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Anti-North Korea? No, we're pro
Critics who judge the online news outlets that have sprung up covering North Korea as "anti-North" are missing the point in the same way that many Pyongyang watchers have done for decades. Far from being against the country or its population, those who are best informed on the North can envision a brighter, post-regime future. - Aidan Foster-Carter
(Aug 16, '13)
North
Korea: The Columbus
complex
Entrepreneurs beware when
it comes to exploiting the virgin commercial
ground of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea. Others from Hyundai to Thai conglomerate
Loxley have gone before; all failed. Still,
there's a sucker born every minute, and an
Egyptian telephony giant is the next in line. -
Aidan Foster-Carter (Feb 1, '08)
From Sunshine to
sunset
Three months, a
fiscal quarter, is a long time in Korean politics.
From the missiles of July to the nukes of October,
much has happened to harden attitudes in the the
South against the North. The sun is indeed setting
on the one-sided Sunshine Policy and any future
inter-Korean engagement will have to be based on
reciprocity. (Oct 17,
'06)
Seoul cleans up in
Africa
In the quiet
inter-Korean competition for diplomatic influence
in Africa, the score is now 53-0. South Korea has
diplomatic relations with all African countries,
while North Korea has all but abandoned the field.
But Seoul seems strangely indifferent to
exploiting its advantage. (Sep 5,
'06)
Of missiles and mercurial
media
Weeks go by without
the media wanting comment on North Korea. Then Kim
Jong-il fires some missiles and everyone wants to
know why. Aidan Foster-Carter has an answer
as good as any: it's much the same as why dogs
lick their ... Because they can. (Jul 21, '06)
North Korean outreach: Are we
motoring?
Things are happening quickly, as Japan's
prime minister plans to make a trip to North Korea
- the first ever to do so - and Pyongyang and
Seoul have agreed to relink two road/rail
corridors across their formidably fortified
border. Could Pyongyang finally be coming in from
the cold? (Sep 2, '02)
North Korea's quest for
'normalization'
The word "normal" has a
different meaning to North Korea than it does for
everyone else. It means reneging on scheduled
diplomatic meetings and perpetuating an
inconsistent, insubstantial "normalization"
schedule. It's a long process and more meetings
have been arranged, but the results are yet to be
seen. (Aug 27,
'02)
Charcoal
heroes
In North Korea,
initiative in the face of shortage and hardship is
encouraged. No power saws for the timber industry?
No problem; use axes. No fuel to transport
the timber? No problem; use charcoal. Very heroic,
except that the shortage and hardship was caused
not by bad luck but by a government that refuses
to accept modern realities. (Aug 13,
'02)
North Korea caves in to the
market
Pyongyang's historic first timid steps
toward economic normality escaped the notice of
the official press. But ordinary North Koreans
couldn't possibly miss it: while wages soared at
least tenfold last month, prices rocketed as much
as 40-fold. Market forces have at last penetrated
the socialist paradise. (Aug 5, '02)
Beer leader
Kim Jong-il offers his guidance on
the management and operation of a brewery,
and then turns his attention to the
production of toothbrushes - it
seems that after half a century of
socialism they haven't sorted that one out
yet. (Jul 29,
'02)
Adopting, adapting: Korean orphans
South Korea has exported a vast number of
adoptee children over the decades, even after it
was no longer a poor country. This unsettling
phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by Pyongyang.
But on this matter as on so many others, its
protestations are hypocrisy: it too has sent away
its orphans, often to places little better than
North Korea. (Jul 16,
'02)
Free as
a bird? (Jul 11,
'02)
Pyongyang's tentative
telecoms (Jul 5,
'02)
No-penalty shootout
(Jul 2,
'02)
The
crab who would be a shark (Jun 20,
'02)
Slowly
but surely? North-South summit, two years
on (Jun 14, '02)
Food,
football, floods: Sprigs of
hope? (Jun 10,
'02)
A
menace at home and abroad (May 30,
'02)
A
rogue by any other name (May 24,
'02)
North
Korea: Dam nuisance (May 16,
'02)
Human
rights: The sound of
silence (Apr 12, '02)
Refugees:
A new McCarthyism (Apr 5, '02)
Much
fame, small gain (Mar 29, '02)
Looking
for the right medicine (Mar 22,
'02)
Waste
and want: Will North Korea starve
again? (Mar 16, '02)
Try
leading, dear leader, before it's too
late (Mar 8, '02)
Soap,
sleeze: North Korea's first family
(Mar 2,
'02)
Why
Bush is scarier than Kim Jong-il
(Feb 9,
'02)
Korea
vs Japan: Ne'er the twain shall
meet? (Jan 25,
'02)
Politicized
intelligence (Jan 21,
'02)
Karl
Marx 4, Kim Jong-il 0 (Jan 11,
'02)
Looking
forward, looking back (Dec 22,
'01)
Goodwill
to all mankind? Not in North
Korea (Dec 19,
'01)
Kim's
thoughts on art, diplomacy,
and progress (Dec 15,
'01)
Shots
across the DMZ: Should we
worry? (Nov 30,
'01)
Spies
R Us, 3: More tales from behind the
line (Nov 24, '01)
Spies
R Us, 2: Seoul's old spooks tell
all (Nov 16, '01)
Spies
R Us, 1: Inter-Korean
infiltration (Nov 9, '01)
How
hungry is North Korea? (Oct 23,
'01)
Is
North Korea open for
business? (Oct 20,
'01)
A
bad hair day (Oct 18,
'01)
Could
North Korea be in the firing
line? (Sep 27,
'01)
Is
North Korea Stalinist? (Sep 5, '01)
A
Pyongyang-watcher
confesses (Jul 31,
'01)
O
Paek, opaque: North Korea, not ARF that
is (Jul 25, '01)
Juche
on the beach: Some summer
reading (Jul 21,
'01)
North
Korea in SE Asia: comradeship
bombs (Jul 18,
'01)
North
Korea: first of the worst (Jul 14,
'01)
No,
not that President Kim (Jul 10,
'01)
Tackle
or tiptoe: How to handle North
Korea (Jul 4, '01)
Go
north, go west: growth poles in a reunifed
Korea (Jun 27,
'01)
One
country, two planets (Jun 20,
'01)
Shenanigans
in South Asia (Jun 16,
'01)
Unhappy
birthday: Is the summit
sunk? (Jun 13,
'01)
Out
of Africa (Jun 9, '01)
Nukes
and missiles: the Pakistan
connection (Jun 5, '01)
Numbers
add up like fish and
bicycles (Jun 1,
'01)
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