Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com What are the experts thinking when they talk in learned tones, replete with facts and stats, about issues and conditions for North-South Korean reunification, the pitfalls and problems, but omit passing mention of one of the most awful obstacles? At a conference this week bearing the portentous title, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The North Koreans have got to love this one. The ruckus over disputed islands gets so much play in Korea and Japan that Koreans and Japanese tend to forget they’ve got a real enemy lurking somewhere over the 38th parallel. That would be North Korea, whose strategists may […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea has formed a task force to overhaul the reclusive country’s rigid economic management under new ruler Kim Jong-Un’s reform initiatives, South Korea’s intelligence officials said. The task force is reviewing a set of economic measures drafted on June 28 that focus on improving the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Ri Yong-Ho, the most ardent supporter of late North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Il’s “military-first” policy, was purged because he had complained about youthful new ruler Kim Jong-Un’s push for policy changes, sources and officials in Seoul say. But Ri’s dismissal could encourage his supporters and hardline […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com North Korea said its military has entered the map coordinates of certain conservative South Korean media offices and threatened to strike them for insulting its new ruler Kim Jong-Un. The General Staff of the [North] Korean People’s Army said its troops have targeted the Seoul headquarters of the Chosun Ilbo, the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct.com Seoul has approved an ambitious missile upgrade plan for additional 500-600 cruise and ballistic missiles during the next five years, according to a May 22 report in the Chosun Ilbo. “Given the mounting threat of provocations from the North since Kim Jong-Un took power, the [ROK] Defense Ministry reported to President […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — When it comes to media censorship we think of the usual pantheon of dictators and autocrats who unashamedly shut down news outlets, stifle the free flow of information, and throw journalists in jail. And it’s in countries like North Korea, Cuba, and Islamic Republic of Iran where print and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com A campaign is in full swing in North Korea to craft the image of Kim Jong-Un as “healthy, energetic, friendly and able,” government officials in Seoul said. Kim, the third son of the country’s late ruler Kim Jong-Il, was unknown to the outside world and even to the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The job of a journalist for the North Korean propaganda machine surely must be one of the more fun-filled gigs in the media business. Imagine the laughs the writers up there must be having as they dream up fresh turns of phrase with which to pillory […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com Last week’s botched rocket launch indicates that the decision making system of the new regime is not in place in North Korea, with youthful ruler Kim Jong-Un being swayed by his royal family members, according to South Korean officials. Weaknesses in the government’s policy-making ability could lead the […]