RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Published earlier this month, Paul Fischer’s “A Kim Jong-il Production” explores the late North Korean president’s zeal for film and his attempts to make his country’s film industry the best in the world. After the controversy surrounding the release of “The Interview,” Fischer’s book could not…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – If North Korea’s reaction to The Interview has not made it clear that the Hermit Kingdom takes portrayals of its Supreme Leader very seriously, the country’s opinion of a new Chinese music video featuring Kim Jong-Un will. The video consists of various clips of people dancing,…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – In today’s world, connections are everything. Knowing the right people can get you job offers and admission into prestigious schools. Or it can get you a prison sentence in North Korea. Forty performers were arrested and imprisoned in North Korea just for knowing Jang Son Thaek,…
Although the late leader, Kim Jong-il, died of a heart attack back in December, he is to rise again from the political grave. Early next year his preserved body will be on public display, joining the late Kim Il-sung in public gaze. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports…
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…
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…
The Western news media – and especially The Economist Magazine of London – have been almost incautiously optimistic about recent diplomatic developments coming out of North Korea. But the media in South Korea has been rather cautious about Pyongyang’s latest pitch to suspend parts of its nuclear program, to allow…
Not everyone appears thrilled that North Korea’s new beloved leader is second-son Kim Jong-un, reported to be all of 28 years old. Case in point: His elder brother, Kim Jong-Nam.
According to the prominent Seoul-based daily newspaper Korea Times, Kim Yong-hwa, head of the North Korea Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, witnessed a North Korean defector shot to death by North Korean border guards on Chinese soil shortly after the defector crossed a border river…
The Chosun Ilbo obtained a 480-page special report that features five pages dedicated to the Korean Peninsula and included is an estimate that North Korea’s collapse is imminent, perhaps as soon as 2020.
