http://www.freekorea.us One Free Korea analyzes North Korea, South Korea, and the region, including human rights, diplomacy, politics, military affairs, and publishes ground-breaking Google Earth imagery of North Korea's concentration camps, famine grave sites, and military sites. It is read by lawmakers, journalists, activists, and scholars worldwide. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:48:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en One of the most important offices in the subterranean warrens of the Treasury Department is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center, or FINCEN, whose mission is to combat illicit finance and money laundering, and whose global power derives from its influence within a global body of counterpart agencies from governments worldwide ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/19/global-financial-body-blacklists-north-korea/ I suppose this at least implicitly acknowledges that The Great Confiscation didn't quite earn "widespread support" from "[a]n absolute majority of workers from laborers, farmers and office workers" after all: North Korea has executed a ruling party official blamed for a botched currency reform, in a desperate attempt to quell public ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/19/north-korea-shoots-great-confiscation-scapegoat/ A few days ago, I mentioned that North Korea was raising the rent at foreign embassies. I wondered at the time whether that would violate the Vienna Convention, but I don't see how this comports with Articles 31 and 35: North Korea is also cracking down on the flow of ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/18/18-march-2010/ Have you voted for LiNK today? Incidentally, LiNK wanted me to pass this along: Wanted to let you know about a promotion we're having in March. Anyone who votes for LiNK at www.refresheverything.com/link (and gets 10 of their friends to vote) will get 10% percent off their order. Such a deal! ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/17/17-march-2010/ The full report is here. I won't have time to read it until this weekend, but here's a teaser: The North "is facing several domestic problems that in isolation would each be manageable but together could threaten regime survival," said Daniel Pinkston, the group's northeast Asia deputy project director. "The North ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/17/must-read-sanctions-could-cause-n-korean-regime-to-collapse/ North Korea is using annual military exercises as an excuse to "bolster up its war deterrent," the latter term being the traditional code-talk for nuclear weapons. This ought to put North Korea's rumored return to six-party talks in context. So should this Asia Times piece by our friend, ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/17/chinese-academic-admits-what-us-state-dept-wont-kim-jong-il-will-never-disarm/ Back in late January, North Korea claimed that an American who feared becoming "cannon fodder in the capitalist [all-volunteer] military" had crossed over to the loving embrace of the relevant organ. Despite my own growing doubts about the story, the fact that the Swedes have since had two consular ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/17/we-regret-to-inform-you-that-your-one-way-ticket-to-paradise-is-non-refundable/ A series of bleak new reports shows that after more than a decade of attempts by the United States and South Korea to liberalize North Korea though aid and engagement, life is as cheap as ever between the Yalu and the Imjin. The system is less closed than it ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/16/north-korea-human-rights-and-diplomacy-when-hell-freezes-over/ Please allow me to introduce Roh Jeong-Ho, ex-millionaire, former role model for the Sunshine Policy, and asshole. How does one achieve such distinction in life? In Roh's case, this way: Roh was once touted by the South Korean media as one of the young leaders in his early 30s ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/15/meet-roh-jeong-ho-ex-millionaire-symbol-of-a-failed-policy-and-asshole-3/ Whoop-dee-doo: Rumor has it that North Korea will return to six-party talks next month, and if that's true, it will only be under the duress of sanctions, and for the sole purposes of demanding that the sanctions be loosened and to issue a new list of demands that are ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/14/14-march-2010-here-we-go-again/ Yonhap is reporting that North Korea is busily printing portraits of the new emperor-in-waiting. If this is true, it would be the story I've been waiting for to convince me that Kim Jong-Eun is indeed being groomed as the spiritual successor to Kim Jong-Il, and it would also strongly ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/14/succession-watch-6/ Yes, you too can now read the complaints against North Korea filed in U.S. federal district courts -- all four of them. At this new page, I've posted a summary and the status of each case, downloaded and posted the key court documents, and even linked to the statutes ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/13/all-about-those-lawsuits-against-north-korea/ Here's a very long, and very interesting report on the potential for social unrest in North Korea, from a North Korean's perspective. ________________________ The story on how North Korea exports arms is worth a longer post than I have time to write today. ________________________ Kim Jong Il's banker Ambassador to ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/12/12-march-2010-on-the-potential-for-social-unrest-arms-trafficking-and-kim-dong-shiks-widow-sues-north-korea/ Reuters, citing a study by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), reports that "North Korea's international trade dropped last year for the first time in more than a decade." The report suggests that this was mostly the consequence of sanctions, but a closer look at the evidence it was The ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/12/north-korea-sanctions-itself/ Korean-American Richard Cho has been hailed as a hero for helping subdue a terrorist and putting out a fire aboard a U.S. airliner heading for Detroit last Christmas. Cho, 40, immigrated with his family to the U.S. at age seven, and went to high school in Chicago. He majored ... http://www.freekorea.us/2010/03/12/your-feel-good-story-of-the-year-so-far/