Free Republic

The Internet was abuzz with rumors today that North Korea’s newly installed leader, Kim Jong Un, was assassinated during a trip to Beijing, but U.S. officials are debunking the reports as not true. Several U.S. officials contacted by ABC News said there was no validity to the reports that originated on a Chinese social media site and soon spread to Twitter. “There’s nothing to this, ” said one U.S. official, who added that there were no indications that the reports were true. Another U.S. official said, “Our experts are monitoring the situation and we see no abnormal activity on the...

Neither Mission nor Prudence in Kim's Expression By Park Seong Guk [2012-02-09 11:12 ] Kim Jong Nam has revealed more about the rule of Kim Jong Eun and his view of the future of North Korea in previously unreleased e-mails between he and Tokyo Shimbun editor Yoji Komi . “In that young man’s expression I can see neither the mission nor the prudence of a man who has become the successor to a troubled country like North Korea, nor the expression of a man worrying about a future vision for the state,” Kim is quoted as saying in one of...

01-25-2012 09:56 Golf genius Kim is gone, but NK tournament remains Even the fairytale rise to implausible golfing kingship depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster "Happy Gilmore" doesn't come close to the storybook achievements of Kim Jong-il, the late North Korean leader who died last month. North Korean legend has it that, on his maiden round, the country's No. 1 man blew away even the earthly brilliance of golf greats Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as he carded, wait for it, 11 holes-in-one. Now, the scene of "Dear Leader" Kim's astonishing feat has been opened up to an entirely different field...

 Kim Jong-nam Says N.Korean Regime Won't Last Long Kim Jong-nam Former North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has said the isolated regime will eventually fail with or without reforms. The comment appears in e-mail conversations exchanged over seven years between Kim Jong-nam and a Japanese journalist and obtained by the Monthly Chosun. The nearly 100 e-mails were sent from 2004 until December last year to Yoji Komi, an editor at the Tokyo Shimbun daily. The two also spoke in person in January and May last year. ◆ Oppostion to Dynastic Succession Kim Jong-nam, who was passed over...

Kim Jong-nam Resurfaces in Beijing Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam has resurfaced in Beijing a month after his father's death. He was spotted by South Koreans including Park Seung-jun, a professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Incheon University, waiting at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport for an Air China flight to Macau on Saturday afternoon. Kim Jong-nam was wearing a padded navy blue jacket, jeans and a light-blue baseball cap. He was alone. Witnesses spotted Kim in the Air China business lounge searching the Internet on a computer. Asked if he had...

Harsh Punishments for Poor Mourning The North Korean authorities have completed the criticism sessions which began after the mourning period for Kim Jong Il and begun to punish those who transgressed during the highly orchestrated mourning events. Daily NK learned from a source from North Hamkyung Province on January 10th, “The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn't seem genuine.” Furthermore, the source added that people who are accused of circulating rumors criticizing...

Well, it is a slow news day, so we focus on the patently absurd, such as this news out of Interfax confirming that TheOnion can now close up shop as reality is far, far better. From Interfax: "North Korean citizens, who did not take part in the mourning ceremonies for the country’s late Leader Kim Jong-il, are facing up to six months in labor camps, Interfax reported January 11. According to the South Korean media sources, “People’s Courts” took place all over the country starting December 29 to condemn those who did not show enough emotion after the death...

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 Kim's eldest son dishes dirt in upcoming book Kyodo Kim Jong Nam, the late Kim Jong Il's eldest son, provides his own frank account of North Korea's "Dear Leader" in a book that will hit stores Jan. 20, including his reluctance to let any of his sons take power, an editor at publisher Bungei Shunju Co. said. The book by Yoji Gomi, a senior staff writer for the Tokyo Shimbun daily, is based on his extensive interviews with Kim Jong Nam and email exchanges between them, the editor said Friday. In an email in January after...

