#Kim Jong-il

North Korea is close to the final stage of acquiring ICBM capabilities and miniaturization technologies required to target the continental U.S.

This week, military tensions and international concerns reached an unprecedented level in the Korean Peninsula after the United States deployed a B-52 bomber in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test. 

Years of patient diplomatic efforts by China with its belligerent neighbor North Korea seemed to be coming to an end on Saturday, following Beijing’s public announcement of an agreement with the U.S. on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons. The action comes after last Sunday’s early warning shot by China’s President and CCP Secretary General […]

On Wednesday, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) successfully launched a long-range rocket, in defiance of U.N. resolutions against the DPRK using ballistic missiles. The launch of the missile is said to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il (December 17) and included a “scientific and technological satellite […]

The stockings were hung, the FPA bloggers had written their last posts with care and just settled down for a long winters nap (by DC standards). When out on the 38th parallel there arose such a clatter and what to our wondering eyes appear? North Korea’s little old driver, who was so lively and quick, […]

Overview Although this year was China’s year of the “Diplomatic Misstep”, it is often overlooked that Beijing, likely because it is not a democracy, has a domestic audience it must cater to.  Much of China’s contemporary foreign policy has it’s roots in smoldering nationalism, a beast which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not create, […]

Yeonpyeong Island After North Korean Attack Previously, this blog has examined the complex dysfunctional relationship , known as Sino-North Korean relations.   Here is a quick recap: China is the top investor and subsidizer of North Korea, but the relationship is indirectly reciprocal. The Kim family mafia, rulers of North Korea, with Kim Jong Il as […]

PART II North Korea will never honestly negotiate a dismantling of its nuclear weapons; this is the only trump card that has ensured cash flow into the regime.   In essence, N. Korea is black mailing the region (and the U.S.).   This behavior is not surprising, as the North is a “mafia state” lead […]

The Kim mafia has been in the news quite a bit lately, and every time Kim Jong-Il makes a headline, China gets uncomfortable.  Great Leader Kim  is somewhat akin to  the the late U.S. mafia  boss, John Gotti Jr., he makes far too many newspaper headlines, a spotlight that makes his friends uneasy.    As […]

Jessica D’Itri I am reading The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why it Matters by B.R. Myers, an associate professor at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea. The book purports to explain the national myth that informs the worldviews of North Koreans. The author refutes the standard trope that North Korea is […]