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SEOUL -- North Korea put on a show of strength Wednesday in the face of reports that dictator Kim Jong Il is seriously ill, with his second-in-command holding a rare meeting with a foreign media organization to dispel the accounts. Mr. Kim remained out of sight, however, a day after missing celebration activities for North Korea's 60th anniversary. In neighboring South Korea, government officials reinforced reports that emerged from U.S. intelligence officials Tuesday that Mr. Kim suffered a debilitating illness recently.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il has reportedly failed to appear at the country's 60th anniversary parade - amid rumours that he is seriously unwell or even dead. South Korea's military said the North had been massing weapons for days to show them off in its capital during the event. The spectacle followed a report in the South's Chosun Ilbo newspaper that the 66-year-old reclusive leader was suspected of suffering a chronic illness. He collapsed last month, the paper added, citing a South Korean diplomatic source in Beijing.

Is Kim Jong-il for real? The question has baffled foreign intelligence agencies for years but now a veteran Japanese expert on North Korea says the “dear leader” is actually dead – and his role is played by a double. The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China have been negotiating with an impostor. He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four lookalikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims,...

Russia joins the war in Afghanistan By M K Bhadrakumar Jun 25, 2008 Moscow is staging an extraordinary comeback on the Afghan chessboard after a gap of two decades following the Soviet Union's nine-year adventure that ended in the withdrawal of its last troops from Afghanistan 1989. In a curious reversal of history, this is possible only with the acquiescence of the United States. Moscow is taking advantage of the deterioration of the war in Afghanistan and the implications for regional security could be far-reaching.

SEOUL (AFP) South Korea's government on Thursday dismissed rumours of the death of North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il as baseless after they swirled through stock markets."Recent rumours (about Kim's death) are groundless," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-Nyoun told reporters.The rumours emerged briefly on South Korea's financial markets and in Tokyo but were short-lived, market watchers said.The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday that Kim was touring a textile factory in the northeastern port city of Hamhung.Rumours about Kim's death have circulated this week despite reports by the North's state media that he visited army units Monday and...

Strange, secretive, and desperately poor, North Korea tests the limits of social control.PYONGYANG—Here is the locked ward of the political asylum, the place where politics has actually become an official state religion, and power is worshipped, directly and literally, in the form of a colossal bronze idol to which the people come and bow with every sign of reverence. Nothing in the modern world compares with North Korea, though it gives us some clue about how life must have been under the pharaohs, in Imperial Japan before Hiroshima, or in the obliterated years—conveniently erased from memory by blushing fellow travelers—when...

U.S. to Strike N.Korea Off Terror List Under 'Secret Deal' The U.S. in a closed-doors deal on Oct. 3 agreed to strike North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and suspend the Trading with the Enemy Act by year's end provided North Korea disables its nuclear facilities by then, a senior South Korean official says. The official told Korean reporters in Washington last week the Oct. 3 deal “includes a list of facilities North Korea agreed to disable. It also includes what the other five nations agreed to do, including the issues of striking North Korea from...

Ex-con rapper Lil' Kim got pulled over last night in New York when she decided to take her Lamborghini for a spin -- without license plates or a driver's license. Kim (aka Kimberly Jones) was driving on the West Side of Manhattan and went to fill her tank, when cops noticed that her crazazy whip didn't have tags. They also discovered that Kim didn't have a driver's license either. Still, the rapperista wasn't detained by cops, and her lawyer came to the rescue, picking her up -- and driving away in the Lambo. The NYPD confirmed that Jones was stopped,...

Is Kim Jong so ill he needs surgery? By Sergei Soukhorukov in Beijing Last Updated: 12:56am BST 10/06/2007 Ailing: Kim Jong Il, has been so unwell that he needs an assistant to carry a chair for him Kim Jong Il, North Korea's reclusive leader, has been so unwell that he could not walk more than 30 yards without a rest, western governments have been told. Diplomats in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, are increasingly convinced that the 65-year-old dictator needs heart surgery to restore his apparently flagging health. He has had to be accompanied by an assistant carrying a chair...

Over a month has passed since sweetness and light were due to break out on the Korean Peninsula. On Feb. 13, the Six-Party Talks in Beijing ratified a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and North Korea, providing for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs. The first step, 60 days after ratification, was to be that North Korea "will shut down and seal for the purpose of eventual abandonment" the Yongbyon nuclear facility, and readmit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Other steps were to follow, but the first move was unequivocally to be made by Pyongyang. The...

