How North Korea got so crazy

100,000 North Koreans sent abroad as ‘slaves’

Tens of thousands of impoverished North Koreans have been sent abroad to work as “state-sponsored slaves” whose wages are confiscated and used to buy luxury goods for the regime, human rights activists have claimed.

The practice, used since the 1980s to help fill the hermit kingdom’s coffers, has reportedly accelerated under Kim Jong-un, who took power following the death of Kim Jong-il, his father, in 2011. Until 2012 there were thought to be up to 65,000 North Korean workers around the globe, often in terrible conditions. That number has since risen to around 100,000, activists told The New York Times.

Ahn Myeong-chul, the head of NK Watch, a Seoul-based rights group, told the newspaper Pyongyang was “exploiting their labour and salaries to fatten the private coffers of Kim Jong-un. We suspect that Kim is using some of the money to buy luxury goods for his elite followers and finance the recent building boom in Pyongyang that he has launched to show off his leadership.”

More at the Telegraph

A year ago The Rubin Report already reported:

The Korean War

Shocking facts about the battles of the Korean War.

Kim Jong-Un has lost control of North Korea

A former North Korean counter-intelligence officer has claimed that Kim Jong-Un is no longer in control of the nation and is now just a 'puppet leader'. The capital, Pyongyang has been placed into lockdown with even the elite banned from entering or leaving, according to a respected news site. This adds weight to claims, as a North Korean expert said that this kind of measure is only put in place when a coup has taken place - or is suspected.

Kim Jong-Un was actually overthrown in 2013 and that the political strings in North Korea are being pulled by the powerful Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), which used to report directly to Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-Un's father. North Korea is currently embroiled in a sort of civil war, he said in his speech. Some officials want to keep the communist status quo, he said, others are open to elements of capitalism being introduced.

Daily Mail Online

American jailed in N. Korea for 6 years describes prison life

The latest American imprisoned in North Korea, Matthew Miller, says he's working eight hours a day digging in fields and being kept in isolation, but so far his health is not deteriorating. In his first interview since being sentenced to six years in a labor camp, during which Miller is shown under close guard and has only time to answer one question, he gives a brief description of the conditions he is facing. Miller was allowed a phone call home to his family Wednesday, from Pyongyang, and spoke to his father for about nine minutes.

China attacks Japan for 'barbarous' past

China's president has sharply criticised Japan's history of military aggression in China and South Korea, during a speech in Seoul that came days after Tokyo changed its pacifist constitution. "In the first half of the 20th century, Japanese militarists carried out barbarous wars of aggression against China and Korea, swallowing Korea and occupying half of the Chinese mainland," Xi Jinping said on Friday at Seoul National University.

China and the Korean peninsula were occupied by Japan in the early 20th century.Xi's speech came on the second and last day of his state trip to South Korea, which had been flagged as a snub to ally North Korea because of his decision to visit Seoul before Pyongyang. But the key issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons was mentioned in a passing reference to the need for a "denuclearised Korean peninsula".

Japan announced this week that its military had the right to go into battle in defence of allies, a major shift in the nation's pacifist constitution. China, Japan, North Korea and its southern enemy are locked in a series of political and territorial disputes. Relations between Seoul and Tokyo are at a low ebb, with governments mired in disputes related to Japan's 1910-45 rule over the peninsula. China is also embroiled in a territorial row with Japan over areas of the East China Sea.

Al Jazeera English

25 Reasons North Korea Is The Most Ridiculous Dictatorship Ever

Brutal, immature, comical, strange, and disillusioned would probably be some of the adjectives people think of when asked to describe the leadership in North Korea. We'll take that a step further. Here are 25 reasons North Korea is the most ridiculous dictatorship ever.

Also see: 25 Mind Boggling Facts That Will Change Your Perspective On History

Men required to get Kim Jong-un haircuts

Men in North Korea are now required to get the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un, it is reported.

The state-sanctioned guidelines were introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago, media reports say. They are now being rolled out across the country - although some people have reservations about getting the look.

"Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will," one source tells Radio Free Asia. "It doesn't always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes." Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers. "Until the mid-2000s, we called it the 'Chinese smuggler haircut'," the Korea Times reports.

It seems that haircuts have been state-approved in North Korea for some time - until now people were only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men. Earlier, North Korea's state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called "Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle".

BBC News

UN finds crimes against humanity in N Korea

A UN panel has reportedly found crimes against humanity have been committed in North Korea and will call for an international criminal investigation. The commission says it has found evidence of an array of crimes, including "extermination," crimes against humanity against starving populations and a widespread campaign of abductions of individuals in South Korea and Japan.

The UN has not yet confirmed the report's accuracy but North Korea's UN mission in New York has rejected the report's findings. North Korea's ally, China, would be likely to block any referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The commission conducted public hearings with more than 80 victims and other witnesses in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington, but was not allowed into North Korea itself, recommends that the UN Security Council refer its findings to the ICC in The Hague. Testimony by North Korean defectors at last year's hearings produced accounts of systematic rape, murder and torture, and suffering during the famine of the late 1990s.

The report refers to murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, sexual violence, forcible transfers and forced disappearances, and persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds. It also cites the overall system of political repression, the 'songbun' class system that discriminates against North Koreans on the basis of their family's perceived loyalty to the regime, and executions and punishment through forced labor in the North's gulag.

Other than speaking to defectors, the commission heard from experts about North Korea's network of camps, estimated to hold 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, and about access to food in the country, where many children suffer stunted growth because of malnutrition.

Al Jazeera English - Human rights in North Korea (Wikipedia)

DPRK: The Land Of Whispers

North Korea lies somewhere between a 1930′s Soviet Union frozen in time and a dark, futuristic vision of society... as imagined back in the 70′s.
"Land of Whispers" invites you to visit arguably the most unique and isolated travel destination in the world - not to criticize, but to observe and listen. Aside from usual highlights such as Pyongyang or Arirang, this unique one-man documentary brings you to areas such as Chongjin or Wonson, still virtually unknown to even google or wikipedia. There, I attempt to pierce through the ever-present 'national mythology' and as much as possible, I try to connect with people - such as the waitress mesmerized by tablet computers, or a tour guide cautiously fascinated by modern pop culture.

All relatives of Jang executed too

All relatives of the executed uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, including children and the country's ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia, have also been put to death at the leader's instruction, multiple sources said Sunday.

Jang Song-thaek, the once-powerful uncle, was executed last month on charges of attempting to overthrow the communist regime, including contemplating a military-backed coup. All direct relatives of Jang have also been executed, the sources said.

"Extensive executions have been carried out for relatives of Jang Song-thaek," one source said on condition of anonymity. "All relatives of Jang have been put to death, including even children."
The executed relatives include Jang's sister Jang Kye-sun, her husband and Ambassador to Cuba Jon Yong-jin, and Ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong-chol, who is a nephew of Jang, as well as his two sons, the sources said.

All of them were recalled to Pyongyang in early December and executed, they said. The sons, daughters and even grandchildren of Jang's two brothers were all executed, they said. It was unclear exactly when they were killed, but they are believed to have been put to death after Jang's death on Dec. 12. "Some relatives were shot to death by pistol in front of other people if they resisted while being dragged out of their apartment homes," another source said.

Yonhap News Agency

Kim Jong-Un's uncle executed stripped naked and fed to 120 starving dogs as tyrant watched

Kim Jong-Un's uncle was stripped naked and fed to 120 starving dogs as the tyrant watched on, a shocking report has claimed. The ruthless North Korean leader ordered the execution of Jang Song-Thaek - his mentor and the country's second in command - last month.

At the time, it was believed he had been executed by firing squad with machine guns after being sentenced to death by a military tribunal. But now an official report in China says Jang was stripped naked and thrown into a cage, along with his five closest aides.

