General News
New CRS report on North Korea
Jan 28th
The Congressional Research Service has published a new report on North Korea.
The report, “U.S. Relations, Nuclear Diplomacy, and Internal Situation,” is embedded below.
CRS works for the U.S. Congress and produces objective and impartial reports that are intended to provide policy makers in the House and Senate with analysis of current issues. The organization is a part of the Library of Congress.
DPRK UN ambassador takes questions, gives advice
Jan 26th
It’s not often that a North Korean official faces a skeptical press corps and takes questions. Judging by Friday’s appearance at the United Nations by DPRK Ambassador Sin Son-ho, it’s even rarer that they provide answers to those questions.
Sin called a news conference at the U.N. in New York on Friday morning to announce North Korea’s proposal to lay steps towards “national reconciliation and unity” with South Korea.
His comments echoed those of North Korea’s National Defence Commission, which earlier in the day published the proposal through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
A key demand is that the U.S. and South Korean More >
‘No discernible improvement’ in DPRK human rights in 2013
Jan 22nd
Human Rights Watch says it has seen “no discernible improvement” in the human rights situation in North Korea since Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011.
The verdict, which likely comes as no surprise to anyone that watches the country, was included in the New York-based group’s annual “World Report” on human rights in countries around the world.
“The government continues to impose totalitarian rule,” the report said.
Five pages are devoted to North Korea and sum up the government’s use of torture and executions, prison camps, restrictions on movement, refugees and labor rights.
On the issue of freedom of access to information, the report More >
Kim Jong Un’s new year address
Jan 2nd
For the second year in a row, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on state TV and radio on January 1 to deliver a new year address to his nation.
The direct address was something of a surprise when it happened last year as Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, was rarely heard speaking on state media. For many years, he delivered his annual address through an editorial in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
This year’s speech comes at an interesting time, happening just weeks after Jang Song Thaek was arrested and executed for crimes against the state. Reports suggest a major purge More >
“Mass intimidation” from DPRK media on Jang’s execution
Dec 20th
North Korean state media’s coverage of the arrest, trial and subsequent execution of Jang Song Thaek was “tantamount to mass intimidation,” Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday.
“Although only to be expected from one of the world’s worst dictatorships, such manipulation of news and information is disturbing,” the Paris-based group said in a statement.
“The extensive and indeed staged coverage of this execution coinciding with the hyped coverage of the second anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death had the hallmarks of a intimidatory message to the entire Korean population and the international community.”
One of the things that made Jang’s arrest notable was the way it was More >
Voice of Korea on Jang Song Thaek
Dec 16th
North Korea’s external broadcasting service, the Voice of Korea, ran three reports last week on the arrest and subsequent trial and execution of Jang Song Thaek.
The reports, in English, are reproduced below.
The first report ran on December 9 and covered the meeting of the political bureau of the central committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea, at which Jang was accused of a series of crimes against the state and led away by soldiers.
The political bureau of the party center committee convened the enlarged meeting and discussed the issue about the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factionalist acts of Jang Song Thaek. At More >
UN, US State Dept. react to execution of Jang Song Thaek
Dec 14th
The United Nations Human Rights agency said it is following with concern news coming out of Pyongyang that Jang Song Thaek was executed this week.
“This underscores the arbitrary nature of the system in the DPRK and the absence of transparency and due process which is required for the rule of law,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a briefing in Geneva.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said the execution illustrated “the values of the regime, their low regard for human life, what’s probably one of the worst human rights records in the world.”
Here More >
North Korean TV on execution of Jang Song Thaek
Dec 14th
Korean Central Television broadcast a 17-minute report on the special military tribunal of the DPRK Ministry of State Security. The trial concluded by sentencing Jang to death.
Here’s the clip:
North Korean media announces execution of Jang
Dec 13th
High-level purges in North Korea have been typically quiet affairs in the past. Rumors would circulate that someone had been removed from office, state media would be analyzed for mentions of the person’s name and confirmation would usually only come months or years later when they either reemerged or someone else appeared in a position they used to fill.
Page 2 of the Rodong Sinmun for December 13, 2013
So the announcement through state media that Jang Song Thaek had been executed is quite stunning in its openness.
The Korean Central News Agency carried the news early on Friday, December 13, while the Rodong More >
Full text of KCNA announcement on execution of Jang
Dec 13th
The Korean Central News Agency issued the following on December 13, 2013. The English version of the article was issued in two takes. The first take runs about half the length of the full story until the “(more)” below. The story was then updated with the second half.
So when the story originally ran, only the headline referred to Jang’s execution. Details and the speed at which it was performed did not appear until the update, which runs to some 2,749 words.
Here it is in full:
Traitor Jang Song Thaek Executed
Pyongyang, December 13 (KCNA) — Upon hearing the report on the enlarged More >
