North Korea

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[Optimus Prime]

N.Korean Dictators' Fear of Flying Explained

chosun.com / May 30, 2014 08:31 KST

North Korea's nation founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il developed their morbid fear of flying after they witnessed the explosion of their exclusive jet in midair in 1982.

An academic said North Korea bought five IL-62 passenger planes from the Soviet Union to use as Kim Il-sung's exclusive aircraft and test flew one at Sunan Airport in Pyongyang, but it exploded in mid-air.

The aircraft was apparently piloted by the captain of Kim's personal flight crew, who was among 17 people killed in the accident.

"Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, who witnessed the explosion, were shocked and refused to board any aircraft flown by a North Korean pilot."

When he visited the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in 1984, Kim Il-sung spent a month traveling by train rather than board an airplane.

In 1986, Kim Il-sung had no choice but to fly to Moscow in at the invitation of then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. But he flew on a Soviet plane.

Kim Jong-il traveled only by special armored train.

But now it seems that his son, Kim Jong-un, is keen on flying and has piloted planes himself.

 

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North Korea sentences South Korean 'spy' to hard labour for life

Prosecutors had called for death sentence over accusations of spying and setting up church

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 31 May, 2014, 8:53am
UPDATED : Sunday, 01 June, 2014, 5:04am

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

South Korean missionary, identified by the North as Kim Jong-uk, in Pyongyang. He has been sentenced to life with hard labour. Photo: Reuters

North Korea sentenced a South Korean missionary to hard labour for life after accusing him of espionage and setting up an underground church, state media said yesterday, the latest Christian preacher to run into trouble in the secretive state.

Prosecutors had sought a death sentence for Kim Jeong-wook, identified by the North's official news agency, KCNA, as Kim Jong-uk, during Friday's trial.

However, according to KCNA, Kim confessed his guilt - including state subversion, espionage, anti-state propaganda and agitation, and illegal entry into the country - and "sincerely repented". "The accused admitted to all his crimes," KCNA said.

"He committed anti-DPRK religious acts, malignantly hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK [North Korea] overseas and tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang ... for the purpose of setting up underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK while luring its inhabitants into South Korea and spying on the DPRK."

Although religious freedom is enshrined in the North's constitution, it does not exist in practice and religious activity is severely restricted to officially recognised groups linked to the government.

Pyongyang views foreign missionaries as seditious elements intent on fomenting unrest and those who are caught engaging in any unauthorised activities are subject to immediate arrest.

Instead of facing execution, Kim was sentenced to hard labour for life by the North's Supreme Court, the report said.

North Korea in February refused to accept a written demand for his immediate release from the South's Unification Ministry.

Fellow activists and missionaries said Kim had been providing shelter and food for seven years to North Korean refugees living in China's northeastern border city of Dandong .

They said he had crossed the Yalu border river in October last year to establish the whereabouts of some North Korean refugees who had been arrested in Dandong by Chinese authorities and repatriated.

A number of missionaries - mostly US citizens - have been arrested in North Korea in the past with some of them allowed to return home after interventions by high-profile US figures.

US citizen Kenneth Bae, described by a North Korean court as a militant Christian evangelist, was sentenced last year to 15 year's hard labour on charges of seeking to topple the government.

 

[MortalKombat]

Google Maps finally adds driving directions for North Korea - all they need now are phones, cars and a connection to the outside world!

• North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un imposes strict controls on web use
  
• Google began adding roads, subway stations and parks in 2012
• These additions were made using submissions from worldwide Maps users
  
• Using this data, Google has now added driving directions for the region
• But crossing the border into South Korea or China produces an error
  
• Some public transport details are also still missing from the service

By Victoria Woollaston
Published: 11:48 GMT, 29 May 2014 | Updated: 13:20 GMT, 29 May 2014

Many of us take driving directions for granted, but for areas with strict web controls, such as North Korea, it's a luxury.

