Free Republic

Unverified. Here is the newsline allegedly: According to reliable sources, North Korean leader jinzhengen in Beijing in February 2012, at 2 o'clock and 45 minutes, unknown persons broke into his residence shot and was subsequently shot and killed by the bodyguard. The latest news, the DPRK embassy vehicles surge in the number of times, from the initial 78 vehicles, up to now has been flooded with the embassy, ​​some more than 80 vehicles, North Korea is certainly a major event. . .

The Obama administration's new strategic guidance for the Defense Department guarantees more risk on the Korean peninsula. The Obama administration’s newly released strategic guidance for the Defense Department emphasizes the importance of defending U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific. It’s ironic that elements of the strategy suggest the United States will welcome more risk on the Korean peninsula.With the administration’s focus on dealing with the growing challenge from China, the ongoing necessity of countering militants and preserving stability in the Middle East, and the requirement to cut defense spending, the new strategy offers up changes to U.S. forces that threaten to...

The Korea Times is reporting that while it has will allow 86,000 historical M1 Garand rifles to be imported from South Korea, the Obama administration continues to block the importation of some 600,000 M1 Carbines because "they come with a magazine that can carry multiple rounds." From the article: Washington has agreed to allow the importation of M1 Garand rifles from Seoul, reversing its earlier decision to ban the shipping of the weapon used by South Korean and U.S. soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War, a senior defense official said Wednesday. "The U.S. government approved the imports of some 86,000...

Washington has agreed to allow the importation of M1 Garand rifles from Seoul, reversing its earlier decision to ban the shipping of the weapon used by South Korean and U.S. soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War, a senior defense official said Wednesday. “The U.S. government approved the imports of some 86,000 of the rifles,” said Lee Sun-chul, deputy defense minister for force and resources management. “The historic firearms are expected to be sold to American Korean War veterans and their families in time for the 62nd anniversary of the Korean War, which falls on June 25 this year.”

The Associated Press opened its newest bureau here Monday, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video. In a ceremony that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang. The bureau expands the AP's presence in North Korea, building on the breakthrough in 2006...

INCHEON - A freighter exploded in waters off Incheon, killing five sailors and causing six others to go missing. According to the Incheon Coast Guard, the 4,191-ton oil carrier Doola No. 3 exploded yesterday for unknown reasons 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) north of Jawol Island in Ongjin County, Incheon

Following the mourning period for former leader Kim Jong Il, North Korean authorities have begun to punish citizens who did not display enough sadness at his death, The Daily NK reported Wednesday.The Daily NK, an online newspaper based in South Korea and run by opponents of the North Korean government, said it had learned from a source in North Hamkyung Province that, "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." 

The U.S. soldier whose rape case was largely responsible for the reinstatement of a curfew for all American servicemembers in South Korea appeared before an appeals court Thursday asking that his 10-year prison sentence be reduced.

... Kim Jong-nam, 40, flew to Pyongyang from the Chinese territory of Macau, where he mainly lives, on December 17 after learning about his father's death that day, Yomiuri said. He left after "a few days" and was now in Macau, the report said. Using a passport under the false identify of Kim Chol, he avoided a flight via Beijing which might have given more exposure to his return home, the daily said quoting a source connected to North Korea.

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...

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.

In a bid to streamline its unprofitable television business, Sony said Monday that it would sell its stake in its flat-panel screen venture with Samsung Electronics, cutting its production capacity at a time when outsourcing has become the norm for manufacturers. Sony, which makes the Bravia liquid-crystal-display televisions, said in a statement that it would sell its stake of nearly 50 percent in the jointly owned manufacturer, S-LCD, to Samsung, of South Korea, for 1.08 trillion won, or $935 million. Sony’s exit from the joint venture, which was set up in Tangjeong, South Korea, in April 2004, will let it...

Diocese may push for assassin’s canonization September 30, 2011 The Archdiocese of Seoul may launch a cause for the beatification of Thomas An Jung-geun, a Korean Catholic who assassinated the Japanese prime minister when Korea was under Japanese rule. The assassin “acted in righteous defense of the nation,” the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan said of the 1909 killing. “The Catholic Church does not regard killing committed to defend the nation from unjust aggression as a crime.” Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window. Committee pushes assassin’s sainthood (UCA News) An Jung-geun (Wikipedia)

How nutty is the Daily Kos blog? Nutty enough to make an outraged defense of North Korea? Yes. On Wednesday afternoon, Niccolo Caldararo – an adjunct professor of anthropology at San Francisco State University – complained “The Western media wallows in the exotic and North Korea has been the clown of the 20th century, brought forward for comic relief now and then or pasted up as a ‘paper tiger,’ to scare voters before elections or as a distraction for other important news.” (Snip) While North Korea may behave in a strange fashion at times, its political history is no less

North Korea's decision to not welcome foreign delegations to the funeral of former leader Kim Jong-il has some analysts in South Korea speculating about instability in the North, with the abrupt death of Kim heightening the uncertainty surrounding his untested heir-apparent. North Korea declared a 13-day mourning period through Dec. 29 from the day of Kim's death on Saturday, while stating it will not accept foreign delegations at a state funeral set for Dec. 28 in Pyongyang. No entertainment will be allowed during the mourning period.

