"All-New" North Korea is Best Korea!

[Mike Oxlong]

North Korea releases US citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller
Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirms pair’s release, and says they are being accompanied back to the US by James Clapper

North Korea has released two US citizens held in the country, it was confirmed on Saturday. Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller are on their way back to the US.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed the release of the two Americans, and said they were being accompanied back to the US by James Clapper, the director of national intelligence.

[Russell]

An expert on the issue said North Korea had become “obsessed” with improving its international standing in the field of human rights, after the publication of a damning United Nations report on conditions in its network of prison camps.

LOL.

They still have a long way to go after this prisoners' release...

[Taro Toporific]

Kim on the drug scene...

"Kim Jong Un Provides Field Guidance to Jongsong Pharmaceuticals"

kim-on-drugs.jpg

--- KCNA Watch (@KCNAWatch) November 9, 2014

[Russell]

'I wanted to stay in North Korea'

For most people visiting North Korea, the prospect of being arrested during their trip is a source of some concern. But for 25-year old Californian Matthew Miller, it’s exactly what he hoped for.

“My main fear was that they would not arrest me when I arrived,” Miller told NK News in a series of interviews after he and fellow American Kenneth Bae were released during a high-profile visit to the North Korean capital by James Clapper, US Director of National Intelligence, earlier this month.

“I was trying to stay in the country,” said Miller. “They wanted me to leave. The very first night they said, ‘We want you to leave on the next flight.’ But I refused. I just did not leave.”

[...]

On his flight from China to Pyongyang, Miller had intentionally damaged his tourist visa. Fifteen days later, after a series of run-ins with Pyongyang authorities, he was removed from his tourist hotel and detained.

The general consensus among North Korea analysts was that Pyongyang would welcome the chance to use Miller as a pawn in its diplomatic wrangling with the US, as it continues to defy international sanctions against its nuclear programme, and widespread criticism of the regime’s human rights abuses. But Miller says it was only after much persuasion on his part that authorities finally took him in.

Finally, at a show trial in September, he was sentenced to six years of hard labour for entering the country illegally and committing “hostile acts” against the state – a charge he now describes as both true and false.

His plan had involved much preparation. Originally from the city of Bakersfield, Miller says he had been dissatisfied with the western media’s reporting on events in the pariah state, and had decided to arrange a trip to see the country for himself.

Unlike other foreigners arrested in North Korea, when Miller’s case was made public, international media struggled to identify details of his background. This was partly because Miller had engaged in a deliberate strategy to hide his online profile.

He had also provided Uri Tours – a company specialising in tours to North Korea for US citizens – with false emergency contact information before purchasing his plane ticket in Hong Kong. The lack of information fuelled speculation that he may have been in the North for espionage purposes, a theory compounded by Miller’s own notebook, in which he had alluded to carrying state secrets held by the US and South Korea, two nations with which North Korea officially remains at war.

Snapshots of pages torn from Miller’s notebook were circulated by state media, after his show trial, revealing statements he now describes as strategic lies to help with his attempt to remain in North Korea. In it, entries appeared to show support for removing “the American military from South Korea” and included claims that Miller was a “hacker” with some involvement with Wikileaks.

It was full of abbreviations such as “RAC,” which Miller says stood for “Renounce American Citizenship.” His inclusion of phrases such as “no involvement” referred to his initial hope that the United States government would stay out of the case, he said.

“I wrote the notebook in China just before going to North Korea,” said Miller. “The purpose was just having it written is easier than explaining in person. Since it was filled with a number of extravagant things… perhaps the notebook was a little too much over the top, they instantly knew it was false and wanted to know my true purpose of visiting.”

The true purpose, Miller insists, was to simply learn for himself what North Korea was all about.

“I was not there to give secret information or anything like that. I just wanted to speak to an ordinary North Korean person about normal things,” he said.

“I think it was mistake but it was successful,” he said over several days of interviews.

“I was in control of my situation. I knew the risks and consequences. My trip has probably resulted in no change for anyone, except for me. I do feel guilt for the crime. It was a crime. I wasted a lot of time of the North Koreans’ and the Americans’, of all of the officials who spent time with my case.”

Miller said he had prepared himself for the ordeal he believed he would face in detention, but was surprised by how well he was treated. He was allowed to keep possession of his iPhone and iPad for “at least a month” after his arrival in North Korea, enabling him to listen to music and access other stored information, although he could not use them to send or receive messages from elsewhere.

“This might sound strange, but I was prepared for the ‘torture’. But instead of that I was killed with kindness, and with that my mind folded and the plan fell apart,” he said, speaking from his home in California.

