Open Sources, March 12, 2014

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I’LL HAVE MUCH MORE TO SAY ABOUT THE U.N. PANEL OF EXPERTS REPORT later this week as I read through it during my spare time, but I can’t resist telling you that there is such a thing as “The Gorgeous Bank of North Korea.”

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MICHAEL KIRBY ANSWERS HIS CRITICS on the left, thus illustrating the widening difference between “liberal” and “progressive.” I miss liberals. I didn’t always agree with them, but I almost always found them nice to have around.

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THERE IS STILL A DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER Kim Jong Un is really in charge, apparently. New Focus says Kim Jong Un is just a puppet of the Organization and Guidance Department, which is effectively a military junta. The Daily NK rounds up a variety of other views, including one that holds that Jong Un is “smarter than his father.” Neither view is persuasive to me.

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A CHINESE “LEGISLATOR” IS UNHAPPY that North Korean artillery shells crossed the path of a Chinese airliner. For those who may be wondering, “Chinese legislator” is an oxymoron, sort of like “North Korean election,” or for that matter, “Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea.”

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HOW NORTH KOREANS SURVIVE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY: As is so often the case, corruption plays a big role.

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THE CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY interviews North Korea expert Bruce Bechtol. (They refer to him as a “North Korean expert,” but he doesn’t look very North Korean to me.)

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THE LIBYAN NAVY has surrounded that North Korean tanker, now loaded with oil and sitting in a “waiting area” at the edge of the port.

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THE CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN GROUP Breakpoint has called on its members to call their Senators and Representatives, to support H.R. 1771, which is at or beyond its now-or-never point to pass the Congress in an election year.

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DENNIS RODMAN OFFERS A tearful apology and a promise never to return to North Korea, sort of: “If you don’t want me to go back there ever again, I won’t go back.” Maybe we should have a referendum.

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john says:

March 12, 2014 at 8:49 am

They might not want Rodman back anyway http://www.mediaite.com/online/dennis-rodman-was-pretty-much-kicked-out-of-n-korea-for-being-way-too-drunk/
Adam Cathcart says:

March 13, 2014 at 4:16 am

North Korean TV has a new hit job on Ma Young-ae, the first NK defector in the US. By North Korean standards, this is pretty sophisticated stuff: https://twitter.com/adamcathcart/status/444033193730400256

Background on Ms. Ma (big surprise, the OFK archives are vast):
https://freekorea.us/2006/04/05/who-is-ma-young-ae-and-what-does-she-know/

As you’ve previously noted, Chico Harlan did a nice job following up on the Park Jong-suk case (she was recently trottted out again, I believe in January 2014, your least favorite American bureau in Pyongyang I think did not cover that press conference), would be nice to see anyone try to dismantle or render some clarity to the newly competing narratives in the present case.
Joshua says:

March 13, 2014 at 6:42 am

Thanks for that. I really don’t know why the North Koreans would go after a woman like Ma, who has mostly tried to settle down and live a quiet life. To the extent she’s an activist, she’s not a prominent one, and I never cross paths with her. The North Koreans aren’t the only ones who’ve raised questions about her credibility, but I don’t offer an opinion on the merits of those questions.
david says:

March 13, 2014 at 2:41 pm

The DPRK asserts that it has no interest in MORNING GLORY, the ship that is nominally flagged DRPK, and is sitting at Es-Sider or has escaped the blockade or is under detention en route to Misrata (depending on who to believe.) Every modern vessel has a distinctive IMO number (in this case 9044504) and an MMSI number (445798000.) The DPRK’s statement can be tested as fact, so I suspect it is true at this time.

That suggests it has sold on both ship and cargo, with many tens of millions of dollars circulating through banks worldwide in search of a home. Please can we trace them, Treasury?