​When dealing with the human condition, for so long now we have concentrated many efforts based on the words and collective concepts of Understanding and Compassion​...thus the current Humanitarian bombing of so many places and people we don't like. I really don't think that the words Understanding or Compassion work or mean anything as concepts at all. We don't Understand and we are not Compassionate. They are overdone and quite meaningless. I won't use either word or associated notion any more. I will instead use the words Welcome and Tenderness. Remember tenderness? Remember feeling welcome? Remember welcoming someone, and the deep human warmth in it. Remember human tenderness? I'll go with Welcome and Tenderness from now on.

korea news

N.Korea criticizes S.Korea’s ‘unification diplomacy’​ North Korea unveiled statements via its state media outlets the Rodong Sinmun and Uriminzokkiri on Saturday, criticizing the South Korean government’s recent “unification diplomacy.” The statement pointed to South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s remarks about “cooperation with China”. Park had said there would be discussions with China on how to achieve “peaceful unification as soon as possible.” Experts have warned that the North's cooperation will be necessary for reunification, and that Seoul should avoid laying too much stress on the issue. Visit NK News for more N. Korea adds more upgrades to main port North Korea has completed upgrades to its major port at Nampho, adding a new crane capable of moving “thousands” of additional shipping containers, according to North Korean media. It is now the third crane at the shipping container port. North Korea’s Nampo port has offloading facilities for oil, bulk cargoes, coal and shipping containers. The latter can be clearly seen to the east of the other facilities on satellite imagery. Visit NK News for more N. Korea’s quiet market reforms​, By Dr. Andrei Lankov Not everybody would agree, but it seems increasingly likely that Kim Jong Un and his administration (whatever that means) are executing a careful set of market-oriented reforms. These reforms bear some similarities to what the Chinese leadership did in the 1970s, though they are significantly less radical in many regards. Here, Andrei Lankov sifts through the evidence to work out the extent to which North Korea's growing market economy is really a product of government policy. Visit NK News for more North Korean national airline introduces new domestic taxi service North Korean state airline Air Koryo has introduced a new domestic taxi service, designed to bring passengers to and from the airport. “Koryo airport taxi is for the convenience of customers using Pyongyang International Airport, providing cars, minivans, and SUVs when requested through an order, airport standby services or taxi services,” a poster at the Air Koryo ticketing office said. Visit NK News for more

Top Stories Today

Two Koreas to exchange lists of candidates for family reunions (The Korea Herald)
The two Koreas will exchange lists of their candidates for the upcoming reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the truce village of Panmunjom next week.

Rally held to demand return of abductees from North Korea (Japan Today)
A rally was held in Tokyo on Sunday to demand that North Korea return Japanese abductees. Relatives of abductees urged the Japanese government to do more.

Korea earmarks more for U.S. lobbying in 2016 (JoongAng Ilbo)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Friday released its budget for 2016 and announced that it would increase spending on diplomacy in the United States by 66.3 percent. 

North Korea insists it has a good human rights record (Quartz)
A United Nations inquiry found that North Korea’s human rights abuses include murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, and rape.

N. Korea nudges UN 'US military must leave South' (Korea Times)
North Korea has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council, demanding the U.S. military in South Korea must leave.

The coming week in North Korea

The week ahead in North Korea

North Korea’s Cyber Operations: Strategy and Responses

• The Korea Chair at CSIS is hosting this discussion in Washington D.C. on September 14.
• The discussion will revolve around an upcoming CSIS report on North Korea’s cyber capabilities authored by Jenny Jun and Scott LaFoy.
• For more information and to RSVP click here.

Northeast Asian Dynamism and the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Past, Present, and Future

• The Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the East Asia Foundation, and the Hyundai-Motor Korea Foundation Center for Korea Policy will host this conference in Washington D.C. on September 15.
• Panel 1: “70 Years of Korea’s Liberation and Division” will be moderated by Robert Hathaway, senior fellow and former director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center. Presenters include Amb. Kathleen Stephens, distinguished fellow at Stanford University’s Asia Pacific Center; Gong Ro-myung, chairman of the East Asia foundation and former ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs; Kim Sung-hwan, former ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and Gilbert Rozman, professor emeritus at Princeton University.
• Panel 2: “Emerging Trading Blocs in the Asia-Pacific: TPP, RCEP, and ROK-US Cooperation” will be moderated by Kent Hughes, senior fellow at the Wilson Center. Presenters include Meg Lundsager, fellow at the Wilson Center and former Executive Director of the IMF and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade and Investment at the Treasury Department; Ahn Choong-yong, chairman of the National Commission for Corporate Partnership; and Jang Ho-hyun, Minister of Economic Affairs at the ROK Embassy in D.C.
• Panel 3: “50 Years of Japan-ROK Diplomatic Normalization: Status Assessment and Implications for Japan-ROK-US Relation will be moderated by Moon Chung-in, professor of political science at Yonsei University. Presenters include Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia and Japan Chair at CSIS; James Schoff, senior associate in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment; Yu Myung-hwan, former ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and Park Cheol-hee, professor at Seoul National University.
• Amb. Ahn Ho-young, the current ROK Ambassador the United States, and Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will give luncheon remarks at the conference.
• For more information and to RSVP click here.

