North Korean leader Kim Jong-un tours the Korean April 26 Cartoon Film Studio in Pyongyang. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Nov. 27, 2014, without saying when the visit was made. Circled is Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister who serves as a deputy director level official at the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. (KCNA-Yonhap)
In her slim-fitting trouser suits and black-heeled shoes, Kim Yo Jong cuts a contrasting figure to her pudgy older brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
On Thursday, state media said the younger Kim, 27, had taken a senior position in the ruling Workers’ Party, confirming speculation she had moved closer to the center of power in the secretive state.
It named her as a vice director alongside the head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, which handles ideological messaging through the media, arts and culture.
Kim Yo Jong’s title supports earlier reports from a North Korean defector group which said she may have taken a high-level role when Kim Jong Un recently disappeared from public view for more than a month, prompting speculation about his grip on power.
South Korea’s intelligence agency later said Kim, 31, was likely to have had surgery on his left ankle. Kim has since reappeared, walking with a limp.
Kim Yo Jong’s power has been likened to that of a prime minister, an unnamed South Korean intelligence source told the Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo newspaper in April, even before her brother’s injury.
“All roads lead to Comrade Yo Jong,” the source said. [Reuters]
On Nov. 15, President Obama was speaking at the University of Queensland in Australia when he began to talk about the present day’s place in history. “I often tell young people in America that, even with today’s challenges, this is the best time in history to be alive,” the president said. The president’s speech was then followed by one by then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who explained how the U.S. military would need to reform to keep this place in history.
Weeks later, these speeches may be forgotten by many, but not in North Korea. In a new commentary published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, these two speeches are described as the “poor shriek of those facing ruin” and a “recognition of the dark reality in the U.S. as it is a reflection of extreme uneasiness and horror-phobia.”
As KCNA grandly puts it, the speeches “reminds one of the old Roman Empire that was buried in history after facing a ruin for coveting for prosperity through aggression and wars.”
“The poor fate of the U.S. reminiscent of the ruin of the Roman Empire is a due outcome of its history of aggression and arbitrary practices,” the article then repeats. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but the Roman Empire was founded by Augustus in 31BC and ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453; the US has been around since 1776 so that would mean, (KCNA mark this date on your calendar) that the US “Empire” should fall just like the Roman Empire some where around 3260! 1,254 more years of pax-Americana! So if North Korea wants to compare the US to the Roman Empire than go ahead. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest civilizations ever just like America. The Romans just like any civilization had it’s faults but the Romans did far more good than bad for the ancient world just like America is continuing to do far more good than bad in today’s modern world. The Roman Empire is well remembered to this day due to their achievements much like America will remembered many centuries from now while the Kim regime will remembered by no one.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) inspects a military training. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Nov. 23, 2014, without elaborating on the timing and venue of the trip. (KCNA-Yonhap)
The leftists in the South Korean government are trying to legislate away a subsidy the North Korean defector groups receive to help their balloon launch campaign:
Government subsidies for anti-North Korea activists have emerged as a bone of contention at the National Assembly as rival parties are competing to get their respective human rights bills related to North Korea passed.
The subsidies allegedly have been used to fund the campaign of releasing balloons containing leaflets criticizing the Pyongyang leadership that are blown across the border.
The ruling Saenuri Party said Monday it favored keeping the subsidies for civic groups as a tool against North Korea, while the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) argued that it will only anger the North.
The two parties failed to reach a compromise so the competing bills are now being deliberated at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but ending the subsidies will not end the balloon launches. The defector groups will just have to raise more money privately to fund the launches.
Choe Ryong-hae (L), the Workers’ Party of (North) Korea secretary, departs Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang on Nov. 17, 2014. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Choe flew to Moscow as the special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
