There are unconfirmed reports that five Chinese doctors traveled to Pyongyang and have been treating Kim Jong-il for three weeks. Last year, German doctors reportedly performed heart surgery on Kim, who is diabetic.
China (not North Korea) has decided to allow Chinese tour groups to visit North Korea. North Korea tour agencies will also be allowed to open offices in the north-eastern city of Shenyang (China). I am sure there will be no back shooting of Chinese going on either . . .
The US State Department NOW says North Korea isn’t putting Yongbyon back into operation, but simply moving equipment around the site.
OK, I don’t find this story completely uninteresting — the role reversal between Seoul and Washington is rather new, I guess.
South Korea has confirmed that North Korea has begun restoring the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
This after reports in the US and Japanese media.
Per the KT, Won Jeong-hwa was formally indicted today for allegedly relayed military secrets she obtained from Army officers with whom she was having sexual relations over the past five years to the North. Won, 34, appears to have a pretty “interesting” history.
Per the article:
Originally, the suspect fled the North after stealing tons of zinc, which [...]
Apparently Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura has written a book entitled “The True Character of Kim Jong Il” and in his book he claims Kim died in the Fall of 2003. Per the Japan Today article:
If true, the implications are potentially vast. Among them: former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s summit partner during one or [...]
I’d like to encourage everyone who enjoys the mountains in this sort of weather to take part in the Samgak-san Mountain Cultural Festival this coming weekend Aug 30-31st. It’s held in Ui-dong of Seoul’s Gangbuk-gu District (Suyu Metro Station) right below the awe-inspiring “Three Horns” peaks that have always been Hanyang’s physical and spiritual guardians, and [...]
North Korean scientists have developed a new kind of noodle that delays feelings of hunger (and remorse). BBC
It is nice to have a president who at least has an idea of the pace of unification when it happens (JoongAng):
“I think during my lifetime, I will see the reunification of the two Koreas,” Lee Myung-bak, 66, told global Internet portal Yahoo. “It can happen any day and it can happen suddenly. We must [...]
North Korea…
Giving the South the finger since 1948.
Ex-CNN journalist Mike Chinoy has written a new book that echoes the Iraq war controversy, namely, ideologues in George W. Bush’s administration took a creative approach towards intelligence reports and helped create a nuclear crisis with North Korea. Per the article from AFP and an article from the Washington Post.
North Korea has threatened to expel the remaining South Korean tourism officials and workers from Kumgang-san. If they get thrown out, at least they won’t get a bullet in the back like Park Wang-ja did. The blurb is here.
Perhaps DC needs more conventional thinking:
It may seem like a strange idea in Washington, but perhaps removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism should somehow be related to North Korea stopping its support of terrorism.
ESL Daily reports that North Korea has permitted a group of Americans to enter North Korea to teach English.
The Chosun Ilbo has published a photo showing Park Wang-ja’s body lying at the edge of the beach while North Korean soldiers and Hyundai Asan employees look on. According to Yonhap News, there is a discrepancy between North Korean officials and Hyundai Asan regarding the location where Ms. Park fell. The North Koreans [...]
Just when the mad cow rumors have mostly finished, we have another “rumor”, according to the Chosun Ilbo:
Rumor has it that a 17-year-old female North Korean soldier was among those who shot at a South Korean tourist at Mt. Kumgang resort two weeks ago. The rumor surfaced in a consultative meeting of the ruling Grand [...]
Yonhap reports that both John McCain and Barack Obama have stated to the Korean Church Coalition for North Korea Freedom that they will raise the issue of NK refugees in dealings with China and other nations in NE Asia.
That is nice.
Of course, I recalled that folks expected the same thing from the Bush administration but [...]
The BBC is reporting that one North Korean was killed and four others injured, two critically, when a steel frame collapsed at a South-Korean owned factory.
Update: The restricted area where Park was shot is not even marked on this tourist map of the beach area, which gives the impression that the entire area is part of the resort. A Hankyoreh story recounts the experience of an early morning jogger who was detained by two soldiers after passing a [...]
Per Reuters:
. . . An eyewitness, also at the beach to see the sunrise, told local media Park passed by him and after awhile he heard two gun shots with 10-second intervals and a scream.
“I heard a scream, which made me turn left, and I saw a person collapse while three (North Korean) soldiers ran [...]
Korea News via Google