Author-journalist Christopher Hitchens describes the state of fear he witnessed during a visit to North Korea.
Welcome to the North Korea Leak
North Korea Leak is a blog about the most secretive state in the world, infamous for kidnappings, draconian law enforcement, and it's huge army.
Christopher Hitchens’ Visit To North Korea
December 28th, 2009Story of a North Korean Defector
December 28th, 2009This is a story of a defector from North Korea, who was an officer at DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and crossed over the 38th parallel north.
Fifty-six years ago, the Korean War paused with an armistice at Panmunjom. Korea was divided into two nations.
The incident of him represents the reality of ‘38th parallel north’ as a legacy of the war. In other words, this is the tragedy of the ‘present’ that the ‘past’ war caused rather than a personal one.
Fully featured North Korea website with forums?
December 22nd, 2009It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog – for several reasons; mainly because the server received a huge DDOS on various domains on the web server and caused some business loss which prompted alot of hard work.
Now my thoughts are to turn North Korea Leak into a more up to date and perhaps more functional website – perhaps a website with a front-end and also forums so we can discuss North Korea topics.
I’ll do this by demand – if you’re as interested as I am (hopefully I’m not the only one that’s interested in DPRK issues) then please respond to this post in a comment to show your support!
The Face of Kim Jong-Il
July 15th, 2009Here’s a collection of photos of Kim Jong-Il over the years.
Kim Jong-Il, age 5, in 1947
Kim Jong-Il as a young man a few years later
Kim Jong-Il in 1981 with his son, Kim Jong Nam - who a few years ago was caught sneaking into the Japanese Disney Land with a fake passport.
Kim Jong-Il in 1991
Kim Jong-Il with Hyundai executives in 1998
Kim Jong-Il with Madeleine Albright, then US Foreign Secretary, in 2000.
Kim Jong-Il at a military parade in 2002.
Kim Jong-Il with Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi in 2002.
Kim Jong-Il in 2004
Kim Jong-Il in 2007 with then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun
Kim Jong-Il recently
Kim Jong-Il ‘months to live’
July 10th, 2009
Kim Jong-Il at the 15th anniversary of his fathers death
Various news agencies are reporting that Kim Jong-Il ‘could have months to live’, speculating that he could die by the end of the year.
Recently Kim Jong-Il appeared at the 15th anniversary of his fathers death and he looked frail, thin, weak, and reportedly walked with a limp and one side of his mouth was perculiar.
“He does not have all that much longer to live and my sources say the doctors’ diagnosis is that he will die before the end of the year,” Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, an expert on North Korean affairs at Waseda University.
He is still being treated for the main problem, which is complications arising from his diabetes, and it had been expected that he could die as soon as this summer.”
Shigemura, an expert on North Korean affairs at Waseda University
He cited personal sources within Kim’s extended family.
So North Korea has cyber warfare capabilities?
July 9th, 2009In the wake of the cyber attacks targetting various US and South Korean Government and Spy agencies, with the finger being pointed somewhere toward North Korea, one does not expect such an economically strapped country to have the capacity of launching 21st century cyber warfare.
Even though the attacks were mainly thwarted, it is a big middle finger to the US and South Korea and a demonstration of the North’s technological capabilities.
It seems Kim Jong-Il, being an avid internet user himself, has long recognised the need for a cyber army and apparently has 1000> hackers at his disposal.
Where could this go? Well, North Korea has a huge portfolio of attention seeking and demonstrating it’s military might, so this may just be a show of strength to scare the US and South Korea.
Meanwhile, South Korea has said that it is increasing it’s efforts to get it’s cyber warfare unit up to speed to counter the North’s aggressive hacker army.
North Korea launches cyber attack on US/South Korea
July 9th, 2009Suspicions are growing that North Korea is responsible for a massive cyber-attack which occurred on the weekend in South Korea and on some US government web sites.
Intelligence experts believe it could have been an initial foray by the North Koreans to disable South Korean and US information systems.
It is also believed the Internet attacks were not isolated, but tied a North Korean military strategy, which includes its recent missile and nuclear weapons tests.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has revealed the computer virus infected 18,000 personal computers and at least 11 South Korean government sites.
US sites hit by the virus included the Treasury Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Secret Service.
Analysts have said the attacks on South Korean websites may have been made in place of feared attacks along the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.
They have suggested recent missile tests have underlined North Korean efforts to perfect their missile accuracy but do not signify an imminent military attack.
The Internet attacks came as North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il attended a memorial service marking the 15th anniversary of the death of his father, Kim Il-Sung.
He was shown briefly on North Korean state TV walking with a slight limp.
North Korea test fires Scud missiles
July 4th, 2009North Korea has test fired a series of scud missiles that have a range of 500km. This is an apparent act of defiance on the American Independence Day (4th of July.)
South Korea says the missiles were fired from an east coast launch site.
All of the missiles landed in the Sea of Japan (or East Sea.)
“Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations”
- South Korea
North Korea fires 4 short range missiles
July 2nd, 2009According to South Korean intelligence, North Korea has fired 4 short range surface-to-ship missiles into the east sea.
Also, it is reported a long range missile is being prepared for imminent launch.
North Korea has recently warned all ships to stay away from it’s waters, possibly because of these tests or a usual show of international defiance.
Court deems sex with children legal in North Korea
July 1st, 2009The Busan court’s statement speaks for itself.
The girl had already been homeless for about two years before meeting Kim, and he did not control her after offering his house as a shelter to her request. So we don’t acknowledge the prosecution’s claim that Kim made the minor (engage in sexual activity) away from her parents’ protection
They had sex, but she did not demand money and he did not give her money. He provided her with shelter, food and about 20,000 won pocket money, but there is no evidence that the offering was in exchange for sex.
