Bill Clinton makes secret trip to North Korea, wins pardon and apparent release of two captive US journalists. Jailed reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, employees of Al Gore's Current TV, were arrested for spying in March and had recently been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. The remarkable development is likely to boost to Clinton's battered image. [more inside]
posted by CunningLinguist on Aug 4, 2009 - 175 comments

Kim Jong Il has reportedly chosen an heir to his throne. And like a lot of stories involving North Korea, there's a mix of world-ending gloom and mad-cap hilarity. Meet the mysterious Kim Jong-un [more inside]
posted by GilloD on Jun 3, 2009 - 71 comments

North Korea's Kim suffers 'serious' setback from stroke. When Will North Korea Collapse? Should it happen, US, South Korean, and Chinese troops could charge into North Korea to secure its nuclear facilities-and confront each other, says RAND corp and others. However it is "far from certain that the regime would collapse like a puffball", and even John Bolton thinks The World Shouldn't Fear The Collapse of North Korea . But it's all probably a mugs game, In ’97, U.S. Panel Said North Korea Could Collapse in 5 Years, and in 2004 Talk was Swirling of a North Korean Regime Collapse.
posted by stbalbach on Oct 29, 2008 - 23 comments

Kim Jong Ill.
posted by Artw on Sep 9, 2008 - 86 comments

Terrorism finger puppets! Uncanny crocheted likenesses of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Ahmadinejad and George W. Bush.
posted by R. Mutt on Jan 31, 2007 - 21 comments

World Leaders Were Kids Once Too
Photos of a whole bunch of world leaders as kids up through adulthood. Hey, Reagan was Teh Buff! And proof that Joe Stalin was NOT born with that mustache!
posted by fenriq on Jul 22, 2006 - 83 comments

"The haggis was pronounced excellent by all that ate it, foreigners and Koreans, including the Vice-Minister." A diplomat describes opening the British embassy in Pyongyang. Direct link (rtf) here.
posted by stonerose on Apr 26, 2005 - 16 comments

Happy belated birthday, Kim Jong Il.
posted by kickingtheground on Feb 17, 2005 - 24 comments

The beginning of the end for Dear Leader? This Times (of London) report is filled with telling details.
posted by Tlogmer on Feb 1, 2005 - 44 comments

North Korea Issues Wartime Guidelines SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea has ordered its citizens to be ready for a protracted war against the United States, issuing guidelines on evacuating to underground bunkers with weapons, food and portraits of leader Kim Jong Il.
posted by Shanachie on Jan 5, 2005 - 50 comments

A trickle of reports coming out of North Korea paint a picture of a regime in its dying days
posted by Pretty_Generic on Dec 29, 2004 - 106 comments

Rev. Moon's submarines, sold to Kim Jong-Il, empower a nuke threat to the West Coast Comment from Atrios: "North Korea Has Dozen Subs Could threaten us with sea-launched missiles. Where'd Dear Leader get them? It looks like he got them from the guy who writes the paychecks of BillGertz, Tony Blankley, Wes Pruden, Andrew Sullivan, Jonah Goldberg..."
posted by Postroad on Aug 4, 2004 - 31 comments

We deliver to Pyongyang in 30 minutes or it's free. Well, not quite. But this is what happens when Kim Jong Il orders a pizza.
posted by pieoverdone on Jun 12, 2004 - 33 comments

Kim Jong Il (the illmatic)'s LiveJournal
3:39 am Dear diary. Bush still doesn’t ‘get it.’ I tried making my feelings clear but he’s too busy ignoring me, he is such a jerk. Everything in his life is just Saddam, Saddam, Saddam and I am sick of it.

On the plus side, I think my hair looked pretty good today. Also I went frolicking at Paektu Mountain and the rainbow came out again. After dinner some of my subjects sang me a song because I invented Outer Space.
posted by woj on Mar 27, 2003 - 20 comments

Just how crazy is Kim Jong-Il? The North Korean dictator is also an uncompromising movie producer whose casting tactics make Bowfinger look tame. In In 1978, the North Korean dictator kidnapped his favorite director from South Korea, and forced him to make a terrible, Communist-themed monster movie called "Pulgasari." Keep in mind, the Bush administration considers this guy saner and more level-headed than Saddam Hussein.(registration req'd)
posted by inksyndicate on Mar 14, 2003 - 31 comments

Japanese abducted by North Korea in Japan for brief visit. After many years of denying accusations, North Korea finally came clean last month and admitted to having kidnapped a number of Japanese civilians. Of the thirteen they admit to abducting, they say only five are still alive, and these five have been allowed a visit to Japan this week. On a less encouraging note, however, the five survivors were not allowed to bring their children or spouses and arrived donning pins bearing an image of the Great Leader. Is Kim Jong Il genuinely turning over a new leaf, is this just another part of a heartless cash grab scheme, or did the "axis of evil" speech intimidate them into softening up for a moment?
posted by shoos on Oct 16, 2002 - 22 comments

"I am Kim Jong Nam." This is funny. Maybe Disney will precipate the collapse of North Korea. Or a nuclear exchange.
posted by ParisParamus on May 3, 2001 - 8 comments

If this little man with the funny haircut has the courage to abandon the policies of his father, there is a chance within three years to witness one of the greatest triumphs of human spirit in recent memory.
posted by netbros on Jun 16, 2000 - 3 comments

'A Model of Loyalty and Filial Devotion. An Outstanding Statesman. Great Leader of the People and Theoretician. Outstanding Representative of Independent Politics.' No. It's not me. It's Comrade Kim Il Jong - His Life and Mission. Read the Commie bunk the Reds are pushing on their people.
posted by tdecius on Sep 17, 1999 - 0 comments