Category Archive: North Korea

Oct 09

North Korea opens up to foreign journalists prior to massive parade

Categories:

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

October 9, 2010

Quite suddenly, many journalists were offered visas to enter the reclusive country, presumably to report on the upcoming military parade described as being “Kim Jong-Un’s Coming Out Party”. The young General was also seen with his father at the Arirang Mass Games. Follow Louisa Lim’s Twitter page as she is one of the journalist allowed into the country. Apparently, the airport staff weren’t prepared for the sudden deluge of foreign journalists. One minder of the group described their visit as “unprecedented”. Louisa has previously been to Pyongyang around this time last year.

Source: NPR

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/484

Oct 08

Kim Jong-Un confirmed as next North Korean leader by official

Categories:

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

October 8, 2010

Yang Hyong-Sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, referred to Jong-Un as the “Young General” in a TV interview recently. “Our people take pride in the fact that they are blessed with great leaders from generation to generation,” Yang said. “Our people are honored to serve the great President Kim Il Sung and the great leader Kim Jong Il,” he added. “Now we also have the honor of serving young Gen. Kim Jong Un.” Things seem on the fast-forward now as yesterday’s speculations become today’s confirmations regarding the succession of North Korean leadership.

Source: NPR

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/480

Oct 06

KPA Journal No.1 Vol.9 released

Categories:

Economy, Military, North Korea, War

October 6, 2010

The always intriguing North Korean Economy Watch blog has linked the latest issue in Joseph Bermudaz‘ KPA Journal. These journals which come in PDF format detail the North’s military assets, biographies of its commanders, strategies, and more. Very interesting material and I encourage you to read them all. Click the link below to download all 9 issues published so far.

Source: North Korea Economy Watch

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/478

Oct 06

North Korean ship threatened by pirates near Scotland

Categories:

North Korea

October 6, 2010

The Merchant Vessel Mi Rae, of North Korean origin released a distress call which was responded to by the HMS Montrose. The Montrose sent a helicopter to the scene, where the alleged pirates were witnessed throwing a grenade launcher overboard. The pirates were eventually released, and the incident ended peacefully.

Source: STV

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/473

Oct 05

Father and son attend military drills together; NK capable of jamming GPS

Categories:

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

October 5, 2010

KCNA reports that both leader and son participated in watching the North Korean military drills. Kim Jong-Un has suddenly been quite prominent in North Korean media lately, and it is widely accepted that he is being groomed to succeed his father Jong-Il as the leader of the North Korea dynasty. Kim Jong-Un received key posts that effectively label him 2nd-in-command at a rare Korean Worker’s Party conference last week, while secrecy still shrouds his life prior to these promotions. Events such as this viewing of drills are similar to the father-son behaviour of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, travelling and leading together. Will there be shared leadership in the future while Jong-Il survives?

In related events, the South Korean defense minister reported to parliament that during the US-SK war game exercises in late August, their GPS reception was intermittenly jammed and interfered with by North Korea. The jamming equipment is alleged to be Russian in origin, and can operate on signals within 100km, which may pose a serious concern for South Korea military, who are dependent on guided weapons that utilize the technology. It is also believed that North Korea is also trying to export the technology to the Middle East.

Source: Yahoo! News via AFP / Yahoo! News via Reuters

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/470

Oct 05

North Korea accidentally admits to KAL858 terrorism

Categories:

Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, War

October 5, 2010

DailyNK has an interesting article of an admission of guilt by a North Korean foreign official to a South Korean official a few years back.

KAL 858 was a passenger flight en route from Baghdad to Seoul, which was sabotaged by time bombs left by two North Korean agents who left in a stopover in Abu Dhabi. The agents were caught and swallowed cyanide pills, but one survived and later admitted to the bombing, claiming the order was sent from Kim Jong-Il himself. Naturally North Korea has denied the incident, despite overwhelming evidence (see also: the sinking of the Cheonan) to the contrary.

During the Six Party Talks, Ri Gun, vice foreign minister at the time, stated “We have not committed any terrorist acts since the KAL incident”. When the official urged Ri to have DPRK formally apologize for the incident in order to be removed from the list of countries supporting terrorism, Ri clammed up as if he had blurted out the wrong thing.

Source: DailyNK

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/466

Oct 05

Did Kim Jong-Un get plastic surgery?

Categories:

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

October 5, 2010

Let me get this right out: I don’t think so. The Telegraph is speculating that Kim Jong-Un received plastic surgery in order to look more like the late Great Leader Kim Il-Sung, in order to inspire confidence in the North Korean people who have grown tired of Jong-Il’s mismanagement. The article goes on to state that he never resembled Il-Sung as a child, but I have only heard reports (and personally agree) that he looked just like Il-Sung as a youth (of course resembling the senior Kim as a child of the same age). I’ll buy that they fattened Jong-Un up to look more like him, but I think plastic surgery is a little over the top for succession speculation mongering. But who knows, this is North Korea we’re talking about after all.

Does he not resemble Kim Il-Sung in this popular “2nd most up-to-date” photo when he was around 17-18 year old?
Source: The Telegraph

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/461

Oct 04

Massive parade planned in honour of Kim Jong-Un

Categories:

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

October 4, 2010

Following last week’s coming out party for heir-apparent Kim Jong-Un, a massive military parade is being planned for October 10, the 65th anniversary of the Korean Worker’s Party founding. A large scale military exercise is also planned for around the same time, and leader Kim Jong-Il is expected to be in attendance to watch.

Source: Yahoo! News via AFP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/459

Oct 04

Flowchart of Worker’s Party Leadership

Categories:

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

October 4, 2010

The Korea Times has a nice hiearchy chart displaying how the leadership of North Korea breaks down, including positions recently appointed during the Worker’s Party conference last week. Check out the link below.

Source: The Korea Times

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/457

Oct 01

Further evidence of Kim Jong-Il’s deteriorating health?

Categories:

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

October 1, 2010

With the Korean Worker’s Party conference over, questions loom over the meteoric rise of Kim Jong-Un for the possible succession of North Korean leadership. Is the path to succession being intentionally sped up due to the ailing health of it’s leader, Kim Jong-Il? Recent images from the conference show a large mole on the right side of the Dear Leader’s face, a possible indication that his health is an imminent concern. Will cancer take Kim Jong-Il as it devastated his father Kim Il-Sung, who died of a heart attack but not without an enormous growth on the back of his neck?

Source: Yonhap News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/453

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