Tag: North Korea

It appears South Korea’s efforts to jam North Korea’s AM radio propaganda broadcasts has been successful:

Echo of Unification (통일의메아리방송), a North Korean radio station that broadcasts propaganda towards South Korea, dropped all mediumwave (AM band) broadcasting on December 21.

The move seemingly confirms the futility of the broadcasts, which consumed large amounts of electricity but were blocked by powerful South Korean government jamming transmitters, but the station isn’t giving up. In their place, it has brought on air additional shortwave and FM transmitters.

It’s all part of a game that’s been going on for decades. North and South Korea both broadcast propaganda at each other while trying to stop their own citizens from hearing the other’s broadcast. Similar battles used to be played out across borders around the world but have largely moved to the internet and social media. The lack of internet in North Korea and South Korean censorship mean radio still plays a part on the Korean peninsula.  [North Korea Tech]

You can read more at the link.

These photos from the North’s daily Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 20, 2016, show the country’s top leader Kim Jong-un watching the Masik Pass Ski Contest 2016. Teams from each province and the military competed in the contest in slalom, ski jump, giant slalom and downhill, according to the report.  (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip comes news that North Korean border guards have received a special Christmas gift from Kim Jong-un, diarrhea!:

Several North Korean border guards are down with diarrhoea after consuming a special diet ordered by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, sources told a radio service.

Kim had reportedly issued the order for better quality food for soldiers after receiving complaints about dietary deficiencies, but some of the supply was reportedly found to be adulterated.

“Under the direction of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s people’s armed forces increased the supply of materials to improve the diet of border guard soldiers,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Radio Free Asia, UPI reported. The province is located close to the China border.

The source added that all the soldiers, from a unit of border guards who consumed the new food supply, are suffering from diarrhea.  [International Business Times]

You can read more at the link, but like I always do I want to caveat that this story is from an anonymous source so who knows if it is true or not.

What I found of most interest in this article is that US soldiers are training to look for North Korean “mad scientists”.  Wouldn’t this be something the ROK Army would be better equipped to do then having random patrols of US soldiers in North Korea trying to find these scientists?:

The U.S. soldiers donned gas masks as they cleared building after building after receiving intelligence that North Korean scientists were cooking up chemical weapons in the vicinity.

They found the makeshift lab with beakers and tubes filled with a yellow substance in a room off the icy rooftop of a two-story brick building. It was time to call the 501st CBRNE Company (Technical Escort), a specialized unit trained to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

The scenario was part of a training exercise, but the dangers facing the soldiers stationed near the front lines of the divided peninsula are all too real.

North Korea has demonstrated alarming progress in its nuclear weapons program this year, with two underground atomic explosions and two dozen ballistic missile tests.

But the Stalinist state is believed to have vast stockpiles of other nasty stuff, too.

“North Korea has the full spectrum of all types of chemical and biological weapons … and they’ve weaponized all of it,” Lt. Col. Roberto Salas, commander of the 23rd Chemical Battalion, told Stars and Stripes.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

When Bill Clinton traveled to DPRK in 2009, a "glorious" NK movie about it was quickly made. https://t.co/yoVSXRFmAv

— Richard Horgan (@LiberateLaura) December 22, 2016

Two Koreas, same day.
In NK, soldiers bow to dead dictators.
In SK, citizens peacefully protest against their president.
Dec 17, 2016. pic.twitter.com/m97qAbZpF7

— Liberty in NK (@LibertyinNK) December 19, 2016

This is just another example of how North Korea gets around sanctions to bring in hard currency.  Of course the Chinese are once again involved in making this possible:

The brightly coloured packages advertising “Walleye Pollock” at the West Market in Yanji, a Chinese city near the border with North Korea, say the fish came from China.

But 15 vendors interviewed at the market say the fish came in from North Korea to be processed, packaged and mostly sold in China. They say they buy the fish from Chinese wholesalers who deal with their North Korean counterparts at the border.

The packaged fish is also exported to countries that ban North Korean products, including South Korea, Japan and the United States, say the vendors, who are also involved in the export of their products.

“All the dried fish is from North Korea but we package it here so we say the fish is from here,” said one vendor who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Smaller packets sell for around 40 yuan ($5.80) while the bigger ones which are often given as gifts sell for at least 100 yuan.

“We export everywhere, mostly to South Korea and Japan. I’ve even exported to the U.S.,” said another vendor. “We sell some of our fish here, but we mostly export overseas.”

The official newspaper of the government of Jilin province, where Yanji is located, said in a September article that North Korean and Russian seafood is processed in a town near Yanji, before being exported to South Korea, Japan, the United States and Europe.

Reuters could not independently confirm that North Korean seafood from Yanji or nearby towns is being exported to South Korea, Japan and the United States.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.

A photographic trip through North Korea: Defectors explain what tourists are really seeing https://t.co/Rv1CVVAq7G

— Sokeel Park (@Sokeel) December 18, 2016

Via a reader tip, Thae Yong-ho the North Korean diplomat who defected with his family from the North Korean embassy in the United Kingdom, has spoken out for the first time:

Mr Thae spoke to the committee behind closed doors, but Lee Cheol-woo, the committee chairman, told newswire Yonhap that he had become increasingly aware of the “gruesome realities” of the authoritarian regime.

Mr Thae promised to devote his life to “freeing the North Korean people from repression and persecution,” said Mr Lee.

“There are many ranking North Korean officials suffering from depression over concerns they will have to live like slaves for a long time if the North’s young leader rules the country for decades,” he quoted Mr Thae as saying.

“Thae said that he had come to grasp South Korea’s democracy and (economic) development by watching South Korean dramas and movies during his long stay in foreign countries,” added Mr Lee.

Mr Thae, who fled with his wife and two sons, will begin his resettlement process on Friday. He has vowed to work for Korean unification, but he will likely continue to live under tight security.

“I will engage in public activities even if it threatens my own safety,” he is reported as saying.  [The Telegraph]

You can read more at the link, but you would think this guy would want to keep a low profile because he is definitely going to be a target of North Korean reprisals.  He likely has a poison needle with his name on it right next to the one for fellow outspoken defector Park Sang-hak.  It will also be interesting to see how outspoken the ROK government will allow him to be if a Korean left wing politician likely takes power after the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

How to Really Bring Change to North Korea, My Home Country https://t.co/NzrsfOk3Ya pic.twitter.com/HO8iVw4H8p

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) December 18, 2016