A country with active gulags is lecturing Israel on human rights abuses:
The son of Salam Rabaa, the Palestinian owner of Rabaa restaurant, gestures with his right hand imitating a poster of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the gate of the venue premises in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza strip on December 17, 2017. The sign at the entrance of the restaurant reads in Arabic: “Special discounts reaching up to 80 percent for Korean patrons, in appraisal of the role of the Korean leader towards our Palestinian cause.” MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea has condemned the U.S. and its alliance with Israel, which continued to experience deadly clashes between security forces and Palestinian protestors.
On Friday, the official Korean Central News Agency called the U.S. out for repeatedly defending Israel from criticism at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley once called “a haven for dictators” and has threatened to pull the U.S. out of. Palestinians have threatened to lodge a complaint with the international body over rising casualties as Israeli forces reportedly opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators near the Gaza border, where dozens have been killed and thousands injured since violent protests erupted over Israel’s historic and ongoing seizure of land.
“Israel’s wild act of destroying Mid-east peace and mercilessly killing Palestinians is a hideous crime that deserves denunciations thousands of times,” the state-run agency said of a commentary by North Korean Cabinet paper Minju Joson. [Newsweek]
A group of Islamic residents and South Korean activists holds a news conference condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on Dec. 12, 2017. (Yonhap)
Even the North Koreans have decided to join in and bash the US for announcing that the US embassy would be moved to Jerusalem:
North Korea has lambasted US President Donald Trump for recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, renewing its description of him as a “dotard” in a statement released Saturday on state media.
Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults in recent months as tensions remain high over the North’s missile and nuclear threats.
Now the hermit state has joined near-universal condemnation of the US president’s decision on Jerusalem, calling it a “reckless, wicked act”.
“Considering the fact that the mentally deranged dotard openly called for a total destruction of a sovereign state at the UN, this action is not so surprising”, a foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run KCNA news agency.
“But this move clearly shows to the whole world who is the destroyer of world peace and security, pariah and rogue in the international community”, he said, using epithets usually reserved for the North. [AFP]
You can read more at the link, but last I checked President Trump was not the one causing violence in the Middle East instead Palestinian rioters were.
It does seem pretty weird that the pro-Park protesters are waving US and Israelis flags which have absolutely nothing to do with the corruption scandal that caused her impeachment:
Controversy is brewing over the use of U.S. and Israeli flags by supporters of the impeached President Park Geun-hye during their weekend rallies that have nothing to do with the countries.
Right-wing groups have organized these rallies to counter much-larger demonstrations demanding Park’s removal from power by the Constitutional Court.
Pro-Park counterprotesters have waved the Korean national flag, or Taegeukgi, at the rallies, which they call “Taegeukgi rallies” themselves. Lately, they have also been bringing U.S. and Israeli flags to the political events.
The participants claim it is a way to show their “patriotism,” but criticism is prevalent that the flags are being misused.
Several protesters, who are mainly in their 60s or older, have been waving the Korean and U.S. flags together in a bid to underscore the Korea-U.S. security alliance against “North Korean sympathizers.”
Some others, who call themselves devout churchgoers, have brought the Israeli flag with a wooden cross and other symbols they think can represent their faith.
But critics said Monday that such expressions may only stir up misunderstandings toward the U.S and Israel as well as Christianity.
The U.S. and Israeli embassies in Seoul were not available for comment. [Korea Times]
This is another innovative way to go after the Kim regime financially:
An Israel-based civil rights group is trying to seize a North Korean ship being held in Mexico in a rare effort to make Pyongyang pay at least part of a rare $330 million U.S. District Court judgment against it.
The Shurat HaDin law center in April won the ruling over the abduction of a South Korean-born pastor in China and his presumed torture and killing in North Korea. Now the center seeks whatever assets it can find from the largely isolated country.
It has focused on the cargo ship the Mu Du Bong, which has been held in Mexico after it ran aground there last year.
Civil courts in Mexico City and the state of Veracruz have declined to hear Shurat HaDin’s request, but it is now appealing. [Korea Herald]
