General News
North Korea: ‘popular masses enjoy genuine human rights’
Sep 15th
Pyongyang issues 50,000 word report hitting back at international criticism of its human rights record, accusing the west of ‘false and reactionary’ agenda to interfere with state sovereignty.
By Maeve Shearlaw, The Guardian.
North Korea has published a 50,000-word report hitting back at international criticism of restrictions on freedoms in the country and insisting that that its citizens “enjoy genuine human rights”.
In contrast to a United Nations publication issued earlier this year detailing grave atrocities in the country, Pyongyang painted a positive picture of its rights situation, saying the “popular masses” are free from slavery, torture and have the right to enjoy a free More >
How the media circus reported North Korea’s pro-wrestling throwdown
Sep 6th
When the isolated country hosted dozens of reporters, athletes and minor celebrities at its International Pro-Wrestling Contest in Pyongyang at the weekend, opinions on the experience were mixed to say the least. We took a look at the coverage.
By Maeve Shearlaw, The Guardian
Pyongyang is recovering from its International Pro-Wrestling Contest which saw North Koreans line up next to international wrestlers, including three Americans, over two days.
The event was organised by Antonio Inoki, a former a Japanese wrestler-turned-politician, best known for going up against Muhammad Ali in 1979.
Before the event last weekend, Inoki spoke of his hope that the conference would help More >
Who’s using North Korean airspace?
Aug 1st
Last week I wrote about the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations on U.S. carriers or aircraft using North Korean airspace. They prohibit flight in most of the skies controlled by Pyongyang but allow it — with caution — in a portion east of 132 degrees East latitude.
The ban is in place because of North Korea’s unpredictable short- and medium-range missile launches and uncertainties over just how good the coordination is between civil air traffic controllers and the military. The rules are in place to avoid an aircraft getting shot down, either by mistake or due to a misunderstanding.
So, I decided to More >
What’s going on with North Korean airspace?
Jul 25th
The shooting down of MH17 over Ukraine has raised awareness of a series of restrictions the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has placed on aircraft operating around the world, including over North Korea.
North Korean airspace extends well beyond the land borders of the country to include a large portion of the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and, to a lesser extent, a region over the Yellow Sea (West Sea.) It’s called the Pyongyang FIR (flight information region) and is shown in the map below.
The FAA regulations date back to April 1997, when North Korea began allowing foreign airlines to fly through its airspace. That included U.S. carriers, but More >
US, others complain to ICAO over North Korean missile launches
Jul 17th
The United States and several other nations have written to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over North Korea’s failure to notify it of missile launches.
Over the past couple of weeks, short and medium-range missile have been fired by North Korea into the sea to the east of the country on a handful of occasions. Each launch took place without a standard warning to air and ship traffic.
Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the U.S. State Dept., answers questions at a briefing on July 16, 2014.
“On July 8, the U.S. co-signed a letter to the president of ICAO expressing concern with the serious threat posed to international aviation posed by More >
Immerse yourself in Pyongyang in these two pictures
Jul 11th
Singaporean photographer Aram Pan, who previously provided several stunning panorama shots and a GoPro video of Pyongyang, has posted his latest two photographs and they’re big.
The images are wide-angle panorama shots with lots of detail.
The first appears to have been taken from the top of the Tower of the Juche Idea, looking west towards Kim Il Sung Square. On the right, the steps to the monuments on Mansudae Hill are visible while on the left the picture extends to Pyongyang Grand Theater. At 40,976 pixels by 7,249 pixels, it has about 150 times the detail of a high-definition TV picture.
The second, apparently More >
More than just Sherlock Holmes – the UK and the DPRK
Jul 11th
When the U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office released details of its North Korean program spending recently, some eyes were immediately drawn to the £287.33 the government paid for rights to show the BBC’s Sherlock at the Pyongyang Film Festival in 2012.
Never mind that it had been reported at the time, it got all the attention. But there’s more of interest in the report, which was issued in response to a freedom of information request.
In the last three years, the U.K. has hosted officials from the North Korean government on seven trips or events.
In 2011 and again in 2012, ten junior or middle-ranking government More >
DPRK takes “The Interview” movie complaint to the UN
Jul 10th
Ja Song Nam, permanent representative of the DPRK to the United Nations
North Korea has taken its outrage over a new Hollywood movie to the United Nations.
Ja Song Nam, the country’s ambassador to the U.N., sent a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on June 27 with a copy of a Korean Central News Agency article that expressed displeasure at “The Interview,” a movie by Seth Rogen and James Franco.
The movie is described by its makers as an “action comedy” and has Franco and Rogen running a celebrity tabloid TV show.
“When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is More >
A Japanese guidebook to North Korea, from an earlier era
Jul 3rd
Chosen Appealing Travel
With Japan and North Korea starting to talk again about the abductee issue, there’s a possibility that Japan could lift some of the travel restrictions it currently places on travel between the two countries.
That could include a resumption of sailings by the Mangyongbong-92, a passenger and cargo ferry that used to travel between Niigata and Wonsan.
The ferry was an important link between Japan and North Korea for the thousands of Japanese residents whose families hail from towns and cities that are now part of North Korea.
(Just as I was putting the finishing touches to this post, the AP wrote a More >
Latest UN images shows life in North Korean nursery, hospital
May 24th
A visit to North Korea by the executive director of the UN World Food Programme this week has provided a glimpse inside a handful of state-run establishments that care for babies and new mothers.
The pictures, shot by the WFP on May 20, showed several stops on the visit by Ertharin Cousin, which lasted from May 19 to May 21.
The children in the images don’t appear to be suffering from some of the chronic malnutrition witnessed in the past in North Korea, but their ages are unclear and it’s not known whether the facilities were given notice of Cousin’s visit or the More >