The death of North Korea tyrant Kim Jong Il has elicited a variety of responses from political figures on this hemisphere. Tonight on Follow the Money, Sarah Palin weighed in on both the death of the dictator and the missile launch shortly after in North Korea, and told host Eric Bolling she saw the danger as a reminder that America must focus on being secure, which means “energy independence” and “solvency with our economy.” Bolling brought up the subject after some talk on the current debates in Washington which would, later, come around to the drone situation with Iran. But...

The world has been spared another day's company with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Even among his evil peers, Mr. Kim's atrocities stand out. His despotism starved millions of Koreans to death while he developed a reputation as an epicurean. He literally stole Korean and Japanese babies from their parents to train them as spy moles for the communist regime. He sold nuclear weapons technology to state terrorists that are sworn enemies of the US and Israel. He committed various capricious acts of war, including shelling defenseless civilian island homes. As with other evil men, like Mao, Pol Pot,...

From plastic surgery to basketball love – a glimpse into the bizarre world of North Korea's Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-un 1/ The next leader, Kim Jong-un is an unexpected style guru in North Korea – due to his haircut. Young men in Pyongyang are reportedly queuing at barbershops to copy his short, square, shaved-above-the-ears look, dubbed the "youth" or "ambition" haircut. 2 / South Korean media was awash last year with speculation that Kim had undergone plastic surgery numerous times – in order to look more like his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, founder of the state, whom he...

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...

South Korea's Stock Market Is Plunging On The Kim Jong Il Death News Joe Weisenthal Dec. 18, 2011, 10:32 PM On news that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has died, South Korea's KOSPI index is plunging. It's currently off over 4%. If you want to know why markets would dive. Nate Silver just put it pretty well on twitter: It's because this guy is now in charge of the country's nuclear arsenal.

Kim Jong-il is dead

The United States is poised to announce a significant donation of food aid to North Korea this week, the first definite accomplishment after months of diplomatic contacts behind the scenes. An agreement by North Korea to suspend its uranium enrichment programme will most likely follow within days. Discussions have been taking place since summer in New York, Geneva and Beijing. They have already yielded agreements by North Korea to suspend nuclear and ballistic missile testing, readmit international nuclear inspectors expelled in 2009, and resume a dialogue between North and South Korea, according to US diplomats.

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. officials say food aid to North Korea could resume depending on whether Pyongyang can provide the necessary monitoring assurances in talks between the sides that began Thursday in Beijing. The United Nations and U.S. charities say aid is badly needed, but the U.S. government is concerned that North Korea, which has plowed resources into a nuclear weapons program, could divert food aid to political elites and its vast military. U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues Robert King and senior U.S. aid official Jon Brause met Thursday with North Korea's director-general for American affairs,...

The unveiling of pictures of planned luxury residential towers scheduled to be built in Seoul, South Korea, has sparked instant controversy. The reason is obvious. The towers, which include a so-called “cloud” feature connecting them around the 27th floors, clearly resemble the World Trade Towers in the process of collapsing following the 9/11 attacks.The designers of the towers, Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, have responded to the controversy by quickly publishing an apology in English. “It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks,” the designers insist, “nor did we see the resemblance during the design process.”They did...

Apparently Miss North Korea 2011 Sora Chong created some controversy recently at the Miss Universe pageant in Rio when she made the offhand remark in an interview that sounded kind of arrogant to western ears: 'I'm a 100% natural beauty'.  But that seemingly-casual comment dovetails well with the DPRK's bankrupt socialist narrative (she was likely fed the line by watchers), and it's not quite so much about Sora Chong's own appearance -big mammos for a petite gal-as it is a dig on women from capitalist countries that have more plastic in them than your Honda. Surely not the greatest development in our society...

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...

