Is it just me or does anyone else find it distasteful that someone who willfully allowed himself to become detained in North Korea and become a bargaining chip for the Kim regime is now trying to profit off of his infamy?:
Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen who was detained in North Korea for two years before his release last November, plans to tell his story in a book.
W Publishing Group, an imprint of the Christian publishing firm Thomas Nelson, says “Not Forgotten: The True Story of My Imprisonment in North Korea” will be released next spring.
Bae, a Christian missionary and pastor, has family in the Seattle area but moved to China in 2006. He began leading tours to North Korea in 2010. He was arrested in 2012 while leading a tour group to a special economic zone and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for alleged anti-government activities. [Washington Post]
A ROK Drop favorite Dr. Andrei Lankov has an article published that explains why the middle class in North Korea will have a harder time transitioning to a unified Korean peninsula compared to their Eastern European counterparts:
In the last days of the communist system, people in most former-communist countries widely believed that the transition to democracy and collapse of the Leninist economy would in no time lead to material bounty, as well as the revival of the liberties once lost to communism.
This was the case at the end of the day – though not everywhere. And even where it was, the transition was far bumpier than the revolutionary enthusiasts had thought it would be. Many an Eastern European engineer, technician or accountant in the early 1990s suddenly discovered that their skills were hopelessly outdated and of little use in the new, emerging capitalist economy. In the former Soviet Union the transition was particularly harsh, and middle class enthusiasm quickly transitioned to disappointment and even desperation. In due time, it was a major reason behind Putin’s rise to power in Russia.
However, generally speaking, over the long run things turned out well for the Eastern European urban middle class, or at least a majority of them. After the first turbulent years, industry began to grow again, while engineers and technicians managed to update their skills, eventually learning how to fix and design modern equipment. Doctors, schoolteachers and functionaries also had time to acquire new skills and learn new rules. It helped that they had little internal competition: In any given country there was only one set of white-collar, skilled workforce; no significant group of outsiders could directly challenge their status. In a unified Korea, by contrast, things are liable to be rather different. [NK News]
You can read the rest at the link, but this is why I have always believed that if the Kim regime was to collapse the South Koreans would be wise to prevent people from South of the border from buying property or taking up jobs in North Korea. It is better that the North Koreans do things for themselves poorly than to have South Koreans move in and do things for them better. This will over the long term create a culture of dependency and eventually resentment in North Korea.
The best people in the South to help North Koreans with the transition would be North Korean defectors. That is also why I have believed that the ROK government should offer scholarships to defectors for skills that will be needed in a post-Kim regime North Korea. In return for the free education the defectors would agree to return to North Korea to help re-train their fellow countrymen when the country is reunified.
A ROK Drop favorite NK News currently has 2016 calendars for sale just in time for the holidays. The calendars feature high quality photographs of North Korea that people who have a deep interest in the country may find of interest:
For those interested in purchasing calendar please click here.
A bus with solar panels mounted on its roof is parked in the North Korean city of Nampho, in this still image from a program of the North’s Korean Central TV Station on Nov. 2, 2015. The bus, which is equipped with 32 100-watt solar panels, 50 batteries and a 95-kilogram electric motor, can run at a speed of 40 kmph, the broadcaster said. (Yonhap)
Really nothing new here because reports of North Korea being able to target the US have persisted for years despite the fact they have never test fired one of their KN-08 missiles to prove it:
“North Korea has an extensive ballistic missile force that could strike South Korea, Japan, and US military bases in Asia,” the report states. “Pyongyang has deployed at least 400 Scud short-range tactical ballistic missiles, 300 No-Dong medium-range missiles, and 100 to 200 Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles.”
The longest-range missile, the Taepo Dong 2, is still in development. However, if deployed, the missile is believed to be nuclear capable if North Korea ever succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear warheads.
The most serious of North Korea’s missile threats comes from the country’s KN-08 missile. The KN-08 is a road-mobile intercontinental missile, meaning Pyongyang can move the launch system throughout the country. In contrast, other long-range missiles must be fired from stationary launch pads.
“It’s the relocatable target set that really impedes our ability to find, fix, and finish the threat,” Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of NORAD, told reporters in April 2015. “And as the targets move around and we if don’t have the persistent stare and persistent [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] that we do not have over North Korea at this time, that relocatable nature makes it very difficult for us to counter it.”
Heritage notes that Gortney also said in April 2015 that the KN-08 “is operational today. Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland.” [Business Insider]
A group of North Korean soldiers watches a delegation of South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and his U.S. counterpart Ashton Carter visit the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas, on Nov. 1, 2015. Carter arrived in South Korea to hold the Security Consultative Meeting, the highest channel for reviewing and coordinating far-reaching issues between the allies, with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo the next day. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
This report makes it sound like the US and the ROK will just wake up one day and decide to launch a preemptive attack against North Korea. The reality is that this “4D” concept would likely happen in response to a North Korean provocation to where there is clear intent to launch missiles against the ROK and the US:
The new operational concept jointly adopted by South Korea and the United States to destroy North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities is expected to prompt the North to launch fresh provocations, sources said Tuesday.
The allies approved the implementation guidance on the “4D Operational Concept” during the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held in Seoul, Monday, as a means to carry out preemptive strikes against the North’s missile threats, containing nuclear, chemical and biological warheads.
The guidance, which is designed to detect, disrupt, destroy and defend — the 4 “D’s” — has the major implication that the allies have revived the concept of preemptive strikes against the North’s strategic facilities. A ministry official noted on condition of anonymity that “disrupt and destroy” contains the connotation of preemptive strikes.
In an apparent response to the allies’ endorsement of the new operational concept, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed a live-fire exercise for anti-aircraft artillery.
Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA: “We should actively push for the development of a variety of advanced anti-aircraft guns that meet the requirements of modern warfare.”
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told reporters, “The report came right after South Korea and the U.S. approved the 4D Operational Concept. It seems the North had the intention to respond to the allies’ cooperation.”
Officials said Seoul and Washington have prepared the guidance since 2013 while having experienced various provocations from Pyongyang including a third nuclear test in February that year and the test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile in May this year.
The preparation comes at a time when the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the North remain stalled since late 2008, due to the insistence by the North that it should join the talks with the status of a nuclear power and without any conditions attached.
The guidance will reportedly be reflected in a new joint wartime operational plan between the allies, dubbed Operation Plan (OPLAN) 5015, focused on preemptive strikes on strategic sites in the North. The allies signed OPLAN 5015 in June to replace the existing OPLAN 5027, which was more about how to defend the South. [Korea Times]
I am pretty impressed that North Korea’s Pyeongwha Motors is able to have enough demand in North Korea to support 25 different models of cars:
The United States has Ford. Germany has Volkswagen. Japan has Toyota. And North Korea has Pyeonghwa Motors. Run by Kim Jong-un’s regime, the company produces a tiny number of vehicles at its factory in the city of Nampo, a seaport on North Korea’s west coast. At its sole dealership in the capital Pyongyang, visitors can view its lineup up close, take a test drive and even purchase spare parts. Andray Abrahamian, research director at North Korea-focused nonprofit Choson Exchange, visited the showroom last month, and provided Mashable brochures on the current selection of 25 models: [Mashable]
You can read the rest at the link, but Pyeonghwa Motors was actually started by the South Korean Unification Church and ownership given to the Kim regime. Their cars also average about 80 horsepower which is incredibly slow anywhere else, but like many thing good enough for North Korea.
