Sorry, I’ve been busy and mulling about some prospects for the future of this site… but after a bit of a blog re-branding, here is a brief wrap-up of last week’s news:
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Fishing boat holding 31 North Koreans arrives at Yeonpyeong Island:
Details remain thin on this story but are expected to emerge shortly: 11 men and 20 women from North Korea have arrived on the shores of Yeonpyeong Island, the infamous border island that North Korea artillery-shelled last November. Early reports indicated that the 31 North Koreans wished to defect have since been dismissed; they have not yet expressed any desire to defect to South Korea. There are no children aboard, and are believed to have originated from the port city of Nampo. South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff announced that intelligence officials will announce further details after further examination of the situation.
Source: Yonhap News
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February 8th Preliminary Discussions between North & South at Panmunjom:
Military officials on either Korean army will meet on the 8th at the border city of Panmunjom to coordinate a time and agenda for higher level military talks in the near future. South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak has even said he would consider meeting between with Kim Jong-Il directly, a move softening of South Korea’s typical-as-of-late hardline stance to negotiations with the DPRK.
Source: Reuters
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Defectors Send Back $10,000,000 Per Year:
There are over 20,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea right now, and many of them transfer money back to their families in the impoverished North. Allegedly, families of North Koreans that defect are not punished as severely as they used to be (ie. marched off to prison camps), and are able to live comfortably off the money sent from families in the South. Is this the regime’s way of bringing in more foreign currency that will inevitably end up in their hands, or is enforcement, of what was once a severely punishable crime, too corrupted or lazy?
Source: The Chosun Ilbo
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Kim Jong Il’s 70th (69th) birthday is coming up on February 16th:
A national holiday in North Korea, and a milestone birthday at that (though technically 69 in Korean terms, where they often start off at “Age 1”). We’ll keep you posted on events surrounding any celebrations / hand-outs, if there are to be any in this cash-and-food-strapped year for the DPRK.
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Offbeat:
This weird device which is supposed to heal your body from physical fatigue through music and by “giving external stimulus to the meridian points of a body”. Does it alleviate the troublesome side effects of hunger?
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Source: KCNA
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Enjoy the new site with less vanity (ReasonableMan.net was a vanity domain I’ve held for many years and decided to finally put to use with this blog… OpeningUpNorthKorea.com seems more appropriate after several months of operation.) I will get to the Book Reviews section shortly.