If you found yourself panicked that the highly acclaimed and inexplicably entertaining “Kim Jong Il Looking at Things” blog would become defunct after the Dear Leader’s recent death, fear no more. North Korea has a new leader, but more importantly, North Korea has a new person who likes to look at things. Although you can continue to enjoy images of the Dear Leader posted posthumously on the original blog, the site dedicated to his successor proves quite promising. Recent entries feature new images which, according to the Daily Mail, were taken during a tour of a military camp and released...

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...

No Hats, No Scarves, No Gloves! By Lee Seok Young [2012-01-03 10:23 ] Daily NK has received information confirming the level of stage management that went into the memorial service for Kim Jong Il on December 28th in Pyongyang. A source from the city told Daily NK on January 2nd, “The day before the event sending off comrade Kim Jong Il, heads of people’s units told us that ‘comrade Kim Jong Eun will also be escorting the General’s hearse bare-handed’ and conveyed a list of important instructions.” According to the source, the authorities were intending to make sure that mourners...

North Korea’s ‘Mourners’: Dehumanized By Communism Posted 12/28/2011 07:03 PM ET Totalitarianism: The world witnessed a grotesque spectacle Tuesday as millions of North Koreans mourned the death of the world's most odious dictator. It's a classic demonstration of the dehumanization of communism. In the free world, tears would never be shed for a monster like Kim Jong Il, the megalomaniac who ruled North Korea with an iron fist for 17 years, leaving a legacy of man-made famine, a network of Gulag prison camps for free thinkers, and bone-grinding poverty for workers unlike any other place on earth. But in a...

Kim Jong-il's Death Is a Blessing Kim Jong-il's death may be seen as having increased uncertainties in North Korea, but I think the exact opposite is true. The uncertainties in the North have stemmed primarily from Kim's self-obsession and obstinacy. North Korea's elite all seem to view reforms as the only way for the country to survive, but Kim executed anyone who dared to say so. Strained ties with South Korea are also due to the idiotic choices Kim made without going through a rational process of discussion and decision-making. As a result, his death has eliminated a measure of...

Police to probe Czech communist party leader’s condolences to North Korea 28-12-2011 16:11 | Jan Richter The Czech police will investigate whether the Czech communist party leader broke the law when he sent condolences on the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. In his letter, Czech communist party chair Vojtěch Filip said, among other things, that the late North Korean dictator sacrificed himself for the well-being of his people. Thousands of people lined the streets of the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Wednesday to salute their late leader Kim Jong-Il who passed away earlier this month. It was...

North Korea said Sunday in its annual New Year's message that it will stage an all-out drive toward prosperity, with its army, ruling party and people ready to defend Kim Jong Il's young son and successor "unto death." The North's message, released by the official Korean Central News Agency, comes as the country enters a new era, with Kim Jong Un firmly installed as Supreme Commander of the military and ruling party leader following his father's Dec. 17 death. This year also marks a crucial one in the North's history as it works on its goal to build a "great...

N. Korea to issue gold, silver coins in honor of late leader 2011-12-31 10:37 North Korea said Saturday it will issue gold and silver coins to mark the 20th anniversary of late leader Kim Jong-il's ascension to the supreme commander of the communist nation's armed forces. Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency made the announcement minutes after Kim's successor son, Jong-un, took over the supreme commandership in a strong sign that the young son, believed to be in his late 20s, is rapidly solidifying power. The commandership is one of the titles that the late leader held before his death on...

Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and supreme leader of the party, state and army, Tuesday visited again the bier of leader Kim Jong Il and expressed profound condolences. Overcome with the bitterest grief, Kim Jong Un, together with senior officials of the party, state and armed forces organs, paid silent tribute to his bier, praying for his immortality, and looked round it. Standing vigil by the side of the bier, Kim Jong Un greeted people of different social standings including representatives of various provinces visiting there to express condolences over...

Kim Jong-Il was born Yuri Irsenovich Kim. His official biography states that he was born on a sacred mountain (Baekdu Mountain, the legendary birthplace of Korea’s first kingdom) on February 16, 1942, where his father was serving in a secret military base, attempting to overthrow the Japanese. Further, it states that his birth was marked by a double rainbow over the mountain, a new star appearing in the sky, and, before his birth, a swallow foretold his coming. Besides the obvious parts of this that aren’t true, he also was not born on Baekdu Mountain in 1942, but rather was...

