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We have finally gotten around to reading the leaked UN Panel of Experts report that has been getting so much attention recently. It provides a surprisingly useful and blunt introduction to how the North Koreans—with the complicity of unnamed “third parties”—has sought to circumvent the sanctions. But it goes farther by putting the country’s weapons programs [...]
We’ve been writing a lot about the aid issue; David Straub, in particular, has made the straightforward utilitarian argument that in a world of limited resources, North Korea has no special privilege, and aid may be better allocated elsewhere. Now the US Congress has cut the budget for foreign food aid assistance, tightening those constraints [...]
From the Chosun Ilbo: “North Korea has faxed propaganda material to a large number of South Korean organizations and businesses, shifting the blame for its artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island to the South Korean and U.S. governments in an attempt to foster conflict between conservatives and progressives here.” Propaganda via fax?! In 2011? Apparently this [...]
Not all the news from North Korea is bad. This past weekend Kim Jong-il shared a cordial dinner with Naguib Sawiris, head of Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian firm which in a joint venture with the state-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation is bringing cellular telephone service to North Korea. Orascom Telecom claims more than 300,000 subscribers. [...]