An April 14 deadline has passed and there are no signs that North Korea has begun to shut down its main nuclear reactor, as it agreed to do in February. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from Beijing, where diplomats have gathered to see where the nuclear disarmament negotiations are going next. Chief US negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, speaks to the press in Beijing, China Saturday 14 Apr 2007 Chief US negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, speaks to the press in Beijing, 14 Apr 2007 The four-year-old process to get North Korea to begin dismantling its nuclear...

Calls Hour 2, April 7 - 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (Iowa National Guard), "Ironman" Battalion Hour 2, April 14 - 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division, "The Red Bulls," Hour 2, April 14 - Soldiers from Camp Victory, who are a part of the Multi National Corps, Iraq. "Americans will open their hearts and help if they know where and how to do it. That’s what we’re going to accomplish with Operation Komando." - Kim Komando. Now it's your turn to show your support for the troops working to protect our freedoms. They need everyday items...

Cell phone location tip for Kims not heeded Police report - An Edge Wireless employee gave state officers precise data two days before Kati Kim was found Thursday, December 21, 2006 MICHELLE ROBERTS The engineer whose cell phone records helped find the Kim family in a search-and-rescue drama that riveted the nation told police the Kims were "most likely in the vicinity of Bear Camp Road" two full days before they were found, according to a Portland police detective's report. The Edge Wireless engineer provided a far more precise idea of where to look for James and Kati Kim and...

Wife and two daughters of senior editor James Kim found in Oregon; search is still on for James Kim, who left the car on foot two days ago. The wife and daughters of missing CNET senior editor James Kim have been found alive and airlifted to a local hospital, authorities announced at a press conference in Merlin, Ore., Monday afternoon. James Kim left the car on snowshoes two days ago to seek help and has not been found, the official said. The search for him continues. According to the official speaking at the news conference, the conditions of Kati, Penelope...

This being The Wall Street Journal, we went straight to the bottom line. How much, we asked our visitor at a recent editorial board meeting, does it cost to free one North Korean refugee hiding in China? The Rev. Phillip Buck pauses a moment before replying, apparently making the yuan-to-dollar conversions on the abacus in his mind. "If I do it myself," he says, "the cost is $800 per person. If I hire a broker to do it, it's $1,500." Pastor Buck is a rescuer. It's a job title that applies to a courageous few--mostly Americans and South Koreans and...

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Rescue teams headed up the flanks of Mount Hood on Monday to search for three climbers reported missing in heavy snow, the Hood River County sheriff's office said. The mother of one of the men said he had called his son on a cell phone to say he was stranded in a snow cave just below the summit of the 11,235-foot peak while his companions went for help. "From the conversation, it left us very concerned for the person's welfare," Hood River County Chief Deputy Jerry Brown said. Snow was falling heavily Monday at Timberline Lodge,...

Searchers intensified their efforts Tuesday to find a San Francisco man missing for more than a week in a rugged, remote area of the snow-covered Oregon Coast Range as his wife and two young children, rescued just the day before, recovered in a hospital. Trained dogs, horse patrols and a helicopter with heat-sensitive sensors were sent to join other helicopters, snowmobiles and foot patrols Tuesday for 35-year-old James Kim. Trackers had followed his footprints until dark Monday night. "They determined that he went over the side of the road into the Big Windy Creek drainage area and that's when the...

Snowbound in a car with their two daughters -- one a 4-year-old, the other an infant -- Kati and James Kim tried to keep warm by running the engine at night. Snip When the food ran out, James Kim ate wild berries, uncertain whether they were safe, his family said. Finally, when no help arrived, authorities said he set out on foot to find help in the remote area of southern Oregon, wearing only tennis shoes, pants, a sweater and a jacket. Snip Kati Kim flagged down a helicopter search crew with an umbrella and was rescued along with her...

NET senior editor James Kim and his family are missing. The 36-year-old Kim, his wife Kati, and daughters Penelope (4 years) and Sabine (7 months) left their home in San Francisco last week on a road trip to the Pacific Northwest. They were last seen on Saturday, November 25, in Seattle, according to the San Francisco Police Department, which has opened a missing persons' investigation. They were driving a 2005 silver Saab station wagon with California personalized plates of "DOESF." Those with information about the Kim family's whereabouts are asked to contact the SFPD immediately--at 415-558-5508 during normal business hours...

HOW do you get the attention of North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il? Stop him getting hold of iPods, plasma televisions and Harley Davidson motorbikes, it would appear.The United States government's first effort to use trade sanctions to aggravate a foreign leader personally is targeting items believed to be favoured by Mr Kim or to have been given by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyal families who run the Communist government. Mr Kim, who engineered a secret nuclear weapons programme, has other ways of obtaining the high-end consumer electronics and other items he wants. But the list of...