Inside North Korea

• The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, EXPO Chicago, and the French Consulate in Chicago will host this event in Chicago on September 15.
• This lecture and accompanying art exhibit were constructed around the theme of interpreting the images that come out of North Korea.
• Speakers include Jieun Baek, fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University; Philippe Chancel, artist; and Marc Prust, photography consultant and curator. Karl Friedhoff, fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, will moderate the discussion.
• Admission for council members is $10 dollars and $20 for non-members.
• For more information and to RSVP click here.

Future of U.S.-Korea Relations and the Status of the Free Trade Agreement

• The World Affairs Council of St. Louis, the Boeing Institute of International Business, and the Korea Economic Institute of America are hosting this discussion in St. Louis on September 16.
• Speakers include Jang Ho-hyun, Minister for Economic Affairs at the ROK Embassy in D.C.; Donald Manzullo, president of KEI; Troy Stangarone, senior director for congressional affairs and trade at KEI; and Mintaro Oba, Korea Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State.
• There is a $35 admission fee to attend this event.
• For more information and to purchase tickets click here.

Structural Challenges to Working in North Korea: A 20 Year Assessment

• The Korea Club will host this dinner event in Vienna, Virginia on September 16.
• Dr. Stephen Linton, chariman of the Eugene Bell Foundation, will discuss humanitarian aid to North Korea drawing on over 24 years of experience.
• The cost of dinner is $25 dollars.
• To RSVP email Linda Butcher at lb@keia.org.

The Hidden Gulag IV Gender Repression & Prisoner Disappearances & Camp 15 Imagery Update

• The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea will lecture in Washington D.C. on September 18.
• Presenters include David Hawk, author of Hidden Gulag IV, and Joseph Bermudez Jr., author of North Korea Imagery Analysis of Camp 15 “Yodok.” Roberta Cohen, co-chair of HRNK, and Jung Gwang Il, founder and executive director of No Chain, will be discussants.
• RSVPs should be sent to Rosa Park at rosapark@hrnk.org by COB on September 14.
• For more information click here.

Australia's New Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull, this new prime minister of Australia, yes, this is a very good thing not only because it rids Australia of the current vermin Abbott, but also because it means that the Australian Labor Party, to have any relevance, must also remove their leader Bill Shorten, and then the Labor party must reform and re-jig itself to get back some way towards being meaningful to humans here. Very good news. I expect that Turnbull will be a very good Prime Minister for many years and many re-elections and in that time the Australian Labor Party, in the deep darkness, will have to make itself mean something once again...ten or twenty years on from now.

DPRK news

N. Korea likely behind hacking of South Korean program North Korea is likely behind the hacking of a word processing program used in South Korea, according to a recent report from cyber-security FireEye. The program – called Hangul Word Processor – was developed by South Korean company Hancom Inc. and is commonly used in the country’s government and public institutions.Since the exploit’s discovery, the program has been patched by Hancom. Visit NK News for more Defectors in S. Korea dying of suicide, unknown reasons: Lawmaker Over the last 10 years 31 North Korean defectors have committed suicide and 72 have died for unknown reasons, an opposition party lawmaker revealed Friday. New arrivals are often disappointed that South Korea is not the paradise portrayed in dramas. Defectors described their social status in North Korea as “upper class” in 12.7 percent of cases and “middle class” in 36.6 percent. Currently in South Korea, only 3.3 percent of them said they are “upper class,” and 23.1 percent think they are “middle class.”  Visit NK News for more Court case reveals Chinpo Shipping's ties to North Korea The ongoing trial in Singapore of Chinpo Shipping and its director Tan Cheng Hoe for making payments to a now sanctioned North Korean shipping company currently awaits a verdict after a two-month, often-delayed court battle. Tan is accused of facilitating the voyage of the Chon Chong Gang as it carried weapons from Cuba to North Korea, as well as making illegal remittances to North Korean companies. NK News sat in on the trial. Visit NK News for more Opening up about North Korean defection, By David Tian At age 11, Eunsun Kim (a pseudonym), would have succumbed to the famine had her mother not made the risky decision to take her and her sister across the Tumen River to China in search of food. The group fell into the clutches of people traffickers and was sold to a Chinese farmer, before being denounced, returned to North Korea and imprisoned. In July 2015, their story was published in English by under the title A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea. Here, Kim speaks to David Tian about her journey and her decision to speak out. Visit NK News for more 'The North will rise again!': Anticipating Korea's post-unification attitudes, By Fyodor Tertitskiy How will the Koreans of the future feel about the DPRK? Parallels have previously been suggested with the "Ostalgie" and "Soviet nostalgia" trends in the former Eastern Bloc, but here Fyodor Tertitskiy draws another connection: with US nostalgia for the Confederacy. While not politically correct, many Americans retain a certain admiration for the Confederacy and its leaders - something that is likely to happen in a reunified Korea. Visit NK News for more

Top Stories Today

Unification Ministry marks up next years budget proposal (Yonhap News)
The Ministry of Unification has increased its budget proposal for next year to reflect the government's will to improve ties with North Korea, a government official said Thursday.

