Tag: North Korea

New building built on site of deadly Pyongyang collapse http://t.co/jzpSzvkrdi

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) November 26, 2014

They are far from being the first people to claim the US will collapse like the Roman Empire, but this is the first time I have the North Koreans make this claim though:

On Nov. 15, President Obama was speaking at the University of Queensland in Australia when he began to talk about the present day’s place in history. “I often tell young people in America that, even with today’s challenges, this is the best time in history to be alive,” the president said. The president’s speech was then followed by one by then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who explained how the U.S. military would need to reform to keep this place in history.

Weeks later, these speeches may be forgotten by many, but not in North Korea. In a new commentary published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, these two speeches are described as the “poor shriek of those facing ruin” and a “recognition of the dark reality in the U.S. as it is a reflection of extreme uneasiness and horror-phobia.”

As KCNA grandly puts it, the speeches “reminds one of the old Roman Empire that was buried in history after facing a ruin for coveting for prosperity through aggression and wars.”

“The poor fate of the U.S. reminiscent of the ruin of the Roman Empire is a due outcome of its history of aggression and arbitrary practices,” the article then repeats.  [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link, but the Roman Empire was founded by Augustus in 31BC and ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453; the US has been around since 1776 so that would mean, (KCNA mark this date on your calendar) that the US “Empire” should fall just like the Roman Empire some where around 3260! 1,254 more years of pax-Americana! So if North Korea wants to compare the US to the Roman Empire than go ahead. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest civilizations ever just like America. The Romans just like any civilization had it’s faults but the Romans did far more good than bad for the ancient world just like America is continuing to do far more good than bad in today’s modern world.  The Roman Empire is well remembered to this day due to their achievements much like America will remembered many centuries from now while the Kim regime will remembered by no one.

Artistic director @The_Globe: Company still "very much hopes" to be able to bring HAMLET to NK. http://t.co/0cXxiPTll1

— Richard Horgan (@LiberateLaura) November 22, 2014

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) inspects a military training. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Nov. 23, 2014, without elaborating on the timing and venue of the trip. (KCNA-Yonhap)

The leftists in the South Korean government are trying to legislate away a subsidy the North Korean defector groups receive to help their balloon launch campaign:

Government subsidies for anti-North Korea activists have emerged as a bone of contention at the National Assembly as rival parties are competing to get their respective human rights bills related to North Korea passed.

The subsidies allegedly have been used to fund the campaign of releasing balloons containing leaflets criticizing the Pyongyang leadership that are blown across the border.

The ruling Saenuri Party said Monday it favored keeping the subsidies for civic groups as a tool against North Korea, while the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) argued that it will only anger the North.

The two parties failed to reach a compromise so the competing bills are now being deliberated at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but ending the subsidies will not end the balloon launches.  The defector groups will just have to raise more money privately to fund the launches.

It makes it much harder for the United States to criticize China for violating UN sanctions in support of North Korea when the ROK is so easily able to set up projects like this with North Korea that makes the Kim regime money:

As the two Koreas and Russia speed up a groundbreaking joint logistics project, a government official here said Friday that a key question is whether it can be operated with stability.

Inter-Korean economic cooperation has often been hamstrung by military tensions on the peninsula, noted the unification ministry official.

He confirmed the government’s view that the Rajin-Khasan project is not in breach of bilateral and U.N. sanctions on the North.

Under the envisioned program, South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO will bring in Russian coal via the North Korean port of Rajin. Two other South Korean firms — Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and Korail Corp. — are joining the project.

“Since it is a normal international commercial trade, it’s my understanding that there is no problem with the U.N. sanctions,” the official told reporters on background.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Choe Ryong-hae (L), the Workers’ Party of (North) Korea secretary, departs Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang on Nov. 17, 2014. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Choe flew to Moscow as the special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)

RT @BuckTurgidson79: North Korean defectors speaking up about human rights abuses http://t.co/gzhUUYn6t9

— Liberty in NK (@LibertyinNK) November 19, 2014

It looks like the North Koreans are still up to their old ways by kidnapping people in foreign countries:

A North Korean college student in Paris has been missing for more than two weeks, sources here said Wednesday, amid speculation that agents from the North are attempting to forcibly take him back to the communist nation.

The student, only identified by his surname Han, is a son of an aide to Jang Song-thaek, the once powerful uncle of the North’s leader Kim Jong-un. Jang was executed in December last year on treason charges.

Han’s father is known to have been purged recently as part of the Kim regime’s continued work to clear the remnants of the Jang era.

A senior official at Han’s school told Yonhap News Agency that, “I asked other students and faculty members about Han’s whereabouts but nobody has seen him at least for the past 15 days.”

Local police came to the school last week in search of Han, added the official.

A source said Han had been picked up by North Korean agents dispatched to Paris.

He dramatically escaped while being taken to an airport and he is now staying at a certain location, the source said.

If confirmed true, the case could cause a diplomatic rift between North Korea and France.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I really hope the French government takes a harsh stance against this type of activity in their country by foreign agents.

This resolution is highly symbolic since China and Russia would likely veto it at the UN Security Council, but it is still a very high embarrassing resolution for the ruling Kim regime:

A U.N. General Assembly committee on Tuesday passed a highly symbolic resolution calling for referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for human rights violations in a move sure to spark angry protests from the communist nation.

The Third Committee approved the resolution in a 111-19 vote. Fifty-five countries abstained.

The resolution’s overwhelming passage through the committee almost guaranteed its formal adoption at the U.N. General Assembly. It also represented a victory for the West in an intense diplomatic battle at the U.N. against North Korea and other authoritarian regimes sympathetic to Pyongyang.

Earlier Tuesday, the committee rejected a Cuban proposal to remove the call for the North’s referral to the ICC from the resolution.

“The General Assembly decides … to take appropriate action to ensure accountability, including through consideration of referral of the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the International Criminal Court and consideration of the scope for effective targeted sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible,” the resolution said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.