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Daily NK has images, captured from a video to be played on Japanese TV, that it claims show political prisoners being brought before a firing squad in Hoeryong, which is emerging as a focal point of resistance. The pictures are very blurry and the usual cautions about authenticity apply, but Daily NK quotes defectors as confirming the location and suggesting that the tape is authentic. The video allegedly shows the “trials,” judgement, and of course, execution. The entire town was...

Yesterday, I posted on NKZone about the Bush Administration’s emerging strategy–which I believe to be the correct one–of choosing to economically (and hopefully, politically) undermine North Korea rather than resorting to an attack, as President Clinton nearly did, or more interminably pointless diplomacy with a regime that won’t negotiate in good faith or keep its agreements. Rick Vaughn disagrees; he posted this comment: How on earth can the DPRK get any more economically isolated??? I’m not sure that anyone in...

Friends Don’t Let Friends Talk to the Chinese State Media. Check out how they garbled this Washington Post editor’s responses in an interview. Doesn’t look like an accident, either. Lying pieces of shit.

Daily NK has images, captured from a video to be played on Japanese TV, that it claims show political prisoners being brought before a firing squad in Hoeryong, which is emerging as a focal point of resistance. The pictures are very blurry and the usual cautions about authenticity apply, but Daily NK quotes defectors as confirming the location and suggesting that the tape is authentic. The video allegedly shows the “trials,” judgement, and of course, execution. The entire town was...

Yesterday, I posted on NKZone about the Bush Administration’s emerging strategy–which I believe to be the correct one–of choosing to economically (and hopefully, politically) undermine North Korea rather than resorting to an attack, as President Clinton nearly did, or more interminably pointless diplomacy with a regime that won’t negotiate in good faith or keep its agreements. Rick Vaughn disagrees; he posted this comment: How on earth can the DPRK get any more economically isolated??? I’m not sure that anyone in...

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, in a hearing for his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, has given the most explicit signal yet that the Bush Administration will not tolerate the continued lack of progress in the six-party talks. Reuters reports: “[W]e need to see some progress here. If we don’t, we need to look at other ways to deal with this,” said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea....

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, in a hearing for his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, has given the most explicit signal yet that the Bush Administration will not tolerate the continued lack of progress in the six-party talks. Reuters reports: “[W]e need to see some progress here. If we don’t, we need to look at other ways to deal with this,” said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea....

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, in a hearing for his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, has given the most explicit signal yet that the Bush Administration will not tolerate the continued lack of progress in the six-party talks. Reuters reports: “[W]e need to see some progress here. If we don’t, we need to look at other ways to deal with this,” said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea....

Someone, please cement this man’s mouth shut. I recommend some kind of epoxy-based, waterproof construction adhesive. Yes, the “main enemy” designation is mostly semantic, but it’s also symbolic. I’d even say that the anti-American demonstrations and sentiment–though illogical, in light of the real abuses in the North–are expressions of free speech and assembly. What they mean is that U.S. protection is not serving U.S. political goals, which raises a question for U.S. defense policy. Perhaps Hyde should have brought up...

North Korea is losing–indeed, has probably lost–what Mao termed “the political struggle.” I just don’t have time to comment on this NY Times piece in detail now, but it’s an absolute must-read. The system’s hold on the minds of the people has never looked so shaky. So just how easy is it for a North Korean to break the blockade these days? “He just dials 0082 to get the Korean-speaking Chinese operator, then makes a collect call to here,” Mr....

Someone, please cement this man’s mouth shut. I recommend some kind of epoxy-based, waterproof construction adhesive. Yes, the “main enemy” designation is mostly semantic, but it’s also symbolic. I’d even say that the anti-American demonstrations and sentiment–though illogical, in light of the real abuses in the North–are expressions of free speech and assembly. What they mean is that U.S. protection is not serving U.S. political goals, which raises a question for U.S. defense policy. Perhaps Hyde should have brought up...

North Korea is losing–indeed, has probably lost–what Mao termed “the political struggle.” I just don’t have time to comment on this NY Times piece in detail now, but it’s an absolute must-read. The system’s hold on the minds of the people has never looked so shaky. So just how easy is it for a North Korean to break the blockade these days? “He just dials 0082 to get the Korean-speaking Chinese operator, then makes a collect call to here,” Mr....

Today, it’s the Brookings Institution . . . in the Washington Times, meaning that we’re not merely facing the death of the alliance, but the Apocalypse. For those of you from outside the Beltway, Brookings is a left-of-center foreign policy think tank that’s been supportive of negotiations with North Korea, often in the face of evidence that those negotiations have bought us little. Jack Pritchard has a job there, which might normally settle the matter. Author Richard Halloran, however, has...

Two South Korean protestors today at which of the following locations? a. The American Embassy, after a U.S. soldier was accused of bending the antenna on his Korean neighbor’s new Hyundai Chairman; b. The Chinese Embassy, to protest China’s forcible deportations of thousands of North Koreans to nearly certain death; c. The U.N. mission, to protest that organization’s failure to act forcefully to protect North Koreans’ human rights; d. The Unification Ministry, to protest against North Korea’s splurging on arms...

Today, it’s the Brookings Institution . . . in the Washington Times, meaning that we’re not merely facing the death of the alliance, but the Apocalypse. For those of you from outside the Beltway, Brookings is a left-of-center foreign policy think tank that’s been supportive of negotiations with North Korea, often in the face of evidence that those negotiations have bought us little. Jack Pritchard has a job there, which might normally settle the matter. Author Richard Halloran, however, has...

Update 11/28: Welcome TKS readers, to Washington’s most influential Web log on humanitarian, political, and military developments on the Korean peninsula. Stop by and visit the main page, or check the sidebar for fiskings, analysis, and first-hand reports, including your correspondent’s November 16th meeting with Ambassador John Bolton, as part of a delegation of the North Korean Freedom Coalition. ——————————– One million people, maybe more. Or put another way, about 30% of the total population of Lebanon, which includes infants,...

Two South Korean protestors today at which of the following locations? a. The American Embassy, after a U.S. soldier was accused of bending the antenna on his Korean neighbor’s new Hyundai Chairman; b. The Chinese Embassy, to protest China’s forcible deportations of thousands of North Koreans to nearly certain death; c. The U.N. mission, to protest that organization’s failure to act forcefully to protect North Koreans’ human rights; d. The Unification Ministry, to protest against North Korea’s splurging on arms...

Update 11/28: Welcome TKS readers, to Washington’s most influential Web log on humanitarian, political, and military developments on the Korean peninsula. Stop by and visit the main page, or check the sidebar for fiskings, analysis, and first-hand reports, including your correspondent’s November 16th meeting with Ambassador John Bolton, as part of a delegation of the North Korean Freedom Coalition. ——————————– One million people, maybe more. Or put another way, about 30% of the total population of Lebanon, which includes infants,...