Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com NEW DELHI — The late “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung no doubt drew upon the teachings of Mao Zedong when he formulated his philosophy of “juche” or self-reliance, but one word you never hear on visits to North Korea is “Maoism.” If North Korea recognizes Mao Zedong as an […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s powerful uncle Jang Song-Thaek, who has been in the background during the regime’s months-long militant rhetorical offensive, could be in the spotlight as Pyongyang shifts to the dialogue mode, sources here said. The recent China visit by Kim’s special envoy for a briefing […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com For a people who, to superficial appearances, convey an impression of extreme politeness, calmness and all-around good manners, some Japanese in quite high places are doing their best these days to alter this image. The Japanese have so many ways of saying, sorry, with so many gradations of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea is thought to be progressing with the development of KN-02 ballistic missiles and is also testing longer range 300 mm-caliber rockets that can reach beyond Seoul to strike U.S. bases, military sources here said. The North launched six short-range projectiles from the country’s east coast — […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com NEW DELHI — It’s a toss-up what’s of more concern to India’s 1.2 billion people — border disputes with China or the arrests on bribery charges of stars of India’s most popular sport, the old British game of cricket. India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mingled firmness with smiles […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un has put the final touches on his year-long drive to reorganize the powerful military by replacing aged defense minister with younger loyalists. The sweeping generation shift that affected dozens of key posts is likely help Kim put the military under full control, but could […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un who mobilized the military and threatened U.S. allies with Weapons of Mass Destruction for the past months has shifted his focus to the economic front. On March 31, the Workers’ Party adopted the country’s “new strategic course of parallel economic construction and nuclear weapons development […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The outlook for Kenneth Bae, the American preacher/tour guide who’s been sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korea, is bleak. That’s because his offenses against the system sound a lot more serious than those of three people rescued by former American presidents in great blazes of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com North Korean troops have demolished villages near the border with China and forcibly relocated residents to prevent defections that could threaten the Kim Jong-Un regime, sources in Seoul said. “North Korea has been tearing down villages along the Duman (Tumen) River and relocating villagers to places further from the border,” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com TEL AVIV — Israel’s leading strategic institute has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to focus on Iran’s nuclear program in his forthcoming visit to China. The Institute for National Security Studies said the Netanyahu visit to China on May 6, the first in more than six years, marked an opportunity to […]