February 2010
1 post
North Korea Traffic Girl →
June 2009
5 posts
“Gruesome mementos of Shin’s past are engraved across his body: his back is...”
– Escapee gives account of life in North Korean Prison Camp
North Korea on Google Earth
The always amazing North Korean Economy Watch blog had a piece on Google Earth files for North Korea.
You can download the Google Earth KMZ files here.
The KMZ file is really impressive, containing agriculture, gulags, elite areas, mining, nuclear issues, schools, hospitals and tons more.
Kim Jong-il eats live fish
A x-chef reports Kim Jong-il enjoys live fish, specially prepared “so as not to puncture any of the vital organs, so of course it was still moving. Kim Jong-il was delighted.” reports the Telegraph.
I know the Japanese do this sometimes so, while it’s still sadistic and odd, Kim’s not being all that original.
“North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has asked his country’s overseas missions...”
– Reuters Jong-un, born in 1983, is just 26 years old. He was educated in Switzerland so, maybe there’s a chance in hell of reform.
May 2009
1 post
5 Things You Didn't Know about North Korea
…and possibly don’t believe and are very hard to fact check.
From AskMen.com - North Korea: 5 Things You Didn’t Know
North Korea is one of the largest fresh fruit producers
North Korea has a 99% literacy rate
North Korea’s Kim Jong-il shoots 38 under par
North Korea built a film industry through kidnapping (more on this here)
North Korea’s long-time heir apparent is an Eric...
April 2009
9 posts
“North Korea said Friday that it had decided to indict two American journalists...”
– New York Times
Peering into North Korea →
The Big Picture collects some shots from North Korea
Pyongyang Watch →
The best of Aiden Foster-Carter of the Asia Times
I made pizza for Kim Jong-Il
This is a wonderful story of a chef who went to North Korea just to make pizza. Fascinating read in three parts:
Welcome to Megolopolis
Hot ovens at the seaside
The great man eats
There’s a lot more on this if you search for Furlanis North Korea
They eventually ended up opening a pizza place… possibly the first smart thing North Korea has done.
North Korea collection by The Rick A Ross... →
The forbidden railway - by train from Vienna to... →
Land of No Smiles →
Renowned documentary photographer Tomas van Houtryve entered North Korea by posing as a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory. Despite 24-hour surveillance by North Korean minders, he took arresting photographs of Pyongyang and its people—images rarely captured and even more rarely distributed in the West. They show stark glimmers of everyday life in the world’s last gulag.