Published: Friday, October 13, 2006 Is it time to consider killing crazy Kim? By Austen Kassinger Since when did assassination of foreign leaders get taken off the table? After years of killing off third-world leaders that threatened American interests, international norms have shifted, Today, the idea of exploding cigars is considered quaint, if not outright passe. But with Pyongyang's announcement late Monday night of a nuclear arms test, perhaps it's time to reconsider. The notion that someone ought to just put a bullet through Kim Jong Il's head tends to elicit disapproving frowns. Apparently, it's too crass a tactic, a...

A Korean-Japanese scholar who is considered North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s unofficial spokesman said that the disappointing reaction to North Korea’s A-Bomb test has left Pyongyang with no choice but to up the ante. “Kim has an F-bomb and he’s not afraid to use it” said Kim Myong-chol, director of the Center for Korean-American Peace, a Japan-based pro-North Korean research agency, said the Stalinist state is ready to do whatever it takes to gain the attention its leaders demands. “Kim Jong-il was very heartbroken that his big test explosion garnered so little reaction,” said Kim. “He was hoping to inspire...

Kim Jong-Il Sorry for Nuke Test, Molested as Child by Scott Ott (2006-10-21) — North Korean President Kim Jong-Il today reportedly told Chinese diplomats that he regrets his government’s recent detonation of a nuclear device, and he revealed that he had been molested as a child. “President Kim is sorry, and he takes full responsibility for the atomic bomb test,” said an unnamed Chinese source, “but in the spirit of transparency and vulnerability, he wants people to know about the childhood molestation incident.” The North Korean leader has reportedly checked himself into a rehab center to “heal his inner child...

SEOUL -- Mt. Paekdu towers 8,940 feet tall, the highest mountain in Korea. Since ancient times, Koreans have viewed it as a symbol of their nation, the birthplace of Tankun, mythical founder of their race. Today, it has added significance for the 20 million people of communist North Korea. It is "the holy place of the Korean revolution." It was there, schoolchildren learn, that President Kim Il Sung organized heroic guerrilla bands in the 1930s that were to rout the brutal Japanese colonial army. It was there, in a hidden forest encampment, that his son and heir Kim Chong Il...

As we sink further and further into an increasingly unwinnable war in Iraq, a more tangible threat looms on the horizon. North Korea is developing nuclear weapons. Naturally, the reaction in the United States has been one of surprise, confusion and abject fear. President Bush and the Republican campaign machine have found in North Korea the perfect international boogeyman to get people to stop thinking about former Rep. Mark Foley's page molesting and start thinking about the Republicans' "get tough" stance on national security. Other than fear, the most prominent emotion expressed by U.S. leaders and public alike was shock....

Talk about prima donnas and drama queens. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il again managed to get the world's attention and grab the front pages with his "nuclear" test on Sunday -- just as he did on the 4th of July when North Korea launched a missile test over the East Sea/Seaof Japan. The man has an impeccable sense of timing, but the question is what else he really has to show for himself -- hence the quote marks around the word "nuclear." Allegedly, this is all about North Korea's desire to press for bilateral talks with the United States, something...

The greatest fear for Americans however, is that North Korea's ICBMs would strike the continental U.S., or that Kim's pals – the Iranians – or a terrorist organization like Al Qaeda, would blindside us with a Kim-sold nuke that our intelligence agencies were not aware of. It seems either would please Kim. For as his unofficial spokesman, Kim Myong Chol, wrote in the October 6 edition of Asia Times (three days before the nuclear test), "Kim's message" is "War is coming to U.S. soil."

Kim's life of luxury as the people starve By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 16/10/2006) From imported lobsters to cognac and Mercedes-Benz cars, the expensive tastes of North Korea's secretive leader, Kim Jong-il, have never failed to stagger those who have witnessed his conspicuous consumption. However, his love of the finer things in life, in a country where his people have been allowed to starve, is now being challenged by the United Nations sanctions imposed at the weekend. They include a clause banning the export of luxury goods to North Korea and aim to cut off or at least greatly...

'Malignant narcissism, paranoia, defensive aggression… and now, we think, Kim's got the Bomb' By Philip Sherwell (Filed: 15/10/2006) Jerrold Post has never met his patient – a reclusive yet attention-seeking figure who pursues his penchant for wayward behaviour nearly 7,000 miles away from the doctor's office in suburban Washington. But he still knows what makes him tick. For Dr Post is one of the world's foremost political psychologists, who has been putting the likes of Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro on his virtual couch for the CIA for 21 years. Diminutive dictator: Kim Jong-il is 5ft 2 without his platform...

