SPOTLIGHT ON N. KOREA (Iraq War--Day 1) SUMMARY OF PRESS BY 'AMERICAN-IN-TOKYO' (4:45 PM Eastern)

Various Asian News Outlets in Korean/Japanese ("Freepranslated") ^ | 20 March 2003 | AmericanInTokyo

[AmericanInTokyo]

"FReepranslation" by "AmericanInTokyo" (Iraq War: Day One)

Summary from original Asian sources (as of 16:45 Eastern Time)

Just took a brief tour of a number of reputable Japanese, Korean and English news websites, looking for any threatening action or threats made by communist North Korea in response to the ongoing Iraq conflict.

Asian news sources viewed were (from Korea): Choson Ilbo Daily, Hanguk Ilbo Daily, Dong-A Ilbo Daily, YTN TV, KBS TV, Yonghap News, Yahoo News Korea and (from Japan): Kyodo News, Yomiuri News, Mainichi News, Sankei News, Nikkan Fuji, TBS TV, NTV TV, Fuji TV, Yahoo Japan News.

Summary report below.

[AmericanInTokyo]

--No particular North Korean actions or problems reported at any location on the Korean peninsula nor in the Sea of Japan/Yellow Sea.

--No official comment yet, AT ALL, by North Korean media on the US/Allied attack on Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

--Scaled back statements on the KCNA Official News agency site. Usual, general daily anti-American vitriol.

--An assessment that, while Japan and USA forces are on high alert in the region, as well as ROK forces in Korea, they see no NK provocations at this point. It is assessed that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is taking a 'wait and see' --and probably most nervous--attitude.

--Many comments that Kim Jong-il must for sure note that he is probably 'next' on President Bush's shopping list.

--Of particular interest (AIT analysis here) is the IMMEDIATE American military attack on specific locations where Saddam Hussein and the inner circle is thought to be hiding, most likely underground. This will indeed worry Kim Jong-il and his associates to no end.

[If anything adverse should 'break' regarding North Korean behavior during this sensitive time, please consider posting to this thread, as well as starting a new, specific thread. A new thread, "Day Two" will be up tomorrow, hopefully at this time. Any urgent North Korean news will be posted separately ASAP, though, for Free Republic.]

[netmilsmom]

Wow, you've been busy. Thank you so much!
Hey, can you send me one of those Soot sprites from Totoro that when you pull the string it moves across the floor?
Just asking.

[AmericanInTokyo]

you'll have to wait, the orders have backed up for months. thanks.

[paolop]

Thank you very much!

[RobFromGa]

Thanks for the info from the world-wide Freeper News Network.

[azhenfud]

Thanks AIT. This one's for you...


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/international/worldspecial/20CND-KORE.html?ex=1048827600&en=e69aa923effc304a&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

[mabelkitty]

Thank you for the information.

I had heard otherwise, so it's good to leave work on a positive note.

[netmilsmom]

LOL!!!!!
I guess you're a little busy translating.
Well, keep my babies in mind after the war. My three year old thinks she is Mei.

[river rat]

Do you think maybe the loud mouthed little sonofabitch in North Korea FINALLY realizes he is dealing with a 'Cowboy" -- and not that cowardly bastard Clinton?
Semper Fi

[AmericanInTokyo]

Thanks. Yes, I had seen that one, too.

[Just another Joe]

Thanks for the report AIT.

[Interesting Times]

That's a real service -- thanks.

[putupon]

Big Thanks Bump for this and all the other far-eastern info you've posted on FR in the past. It is appreciated.

[knarf]

"Hey, can you send me one of those Soot sprites from Totoro that when you pull the string it moves across the floor?"

Inside joke or have I been sleeping?

[Steel Wolf]

Kim Jong Il and company are likely glued to their TVs right now, well aware that the example being set in Iraq right now could be applied to them in the future. They'll likely keep quiet and take notes until the battle for Iraq loses some of its novelty before trying to cause more trouble.

North Korea may be out of the news, but they're still being watched very, very closely.

Good work on the research, AIT, you're all over it.

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you very much, our friend, for taking time to digest and post this information. I hope you saw my last column on UPI. It discussed the (self-evident) fact that North Korea is next. If you missed that, the title is, "One, Twice, Three Times a Moron." It's on FR as well as UPI.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, not yet up on UPI, and FR, "Don't Trust My Words"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yes. He knows it now. Kim Jong-il knows, already after Afghanistan, that Bush is no Clinton and he himself cannot count on a duped half-brother of GWB, or a blonde-haired naive Secretary of State, to come to Pyongyang to likewise be played as fools.

Of particular concern to the North Korean regime are the U.S. GBU-28 bunker buster/cruise missile capabilities, e-bomb prowess, and now, not only "MOAB", but the way we are narrowing in on a quick Saddam take-down in the early days of the Iraqconflict, Kim sharing Saddam's strategy of burrowing himself deep underground.

They really don't know WHAT to do, probably. I assume they are shitting their pants in Pyongyang today, quite frankly.

This is why, IMHO, they DARE not make any mention of the Iraq Liberation to their own North Korean people in their hermetically-sealed country, so as to hold off any such popular uprising or coup d'etat in their own country in light of increasing US pressure. What makes it uncomfortable for them to report this is they already went on and on and on in the propaganda press and in mass rallies and in posters about how Bush called Iraq, Iran AND NORTH KOREA as an 'Axis of Evil'. Accordingly, and quite ironically, North Koreans thirsting for liberation, just like the average Iraqis, will take any external news of such action as indications they will be free soon. These are exciting times.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Hey, that was good stuff you did. Thanks again for telling me about it!

"Kamsahamnida", :-)

[marshmallow]

The silence, as they say, is deafening.

Either they are cautiously watching developments, or their work as a decoy is no longer relevant now that the bombs are falling and hostilities have commenced.

[AmericanInTokyo]

It got REAAAAALLLLL quite out of North Korea about 4-5 days ago.