Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea watchers here are analyzing clues concerning the “significant decision” Kim Jong-Un made at a major military meeting recently. According to Pyongyang’s state media on Aug. 26, Kim presided over a meeting of top military leaders and made a “significant decision” to protect the “sovereignty and safety” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com North Korea’s failed attempt to export gas masks and weapons to Syria presumably for use in the Middle East nation’s chemical weapons program highlights ongoing close military ties between the two nations despite U.N. sanctions. Pyongyang tried to export gas masks and other weapons to Syria, but the shipment was intercepted […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s move towards easing military tensions with wealthy South Korea is prompted by the lack of hard currency critical to Kim Jong-Un’s grip on power, officials and sources here said. The North has been earning foreign currency from exports of coal and iron ore to China, but […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea has revised its key ruling ideology of the “10 Principles for Monolithic Leadership” for the first time in 39 years, officials and sources here said. The changes were clearly made to legitimize the rule of Kim Jong-Un, and imply there are political challenges facing the youthful […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The circulation of U.S. dollars and Chinese yuan has significantly expanded in North Korea since Kim Jong-Un came to power in December 2011, according to news reports and sources here. The failure of earlier reform measures and widespread jitters over the untested young leader apparently spurred the trend. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Could aircraft carriers be the next big thing for Korea’s enormous shipbuilding industry, the world’s best and biggest? With orders down during the global economic slowdown, it would seem logical that Hyundai Heavy Industries and some of its rivals bring up the topic of aircraft carrier production with […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — A visiting Chinese senior official’s comment about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program at a meeting with its leader Kim Jong-Un is being viewed by South Korean government officials and analysts here as one of the clearest signs that Beijing may be reviewing its decades-long policy toward its client […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com WASHINGTON — Looking at those tight-knit squares of goose-stepping North Korean troops on TV, you wonder if they’re the same ones every time. Do they hang out at some special base going through their paces day after day so they’ll be picture perfect whenever called on to show […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un’s powerful aunt has not been seen in public for nearly three months and is believed to be critically ill. If so, the development could significantly impact the young leaders’ underlying power base among family members, sources and analysts here say. Kim Kyong-Hui has […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com The sweeping parliamentary victory last weekend has made Shinzo Abe one of the most powerful post-war Japanese prime ministers. Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) controls both chambers of the Japanese parliament known as the Diet. The resounding win has also given him a clear mandate to review the nation’s defense […]