Monthly Archive for April, 2008

KPA officer defection: not something you hear about everyday (update)

Published
by
Jack
on April 28, 2008
in Defectors, News, North Korea and ROK
. 0 Comments

Update: See One Free Korea and ROK Drop

Here is something you do not see everyday (Yonhap):

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) — A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea through the inter-Korean border, marking the first defection by a military officer via the heavily-fortified border in 10 years, an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday.

The North Korean, identified only by his surname Ri, crossed the border shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday and told South Korean guards that he was seeking asylum, the official said, asking not to be identified.

The 28-year-old second lieutenant has been handed over to a joint investigation team of the National Intelligence Service, the Military Security Command and the police, according to the official.

He had serious cajones to cross the DMZ. While this is not the first time for crossings, it is very risky and pretty rare. I have heard of other defections across the DMZ, this is the first time I have seen it in the new news. According to the same Yonhap article the last defection was around 1998, but an enlisted crossed lat year? I never saw anything about that, so I will have to look that up:

The North Korean is the first commissioned officer to defect to South Korea through the border since 1998 when a first lieutenant crossed the border, according to JCS officials. An enlisted member of the North’s Korean People’s Army crossed the border last year.

Do crossings along the DMZ only count for officers? I am not very clear on that, but all the same, it is still pretty interesting. Furthermore, I am also wondering where he crossed and what prompted him to cross. While I can guess he was tired of the regime, the details would be very interesting. I will keep my eyes peeled on more information. The minefield, the electric fence and the border guards would mean this man must of been itching to cross obviously.

If other readers have more information about this defection, please let me know.

Update - One Free Korea did a little more digging around and found some links to some DailyNK sources to help explain the defection which is likely linked to the serious food problem. Food prices all around the world have skyrocketed and is causing civil unrest according to the UN, and if free and relatively free nations are facing a crisis of a magnitude worthy of a mention on front page news, just imagine the difficulties for the DPRK who suffer serious shortages, little international trade and diplomatic ties to begin with.

Now as I posted here many times before, the KPA, elites and policy elites in North Korea keep the regime going, and if the state cannot provide food even for them, how can they continue to keep the normal population in check? Common sense tells me it is very difficult to do so. As the food situation seems to worsen (I do not know why the food problem is worldwide), North Korea on a cash and carry only basis surely cannot import food and aid has slowed to a small trickle. A+B=C; People will be malnourished and will look for food elsewhere.

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No protests in Pyongyang leg of the Olympic torch relay? Who knew!

Published
by
Jack
on April 28, 2008
in Diplomacy, News, North Korea, Other Regimes and ROK
. 2 Comments

Also see ROK Drop, One Free Korea, and Marmots.

Protest is not in the North Korean dictionary, and the headline produced by the Associated Press made me laugh out loud.

North Korea’s first torch runner Pak Du Ik, carrying the Olympic torch, sets out for a relay through the streets of Pyongyang, at a ceremony held at the capital’s Tower of the Juche Idea on Monday April 28, 2008. The Olympic torch launched its first-ever run Monday in authoritarian North Korea, where the flame was assured of a trouble-free trip unlike other stops worldwide.

Emphasis mine. This is news of the century and is fit to be printed worldwide. North Korea does not have protests! It is amazing! It is unbelievable! Oh wait a moment; it is obvious as the sun rising in the morning. While the news of the Olympic torch relay is the first ever for North Korea, it is strictly controlled. Yawn, what a surprise.

[...]

An attentive and peaceful crowd of thousands watched the start of the relay in Pyongyang, some waving Chinese flags, in live footage from broadcaster APTN. The event was presided over by the head of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament who often acts as a ceremonial state leader, Kim Yong Nam.

Hm, they better be attentive and peaceful or face the wrath. There is no choice, no dissent, no protest, no wavering. Everything in North Korea is well on message and again is no surprise. if it were any different, it would be real news.

The North, an ally of its communist neighbor China, has been critical of disruptions to the torch relay elsewhere and has supported Beijing in its crackdown against violent protests in Tibet. North Korea is one of the world’s most tightly controlled countries, where citizens are not allowed to travel freely and civil rights are restricted by the iron-fisted regime.