Google has managed to bypass a number of these restrictions by using data supplied by users of its Maps service to plot roads, subways, and parks in the eastern region.
And now it has built on this information by adding satellite navigation across the country.

Google began adding roads, subway stations and parks to the North Korea region of its Maps service in January 2013. These additions were made using submissions from worldwide Maps users. Using this data, Google has now added step-by-step driving directions, pictured, along the roads that have been mapped

MAPPING NORTH KOREA

In 2012, Google announced it was going to start adding detailed mapping information in areas ‘that traditionally have been mostly blank’ - including North Korea.
To build this map, a community of so-called citizen cartographers added road names and points of interesting to the Google Map Maker tool.

The detailed site launched on 28 January 2013.

Building on this data, Google now plots driving directions across the country - but only on roads that have been mapped.

Google did not comment on the recent transport changes, but linked to its original blog post from 2013 that said: ‘From this point forward, any further approved updates to the North Korean maps in Google Map Maker will also appear on Google Maps.’

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un imposes strict controls on internet use and how many people can buy cars, for example.

Earlier this week, reports claimed the region has just 5,500 websites and emails and texts are closely monitored.
In 2012, Google announced it was going to start adding detailed mapping information in areas ‘that traditionally have been mostly blank’ - including North Korea.

To build this map, a community of so-called citizen cartographers added road names and points of interest to the Google Map Maker tool, and the detailed site launched on 28 January 2013.

Building on this data, Google now plots driving directions across the country - but only on roads that have been mapped.

Google did not comment on the recent transport changes, but linked to its original blog post from 2013 that said: ‘We encourage people from around the world to continue helping us improve the quality of these maps for everyone with Google Map Maker.

‘From this point forward, any further approved updates to the North Korean maps in Google Map Maker will also appear on Google Maps.’

The directions, which began rolling out in June last year, are available on desktop, as well as the Android and iOS app versions of the service.

The directions, which began rolling out in June last year, are available on desktop, as well as the Android and iOS app versions, pictured left, of the service. Like in other regions, these directions feature step-by-step instructions, traffic details, where possible, mileage and travel time, pictured right

Asking for routes across the borders into South Korea and China produces a message saying Google has been unable to calculate directions, pictured. Although Google Maps shows railway and subway lines in North Korea, it still doesn't show timetable information

Like in other regions, these directions feature step-by-step instructions, traffic details, where possible, mileage and travel time.

But asking for routes to both Seoul and Bejing produces a message saying Google has been unable to calculate directions.

Although Google Maps shows railway and subway lines, it still doesn’t show timetable information as seen in other regions.

This may be because regulations in South Korea restrict certain details from being released.

According to North Korea Tech, this could be due to the fact Google has offices in Seoul and therefore is bound by the country’s laws - which it isn't in North Korea.

North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, pictured, imposes strict controls on internet use and how many people can buy cars, for example. Earlier this week, reports claimed the region has just 5,500 websites and emails and texts are closely monitored

 

[MortalKombat]

Google Maps Helps Users Find Their Way Round N.Korea

chosun.com / May 30, 2014 11:43 KST

Google Maps has added a pathfinding function to its map of North Korea, according to website North Korea Tech.

Google Maps allows users to find out routes and travel time between any two points and can be used on computers, tablet PCs and smartphones.

Users can now discover that it takes seven minutes by car from Mansudae Hill, where giant statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il stand, to Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang. The distance is 3.2 km and it takes 39 minutes on foot, if Google is to be believed.

Google Maps guides users to all major points across the North. It shows that a car journey between Mansudae Hill and the Aoji coalmine in North Hamgyong Province takes 10 hours and 30 minutes via Danchon, Kimchaek, and Chongjin along National Route 7.

The service may not fully reflect road conditions in the North. "Since last year, we've let ordinary users upload geographic information about the North," a Google Korea executive said. "The pathfinding service is based on this information."

