by WorldTribune Staff, April 19, 2018 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has elevated his wife to “first lady,” a title which has not been bestowed upon the nation’s dynastic leaders’ spouses since 1974. Ri Sol-Ju, believed to be 29, made her first solo appearance as first lady at a ballet performance by a visiting Chinese […]
by Robert Morton, WorldTribune, December 4, 2017 On Nov. 25, 1991, a Brooklyn-born intelligence expert of Syrian Jewish descent rattled a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing with his proposed response to the emerging North Korean nuclear threat. After being challenged he responded with a warning that now, 36 years later, seems eerily prophetic. While other […]
by WorldTribune Staff, September 25, 2017 As Russia looks to take on a larger role in the North Korean nuclear standoff, the North’s official in charge of U.S. affairs traveled to Moscow on Sept. 25. Choe Son-Hui, director-general of the North American department at the North Korean Foreign Ministry planned to hold talks with Oleg […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler NEW YORK — We have seen this movie before and it never ends well. An arrogant and boastful dictator snubs the world and threatens his neighbors. The international community frets in rightful indignation but does little to respond. As tensions rise, the world appears hostage to a bully. […]
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 […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The increasingly ballistic bluster pouring out from Pyongyang and threatening South Korea, Japan and the USA, with nuclear attacks has jolted East Asia into “paying attention.” Perhaps that’s the real intent of Kim Jong-Un, the new and untested Marxist monarch of the quaintly titled “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com South Korea’s latest pop culture, including the international hit song “Gangnam Style,” has found its way into the tightly-controlled North Korean world, a video footage shows. In the clips, two North Koreans are sitting in a dark room with a blanket over their head to hide themselves, moving their shoulders up […]
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 SEOUL — North Korea’s determination to fire a long-range missile sometime between Wednesday and next Monday is leaving the United States and its allies in the humiliating position of issuing rhetorical threats with no real chance of carrying them out. The helplessness of the U.S. position was clear […]