Yawn again. Maybe the bigger news was Kim Jong Il was not seen at the event. Then again, maybe it is not such huge news because Kim Jong Il does not really care. The Juche Tower is probably the biggest news of all. I mean that place is almost as sacred as Kim Il Sung Square.

The relay began from beneath the large sculpted flame that tops the obelisk of the Juche Tower, which commemorates the national ideology of “self-reliance” created by the country’s late founding President Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il was not seen at the event.

He must of been watching it on TV or surfing the Internet. An interesting part of this story is this:

The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF had been asked to participate in the North Korean leg of the relay but withdrew in March, saying that it wasn’t sure the event would help its mission of raising awareness of conditions for children.

Why would they be asked to participate in the first place? Reading this report by Reuters gave some indication on why they were asked in the first place:

UNICEF had been asked to participate in the Pyongyang leg of the relay by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which said that North Korea had been “unable to identify a Korean national” to take part in the run, de Bono said.

According to the Sunday Times of London, the newspaper that first reported the news of UNICEF’s decision, there were concerns that the relay would be used by Pyongyang as a “propaganda stunt” in the reclusive communist state.

I have to agree it would have been used for propaganda, and I believe it would have been better just to stay the hell out of it because going to a relay in North Korea is not going to raise awareness for the plight of children in the DPRK. In fact, why would the DPRK even allow them to show up on that basis? It sounds absurd to me. At the end of the day, UNICEF can be there, but the children are still starving. A torch is not going to help them at all. While no protests happened in the DPRK, protests happened in the ROK:

On Sunday, clashes broke out in Seoul near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing’s policies, carrying a banner reading, “Free North Korean refugees in China.” The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.

One Chinese student swatted at the demonstrators with a flagpole. Another student was arrested for allegedly throwing rocks, police said.

Sounds pretty bad, and does not look very good either. North Korea will not have any of that. After all, they are friends. What a bore.

Police said four other people were arrested for trying to disrupt the relay

Authorities deployed some 8,000 police — some riding horses and bicycles — to protect the torch.

One North Korean defector poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street along the route and tried to set himself on fire, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away. The man, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China.

South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon expressed strong regret over the clashes in a meeting Monday with China’s ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui.

Ning also said he regretted the “extreme behavior” by some young Chinese and expressed his sympathies to police and a journalist who was injured, the South’s Foreign Ministry said.

In all- what a mess, and in the end, fruitless.

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Developing another blog (Update)

Published
by
Jack
on April 26, 2008
in Communism and Other Topics
. 1 Comment

Update: The blog has been made, and the first post is up. Granted, a lot of work is left to do on it, but the content is more important than the bells and whistles at this point in time because blogs are not developed overnight. Ideas for some posts are already in the Discussion Forums, and I want to thank those that did contribute there and elsewhere (E-Mail and IM), you have my deepest thanks.

Please be aware I do not have a domain name for it yet, and I do not know if I will add a domain name. Right now, content is king and if there is some interest somewhere down the line, I may add a domain, but this is an experiment I am hoping will work.

Original post: That’s right, I have been posting about other regimes on a North Korean centric blog, so I think it is about time I move those topics to another blog. I am in the process of developing another one called Communist Nation. This will focus on past regimes, the philosophy, economy and other aspects of communism. I am sure there will be many other things to cover and know of a lot of folks with a lot of good knowledge about other countries. Maybe you do too. Therefore, I am going to post what I learn here and there.

More details to come…

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More funny from ROK Drop

Published
by
Jack
on April 25, 2008
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

Looks like songunblogspot made Little Green Footballs. I am jealous (maybe not because a wave of users from there will make this site crash). Anyway, the video is pretty funny and over the top. As said by other DPRK watchers, is this person for real or satirical? It is hard to say, but it is interesting all the same. I will not link LGF because I do not know the pingback rules. Enjoy!