Diplomats at the United Nations are discussing whether to impose sanctions against Pyongyang that U.S. envoy John Bolton says could put North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il on "a little diet." Targets could include luxury items enjoyed by the leadership as well as weapons technology. Security Council members are debating what to do after the communist state said it held a nuclear test.

6 minutes ago UNITED NATIONS - The United States on Thursday introduced a new draft resolution in the Security Council to punish North Korea for its reported nuclear test and said it wants a vote on Friday. Russia urged the United States not to rush the vote, saying Moscow still had differences and the U.S. should wait for the results of a flurry of high-level diplomacy. China backed Russia's call, saying Beijing would welcome more talks so the Security Council can send a united and forceful message to Pyongyang condemning the test. After formally introducing the resolution in the Security...

Democrats have begun a desperate-yet-predictable effort to blame North Korea's nuclear aspirations on President George W. Bush's strident rhetoric. Despite their leftist cant, they seem remarkably uninterested in the "root causes" of Pyongyang's current nuclear brinksmanship: Bill Clinton's eight years of appeasement and the gullible cordiality of the South Korean government. Threats of a nuclear winter did not mix well with Clinton's sunny disposition. Clinton, who saw the domestic front thronged with "crises," refused to disturb his illusion of a post-Cold War world at complete peace under his watch. He had two private conversations with CIA Director James Woolsey in...

The original Chinese document on this facility The picture of Lee Chun-Sun and the N. Korean missile Comment: The following is the English translation and shortened version of a korean article on the uranium enrichment facility of N. Korea in operation since '89. N. Korean Uranium Enrichment Facility (since '89) Revealed It is now revealed that N. Korean uranium enrichment facility is deep under the Chon-Ma Peak, 1,119m high from the sea level. The official name of this facility is Mt. Chon-Ma Powerplant to hide its real function. Two power generators from Kum-Chang Ri Powerplant were installed at this...

U.S. Aid Helps N. Korea Build Nukes, Congress Told By Lawrence Morahan CNS Staff Writer 17 April, 2000 (CNSNews.com) - North Korea's nuclear production capacity will increase from a dozen nuclear bombs a year to 65 a year by 2010, thanks in large part to American taxpayer money, two renowned U.S. nuclear scientists told congressional leaders last week. North Korea observers have long suspected the communist dictatorship is using Western humanitarian aid to starving North Koreans to feed Kim Jong Il's million-man army. But an aid policy initiated by the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s to finance two light...

At the link, above (this link will be good for a few more hours). North Korea's top diplomat to the UN, Mr. Park, strolls the streets of NYC yesterday, spouting additional DPRK nuclear threats, smirking, and stating that the UN should in fact "congratulate our scientists and researchers". Smirking later in the brief video when in a UN meeting, shaking hand of DPRK diplomatic colleague, etc..Japanese TV Windows Media Clip 300K. Smirking starts at 10 seconds into clip--be patient for the load. Additional threats issued later, in Korean, and subtitled into Japanese.http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20061010-00000051-nnn-int-movie-000&media=wm300k

Kim delays telling his people of nuclear test By Our Correspondent in Pyongyang and Adrian Blomfield (Filed: 10/10/2006) While the rest of the world was digesting claims that North Korea had tested a nuclear bomb, there was one corner of the globe that was left in the dark about the news: North Korea itself. It was not until 4pm local time that the Dear Leader, as Kim Jong-il likes to be known, deigned to let his people know of the momentous goings-on in their country. By then several hours had elapsed since the official Korean Central News Agency had informed...

President Bush addresees the nation from the White House 09:45AM ET

By Kim Myong Chol ("Unofficial" spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea.) The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on October 3 that the DPRK planned to conduct a nuclear test. The Foreign Ministry stated that the planned nuclear test was in response to the grave situation created by the US, where "the supreme national security interests of the DPRK are at stake with the Korean nation standing at the crossroads of life and death". The nuclear test, once conducted, will have far-reaching implications for the Koreas and the rest of the world. It carries five...

Dictator hires doubles to do the boring jobs By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 30/09/2006) Korean leader Kim Jong-il (or is it?) inspects a farm run by Korean People's Army The eccentric North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has hired doubles to carry out his more mundane tasks, according to South Korean intelligence officials. While Kim himself attends major state occasions, two men stand in for him for more routine visits to tractor factories or farms. "They are the spitting image of Kim — the same age, same height and with the same bouffant hairstyle and pot belly," a South Korean...

