The week that was: Five North Korea articles you don't want to miss
To ensure you never miss out on the best NK News content, we highlight the top five most-read features and interviews of the week |
Korean unification(s) – The past and prospects for family reunions
By Dr. Andrei Lankov It has been reported that North and South Korea have agreed to hold another round of reunions for divided families. As part of the recent thaw in intra-Korean relations, the sides agreed to hold the next (20th) meeting of the divided families. The meeting is scheduled for late October, so there is a fairly high chance that another North Korean missile launch, likely to happen in early October, will disrupt the plans. Nonetheless, it is still probably a good time to discuss the origins and current state of the “divided families” issue. This problem emerged as a result of the division of Korea in 1945. With the emergence of two Korean states in 1948, this division has become (semi-) permanent. When the Korean Peninsula was divided there was a great deal of migration between two emerging states, even though authorities on both sides did what they could to control or block such movement. The vast majority of the divided families were divided as a result of the massive migration in the years following the division. |
China can’t solve Seoul’s N. Korea problem
By Georgy Toloraya
The South Korean media was very enthusiastic about the fact that, during the military parade in Beijing on September 3, the Republic of (South) Korea’s president was sitting in the first row with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, North Korea’s “second in command,” Choe Ryong-hae, secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, sat at the end of the row, and “was hardly visible, as if to testify to the current status of the Seoul-Beijing and Pyongyang-Beijing relations.”
The ROK might proudly hope that China has “changed sides” in the Korean conflict, but that may be far from true; the picture is much more complicated. In this article we deal with another big country and former ally of North Korea – Russia – in the hopes that the experience of its relations with the two Koreas can help draw some lessons.
This is topical while ROK is courting China – even to the dismay of the U.S. and Japan – hoping that, among other things, this strategy would lead to China assisting in, or at least not opposing, Korean unification.
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Promises, pitfalls on the North Korea-China border
By Peter Ward Sino-Korean relations are very important to us, to the North Koreans, even to the Chinese. As any reader of NK News will no doubt be aware, North Korea is a highly unusual place in this part of the world, a place without much external trade, and its only truly important trading partner is China.
The border between the two countries is an important focal point for the two states. Seen from the North Korean side, the Chinese Northeast (often known as Manchuria) is a beacon of accessible and perilous prosperity. The area that immediately borders North Korea is also wealthy, and its eastern area has many Chinese Koreans who migrated there starting in the late 19th century.
Thus, the borderlands specifically, but the Chinese Northeast in general (with its good transport infrastructure) presents opportunities for North Korean state companies and agencies to trade commodities wholesale and set up restaurants staffed with the most beautiful members of the country’s lower elite. As a student in the area, it was easy to find North Korean restaurants in Shenyang, Yanji and Hunchun, usually overstaffed with beautiful North Korean waitresses who often sang, sometimes with customers, and made sure that you always had enough drink.
Click here for the full article at NK News |
In North Korea, sometimes the dead come back
By Leo Byrne I know there are many funeral halls in South Korea. But there were none in my hometown in North Korea. I don’t know if such funeral halls existed in other regions of North Korea, but I know we usually held funerals at the homes of the dead. Without any funeral halls in business, people had to have their funerals at home.
Now, before I go on, let me point out that I’m not and never have been a mortician. So, I don’t know every detail about the exact process of funerals in North Korea. But I do know that the funeral process takes three days, and the very first thing they do is clog the ears and noses of the dead person with wads of cotton.
I have heard that the reason why they do this to prevent water from leaking out. And they fill the dead person’s mouth with raw rice – this is supposed to be the dead person’s food when they get to the afterlife. After that, they dress the dead body up with clean clothes. They make sure that these are made of cotton, because they think cotton is most suitable when the dead body begins to decompose.
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Digital TV recorder showcased at North Korean trade show
By Leo Byrne A digital TV recorder which also groups North Korean television broadcasts into different categories was showcased at the ongoing Pyongyang trade fair, according to a Korean Central Television (KCTV) broadcast published yesterday.
The report shows the device attached to a TV with a wire, although curiously the recorder’s box indicates it also has a connection for an “ADSL modem.” The device also has an antenna of some kind, though it is not clear if it is broadcast, or receive a signal.
“Using this device users can watch the programs that were already broadcast before and can be free from worrying about the time of broadcast,” the stall owner says in the KCTV report. “This device allows a live TV stream as well as option to load the previous programs as well, users can choose whatever program he or she wants to watch.”
Click here for the full article at NK News |
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