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CIA report on the North Korea/Syrian connection (Update 3)

Published
by
Jack
on April 24, 2008
in News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes and Video
. 0 Comments

This is all over the news, so there is not a lot for me to add. Here is a report by the AP:

The rebuttal from Al-Jazeera:

Timeline from AP:

Timeline of North Korea’s nuclear weapons activities:

_ 1994: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement under which the North shuts down its plutonium-based nuclear reactor in exchange for help building two “light water” nuclear reactors for producing electricity.

_ Sept. 17, 1999: President Clinton agrees to first major easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since the Korean War’s end in 1953.

_ Jan. 29, 2002: President Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an “axis of evil.”

_ Oct. 4, 2002: North Korea tells visiting U.S. delegation it has a uranium enrichment program, Washington says.

_ Nov. 21, 2002: U.S.-led consortium says it is suspending construction of light water reactors.

_ Dec. 28, 2002: North Korea orders U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country.

_ Jan. 11, 2003: North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

_ Feb. 26, 2003: North Korea is reported to have restarted Yongbyon reactor, which U.S. officials say was designed to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons but which North Korea maintains is for energy production.

_ Aug. 27-29, 2003: North Korea joins first round of six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing, which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S., which continue periodically over the next several years.

_ Feb. 10, 2005: North Korea announces it has nuclear weapons.

_ July 5, 2006: North Korea launches seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, prompting a U.N. Security Council resolution to condemn it.

_ Oct. 9, 2006: North Korea says it has conducted its first-ever nuclear test.

_ Oct. 14, 2006: U.N. Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution imposing wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear test.

_ Feb. 13, 2007: North Korea agrees at six-nation talks on initial steps to disarmament.

_ July. 14, 2007: North Korea says it has shut down its Yongbyon plutonium-reactor. IAEA inspectors arrive in Pyongyang.

_ Aug. 17, 2007: The IAEA says its agents have confirmed the shutdown of four nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and an unfinished nuclear power plant at Taechon.

_ Sept. 2, 2007: The U.S. says North Korea agreed during talks in Geneva to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of the year — the first time it has offered a timeline.

_ Sept. 6, 2007: Israeli warplanes bomb a Syrian nuclear reactor site allegedly built with North Korean design help.

_ Oct. 3, 2007: The six parties agree that North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities and its main reactor by Dec. 31.

_ Nov. 5, 2007, North Korea starts disabling the Yongbyon reactor under the watch of U.S. experts.

_ Dec. 31, 2007: North Korea misses its deadline for declaring all its nuclear programs.

_ Feb. 22, 2008: North Korea opens its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon to foreign media for the first time. American researchers say North Korean officials told them they had slowed the removal of fuel rods because the United States and other nations fell behind in supplying aid promised under the disarmament deal.

_ March 28, 2008: North Korea test-fires a barrage of short-range missiles in an apparent angry response to the new South Korean government’s tougher stance on Pyongyang.

_ April 24, 2008: The White House breaks its silence and says North Korea assisted Syria’s secret nuclear program and that the nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel was not intended for “peaceful purposes.”

Update: see One Free Korea’s post. Very good read.

Update: See ROK Drop.

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Messing around with themes yet again (Update 2)

Published
by
Jack
on April 21, 2008
in Blogs & Blogging and Other Topics
. 4 Comments

I have been looking around for a decent theme that fits my “vision” for this blog, and so far no luck. It seems some may have one item I like but lacks in another. Therefore, I think it is time I design my own theme. Postings may come slower than usual, but that is alright. It is not like I am getting paid to post, right?

Once something is done, I will post some screenies and maybe even a download. I suppose it will depend if others find the theme(s) useful or not. See, like the subject of North Korea, I am not an expert on Wordpress themes either, so that means I will take bits and pieces from GPL’d themes and make it into one monstrosity that works the way I want it to work (if any).

I am looking for something that is not really graphics heavy but has a definite “former communist” look that tells the user while it is about North Korea, it makes it very clear is not pro-DPRK. The way it is laid out and the position of the graphics can give the user a lot of information right away. I apologize for the theme merry-go-round, and in time, I will find or make something that will work.

