Free Republic

Did you know that North Korea has its own website? Interestingly enough, it's not hosted in North Korea and it's not even registered to anyone there. It’s hosted in Spain and registered to some Spanish dude named Jesus Pinazo. From the front page of the website (http://www.korea-dpr.com), I clicked through to a link memorializing the 'Great Leader'. While condolences came in from such likely places as the Swiss Juche Idea Study Group, the Polish Youth Communism Organization, and New Dawn Magazine in Australia, there were also a number of individuals (including some Americans) who expressed their sadness at the passing...

Towering hypocrisy right to the end... A number of news reports coming out of North Korea today purport the American-looking cars at the head of the Kim Jong Il funeral procession to be 'Russian limos'... but the first point of note would be that such cars were only manufactured in the Soviet era: the GAZ Chaika has been out of production for decades, and ZiL only recently made/restored a single old-style limousine to custom Kremlin order- an open parade-car looking nothing like the car above. And as one personally familiar with all these designs (have touched and sat in every type...

Link is to Japanese from original South Korean source. First, and turning prematurely green, an obligatory picture of assailant (patent liar of the evening Korean Central TV out of Pyongyang for many years), tasked with emotionally reporting specifically on Kim Jong il, missile launches, underground nuke tests, heightened military alerts and the like, and now -- conceivably, on issues relating to Kim Jong Un. Secondly, her recent five-star performance wearing black mourning Korean "hanbok", telling the world that the Beloved Dear Chia Pet was no longer with us--a real tear jerker /sarc.

FMR. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER is today reported to have not only sent off a condolence message to North Korea over the death of mass murderer, horrendous DICTATOR Kim Jong-il, in it he also addressed comments to the heir-apparant, Kim Jong-un, and wished for "his success" as he goes forward to "assume power."

In the wake of the death yesterday of Czech 'Velvet Revolution' hero Vaclav Havel, today the DPRK announced the passing of what amounts to his moral/historical opposite, Kim Jong Il.  North Korea's eccentric and oppressive Stalinist leader is  said to have died of heart failure (who knows they truth- the state long lied about were and when he was even born). Kim Jong Il was was 69 by most accounts, and is said to have suffered a stroke in 2008 that left him frail and looking to groom twenty-something son Kim Jong Un  as a replacement. The 'Hermit Kingdom's Kim...

CAIN’S VISION FOR FOREIGN POLICY & NATIONAL SECURITY The Americas Mexico: Friend and Partner Mexico is a friend in need. Our southern neighbor is struggling with drug-related violence that has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives over the past several years. By standing with Mexico now to help it solve its increasingly severe economic and security problems, we will help solve the problem of illegal immigration at home. Some 40% of Mexicans believe Mexico is a failed state. This helps explain why so many are seeking to emigrate. With declining oil reserves, a looming water shortage in Mexico City, and youth...

Did you catch any of this over there, Jimmeh? Based on new satellite imagery and personal interviews of former inmates and guards, Amnesty International describes conditions in the Nork's political prison camps as "horrific". And as the world's only heriditary communist dictatorship prepares for a transfer of power -and a potential period of instability- the Gulag-type camps appear to be growing in size... Amnesty International believes the camps have been in operation since the 1950s, yet only three people are ever known to have escaped Total Control Zones and managed to leave North Korea. About 30 are known to...

These people disgust me. Absolutely disgust me.President or Former President notwithstanding, the United States of America not only publicly bowing in Asian subservience (their culture) earlier this afternoon to a much less powerful nation, but one with one of the worst human rights records on the face of the earth, complete with concentration camps as we speak.Carter arrived today. And did the deed immediately upon arriving at the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, to a DPRK official. Go to URL here: LINK and hit the arrow to stream.Do these naive morons honestly believe we can gain the friendship with these...

(3rd LD) Gates says diplomatic engagement with N. Korea 'possible' By Kim Deok-hyun SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday diplomatic engagement with North Korea is "possible," but Pyongyang must first stop its "dangerous provocations and take concrete steps" to meet its international obligations. Gates made the remarks as he started talks in Seoul with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin to discuss concerns over the increasingly belligerent North and ways to further strengthen their deterrence against the communist state. "With regard to next steps on North Korea, diplomatic engagement is possible, starting with direct...

