North Korea is keen to attract tourists

North Korea has always been a secluded state and its leader Kin Jong-Un is keen to attract tourists. He wants to increase it from the present 100,000 annually to two million by 2020. It is an ambitious project but already several tourism zones have been created over the past few years towards achieving this objective.
There are traditional tours of state sites and monuments, and tourists can now choose to go for snowboarding, and would soon get an opportunity to put up in an underwater hotel.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 13 February 2017.

In view of secrecy surrounding the activities of North Korea, the tourist would have to accept that his movements will be restricted and he must follow the group and its itinerary and also follow the guide - each group is assigned two guides. Moreover, visitors must not show disrespect to the country's supreme leaders and take photographs of soldiers or military areas.
Tourists can see ox-drawn carts, people hitchhiking, cars that have been outfitted to run on coal emitting thick black smoke. Moreover, there are visits to architectural sites, skiing and hiking trips, and supermarkets and pubs in Pyongyang where visitors can meet and rub shoulders with locals.


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Traffic girls of Pyongyang are the most iconic symbols of North Korea

North Korea is a country that has an identity of its own. The Traffic girls of Pyongyang are the most iconic symbols of North Korea because the job goes to the most attractive women in the country - they are hand-picked for roles in traffic control.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 16 December 2016.

The job of these traffic girls involves directing vehicles through the roads of the capital apart from saluting all military and government officials. These traffic girls have their own website. It features a "Pyongyang Traffic Girl Of The Month", a game and a forum where fans can write messages to the girls.
Incidentally, they figure on brochures, stamps and billboards and, there are even traffic girl dolls that have been produced as toys for children.
They are also awarded the country's highest honors - a 22-year-old woman was awarded the "Hero of the Republic", for "helping traffic safety in the city".


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Nuclear armed North Korea walks out of an event on human rights in the UN

#UnitedNations #NorthKorea #defectors #DPRK It was the presence of around 20 North Korean defectors, in a conference on human rights held at the UN under a US-organized event, that rattled the diplomats of North Korea and they left the venue amid shouts from the defectors.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 1 May 2015.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, made efforts to bring normalcy and quiet the diplomats in the event that featured more than 20 North Korean defectors.
The North Korean diplomats stormed out of the chamber following Ri Song Choi’s statement in protest of the event while the defectors stood their grounds and protested in their faces.
It may be recalled that North Korea has been on the defensive ever since a groundbreaking U.N. commission of inquiry had revealed innumerable cases of human rights abuses in the country. In this connection, NK has always referred to the defectors, who cooperated with the inquiry, as “human scum.”
Incidentally, it was international pressure that had led the U.N. Security Council to place the issue on its agenda of matters of international peace. Samantha Power also requested neighboring countries, especially China, to stop sending North Koreans seeking asylum back into the country because the “true weapons of mass destruction” in North Korea was the tyranny of its government against its citizens.

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Kim Jong-Un executes 15 senior officials because they did not dance to his tunes

#KimJongUn #NorthKorea #Unhasu #orchestra #RiSolJu Kim Jong-Un, the leader of North Korea hates anyone who dares to defy his authority and will summarily issue execution orders – this year he has already executed 15 senior officials as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 29 April 2015.

Four of them were senior members of Pyongyang's famous Unhasu Orchestra, where Kim's wife, Ri Sol Ju, had been a singer before she married him in June 2012. The charges against them was spying and they were shot by firing squad. Then there was a vice minister executed for questioning state policy on forestry. Another official of a similar rank was executed in February because he opposed Kim's plans for a new building in the shape of a flower named after his grandfather, North Korean founder Kim Il-Sung.
These details have come out during a secret briefing to the South Korean parliament's intelligence committee. As he committee member has revealed – Kim Jong-Un does not accept excuses or reasoning and he believes in pushing through everything. If there is any objection, he feels it as a challenge to his authority and gives execution orders. In the four months of this year, 15 senior officials have reportedly been executed.
Incidentally, he is expected to travel to Moscow to attend an event marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe. It would be his first overseas trip after coming to power in 2011 following the death of his father.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to induct new girls into his harem

#harem #kimjongun #northkorea #freshfaces Kim Jong-Un, the 32-year-old dictator of North Korea is on the lookout for fresh faces to induct into his harem. It is a practice that had been started by his grandfather, North Korea's founding father, the 'Eternal President' Kim Il-sung.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 3 April 2015.