Looks like the K2 nightly build looks promising. I’ll see what I can cook up with that.

Update 2: So much for the “big idea”. Maybe I need to shut the hell up and work on something before posting it. Maybe that will not make me look dumb. I do that enough as it is with the posts, so this may not be something new. Anyway, this will have to do for now.

Stay tuned…

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Ion Mihai Pacepa: Red Horizons

Published
by
Jack
on April 19, 2008
in Communism, Cult Of Personality, Defectors, Juche Idea, North Korea, Other Regimes, Other Topics, Questions To Readers, United States, books and open thread
. 5 Comments

Red HorizonsI have been reading about Hwang Jang Yop’s defection to the ROK in 1997, and his warnings and commentary about his time in the KWP and what should be done about it seems to be largely ignored by a lot of folks. For what reasons and what end is something I am not too sure of yet, but I have been looking to other high level defections from other former communist nations. One I knew nothing about and seems pretty well-known is a man named Ion Mihai Pacepa. This defection made news and apparently was used by the United States for information regarding the Soviet bloc. This led to a multi-million dollar price tag on his head. His story is very interesting, and am reading more about this man. Also, there is a lot more information about Ion Mihai Pacepa than Yuri Bezmenov other than the 1985 interview posted earlier this week. Therefore, I have a lot of reading to do.

So I looked him up to see if he was still alive, and apparently, is alive and well. He wrote a lot of articles for conservative-leaning magazines (FrontPage Magazine, National Review and some others) and wrote some books. One I just ordered today is called Red Horizons. I read the limited preview on Google Books and was instantly riveted. It told the tale of how things worked behind closed doors of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist Romania. This was in such detail (I am so used to little to no details when reading about the inner workings of North Korea) I could not believe my eyes. Once the limited preview was over, I was sorely disappointed and ordered the book. It was not that expensive $10 + shipping, but I will not like the wait for it to come to the door.

Now some may be asking why Romania and other former regimes when this blog is about North Korea. I am beginning to think there is some parallels and maybe some lessons to be learned. What can me gleaned from these other former regimes in respect to North Korea? I mean Romania had some similarities albeit Ceausescu’s imitation of other models of North Korea and China for instance. He had a huge cult of personality, a manufactured biography, and spending huge amounts of money on luxuries while others suffered greatly in his Utopia. In North Korea, there is a huge cult of personality, both Kims spend money for luxuries at the expense of the citizens, no tolerance for dissidents and a very closed off society. So my question is, how is Romania different or the same about North Korea? What can we learn from the mind of Nicolae in respect to Kim Il Sung and/or Kim Jong Il’s leadership? Maybe they are very different in many ways, but maybe history repeats itself. Perhaps this is something worth discussing further.

In the meantime, I will wait for this book, and if others have read this book or wants to discuss this further, by all means, let’s discuss it. Oh, and once I am done with the book, I will give my thoughts on it.

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Propaganda Time: Saku edition - UPDATE

Published
by
Jack
on April 18, 2008
in Cult Of Personality, Juche Idea, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, Video, propaganda and wtf
. 1 Comment

A big thanks to Saku for the videos because they have been entertaining. Please note a lot of the footage may be similar because clips are available on songonblogspot and are in other propaganda time postings here on DPRK Forum. It took me a while to learn how to upload these things, but it is smooth sailing now. At any rate, enjoy the video, and I will post more as I upload more to Google.

Update: This video was removed from Google video because of… get this… a copyright violation. What a huge irony.

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USCIRF Report on North Korea: A Prison Without Bars (update)

Published
by
Jack
on April 16, 2008
in Defectors, Diplomacy, Humanitarian Topic, Interesting reading, North Korea, The region and United States
. 0 Comments

Update: I found the USCIRF report “Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung”:  Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion in North Korea. But the link to the report is dead. If anybody has a copy of this, let me know

In the wake of the Free Tibet movement (which I am not against) in regards to the 2008 games in Beijing, the repatriation of North Koreans back into the lion’s den has been eclipsed. While not all have forgotten about it, is almost never covered in the mainstream press. In fact, time and time again when I talk to others about the crisis in North Korea, it is met with a collective “what” or “who cares”. As explosive and debated as the Tibet protests are, I sometimes wish the defectors from North Korea get the same attention. As they always say, I can wish in one hand and defecate in the other and see which gets filled first…

A report on the BBC pointed to a report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom regarding how China should refrain from send refugees back to North Korea:

[...]