Miller said he was initially held in the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where he said North Korean officials urged him to leave the country, but he refused.

He was not formally detained until his third week in North Korea, when he was moved to what he described as a “guest house” – the same place where he said fellow American Kenneth Bae was being held – along with several other unidentified prisoners. Miller would ultimately stay there for five more months.

At the “guest house” he was kept in a room locked from the outside under stricter detention. “They would deliver me food. There were other prisoners in the guest house, too. I could hear them unlocking the doors from the outside to deliver them food,” he said.

After he was formally tried, convicted, and sentenced on 14 September to six years of “hard labour”, he was moved again to a more conventional prison facility on the outskirts of Pyongyang. “It was kind of a farm place,” Miller said. “They had all control. I would go out to work to move stones, take out weeds.”

As part of the show trial, Miller had apologised to the North Korean regime for his crimes, an apology he now insists was genuine.

“I sincerely apologised to North Korea, it was not coerced at all,” Miller said. “Before going I did not think I would feel guilt for my actions toward North Korea. Over time that changed and I did feel guilt for the crime, so in that sense I consider what I did to be a mistake even though I did achieve [my] goals.”

For Washington, Miller may well have been seen as the tourist from hell. The detention of Kenneth Bae, a tour operator who was sentenced to 15 years hard labour in 2012 for unspecified crimes, had been seen as an attempt by Pyongyang to gain leverage to try and force concessions from Washington. Both cases would require a careful response from the Obama administration.

“Seeking asylum seemed like a perfect crime since it put me in that ‘grey zone’ for about a month and I thought it would prevent the US from wanting to help me, although I changed my mind on that later,” Miller said.

So why did Miller, along with fellow American detainees Kenneth Bae and Jeffrey Fowle, plead for help from the US in series of interviews with international media?

“I am still thinking how to answer that,” he said.

More

What a freaking nut case.

Can anyone explain why Americans are not allowed by U.S. law to travel to Cuba, but they can go to Best Korea?

[wagyl]

Russell, do you expect sanctions to make sense? They are just ad hoc measures, when no other alternative seems better.

The other thing I will say is, from what I know of Bakersfield, it is difficult to condemn this man's choice.

[Coligny]

Can anyone explain why Americans are not allowed by U.S. law to travel to Cuba, but they can go to Best Korea?

Cuba's poor track record in human rights protection...

Muwahahahaha... Who the fuck am i kidding:

the United States holds $6 billion worth of financial claims against the Cuban government

Money... With the almighty US it's always money or oil...

[Russell]

Russell, do you expect sanctions to make sense? They are just ad hoc measures, when no other alternative seems better.

It is not about sanctions of NK per se, but more about not letting your citizens go where it may cause trouble for the country. All those Americans detained in NK are a kind of headache for the US government, methinks. And I think NK should be on the top of the list of locations forbidden for US citizens, well above Cuba. The reason why Cuba is on the list is probably the one stated by Coligny: financial interests.

[Coligny]

...but more about not letting your citizens go where it may cause trouble for the country...

By that logic, they should close the border and revoke all passports...

And dun't get me started on the middul east...

[matsuki]

from what I know of Bakersfield, it is difficult to condemn this man's choice.

In all honesty, I'd choose Best Korea over Bakersfield if given the choice. (not talking about in jail...though it sounds better than the Japanese gulags over here)

[Taro Toporific]

Best Korea observes World Toilet Day , wo0t!

World Toilet Day Observed in DPRK

toilet-boys.jpg

http://t.co/ep1XX0cb9F http://t.co/H0VvxRcIGZ http://t.co/vSddW0YVia
-- KCNA Watch (@KCNAWatch) November 25, 2014
~

world-toliet-day-in-best-korea.png

..

You gotta love that Toilet Day logo!

world-toliet-day-logo.jpg

[Taro Toporific]

Kim Jong Un Shoots Airforce Personnel!
KCNAWatch http://kcnawatch.nknews.org/article/ewk8

Shoots-Airforce.png

[Samurai_Jerk]

Kim Jong Un Shoots Airforce Personnel!
KCNAWatch http://kcnawatch.nknews.org/article/ewk8

Shoots-Airforce.png

Is that an aviation museum?

[Coligny]

Kim Jong Un Shoots Airforce Personnel!
KCNAWatch http://kcnawatch.nknews.org/article/ewk8

Shoots-Airforce.png

Is that an aviation museum?

Most museum have quite strict restoration rules for their exhibits and try to use genuine parts if possible. Pretty sure this crap has been fixed with leftover driftwood and molasse...