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.

Report: Eldest son of Kim Jong Il in China Published: Dec. 27, 2011 at 8:21 AM PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- China is giving protection to the eldest son of North Korea's departed leader Kim Jong Il, a source told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. Kim Jong Nam reached China recently as North Korean authorities prepared for Wednesday's state funeral of his father, who died Dec. 17, the report said. Kim Jong Nam arrived in Beijing from the Macau and was "been placed under the Chinese protection," the source, described as being familiar with the son's activities, told...

/begin my translation [Kim Jong-il's Death] Japanese Female Magician "Not to Attend the N. Korean Funeral" 2011-12-27 09:31:00 A female Japanese magician, who was a close acquaintance of N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il, decided not to attend his funeral, her agent conveyed on Dec. 26. In a statement, the magician Princess Tenko(天功, age:51) said, "Considering all circumstances, I decided not to attend the public event." N. Korea invited her to Kim's funeral which is to be held on Dec. 28. Tenko, a world-renowned female magician, was invited by N. Korea to perform in 1998 and 2000, and also attended Kim...

N.Korea Says Kim Jong-il Was Alive Until the Night of Dec. 16 Kim Jong-il was alive signing official documents until the night of Friday, Dec. 16, North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun daily claimed Sunday. "At the late hour of 9:13 p.m., one worker received a document signed by the general." The daily added Kim foresaw problems in the distribution of herring and pollack to Pyongyang residents to celebrate the New Year and signed the document to ease obstacles. It is unusual for the official media to go into such detail, suggesting that the paper was indirectly trying to counter suspicions...

Purges 'Ensure Kim Jong-un's Succession' A series of executions and unexplained deaths since North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son Jong-un was anointed heir to the throne in January 2009 were apparently meant to remove obstacles to the transition. Kim senior instituted several bloody purges to ensure his iron grip on power since he officially took over from his own father in 1994. The most prominent example is perhaps the death of Ri Je-gang, a former senior deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department and a close aide to Kim Jong-il who oversaw key military appointments for more than two...

Russian team of embalmers headed for Pyongyang. Chia Head must be embalmed as well. From Russian NTV: (google translation) Soon the world will be on a "restless dead" is more - for Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il Sung and Mao joins Kim Jong Il. In the capital, Pyongyang, DPRK flew a group of Russian scientists from the Institute of embalmers Mausoleum. Very soon, the list of the "immortals" - Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong, add another: the deceased North Korean leader Jong-il Keach prepared to keep forever. At the head of the Russian delegation...

Joyful toasts and bitter memories: North Korean defectors grapple with death of Kim Jong Il By Associated Press, Published: December 25 SEOUL, South Korea — More than 21,000 North Koreans now live in South Korea. For many, the news of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s death stirred mixed emotions. Several interviewed in Seoul by The Associated Press described a burst of joy upon hearing that Kim had died, but also a surge of unease over the fate of relatives and friends and even a shadow of homesickness. There was celebration — one man had drinks with a friend— and...

2011/12/26 14:50 KST N. Korean businessmen asking Chinese traders to offer condolences over Kim's death DANDONG, China, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korean businessmen in China are asking their local business partners to offer condolences over the death of Kim Jong-il, apparently under pressure from their government back home, Chinese traders said Monday. Kim, who ruled North Korea with an iron fist for 17 years, died of heart failure on Dec. 17, according to the North's state media. Since the announcement two days later, the country has set up condolence venues at its embassy in Beijing, its consular offices in...

UN tribute to Kim leads to walkout of diplomats Dec 24,2011 The UN General Assembly yesterday paid a silent tribute to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, sparking a walkout of ambassadors of Korea and other countries. At the start of the assembly Thursday, its president, Qatar’s Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, told the diplomats, “It is my sad duty to pay tribute to the memory of the late Kim Jong-il.” The president asked North Korean Ambassador Sin Son-ho to “convey condolences” and called on all envoys “to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of...