The commission urged the international community to put pressure on Beijing not to send the refugees back.

“Such action should begin immediately as China prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing,” it said.

Now if they listen is another thing, but I get the feeling all eyes will be on either the games or Tibet. I am not stifling the debate, and is a healthy one, but North Korea has been largely ignored. An interesting PDF covers the squelching of religious beliefs in North Korea called A Prison Without Bars: Refugee and Defector Testimonies of Severe Violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in North Korea (PDF File). According to the commission’s web site:

WASHINGTON- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom will release its updated report on religious freedom and related human rights in North Korea, entitled A Prison Without Bars: Refugee and Defector Testimonies of Severe Violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in North Korea, at a press conference the day before South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C. for a summit with President Bush. The discussion of the report, with Commission Chair Michael Cromartie and Commissioners Nina Shea and Imam Talal Y. Eid, will be followed by a briefing, co-sponsored by the Congressional Korea Caucus.
A Prison Without Bars offers fresh evidence regarding the grave situation of North Korean asylum seekers who have been forcibly repatriated from China back to North Korea. Contrary to claims made by the Chinese government, repatriated North Koreans face severe persecution, including harsh interrogations, long-term imprisonment, and torture if they are found to have converted to Christianity or had contact with South Korean Christians or churches while in China. The report provides evidence that the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong Il and his family remains strong, and that Kim Jong Il’s regime perceives any new religious activity as a security threat to be combated at all costs. As a result, stringent security measures have been enacted to stop the spread of religion, mostly Protestantism, through cross-border contacts with China.
A Prison Without Bars follows up the Commission’s 2005 study on North Korea’s brutal suppression of religious freedom, Thank You Father Kim Il Sung. The Commission’s new report again presents the opportunity to gain insight into human rights conditions in the “Hermit Kingdom” by providing a channel for North Korean nationals to present their experiences to the international community.
[...]
I am reading it now, and the report so far is pretty gripping and well worth the read. Next,
Immediately following the press conference, the Commission will conduct a congressional briefing on human rights in North Korea, jointly sponsored with the Congressional Korea Caucus. The briefing will feature David Hawk, a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy; Peter Beck, Executive Director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; and Jae Ku, Executive Director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Several Members of Congress are also expected to participate in the briefing.
Will this get press? One can only hope, but I have my doubts at this point in time. In the meantime, I encourage you to read the report and decide for yourself about the situation.

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I will believe it when I see it

Published
by
Jack
on April 16, 2008
in Diplomacy, Kim Jong Il, News, North Korea, Nukes, ROK and United States
. 0 Comments

Yet another report regarding Kim Jong Il giving a declaration has presented itself, and anything regarding that has me skeptical. According to Bloomberg:

April 16 (Bloomberg) — North Korea will submit a list of its nuclear programs and materials by the end of this month, the Hankook Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official.

Hm, really? I will believe it when I see it. So far, all the promises for a declaration have all been for naught for a really long time, and if the DPRK does finally give some declaration, I would be very, very surprised. On the other hand, for a more detailed version of how the talks progressed to maybe, just maybe to get to this point can be found on OFK. After reading that, it seemed pretty clear to me Kim will still get what he wants in the end. Kim knows damn well nothing happened for nothing delivered in December, so why should he worry about delivering a declaration by the end of this month? What changed in the agreement to change his mind and be a good boy? In my opinion, nothing at all. The entire process has been a disaster just like the times before.

The U.S. will start talks on removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism once the communist nation provides the declaration, the Seoul-based newspaper cited the official as saying. The steps are part of an agreement reached by the two countries in talks in Singapore last week, it said.

