Tag: North Korea

I figured this guy had some kind of mental problem to want to defect to North Korea, but if what the North Koreans say is true Miller still has mental issues but for a different reason:

North Korea’s Supreme Court on Sunday sentenced a 24-year-old American man to six years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and trying to commit espionage.

At a trial that lasted about 90 minutes, the court said Matthew Miller, of Bakersfield, California, tore up his tourist visa at Pyongyang’s airport upon arrival on April 10 and admitted to having the “wild ambition” of experiencing prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea’s human rights situation.

Miller, who waived the right to a lawyer, was handcuffed and led from the courtroom after his sentencing. The court ruled that it would not hear any appeals to its decision.

Earlier, it had been believed that Miller had sought asylum when he entered North Korea. During the trial, however, the prosecution argued that it was a ruse and that Miller also falsely claimed to have secret information about the U.S. military in South Korea on his iPad and iPod.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but the North Koreans have trotted out Miller like the other two Americans they have detained to plead for the US to release them by sending a senior representative.  If the Obama administration does decide to send someone I wonder if Bill Clinton be interested in going back over there again?

Anyway Yonhap is reporting that he was sentenced to six years of hard labor.

Sanctioned North Korean shipping company still operating, but China doesn't seem bothered: http://t.co/rhWLWUjjB0

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) September 12, 2014

It looks like Kim Jong-un gout is getting to him again:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was recently shown limping on state television, raising questions about the health of the 31-year-old dictator.

Some experts say that the full display of Kim walking with a limp was intended to convey that he was fully in charge and reassure, ironically, the public of his good health.

It is generally believed that an accident or health problem was the cause.

Kim looks obese for his young age. It is widely speculated that he had fattened himself to make him look like his grandfather and founder of the communist state Kim Il-sung to enable the younger Kim to ascend to power at a young age after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in late 2011.

Footage from Korean Central Television (KCTV) Tuesday showed Kim walking with a limp, favoring his left leg, during a visit to a newly built factory in August, called “the Oct. 8 Factory.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if they also complained about the display of the Chinese flag who is also responsible for the deaths of many Koreans during the Korean War and the key enabler of North Korea?:

Organizers of the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon pulled down all national flags that lined the streets of the port city after rightwing groups complained about the public display of the North Korean flag.

The flags of the 45 participating nations were hoisted along the streets of Incheon and the city of Goyang north of Seoul last week.

Under Olympic Council of Asia regulations, the flags of the council, host nation and participating countries are displayed around sports stadiums, accommodation and airports.

The North Korean flag was also hoisted during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan and Daegu Universiade in 2003.

But this time rightwing groups in Goyang protested, and the organizers took the drastic step of removing all national flags and replacing them with the OCA flag and Asian Games banner.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Pyongyang Receives Key Japan Officials Before Report Release http://t.co/dfAf17X3KD

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 9, 2014

North Korea announces new law on wireless communication by foreign offices http://t.co/R2gzz3WY91

— ITAR-TASS (@itass_en) September 8, 2014

The North Koreans are making an attempt to try and draw a wedge between USFK and the South Korean public by making the claim that peace in our time would come if only the US military would withdraw from South Korea:

North Korea said Sunday that its relations with South Korea won’t improve unless the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea.

It is not unusual for Pyongyang to make such a demand, but the latest one came a day after North Korea fired three short-range missiles into the sea off the country’s east coast in what could be the latest show of force against Seoul.

Saturday’s firing marked the 19th time that North Korea has launched missiles or rockets this year, with the number of projectiles fired totaling 111, according to data of South Korea’s military.

“It is not possible to improve the North-South relations nor is it possible to achieve peace, reunification … as long as the U.S. military presence in South Korea is left intact,” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in an English-language statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Via the Marmot’s Hole comes this Andrei Lankov article that discusses what North Koreans really think about the South Korean dramas and movies that has infiltrated their country:

The picture of the South within North Korea is a bit more complex, though. While admiring the almost unbelievable prosperity of the South, viewers are also exposed to many of the negative aspects of South Korean society.

I just came across an interesting aspect to this trend. My North Korean friend, a smart woman in her 30s, once said to me: “there are some violent gangs in North Korea, but there are much fewer gangs than there are here (i.e. South Korea).” I was taken aback by this statement, since South Korea is, actually, a very peaceful place with remarkably low level of violent crime. However, it soon became clear that my friend’s knowledge of Seoul’s “gang life” was based almost exclusively on South Korean action movies and TV dramas that she had watched (and that frequently depict street violence).

Indeed, a number of North Korean viewers have come to the conclusion that South Korea must be a very violent place where police shoot suspected criminals more or less at random, and where massive fights between rival gangs are almost as common as traffic jams in rush hours.  [NK News]

You can read the rest at the link, but this same phenomenon is not limited to just North Koreans.  I have seen this same thought process happen with South Koreans that have traveled to the US for the first time.  Certain urban areas of the US does have a serious crime problem, but in the vast majority of the country you are not going to see gang violence, shoot outs, and explosions like what are depicted in Hollywood movies.

ALERT: North Korea test-fires 4 short-range rockets, says Yonhap http://t.co/KVGyDrPaev

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) July 30, 2014