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Lee Hyeonseo on the horrors of North Korea and her escape
North Korean defector Lee Hyeonseo spoke to the Asian American Journalists Association convention in San Francisco on Thursday. Lee is perhaps best-known for her TED talk detailing the amazing story of her escape from North Korea and subsequent life in China as she made her way South Korea. Her autobiography, “The Girl with Seven Names,”…
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Introducing The North Korea Book Store
It sure seems like 2015 is the year of the North Korea book. There have already been a number of high profile autobiographies by defectors and journalists and specialists continue to turn out books that look at the country, its leader and its future. So, to bring all these books together into one place and…
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Clocks will go back 30 minutes for Pyongyang Time
North Korea will next week take the unusual step of creating its own time zone by shifting clocks back by 30 minutes. Pyongyang Time is being created by a decree of the Supreme People’s Assembly that was issued on Wednesday but wasn’t reported until Friday by the Korean Central News Agency. The decree said the decision to…
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North Korea’s lights tell story of economic redistribution
NASA’s satellite images of the Korean peninsula at night are a well known and graphic visualization of the huge gap in economic development between North and South Korea. But it turns out, there are other lessons that can be learned from nighttime pictures of North Korea. An economist at Stanford University has studied almost two decades…
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NASA captures seasonal fires in North Korea
A NASA satellite has captured the seasonal fires burning across North Korea at present as farmers clear land for fresh crops. In images snapped by its Terra satellite, smoke can be seen getting carried by the wind right across the Sea of Japan to over Hokkaido and northern Japan. The space agency’s analysis says that…
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More on UN meeting, silencing of DPRK microphone
I now have the full video of the incident on Thursday at the United Nations when a North Korean diplomat interrupted a discussion on human rights. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. At the meeting, the diplomat began speaking just after a defector ended his speech and without being recognized by the chair, journalist Barbara…
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DPRK diplomat disrupts Human Rights meeting
A North Korean delegate interrupted an event being held at the United Nations on Thursday that was focusing on Human Rights in the DPRK. The event was organized by the U.S. and featured Ambassadors Samantha Power and Robert King on the panel alongside journalist Barbara Demick and others. There were 23 defectors in attendance, according to the…
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State media shows off solar and wind power plant
A visit by Kim Jong Un to inspect KPA Air Force Unit 1016 has provided a closer look at a new solar power plant built alongside an existing wind power plant. KCNA carried a handful of images of the visited, but more were broadcast by Korean Central TV during its evening news program. Here’s one of…
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TV Review: Hidden State: Inside North Korea
Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” takes on North Korea in its latest episode, scheduled for broadcast on Al Jazeera America on January 19, 2015, at 9pm ET. The 30-minute program called “Hidden State: Inside North Korea,” is based around a 2014 reporting trip to the country by Teresa Bo. Bo is a former Latin American correspondent…
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Who’s using North Korean airspace?
Last week I wrote about the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations on U.S. carriers or aircraft using North Korean airspace. They prohibit flight in most of the skies controlled by Pyongyang but allow it — with caution — in a portion east of 132 degrees East latitude. The ban is in place because of North…