Emphasis mine. Now North Korea giving a declaration at the end of this month is one thing, but as Joshua has pointed out, Why should North Korea get deleted from the list of terror when Kim practices terror? As the post suggested:

[...]

So have you heard that Kim Jong Il will celebrate his removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism … by firing off more missiles?

U.S. military authorities have been closely watching the North Korean arm since spotting signs of lively activity at a missile launch site in North Korea, CNN reported Friday. Quoting two U.S. military officers, the channel reported satellite photos recently spotted personnel, vehicles and materials moving toward the Rodong missile base in Shinori, north of Pyongyang. Rodong-1 missiles with a range of 1,300 km capable of striking most of the Japanese islands are reportedly deployed at the Shinori site. [Chosun Ilbo]

I’m at a loss for words. North Korea throws an extortionate fit, even threatens to turn Seoul to “ashes” – all of which is clearly calculated to intimidate South Korean voters just before an election – and we reward them by declaring them not to be sponsors of terror. (To be precise, the North Koreans aren’t sponsoring terrorism, they’re practicing terrorism. There should be a separate list for nations that engage in this kind of direct, retail terrorism. Naturally, our State Department overlooked that).

[...]

While I doubt North Korea is stupid enough to launch missiles and restart the Korean War, the rhetoric has been stepped up. While we never know what Kim is thinking and what he will do next, his temper tantrums seem to get what he wants in the end by ruffling his feathers. So we eventually give in. What is next in this saga of diplomacy? It is hard to say, but to remove North Korea from the list of terrorists is insane. Many will disagree with me on this, but that is how I feel. Kim Jong Il has played the international community once again.

Now for the big IF:

The six nations may meet for talks in the middle of next month if the declaration is provided and negotiations on North Korea’s removal from the U.S. list begin, Hankook Ilbo reported.

The question is, what if Kim decides not to declare his nukes? Is he willing to give them up to shore his crumbling regime, major food shortage and looming disassociation by his own people so they can survive? They are turning to marketization despite his efforts to curtail it. Maybe he needs to think about all that, but it is very doubtful he will. Time will tell what he does next, and I will be interested to see where this goes next.

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Dear Leader, Great Leader

Published
by
Jack
on April 16, 2008
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

Make sure to read Richardson’s post on the distinction on Kim Jong Il’s deified name. I always assumed it was “Dear Leader” or “Great General”. In the official propaganda of the KCNA, it calls Kim in less glowing terms.

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A slow news day in North Korea, so how about another oddity?

Published
by
Jack
on April 15, 2008
in wtf
. 0 Comments

This has to be one of the creepiest things I have seen in a while:

There is not a lot to say about it other than I thought the self-made KPA uniform was silly. This picture was originally on the official KFA blog, but I do not feel like linking to it. I wish this were a joke, but this guy is actually serious. That gets filed in the “wtf” department.

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K-Blog podcasting idea?

Published
by
Jack
on April 14, 2008
in Other Topics, Questions To Readers and Suggestions
. 7 Comments

I was sitting here thinking about a K-Blog podcast.  I did some research on what it takes to do podcasts, and it seems like quite a bit involved. The question I pose to readers today is, just how viable is a podcast as an idea and what will it take to make it a success? Is it like running a radio station, could videos be posted? Maybe record a voice conference (perhaps TeamSpeak or Yahoo Messenger)? I would like your feedback on this.

Thank you so much!

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North Korean Oddities: USS Pueblo

Published
by
Jack
on April 14, 2008
in Diplomacy, Google Earthing, History, North Korea, United States, Video and propaganda
. 0 Comments

USS PuebloThe USS Pueblo itself is not the oddity as it is the propaganda value of the ship that sits as a trophy in Pyongyang. On every travelogue I have seen be it photos or video showcase this captured ship. For the sake of my own research and to have it as a reference for later, I will post it here today. This is probably well-known and may be yawn-inducing for most North Korea watchers and/or military history buffs. Therefore, if this posting is redundant, please forgive me, and I promise to make a better oddity later.