Christmas tree at centre of Korea dispute * From: AFP * December 21, 2010 7:04PM SOUTH Korean marines are guarding a Christmas tree, the latest focus of tensions with North Korea following Seoul's artillery drill near the disputed sea border a day earlier. A South Korean church was planning to switch on Christmas lights in the shape of a tree atop a military-controlled hill near the tense land border today - the first such display for seven years. The ceremony will come a day after South Korea staged a live-fire exercise on the border island of Yeonpyeong, which was bombarded...

http://twitter.com/ReutersFLASH: Artillery firing heard on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island - Reuters witness

SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- North Korea has reportedly agreed to let United Nations nuclear inspectors back into the country. The deal has been made as part of an attempt to ease tensions on the Korean peninsular, according to the reports on Monday.

South Korean, U.S. and Japanese foreign ministry officials talked about the possibility that the North Korean regime has lost control and gone off the rails since the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, it emerged Friday. On Thursday, President Lee Myung-bak said North Koreans are now much aware of the outside world. "I feel reunification is now not far off." A senior government official said, "Having watched the North launch a series of provocations such as the torpedo attack on the Navy corvette Cheonan, its uranium enrichment program and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, officials in Seoul, Washington and Tokyo recently...

Under new defense policy guidelines covering the five years from April 2011, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missiles will be deployed at air bases nationwide to counter the North Korean ballistic missile threat, (Japanese) officials said. A draft appendix to the guidelines, which are to be adopted this month and possibly as early as this week, also stipulates equipping all six Aegis destroyers with Standard Missile-3 interceptors while cutting tanks and artillery by about 200 each to 400, the government and Self-Defense Forces officials said. Along with a plan to increase the number of submarines from 16 to 22 for enhanced...

"A squadron of F-22s should be sent to Osan Air Base in South Korea and start conducting air patrols along the DMZ and over South Korean territory that is targeted by the North. Anything that fires on the F-22s should be destroyed, just as the North should have destroyed the artillery guns that attacked its island this week. Let the F-22s show they have a real role to play in protecting our allies and in operating with impunity in conflict areas, just as they were designed to do. And let the message get through to Pyongyang that if we want...

The Dear Leader

It's now time to bring our full national power to bear on the North Korean problem. For the past week, the stunning report of nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker regarding North Korea’s uranium enrichment program has been sending shock waves throughout the world. This is indeed an extremely grave development, although the most serious aspect of it is not what most people think, i.e., the mere fact that North Korea has the bomb — that particular horse left the barn several years ago.Instead, the most dangerous aspect of North Korean nuclear-state status is the fact that the DPRK has a very...

North Korea expresses regret at civilian deaths Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:23:03 GMT Seoul - North Korea on Saturday expressed its regret at the civilian deaths from its shelling of a South Korean island earlier in the week, but then blamed the south for provoking the incident and accused it of using human shields. In a comment via the state-run KCNA news agency, Pyongyang accused the south of using civilians as human shields on Yeonpyeong island and remarked on the reports of civilian deaths. "If that is true, it is very regrettable, but the enemy should be held responsible for...

Shrill DPRK propaganda threatens "shower of fire"The ever-belligerent Norks fired more large guns today in the vicinity of the South Korean island shelled on Tuesday. To most observers it appears that a fading Kim Jong Il is happy to blow up a few Southern fisherman to impress the military with his choice of under-achieving 27-year-old son Kim Jong Un -reportedly not the sharpest knife in the drawer- as his designated successor in the world's only hereditary communist dictatorship. He's already made the kid a four-star general, and after visiting the artillery site on Monday the younger Kim is rumored to...

Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday the South and the United States were pushing the peninsula to "the brink of war" with their plan to conduct large-scale military drills, days after the rival Koreas exchanged artillery fire. "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage again war exercises targeted against the (North)," the North's official KCNA news agency

Noteworthy in this short FNN Network News (Japanese) clip located at this page.Click on white triangle on the Japanese text page, after going to the link, to stream (on most systems, up for another day or so). Approximately one minute long clip, from Japanese evening news a few hours ago here in Tokyo.a) Footage of Pyongyang, North Korean TV female announcer spitting bile and filth towards innocent South Korea saying that they deserved the attacks because they started it and more would be on the way. b) Japanese and South Korean reporters today apparantly caught and cornered the envoy...