Then 120 dogs, who had been deprived of food for three days, were allowed to eat them in a process called "quan jue", or execution by dogs. The report added the entire process lasted for an hour, with Kim, 30, supervising it along with 300 senior North Korea officials.

Mirror Online - (This story is based on rumours and probably not true as it is brought to you by Wen Wei Po)

 

Kim Jong-un orders execution of uncle - now it emerges that victim's wife was involved in decision to execute him

The final decision to execute Jang Song Thaek, last seen publicly being frog-marched by armed guards from a special party session last week, was probably made by Kim, his nephew, and Kim Kyong-hui, his wife, according to several sources.

News of Jang's execution was accompanied by a string of extraordinary insults, branding him a "traitor for all ages" and "despicable human scum" who was "worse than a dog."  A 2,700-word state media report of his trial in a special military tribunal on Thursday said he had admitted to plotting insurrection and a string of other crimes. "He let the decadent capitalist lifestyle find its way to our society by distributing all sorts of pornographic pictures among his confidants since 2009." The report said Jang led a "dissolute, depraved life" and had squandered at least 4.6 million euro from state coffers on gambling. He was executed, probably by firing squad, immediately after the tribunal.

Jang's killing is the highest-level purge since Kim Jong-un inherited power from his father Kim Jong-il in 2011 and has left opinion divided on what it means.  Many experts say Kim had no choice but to remove his powerful but corrupt uncle if he wanted to graduate from young pretender to dictator    "He had to go," says veteran Pyongyang watcher Andrei Lankov.  "To really start running the country Kim must get rid of the old guard.  They are so much older; they are in their sixties and seventies and he is in his thirties."

But even if Jang's removal was operationally logical, the violence of his public humiliation and disposal was highly unusual, accepts Lankov. "One possibility is that he wanted to terrify everyone, to show that he is young but someone to be afraid of, to show that nobody is immune," he says.  "It might also reflect his personal animosity to Jang. He did not like the man, who probably bossed him around."

More on The Independent

Groomed to serve as core of the North Korean Army

North Korea's newest batch of future soldiers – scrawny 11-year-olds with freshly shaved heads – punch the air as they practice taekwondo on the grounds of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School. Students and teachers here say they're studying harder these days to prepare for a fight.

Across the country, banners, slogans and artwork have been redrawn to focus on fighting "the imperialist Americans and their traitorous followers," a reference to South Korea. Slogans on improving North Korea's economy had dominated since 2009, but anti-American propaganda has re-emerged over the past year, particularly following U.S.-led censure of North Korea's decision to launch a long-range rocket and test a nuclear bomb.

At the military school, where students work on desktop computers without Internet access and practice their English with chants such as "The respected Marshal Kim Jong Un is our father," classwork is infused with conflict. "Because of the present situation, I am trying to study harder, because I really think that's how I can get my revenge on the American imperialists: by getting top marks in class," one student, Jo Chung Hyok, told The Associated Press. "It's my revolutionary duty," Jo said. "I'm working extra hard to get top marks in military subjects like tactics and shooting."

More on Huffington Post

North Korea: latest war mongering

Western nations, including Britain, are deciding whether to pull diplomats out of North Korea after being told that their safety  cannot be guaranteed beyond Wednesday. Whitehall has been told it should consider evacuating its embassy in Pyongyang.

The Foreign Office last night said it had ‘no immediate plans to withdraw’ Britain’s embassy in Pyongyang and condemned ‘provocations’ by the North Korean regime. The US does not have an embassy in Pyongyang. Russia said yesterday that it was considering airlifting its workers out of the country and had been in discussions with China – North Korea’s closest ally.

The warning came just a day after David Cameron claimed that Kim Jong-un’s military have weapons which could threaten the UK. Mr Cameron said: ‘North Korea does now have missile technology that is able to reach, as they put it, the whole of the United States. ‘If they are able to reach the whole of the United States they can reach Europe too, they can reach us too. That is a real concern.’

