Category Archive: North Korea

Oct 20

Repeated naval trespasses since Cheonan sinking

Categories:

Military, North Korea, South Korea, War

October 20, 2010

Data from the South Korean navy suggest that North Korean vessels have trespassed into South Korean waters over 50 times since the March 2010 sinking of the Cheonan corvette. The invasions were consistently 7-9 times each month between May and October. Over a 5 year period, North Korea has trespassed over 200 times over the Northern Limit Line, the line separating waters between North and South Korea. The North has never accepted the location of the NLL, and insists it be moved further south.

Source: Asian News Network

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/543

Oct 20

South Korea outlining unification plan

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, Reunification, South Korea, War

October 20, 2010

Setting a deadline of June 2011, South Korea’s government has announced that it will outline a plan for eventual reunification with North Korea. The worst case scenario, some estimates predict, will be that the cost of a regime class and gradual unification could cost several trillion US dollars. This announcement, like the August 2010 announcement of a Reunification Tax is likely to stir some saber rattling on the Northern side of the peninsula.

Source: Yonhap News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/541

Oct 20

Foreign investors losing big on North Korea

Categories:

Economy, North Korea

October 20, 2010

The Institute of Far Eastern Studies, a Seoul based think tank focused on international on law, economy and living conditions for the people of Korea (especially North Koreans and defectors), reports that most foreign businesses doing business with the DPRK are losing money. A survey of 500 businesses that either work in both Koreas or have foreign dealing with North Korea report that nearly 94% of responders reported a loss of profits. The cause for these losses are the tightened sanctions on North Korea following the sinking of the Cheonan in March. Almost 52% of responders lost money due to business with the North having to completely halt, while 26% are fulfilling less orders, and ~22% cite high transportation and overhead costs. The average loss for the companies is 974 million won, or about 850 000 USD.

Source: IFES

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/538

Oct 14

North Korea loses appeal to participate in gymnastics tournaments

Categories:

Athletics, North Korea

October 14, 2010

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) ruled today that the DPRK would ineligible to participate in world championships for gymnastics, effectively eliminating them from participating in the 2012 London Olympics. The ban is due to conflicting age reports for Hong Su Jong, who reported her birth year as being 1989, while in previous championships she had used 1986 and 1985 to bypass age restrictions. North Korea has one last shot to appeal the ruling, which is an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Source: FIG and CBC Sports

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/535

Oct 13

North Korea plotted to attack eldest son of Kim Jong-Il, China intervened

Categories:

China, Defection, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Succession

October 13, 2010

A South Korean government source has divulged that in January 2009, when youngest son Kim Jong-Un was tapped as a likely future successor to North Korean leadership, aides to the Youth Captain plotted an attack on Kim Jong-Nam. Kim Jong-Nam was once believed to be the favoured son for succession, until he was arrested in 2008 for trying to sneak into Japan on a forged passport. He has been living in Macau, a territory of China, since then. The intention of the attack was to silence the “loose-tongued” son from saying too much about North Korea’s politics to the outside world. It is unknown whether the intent was to assassinate Jong-Nam, or send a message of deterrence. China interrupted the plans by refusing to allow North Korea agents to attack Jong-Nam while on Chinese soil.

Source: Google News via AFP.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/506

Oct 13

North Korea appeals ban of gymnast with multiple reported birthdates

Categories:

Athletics, North Korea

October 13, 2010

The DPRK is appealing a ban of the North Korean gymnast team for participating in world championship’s due to inconsistencies in the reported age of Hong Su Jong. The controversy lies with her reported aged for the Athens 2004 Olympics having her birth year registered as 1985, while other sources cite her birth year as 1989, which would have made her ineligible for the Olympics (she would have been 15 when Olympic rules state athletes must be 16 or older). Though many outlets report her being the older sister of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Hong Su Jong, it is believed that they are in fact twins, both sharing a birthdate of March 9th, 2009 (both pictured above, on the left and the right respectively). It is a requirement for all gymnasts at international meets to carry a license proving their age. The International Gymnastics Federation’s appeal tribunal will rule within the next 5 days.

Source: Yahoo! News via AP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/503

Oct 12

Now with 50% more ugly, the new KCNA website

Categories:

North Korea, Propaganda

October 12, 2010

The KCNA state-run website is preparing to switch to its own .kp top-level domain soon, but you can already visit the website. Though they have thankfully caught up with 1998 with the removal of HTML frames, it is still quite gaudy even by North Korean standards!

Since last week’s massive military parade and the inviting of foreign journalists, North Korea has started actively using and promoting the .kp TLD for sites based out of North Korea.

Source: KCNA and Wikipedia

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/499

Oct 12

Kim Jong-Nam denounces third generation hereditary succession

Categories:

Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Succession

October 12, 2010

Kim Jong-Nam, oldest son of Kim Jong-Il has decried the hereditary succession process underway in North Korea. Jong-Nam was once considered the prime candidate for a leadership handoff, but fell out of favour with his father after he snuck off to Japan under a fake passport (allegedly to visit Tokyo Disneyland). Quote: “Personally, I am opposed to the hereditary transfer to a third generation of the family… for my part, I am prepared to help my younger brother whenever necessary while I stay abroad.” Jong-Nam expresses hope that the younger Jong-Un can make the lives of the North Korean people better. He also states he has no regrets regarding the succession plan: “I wasn’t interested in it and I don’t care.” Jong-Nam currently lives a live of relative luxury with a family of his own in Macau.

Source: Yahoo! News via AP.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/494

Oct 11

Massive military parade held for North Korean leaders

Categories:

Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, Military, North Korea, Succession

October 11, 2010

In a huge publicity campaign for the newly annointed heir to the North Korean dynasty, a massive military parade was held in Kim Il-Sung Square in front of dozens of foreign journalists. (See: Louisa Lim’s and Melissa Chan’s Twitter feeds for liveblogging of two journalists suddenly invited to Pyongyang with many others to cover the events. The journalists were offered internet access at their hotel, and often neglected to follow many around the premises, contrary to past procedures as a visitor to the DPRK. Favourite tweet: “melissakchan: Asked one North Korean when he first heard of Kim Jong-un. He said about a year ago.”

Video of the parade including views of a weak (and mole-faced) Kim Jong-Il and heir Kim Jong-Un here:

Source: Images from AP and Reuters respectively, video from NOS.nl

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/490

Oct 11

Highest ranking North Korean defector, contributor to DailyNK, Hwang Jang-Yop dies at 87

Categories:

Defection, North Korea, South Korea

October 11, 2010

Hwang Jang-Yop, a high level member of the North Korean government during the Kim Il-Sung era who helped develop the Juche ideology with Kim Il-Sung and famously defected to South Korea in 1997, died on October 10th. DailyNK has a nice special on Hwang and his lessons about North Korea (see the “Related Articles” from this page). The death is being ruled as not suspicious, but an autopsy will be performed. Great information on the life of Hwang Jang-Yop can be found on his Wikipedia page.

Source: Daily NK

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/487

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