The tradition was subsequently carried forward by Kim Jong-il, the present leader’s father and had been kept on hold due to the three year mourning period. Kim Jong-il had died in December 2011 and the coast is now clear for Kim Jong-Un to select his very own ‘pleasure troupe’.
Kim Jong-Un is married to a former singer with whom he has a baby daughter and, even though his country is notorious for its allegedly widespread and horrific human rights abuses, his staff are busy scouring the countryside to select a band of fresh faces.
The number of new inductees would be 30 to 40 every year. They would serve as maids, singers, or dancers in case they pass the interview with the leader. The prettiest of them would be expected to become the leader's concubines. Once they reach their mid-20s, they would eventually be retired to become high ranking military or government officials.

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Wage row in Kaesong Industrial Park between Pyongyang and Seoul

#southkorea #northkorea #kaesong #industrialzone #wagerow Even though there exists enmity between North Korea and South Korea, the joint industrial park in Kaesong has been seen a ray of light for the two countries to sink their differences. This unique venture is financed by the South while the workers belong to the North. Obviously, it benefits both the sides.
However, trouble seems to be brewing as a group of 14 South Korean businessmen on Wednesday travelled there to hold talks with North Korean officials in a bid to resolve an escalating row over wages at the park. This has been reported in zeenews.india.com/news dated 18 March 2015.
Pyongyang had announced a unilateral decision last month that it would hike the basic salary of some 54,000 North Korean workers employed across 125 South Korean firms in the complex from $155 to $164 monthly as of the end of last year.
This is not acceptable to the South because any such decision must be taken after a dialogue between both. Observers are of the opinion that this stance of North is a result of the plan of South Korea to send across propaganda balloon to coincide with the five-year anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010. A total of 46 sailors lost their lives in this and the South blamed it on the North.
Moreover, South Korean activists want to sneak copies of satirical Hollywood movie "The Interview" across the border. This would be in defiance of North Korea`s repeated threats of retaliation through military means.

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North Korea wants to promote tourism but Ebola scare plays spoilsport

#PyongyangMarathon #NorthKorea #Ebola #biologicalweapon It is a real paradox for North Korea – while it wants to see more tourists, the scare of Ebola has forced it to ban foreign marathon runners from the annual Pyongyang marathon as reported in news.sky.com dated 23 February 2015. This ban has been imposed even though the secretive country does not have any previous recorded of any case of Ebola virus.
The race officially as the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, runs through the streets of Pyongyang and had been thrown open for the first time to foreigners last year – the response was positive and it was a huge success.
Accordingly, hundreds of foreigners had signed up to run in this year's event on 12 April – their incentive was to avail of this rare chance to compete in the mysterious country. However, they are now a disappointed lot because tour operators have been told that the race is now only open to North Korean runners, due to fear of Ebola.
The marathon, in its 27th year, is part of a series of sporting competitions, arts festivals and cultural events to mark the birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, which falls on 15 April.
The Ebola virus has killed upwards of 9,000 people in West Africa - but there ae no reports of infection either in North Korea or in the surrounding region. Incidentally, the country's media has previously suggested that the disease was a human creation of the US military and that Ebola was a biological weapon.