 

[Boba Fett]

North Korea develops mushroom drink to boost athletic prowess

PUBLISHED : Monday, 02 June, 2014, 9:42pm
UPDATED : Monday, 02 June, 2014, 9:42pm

The Guardian

Photo: EPA

North Korean scientists have developed a sports drink made from mushrooms to enhance athletic prowess, according to state media.

In a report detailing "new inventions" in the secretive state, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said researchers at the Microbiological Research Institute of the State Academy of Sciences had developed a "very effective" mushroom drink to help athletes recover from exertion.

"They succeeded in finding the way to cultivate mushroom fungus and made a functional drink," KCNA reported. "This natural drink is very effective in enhancing physical ability of sportspersons and recovering from their fatigues."

The report does not explain how the drink's health benefits work, when it will be made widely available or how it tastes.

North Korea recently announced the opening of a Central Mushroom Research Institute in Pyongyang. A KCNA report said the centre had been built "according to the noble intention of [the country's leader] Kim Jong-un making a new history of industrialisation of mushroom growing" and that it had a "very important duty" to help turn the "DPRK into a huge producer of mushroom".

The report said there was now a "brisk drive for mushroom production" across North Korea, and that the efforts of the institute were anticipated to bring "substantial benefits to the people".

North Korea has struggled with food production since the famine of the 1990s, which is believed to have killed one million people. Outdated farming practices, mismanagement, lack of fertilisers and extreme weather have all been blamed for poor food production. Though the situation is believed to be steadily improving, chronic levels of infant malnutrition persist, according to the UN.

Mushrooms have featured in North Korean propaganda since the 1960s.

KCNA has previously emphasised to the public that both North Korea's founding father, Kim Il-sung, and his son, Kim Jong-il, "worked heart and soul to provide the people with tasty nutritious mushroom".

 

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[ShaoKahn]

American detained in North Korea was on vacation tour, lawyer says

By Jon Herskovitz
AUSTIN Texas Mon Jun 9, 2014 11:52pm BST

Jeffrey Fowle is shown in this City of Moraine handout photo released on June 9, 2014. REUTERS/City of Moraine/Handout via Reuters

(Reuters) - The U.S. citizen detained in North Korea, Jeffrey Fowle, 56, is a father of three with a passion for adventure who was in the country as part of a vacation tour, his lawyer said on Monday.

"Jeffrey loves to travel and loves the adventure of experiencing different cultures and seeing new places," his attorney, Timothy Tepe, of Lebanon, Ohio, said in a statement.

"Mrs. Fowle and the children miss Jeffrey very much and are anxious for his return home," the statement said.

North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said last week in a two-sentence dispatch it had detained an American tourist for violating its laws. That brought to three the number of U.S. citizens held by Pyongyang.

"American citizen Jeffrey Edward Fowle entered the DPRK as a tourist on April 29 and acted in violation of the DPRK law, contrary to the purpose of tourism during his stay. A relevant organ of the DPRK detained him and is investigating him," its official KCNA news agency said.

Fowle is from Miamisburg, Ohio, and worked in the Moraine city street department, local media reports said.

Shortly before North Korea said it was holding Fowle, Japan's Kyodo news agency cited unidentified diplomatic sources on Friday as saying the North had detained a U.S. citizen in mid-May just before he was to leave North Korea, allegedly for having left a Bible in his hotel.

North Korea, where citizens are taught to revere the country's leaders with a religious-like fervor, takes a hard line on Christians proselytizing within its borders.

The state has used detained foreigners as diplomatic cards to win economic concessions and high-profile political visits from international dignitaries seeking to win their release. The North's official media then describe the visits as being a foreign tribute to its leaders.

North Korea has detained and then released other Americans in the past year, including Korean War veteran Merrill E. Newman, whom it expelled after holding him for more than a month accusing him of war crimes.

In April, the North said it was holding an American named Matthew Todd Miller, who had made "a gross violation of its legal order" after entering the country on a tourist visa.

THOUSANDS OF TOURISTS

North Korea is also holding Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of trying to use religion to overthrow its political system.

