Related: Kim Jong Un is Ill?
The Korean version of Where's Waldo?
"Kim absence at major event renews questions in North Korea" by Foster Klug | Associated Press October 11, 2014
SEOUL — For the first time in three years, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not appear at a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party on Friday, increasing speculation that something is amiss with the authoritarian leader, who has not been seen publicly in more than a month.
A North Korean state media dispatch excluded Kim’s name from a list of senior government, military, and party officials who paid their respects at the event marking the party’s 69th anniversary.
Indications that Kim remains firmly in power were evident, however. His name appeared on a flower basket placed before statues of his father and grandfather, both of whom also ruled North Korea, and an earlier dispatch said the might of the party ‘‘is growing stronger under the seasoned guidance of Marshal Kim Jong Un.’’
State media haven’t shown Kim, who is thought to be 31, performing his customary public duties since he attended a concert Sept. 3. He had been walking with a limp and was more overweight than usual in images broadcast before that.
An official documentary from late last month described him as dealing with ‘‘discomfort,’’ which led to international speculation that he may be ill.
Let the speculation end.
In a separate development Friday, a group of South Korean activists marked Friday’s anniversary by releasing anti-North Korean propaganda balloons across the border.
North Korea responded with machine-gun fire, and several of the bullets fell south of the border near a military base and a residential area, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
Kim Min-seok said South Korea then fired 40 rounds from machine guns. North Korea retaliated with rifle fire, to which South Korean soldiers responded in kind, he said. There were no reports of damage or injuries, but the exchange of fire was a reminder of the bitter rivals’ animosity despite recent glimmers of trust building.
Gee, cui bono?
South Korean civic organizations mainly made up of North Korean defectors sent 10 balloons northward over the border. They contained 20,000 anti-North Korea leaflets, 1,000 US $1 bills, 400 propaganda DVDs, and 300 propaganda thumb drives.
North Korea’s Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea released a statement Thursday criticizing the planned leaflet launch, calling it ‘‘little short of a declaration of a war.’’
It certainly came at a very bad time.
Much of what happens in North Korea’s inner circles is hidden from average North Koreans.
Then that is one thing we have in common with them, Americans. Surely you don't think this war-promoting piece of propaganda is giving you full disclosure.
This leaves media in South Korea and elsewhere to speculate, sometimes wildly, about what’s really happening.
I'm reading such a sheet every damn day.
Some reports say Kim could have gout, diabetes, or other ailments, with much of the speculation based on that single reference in the documentary and unidentified sources speaking to South Korean media.
It could be what I said and I'm sitting here half a world away.
South Korean officials are playing down the speculation.
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The balloons were the answer to my question.
See: Tying Together Korea and Japan
Let's do it:
"Japanese reporter indicted in South Korea" by Foster Klug | Associated Press October 09, 2014
SEOUL — South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday indicted a Japanese journalist on charges he defamed South Korea’s president by reporting rumors that she was absent for seven hours during the April ferry disaster because she was with a man, according to the journalist’s employer and the Japanese government.
Thankfully nothing like that could ever happen here in Ameri.... btw, didn't the Ju$tu$ Department spy on ma$$ media reporters?
The weeks-long investigation of the former Seoul bureau chief of the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper has raised questions about South Korea’s press freedom.
Seems to happen all over the world. Raise questions, criticize, and become a threat!
Critics say conservative South Korean President Park Geun-hye has clamped down on journalists in an attempt to control her image.
That seems to be the general reaction from authority and its executives, too.
The indictment also comes amid rising animosity between the countries.
That's why the North's general military staff was just visiting for productive peace talks. I gotta tell you, I am absolutely sick of this endless war-shoveling kimchi.
South Korea sees a growing nationalist tilt in Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a continuing refusal by Tokyo to take responsibility for its brutal colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula until the end of World War II.
Asia's version of Israel.
The Sankei Shimbun is reviled by some in South Korea for its right-wing positions....
"Right-wingers," whatever that means, seem to be hated by the propaganda pre$$ wherever they are found.
The indictment is linked to an article journalist Tatsuya Kato, 48, posted online Aug. 3 about Park’s whereabouts on the day when the Sewol ferry sank, killing more than 300 people, mostly teenagers on a school trip. Park and her government have been criticized for the botched rescue operation, and South Korean media had questioned whether she was unaccounted for on the day the disaster happened.
Oh, yeah, that.
Where's Park?
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Where that reporter may soon beheaded(sic):
"North Korea acknowledges labor camps for 1st time" by Cara Anna | Associated Press October 08, 2014
UNITED NATIONS — North Korea publicly acknowledged the existence of its labor camps for the first time Tuesday, an admission that appeared to come in response to a highly critical UN human rights report earlier this year.
Every country has them; they are called prisons.
Diplomats for the country also told reporters that a top North Korea official has visited the headquarters of the European Union and expressed interest in dialogue, with discussions on human rights expected next year.
Check for response in next article below.
North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador Ri Tong Il said that the secretary of his country’s ruling Workers’ Party had visited the EU, and that ‘‘we are expecting end of this year to open political dialogue between the two sides.’’
In Brussels, an EU official confirmed a recent North Korea meeting with the EU’s top human rights official, Stavros Lambrinidis, but said any dialogue planned is limited to rights issues.
Choe Myong Nam, a North Korean foreign ministry official, said that his country has no prison camps. But he discussed ‘‘reform through labor’’ camps. ‘‘Both in law and practice, we do have reform through labor detention camps — no, detention centers — where people are improved through their mentality and look on their wrongdoings,’’ he said.
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"UN urged to refer North Korea to criminal court" by Cara Anna | Associated Press October 10, 2014
UNITED NATIONS — The European Union and Japan are encouraging the UN Security Council to follow the recommendations of a stunning inquiry into North Korea’s human rights and refer the country’s situation to the International Criminal Court.
One can only view peace feelers and talks offered by western powers as a trap then.
Their draft resolution for the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, also presses for targeted sanctions after a UN commission of inquiry report earlier this year was harshly critical of the impoverished, reclusive regime.
Yeah, let's make their people suffer more because we all know sanctions never affect the ruling cla$$ in any country.
A key recommendation of the report was a criminal court referral.
The commission of inquiry report sharply increased international pressure on North Korea over its human rights situation, and a North Korean briefing this week at the United Nations on human rights was seen as an effort to get ahead of the expected General Assembly resolution.
As if the West -- and its leading human rights beacon, the torturing, surveilling, war-making nation of AmeriKa -- had any moral authority to issue such criticism.
The draft resolution, by the EU and Japan, is nonbinding and also needs approval by the 193-member General Assembly. Even if the more powerful Security Council takes up the recommendation to refer North Korea’s situation to the court, the effort is expected to fail because China, North Korea’s most powerful ally, would likely use its veto power as a permanent council member.
And Russia may even join them in a show of support and warning.
The draft resolution says the commission of inquiry’s findings, along with testimony and other information, ‘‘provide reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed’’ in North Korea.
When is the list against Bush, Bliar, Obummer, et al, due to be read before the bar?
The draft also urges the Security Council to consider the scope ‘‘for effective targeted sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible for crimes against humanity.’’ The commission of inquiry earlier this year warned leader Kim Jong Un in a letter saying he may be held accountable for orchestrating widespread crimes against civilians ranging from systematic executions to torture, rape, and mass starvation.
In other words, they behave like most governments that make up the U.N.
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Believe it or not, my knee hurts. Must be all the time in the chair at this desk.
