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 […]
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 — China is mending fences with North Korea after signing off on “condemnation” of North Korea’s failed missile launch while the North ratchets up the decibel level of invective against South Korea and the United States. The confluence of revived warmth between North Korea and China and […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In the bizarre ritual of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a recent rocket launch was intended to put the icing on the dynastic cake of the centennial birthday celebrations of the late dictator Kim Il-Sung. The world press had been invited to the reclusive neo-Stalinist state, and the […]
Sol W. Sanders [See Archive Technology is politically and ideologically neutral. It would be comforting to believe increasing levels of technology alone could solve social and political problems and make the world a better place. But history has proved that false, alas! again and again. When German scientists with their traditional leadership in chemistry invented […]
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 […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — President Barack Obama’s oratorical flights against North Korea’s plan to fire a long-range rocket next month may have pleased his South Korean hosts, but evoked little more than polite responses from the Chinese and Russians who exercise the most influence in Pyongyang. The failure of Team […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Star power, political pressure and diplomacy may be forcing the Chinese into second thoughts about their much reviled policy of sending North Korean defectors back to uncertain fates in North Korea whenever they catch them. In the face of pleas by well known performers and South […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The youngest son keeps his mouth shut, and the oldest one talks too much. Clearly, the silent one knows what’s best for him as he plays the title role bequeathed to him by his late father, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il. Kim Jong-Un is showing […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com North Korea has planted land mines and installed wooden planks studded with sharp iron nails along its border with China in one of the strictest measures yet to deter starving citizens from fleeing into China, according to Seoul-based defectors’ groups. “North Korea is planting a number of land […]