Mourners weep at escalator used by Kim Jong-il 20/12 12:23 CET North Korean state media has released a still photograph of what is believed to have been Kim Jong-il’s last public appearance before he died. He is seen on a supermarket escalator, with his son and future successor Kim Jong-un among those behind him. Today the escalator they travelled down has been turned into a shrine. “I can’t imagine how happy it would make us and our fellow citizens if he could ride on this escalator again,” said one woman, amid a group of mourners, weeping around the moving staircase....

November 6, 2012

/being my excerpts Kim Jong-il - Indication of Deteriorating Health Emerged Since Sept. Sources from Dandong, “Many reputable foreign doctors went to Pyongyang in Sept.” Since last September, three months before N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s death, there were indications that his health was deteriorating. According to what sources on N. Korea in Dandong, China, said on Dec. 23, many reputable foreign doctors from Hungary, France, and China went to Pyongyang via China. One source said, “Those doctors were all heart specialists. It is my understanding that they went there in a hurry at N. Korea's request.” Another source said,...

Kim Jong-il 'Collapsed Last Thursday' North Korean leader Kim Jong-il collapsed on Dec. 15, two days before North Korea says he died, according to intelligence the South Korean government has received from Japan. The collapse was grave enough for top North Korean officials to convene an emergency meeting, though whether he died then or later is not known. Seoul apparently received the information from Japan after his death was announced at noon on Monday. A source on Thursday said a Japanese official attended an international seminar in Pyongyang hosted by North Korea's Asia Pacific Peace Committee, and on the morning...

Former President Jimmy Carter has sent North Korea a message of condolence over the death of Kim Jong-il and wished “every success” to the son expected to take over as dictator, according to the communist country's state-run news agency. A dispatch from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Mr. Carter sent the message to Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s third son and heir apparent. “In the message, Jimmy Carter extended condolences to Kim Jong-un and the Korean people over the demise of leader Kim Jong-il. He wished Kim Jong-un every success as he assumes his new responsibility of leadership, looking...

/begin my excerpts Park Sung-young “Intelligence on ‘Kim jong-il’s Death’ Ignored on Dec. 17” 2011.12.22 An allegation has emerged which accuses Presidential Office of ignoring intelligence on Kim Jong-il’s death sent by NIS(S. Korean intelligence agency) on Dec. 17. Park Sun-young, a legislator of Liberty Frontier Party, in a telephone conversation with Yonhap News as well as in the emergency question session at National Assembly, claimed, “A White House figure tipped the intelligence off to Mr. Kim, a senior official at Foreign Ministry on the morning of Dec. 17, but he failed to relay it to his superior. NIS also...

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."

Via Business Insider, true or not? On the one hand, it’s North Korean state media.On the other hand, it’s Jimmy Carter. In the message Jimmy Carter extended condolences to Kim Jong Un and the Korean people over the demise of leader Kim Jong Il.He wished Kim Jong Un every success as he assumes his new responsibility of leadership, looking forward to another visit to the DPRK in the future. The Washington Times asked the Carter Center to confirm or deny but his spokesman’s out of the office until after New Year’s. Could be NorK propaganda, of course, but in that...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Senator John McCain voiced satisfaction Monday that late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is "in a warm corner of hell" and called for efforts to bring an end to his family's regime. McCain, a Republican lawmaker who was his party's nominee for president in 2008, said that Kim subjected his people to "dire poverty and cruel oppression under one of the most totalitarian regimes the world has ever known." "The world is a better place now that Kim Jong-Il is no longer in it," McCain said. "I can only express satisfaction that the Dear Leader is...

Is anybody else out there also fascinated by the many videos of North Koreans weeping uncontrollably over the death of Kim Jong-il? I can't get enough of watching them. They are both quite fascinating and unintentionally HILARIOUS due to the over the top grieving. Rush Limbaugh today aptly noted that these mourners look quite well fed, which in a nation where the vast majority are starving, means they are the One Percenters of North Korea aka ruling party members.So how real is the grief? Well, they HAVE to show over the top grief or be tossed out of the party...

the dear leader liked to look at things. updated every other day and sometimes on the weekends too.

