Anju Links for 26 Feb 08
DO NOT MISS NK Econ Watch’s recent postings (here and here) analyzing whether a recent North Korean anti-corruption drive is just another purge or a signal of a policy change.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? As the regime’s economic power fades, the regime’s once-treasured Kim Jong Il birthday gifts can no longer compete with the items available in the markets.
The source relayed the public sentiment as “Goods more valuable than his gifts are all over the place in the jangmadang. A portion of the people has said, “˜Special provisions are not necessary. Just do not regulate the markets.'” [….]
[Another source] also expressed discontent, saying, “It is pitiful to have to wait in line in front of the stores through which provisions are handed out for a mere bottle of liquor and soap. [Daily NK, via NK Econ Watch]
THE PEOPLES’ MOJAHEDDIN OF IRAN is an armed opposition group that opposes the theocracy that rules that country. Once a client and guest of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the PMOI has since come to an tense accommodation with the Americans at its base of operations, near Basra. The PMOI is also listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department, so it seeks influence within Congress and the executive branch. It does this by occasionally taking out full-page ads in the Washington Times, and by trying to make itself valuable as an intelligence source. GI Korea has posted about PMOI allegations that North Koreans are present at an Iranian nuclear warhead factory. Although I don’t have high confidence in the PMOI as an intel source, GI Korea’s post is well worth reading for the Google Earth images alone.
THE PRESSURE BUILDS: The International Olympic Committee is forced to step in and defend the ChiComs on human rights. The defense — the the Olympics will be good for human rights — is not just self-serving, it’s contrary to the evidence. In fact, China isn’t preparing for the Olympics by cleaning up its act; it’s cleansing China of dissent and North Korean refugees. The irony is that the IOC’s defense will only reflect reality if pressure, such as that applied by Steven Spielberg, attaches a financial cost to the atrocities China commits and supports.