South Korean intelligence has detected suspicious vehicle movements around a major North Korean missile launch site, a source in Seoul said Sunday (Sept 3). The military official said several large vehicles were spotted recently moving around in the eastern coastal missile base of Gitdaeryeong where the North fired six short- and medium-range missiles in July. On July 5, Pyongyang fired the Scud and Rodong missiles above the East Sea along with a long-range Taepodong-2 missile which experts believe could reach the US mainland. "We are not ruling out the possibility that the North could fire more Rodong and Scud missiles,"...

<p>It's getting tough to be a North Korean banker these days. First Washington shuts down your Macau accounts; then China, an old friend, follows suit. Now even Vietnam and Mongolia are cooperating. Who's next?</p> <p>Since the U.S. Treasury designated Banco Delta Asia, a Macau bank long used by North Korea, as a "primary money-laundering concern" last September, banks world-wide have awakened to the dangers of being tarred by association with Kim Jong Il's regime. Hanoi and Ulan Bator don't even boast big financial centers, but we're told they've seen the sense in acting on U.S. information.</p>

Reports from Seoul Korea, (daily newspaper Joongang Ilbo in Seoul) via the Japanese Jiji press agency, that South Korean intelligence has intercepted radio messages/communications in North Korea, which were aired last month, to civilians in the Kilju County, Northern Hamgyeong Province area of northeastern D.P.R.K., to evacuate.The source in the South Korean government said "our interpretation is that following North Korea's underground nuclear blast test, they wish to head off any escape of radiation that would be a threat to the nearby civilian population and are evacuating as such."

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has taken his former secretary as his new wife, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the country. His wife Ko Yong-hi, the mother of two of Kim's three sons, died of breast cancer in August 2004, the agency said. "I heard Kim has been living together with a woman named Kim Ok, who was his secretary, since Ko Yong-hi died two years ago," Yonhap quoted a South Korean government source as saying.

The government of Kim Jong-Il announced that America's attempted July 4 attack on his country was thwarted when "the supreme mental energy of Kim caused all of the American rockets to explode just hundreds of feet in the air over their launching pads in cities all across the United States." The statement went on to say that "as a show of mercy, Kim's psychic powers also caused all of the Nodong and Scud missiles in North Korea's planned retaliatory strike to crash harmlessly into the sea, sparing the Americans from their justly deserved punishment." The statement concluded that "Kim's power,...

Asiana Plane in Close Shave as North Launches Missile --North Korea Launches Two Rounds of Missiles --N.Korea’s Missiles Right on Target --Missile Launch to Chill Inter-Korean Ties --Unwelcome Fireworks for U.S. Independence Day --South Koreans Angry at N.Korean Missile Shock --A Bad Misjudgment From North and South --N.Korea May Try Launching Another Long-Range Missile --N.Korea’s Missile Launch ‘Part of Regular Drills’ --Seoul’s Late Response to Missile Launch Draws Flak --An Urgent Problem, a Leisurely Response Some 10 minutes before North Korea test-fired its fist missile early Wednesday, an Asiana Airlines passenger plane crossed the missile’s future trajectory above the East...

How would you describe North Korea's leader? Shrewd operator Foolish

General Secretary of the North Korean Communist Party, Kim Jong Il's heroic efforts to bring epochal changes to his country have caught the eye of influential leaders on the Left. "Kim has given clear-cut answers to all the theoretical and practical problems that could ever confront a nation," said George Soros, a major financier of Democratic candidates. "He has brought unity and cohesion to his country. He took revolutionary measures for strengthening the Party organizationally and ideologically. He has authored many famous works to brightly light the lives of humanity." Soros says he will work with his allies in the...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Immortal Feats Performed by Kim Jong Il in Leadership over Party Pyongyang, June 19 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il started his work at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on the 19th of June 42 years ago. Epochal changes have been since effected in the work of the WPK and the revolutionary development and a new era of great creation and change has been ushered in. Kim Jong Il has given clear-cut answers to all the theoretical and practical issues arising in strengthening the WPK to be Kim Il Sung's Party for ever. The issues...

NK warned over 'provocative' test Sunday, June 18, 2006 Posted: 0141 GMT (0941 HKT) SPECIAL REPORT TOKYO, Japan -- The U.S. and Japan both urged North Korea to halt preparations for a test-launch of a long-range missile, after Japanese and South Korean news reports said the North had loaded booster rockets onto a launch pad and could test-fire the missile as early as Sunday. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso warned North Korea on Sunday Tokyo would regard any missile that dropped on Japan as an attack, the Reuters news service reported. "If it is dropped on Japan, it will complicate...