KCNA similar dispatch says U.S. "incapable of protecting the human rights of black men though it has black president." #DPRK
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 25, 2014
Photo Exhibition Marks Anniversary of Diplomatic Ties between DPRK and Switzerland http://t.co/NIWF7r6LgH pic.twitter.com/Bsw45YuSSy
— KCNA Watch (@KCNAWatch) October 22, 2014
If the balloon launches were stopped by this aviation law than everyone who releases a balloon in Korea should be arrested as well:
The South Korean government has concluded that it can’t stop the scattering of anti-North Korea leaflets with the Aviation Act, an official said Thursday.
Those opposed to the spread of leaflets via balloons have argued that the legislation may provide a legal ground to tackle the civilian campaign, which they say hampers inter-Korean ties.
The law bans any unauthorized flight in the Demilitarized Zone and other controlled areas.
The transpiration ministry, which is in charge of the matter, concluded that the legislation can’t be applied to the activists’ actions, according to the unification ministry official
“The large-sized balloons used to scatter the leaflets don’t have any device for land-based control, meaning they are not considered ultra-small flight apparatuses,” the official told reporters on background.
He added there is no change in the government’s stance that it has no legal grounds to block the spread of the leaflets across the heavily armed border.
A group of conservative activists here revealed plans to send leaflets critical of the North’s leadership and system into the North from Imjingak, a park on the border, on Saturday.
The leaflet issue is a pretext for North Korea to avoid agreed-upon high-level talks with South Korea. [Yonhap]
This is just another example of how the engagement crowd wants to appease North Korean demands for the sake of talks where the North Koreans than make even more demands for little or nothing in return. As long as the appeasement crowd continues to try and push the Park administration to give into North Koreans demands for little or nothing in return they will continue to make them.
Ask a North Korean: How do North Koreans view Western and South Korean movies, DVDs and songs? http://t.co/tkWy5DKIae pic.twitter.com/qX7UdMn7uA
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) October 22, 2014
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the newly completed Yonphung Scientists Rest Home, south of Pyongyang, in this Rodong Sinmun photo released on Oct. 22, 2014. (Yonhap)
I am happy to see that Fowle has returned to his family and hopefully this serves as a lesson to anyone else who thinks it is “cool” to travel to North Korea:
The State Department announced Tuesday that the 56-year-old Miamisburg resident had been released. The news came about six months after he was taken into custody after leaving a Bible at a nightclub. Christian evangelism is considered a crime in North Korea.
He had been awaiting trial — the only one of three Americans held by Pyongyang who had not been convicted of charges.
The two others were each sentenced to years in North Korean prisons after court trials that lasted no more than 90 minutes. The three Americans entered North Korea separately.
Fowle was flown out of North Korea on a U.S. military jet that was spotted at Pyongyang’s international airport Tuesday by two Associated Press journalists. There was no immediate explanation for the release of Fowle, who was whisked to the U.S. territory of Guam before heading back to his wife and three children in Ohio. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but North Korean media is claiming that they released Fowle due to continuous requests from President Obama:
KCNA: Kim Jong Un freed U.S. criminal, taking into consideration the repeated requests of U.S. President Obama. #DPRK
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 22, 2014
Via One Free Korea comes this interview with 21 year old North Korean defector Yeonmi Park that explains what life was like for her in the “Socialist Paradise”:
In an interview with the Irish Independent, Yeonmi told how her first memory is of being told by her mother at the age of four “not to even whisper because the birds and mice could hear you”.
“That’s what I learned from my mum and that was really early – so that’s the way she could protect me from that terror,” said Yeonmi.
People are not really “living” there, she says of life in that country. “They are surviving there, and surviving is not that easy actually.”
When she was nine, she was forced to watch her best friend’s mother being executed on the street before her eyes.
Her only crime had been she had watched a James Bond movie and shared the DVDs with neighbours.
Watching her body crumble to the ground was a seismic moment in how Yeonmi viewed the world.
“She was a very nice, gentle mother,” she said.
“Always I knew that in North Korea when they kill the people, they justify themselves by saying these are criminals trying to destroy our socialist paradise.
“But I knew that lady. She was not that bad. She was not going to destroy our country,” she said.
“She was just being killed because she watched the Hollywood movie, James Bond. And that’s why she got killed.”
That same year, Yeonmi’s life changed catastrophically when her father, a mid-ranking civil servant, was arrested and imprisoned for selling precious metals to China on the black market.
Her mother, too, was interrogated and thrown into jail. Yeonmi and her sister, Eunmi were left to fend for themselves, at the age of nine and 11, foraging on the mountainsides for grasses, plants, frogs and even dragonflies to avoid starving to death. “Everything I used to see, I ate them,” she said. [Irish Independent]
You can read more plus watch a video interview with Yeonmi at the link. Make sure to read One Free Korea’s commentary as this link as well.
Meet the men and women who help rule North Korea from the shadows. https://t.co/jDwRnM6Mp1 via @vicenews #NorthKorea #DPRK
— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) October 18, 2014
North Korea takes foreign military attaches from Cuba, Egypt, to a lube factory (via @KCNAWatch) pic.twitter.com/znOLHZ6PVK
— James Pearson (@pearswick) October 15, 2014
So much for all the “coup” talk, Kim Jong-un has reappeared. He was seen walking with a cane which confirms he likely was recovering from a surgery of some kind possibly to his ankles or knees:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance in more than a month, giving a “field guidance” at a newly built housing complex, according to Pyongyang’s state media.
The visit to the Wisong Scientists Residential District marked the first time Kim has appeared in public since he attended a musical concert on Sept. 3.
“Watching the exterior of the apartment houses and public buildings nicely decorated with diverse color tiles, he was very pleased to see them. He said they looked very attractive, presenting fantastic scenery,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim’s prolonged absence from public view, including his failure to show up at important national events, has spurred speculation and rumors ranging from health problems to a military coup, though the U.S. has dimissed rumors of a coup as “false.” [Yonhap]
I wonder if the next time Kim Jong-un drops out of view for a while the same people will be publishing sensational articles again of a coup? Unfortunately when it comes to North Korea it seems a lot of people’s wishful thinking is mistaken as analysis.
