A bark much bigger than its bite?

SEOUL: North Korea’s top military body launched a blistering personal attack on Friday on South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and vowed to push ahead with the country’s nuclear weapons programme.

 This comes as little surprise to most as it has become nearly a routine whenever North and South Korean officials meet to discuss, and I use the term loosely, negotiate the terms of their cohabitation of the landmass just South-East of China. This could be seen as retaliation to the South Korean News' bashing of Kim Jung-Un and is likely nothing more than big words with little intent behind, however with recent developments in the North Korean  nuclear development department, there may be more here than the usual uneventful dispute between the two Korean nations. I am even more uneasy at China's continued absence from these discussions as I firmly believe that if North Korea does not halt its continued threatening of its Southern neighbor, then a preemptive attack from China will occur and it will seek to end the tyrannical regime and bring stability to their region so that they might focus on their expanding economy and the ever growing middle class citizens that are constantly demanding more rights. China does not have the luxury to simply ignore what is going on in their own backyard anymore, they have risen to the point where; much like the US, they are expected to set an example for other countries and will be expected to act upon the constant threats that North Korea is continually spouting.

Spend Christmas in North Korea?

It is now possible to spend Christmas vacation in NorthKorea. Believe it or not, a Chinese agency does provide the possibility to spend Christmas in North Korea. The agency is called Taedong Travel. They give people the chance for about 1000$ to travel from china on a train to Pyongyang. (It’s the capital city of North Korea). The trip consist of a five day and for nights in the totalitarian state.  The tourist will also have the chance to see Santa Claus. I believe people have to think twice before accepting and paying for this trip. We have to remember that North Korea is ranked as one of the most hostile countries in the world for Christmas time. We need to know that many Christian are arrested, tortured and even killed in North Korea because of their religion. Therefore, it might not be a great idea to spend Christmas over there. The article states that one Christian has been executed to passing out bibles in North Korea. It does not seem a great idea to spend your Christmas vacation into North Korea.

North Korean leader Photoshop picture! Photo illustration by Businessweek.com  

More Facts about the Empty Peace Village

Kijŏng-Dong is supposedly called the Peace village, maybe because it is situated very close to the DMZ. It was created in 1953, This online source says that

“The North Korean government says that Kijong-Dong is a 200-family collective farm with many amenities catered toward those families, like a hospital and multiple schools. ”

Kim Jong Un trying to gather North Koreans behind his cause?

On Tuesday October 1st, 2013, South Korea held its largest military parade in over a decade.  This was a clear demonstration that it was prepared to go to war if North Korea began to act overly hostile.  While this was less of a threat and more of a way to show that they were capable of defending themselves, a North Korean news paper claimed that this military display was a clear act of aggression and was one of South Korea's ways of "begging" for the United States' permanent occupation.  If Kim Jong Un is using local media outlets to portray his view of the events this may be a sign that he is actually trying to get the people of North Korea to back him on this issue.  Could this be a sign that, while the people still have very little power, Kim Jong Un actually cares about their opinions? This is not to be mistaken with giving the people actual power however maybe he, as opposed to his predecessors, has realized that it is a lot easier to control a willing crowd than it is a rebellious one.
            The media is one of the easiest ways for Kim Jong Un to gather support for whichever cause he chooses because he has total control of it on a local level. This gives him the ability to distort the news to favor whatever view he wants it to, or if he so chooses, to keep certain pieces of information completely hidden from the public at large.  A typical example of this would be the reason as to why South Korea is "showing off" its military forces.  Very few North Koreans are even aware that Kim Jong Un has been testing nuclear weapons, and without this information they could easily be led to believe that South Korea is preparing for a hostile takeover with no good reason.  This is just one of the many examples of how easy it is to mislead people when one person has total control over every media outlet within a certain territory.

Getting Drunk and Singing to get a few NK Visas?

I just so happened upon a documentary, made by a group of journalists with an organisation called VICE who had fought their way into NK for quite a while to cover what goes on in "The Hermit Country."

Here is an excerpt from a written summary  by Shane Smith, a VICE founder who was commenting on the video they had posted,  the snippet is to give you an idea of what they encountered in their journey...

"At the airport, the North Korean consulate took our passports and all of our money, then brought us to a restaurant. We were sitting there with our tour group, and suddenly all the other diners left, and these women came out and started singing North Korean nationalist songs. We were thinking,Look, we were just on a plane for 20 hours. We’re jet-lagged. Can we just go to bed? but this guy with our group, who was from the LA Times, told us, “Everyone in here besides us is secret police. If you don’t act excited, then you’re not going to get your visa. So we got drunk and jumped up onstage and sang songs with the girls. The next day we got our visas. A lot of people we had gone with didn’t get theirs. That was our first hint at just what a freaky, freaky trip we were embarking on…"

A small disclaimer: The following documentary was not censored for TV, so there is no guarantee the language will be appropriate.

Kijŏng-Dong: The Empty City

One might wonder why there is a completely empty city called Kijŏng-dong near the DMZ in NK, and one may simply look no further for the explanation when they remember that the Kim family runs NK. 

Kijŏng-dong is a city that has been commissioned, created, and up-kept for the sole purpose of propaganda. Although Kim Jon-un is not the original founder, he keeps up the appearances and city maintenance left to him by his predecessors (Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il). For a detailed and photographic account of this ridiculous city, see this guy's blog. 

It's really a fascinating and informative journey; researching an empty and useless city that is funded with money that could feed the population of NK, which by the way, is a starving country. If you ask me, the finance that goes into the upkeep and maintenance of that city is conspicuously offensive to the poor, displayed in a manor that tries to glorify it's leader but ends up contradicting it's own purposes.

(Photos found here.)

Canals of Mass Destruction

North Korea made waves yet again earlier this week when a North Korean Tanker; the Chong Chon Gang was seized and searched by Panamanian authorities. A search which revealed 25 crates filled with Soviet era weaponry. This discovery shows, quite unsurprisingly, that there are countries out there willing to deal with the Hermit Kingdom and that if it weren't for the risk taken by the guards along the Panama canal, this shipment WOULD have reached it's destination. Now officials around the world have been putting pressure on the UN to evoke some form of punishment towards Cuba for ignoring the international embargo on weaponry sent to North Korea and have been quoted as stating "Failure to hold the Cuban government fully responsible will be a slap in the face to our allies" and many have applauded the Panamanian authorities for their initiative in boarding and searching the North Korean tanker. I believe that this search was definitely merited due to the strained relations between Cube and the US as well as the US' relationship with North Korea. Unfortunately the larger issue raised here is that there has more than likely been continued arms deals for years and it will likely continue for years to come. However, I expect that due to the interception of this particular shipment, trades involving arms will probably fall between Cuba and North Korea and hopefully other countries will see Cuba being punished for this breach to international law and will take the hint that these laws are serious and not to be ignored.  Unsurprisingly, North Korea has refused to admit they have done anything wrong and have demanded the return of the ship, crew and its cargo.