Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Why is it every time we get optimistic about North Korea “opening up” or making concessions or engaging in serious reconciliation, we get so disillusioned? Remember Kim Dae-Jung’s “Sunshine Policy?” The North Koreans repaid him for his generosity by cranking up their nuclear program and exploding their first […]
Sol W. Sanders Rather suddenly there is a welter of developments turning Asia’s dozen-odd countries into a cat’s cradle of conflicting interests — some new — that could lead to war. Central, of course, is “a rising” China. The Chinese, themselves, have given up the phrase “a peaceful rising”. That was a promise that […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The shadows of war hang more menacingly over Northeast Asia at the opening of a brave new year than they have at any time since, well, since the last time the region was edging into armed conflict. That might be since the Korean mini-crisis of nearly a year […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — A group North Korean officials accompanied Kim Jong-Un on his visit to the remote “Revolutionary Battle Site” of Samjiyon where he made a final decision to purge his uncle. These officials are being viewed as the new core members of the ruling elite, sources and analysts here say. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com South Korea is ready to execute a long-planned contingency measure, including options to send troops to exercise military control of the North, when and if a “sudden change” occurs there. With the summary execution of North Korea’s number 2 man Jang Song-Thaek, authorities in South Korea are further concerned about the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The fate of Ri Su-Yong, former North Korean ambassador to Switzerland, is crucial to the future of tens of thousands of associates of Jang Song-Thaek who was purged and executed recently, sources and analysts here said. Ri, a deputy head of a Worker’s Party department, served as ambassador […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com On the day before Jang Song-Thaek’s execution, his wife, Kim Kyong-Hui, divorced him. The man whom she had met when they were both students at Kim Il-Sung University, he a charmer who played the accordion at parties, she the daughter of the Great Leader Kim Il-Sung, had deserted […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s youthful leader Kim Jong-Un has eliminated potential rivals, most recently his uncle, in a bid to consolidate his power, sources and analysts here said. Jang Song-Thaek’s dismissal came as a surprise to many North Korea watchers here because has acted as a regent to the young […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The demise of the man who was once the power behind the throne in North Korea inspires so many theories that all you can say for sure is that nobody knows what’s really going on in the corridors of power in Pyongyang. A couple of these theories are […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Corruption is rampant and discipline is eroding across North Korea’s military as the country’s youthful new leader Kim Jong-Un has shifted the policy focus away from the military, analysts and sources said. North Korean Army officers have smuggled out classified military documents for money, and border guards are […]