Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Gangster violence is increasingly rampant across North Korea, forcing leader Kim Jong-Un to order a crackdown campaign. “There has been a marked rise in violence and misconduct from gang members in North Korea,” South Korea’s largest newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a source on North Korea. Some North Koreans […]
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Star Wars is coming. Wait around long enough, and we’ll see missiles and interceptor projectiles knocking each other out in great blazes of flashing light hundreds of miles above from where we cower in fear of a deadly device sneaking its way through the flak and detonating on top […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea has designated six more economic development zones as its leader Kim Jong-Un is increasingly feeling pressure to attract foreign investments and show economic achievements, officials and analysts here said. The North’s legislative Supreme People’s Assembly issued the decree to establish six more “Economic Development Zones,” including […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk The news from Ukraine and the Middle East carries grave implications for Northeast Asia, notably the Korean Peninsula. Just think of all those missiles and artillery shells fired by North Korea over the east coast — generally without warning commercial airlines to stay away. And consider the possibilities for […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com China’s President Xi Jinping makes a careful distinction between U.S. President Obama and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. It’s OK to talk to the former, just not the latter. And so Xi and Obama got on the phone earlier this week to talk about the world. But China […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s military used images of panda bears as targets in an apparent show of Pyongyang’s displeasure with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Seoul, according to news reports here. Images of pandas were used during a live-fire artillery drill staged on June 30 at an islet off […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un has pardoned thousands of officials who were punished for their connections with his executed uncle Jang Song-Thaek. The action was taken to forestall potential chaos and encourage loyalty from the wavering ruling elite, according to media report and sources here. South Korea’s public broadcaster […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Alliances and policies have a way of shifting quickly, at opportune or even inopportune moments. What’s China’s President Xi Jinping doing in Seoul this week, and why are the Japanese talking to the North Koreans? For that matter, how come Japan is revising its stern no-war policy so […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to South Korea in early July heralds a new era of China’s relations with both Koreas. Traditionally, a new Chinese head of state would first visit the DPRK — with which China still maintains a mutual defense treaty — before South Korea. This was true […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Kim Sol-Song, a half-sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, is a “hidden power center” involved in key policies, slush funds management and cyber-security, sources and analysts here say. “Kim Sol-Song has not been seen in public, but she had long been groomed by her late father Kim […]