May 22nd, 2013 at 3:51 am » Comments (0)

It looks like the North Koreans are sending a high regime official to let the Chinese know they have ended their recent provocation cycle now so the Chinese can let them use their banks again to launder money: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday dispatched a top military official to China as a special envoy, the country’s state media said. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army, had left Pyongyang for China. It did not
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May 19th, 2013 at 6:11 am » Comments (7)

I always figured that the North Koreans would have to fire something to end their provocation cycle and that is what that is what they are currently doing: North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on Sunday, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions have raised concerns about the
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May 17th, 2013 at 8:48 am » Comments (10)

Via KBS Global: The U.S. Department of Defense presumes North Korea has up to 200 mobile missile launchers. According to a report submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Pentagon, North Korea appears to have up to 100 short-range missiles launchers such as KN-02 and Scud, up to 50 medium-range Nodong missiles launchers, and up to 50 long-range Musudan missiles launchers. The figure is double the estimate by South Korean military and intelligence authorities, which calculated that the North has up to 94 missiles. The U.S. report also presumed that
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May 17th, 2013 at 4:47 am » Comments (0)

It appears to me that the North Koreans are playing a waiting game to see if the Park administration is serious about closing Kaesong: Pyongyang once again rejected Seoul’s proposal for a meeting to allow businessmen from the South to withdraw their products and assets from the closed Kaesong Industrial Complex, calling it “a despicable trick.” An unnamed spokesman of the General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone, a North Korean organization in charge of the inter-Korean factory park, told the official Korean Central News
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May 16th, 2013 at 10:23 pm » Comments (9)

So says the Chosun Ilbo: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un now has two daughters, probably with different women, according to a source in Beijing. His older brother Kim Jong-chol apparently has a son. The source said Kim Jong-un’s wife Ri Sol-ju gave birth to a baby girl late last year. Former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited Pyongyang in February this year, said Ri talked mostly about her “beautiful baby daughter.” The North Korean leader’s first child, also a daughter, was reportedly born in 2010. The source said the mother
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May 15th, 2013 at 3:11 am » Comments (11)

I have been saying this for years and now it seems everyone is getting on board with the idea that North Korea never had any intention of denuclearizing: The former chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says it might be time to give up on the idea of convincing North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program and instead focus on deterring its acts of aggression. “When we look back at the past 20 years of international efforts to resolve this nuclear issue … we can’t help but
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May 13th, 2013 at 1:53 pm » Comments (0)

This Yonhap file photo shows the Seonjuk Bridge in the ancient city of Kaesong in North Korea. The city bordering South Korea and home to an inter-Korean industrial complex is highly likely to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage at the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee set for June 16-27 in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap-Angkor, Cambodia. On May 13, 2013, UNESCO unveiled a report of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) on an on-site ICOMOS inspection of the town. The report recommended the designation
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May 13th, 2013 at 3:16 am » Comments (3)

It does appear that China’s measures to close North Korean banking accounts was able to stop the Kim regime’s saber rattling, but does anyone think they will actually take any measures that will fundamentally change the nature of the regime? North Korea this week renewed its recent series of threats, saying there would be “immediate counteractions” should anything go awry with a series of joint military drills between the United States and South Korea.  Much of Pyongyang’s fiery rhetoric, however, has softened in recent weeks. Warnings like that on North
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May 8th, 2013 at 8:54 am » Comments (1)

Isn’t it amazing how news like this is barely mentioned in the media after having two weeks of non-stop media coverage last month that we are all about to die in a thermo-nuclear war? WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say North Korea has taken a step back from its recent escalation of regional tensions by removing from their launch site a set of medium-range ballistic missiles that had been readied for possible test firing. The two U.S. officials who confirmed the North Korean move Tuesday spoke on condition of anonymity
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May 6th, 2013 at 3:58 am » Comments (14)

I feel bad for this guy’s family but if you travel to North Korea you should not expect the US government to bail you out: (CNN) – The case of a U.S. citizen sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp is not a “political bargaining chip,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday. Pae Jun Ho, known as Kenneth Bae by U.S. authorities, was arrested and prosecuted for various crimes aimed at “state subversion,” KCNA said. It previously reported the Korean-American was arrested November 3
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