procession for Kim Jong Il — a crude photoshop job done, Bennett notes, [...]
J. David Goodman and David Furst at The New York Times Lens Blog have uncovered an interesting manipulation of at least one of the photographs released yesterday from the funeral procession of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il: The funeral of Kim Jong-il on Wednesday called to mind the best stage-managed Communist state productions: the falling [...]
The official State Funeral for Kim Jong-il was held in Pyongyang earlier today, and it was about as bizarre as you’d expect something from that country to be: SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-un, the designated dynastic heir to power in North Korea, walked alongside the hearse of his deceased father, Kim Jong-il, through snow-covered [...]
If a report from Reuters is to be believed, Kim Jong Un will not have the same power over the DPRK that his father and grandfather did, at least not for the time being: (Reuters) – North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week’s death of Kim Jong-il, although [...]
How can we know what happens next in North Korea when we didn’t even know Kim Jong-il had died?
A tumblr blog. Stephen Green observes: What’s interesting is that every picture is identical, in that there is nothing to see — no people, no activity, no nothing — outside of the Dear Leader, his entourage, and his immediate focus. Much like whatever it is Dear Leader happens to be looking at, the rest [...]
Rick Perry appears to be the first Presidential candidate to comment on the death of Kim Jong-il, and it would appear he didn’t give it much thought: AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today released the following statement regarding the death of Kim Jong II: “The death of vicious dictator Kim Jong Il provides some cause [...]
These videos from North Korean State Television that have been released since Kim Jong-il’s death was announced are, in a word, bizarre. First up, here’s the official announcement from state television: And here’s footage of North Koreans “overcome with grief” in Pyongyang: It all looks remarkably similar to what we saw in 1994 when his [...]
Apparently, the Kim regime is concerned that North Koreans living in Libya have been exposed to a little too much revolution: North Korea has banned its own citizens working in Libya from returning home, apparently out of fear that they will reveal the extent – and final outcomes – of the revolutions that have shaken [...]
Sometimes, you just can’t make stuff like this up: In the latest ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ news from the United Nations, North Korea assumed the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament Tuesday. “Bare months after the U.N. finally suspended Libya’s Col. Muammar Qaddafi from its Human Rights Council, North Korea wins the propaganda coup [...]
Australia’s ABC News has video smuggled out by an activist showing widespread famine in North Korea, including filthy children begging in the streets and evidence that even soldiers are not getting enough to eat.
After spending much of 2010 on a confrontational posture, North Korea has gotten quiet lately and has started asking the world for food again: TOKYO – North Korea recently took the unusual step of begging for food handouts from the foreign governments it usually threatens. Plagued by floods, an outbreak of a livestock disease and [...]
The latest Wikileaks revelations suggest that China may not be willing to protect North Korea for much longer.
North Korea has unveiled to the world a new nuclear processing facility that puts back on the table the question of just what we should, or can, do about the fact that a rogue state possesses nuclear weapons and wants to build more.
Kim Jong Il’s reclusive third son is now on a path to inherit leadership of the country founded by his Grandfather.
Jimmy Carter has managed to achieve as private citizen that which alluded him as president: Freeing an American citizen held hostage by a hostile government. An American held captive for seven months in North Korea stepped off a plane in his hometown Friday, looking thin but joyful as he hugged the former president who had [...]
More odd developments inside the modern day version of the Hermit Kingdom
I suppose it could have been much worse for them: North Korea’s football team has been shamed in a six-hour public inquisition and the team’s coach has been accused of “betraying” the reclusive leader’s heir apparent following their failure at the World Cup, according to reports. The entire squad was forced onto a stage at [...]
The collapse of the North Korean economy continues apace: SEOUL — Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets — a last-resort option for a regime desperate to prevent its people from starving. In recent weeks, according to North Korea observers and defector groups with sources in the country, [...]
More bluster from the Pyongyang regime: UNITED NATIONS — North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday that his country’s military would respond forcefully to any Security Council condemnation over the sinking of a South Korean warship, warning that “our people and army will smash our aggressors.” In a rare news conference, the envoy, [...]
There’s a fascinating article in today’s New York Times offering a glimpse inside the world’s most reclusive regime, and the picture it paints isn’t pretty: Interviews in the past month with eight North Koreans who recently left their country — a prison escapee, illegal traders, people in temporary exile to find work in China, the [...]
The latest round of tensions on the Korean peninsula may be linked to efforts by Kim Jong Il to ensure that power passes to one of his sons: Experts on North Korea say that its latest act of belligerence — the sinking of a South Korean ship in March, one of the worst military provocations [...]
David Sanger, writing in the New York Times, notes the familiar and deadly cycle of North Korean provocation: USUALLY, there is a familiar cycle to Korea crises. Like a street gang showing off its power to run amok in a well-heeled neighborhood, the North Koreans launch a missile over Japan or set off a nuclear [...]
Tensions continue to rise on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel ROKS Cheonan by a North Korean torpedo on March 26, 2010 with the loss of the lives of 46 South Korean sailors. When the attack, presumably by a North Korean miniature submarine, occurred, the South [...]