Despite being one of the world's most isolated countries, thousands travel to North Korea each year for tourism.

Tourism helps bring hard foreign currency to the cash-strapped North, where foreign commerce has been severely hit by international sanctions largely imposed because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Visitors are typically taken on tightly controlled tours to see monuments dedicated to the Kim family that has ruled one of the last outposts of the Cold War for more than 70 years.

Tourists are kept away from the general public and almost always stay in hotels for foreigners - some with casinos.

Visitors use euros and dollars to pay for meals and spectacles such as the Arirang mass games, where tens of thousands of soldiers, school girls and citizens stage a review of North Korean history that is part circus, part rhythmic gymnastics floor show and part military parade.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

[ShaoKahn]

Isolated North Korea a visitor draw, but sometimes literally a tourist trap

By James Pearson
SEOUL Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:05pm BST

A bus driver prepares to start a media tour through Pyongyang, in this April 11, 2012 file photo. REUTERS-Bobby Yip-Files

(Reuters) - "Taking you to places where your mother would rather you stayed away from." That's how one Western travel agency advertises its tours to North Korea.

The U.S. government doesn't want you to go there either. Three of its citizens have been detained in the last eight months while on tourist trips to North Korea, including Jeffrey Fowle, a visitor from Miamisburg, Ohio, who was arrested in May.

Despite the risks, tour operators say business to North Korea is booming, albeit from a low base for one of the most isolated countries in the world. For Pyongyang, tourism is one of the few sources of the foreign currency it relies on to overcome U.S. sanctions related to its nuclear and missile programmes.

While the country does not publish tourist numbers, travel agencies estimate as many as 6,000 Westerners visit the country every year, compared to just 700 a decade ago. Most are adventure-seekers curious about life behind the last slither of the iron curtain, and ignore critics who say their dollars are propping up a repressive regime.

The vast majority of tourists to North Korea are from neighbouring China, North Korea's main ally.

"People are people," said Keith Ballard, an American tourist currently in North Korea. "I can take politics out of it.

"Did anyone have any ethical concerns about me travelling here? Yes they did, some people said why would you even go there to support that government," he said by telephone. "I said, hey it's basically just tourism."

Last month, the U.S. Department of State said it now "strongly recommends" against all travel to North Korea, citing the risk of "arbitrary arrest."

Joshua Stanton, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer who served with the U.S. military in South Korea and writes a blog on North Korea, says the tourist dollars prop up the government of Kim Jong Un, the third of his family to rule the country.

"The companies selling these overpriced tours need customers gullible enough to believe that they'll be safe there, and that their visits will somehow change North Korea for the better," he said in an e-mail. "The first claim is false, and the second claim is dubious."

BOOKINGS RISE TENFOLD IN 10 YEARS

The warnings do not appear to be having much effect.

Beijing-based Koryo Tours, one of the biggest operators sending Westerners into North Korea, has seen a tenfold rise in business in the past decade, peaking at about 2,100 visitors in 2012, according to Simon Cockerell, its general manager.

Around a quarter of those, Cockerell said, were American.

Troy Collings of Young Pioneer Tours, another China-based foreign travel agency specialising in trips to North Korea, says his company is seeing business double annually, and had nearly 1,000 clients in the past year.

Travel agents and others say those who have been detained in North Korea have usually been held for a specific reason, such as attempting to proselytise or independently contacting locals - which the U.S. travel advisory specifically warns against.

"I realised that if you are going there strictly as a tourist with no other agenda, then the DPRK is a very safe place to travel," Dusty Mapson, a recent tourist to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the official name for North Korea, said by e-mail.

"I was a little worried about my military background being an issue during my trip," said Mapson, who served in the U.S. Navy. But he faced no problems.

"It should be reasonably assumed that should you choose to travel to DPRK you know the potential dangers and understand that you are a guest in their country and there are certain rules you are going to have to follow while you are there," he said.

