October 20,
2008:??During the recent harvest, troops were sent to all agricultural
areas with orders to guard a special war reserve of food, even if this meant
farmers would not have enough food to last them through the Winter. Farmers
have been ordered to contribute to the war reserve before taking care of their
own needs. In the past, this reserve was established during times when famine
was the greatest, as a means of dealing with the worst cases of starvation.
Before the troops arrived, many farmers went out at night and stole food from
their own fields. Meanwhile, the North Korea media is reporting an increase in
public executions of criminals. These are said to have been ordered by Kim Jong
Il himself, who is supposed to have said that, "the people need to hear
the sound of gunfire in order to restore discipline."??While
everything seems normal up north (the usual levels of fear and desperation,
that is), there is a sense that no one is in charge anymore. Last week, North
Korea announced that there would be ??major news released today.
October 12,
2008:??North Korea announced that it will resume dismantling its nuclear
weapons production facilities.
October 11,
2008:??The U.S. has removed North Korea from the terrorist watch list. In
return, North Korea has agreed to the inspections that the United States
demanded. It remains to be seen if the North Koreans will live up to their side
of the agreement. Past performance is not encouraging. But for the moment, the
U.S. and South Korea will provide food and energy aid, which will help prevent
another major round of famine and starvation in the north.
October 10,
2008:??North Korean TV broadcast pictures of ill leader Kim Jong Il
inspecting troops. But this video could have been taken anytime in the last
year or so. There's still no definitive proof that Kim is back in control of
things.
October 9, 2008:??North
Korea banned all UN (IAEA) nuclear weapons inspectors from its Yongbyon nuclear
complex. This is part of the game North Korea is playing to force the U.S. to
take North Korea off the international terrorist watch list (so that North Korea
can resume some of its illegal moneymaking activities.)
October 8,
2008:??South Korean military analysts believe that North Korea is working
on designs for a nuclear warhead that can be used in a ballistic missile. This
is a formidable engineering undertaking. North Korea is a small country, with a
tiny engineering community capable of undertaking this kind of work. South
Korea gets a lot of information these days from South Korean businessmen
working up north, and apparently information was received indicating some of
the key people and organizations capable of this kind of work, are now involved
in a new secret project. All this is an inexact science, and often these
pronouncements by South Korean military officials turn out to be wrong. In this
case, it could take at least 5-10 years for North Korea to produce a working
nuclear warhead for ballistic missiles.
October 7,
2008:??North Korea fired two short range missiles into the Yellow Sea,
after issuing a warning order to shipping to stay clear of the probable landing
zone. North Korea fires these missiles periodically, mainly ??for
propaganda purposes, and as an alternative to dismantling missiles that have
reached the end of their shelf life and are about to become unreliable.
October 6,
2008:??Israel accused North Korea of selling nuclear weapons technology to
six Middle Eastern nations. Israeli officials did not name them. It is known
that North Korean weapons technology was sold to Iran, Syria, Libya and Iraq.
The two unnamed nations are apparently among those that Israel is now
developing better relations with (like Saudi Arabia, which has always been in
the market for the best weapons available, no matter what the price or
provenance.)
October 4,
2008:??North Korea media announced that leader Kim Jong Il attended a
sporting event a few days ago, but provided no compelling proof. This would
have been the first time in nearly two months.