Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The tenth anniversary this week of the opening salvos in the American “shock-and-awe” campaign against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq reminds us of the “axis-of-evil” speech delivered by George W. Bush in his state-of-the-union address on Jan. 20, 2002, a year after he was inaugurated. No one would dispute Bush’s […]
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Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com This just in — Dennis Rodman wasn’t quite Kim Jong-Un’s first choice as his guest for fun and games in Pyongyang. There was actually a move afoot to invite Michael Jordan, but there was a catch. The idea was that he would have gone with the blessing of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Pyongyang’s claim to have called Gen. James Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, to warn him about “a grave situation” on the Korean Peninsula inspires speculation about what the general and his caller from the North might have talked about. North Korea did not say who made the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com When Kim Jong-Un and the North Korean propaganda machine hint they’ve got startling new weapons for striking terror into Americans thousands of miles away, they may not be talking about just their long-range missiles. How about drones, possibly the most talked about new death-dealer in the inventory of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The fields of North Hwanghae Province in southwestern North Korea looked lush and green when I was there in July. One of the North Korean minders helpfully explained why the farmers there had it pretty good. They divided their crops between the state and themselves. The more they […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com A dazzling array of manipulators and operators, swindlers and do-gooders and odd-balls parade across the stage of the Asian drama, some long enough for star billing, others relegated to bit roles, maybe 15 minutes or less of fame, before fading into obscurity. Get to know them a little, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com MANCHESTER, England — The Brits face a problem that Koreans might — or might not — appreciate. By now Koreans have gotten thoroughly used to zipping up and down the Republic of Korea, that is, the Korean peninsula south of the DMZ, on super-fast trains at relatively inexpensive […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com WASHINGTON — A mood of collective celebration swept over the American capital as President Barack Obama entered his second term under clear skies in freezing temperatures. It was as though the country were taking a break from fears about the economy, the next “fiscal cliff” and debate on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The visit of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt to North Korea this week raises intriguing questions about Internet usage there to which we may not get real answers for a long time. Belatedly, North Korea has had to open access to the Internet to highly select elite that includes […]