With tensions continuing to rise on the Korean Peninsula and the latest round of talks in China seemingly ending with no real progress, some analysts are wondering if the world is prepared for the effects of a collapse of the Pyongyang regime: [G]iven the worsening economy, the inexperience of the putative successor and the unknown [...]
. . . and call it peace. The Chinese have called for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula: North Korean ally China on Tuesday called for restraint amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, but again declined to endorse Seoul’s claim that Pyongyang sunk one of its warships. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said [...]
Things continue to get tense on the Korean Peninsula: BEIJING — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed full U.S. support Monday for South Korea’s decision to take tough new steps against North Korea and said Pyongyang’s “belligerence” has created a “highly precarious situation” in the region. Hours earlier, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced [...]
The tensions on the Korean peninsula over the attack on the South Korean Cheonan, continue to mount: A new American intelligence analysis of a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship concludes that Kim Jong-il, the ailing leader of North Korea, must have authorized the torpedo assault, according to senior American officials who cautioned [...]
Speaking in Japan, Secretary of State Clinton joined the small chorus of voices condemning North Korea for sinking a South Korean warship: TOKYO — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton harshly condemned North Korea on Friday for a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean Navy warship last March, and promised to marshal an international [...]
After dancing around the issue of blame for two months, today South Korea formally accused the North Koreans of sinking a South Korean warship: South Korea will formally blame North Korea on Thursday for launching a torpedo at one of its warships in March, causing an explosion that killed 46 sailors and heightened tensions in [...]
Sarah Palin, who was governor of Alaska for a few months before launching a career as a talk show host, objects to President Obama’s new nuclear policy thusly: Now, the president, with all the vast nuclear experience that he acquired as a community organizer, as a part-time senator, and as a full-time candidate, all that [...]
Do all sane people agree that a nuclear weapons-free world is best? Are nuclear weapons militarily obsolete, desirable only for political posturing? That seems to be the consensus of an influential group of European leaders making the rounds in Washington this week. Among their stops was the Atlantic Council, where the delegation from the Pugwash [...]
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton argues that we need to get the bureaucracy out of intelligence if we are to adequately assess the threats facing the country. Although the U.S. intelligence community (IC) has been stung by failures relating to the Christmas terrorist attack, these failures are symptomatic of far larger problems. In analyzing the [...]
Are you a terrorist who would like to blow up an airliner but confused about how best to elude screening? Well, luckily for you, the Transportation Security Administration has published a How To manual to answer all your questions. In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening [...]
It may have escaped your attention (I’d meant to post on this a few days ago) but North Korea is no longer a communist country. They’ve scrubbed the constitution of all references to communism: SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has officially made Kim Jong-il its “supreme leader” and his “military first” policy its guiding [...]
What you’ve missed the past week if you’re not reading Manzine: Features: Mad About Mad Men (James Joyner) – “Mad Men” is the hottest show on TV, having somehow captured the zeitgeist with its meticulous portrayal of early 1960s Manhattan. Guide to Homebrewing Beer (Tim F) – Brewing your own beer is pretty easy. Here [...]
Dick Cheney is breaking the mold on how recently-departed vice presidents act. First, he immediately went into attack mode against President Obama. Now, he’s going after President Bush, too. Bart Gelman for WaPo: Cheney’s disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with [...]
I’ve refrained from rapid reaction to the controversy over Bill Clinton’s trip to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists because I’ve been torn between competing maxims. I agree with the critics who say rewarding despots who have seized American citizens is bad precedent, incentivizing illegal behavior. Yet, Bob Manning is right, [...]
Of all the commentary I’ve seen on the North Korean hostages, I think that this has to be the most execrable. That said, and now that they are out of jeopardy, Ling and Lee deserve to be held accountable, at least in the realm of public opinion, for the unthinkably bad judgment they displayed in [...]
The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 5:30-6:30 Eastern. Dave Schuler and I will be talk about the Cash for Clunkers program, the Birthers, Bill Clinton’s North Korea trip, and other topics in the news. We’ll also be taking calls at (646) 716-7030. Owing to a high [...]
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about apparently the Burmese have built a secret nuclear reactor: Two of Asia’s most oppressive regimes may have joined forces to develop a nuclear arsenal, according to strategic experts who have analysed information supplied by a pair of Burmese defectors. The men, who played key roles in [...]
Michael Gerson pronounces the Obama Doctrine of engagement DOA: But even lacking an ideology, the administration does have a doctrine. The defining principle of President Obama’s foreign policy is engagement with America’s adversaries. Much of the president’s public diplomacy has been designed to clear a path for such talks — expressing respect for legitimate grievances, [...]
Over the weekend North Korea fired a volley of short range missiles into the Sea of Japan in defiance of UNSC resolutions, heightening tensions between North Korea and its neighbors, South Korea and Japan. The Guardian Council has certified the election results in Iran and President Ahmadinejad and the “hardliners” that he represents seem even [...]
As widely expected, the DPRK fired some missiles on the 4th of July. Apparently, however, they were not aimed at Hawaii. North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day. The [...]
The United States is a very large and diverse country, its people have many differing views as you’d expect in such a country, and, not particularly surprisingly, some of those views are in diametric opposition. That’s particularly apparent in Americans’ views of how we should interact with Iran. Isolationism remains a strong strain of thought [...]
