Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-un continues to be bellicose. Obama has stated that his response will be proportionate…like that has ever worked before. Any response to North Korea needs to be massively disproportionate. He sinks a patrol boat, we should destroy all of his capability to sink anything…that is how it works…not the panty waist option that we seem to be stumbling towards.

Why is a fat little git of a leader of a failed state that is broke and can barely feed its people getting to dictate to the rest of the world?  Read more »

Foreign Policy reports:

U.S. and South Korean authorities continue to monitor the medium-range missiles that North Korea has moved to its east coast for signs of a possible launch. The five Musudan missiles could theoretically reach U.S. bases in Guam, though it’s not known if they have been tested at that distance.

Despite the missile threat, the North appears to be toning down its rhetoric after a month of near daily threats against the South and its allies. The country has begun inviting visitors in anticipation of celebrations on Monday for the birthday of the country’s founding father, Kim Il-sung.

I think maybe Kim Jong-un might have had a report that the Chinese are extremely unlikely to jump in and help them if they provoke a shooting war. my China sources report that though the lower levels of Chinese society have some sympathy with North Korea it is the generals and politicians who are wise to the trade implications on entering a shooting war with their biggest trade partner the USA.  Read more »

Julian Hattem at The Atlantic asks “Why Do We Laugh at North Korea But Fear Iran?”

I reckon it is his silly haircut and dumb photo opportunities, but Iran does seem to share a secret weaponised photoshop capability.

Of course Iran is Islamic as well:

In the United States, we make fun of Kim Jong Un and the North Korean regime’s over-the-top propaganda machine. The regime may have launched a massive cyberattack on South Korean banks and TV stations last month, but we were circumspect that they were capable of such a thing. When former basketball player Dennis Rodman visited the country in February we giggled. How silly, we thought. Kim Jong Un is a Dennis Rodman fan – how out of touch! Soon after, a video emerged from North Korean state television showing Kim welcomed by jubilant masses of soldiers sprinting to welcome him as he visited a posting from whence rockets were launched in a brief 2010 skirmish with South Korea.  Read more »

Kim Jong-un is talking the big game and issuing threats. Where is Team America when you need them?

North Korea has revealed its plans to strike targets in Hawaii and the continental United States in photos taken in Kim Jong-un’s military command centre.

The photos appeared in the state-run Rodong newspaper and were apparently taken at an “emergency meeting” early on Friday morning. They show Kim signing the order for North Korea’s strategic rocket forces to be on standby to fire at US targets, the paper said, with large-scale maps and diagrams in the background.   Read more »

Somebody in the spineless UK Government has woken up to the Green Taliban propaganda that has been force-fed to school-children over the past ten years, and the left, championed by their MSM supporter The Guardian, is having a fit:

“Debate about climate change has been cut out of the national curriculum for children under 14, prompting claims of political interference in the syllabus by the government that has failed “our duty to future generations”.

The latest draft guidelines for children in key stages 1 to 3 have no mention of climate change under geography teaching and a single reference to how carbon dioxide produced by humans impacts on the climate in the chemistry section. There is also no reference to sustainable development, only to the “efficacy of recycling”, again as a chemistry subject.

The move has caused alarm among climate campaigners and scientists who say teaching about climate change in schools has helped mobilise young people to be the most vociferous advocates of action by governments, business and society to tackle the issue.”   Read more »

The new North Korean dictator really knows how to send a message about disrespecting his father. It won’t stop people drinking while inside the 100 days mourning but that guys won’t be doing it again:

A North Korean military officer has been executed with a mortar shell blast for disrespecting late ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il by drinking alcohol during the 100-day mourning period.

South Korean media claim Kim Chol, the secretive state’s former vice minister of the army, was forced to stand on a spot that had been targeted with a mortar on the orders of Kim Jong-un.

The North Korean leader, who took over from his father after his death in December last year, demanded Kim Chol was ‘obliterated’, with ‘no trace of him behind, down to his hair’ in January.

Kim Jong-un is feeling ronery again:

Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of the new bride of Kim Jong-un, with reports suggesting that she has fallen foul of the old guard in the North Korean regime for failing to wear a lapel pin.

All North Koreans are required to wear the badge, featuring the face of Kim Il-sung, as a mark of their loyalty to the founder of the nation.

Ri Sol-ju, formerly the lead singer with the Ponchonbo Electronic Ensemble, was only officially unveiled as Kim’s wife in July but had previously been pictured accompanying the “Young General” on his visits to state-run farms, military units and official ceremonies.

Initially, state media missed no opportunity to play up the regime’s new First Lady, showing her at a gala in July wearing a black trouser suit and carrying what appeared to be a Chanel bag.

Ri’s appearances marked a major departure from traditional images of North Korean women, who are generally expected to wear skirts or baggy, Mao-style work clothes in shades of grey or brown.

She may have gone too far, however, by replacing the Kim lapel badge with more feminine flowered brooches.South Korean media have reported that Ri has not been seen in public for 40 days, giving rise to inevitable speculation about her fate.

The Bangkok Post tell things like they are:

Funeral for a despot?

I dont think Thailand and North Korea get along.

Seriously they need to move on:

Jang Song-thaek looks like playing a key role in North Korea:

North Korean state TV footage has shown Jang Song-thaek, the power behind the communist state’s throne, wearing a military uniform with the insignia of a general, another sign of his rising influence after the death of Kim Jong-il.

The footage, which state TV said was taken on Saturday, local time, showed Jang at the front of rows of top military officers who accompanied Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his anointed successor, paying their respects in front of Kim’s body.