Mail Online

The Pirate Bay via North-Korea

The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. Today, a new chapter is written in the history of the movement, as well as the history of the internets.

A week ago we could reveal that The Pirate Bay was accessed via Norway and Catalonya. The move was to ensure that these countries and regions will get attention to the issues at hand. Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network.

This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high. At the same time, companies from that country is chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information.

We believe that being offered our virtual asylum in Korea is a first step of this country's changing view of access to information. It's a country opening up and one thing is sure, they do not care about threats like others do. In that way, TPB and Korea might have a special bond. We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service, and to make sure that we can help improve the situation in any way we can. When someone is reaching out to make things better, it's also ones duty to grab their hand.

The Pirate Bay Blog

North Korea imposes martial law, orders troops to ‘be ready for war’

North Korea has allegedly been placed under martial law and its ruler Kim Jong-un has ordered the army to “prepare for war”, a South Korean daily claims. ­The North Korean leader issued a series of orders to his top defense and security officials on Saturday to conclude preparations for a new nuclear test, the Seoul based Korea JoongAng Daily alleges citing an unnamed source.

The source reportedly said that Kim Jong-un issued a secret order to “complete preparations for a nuclear weapons test <…>and carry it out soon”. According to the source, Kim Jong-un also said, “The country will be under martial law starting from midnight January 29th and all the frontline and central units should be ready for war.”

The source told the South Korean daily that the nuclear test could come earlier than expected. Other analysts have said it would likely be held on February 16th, the birthday of the former leader Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011

More on RT

North Korea raises tensions with plan to carry out new nuclear test aimed at 'sworn enemy' United States

The secretive North Korean regime has said it is planning a nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches, aimed at what it calls its "sworn enemy", the United States. The move, which comes in defiance of a resolution issued by the UN on Tuesday, is likely to once again raise tensions in the region over the North Korean missile program.

On Tuesday the UN Security Council condemned North Korea for test-firing a missile in December and tightened existing sanctions on the regime. The National Defence Commission of Korea responded by saying the new nuclear test would be part of its action against the "sworn enemy of the Korean people".

The regime has also said it plans to press ahead with the ongoing testing of long-range missiles. The declaration by the National Defence Commission, said: "We do not hide that the various satellites and long-range rockets we will continue to launch, as well as the high-level nuclear test we will proceed with, are aimed at our arch-enemy the United States."

The Independent

Unicorn lair 'discovered' in North Korea

Normally, North Korea's official state news agency is the place to go for reports ranging from the reclusive totalitarian state's unparalleled scientific achievements to the limitless love which its inhabitants reserve for their successive leaders.

Yet in what appears to be a genuine world exclusive, the inimitable Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has now broken the incredible news that archaeologists in Pyongyang have discovered a unicorn's lair.

Or rather, the report says that they have "recently reconfirmed" the lair of one of the unicorns ridden by the ancient Korean King Tongmyong, founder of a kingdom which ruled parts of China and the Korean peninsula from the the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD.

The KCNA goes on to state that the location happens to be 200 metres from a temple in the North Korean capital, adding: "A rectangular rock carved with words "Unicorn Lair" stands in front of the lair." "The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392)," says the report. Archaeologists from the Academy of Social Sciences at North Korea's History Institute were credited with making the discovery.

The Guardian

Kim Jong-un uses first public speech to call for push to 'final victory'

North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un, has delivered his first public speech at a military parade to celebrate of the birth of the country's founder, his grandfather Kim Il-sung. Kim, the third from his family to rule North Korea, read monotonously from a script in Pyongyang, calling for a push to "final victory".

The speech suggested Kim would stick to his father and grandfather's "military-first" policy. But the fact that he spoke at all was a surprise after years of silence from his father when he presided over similar events. Kim Jong-un inherited power when Kim Jong-il died in December.

He praised his grandfather and father as the "founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces". "Let us move forward to final victory," the twentysomething leader urged tens of thousands of military and civilians, who applauded throughout his speech of more than 20 minutes.

The Guardian