The United States was about to announce a deal that would put a stop to North Korea's uranium enrichment program when it was announced that the country's leader, Kim Jong Il, had died, a senior U.S. official told CBS on Tuesday. The Obama administration, according to the official, was due to announce that the U.S. would make a large donation of food aid to North Korea, and in turn North Korea was to announce the suspension of its controversial uranium enrichment program.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il's death opens a period of intense danger and risk, but also potentially enormous opportunity for America and its allies. Kim's health had obviously been poor for some time, and his regime has worked to ensure an orderly transition to his son, Kim Jong Eun. The Kim family and its supporters, with everything obviously at stake, will work strenuously to convey stability and control. Indeed, the official North Korea news agency has already referred to Jong Eun as "the great successor to the revolutionary cause." But the loathsome Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is...

PYONGYANG, North Korea - The body of North Korea's long-time ruler Kim Jong Il was laid out in a glass coffin Tuesday as weeping mourners filled public plazas and state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as "born of heaven." North Korea's official television showed still photos of Kim in the coffin surrounded by wreaths, his body covered with a red blanket and his head on a white pillow. A giant red curtain covered a wall behind Kim. Kim Jong Un — Kim's third son and successor — visited the coffin along with top...

2011/12/20 10:18 KST N. Korean troops withdraw from annual training after leader's death SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- Some North Korean troops conducting an annual winter exercise returned to their bases hours after the announcement of the death of their leader Kim Jong-il, a South Korean official said Tuesday. "We've learned that some units in the middle of their winter exercise went back to their bases overnight (Monday)," an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) here said. "Also, all military units have tightened their security." North Korea typically holds winter military drills in December. The official added that...

AP Interview: French doctor says he treated comatose Kim Jong Il in 2008, confirms stroke By Associated Press, PARIS — A French neurosurgeon confirmed Monday that Kim Jong Il had a debilitating stroke in 2008, and described secretly treating the reclusive dictator while the North Korean public and world remained unaware of his condition. /snip Roux, the chief of neurosurgery at Sainte Anne Hospital in Paris, said he was urgently flown to North Korea in August 2008 to examine Kim who was unconscious and “in a bad way” and in intensive care at Pyongyang’s Red Cross Hospital, in the communist...

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - State media declared last night that Kim Jong II is dead… killed by the hands of Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris has had quite a year – he killed Osama Bin Laden AND Muammar Gaddafi, he last night he snuck into North Korea and killed Dear Leader Kim Jong II. Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic longtime leader, was 69. In a “special broadcast” Monday from the North Korean capital, state media said Kim died of a heart ailment on a train due to a “great mental and physical strain” on Dec. 17 during a...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain says the world is better off now that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died, and predicted the dictator would join the likes of Adolf Hitler "in a warm corner in hell." McCain's political colleagues, including GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, have joined the prominent and outspoken senator in saying bluntly that Kim will not be missed after decades of oppression and threatening the world with his nuclear program.

With the death of Kim Jong-il, the world loses one of the greatest self-aggrandizing fantasists of all time. Here are ten of the craziest Jong-il stories floating out there: 1. North Korean schools teach children that Jong-il's birth was "supernatural." He was born in a log cabin inside a secret base on the sacred Mt. Paekdu, the story goes, and his arrival was accompanied by the apparition of a new star. The seasons then spontaneously changed from winter to spring, and a double-rainbow appeared, followed by a talking iceberg. (Western accounts say he was born in a guerrilla camp in...

SING ALONG AND ENJOY

You know what a good funeral needs? Fireworks: North Korea test fired a short-range missile off the country’s eastern coast Monday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, the same day leader Kim Jong Il’s death was announced.The missile launch was not believed to be linked to the North Korean dictator’s death, Yonhap said, citing an unnamed South Korean official.“This is something that the military has continued to follow … we believe it is not related to the death of Chairman Kim Jong Il,� the official was quoted as saying.Kim, thought to be 69, died of a heart attack at 8:30...