N. Korea says fresh probe into Japan abductees almost done (Mainichi Shimbun)
North Korea has nearly completed a fresh investigation it promised Japan last year into the fates of Japanese citizens allegedly abducted by the country decades ago.

Seoul 'Preparing for N.Korean Nuclear Threat' (The Chosun Ilbo)
Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Thursday said the South Korean military is preparing for the "high likelihood" that North Korea will deploy nuclear weapons warfare-ready.

South Korea, U.S., China need plan for nukes in post-Kim North Korea (The Korea Herald)
South Korea, the U.S. and China should initiate a mechanism to head off a possible handover of North Korean nuclear weapons to terrorist groups and boost substantive top-level talks. 

In North Korea, deals on the bus make markets go round (Reuters)
It's not Amazon or FedEx, but in North Korea's fledgling market economy a fleet of repurposed old passenger buses is the next best thing for moving trade goods.

Mr Xi's view on corruption

Corruption is a tax that holds us all back from good industry and development in all areas.
Mr Xi is visiting the US soon. This will be the most powerful person to ever visit the USA...and the person with the hardest biggest job on earth.

more news, korea

Well-known electronics joint venture terminated in Pyongyang A well-known joint venture between North Korea’s Hana electronics company and the foreign-owned Pheonix Commercial Ventures Ltd has been terminated, a statement published last week said. Hana Electronics JVC was once ranked as one of North Korea’s top performing joint ventures, with over 200 staff specializing in the production and distribution of DVDs, VCDs and associated playback equipment. Visit NK News for more U.S.-S. Korea conduct biological defense exercise amid criticism The South Korean Ministry of National Defense (MND) and Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) conducted a biological defense exercise, referred to as "Able Response 15," in cooperation with the U.S. According to an MDN spokesman the training had been revealed to the public because of the spread of MERS earlier this summer, as well as the U.S. army’s shipment of live anthrax to a South Korean Air Force camp in Osan in May, which may have inadvertently exposed South Korean personnel to the agents. Visit NK News for more North Korea claims new credit card service North Korea has announced the launch of a credit card system which can already be used in certain department stores, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported today.Dubbed the “Sangyon," the new system can reportedly be used 24 hours a day and was developed by North Korea’s Institute of Commercial Science. however, experts have raised doubts as to whether North Korea has the infrastructure needed to support a credit card system in the true sense of the word, speculating that this is more likely to be a pre-pay or debit card. Visit NK News for more Trying not to starve in the N. Korean army, By Kim Yoo-sung In this week's Ask A North Korean, Kim Yoo-sung looks at military service in the DPRK. Despite the country's military first policy, soldiers outside of the elite units are often under-fed and expected to work on civil engineering projects when not training. Not only do soldiers often rob civilians in order to have enough to eat, but sometimes this is even done on the orders of their officers. Often, soldiers are even more malnourished than the general population, and have to be sent home to recuperate. Visit NK News for more Laibach rocks N. Korea: Scenes from a historic concert, By Oliver Hotham August 19-20 saw the situation on the Korean Peninsula ramped up to its highest tensions since 2013.In the aftermath of the serious injury of two South Korean soldiers by a landmine allegedly planted by the DPRK, loudspeakers broadcasting pro-democracy propaganda messages were placed on the DMZ for the first time in over a decade. But in the nation’s capital the mood was very different: the Slovenian industrial band Laibach were playing a concert to a packed auditorium, and as far as those attending were concerned, things couldn’t be more normal. Oliver Hotham spoke to those who were there. Visit NK News for more

Top Stories Today

Red Cross picks 1st batch of candidates for family reunions (The Korea Herald)
The Korean Red Cross said Wednesday it has conducted a computer-based selection for the first batch of 500 candidates for the upcoming reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

In IAEA session, S. Korea to seek support for its nuke agenda (Yonhap News)
South Korea will brief the international community next week on its non-military nuclear program and request support for its efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

Sudden market crackdowns attempt to redirect interests to Party (The Daily NK)
After enjoying significantly relaxed regulations on market sales over the past few years, North Korean vendors are facing a sudden step-up in crackdowns.

65 N. Koreans cross sea, land borders to defect to South over 5 yrs (Yonhap News)
A total of 65 North Koreans have crossed the tightly-patrolled land and sea borders with South Korea to defect to the capitalist country since 2010 with 15 of them breaking the borders undetected.

Defense budget is rising 4% in 2016 (JoongAng Ilbo)
The government proposed on Tuesday a national defense budget of 39 trillion won ($32.5 billion) for next year, up 4 percent from this year, in the face of possible North Korean threats.