[Samurai_Jerk]

There can be only 1: N.Korean leader's name banned

In North Korea, there can be only one Kim Jong Un.

A South Korean official said Wednesday that Pyongyang forbids its people from using the same name as the young absolute leader.

The measure appears meant to bolster a personality cult surrounding Kim, who took over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong Il in late 2011. Seoul officials have said Pyongyang also banned the use of the names of Kim Jong Il and the country's founder, Kim Il Sung.

[matsuki]

I wonder if any NK zainichi are named Kimu Jyongu Un

[wagyl]

I wonder if any NK zainichi are named Kimu Jyongu Un

More likely to be Kanayama Masamegumi (although that is pretty doubtful) or Kaneda Shoon, but I know what you mean.

[matsuki]

I know of at least one asshole Zainichi in the US (a Kaneda) that scammed his way though the market and beat his pregnant wife in front of my friends....and he offered me a job, not knowing I spoke Japanese or even knew what a Zainichi is. "If yua waaku foa miiii, undaasutando Japaneeezu sutairu!" Luckily, I never took him up on that offer. They went under a few years later. (to take Zainichi to another level, he was relabeling Korean products as "Made in Japan.")

Take says this dude is zainichi too:



...but I don't really care what he is/was, the sauces are le awesome

[Taro Toporific]

'Kim Jong Un Inspects KPA Unit Unlucky 1313'

kim-introspective-moment.png

--KCNA Watch (@KCNAWatch) December 5, 2014

Meanwhile in Worst Korea...

Worst-Koera.jpg

[Russell]

North Korea threatens to bomb Christmas tree

North Korea has reacted in a most un-festive fashion to the announcement that a tower in the shape of a huge Christmas tree is to be erected on the South Korean side of the border.

In comments reported by the state-run KCNA news agency, the Korean Council of Religionists said placing a Christmas tree on the top of Aegibong, a hill that can be seen for many miles inside North Korea, is a "criminal" act that is an incitement to war.

The council, which is North Korea's state-controlled religious organisation, claims the South Korea-based Christian Council of Korea is using religion to encourage a military conflict.

It added that the CCK would be held accountable for any escalations if it goes ahead and illuminates the 30-foot tower.

The South Korean organisation told Yonhap news agency that the tower is a symbol of their hopes for peace on the Korean peninsula and insisted that the illumination ceremony will go ahead as planned on December 23.

The Christmas symbol will stand on the same site as a 65-foot tower that was first built on the hill in 1971 and subsequently modified to resemble a Christmas tree.

Pyongyang declared the tower to be a "provocative display of psychological warfare" and threatened to use artillery fire to destroy it.

More

[wagyl]

But, but, Christmas trees are originally Korean. No, no really, listen to us!!!!!

According to Korea's National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), it is a Korean fir tree, which he says is one of the most popular trees used for this special occasion, although most Western Christmas enthusiasts may be unaware of this.

The institute is working hard to have its claim officially recognized, as it may enable Korea, as a place of origin, to claim a slice of the profits from their commercial use.

[matsuki]

But, but, Christmas trees are originally Korean. No, no really, listen to us!!!!!

According to Korea's National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), it is a Korean fir tree, which he says is one of the most popular trees used for this special occasion, although most Western Christmas enthusiasts may be unaware of this.

The institute is working hard to have its claim officially recognized, as it may enable Korea, as a place of origin, to claim a slice of the profits from their commercial use.

Fucking Koreans think the universe started in Korea.

http://www.realchristmastrees.org/dnn/E ... eties.aspx

No Korean Fir....

I'm sure western santa courts will take the "specimen rights" issue very seriously on obviously reward Korea all the candy cane unjustly made by those unscrupulous grinch foreigners

[Russell]

Inside the secretive cyber-warfare cell Bureau 121

With North Korea’s ability to hack the most sophisticated computer systems in the world under scrutiny, a secretive cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121 has come to light.

Despite its grinding poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into the sophisticated hacking cell, defectors said, as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment. It is believed the attack was a spectacular act of revenge upon on the company for distrubuting the comedy film The Interview which involves a plot to kill North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, who is portrayed in highly unflattering terms.

A North Korean diplomat has denied Pyongyang was behind the attack last month but a US national security source said it was a suspect.