N. Korea fires artillery towards S. Korean island, official says SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday fired several rounds of artillery towards South Korean waters and an island near the tense west sea border, the South's military said. The North's artillery shells fell at 2:34 p.m. in the South's waters off the island of Yeonpyeong, some of them landing directly on the island, said Col. Lee Bung-woo, spokesman at the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The South's military responded with its artillery firing.

Stanford physicist "stunned" by Norks' 2000+ centrifuges President Barack Obama and senior U.S. diplomats have in recent months privately shared with their Chinese and Russian counterparts growing U.S. concerns that North Korea was taking steps to enrich uranium and that the effort, unless stopped, would have serious national-security implications, according to people familiar with the matter.  But the revelation on Saturday that Pyongyang had already installed thousands of centrifuges to produce nuclear fuel at its Yongbyon nuclear facility is raising questions inside Washington's nuclear-nonproliferation community about why more wasn't done by a succession of U.S. administrations to block the North's atomic...

KIM TAE YON made the statement just now in S. Korean Parliament (budget committee) that this is due to the just released information that North Korea has been building a light water nuclear reactor at amazing speed, details just released to the world and satellite photos also revealed.Minister of Defense of South Korea Kim stated that this is to put a halt to North Korean nuclear weapons ambition, and is now being considered, which will go back on South Korea's committment in 1991 under President Roh Tae Woo to never manufacturer, house or use nuclear weapons in South Korea.

In a deeply Confucian, elder-respecting society, the transfer of power to a youngest son (especially one who looks like an overfed kid fresh out of school) is a tricky exercise. The North Korean regime is wrapping up festivities celebrating the debut of Kim Jong Un, the youngest acknowledged son of Kim Jong Il. If all goes according to plan — not likely — Jong Un will eventually succeed his father as “Great Leader” of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On Sunday, we got two clues about the chubby dictator-in-waiting, who joined his dad on the reviewing stand high atop...

SEOUL, South Korea — The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, attended a massive military parade with his youngest son and designated successor on Sunday as the ruling Communist regime celebrated the 65th founding of its Workers’ Party. The son, Kim Jong-un, wearing a dark suit despite his recent promotion to four-star general, watched the festivities and reviewed squads of goose-stepping troops with his 68-year-old father and other senior politicians and generals. The event was held in Kim Il-sung Square, named for Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, the founder of the North Korean state.

"On this trip, I discovered that both sides want reunification and that Korea is one, so I see hope on the Korean peninsula," Lee, who made the visit with his parents, Kyoung and Melissa Lee, told The Associated Press.

Four (4) North Koreans attempted to sneak into the USA from Mexico our southern border, but were apprehended. The four necessarily are intelligence operatives, for NO North Korean citizens travel freely or without the sanction and close watch and instruction of the Korean Workers Party and the intelligence apparatus of North Korea; only diplomats and those under control of the KWP are allowed overseas travel, passports (in this case to get to Mexico), etc..North Korean refugees fleeing Kimilsungist Communism are processed through normal diplomatic and refugee channels.Why has this not been a top issue? What were they attempting to...

The U.N. Security Council adopted a statement Friday condemning the attack that led to the sinking of a South Korean warship without directly linking North Korea to the incident. The 15-member council unanimously approved the statement one day after five veto-wielding members, including the North's major ally China, agreed to a draft statement. China succeeded in diluting the statement, as it did not point the finger at North Korea and included North Korea's denial of involvement in the incident, which killed 46 sailors in the Yellow Sea in March. "The Security Council condemns the attack which led to the sinking...

The North Korean government yesterday threatened to exact more severe punishment against captive American Christian human rights activist Aijalon Gomes if the United States keeps pressing to censure Pyongyang for sinking a South Korean warship. North Korea's government news agency said, "if the U.S. persists in its hostile approach toward the DPRK," it will "naturally be compelled to consider the issue of applying a wartime law to him," which could include the death penalty. Applying wartime law might make sense from North Korea's point of view because the war has never really ended. In June 2009, Pyongyang unilaterally withdrew from...

