here's another japanese designed australian miners house from the 1920s in Cairns/ they look great and are sound, well made small houses on small blocks in tree lined streets. Very good design

There's a few things you can do with these houses in terms of lifting their quality and one is to cover the floor tiles with wooden/bamboo flooring, get rid of all window and door ugly security screens, put a few air vent rotators on the roof, ensure the roof is fully insulated,  whack on the roof a large solar panel, put a water tank on the side to take the pure rain run-off either into the garden or for tea making. It can be filtered if you like, but as it is, its very good rain water.

Kim Yo Jong, younger sister of Kim Jong Un slowly rises in importance within the Regime of DPRK/North Korea

Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is a vice department director in the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), a Korean Central News Agency report confirmed Thursday.

Accompanying Kim Jong Un on a visit to the Korean April 26 Cartoon Film Studio in Pyongyang, Kim Yo Jong was referred to for the first time by North Korean state-controlled media as being a vice (or deputy) department director within the party. Previously, she was simply referred to as an ambiguous “senior official” of the WPK Central Committee.

Kim Yo Jong’s current position may be in the WPK Propaganda & Agitation Department. She is reportedto have worked there previously under the alias Kim Ye Jong. Another official present with her at this recent appearance, Kim Ui Sun, is a known member of that department and the animation studio is very likely guided to some degree by the same department. She could easily be in one of many other departments, though.

She has also reportedly worked as a secretary for Kim Jong Un, arranging meetings and serving as an intermediary between party and government officials. According to North Korea Leadership Watch, Kim Yo Jong has ties to the Guard Command and Ministry of State Security.

While much is still unknown about Kim’s sister, it has become clear that she is a significantly high-ranking official in the WPK and the North Korean government. This role can be seen as comparable to that of Kim Jong Un’s aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who held numerous official posts and significant personal influence on Kim Jong Il, King Jong Un’s father.

She was first seen in state media for her father’s funeral in December 2011 and first mentioned by name on March 9, when she accompanied her brother in voting in elections for the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s rubber stamp legislature. Since that time, she has made a total of 15 different appearances in state media.

Kim Yo Jong is – like Kim Jong Un – the daughter of Kim Jong Il and Ko Yong Hui and was born September 26, 1987, according to Kenji Fujimoto, the former sushi chef for Kim Jong Il. She was reportedly educated both within North Korea – at Kim Il Sung University – and abroad, including with her brother in Switzerland under the alias Kim Yong Sun.

Photo: KCNA

South Korea PM's daughter as Lieutenant

DPRK news round up

Kim’s sister a vice department director in Workers’ Party
Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is a vice department director in the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).
Visit NK News for more

South Korean chief nuclear envoy to visit Russia
South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kook is set to conduct a four-day visit to Russia next week, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday.
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North Korean workers abroad aren't slaves, By Dr. Andrei Lankov
There are tens of thousands of North Koreans employed worldwide. No statistics are available, but the current estimate is in the neighbourhood of 60 to 70,000.
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Top Stories Today

Ex-vice minister tapped to head Kaesong complex committee (Yonhap News)
 South Korea has picked a former vice unification minister to lead a civilian committee to support the operation of an inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea, the ministry said Thursday.

UMG: '1 Mill. Listeners Can Change North Korea' (The Daily NK)
The first ever unification broadcasting station for South and North Koreans kicked off Wednesday under the name UMG [Unification Media Group] with a launching ceremony.

Sharp increase in North Korean fishing boats in Japan's EEZ (Asahi Shimbun)
The number of North Korean squid fishing boats entering Japan’s exclusive economic zone has tripled this year, another apparent sign of the desperate economic conditions in the isolated nation.

S. Korea's top nuke envoy to visit Russia next week (Xinhua)
 South Korea's top nuclear envoy will make a three-day visit to Russia next week after the DPRK expressed its willingness to resume the long-suspended six-party talks without preconditions.

More than half of people feel unsafe living in S. Korea (The Korea Herald)
More than half of people feel unsafe living in South Korea, with many of them citing "man-made" disasters as the biggest cause for concern, a government survey showed Thursday. 

nice simple house.

nice simple house, 3 bedroom, one bathroom, small backyard for garden vegetables, front yard for fruit trees, not far from the city. Quiet, facing North South so not too hot in the afternoon sun. Safe location. Above the flood lines. Natural environment, about $330,000AU. I like it. A good writer's house. These types of small bungalow/townhouse like homes are part of a development about 14 years old now, narrow streets, small houses, lots of treees etc. A Daikyo Japanese design based upon old English/Irish colonial mining houses and I do still like the look of them as my grandparents' house in Sydney looked much the same although made of wood rather than concrete block.

more news from North Korea today

Final arguments made in case to outlaw the UPP (JoongAng Ilbo)
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday heard closing arguments, the final step before it decides on the Park Geun-hye administration’s motion to disband the opposition political party. 

Israel Warns of N.Korea-Iran Nuclear Link (The Chosun Ilbo)
Israel on Thursday claimed to have intelligence that Iran acquired missile and nuclear technology and expertise from North Korea in exchange for huge amounts of financial support over the past years.

Egyptian Telecom Earns $500 Million in N.Korea (The Chosun Ilbo)
The cash balance of Koryolink, the North Korean cellular network operator in which Orascom owns a 75 percent stake, increased from $510 million in late June to $540 million in late September.

North Koreans in China Send ‘Loyalty’ Funds to Regime (Radio Free Asia)
Workers from North Korea stationed across the border in China are being advised to send home funds to support the Kim Jong Un regime as a demonstration of devotion to their country.

'EU willing to dispatch human rights envoy to NK' (The Korea Times)
The European Union (EU) is prepared to send its top human rights official to North Korea amid threats from Pyongyang to close its doors to the outside world.

plan for 2nd day off

1: Drive Lisa to work
2: Take the fishing rods (including the new Alvey), to a beach North of Cairns, and just fish there, facing the Sea, East, until the sun sets behind the high green rainforests of the West, behind me. Bait: some fresh green prawns. Maybe have some music. A flask of tea.

dinner

a small glass of chilled Tahbilk Marsanne with some brazil, pine and cashew nuts.


meal:


some fresh green yellow and red fettuccine with basil and cashews raked through it.


some sour dough bread baked with garlic and olive oil, with a salted crust


a mixture of Greek and Arab salads with extra fetta


a big glass of bordeaux


dessert:


Darwin mango
Fresh ice cream with vanilla bean
a small portion of passionfruit pulp.


Followed by:
Lavazza espresso coffee with Lindt dark chocolate slices with mint and lime zest

nice