RYAN LIPPERT WRITES- Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American tourist, is currently awaiting trial in Pyongyang for allegedly planning to remove the North Korean government from power. If Bae is found guilty, he may be executed. The government-owned media in North Korea has been fairly tight-lipped about the specifics of Bae’s…
Category: North Korea
NORTH KOREA: Change of Heart Through Basketball?
Last week, former NBA star Dennis Rodman visited North Korea, watched a basketball game with Kim Jong-un, and in the process showed that there may be hope for better relations between North Koreans and Americans, if not between the governments themselves. Rodman came to North Korea to work on a…
SOUTH KOREA: Pleasing the Press
There has clearly been no shortage of work for South Korean journalists in the past few weeks. Last month, Park Geun-hye was elected President of South Korea. An event as important as a presidential election tends to get a lot of media attention, but even after the election, there is…
LOS ANGELES: How to Handle Difficult North Korea
A GUEST COLUMN BY SPENCER KIM, A MEMBER OF THE U.S. COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS — North Korea has successfully, sort of, launched a long-range missile. We are outraged. We want more sanctions; we want to pressure them till they say uncle or collapse. We wonder how China could be…
NORTH KOREA: Down On America, No Matter Who The President Is
Presidential elections in the United States get a lot of attention, both in the U.S. itself, and all over the world. This election has actually been somewhat eclipsed in South Korea, due to their own upcoming presidential elections. North Korea has paid most of their media attention to South Korea’s…
CHINA: The World’s Sexiest Man?
And now, ladies and gentlemen, let us announce the World’s Sexiest Man of 2012! Recently, on a very rare occasion, China’s People’s Daily agreed with a newspaper based in the United States. The English edition of newspaper- often deemed by western media as a Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece- dedicated a…
SOUTH KOREA: Telling It Like It Is
The Korea Times appears to be taking a very unbiased approach when reporting current events. In an article discussing a North Korean soldier’s desertion and a recent leak of military secrets, South Korea’s newspaper maintained a very neutral stance, focusing on stating concrete facts instead of relying on opinion-based writing…
NORTH KOREA: Wedding Gift for the ‘First Couple’ — a Modest Proposal!
(An opinion column) — I guess I am a sucker for old-fashioned romance. When I heard about the stunning marriage of Kim Jong Un, the young new leader of North Korea, to the lovely Ri Sol Ju, apparently a professional singer, I hurriedly buried the ideological hatchet and grabbed the…
SOUTH KOREA: Cyber Kitty Attacks Major Newspapers
Just days after North Korea threatened South Korean media outlets with retaliation for critical coverage, the databases of two of South Korea’s major newspapers, The JoongAng Ilbo and its sister paper The Korea JoongAng Daily, were hacked into by username IsOne, whose identity is still a mystery. The Korea JoongAng Daily reported that…
NORTH KOREA: Media Helping Them to Get New Messages
“Illicit” and “smuggled” are two words that could easily describe goods making their way into North Korea. Many products, such as low-cost TVs, DVD players, and other equipment, are being smuggled into North Korea from China. A recent, excellent U.S. State Department-commissioned study, “A Quiet Opening: North Koreans in a Changing Media Environment,” reveals…
NORTH KOREA: Now Broadcasting Live
North Korea’s young new leader, Kim Jong-un, has embarked on yet another (relatively) shocking endeavor. The micro-managed state-controlled television company has initiated the occasional live broadcast. Under the late Kim Jong-il, such communication was nonexistent due to a high risk of technical difficulties and “mishaps.” Since his death four months…
NORTH KOREA: Should This Country Be Put on Trial?
“Dire” along with “absence of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights” are the words used by Marzuki Darusman, the current United Nations special rapporteur for North Korea, to describe this bleak facsimile of a real normal country. This was in a report Darusman gave to the General Assembly ‘s…
NORTH KOREA: Despite International Push to Cancel Launch, North Korea Presses On
North Korea has reaffirmed its plans to continue with an announced rocket launch to put a satellite into orbit, despite facing widespread opposition from the international community. The launch is widely speculated to be a cover for testing missile technology and therefore a violation of a UN Security Council Resolution.…
SOUTH KOREA: A Brief Look at the Nuclear Security Summit
In what is being called the largest diplomatic gathering in history, the nuclear security summit held in Seoul this past Monday and Tuesday, with leaders of nearly 60 nations and international organizations in attendance, has led to the release of a sweeping agreement known as the “Seoul Communique.” Initially the…
NORTH KOREA: Japanese Journalist Gets Inside Look— Military More Independent than Expected
In a meeting with South Korean reporters, Japanese journalist, Yoji Gomi, a staff writer for Japan daily newspaper Tokyo Shimbun, claims that the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il, did not have full control of his military. He further speculates that the military is probably behind the recent rocket launch plans…
NORTH KOREA: Students Allowed Rare Access to Internet
In isolated and government-controlled North Korea, students are being given a surprisingly liberal opportunity. According to The Korea Times, a widely circulated English-language daily newspaper in South Korea, some students at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) are accessing the Internet, albeit for purely research-oriented purposes. PUST is a…