Eurofighter best option for Japan's ASDF David Warren / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun The international security environment is evolving. Particularly in terms of air defence, new technology is constantly being developed, including fifth generation fighter aircraft with high stealth performance that prevents targets from being detected easily by a radar. The Japanese Air Self-Defence Force, therefore, needs to take measures to ensure it can meet any challenge in the future. Which aircraft to select as a successor of ASDF's F-4 fighter aircraft that has become obsolete will be a critical decision for Japan's air defence for the next 20...

Why is there no "Occupy Pyongyang"? Because..

LISTEN TO "MY" SPIRIT ROAR FOR YOU \o/\o/\o/ ! ! ! Listen to "MY" spirit roar for you my children to do and to walk in MY fullness and not your own for it is in MY righteousness you are saved and walk even now . So go in MY all for you and Listen to the whisper of "MY" spirit for soon it shall become a roar as it did for Daniel in the lions den and I shall quench all the firery darts of the enemy for you as well , for you are MY CHOSEN called and...

Hundreds of North Korean nuclear and missile experts have been collaborating with their Iranian counterparts in more than 10 locations across the Islamic state, a diplomatic source said Sunday. The revelation lends credence to long-held suspicions that North Korea was helping Iran with a secret nuclear and missile program.

Pyongyang had a close working relationship with the regime of Moammar Gaddafi before the popular uprising that unseated him. That revolution was completed with Gaddafi's death at the hands of insurgents last week - leaving Kim Jong-Il as one of a dwindling band of old-fashioned dictators on the planet. An estimated 200 North Korean nationals are in Libya and previously worked as doctors, nurses and construction workers, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. They had been dispatched to the country in order to earn the hard currency that Pyongyang requires to fund its missile and nuclear weapons programmes. ......

Wealthier countries need to put aside politics to help millions of North Koreans going hungry from food shortages, the U.N.'s top relief official said, renewing an appeal for assistance that has largely gone unmet. Speaking at the end of a five-day visit to North Korea, Valerie Amos, a U.N. undersecretary-general, said Friday that 6 million North Koreans, particularly children, mothers and pregnant women, need help. The figures, she said, are borne out by UN data and by what she learned from visits to farms, hospitals and orphanages, as well as from officials. People's diets, she said, consist of rice, corn,...

Why did the White House cancel a Rose Garden bill-signing for the Free Trade Agreements, opting instead for a behind-closed-doors event? On Tuesday, the White House issued a press release announcing that “On Friday, October 21st, President Obama will sign the Korea, Panama and Colombia Free Trade Agreements and the renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers in the Oval Office before making remarks in the Rose Garden. In his remarks, President Obama will underscore that these trade agreements will significantly boost American exports, support tens of thousands of American jobs and protect labor rights, the environment and intellectual property....

South Korea, one of the world's highest-rated education systems, aims to consolidate its position by digitising its entire curriculum. By 2015, it wants to be able to deliver all its curriculum materials in a digital form through computers. The information that would once have been in paper textbooks will be delivered on screen. South Korea's Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ju-Ho Lee, said that his department was preparing a promotion strategy for "Smart Education", focusing on customised learning and teaching. The project, launched during the summer, will involve wireless networks in all schools to allow students to learn "whenever...

Nowhere on earth does the contrast between freedom and tyranny, and their corollary prosperity and poverty, reveal itself more vividly than on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea has boomed, producing an ultramodern high tech society whose corporate giants vie for leadership in global industry after industry, and whose popular culture is consumed all over East Asia. In the North, under the hereditary Stalinist Kim dynasty, a million or more citizens died in a famine, and widespread malnutrition has made the younger generation inches shorter than their Southern neighbors, on average, and the people have no access to foreign media or...

After enduring years of Chevy Volt hype, we now get a new "new best thing" from General Motors in the form of an electric version of the Chevy Spark. And I have it on good authority that the Spark will be made in Korea. The media seems to be pretty excited about the prospects for yet another green vehicle entry from Government Motors, despite the fact that the Volt did not exactly live up to the hype. Well, fool media once, shame on GM; fool media twice, shame on media. What is the motivation behind GM producing yet another...

Gasoline price in Jasper County, Indiana jumped 26 cents a gallon between 8am and 1pm on Thursday, 13 Oct 2011

N.Korea Moves Arms Closer to Border 10/13/11 North Korea has recently moved fighter jets near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, and ground-to-air missiles close to Baeknyeong Island. There is speculation that it plans a minor provocation while South Korean president Lee Myung-bak visits the U.S. since any show of unity between the two allies tends to incense the North. "The North Korean military was seen moving mobile missile launchers at a ground-to-ship missile base near the NLL," a government source said. "There's likelihood that the North will launch a military provocation" while Lee is away. The...

