Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com South Korea’s latest pop culture, including the international hit song “Gangnam Style,” has found its way into the tightly-controlled North Korean world, a video footage shows. In the clips, two North Koreans are sitting in a dark room with a blanket over their head to hide themselves, moving their shoulders up […]
Special to WorldTribune.com North Korea watchers in Seoul have been paying keen attention to a mystery man who was spotted beside North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un at a ceremony on Dec. 16 marking the first anniversary of his father Kim Jong-Il’s death. A senior South Korean government official said the man is believed to be […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Several additional senior North Korean officials favored by the country’s late leader Kim Jong-Il have been recently dismissed from their posts by new ruler Kim Jong-Un, who is cementing his own power base, officials and sources in Seoul say. Among those sacked in October are Minister […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com They formed one of the oddest, blood-stained duos in Asian history. Cambodia’s king and prince and then king again, Norodom Sihanouk, bonded with North Korea’s “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung for reasons that had to do with their mutual hatred of the United States. Never did the adage, the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Ri Yong-Ho, the most ardent supporter of late North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Il’s “military-first” policy, was purged because he had complained about youthful new ruler Kim Jong-Un’s push for policy changes, sources and officials in Seoul say. But Ri’s dismissal could encourage his supporters and hardline […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com A growing number of North Koreans are starving to death, even in the country’s grain belt on the southwest coast, despite increased crop yields because soldiers and state officials are extorting the grain. A defector who fled the North last summer said members of the ruling class would […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com A campaign is in full swing in North Korea to craft the image of Kim Jong-Un as “healthy, energetic, friendly and able,” government officials in Seoul said. Kim, the third son of the country’s late ruler Kim Jong-Il, was unknown to the outside world and even to the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By East-Asia-Intel.com”>Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com North Korea’s newly-installed ruler Kim Jong-Un has been accelerating efforts to form his own independent power base, placing individuals loyal to him in key positions of authority after purging a number of potential rivals, sources in Seoul said. “A series of reshuffles are undergoing in the Party, the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The youngest son keeps his mouth shut, and the oldest one talks too much. Clearly, the silent one knows what’s best for him as he plays the title role bequeathed to him by his late father, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il. Kim Jong-Un is showing […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The rise of the son as “supreme commander” of North Korea’s armed forces gives rise to nostalgia. Already the reign of the father is beginning to seem like the good old days. At least as long as Kim Jong-Il was around a certain sense of security prevailed. South […]