STRING OF ARRESTS

Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae has been in custody in North Korea for 18 months. Merrill Newman, an elderly U.S. citizen, was detained in Pyongyang when he told his North Korean guides he trained anti-communist guerrillas during the 1950-53 Korean War. He was released shortly afterwards.

Matthew Todd Miller, 24, was taken into custody by North Korean officials after entering the country on April 10, ripping up his tourist visa and demanding asylum, according to North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency.

Shortly before North Korea said last week that it was holding Fowle, Japan's Kyodo news agency cited unidentified diplomatic sources as saying an American had been detained for having allegedly left a Bible in his hotel.

Fowle's lawyer has said he was not on a church mission, and that Fowle "loves to travel and loves the adventure of experiencing different cultures and seeing new places." A 2010 profile of Fowle and his wife in the Dayton Daily News said he always had a "particular interest" in the former Soviet Union.

Before they visit North Korea, foreign travel agencies brief their clients about the dangers of travelling in the country. Visitors are told to respect local laws that prohibit the distribution of foreign literature, or doing anything that might defame the North Korean leadership.

Foreign travel companies also have to sign a contract with North Korean state tourism agencies stating that both sides "shall make the visitors obey and respect voluntarily the laws, regulations and public orders of DPR, Korea," according to a copy seen by Reuters.

The contract also says all nationalities are permitted to enter the country as tourists, except for South Koreans and Israelis. Journalists are also barred.

Visitors travel from Beijing to the capital Pyongyang on one of Air Koryo's Soviet-era passenger jets, or cross the border from China by train. Once inside North Korea, tourists are led on closely-chaperoned tours.

All expenses, including hotel and food, are paid for up front, although tourists can carry euros, dollars or Chinese yuan for out of pocket expenses.

Costs for a four-day visit range from $500 to $1,800, some of which goes to state-owned tourism companies in North Korea, travel agents said.

Despite North Korea's fear of exposing its citizens to outside influences, it continues to invest in projects to attract more visitors.

Last year, North Korea opened a brand new ski resort near the eastern port city of Wonsan. It aims to make $43.75 million in annual profit from the resort, documents prepared for potential foreign investors and obtained by Reuters show.

"The most interesting part of this case is the growing contradiction between North Korea's ambitions to earn revenue from tourism and the regime's paranoia about outside influences," said Stephan Haggard, a North Korea expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

"The DPRK desperately needs trade and investment, but appears incapable of accepting the marginal loss of control such opening would entail," said Haggard.

(Additional reporting by the Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

 

[ShaoKahn]

Singapore firm charged over arms smuggling to North Korea

Singapore-registered ship intercepted in the Panama Canal last year had cargo of weapons from Cuba bound for Pyongyang

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 June, 2014, 3:51pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 June, 2014, 4:20pm

Agence France-Presse in Singapore

North Korean container ship Chong Chon Gang is seen at the Manzanillo International container terminal dock in Panama in this August 14, 2013 file photo. Photo: Reuters

Singapore said on Tuesday it had filed criminal charges against a shipping firm based in the city-state accused of helping smuggle missiles and other military hardware from Cuba to North Korea.

The foreign affairs and home affairs ministries said in a joint statement that the charges were filed against Chinpo Shipping Company and a Singapore citizen identified as Tan Hui Tin.

The statement said the Singapore Police Force had completed its investigation into the shipping firm’s involvement, clearing the way for state prosecutors to lodge the charges.

Chinpo was charged with transferring $72,000 to a company in South Africa knowing that the funds could be used to contribute to the “nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related, or other weapons of mass destruction-related programmes or activities” of North Korea.

Tan, the 50-year-old daughter of Chinpo’s chairman, was charged with withholding potential electronic evidence.

Singapore in January received information that the Singapore-registered shipping firm had been implicated in the shipment of arms from Cuba to North Korea, prompting the police to launch an investigation.