North Korea says Americans are gangsters, threatens US imperialists with final doom

#northkorea #DPRK #theinterview #cyberwarfare North Korea has warned the United States that it will repel any aggression by the "gangster-like" Americans by using conventional weapons, nuclear strikes and cyber warfare. This threat had been made by the National Defense Commission (NDC) which is North Korea's top military organization. It has also ruled out face-to-face negotiations with Washington.
The headline of the statement is "US imperialists will face final doom" and observers feel it is a sort of reaction to what US president Barack Obama had said last month. At that time, he had described North Korea as the "most cut-off nation on Earth" and also mentioned about the regime's eventual collapse.
The DPRK feels humiliated by the remarks of President Obama and has said that in view of the fact that the gangster-like US imperialists are blaring that they will 'bring down' the DPRK (North Korea) ... the army and people of the DPRK cannot but officially notify the Obama administration ... that the DPRK has neither need nor willingness to sit at negotiating table with the US any longer. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 4 February 2015.
It has gone on to add that North Korea was capable of bringing about the "final ruin of the US" with its "precision and diversified nuclear striking means". It does have expertise to carry out cyber warfare as was witnessed in the hacking of Sony Pictures movie ‘The Interview’.
The statement of North Korea comes weeks before the beginning of annual US-South Korea military exercises – this annual exercise gives rise to increase in tensions in the divided peninsula.

Rumors doing the rounds that North Korea plans to restart its nuclear reactor

#yongbyon #nuclearreactor #northkorea Based on satellite images that reveal steam coming out from the Yongbyon plant and an increase in melted snow, observers feel that North Korea may be on its way to revive its interest in nuclear activities. It could be making efforts to restart a nuclear reactor which has the capability to produce fuel for a nuclear bomb. This is the opinion of The US-Korea Institute which is an American think tank.
This institute is based at Johns Hopkins University in Washington and as per its report, the satellite images were of the period between 24 December and 11 January and showed new activity at Yongbyon. These could indicate that the North Koreans were making efforts to restart the plutonium production reactor that had been lying dormant for almost five months. The Yongbyon reactor had been shut down in 2007 and restarted in 2013.
Of course, the satellite images were not necessarily conclusive proof of the intentions of Pyongyang. The last time any activity was seen at the site was in November when North Korea had threatened to launch a fourth nuclear test in response to a United Nations move to probe the country's human rights violations.
South Korea's defense ministry has reported that there was "no circumstantial report that North Korea is making final preparations for a test". North Korea has already conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Seoul once again proposes reunification talks with Pyongyang

#SouthKorea #NorthKorea #reunification #Kaesong It has been reported that South Korea has once again proposed talks with North Korea to discuss a range of issues that are necessary to lay the foundation for the unification of the divided countries. However, there are doubts on whether Pyongyang would agree because it has always any such attempts with distrust – it also wants a unified Korea but, with Pyongyang in charge.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae has informed in a televised news conference that South Korea wants talks to be held in January and would discuss exchange programs, joint projects and laws needed for a unified Korea. Ryoo has added that South Korea hopes the proposed talks would also discuss resuming reunion of families who have been separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
It may be recalled that Seoul had launched a government committee on the unification in July, six months after President Park Geun-hye had informed in a New Year's press conference that unifying with North Korea would bring an economic "bonanza," not massive financial costs associated with any Korean unification. However, North Korea turned the proposal and made an angry response, saying the plans of Park were nothing but a plot to topple Pyongyang and build a unified Korea under a South Korean system.
The bitterness between the two Koreas has resulted in the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in April 2013 – this setup was in North Korean territory and while North supplied the manpower, south did the investment. It provided employment to North Koreans but that has been stopped. Reunification could help both the sides.

North Korea had its men on U S soil in the 1990s to carry out sabotage activities

#NorthKorea As per a Defense Intelligence Agency report dated September 13, 2004, it has been revealed that North Korea had been prepared for attacks with the U S as far back as the 1990s. It had, accordingly, sent across Special Force teams to the US – their missions were to target nuclear power stations and conduct terror attacks on major cities in the event of war.
The intelligence report has now been declassified.
It seems the rogue state had successfully infiltrated five units of highly-trained commandos onto U.S. soil ready to strike at key installations. In order to do this, the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces ' had set up five liaison offices in the early 1990s. Their tasks were to train and infiltrate operatives into the United States to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in case of hostilities.
In the opinion of military experts, the commando units had been brought in because at the time North Korea lacked any long-range missiles capable of hitting the U.S. and one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the units and infiltration of operatives was the slow progress in developing a multi-stage ballistic missile.