North Koreans Laugh Too

Is it possible to enjoy humor in a country as hopeless as North Korea?
There’s a lot of material, for sure, but do they get it? It seems they do. (more…)

The joy of modern appliances in North Korea

Oh, the magic of modern conveniences!
Back in the American 1970s, realtors used to write “ALL MOD CONS” in flyers to indicate the presence of life-changing, labor-saving devices such as electric washers and dryers, and (don’t swoon) gas ovens. Then along came the slow-cooker, and suburban homemakers took off for paying jobs in the city. At [...]

Who’ll stop the pain?

Under the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act, the United States offered fast-track processing for North Korean asylum-seekers. So far, 53 North Koreans have been granted refugee status here. Some tell stories that remind an old Asia hand of the worst Khmer Rouge atrocities. Others just remind us that evil is mostly banal—and sometimes the [...]

Newsdesk: Pyongyang slams ‘unsavory’ Tibetan elements

This just in from the South Korean news agency Yonhap, though it’s hardly a surprise: North Korea is throwing its support behind the Chinese authorities in their quest to suppress spreading anti-Chinese riots. “The DPRK government supports the Chinese government in its efforts to ensure social stability and the rule of law in Tibet and [...]

North Korea: Change to Official View of the Disabled

Wonhee Lee, February 18, 2008, translation by Greg Scarlatoiu:
The North Korean authorities are undergoing a change in perception regarding the people living with disabilities. North Korea is now no longer reluctant to request assistance for the disabled.
For a long time now, it has been known that it’s impossible to see or meet disabled people on [...]

A harmonic convergence in North Korea?

The musical puns are almost too good to resist, but I’ll do my best. The New York Philharmonic, America’s oldest symphony orchestra, played a concert today. They do that a lot, being an orchestra and all. But this concert was extraordinary, because it occurred in Pyongyang—possibly the most repressive country on Earth, and not known [...]

North Korean executed for making calls abroad

RFA-Korean reports that North Korea last year executed the director of one of its state-run companies last year for having made phone calls abroad without permission, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Paris-based RSF said in its annual survey of press freedom worldwide that North Korea “is the world’s most isolated country and the security [...]

North Korea: China ‘wants N. Korean army to be fed’

From RFA’s Korean service (in Korean)- Feb. 14, 2008 Sungwon Yang interview with Prof. Hazel Smith of Warwick University, at a Korea Society event in New York City:

China and South Korea actually want the North Korean military to be fed. The last thing they want is to have to deal with is hungry and [...]

‘Investing in the Fatherland’: Corruption in North Korea

Greg Scarlatoiu has provided a thoughtful and in-depth file of translated broadcasts and background information on the problem of corruption in North Korea. The Web story will be posted later today on RFA’s main Web site, but there is a lot of very valuable material here that you won’t find elsewhere.
“The entire system [...]

Traffickers use drugs on North Korean ‘brides’ in China

We’ve reported extensively on the trafficking of North Korean women into China, where men abound, women are scarce, and the black-market trade in wives often takes a grim and grisly turn. But here’s a new angle, unearthed by RFA’s Korean service: The traffickers, taking a page from pimps in the West, are using addictive drugs [...]