Lankov on North Korea

See this article on threewisemonkeys.

North Korean and Myanmar on Different Paths

North Korea Trajectory
"Until recently, both North Korea and Myanmar were labeled pariahs by the international community for their autocratic rule, human rights abuses and closed-door policy. But they are now on completely different paths."

North Korea and China's Cultural Space?

North Korea, South Korea, China, and Illegal Immigration

"As of late, two ethnic groups have been appearing regularly in Korean movies: ethnic Koreans in China, the so-called Joseonjok, and Saeteomin group, meaning ‘the newly-settled people’ but practically referring to the North Korean refugees to South Korea. Such movies as Secret Reunion (2009), the Yellow Sea (2010), the Tumen River (2009), and The Journals of Musan (2010) all show that the new focus is on viewing them as ‘people on the border’ rather than as compatriots."

Another Story of the Abuse of Women in Asia

Chinas War on Baby Girls - jing-zhang

Normally I try to post more Korea specific articles, but the overarching abuse of women in Asia, from the unborn to the old, is touched upon in this article. The horrors of North Korea are similar, and worse, than what is taking place in China. TN

"The blind Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest on April 22 and may be under the protection of the U.S. Embassy, was initially detained for exposing the massive abuse of Chinese women under China’s one-child policy. His documentation of forced sterilizations and abortions landed him in jail for four years, followed by a year and a half of house arrest. His daring escape has now triggered renewed attacks on organizations engaged in helping Chinese women keep and feed their infants.

Since April 28, the Family Planning Commission of Susong County in China’s Anhui province has been harassing families of pregnant women and infants who have received aid from a charity that helps rural families raise infant girls. Often the girl is a second child, in violation of China’s one-child policy.

PRC government agents have issued heavy fines to families for over-quota births and have threatened forced abortion for mothers with “illegal” pregnancies. Li Bin, the former chairman of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, is the current governor of Anhui province."

Insults and Threats from the North Koreans

MORE North Korean Propaganda

"FOR years North Korea has been threatening to turn Seoul into a bulbada (sea of fire). Those who live here are well accustomed to such bluster, and are mostly happy to ignore it. Perhaps because of this, Pyongyang is now trying out a new style of tough talk."

North Korea - Stories from the Gulag

A Child of the North Korean Gulag.

"‘Because I am surrounded by good people, I try to do what good people do. But it is very difficult. It does not flow from me naturally. . . . I am evolving from being an animal. But it is going very, very slowly.” Shin Dong-hyuk was speaking to Blaine Harden, a reporter for Frontline and a contributor to The Economist who has served as the Washington Post’s bureau chief in East Asia. Harden has recently authored the gripping memoir Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West.

    As Harden recounts, Shin was born in 1982 in Camp 14 in North Korea, a “no exit” political camp largely populated by entire families. It is one of six camps that may hold a total of 200,000 prisoners, the biggest of which occupies an area larger than Los Angeles. These camps are clearly visible in satellite reconnaissance photos, but North Korea denies that they exist." National Review article by Joseph A. Rehyansky.

Jerry Day, Ascom City, early 1960s?