Korea, 10 non-permanent members elected to two-year terms, will take over the rotating presidency of the Security Council in February. Despite China's rejection of proposals by the US to add new sanctions, including the UN security council resolution 2087 the US sought to characterize the vote as a tough response. North Korea reacted swiftly and angrily to the resolution, threatening to accelerate its military advances, including nuclear weapons, and reject any effort to resume the six-party talks. Even China, at the moment, considers a nuclear test a much more grave issue than missile test. I hope that Korea can assist the Security Council in coping with any provocations by North Korea. As South Korea assumes the rotating presidency at the UN Security Council in February, Seoul will be able to set the agenda and convene meetings at the global security body.

(http://news.zum.com/articles/5392635)

South Korea joins global space club with satellite launch

South Korea launched its first-ever space rocket with the satellite carried by the rocket also believed to have entered its intended orbit. From this success, Korea became the 10th country to have succeeded in launching a satellites in to orbit. North Korea may argue that they were the 10th, but North Korea did not launch satellites, it was just a missile launch test. South Korea can expand its reach into space by building more intensive cooperative links with its friends and allies, thus allowing it to cost-share international missions and satellite constellations without having to own or constrcut all of the technology. This achievement marks a momentous boost for Korea's space ambitions and national pride, which were dampened by two previous failures, in 2009 and 2010. Experts however say there is a still long way to go before catching up with the global leaders in the field.

(http://my.news.yahoo.com/korea-takes-crucial-step-toward-space-era-041004378.html)

Cannibalism Reported in Famine-Stricken North Korea

Numerous reports from North Korea indicate that starving residents of the isolated regime, where famine is an all-too-regular occurrence, may now be resorting to cannibalism. A man was put to death by firing squad after officials discovered he had killed and cooked two of his own children. He killed the eldest daughter and because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. Another unconfirmed report detailed the arrest of a man who allegedly dug up the body of his dead grandchild and ate the flesh. Elsewhere, a man killed and sold their remains as pork. Although cannibalism is a crime, the people are not to be the blame. They were put into dire situations that they had to resort to cannibalism. This is all North Korean regime's fault. The North Korean government ignored the well-being of its people and only focused on developing nuclear tests. Moreover, their top leaders are living a luxurious life.

(http://www.livescience.com/26677-north-korea-cannibalism.html)

North Korea, walking down the path of destruction...

The US envy on North Korea dismissed hopes for an immediate diplomatic solution over Pyongyang's expected nuclear test, saying that the isolated state was bent on playing a game of risk. The comments come as North Korea threatens daily that it is preparing its third nuclear test in response to UN sanctions imposed on North Korea for a long-range rocket launch in December. If North Korea provokes again, they will be walking a very slippery road which will only lead to their destruction. US warnings about the consequences of a third test have been backed by unusually strident criticism of North Korea by its sole major ally China.

North Korea must not go ahead with a nuclear test. This would only deepen the country's international isolation. The test would also set back efforts to restart regional talks on the North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

(http://my.news.yahoo.com/n-korea-playing-dangerous-game-risk-us-envoy-130715288.html)

North Korea has lost its mind

North Korea has lost its mind. North Korea has developed ICBM technology. Now they are using it to directly target the US. If North Korea fires a missile against the US, North Korea as we know it will disappear. It will be wiped off the map. North Korean soldiers, their weapons, facilities, and the labor party will all turn to ashes. North Korea's nuclear and missile development will disrupt world peace. This is the reason why the UN security council passed sanctions against North Korea. If North Korea does not heed to the warnings, their actions will result in dire consequences. I just wish that history does not repeat itself and have another Middle East situation in the Far East. If Kim Jong-un does not want this to happen, Kim Jong-un must learn to listen.

(http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/north-korea-defiant-over-planned-nuclear-test-114622339.html)

According to New Focus, a press specialized in North Korea, North Korean people are collecting cigarette filters to use as bed sheet fills. These filters act as substitutes for cotton. There have been reports of North Korean people fighting over cigarette filters thrown on the street. Moreover, when North Korean soldiers tried to raise goats to solve the malnutrition problem, the goats died because the goats had nothing to eat. If you take a look at North Korea through Google Map, you will notice that mountains in North Korea are barren. I don't understand why North Korea is so barren and why the people tolerate the evil dictator rule.

(http://joongang.joinsmsn.com/article/aid/2013/01/23/10095847.html?cloc=olink|article|default)

North Korea is like The Truman Show

Eric Schmidt's daughter Sophie was with the delegation to North Korea. And in a lengthy Google Sites post titled "it might not get weirder than this," she described a trip full of highly staged encounters, tightly-orchestrated viewing and what seemed like genuine human moments. Sophie says the best description the delegation could come up with is that North Korea is like The Truman Show, at country scale. She also found freezing indoor temperatures, as all buildings they visited were unheated, but in state owned libraries, the temperature was over 30 degrees. She also depicted a crepy atmosphere at the Kim Il Sung University e-Library with multiple floors of identically manned desks of people doing nothing. A few scrolled or clicked, but the rest just stared. More disturbing was that when the group walked in not one of them looked up from their desks. Not a head turned, no eye contact, no reaction to stimuli. She claims that they might as well have been figurines. The North Koreans are hostages in their own country, without any real consciousness of it.

