Something is not right here, and something odd is going on in North Korea. Yes, even by their extremely odd standards to begin with. It appears North Korea is in a very serious cash crunch, and this makes sense from the sanctions imposed from the tests conducted last year. What is not making sense, and may never get an answer …

(Hat tip: Hapo) The speech at the Hamhung factory. You can see more information at One Free Korea. Enjoy!

China gets Rajin port for ten years – Rajin, the struggling special economic zone that has not seen a whole lot of activity, has been trying to restart it for quite some time. Some other special economic zones may make a little more economic sense in the way of location have been set up, but in my opinion, the regime …

Oh, wait, this is nothing new. The same game continues yet again on the failed attempt at getting Kim to get rid of his crappy nuclear program. This issue has been on the forefront of the North Korea news cycle for quite some time, and may be as tiresome as the succession issue I keep harping about. In other words, …

Via NKEconWatch:
UPDATE 3: Northeast Asia Matters has posted a copy of the DPRK constitution in English.  Click here to read.
I have been looking for this for quite some time, and now it is available. Reading through it, not huge, groundbreaking changes were made, but enough to (what I guess) a legacy for Kim. Tim will tell the real reason behind …

Yes, it has been a while since I have been regularly posting news, and maybe today is a good day to start. Some news has come from North Korea, although nothing really earth-shattering.
North Korea May Be Open to Talks (New York Times) – In a chilling turn of events, Kim is willing to go back to the table and discuss …

It appears the Ryugyong Hotel is making some progress, at least on the outside. When construction resumed sometime last year, I almost fell out of my chair. I could not believe such a project would ever resume with the many serious problems this thing obviously has. So I open Google News this morning, and see the picture on the right; …

Some details are starting to emerge about how Euna Lee and Laura Ling crossed the border. According to Bloomberg:
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — Two U.S. journalists detained in North Korea and released after a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton said soldiers from the communist nation “violently dragged” them back across the border from China.
[...]
“We tried with all our might …

It has been very slow posting as of late, and I would like to apologize for that.
An ROK fishing boat has been released in a “goodwill measure” from the DPRK. The four man crew has been released along with the boat, and according to the article:
The North’s recent barrage of conciliatory gestures has been surprising, even to South Korean officials …

Here is a bit of news that should stun the world, and then some: Kim Jong Il is still in control of North Korea. As obvious as this statement is, perhaps this needs to be reiterated in the midst of all that is happening. For instance, you have all the rumors of his health, succession, nuke/missile tests, chilled relations with …