The undeclared shipment was found aboard a North Korean freighter, Chong Chon Gang, which was intercepted and searched in the Panama Canal in July last year on suspicion it was smuggling drugs.

Authorities found 25 containers of military hardware, including two Soviet era MiG-21s, air defence systems, and missiles and command and control vehicles, buried under tonnes of sugar.

A UN report released earlier this year on how North Korea was circumventing United Nations sanctions said Chinpo Shipping had acted as an agent for a Pyongyang-based company that operated the intercepted vessel.

The report said Chinpo Shipping’s office was “co-located” with the North Korean embassy in Singapore.

An AFP reporter who visited Chinpo Shipping’s office on Tuesday was told by an employee that the North Korean embassy used to be there but would not say when it moved out.

“Singapore takes a serious view of our international obligations to prevent the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), their means of delivery and related materials,” the Singapore statement said.

“As a responsible member of the international community, Singapore has given full effect in our domestic legislation to the measures prescribed by United Nations Security Council resolutions and will take action against any individuals and/or companies that flout these.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press

 

[ShaoKahn]

Construction of seven star hotel in North Korea grinds to a halt

Mothballed hotel would have been between 45-75 floors high

June 11th, 2014
Chad O'Carroll

A ‘seven star’ luxury hotel construction project in downtown Pyongyang has ground to a halt, multiple sources in North Korea have confirmed to NK News.

The construction of the hotel, which was previously claimed to be called the Yonggwang (영광호텔 – “Glory”) Hotel and include a major casino, was abandoned after foreign investors lost confidence in the project, one source claimed.

“They lost investment so as of now it’s just sitting there rotting away. No one is interested,” the source said, who requested anonymity due to ongoing business interests in the DPRK.

“I can confirm that there is no construction continuing of the building of the Glory hotel next to Koryo hotel at all,” said another source, also requesting anonymity due to current residence in Pyongyang.

Satellite imagery of the planned hotel, which was rumored to be a “seven star joint venture with the Chinese” of between 45 – 75 stories, shows the area of the site occupies an area nearly three times the size of the Koryo, one of Pyongyang’s most iconic hotels.

Had it been completed, the size of the foundation indicate the building would have boosted Pyongyang’s hotel capacity by at least several hundred rooms.

But while historical satellite imagery shows a rapid start to construction in late 2011, efforts to complete the building appear to have halted early in the process – sometime between spring and summer 2013.

Construction site of “Glory” hotel, highlighted in NK News edit | Picture; June 2012, Google Earth imagery

Geoffrey See, Director of the North Korea-focused NGO Choson Exchange, told NK News that rumors suggested a Southeast Asian investor had taken over the project after the original Chinese investor pulled out, but that problems still remained.

“Its hard to say what the present status of the hotel is, but it seems part of a track record of DPRK’s environment still being too difficult for investors to navigate and to encourage them to maintain long-term interest in the market,” See said.

Dr. Antonio Fiori, Korea Foundation Endowment Chair at the University of Bologna, echoed See’s sentiment about the risks of foreign investment in North Korea.

“Who would risk their own money by investing in such a problematic country?” Fiori said, citing problems with rampant corruption, energy supply issues and hiring regulations that prevent the use of foreign labor.

“Running an investment without engaging in some form of corruption appears almost impossible in North Korea, and of course this puts foreigners off investment. The centralized government can also play a role in this lack of trust,” Fiori added.

Whether demand to fill rooms at the planned Yonggwang Hotel would have ever emerged, however, remains unclear. Despite the absence of a major tourist industry, North Korea has an abundance of hotel capacity in Pyongyang, with at least 12 hotels able to accommodate foreign visitors and a number of others built for local use only.

In 2013 Swiss hotelier Kempinski abandoned a much publicized plan to convert 150 rooms of the pyramid shaped Ryugyong hotel into a luxury hotel. Construction at the Ryugyong, which is 105 floors high, was begun in 1987 and abandoned in 1992.

Main picture: Dicks Simon, Flickr Creative Commons