In the News – North Koreans Agree to Freeze Nuclear Work; U.S. to Give Aid

In the News – North Koreans Agree to Freeze Nuclear Work; U.S. to Give Aid

Kim Jong-un met with soldiers from the Korean People’s Army in southwestern North Korea in February. Korean Central News Agency, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

WASHINGTON — North Korea announced on Wednesday that it would suspend its nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors to monitor activities at its main nuclear complex. The surprise announcement raised the possibility of ending a diplomatic impasse that has allowed the country’s nuclear program to continue for years without international oversight.

Photoshop in North Korea (and other surprises)

I never thought that they would have Photoshop in North Korea. Even setting aside the name brand Adobe software, it never occurred to me that there might be digital image manipulation in a country stuck a few decades in the past.

But a great photo analysis from The New York Times Lens blog finds evidence that it’s there.

You may not have seen photos from Kim Jong-Il’s nation-blanketing funeral proceedings, though if you haven’t you should seek them out—they are often of a cinematic quality, citizens in the highest stages of grief, perfectly orchestrated snow falling everywhere all the time.

Like this:

In the News – North Korea Warns South Over Military Drill but Accepts Food Aid

In the News – North Korea Warns South Over Military Drill but Accepts Food Aid

South Korean trucks loaded with sacks of flour for North Koreans left for the North Korean city of Kaesong on Friday.

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: January 27, 2012

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea warned on Friday that a South Korean military drill around frontline islands could lead to a “full-scale war,” even as it allowed South Korean trucks carrying privatefood aid for North Korean children to cross the border.

One hundred and eighty tons of flour from the Korea Peace Foundation was the first such aid shipment since the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died last month, leaving his youngest son,Kim Jong-un, as his heir and leaving the peninsula jittery.

As the North Korean government has focused on consolidating the leadership succession, it has vowed never to deal with the government of President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea, who has taken a tougher stand on the North than his predecessors did.

In the News – South Korea Predicts Changes in Peninsula

In the News – South Korea Predicts Changes in Peninsula

Kim Jong-un visited with members of a tank division in a photograph released Sunday by North Korea's official news agency.

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: January 1, 2012

SEOUL, South Korea — President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea vowed on Monday to “deal strongly with any provocations” from the North, predicting a “big change” on the divided Korean Peninsula following the death of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and his young, untested son’s rise to power.

In his nationally televised New Year’s speech, Mr. Lee did not elaborate on what momentous change he foresaw. But policy-makers and analysts in the region are closely watching whether the designated successor in the North, Kim Jong-un, who is believed to be in his 20s, can consolidate his dynastic grip on power or will depend on caretakers and even regents to run the country, and how such scenarios might affect the country’s external policies, especially its nuclear weapons programs.

Interview: Sang-Hun Choe, Journalist for New York Times & International Herald Tribune

By Grace Kim 

My favorite journalist had been a certain white-haired fellow on a cable news station until I met Mr. Sang-Hun Choe of the New York Times and International Herald Tribune at a lecture about North Korean issues in the media at Wellesley College this past spring. Thoughtful and soft-spoken, Mr. Choe was too polite and humble for my presumptions of what a New York Times Asia Correspondent with a Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Bridge At No Gun Ri, co-authored with Charles Hanley and Martha Mendoza under his belt would could be like. I had been a fan of his New York Times pieces on North Korea in the past because his articles were comprehensive and clearly revealed that he did his research. Judging from his writing, I assumed that he crafted his English in the United States or another English- speaking country, but much to my surprise, and probably to many Korean parents eager to send children abroad, he had never studied outside South Korea until his recent stay as a Koret Fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. Meeting him in person not only bumped the Silver Fox down my fan list, but also reminded me of the dedication that some journalists put into investigating topics and publishing their work for the world to read. The following interview shows a glimpse of journalism, North Korea issues in the media, and of the man behind the text.

Pulitzer prize winning NYTIMES Journalist: Sang Hun Choe @ Wellesley

Wellesley College

106 Central St. Wellesley, MA 02481

Pendelton West Rm. 212

4-6pm

Light Refreshment to be served

?? gkim7@wellesley.edu or ankhr.firstclass@wellesley.edu