Exercise in terrorism: The likely cause of Otto Warmbier’s death

Exercise in terrorism: The likely cause of Otto Warmbier’s death

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk The death of Otto Warmbier provides a powerful reminder of the torture and terrorism perpetrated by one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Americans are no doubt aware of the tyranny of the dynasty led by a man who revels in ordering the development of long-range missiles capable of […]

Paranoid in Pyongyang: NIS reports wary Kim focused on ‘decapitation’ ops

Paranoid in Pyongyang: NIS reports wary Kim focused on ‘decapitation’ ops

Special to WorldTribune.com By Geostrategy-Direct Kim Jong-Un is not afraid of flying like his late father Kim Jong-Il and he has cultivated an outgoing buoyant personal like his grandfather Kim Il-Sung, Communist North Korea’s founder. But reportedly he shares one trait with his more reserved father: A tendency to check the rearview mirror often when […]

Report charges China-subsidized institutes on U.S. campuses are ‘soft power’ influence ops

Report charges China-subsidized institutes on U.S. campuses are ‘soft power’ influence ops

by WorldTribune Staff, June 20, 2017 Students at Chinese academic institutions in the United States are getting a heavy course of political indoctrination along with their regular studies, a report said. The Chinese Confucius Institutes are “operating without oversight and promoting a dangerous political agenda,” the National Association of Scholars (NAS) said. NAS director of […]

Collision? Ramming of the USS Fitzgerald has raised serious questions, few answers

Collision? Ramming of the USS Fitzgerald has raised serious questions, few answers

by WorldTribune Staff, June 19, 2017 Delayed and distorted reporting from authorities and the media of the “collision” between the USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-flagged container ship raise questions about what transpired in the sea off the coast of Japan in the early morning hours of June 17. The incident “still being misreported as a […]

Seoul’s new leftist government sets reform of intelligence agencies

Seoul’s new leftist government sets reform of intelligence agencies

by WorldTribune Staff, June 19, 2017 The administration of liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-In has moved to reform the country’s intelligence agencies, which the president during his campaign accused of illegal meddling in domestic politics. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) committee set up two task forces which will be assigned to overhauling the South’s […]

Sleeping sailors on U.S. destroyer had little time to react after collision near Japan

Sleeping sailors on U.S. destroyer had little time to react after collision near Japan

by WorldTribune Staff, June 18, 2017 The bodies of seven U.S. sailors were recovered after the USS Fitzgerald sustained significant damage in a collision with a Philippine-flagged merchant ship on Saturday around 2:20 a.m. in the sea off Japan, reports said. The seven sailors didn’t make it out of the berthing area, the Navy said. […]

Second N. Korean defector in a week used plastic foam to swim down Han River

Second N. Korean defector in a week used plastic foam to swim down Han River

by WorldTribune Staff, June 18, 2017 A man who attached plastic foam pieces to his shoulders and swam down the Han River is the second North Korea to defect in the last week, South Korea’s military said. The North Korea man, in his 20s, was spotted around 2:30 a.m. on June 18 at the northern […]

Greece blocks EU statement critical of China on human rights

Greece blocks EU statement critical of China on human rights

by WorldTribune Staff, June 18, 2017 A European Union statement at the UN criticizing China for its human rights record was blocked by Greece. Greece called the statement “unconstructive criticism of China” and said it would be better for the EU to hold separate talks with China outside the UN, Reuters reported on June 18. […]

Congress to request probe of China pressure on VOA; Rubio challenges budget cut

Congress to request probe of China pressure on VOA; Rubio challenges budget cut

by WorldTribune Staff, June 15, 2017 Congress is “putting together a formal request” for an investigation into whether China pressured Voice of American (VOA) to cut off a live broadcast of an exiled Chinese businessman who has attempted to expose what he says is corruption in Beijing’s leadership. The April 19 interview with Guo Wengui […]

Peace? Or should the conference theme be ‘Long live the brutal Kim dynasty’?

Peace? Or should the conference theme be ‘Long live the brutal Kim dynasty’?

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – Christine Ahn, a policy analyst with the Korea Peace Network, had what appeared to be good news as she opened a conference here with the portentous title, “Off Ramps to War: Paths to Building Peace with North Korea.” Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student accused of […]