I just came home from work to a phone call from my folks who informed me of the passing of my aunt Anne, otherwise known as Colonel Anne C. Jablunovsky, US Army (Ret). As an Army Nurse, she had served in both Korea and Vietnam, retiring after 26 years of active duty. Here's a photo of her from the Pacific Stars & Stripes with General Matt Ridgeway Over Memorial Day in 2007, our hometown newspaper did a front page article on our family's military service, In this family, service to country runs deep, which captured some of her reflections and...

Na Kyung-won, the ruling Grand National Party’s candidate for Seoul mayor, has a few things in common with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who ran with John McCain for the Republican Party in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Both are prominent female politicians in their countries and are raising a child with Down`s syndrome. Na met Palin Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Knowledge Forum at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul`s Gwangjin district. Their dialogue began with welfare policies, a major issue in the Oct. 26 by-election in Seoul. Na said, “I believe in `honest welfare` in...

SEOUL — Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin took aim Tuesday at the political elite in the United States, Europe and China, as she brought her criticisms of big government and "crony capitalism" to South Korea... In a wide-ranging speech to a forum in Seoul, the conservative commentator accused China of seeking to use its military influence in regional disputes and said she looked forward to the ousting of North Korea's regime.

SEOUL — Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin took aim Tuesday at the political elite in the United States, Europe and China, as she brought her criticisms of big government and "crony capitalism" to South Korea. Days after announcing she would not run for president in 2012, Palin said there "will be a woman president of the United States of America, and I look forward to that day", but did not elaborate on why she did not enter the race. The 2008 vice-presidential candidate told supporters last week she could help the Republican cause more by working to elect others. In...

"MY Children" ARE " My Obedient Ones"! Do you see my children? Why Enoch was taken up to "BE" with Me ? It was not by his works but through his "TRUE" and "Fatihful" obedience to BE one with Me for as My Word "BE HOLY" "TRULY" this is Christ like to be a Michael( "AS GOD" ) for I AM "HOLY" for this IS My NAME ! Jude 1 1JUDE, A servant of Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and brother of James, [writes this letter] to those who are called (chosen), dearly loved by God the Father and separated (set...

The recent release of the two hikers who have been held by Iran brought the two of them briefly back into the news cycle. Sadly other larger events such as the economy have kept them out of the forefront, but there is one piece of this that has gone almost unnoticed. There are two other events that ran somewhat hand in hand with this incident: Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer were arrested in July of 2009 while hiking along the Iraqi/Iranian border. Last year both were sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage in a closed hearing. Upon release they...

A 92-year-old unmarried woman has donated 1.1 billion won (US$935,000) to the Church. Columba Lee Jeom-hong told Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk at his office on September 23 the money was earned cleanly with her own hands and feet, in order to offer it to God. “I lived without greed, and without waste of a penny,” she said of her simple life. Cardinal Cheong thanked her and said “God will pay you back for the good deeds.” In 1995 she donated an expensive piece of land in Seoul on which now the Labor Pastoral Center of Seoul archdiocese is located. In...

As much as half of North Korea's army is starving as food shortages that were previously affecting only the civilian population worsen and begin to affect institutions tasked with protecting Kim Jong-Il's regime. Disaffected North Koreans working secretly as journalists within the country for the Japan-based Asiapress International news agency have smuggled out video footage of interviews with soldiers in different parts of the isolated country, with many complaining of malnutrition.

Japan has long attracted visitors by its sushi, China with its Peking duck, Thailand with its curries and cooking classes on tropical islands, but it is time to put South Korea on the map of East Asian culinary travel destinations. With one of the highest restaurants per capita rate in the world, Seoul is the place to go to sample Korean cuisine. However, you and your dining companions must agree on what you would like to eat prior to choosing a restaurant. Most are small and highly specialized, serving only one dish or type of food and meals are generally...

SEOUL - A US military reconnaissance plane came under electronic attack from North Korea and had to make an emergency landing during a major military exercise in March, a political aide said Friday. The aide said the plane suffered disturbance to its GPS system due to jamming signals from the North's southwestern cities of Haeju and Kaesong as it was taking part in the annual US-South Korea drill, Key Resolve.

(JESUS)"I AM" THE FIRST DOOR YOU MUST WALK THROUGH ! Obession with people is not where I desire my children to be but I must be your first fruit in all you do and seek after for I AM THE FIRST DOOR you MUST walk through to receive anything Godly and of the Kingdom for I AM THE PATH as well as THE LIGHT that illuminates MY WILL FOR YOU in all things. So SEEK MY FACE and THE EYES OF UNDERSTANDING shall open unto you as I become paramount in all you seek after using MY HEARTS DESIRE for...