How scary is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea? Let’s first look at the argument for “very scary.” Via Foreign Policy: North Korea today can threaten all of South Korea and parts of Japan with its conventional missiles and its conventional military. The North can fire 500,000 rounds of artillery on Seoul in the first... Read more »
On Friday, the above, titled "A Short, Three-Day War," was posted to Uriminzokkiri, depicting North Korean paratroopers and the shells of long-range weapons descending upon South Korea. Via Sina English:
"The crack stormtroopers will occupy Seoul and other cities and take 150,000 US citizens as hostages," the narrator said.
Viewed over 40,000 times on Youku in the last three days, this video of a cute North Korean performer spinning for nearly 45 seconds with a vase on her head. The jaw-dropping part starts at the 1:45 mark. You couldn't do this.
North Korea's known for these type of performances -- at the very least, English-language writers have commented on it before.
Kim Jong-un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, gave birth sometime around New Year’s, but no one has yet to independently verify the sex of the child… Until now, basically. Thanks to Dennis Rodman. This guy. In a long interview with The Sun in which Rodman says Kim isn’t like Saddam Hussein, “doesn’t want to kill anyone,” and... Read more »
It was only last month that North Korea decided it would allow visiting foreigners to surf the Internet, tweet, and Skype from mobile devices. As AP reported:
Koryolink, a joint venture between Korea Post & Telecommunications Corporation and Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE, informed foreign residents in Pyongyang on Friday that it will launch a third generation, or 3G, mobile Internet service no later than March 1.
We thank Washington Post's Max Fisher for flagging a version of the above video, which has traveled from the YouTube account of British filmmaker and travel author Alun Hill (who created it) to Hong Kong's Phoenix TV, which broadcasts in China, before making its way back to YouTube... where Hill's name has been removed from the credits and some people have been, as they say, ensnared in the satire's net.
Dennis Rodman, fresh off his tour of Pyongyang, can’t stop singing the praises of that “awesome kid” Kim Jong-un. Unsurprisingly, some Americans just don’t want to hear about it, such as the bartender at the restaurant bar in Time Hotel in Manhattan on Sunday. According to the New York Post: “He was at the bar at... Read more »
This is getting more bizarre by the second. Dennis Rodman appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos earlier this morning to do his first public interview since returning from North Korea. What?
He had a message, too (one which the State Department, for the record, has no interest in):
The wonderful folk of Koryo Tours, who aren't responsible for Dennis Rodman but is for so many other Westerners who visit North Korea, passed along this video recently of Americans playing basketball in the DPRK last June. It was the first ever "USA-North Korea basketball exchange."
"Well, I hope this opens up opportunities for the future," participant Luke Elie, founder of Coaches Team International, said. We wonder if he knew, eight months later, Rodman would be there.