Jang Sung Taek's Star Ascends Again By Kim So Yeol [2010-06-07 18:09 ] The unexpected third meeting of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly was held today, the 7th, just two months after the second meeting on April 9th. In the meeting, Jang Sung Taek was designated Vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission at Kim Jong Il’s suggestion, according to the Chosun Central News Agency (KCNA). Additionally, the Premier of the Cabinet was replaced, with Choi Young Rim taking over from Kim Young Il. Choi Young Rim was formerly Chief Secretary of the Party in Pyongyang, and is a member of...

The United States is concerned over Myanmar's "growing military ties" with North Korea and will work to ensure a UN ban on arm exports from Pyongyang is enforced, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday. US defense secretary Robert Gates's press secretary said the United States was closely monitoring Myanmar's cooperation with North Korea in light of UN Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from exporting weapons or nuclear technology. "We are concerned with growing military ties with the DPRK (North Korea) and are following it closely to ensure that the multiple UNSCRs (UN Security Council resolutions) are enforced," press secretary Geoff...

This is a link to the original Japanese story just now.Rather sketchy and breaking, but will synopsize main points into English as thus:There is the large Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea for manufacturing products, which is just across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from the truce village of Panmunjom, jointly run by North and South Korea. You can clearly see this development from overlook vantage points on hills located around Panmunjom. There are a number of South Korean managers and employers there on-site as we speak. At this time, they are apparantly not free to leave.N. Korea is threatening to...

High-level lobbying by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has failed to persuade the Chinese leadership to do anything substantial regarding Pyongyang's sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in late March. Diplomatic sources in the Chinese capital said State Councillor Dai Bingguo privately told the American delegation — which just ended the second bilateral Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED) in Beijing — that Chinese diplomats would privately urge the Kim Jong-Il regime to refrain from further provocative acts against South Korea. But there would be no public statements from Beijing condemning Kim’s latest act of brinksmanship. At the end of...

ONE of the students at my university was killed in the attack that sank a South Korean naval vessel on March 26. A visual communications major, Mun Yeong-uk was only a few months from concluding his military service when a North Korean torpedo split the warship, the Cheonan, in half. His classmates loyally collected money for his family’s funeral expenses, but I was struck by how few people on our campus evinced any real anger toward the regime of Kim Jong-il. This lack of indignation is mainstream here. Most people now accept North Korea’s responsibility for the sinking that killed...

North Korean spokesmen reacted furiously last week to claims by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that Pyongyang is supplying weapons technology to Iran and Syria. Representatives of the regime of Kim Jong-Il described Lieberman as an “imbecile.” The official Korean Central News Agency in a memorable phrase accused the foreign minister in an official statement of “faking up sheer lies.” The indignant denials notwithstanding, recent studies indicate that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as North Korea is officially known, is indeed playing a crucial but little remarked upon role in facilitating the arming of the Iran-led regional axis, including in...

A North Korean submarine torpedoed and sank a South Korean gunboat in March, killing 46 sailors. This was the conclusion of a thorough investigation by experts from the U.S., Australia, Britain, and Sweden, last week. The White House then decried "an act of aggression," omitting that it was also an act of war. Perhaps the greatest tactical error in diplomacy is to make a threat you are not prepared to act on. The Bush administration earned a reputation for being as good as its word, alas at the sacrifice of much public support. The Obama administration has already squandered its...

Just found this photo from Communist North Korea from several days ago apparantly during one of dictator Kim Jong il's "on the spot guidance tours".and also here: Note the manufacturer of the computer monitor (and presumably the hard drive itself) (Dell Computer, Round Rock, Texas, USA), which General Secretary Kim Jong-il is inspecting. Link to article on North Korean news through Japanese website: LINK

It's just a banner now on Reuters home page.

Fellow Koreans, I am standing here today, keenly aware that the Korean Peninsula is facing a critical turning point. My fellow citizens, The Cheonan was sunk by a surprise North Korean torpedo attack. Again, the perpetrator was North Korea. Their attack came at a time when the people of the Republic of Korea were enjoying their well-earned rest after a hard day’s work. Once again, North Korea violently shattered our peace. The sinking of the Cheonan constitutes a military provocation against the Republic of Korea by North Korea. Since the end of the Korean War, the North has perpetrated incessant...

