This is pretty disgusting that the North Korean soldier that defected to South Korea recently through the Joint Security Area had an 11-inch worm pulled out of his intestine:
A North Korean soldier shot multiple times while defecting to the South is in a stable condition but riddled with parasites that could complicate his chances of survival, his doctor said Thursday.
The soldier dashed across the border at the Panmunjom truce village on Monday, as former comrades from the North opened fire on him, hitting him at least four times.
He was pulled to safety by three South Korean soldiers who crawled to reach him, just south of the dividing line.
The young man was rushed to hospital in South Korea by helicopter where he has undergone two rounds of emergency surgery.
“Vital signs including his pulse are returning to stability”, attending doctor Lee Cook-Jong told journalists.
However, he warned, the un-named soldier could rapidly deteriorate at any moment.
“We’re paying close attention to prevent possible complications,” said Lee, who on Wednesday said “an enormous number of parasites” including roundworms had been found in the small intestine.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 years as a physician”, he said, adding the longest worm he removed was 27 centimetres (11 inches).
Parasites, especially roundworms, are widespread in North Korea — as they are in many developing countries — where people eat uncooked vegetables that have been fertilised with human faeces, experts say. [AFP]
Here is the latest Presidential Twitter drama involving North Korea:
President Donald Trump is exchanging school yard taunts with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
In a response to North Korea calling Trump’s speech in South Korea “reckless remarks by an old lunatic,” Trump tweeted from Hanoi on Sunday morning: “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?'”
Trump goes on to say sarcastically, “Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend — and maybe someday that will happen!” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but President Trump has called Kim Jong-un a “little Rocket Man” in the past.
It appears the Kim regime got a taste of its own medicine from a hacker that took over one of its shortwave radio stations:
A hacker has hijacked North Korea’s short-wave station, playing “The Final Countdown” by the Swedish rock band “Europe.”
An unknown hacker has allegedly hijacked North Korean short-wave radio station, 6400kHz, and is broadcasting the 1986 hit song from ’80s Swedish rock band Europe, “The Final Countdown.”
News of the incident was posted on Twitter by vigilante hacker, “The Jester,” who has in the past gained fame by hacking jihadist websites, and who in October 2016 defaced the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the message, “Stop attacking Americans.”
“A god among us has hijacked 6400kHz (North Korean station) and is playing the Final Countdown,” said The Jester on Twitter on Nov. 9, and posted a link to a recording of the broadcast.
The 6400kHz station is based in Kanggye close to the North Korean border with China, and is used by North Korean radio station Pyongyang Broadcasting Station (Pyongyang BS), which also broadcasts on the 621, 1053, and 3250 frequencies.
The North Korean communist regime has in the past used the 6400kHz radio station to broadcast coded messages. Strategic Sentinel, a Washington-based nonpartisan geostrategic consulting company, noted that North Korea often broadcasts messages on the station ahead of provocations. [Epoch Times]
Like I have always said these North Korean defector accounts should be taken with some skepticism since they are impossible to confirm. However, there undoubtedly negative effects happening around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site:
North Korea’s nuclear test site in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province is turning into a wasteland after six underground nuclear tests, according to witness accounts.
North Koreans who defected from the region said 80 percent of trees that are planted die, underground wells have run dry and babies are being born with defects.
The Research Association of Vision of North Korea, which includes North Korean defectors, interviewed 21 defectors who used to live in Kilju in the last couple of years.
“I heard from a relative in Kilju that deformed babies were born in hospitals there,” one defector said. Another said people in Kilju drink water that comes down from Mt. Mantap in Punggye-ri, where the nuclear test site is located, and they are worried about contamination from radiation.
Another said, “I spoke on the phone with family members I left behind there and they told me that all of the underground wells dried up after the sixth nuclear test.”
Suh Kyun-ryul, a professor of nuclear engineering at Seoul National University, said, “Due to the collapsed ground layer, fissures must have formed underneath, leading to contamination of the underground layer and water supply. [Chosun Ilbo]
If President Trump did want to meet with Kim Jong-un I hope it is not in North Korea where it would be a propaganda bonanza for the regime. Instead the meeting should be at the United Nations which was the organization that officially fought the Korean War. Forcing Kim to come to New York would mitigate any propaganda value of a meeting and show how serious the regime is about talks in my opinion:
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would “certainly be open” to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he embarked on his first trip to Asia last week.
In an interview aired Sunday, Trump was asked on U.S. news program “Full Measure” whether he would sit down with a dictator.
“I would sit with anybody I feel,” the president said. “I don’t think it’s strength or weakness. I think sitting down with people is not a bad thing. So I would certainly be open to doing that.”
He made no commitment, though, saying, “But we’ll see where it goes. I think we’re far too early.” [Yonhap]
