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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the remodeled Mangyongdae Children’s Camp in Pyongyang in a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

In honor of the passing of Muhammad Ali I figured I would share this story about the trip the legendary boxer made to North Korea.  Muhammad Ali joined a group of professional wrestlers on a friendship tour to North Korea in 1995 at the invitation of famous Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki.  One thing you can always count in life is that pro-wrestlers will tell it the way it is and that is what Ric Flair does about his 1995 trip to North Korea in his book, Ric Flair: To Be the Man:

The second we arrived in Pyongyang, our passports were confiscated. Then each of us was assigned a “cultural attache” to follow us everywhere; these guys even sat in the dressing room while we went over our matches. In the dining room where the wrestlers ate, there was a camera in each corner, monitoring every movement. When Scott Norton called his wife and said, “This place sucks,” his phone line suddenly went dead.

Here is my favorite line from the book where Muhammad Ali also tell things the way it is:

Because of the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, it was difficult to understand Muhammad Ali when he spoke. But at one function, we were sitting at a big, round table with a group of North Korean luminaries when one of the guys started rambling on about the moral superiority of North Korea, and how they could take out the United States or Japan any time they wanted. Suddenly, Ali piped up, clear as a bell, “No wonder we hate these motherf*ckers.”

I wonder how the North Korean translators translated that. Probably the same way they translated this:

Before we left North Korea, our handlers requested that I make a speech at the airport. They even had specific points that they expected me to articulate — things like North Korea being a worker’s paradise, and that America sucked. I looked at Bischoff and told him, “I can’t say this.” The last thing I wanted was to be quoted in the American press making statements that I didn’t mean. So I just spouted some generic comments and thanked everyone for their hospitality.

This is how I was quoted by the official North Korean press agency: “Before I leave this beautiful and peaceful country, I would like to make a tribute to the great leader, Mr. Kim Il Sung (the late father of the current dictator), who devoted his life to the Korean people’s happiness, prosperity, and Korean unification. His Excellency, Kim Il Sung, will always be with us.”

Muhammad Ali probably should have never went on the trip, but at least he did not fall for the propaganda like so many other foreigners like Dennis Rodman did when they traveled to North Korea.

After getting Uganda to cut relations with North Korea I have to wonder if South Korea is now trying to get Cuba to do so as well:

South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Yun Byung-se sat down for a face-to-face meeting with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez here on Sunday, the first foreign ministerial meeting between the two countries in nearly six decades.

The 75-minute closed-door meeting was held on the sidelines of the seventh summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), which ran for three days since Friday.

Yun departed Seoul on Saturday to become the first foreign minister from South Korea to visit Havana since diplomatic ties were severed in 1959 following the Cuban revolution.

Havana is a close ally of Pyongyang, and diplomatic analysts say restoring ties will not be easy. Cuba is one of four countries Seoul has yet to normalize ties with. The three others are Syria, Kosovo and Macedonia.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

The first reported bank robbery has happened in North Korea.  This is something pretty audacious to try in North Korea.  It looks like the bank employees are in big trouble:

North Korea has now suffered its first bank robbery.

The unknown robbers infiltrated the Shinam branch of the Central Bank of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the city of Cheongjin, North Hamgyong Province, on Apr 4, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday citing a source from the province.

The robbers broke into the bank’s main entrance and stole an unspecified amount of cash, the source said. The bank is currently out of service. The provincial police assumed there was an accomplice inside the bank.

After the incident at the branch, other branches of the bank beefed up security by bringing in more security personnel. Shinam branch took care of many customers compared with other branches because it mainly brokered trades. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

#THAAD and all US missiles in #ROK directed at #DPRK threat, "it's not about #China," says SecDef Carter. #VOAalert pic.twitter.com/xPQO5f6KqB

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) June 4, 2016

The Busan International Motor Show bustles with visitors as it opens to the public in the South Korean port city on June 3, 2016. The auto show, held until June 12, features 232 car models from 25 local and foreign carmakers. (Yonhap)

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo had some unsurprising things to say about Kim Jong-un:

A frank assessment of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by South Korean Defense Minister Han Minkoo.

Speaking exclusively to CNN on the sidelines of a defense forum in Singapore, Han says it’s a combination that concerns him greatly.

“Kim Jong Un was just 28 when he came to power with very little time to prepare. Add to that, he is very young, he lacks experience.”

Kim certainly seems to be in a rush to perfect his nuclear and missile capabilities, the intensity of testing this year alone is unusual even for North Korea.

“If you look at his father, Kim Jong Il, during his 18 year reign, there were about 18 missile tests. During Kim Jong Un’s four year reign there (have been) 25 missile tests,” says Han.

Han is not convinced North Korea can miniaturize nuclear weapons or fit a nuclear warhead onto a missile, as claimed by Pyongyang, but acknowledges that practice makes perfect.

“If they continue to progress with the miniaturization technology, we think it may be possible to deliver it in other ways such as an artillery shell or in the form of a nuclear mine.”  [CNN]

The alcohol ban and lockdown on Okinawa was put into affect after a drunk driving accident involving a US sailor injured two local Okinawans.  Now every sailor in Japan is paying the price:

Sailors in Japan are barred until further notice from non-essential, off-base activities and banned from drinking alcohol, Navy officials announced Monday following a recent spate of high-profile arrests of servicemembers and civilians.

The order covers all ranks and bans both on- and off-base alcohol consumption, according to a joint announcement from 7th Fleet and Commander Naval Forces Japan.

“These measures are not taken lightly,” said Rear Adm. Matthew Carter, CNFJ. “For decades, we have enjoyed a strong relationship with the people of Japan. It is imperative that each sailor understand how our actions affect that relationship, and the U.S.-Japan alliance as a whole.”

Sailors living off-base can commute to work and engage in “essential activities,” such as grocery shopping, gym use, child care and gasoline pickup, according to a Navy statement.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but is this going to be the standard every time an incident happens?  Lock everyone down and ban alcohol?  Unfortunately with such a large population of US servicemembers on Okinawa the expectation that there should be no incidents is unrealistic.  Especially when you consider that the actions of non-US servicemembers also gets blamed on the military as well.

This sounds much like how South Korea was during the Roh Moo-hyun administration at the peak of anti-Americanism in that country.  Curfews and lockdowns did not stop all incidents, they still happen today they just don’t get the attention they did under the Roh administration.  This is because the politics of anti-Americanism in South Korea changed due to the failure of the Sunshine Policy and increasing North Korean provocations.  Likewise the anti-Americanism in Okinawa is only going to end with a political change that curfews and lockdowns will not influence.

However, it is the easiest tool in the commander’s tool box to show they are doing something until a political settlement of some kind takes place on Okinawa.  In the meantime I don’t expect the curfews and lockdowns to end any time soon.

It looks like Kim Jong-un is not setting a very good example for North Korea’s recent anti-smoking campaign:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is known to be a heavy smoker, has held a cigarette for the first time in months in public, a photo released by the North’s mouthpiece newspaper showed Saturday.

A snapshot of him smoking at the remodeled Mangyongdae Children’s Camp in Pyongyang was published in Rodong Sinmun. Kim was there to promote “Pyongyang Speed,” a term referring to the North’s rapid industrialization, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

He was last seen smoking more than 80 days ago at a test evaluating the heat stability of a homegrown North Korean rocket.

Experts speculated that Kim may have refrained from smoking in front of cameras because the North’s media have been campaigning against that behavior. Rodong Sinmun, in fact, published several stories reiterating the harmful effects of cigarettes between April and May. At one point, local women appeared on the Korean Central Television to denounce smokers as “imbeciles who upset their surroundings.”  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.