Defectors from the North have said that Bureau 121, staffed by some of the most talented computer experts in the insular state, is part of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, an elite spy agency run by the military. They have said it is involved in state-sponsored hacking, used by the Pyongyang government to spy on or sabotage its enemies. Pyongyang has active cyber-warfare capabilities, military and software security experts have said. Much of it is targeted at the South, technically still in a state of war with North Korea. But Pyongyang has made no secret of its hatred of the United States, which was on the South’s side in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Military hackers are among the most talented and rewarded people in North Korea, hand-picked and trained from as young as 17, said Jang Se-yul, who studied with them at North Korea’s military college for computer science, or the University of Automation, before defecting to the South six years ago.

Speaking in Seoul, he said the Bureau 121 unit comprises about 1,800 cyber-warriors, and is considered the elite of the military. “For them, the strongest weapon is cyber. In North Korea, it’s called the Secret War,” Mr Jang said.

One of his friends works in an overseas team of the unit, and is ostensibly an employee of a North Korean trading firm, Mr Jang said. Back at home, the friend and his family have been given a large, state-allocated apartment in a relatively prosperous district of Pyongyang, he said.

“No one knows … his company runs business as usual. That’s why what he does is scarier,” Mr Jang said. “My friend, who belongs to a rural area, could bring all of his family to Pyongyang. Incentives for North Korea’s cyber experts are very strong … they are rich people in Pyongyang.”

He said the hackers in Bureau 121 were among the 100 students who graduate from the University of Automation each year, after five years of study.

More than 2,500 apply for places at the university, which has a campus in Pyongyang, behind barbed wire. “They are handpicked,” said Kim Heung-kwang, a former computer science professor in North Korea who defected to the South in 2004, referring to the state hackers. “It is a great honour for them. It is a white-collar job there and people have fantasies about it.”

The technology news site Re/code reported on Wednesday that Sony intends to name North Korea as the source of the attack. But when asked about the Re/code report, a Sony spokeswoman said no announcement from the studio was coming. The company declined to comment yesterday.

Sony Pictures is a unit of the Japanese Sony Corporation. North Korea has described The Interview as an “act of war”. Last year, more than 30,000 computers at South Korean banks and broadcasting companies were hit by a similar attack that cybersecurity researchers widely believe was launched from North Korea.

Months later, the South Korean government’s online presence was targeted, with the President’s website defaced with a banner reading “Long live General Kim Jong-un, president of reunification!”

Neither attack was particularly sophisticated, but South Korean authorities said North Korea was to blame, even though “hacktivist” groups – online activists who hack high-profile targets in order to spread political messages – first appeared to claim responsibility.

Those attacks used rudimentary but effective malware which security researchers later dubbed DarkSeoul. Also known as the DarkSeoul Gang, the hackers have been involved in a five-year spree against South Korean targets, according to a report last year by the computer security firm Symantec, which estimated that the group comprised 10 to 50 hackers and described it as “unique” in its ability to carry out high-profile and damaging attacks over several years.

Some security experts have cast doubt on North Korean involvement in the attack on Sony, citing the publicity-seeking hacktivist style of the attacks. However, the use of an unknown name by the group behind the Sony attacks, “Guardians of Peace”, is similar to previous attacks by the DarkSeoul Gang.

It remains unclear if the DarkSeoul gang members are outsiders working on behalf of North Korea, or some of Pyongyang’s troops in the isolated country’s own “cyber army”.

That may be made clearer on Christmas Day, when Sony Pictures intends to release The Interview, which, in July, Pyongyang described as “undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war”.

Link

LOL, those binoculars will be really helpful in this cyberwar...

[Coligny]

And remember peeps, Saddam have the 3rd biggest army in the world...

[Taro Toporific]

kim-photobomb.jpg

More via the telegraph.co.uk--->Kim Jong-un: A pun-filled photo scrapbook

[Samurai_Jerk]

kim-photobomb.jpg

More via the telegraph.co.uk--->Kim Jong-un: A pun-filled photo scrapbook

Is that a cigarette?

[Wage Slave]

kim-photobomb.jpg

More via the telegraph.co.uk--->Kim Jong-un: A pun-filled photo scrapbook

Is that a cigarette?

Yep. It's good to be in control.

[Coligny]

image.jpg

[legion]

kim-photobomb.jpg

More via the telegraph.co.uk--->Kim Jong-un: A pun-filled photo scrapbook

Is that a cigarette?

Naah, it's a spliff

[Coligny]

'Kim Jong Un Inspects KPA Unit Unlucky 1313'

kim-introspective-moment.png

--KCNA Watch (@KCNAWatch) December 5, 2014

How many North Korean does it take to fire a riffle...

image.jpg

Too much to count... (I think we're safe)

[Salty]

Watched a DVD of The Interview last night - worth watching IMO.........