This is how it should be

There is a long way to go but this is good to see even if it is just symbolic

http://www.foxsportsasia.com/olympics/780454/koreas-march-unification-flag-olympics/

PyeongChang Winter Olympics with a Unified Korean team

  South Korea is preparing for 2018 Winter Olympic games held in Pyeong Chang next month.
What is impressive, is this time North and South Korea will participate as "Unified Korean team", under one flag symbolizing unification.
This is the 1st time the separated nation perform together in Olympics.

  Hyon Song Wol, leader of Moranbong band ( an all-female music and performance group whose members were selected by Kim Jong Un), arrived in South Korea in January 21.


  This joint project may bring friendship, understanding, collaboration and peace to both nation, seeking a bigger chance for reunification in near future, but has also caused some disputes.
There will be big economic burden for ROK. According to news source "The Diplomat",
'North Korean delegation will be comprised of athletes, officials, journalists, an art troupe, and others. The sports delegation alone (athletes and officials) will include 46 people. The ultimate size of the delegation hasn’t been negotiated yet, but is expected to be the largest in scale ever, and so will be the corresponding expenses.'

  Hope the game will be an epic in human history, and bring more benefits than costs.

Kim Jong Un be jailed soon?

  A couple of days ago, families of Japanese victims abducted by North Korea some decades ago urged ICC (International Criminal Court) in Hague, Netherlands, to prosecute Kim Jong Un.

  The information of many abductees still remain unknown, or kept secret by NK regime. The most famous case may be Yokota Megumi's case. Megumi was only 13 years old when being snatched by NK agents in 1977. Today, her parents, in their 80s, still embrace hope to reunite with her despite NK regime's claim of her suicide.

  Hope all humanity can walk toward peace and light, to deal things in democratic and rightful ways.

UC Berkeley 대학교의 북한 전문가

UC Berkeley 대학교는 세계적인 명성의 대학교이다.

이 대학교 Website에는 북한 문제 전문가로 2분을 소개하고 있다.
Michael Nacht 교수님은 공공정책대학교에서 강의하고 계시고, Steven Weber 교수님은 정치학과에서 강의하고 계시다.

북한 예술단에 대한 쓸데없는 걱정

평창 동계 올림픽 기간 동안에 140명의 북한 예술단이 남한을 방문할 예정이다.
어떤 사람들은 북한 예술단이 북한 체제에 대한 찬양이 들어가지 않도록 해야 한다고 걱정한다. 남한 사람 중에서 북한 체제를 부러워할 사람이 있을까?
국민 수준을 너무 낮게 보는 것 같다.
북한에서 어떤 음악으로 김정은을 찬양하는지 들어보는 것이 북한이 얼마나 한심한 나라인지 알 수 있는 기회가 되지 않을까?

news.joins.com/article/22288942

Possible false flag blamed on North Korea

Here is an article suggesting the liklyhood of a false flag blamed on the north possibly during the Winter Olympics.

What is a false flag?

A false flag is an action carried out by a person or group, like a government or cabal, that is blamed on someone else to achieve a subversive goal. False flags pose as imminent threats to the security of a populace, when in fact they’re usually committed by that group’s own government.

You can read more on the signs of a false flag here.

https://www.gaia.com/lp/content/do-you-know-how-to-identify-a-false-flag-event/

The writer bases his theory on the current shaky financial situation in the western world and that history tells us that financial crisis have preceded large wars or invasions.

most people are familiar with the great depression of the 30's. what happened after that? world war 2

On the other hand, i'm hearing that this false flag will not happen. rather, the international pressure on China will become so intense to do something about their neighbor that it will reluctantly step in and effect regime change itself. militarily too if necessary.

Here is the article.

http://alt-market.com/articles/3353-olympic-games-in-south-korea-perfect-opportunity-for-a-false-flag-attack

북한이탈주민 남한사회에서의 성공은 한반도 통일을 앞당길 수 있다.

북한이탈주민(북한난민)들이 남한에서 성공했다는 소식이 북한에 전해져야 북한 사람들도 통일을 하고 싶은 마음이 들지 않을까?

북한이탈주민(북한난민)이 남한에서 정신적, 경제적으로 고통을 받는다면 북한 주민들이 통일을 두려워할 수 있다. 한반도 통일에 있어서 북한주민들의 마음이 가장 중요하지 않을까?

북한이탈주민(북한난민) 중에서 북한으로 다시 돌아가는 사람들이 있다고 들었다. 북한정권에서는 이를 대대적으로 북한주민들에게 알려서 "남한으로 가야 차별만 당하고 경제적으로 고통만 당할 뿐 별볼일 없다"고 선전할 수 있다.

북한이탈주민(북한난민)이 남한에서 잘 정착할 수 있도록 따뜻하게 반겨주어야 하며, 경제적으로 도움을 많이 주어야 한다.

Soongsil University hosted an academic conference to find solutions the unification of Korea.

Soongsil University hosted an academic conference to find solutions the unification of Korea.
Representatives from 6 Universities in South Korea participated in the conference.
In the conference, the Minister of the Unification emphasized that he will make every effort to support to educate all the university students about the unification of Korea.
The unification of Korea is the important step for Korea to be globalized.
The conference is focused on educating South Korean people for the unification of Korea.

www.fnnews.com/news/201712191216464844

Interesting article on economic reform by Lee Geun Young, Professor, Yanbian University

Lee Geun Young makes the comparison to various former socialist countries with North Korea regarding economic reform.
He thinks the north is in an awkward position because the regime is reluctant to dispense with the current political structure.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14944&cataId=nk03600

I have read that when the Chinese were going through their reforms, they found that privatizing the small farms rather than having collectives as it is the case in North Korea, farmers had more incentive to cultivate their crops and usually had the surplus to sell at the market. thereby making food available to all.

