Category: North Korea

Here is a surprising topic North Korea has decided to weigh in on:

North Korea on Friday denounced the expiration of a pandemic-related U.S. government ban on residential evictions, saying Washington should address its own human rights issues before “poking its nose” into other countries’ affairs.

A U.S. government ban on evictions for residents that have failed to pay rent during the COVID-pandemic expired at the end of last month in most parts of the country, putting millions of vulnerable residents at risk of losing their homes.

“Before talking impudently about the ‘human rights issues’ of other countries, the U.S. should address the human rights problems of its own society, which are daily getting worse, owing to its anti-popular policies,” the North’s foreign ministry said on its website.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but with all the helped wanted signs across the country my sympathy meter for people facing eviction has definitely lowered significantly since the beginning of the pandemic.

I bet he just had a cyst removed, just like his grandfather Kim Il-sung had removed decades prior:

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was recently photographed out in public with what appeared to be a large green spot on the back of his head, once again fueling speculation over his health — long a topic of global fascination.

Another image showed him sporting an oblong bandage over the blemish. (…….)

On social media in recent days, some have pondered whether a medical procedure could have left behind a dark mark, while others pointed out that Kim’s grandfather and the founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, was also pictured when he was alive with a “tennis ball-sized” growth on the back of his head.

Kim’s grandfather died of a heart attack in 1994, as did Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011 at age 69.

Seattle Times

You can read more at the link.

The WHO is lending creditability to North Korea that they are in fact free of the coronavirus:

North Korea has conducted coronavirus tests on around 35,000 people so far but found no infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, amid the global spread of the more contagious delta variant.

According to the WHO’s weekly report on COVID-19, 718 North Koreans underwent virus tests from June 25 to July 1, bringing the total number of tested citizens to 32,512, but none were found to have been infected.

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but I guess it is easier to enforce quarantines when you have shoot to kill orders. Fortunately no other government has gone this far to enforce coronavirus restrictions.

Listening to Kim Jong-un it appears they have had an outbreak of COVID somewhere in North Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said a “crucial case” has happened that could threaten the safety of his people and country in nationwide anti-epidemic efforts, state media reported Wednesday, spurring speculation that a coronavirus outbreak could have hit parts of the country.

Kim made the remarks as he presided over an extended politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party on Tuesday, accusing senior officials of neglecting their duties in carrying out measures needed to fight the global pandemic, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“Senior officials in charge of important state affairs neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the party on taking organizational, institutional, material, scientific and technological measures … associated with the worldwide health crisis, and thus caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences,” Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but considering how the Kim regime can literally lock people down they will likely quickly get this under control.

Kim Yo-jong is out playing the bad cop again:

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Tuesday that the United States has “wrong” expectations after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Kim’s comments about dialogue with the U.S. an “interesting signal.”

The statement from Kim Yo-jong also came a day after U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim said the U.S. has offered to meet with the North “anywhere, anytime without preconditions” and looks forward to Pyongyang responding positively to the overtures.

“I heard the news that the U.S. National Security Advisor had mentioned that he regards the position towards the U.S. as an ‘interesting signal,'” she said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency said.

“A Korean proverb says that ‘In a dream, what counts most is to read it, not to have it,'” she said. “It seems that the U.S. may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek a comfort for itself. The expectation, which they chose to harbour the wrong way, would plunge them into a greater disappointment.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but like I have said before, the Kim regime will meet when they feel like they will get something of value out of it for little to nothing in return. So far the Biden administration is not willing to offer that.

Like I said before the Kim regime is not going to meet with the U.S. unless they get something out of it:

“Ahead of Kim’s visit, the North Korean leader made conciliatory remarks. In that respect, depending on what messages the U.S. nuclear envoy will deliver, whether stalled nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea will resume will be decided,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute.

The U.S. side may consider downsizing or suspending its combined military drills with South Korea, scheduled for August among other “carrots” for the resumption of nuclear talks. The North Korean regime has strongly denounced the annual exercises, held biannually in spring and summer, as a rehearsal for invasion.

Last month, President Moon Jae-in also mentioned the impossibility of a full-scale drill, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, although many believe that his reference had to do with his last-ditch efforts to improve inter-Korean ties before his presidency ends in May of next year.

In addition, a possible provision of COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea may be on the agenda during a series of meetings.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but food aid is another area the U.S. may offer freebies to the Kim regime as well to sit down and talk.