North Korea’s top three newspapers – Rodong Shinmun (Worker’s Newspaper), Joson Inmingun (Korean People’s Army) and Chongnyon Jonwi (Youth Vanguard), published this year’s Joint New Year Editorial on, well, New Year’s Day. Equally unsurprising was the dominant theme of the editorial, which was titled: “Glorify This Year 2012 as a Year of Proud Victory, a Year When an Era [...]
January 3, 2012
DPRK’s 2012 Joint Editorial – More Songun or Less? (by Choson Exchange)
December 30, 2011
N. Koreans vow allegiance to new ‘supreme’ leader Kim Jong-un
North Korean officials pledged allegiance to their new leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday as they formally announced the opening of his era in a solemn memorial service for Kim’s late father Kim Jong-il. Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s octogenarian ceremonial head of state, lauded Kim Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, as “the supreme leader [...]
December 29, 2011
Even in mourning, Lil’ Kim imitates his father
In preparation for secretive Kim Jong Il’s state funeral, planned for an unknown time today (we told you he was secretive!) we asked Chad O’Carroll, Director of Communications at the Korea Economic Institute, to explain the simularities between this procession and that of Kim’s father. Later today anyone who’s anyone in Pyongyang will turn out [...]
December 19, 2011
Gov’t willing to scrap plan to light Christmas tower near border: official
The defense ministry is willing to accept local religious bodies’ request to withdraw the plan to light Christmas tree towers near the border, an official said Monday, as the South Korean government attempted to take a low-key approach following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The South had planned to light three Christmas [...]
December 17, 2011
Heavy Metal Thunder by Marcus Noland
It’s been at least a week since we’ve had a post on tourism, so we must be overdue. We’ve got golf, juche study halls, study tours, radical chic. There’s so much activity on that front that you’d think Wonsan was Miami Beach. Now from the good folks at Koryo Tours, we’ve got the heavy metal [...]
December 16, 2011
U.S. says no nuclear link with N.Korea food talks
The U.S. envoy for North Korean policy said on Thursday Washington was making no linkage between talks between the two countries on food aid and trying to get the reclusive nation back to the table to discuss its nuclear programme. Robert King, the State Department’s special envoy for human rights in North Korea, was meeting [...]
December 15, 2011
Japan and North Korean Refugees in China by Stephan Haggard
How foreign embassies and consulates in China deal with North Korean refugees has been the subject of more than one international diplomatic incident. Recent news coverage in both Japan and Korea suggests that Japan may have formally capitulated on the issue, signing a pledge not to harbor North Korean defectors. Embassy incidents began in 2001, [...]
December 6, 2011
The food situation in North Korea by Marcus Noland
On 25 November, the FAO/WFP released a special report on the food situation in North Korea that concluded that despite an improvement in the fall harvest relative to the previous year, the North continues to face an “uncovered deficit” and that the population faces another year of “prolonged food deprivation.” In other words, the new [...]
December 3, 2011
Burma: Are They or Aren’t They? by Stephan Haggard
With Secretary Clinton headed to Burma and the press drinking the Kool Aid on the reforms there, it is important to underscore how little we actually know about the Burma-North Korea connection. In June, we discussed the infamous interdiction case in some detail. There does not seem much doubt that North Korea has shipped conventional [...]
November 26, 2011
S. Korea beefs up firepower on frontline islands
When North Korea fired on South Korea’s frontline island of Yeonpyeong last year, the South`s main firepower was nothing but some 10 K-9 self-propelled guns deployed on Yeonpyeong and other northwestern islands. Several of the South`s guns malfunctioned or were destroyed in the attack, preventing the military from effective counterattack. A year ago, the North [...]