North Korea to participate in Pyeongchang Olympics

It should be interesting to see how the North Koreans do.
They better do well or else....says Kim Jong Un (just me joking around).
It should ease tensions a bit though

http://www.northkoreatimes.com/news/256023892/north-korea-engages-in-talks-with-south-on-olympics-trip

this came in from the dailynk

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14945&cataId=nk01500

yep. probably..

Kim Jong Un's 34th birthday and his health

  These days Iran is filled with unrest, with outcry for Freedom in around 100 cities.
Specialists speculates that if Iran (re)gains a democratic and peaceful regime, like the one before 1979, many parts of the world besides Iran will be a better place to live.

  How about North Korea? Is it also shaky and on the verge of collapse? At least the health of its supreme leader is. Doctors have analyzed Kim Jong Un's voice pattern on his New Year speech recently, and discovered that he may have kidney problems. Indeed, Kim's health is just like current falling Iranian regime.

  Unlike previously, this time Kim appears with apparently unhealthy and pale look. Today, January 8th, is Kim's 34th birthday, but his voice sounds like 50+years old. Weighing more than 130kg, he suffers from gout as well. While many civilians are starving to death, he continues to enjoy luxurious gourmet, alcohol and cigarettes, feeling homesick for his "good old days" in Switzerland.

  If one of your wish can be materialized on this day, what would you wish for?

Testimony of Thae Yong Ho. former North Korean diplomat to the U.K. who defected to South Korea in 2016

One remark that got my attention was when he mentioned that Kim Jong Un is not afraid of a united states attack but rather an uprising from the Korean people including high ranking officials.

 Here is his testimony to the House committee on foreign affairs in November 2017.in pdf form.

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20171101/106577/HHRG-115-FA00-Wstate-Yong-hoT-20171101.pdf

And here is the video

also, Thae Yong ho spoke about a video that jong un had made about his mother which was not shown to the North Korean public but somehow exists on youtube.
Kim Jong Un was advised against showing it to the public because it would undermine his legitimacy even further.

North Koreans can buy Bibles in Jangmadang.

North Koreans can buy not only USB containing South Korean movies and music but also Bibles in Jangmadang. It is a good piece of news.

North Korean police officers close their eyes about this because they think it is more beneficial for them.

www.christiantoday.co.kr/news/307913

Naenara. DPRK official website

There is some interesting reading coming from the horse's mouth so to speak.
This article discusses sending delegates to talk about the Phyongchang Winter Olympics. 

Naenara means "My Country" in Korean language.

http://naenara.com.kp/en/news/?19+8774

also found this

http://www.vok.rep.kp/CBC/index.php?CHANNEL=6&lang=

Large numbers of Chinese military trucks coming out of Yanji towards the North Korea border

I am not sure if this means anything.
This might be some type of exercise but the article reports that witnesses on the ground have never seen this many trucks mobilized before.
Also, there is no mention of tanks, artillery pieces, etc

The area of mobilization is in the North East Jilin province near the Russian/Chinese/North Korean border

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14923&cataId=nk01500

Also, here is some short footage from 8 months ago relating to the same thing and some of this equipment is heavy duty. not just trucks.

Here is a snippet of the comments under the video.

Recent footage shows a lot of Chinese military vehicles deploying toward North Korea border As tensions climb to historic highs between the US and its allies and North Korea, rumors of massive movements of Chinese troops near North Korea's border keep surfacing. A Pentagon official told Business Insider that the US has heard the reports but had "not seen anything to corroborate it." But Chinese troops are always stationed in the northeast near North Korea, and Yun Sun, a senior associate with the East Asia Program at the Stimson Center told Business Insider that "Chinese troop movements happen often along that border" when North Korean nuclear and missile provocations seem imminent.

Kim Jong Un said North Korea would participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kim Jong Un said North Korea would participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

South Korea is willing to pay the participation cost for North Korean participants to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
It is a good message from North Korea. I hope the Winter Olympic games will provide an opportunity to have peace talks between South Korea and North Korea.

www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2018/01/03/0200000000AKR20180103084600004.HTML?input=1195m

Letter to President Trump from the Border Peace School in Cheorwon, South Korea

I came across this while browsing North Korean related stuff.
Students of the border peace school wrote a letter to trump in anticipation of his visit to South Korea last year.
Little do they know though that President Trump is not really in control of what will happen.
He takes his orders from the banks and the multinationals.

http://www.birdskoreablog.org/?p=20018

Kim Jong Un's New Year speech

People are focusing more on his appearance rather than the speech.

It is interesting that he hasn't been wearing the Kim Il Sung badge for the past two years.

It is pretty obvious that the propaganda group is trying to identify him with his grandfather but actions speak louder than words and the people are not getting any help from the government. It is less and less relevant to them except for the fact that it is a hindrance rather than a help.

it leeches off the people while trying to make itself look important.

All the regime really cares about is its continuing survival

From the video report below, the positive is that Jong Un stated that cooperation with South Korea should be a priority in 2018.

It sounds like they are feeling the squeeze of the sanctions

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14925&cataId=nk01500

The sanctions are generating more market activity

Here is an article by the DailyNK reporting the side effects that the sanctions are having on the Jangmadang activity.
New businesses and innovations are taking shape as a result, on the other hand, people such as coal workers and surrounding businesses are suffering being out of work because of low demand for coal.
authorities are feeling the squeeze too and are passing it along with demands for larger bribes and the introduction of more fees or unofficial taxes for this or that.

The people are more and more resentful of the authorities and know that they can only rely on themselves.
The North Korean regime is becoming less and less relevant to the average person.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14918&cataId=nk01500

Happy New Year to North Korean refugees!