President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday. The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. The White House urged North Korea to apologize and change its behavior, he said. "We endorse President Lee's demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent...

South Korea's defense chief said Monday his military will launch its own anti-proliferation exercise and resume psychological warfare against North Korea, as parts of its initial military measures to punish Pyongyang for a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March. The planned military exercise scheduled to take place in the second half of the year to deter proliferation of North Korean weapons of mass destruction will be the first of its kind by the South's military. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young also said the South would actively participate in a U.S.-led anti-proliferation drill, known as the Proliferation of...

South Korea said Monday it will unhesitatingly exercise its right of self-defense in the event of future armed provocation by North Korea and freeze all of its remaining exchanges with the communist neighbor, except for Kaesong industrial park. Announcing a set of tough punitive steps against Pyongyang for its fatal attack on one of its warships in March, President Lee Myung-bak said his government will request the U.N. Security Council take up the case."From now on, the Republic of Korea will not tolerate any provocative act by the North and will maintain a principle of proactive deterrence," the president said...

So now it's official: North Korea did it. In the early morning hours of March 26 an explosion tore through the hull of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, which was sailing in waters not far from the disputed maritime boundary with the North. The 1,200-ton patrol boat split in two and sank, and 46 sailors lost their lives. The cause of the disaster wasn't immediately obvious. No one claimed responsibility for an attack, and some sort of accident was, of course, within the realm of possibility. So the South Korean government launched a probe to figure out what happened....

The official investigation is over. After weeks of careful technical review, an expert team of South Korean, US and European investigators believe that a North Korean torpedo blew in half and sunk a South Korean Navy corvette on March 26. The torpedo not only struck its immediate intended target (killing 46 sailors in the process), but has also undermined planned nuclear arms talks. On Thursday, officials in Seoul released critical evidence with photos of the recovered wreckage showing colossal damage to the keel. The Ministry of National Defense simulated striking the ROKS Cheonan near the ship’s gas turbine room—a strike...

Video Link is HERE.Video may stream for 1/2 more day. Not all systems can stream. Hit the white triangle in the center of the photo of the irate South Korean demonstrators bashing the cr*p out of an effigy of a North Korean torpedo, with sledgehammers, in busy downtown Seoul today.**NOTE THE CLOSING SECONDS OF VIDEO WITH RABID NORTH KOREAN TV GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCERETTE ON PYONGYANG (NORTH) KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS TV JUST TODAY DECLARING THAT NORTH KOREA WILL GO TO WAR AGAINST THE SOUTH IF THEY TRY TO DO ANYTHING UNWARRANTED IN RESPONSE.** She/he/it(?) spits this out in usual psychotic North...

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Investigators let media have a look at the wreckage of the Cheonan on Wednesday, the day before South Korea was to formally announce that a North Korea torpedo sank the South Korean patrol ship. The wreckage of the March 26 sinking was retrieved from the Yellow Sea near the maritime border between the two Koreas and hauled to South Korea’s Second Fleet Command base in Pyeongtaek. Yoon Duk-yong, an investigator with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, told reporters Wednesday that evidence from the recovered pieces of the ship points to a torpedo attack....

Following his return from a May 3-7 visit to the People’s Republic of China, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il affirmed his government’s willingness to respect his hosts’ desires and resume participation in the Six-Party Talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula at an appropriate time. The talks have remained suspended following an upsurge in tensions last April, when the UN Security Council imposed additional sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after North Korea launched a ballistic missile under the guise of testing space rockets. Pyongyang responded defiantly by withdrawing from the talks and then testing another nuclear weapon, the...

The motives behind North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s ‘unofficial’ visit to China last week may not be that hard to decipher. Most analysts suspect he went to see his most important patron to seek more aid and, in all likelihood, his Chinese patrons would have thrown a bone or two to him to bribe him back to the increasingly meaningless Six-Party Talks. But if the stakeholders in East Asia’s peace and stability focus their attention on whether China’s prodding will lead to a more fruitful outcome in dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme this time, they’re simply wasting their time....