The dissident video from North Korea has been translated into English. , although given the length of the tape, I suspect it’s not a full transcript. Thanks to Budaechigae for digging this up.

A Second Chance for Capitalism: On this site, at least. Google explained how to block out offending ads, but I have to catch them first, and then add their URLs to a block list. Please help me keep watch for anything hawking the Great Leader label, although I otherwise intend to take a laissez faire attitude. Please also let me know if you think the ads affects your ability to log on. Traffic is up again, and one reader in...

Gazprom is talking about “promising” oil and gas fields off the North Korean coast. While I’m an advocate of cutting off North Korea’s access to hard currency until it commits itself to human rights improvements, this one doesn’t much concern me. I’ve worked as an exploration geologist and studied how the industry works, and it takes many years and millions of dollars to explore and develop a productive oilfield or gasfield. I doubt North Korea will be under the same...

More Tension at Sea: Just a day after the Korean papers proclaimed a great step forward for peace when the North Koreans allowed South Korean rescue ships to enter its waters, North Korea has walked away from the afterglow, ordered takeout, and turned on the game. They are now claiming that South Korea, acting at the urging of the American “imperialist aggressors,” violated its territorial waters in an attempt to provoke a sea battle. In fact, I can’t say from...

What’s the Korean word for “oblivious?” Yonhap ran this headline today: “S.K. Expects U.S. to Be More Flexible: Roh Aide.” The subject of the story was not yoga, it was North Korea. Umm, don’t these guys read the papers? Even Reuben Staines at the Korea Times agrees with my assessment that Bush sounded a lot like he was talking about Kim Jong Il. He did everything but say, “Hey piggy boy in North Korea, yeah, I’m talkin’ to you.” UPDATE:...

Famine Facade: South Korea is again making motions to show that it cares about alleviating the lack of food and medical care in North Korea. Plans are urgently needed; the government could fall, or outside pressure could finally cause North Korea to relent and let in aid without restrictions. The problem here is that the South Koreans are not interested in pressuring the North Koreans to allow the aid to go where it is most needed. What do they propose...

Japan Sanctions Update: A Japanese civic group that claimed to have photographs of Japanese hostages alive has retracted the claim. The group had claimed that the photos showed the hostages alive after the time Pyongyang claimed they had died.

The post on the North Korean dissent video is here. The link to the clip has been fixed, so you can watch it again.

The Chosun Ilbo has discovered Natan Scharansky, whose book obviously had a profound influence on the contents of President Bush’s second augural speech yesterday. Gratuitious editoralizing aside, it’s an interesting read. Meanwhile, I think I’ve discovered another influence. Here’s another president, from a few years back: We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives…on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua … to defy Soviet aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth. Support for...

The post on the North Korean dissent video is here. The link to the clip has been fixed, so you can watch it again.

The Chosun Ilbo has discovered Natan Scharansky, whose book obviously had a profound influence on the contents of President Bush’s second augural speech yesterday. Gratuitious editoralizing aside, it’s an interesting read. Meanwhile, I think I’ve discovered another influence. Here’s another president, from a few years back: We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives…on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua … to defy Soviet aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth. Support for...

Some newer readers may not be familiar with LiNK, a global organization dedicated to assisting North Koreans both inside and outside their own country, primarily by creating political pressure for North Korea to stop repressing its people. You can read about some of LiNK’s activities here, here, and here. Its founder, Adrian Hong, has a modest, easygoing way that defies his deep convictions; in fact, his mannerisms might remind you of Harold from “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.”...

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that 80% of the Japanese people want sanctions against North Korea.

Yonhap reports that North Korea has shut down its casino along the Chinese border, as I predicted here two days ago. It’s simply amazing how reasonable Kim Jong Il can be when China starts fiddling with the valve on the fuel pipeline.

Cost-sharing negotiations between the U.S. and South Korea continue. Yes, that would be the sharing of the costs of defending South Korea with U.S. troops. Although the Pentagon will withdraw a third of its troops over the next few years, it’s not at all interested in continuing to bear the same burden of the cost for its wealthy host. South Korea is balking, and the negotiations have stalled. What this Korea Herald article does not mention is that although the...

Limited Reassurance: CNN reports that the Pentagon claims a “limited capability” to defend against North Korean missiles with its new interceptors.

Some newer readers may not be familiar with LiNK, a global organization dedicated to assisting North Koreans both inside and outside their own country, primarily by creating political pressure for North Korea to stop repressing its people. You can read about some of LiNK’s activities here, here, and here. Its founder, Adrian Hong, has a modest, easygoing way that defies his deep convictions; in fact, his mannerisms might remind you of Harold from “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.”...

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that 80% of the Japanese people want sanctions against North Korea.