Google Map location of the USS Pueblo

The basic facts of the ship:

[...]

The third Pueblo (AGER–2), built for the Army Transportation Corps as FP–344, a general purpose supply vessel, by the Kewaunee Shipbuilding and Engineering Corp., Kewaunee, Wise., was launched 16 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. C. L. Duvall; and delivered to the Army 5 July 1944. Later redesignated FS–344, the supply vessel served in the Philippines as an Army harbor craft. She was taken out of service in 1954 and laid up, first at Clatskanie, Ore., then at Rio Vista, Calif. No longer needed by the Army she was transferred to the Navy 12 April 1966; renamed Pueblo (AKL–44), 18 June 1966; converted to an environmental research vessel at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; redesignated AGER–2 2 May 1967; and commissioned 13 May 1967, Comdr. Lloyd M. Bucher in command.

Following shakedown and operations off the west coast, Pueblo departed San Diego 6 November 1967, enroute to Pearl Harbor and Yokosuka, Japan. Arriving at the latter 1 December, Pueblo was assigned to intelligence and oceanographic data collection duties in the Sea of Japan. On 23 January 1968, while in international waters, the ship was closed by a North Korean patrol boat and ordered to heave to or be fired upon. Pueblo continued on. Additional patrol craft later joined the first and, after firing on Pueblo and wounding four of her crew, boarded the AGER and took her into Wonsan harbor. Her 80 surviving crew members and two civilian oceanographers, held captive for 11 months, were released at Panmunjom 23 December 1968.

Added links are mine. The capture was well covered and I will get to that in a moment, but what is interesting is the North Korean line found on the Woodrow Wilson Cold War Archives.

Record 1:

The DPRK capture of American spy ship, the Pueblo, and the support by the Soviet Union were discussed. Soviet Union assures the DPRK that they have taken extensive measures within the United Nations Security Council; The possible support by Afro-American nations on the Security Council, and the use of the Soviet’s veto power regarding the matter.

Record 2:

A memorandum regarding the incursion of the US’s military vessel, Pueblo, in the Korean waters. The US increased deployment of miliatry forces to the East; The DPRK and Soviet Union’s react to this mobilization. The DPRK and Soviet Union discuss intentions on strenghtening ties with one another.

Record 3:

DPRK diplomat, Chon Tu-hwan expresses his satisfaction about the mutual relationship between the DPRK and the Soviet Union. He discusses the Pueblo incident, and remarks on the increased tension on the Korean peninsula and in the far east. A.N. Kosgygin describes in frank detail, the continuous economic co-operation that the Soviet Union has with the DPRK.

Also, here are some videos for your viewing pleasure:

Oh and do not forget the Vice Guide to North Korea’s version of the USS Pueblo (Thanks for the suggestion Mike)

History Channel

Continue reading ‘North Korean Oddities: USS Pueblo’

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Interview: Soviet Subversion of the Free World Press (Update)

Published
by
Jack
on April 13, 2008
in Communism, History, Speculation, United States and Video
. 1 Comment

Note: I was reluctant to embed this video because of the warning at the beginning of the film. This post may go away if somebody complains, and to be sure, please check out the official site and consider buying the DVD which is not that bad of a price to begin with. As with all videos on this blog, if something is a problem, and somebody wants me to remove anything, please let me know, and I will remove it promptly.

On Patruped’s blog, this video was embedded, and I could not help but to be riveted by the contents. This is a video about Yuri Bezmenov, a former Soviet propagandist for the KGB who defected in 1970. This video was made in 1985 shortly before the fall of communism in the USSR in 1991. In my opinion, the contents are very interesting and Yuri makes some interesting forecasts which some did come true such as the inevitable fall of communism in the USSR. It has a clear right-leaning bias, but if one chooses to see through the bias and see it for the historical context it is worth a watch. Does it mean I disagree with the bias? No, not really, but I am in no position to make an informed opinion. Just watch it and decide for yourself as to the contents.

As I research this more, I may add additional thoughts.

Update: After a good-hearted debate, there are no other thoughts to add to this video. Enjoy the video one and all.

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