You would think the regime would want to keep these scientists alive to advance their nuclear program instead of continuously shuffling through scientists as they get sick and die if this defector’s story is true:
A North Korean nuclear plant is seen before the demolition of a cooling tower in Yongbyon. Photo: Reuters
Lee’s husband had the mind of a boy, constantly craved food, she said, was sexually dysfunctional and had suffered some sort of mental problem that had diminished his memory. He also became violent towards his wife.
“We have heard of many cases of women forced into marriages with men who were put to work on the North’s nuclear programmes becoming the victims of domestic violence,” said Lee Ae-ran (above), president of the NGO.
Other women described life with these men as “torture” because the men they had been forced to marry “were monsters, not human beings”.
“We hear that many nuclear scientists in the North die or become disabled before the age of 40 as a result of their exposure to radiation,” she added. [South China Morning Post]
These photos from the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 15, 2016, shows the country’s top leader Kim Jong-un visiting a military fish farm. Kim was reported to have visited other military “fish stations” twice last month, such visits accompanied by remarks that they have exceeded their goals for this year’s catch. (Yonhap)
It seems the ROK should just bring the fishermen to Panmunjom and let them cross over the border there even if the North Koreans don’t communicate back to them:
Eight North Korean fishermen spent weeks lost at sea. Now they’re adrift in a diplomatic limbo.
The fishermen all said they wanted to go home after being rescued by South Korean maritime police earlier this week, but Seoul has been unable to reach the other side to arrange their return, officials said.
The case offers an unusual glimpse into the communication methods used between the two enemies, which are divided by the world’s most heavily fortified border and remain technically at war.
When the North Koreans didn’t pick up the phone, the South resorted to a form of shouting: broadcasting the request across the Demilitarized Zone via loudspeakers. [Stars & Stripes]
Members from various workers’ organizations gather in Pyongyang on Dec. 15, 2016, in a ceremony observing the fifth anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il, the late leader of the country and the father of current leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
American elementary children go play dodgeball during physical education periods while in North Korea their elementary students are used to go break and haul rocks to repair a railway line:
Grafting in the blazing sun, Kim Jong-un ’s child slaves load heavy rocks into sacks as others mend railway tracks with hammers.
Taken out of lessons and forced to carry out back-breaking work, they toil for up to 10 hours a day.
The footage of North Korea ’s human rights abuses, uncovered by the Daily Mirror, will shock the world.
Yet in his palace hundreds of miles away, despot Jong-un enjoys a life of luxury and thinks nothing of enslaving innocents as young as five.
Michael Glendinning, of the European Alliance of Human Rights in North Korea, said: “The footage obtained by the Mirror is startling in its documentation of one of the worst abuses the North Korean state inflicts – child labour.” [The UK Mirror]
I am always careful to caveat these type of stories coming out of North Korea because there is no way to confirm whether they are true or not. They could just be a random rumor that a newspaper editor saw an opportunity for a sensational headline to publish:
Kim Jong Un got drunk and ordered military leaders to write statements about their failures while visiting his summer villa, according to a Japanese press report published Tuesday. The punishment also required the military veterans to write an apology.
“That none of you were able to produce not even one military satellite is a misconduct that is commensurate to treason,” Kim allegedly told senior officials at the time. The veterans were required to stay up all night writing the letters, but when Kim found them in the morning, he was allegedly confused about why there were gathered at his vacation home. “Why are you gathered here?” Kim allegedly said, before adding: “Be careful about your health because you are all old.”
These photos from North Korea’s daily Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 13, 2016, features the country’s top leader Kim Jong-un visiting the Wonsan Army-People Power Station in southeastern Kangwon Province. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