Effect of famine : Short stature evident in North Korean generation

North Koreans are getting shorter from shortages in food. Lack of nutrition is causing poor growth during the period of growth, making North Koreans shorter and small.

Due to this phenomenon, North Korea has changed the conscriptioin standards.

In 2008, the limit was 150cm, and 48kg, but from this March, the limit was changed to 142cm.

North Korean soldiers have the physique of elementary students.

Machine guns are 1m long in average. I wonder how a 140cm tall soldier can carry and handle a weapon more than half his height.

It's been told that the North Korean regime is encouraging its people to exercise, but without nutrition and food supply, all the efforts are deemed to be fruitless. It's pathetic that the North Koreans are unable to see the fundamental problem, and going off topic.

(http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20040214&slug=korea14)

North Korea begging at Google

North Korean authorities are using the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt's visit to the rogue state as a propaganda, but the North Korea people are cynical of the efforts. The action of inviting Eric Schmidt, even when the country has no thought of opening up the internet, is to beg. In Korean, the word begging is pronounced 'Googul' which sounds similar to Google. The Kim Jong-un's regime is walking a road of international isolation. Yet, they don't try to solve the fundamental problem. They will merely use all their resources into begging for aid not only from nations, but also from companies now. This will definitely look ugly in the eyes of its people.

Korean Foreign Permanent Resident's value of military service

In Korea, foreign permanent residents are exempted from military service, but nowadays the number of these residents volunteering for active duty is increasing. Some of these volunteers may choose to serve in the Korean military in order to settle in Korea, but most of the volunteers choose to do so in order to find their roots, and fulfill their military duty. Most volunteers who completed their service claim that they were able to find themselves more self-content. In other words, they were able to learn the value of sacrifice, and learn that their values.

(http://news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=2013110000311&md=20130113003829_AN)

Korea develops own GPS-guided bomb

South Korea has developed bombs equipped with global positioning system (GPS) capable of targeting distant enemies day and night. Korea developed the 225-kilogram guided bomb with a 40 billion won (US$378 million) budget in the last five years to improve combat capabilities of fighter jets. The Korea GPS-guided bomb shows that South Korea is capable of developing a weapons system for its fighters with its own technology. The GPS-guided bombs to be installed in fighter jets can hit enemies 24 hours a day, hidden behind obstacles at long range. Some of the bombs were deployed from late last year for a test run. The advanced weapon system is expected to allow aged combat jets, including F-4 and F-5 jets, to better strike intended targets as far as 100 kilometers away. Now that Korea possess these capabilities, Kim Jong-un's residence is no longer safe. And I hope this will deter any future provocations from North Korea.

(http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/01/15/2013011500997.html)

Global Warming Trend Unmistakable

26 world renown climatologist's studies show that by 2100, world sea level will rise more than 1m because of global warming. If world sea level rises by 30cm, many countries will be submerged. Global warming is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. South Korea is one country that is a good model for energy conservation. Not only are Koreans conserving energy in the household, but the ROK military is also working hard to reduce carbon dioxide emission by conserving energy. I believe everyone in the world must participate in the conservation campaign for a better future.

(http://www.hkbs.co.kr/hkbs/news.php?mid=1&treec=159&r=view&uid=225419)

S. Korea develops mid-range GPS-guided bombs

South Korea has developed bombs equipped with global positioning system (GPS) capable of targeting distant enemies day and night. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and 20 defense firms have jointly developed the 225-kilogram guided bomb to improve combat capabilities of fighter jets. The Korea GPS-guided bomb shows that South Korea is capable of developing a weapons system for its fighters with its own technology. The GPS-guided bombs to be installed in fighter jets can hit enemies 24 hours a day, hidden behind obstacles at long range. Some of the bombs were deployed from late last year for a test run. The advanced weapon system is expected to allow aged combat jets, including F-4 and F-5 jets, to better strike intended targets as far as 100 kilometers away.

(http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/01/14/73/0301000000AEN20130114002151315F.HTML)

Can the Girls’ Generation Challenge Psy?

The inescapable pop song “Gangnam Style” is the most-watched YouTube video ever. But PSY, the man behind the horsey dance, is now sharing the YouTube chart stage with his fellow South Korean pop stars, big names in the “K-Pop”. The Girls’ Generation released a new album in Korea at the beginning of this year. Its catchy, multi-genre, Korean-language title track, ”I Got a Boy,” has garnered more than 25 million views since Dec. 31. On the YouTube music charts, the song is at No. 2 behind, “Gangnam Style.” The group is listed on Billboard’s K-Pop Hot 100 at No. 1. Not that being lumped in with PSY is all a bad thing. K-Pop is not a zero-sum game, after all. PSY’s success has been good for Girls’ Generation. Pop songs in other languages are novelties for American listeners, but PSY showed that the unfamiliarity doesn’t have to hold an artist back. Gangnam Style helped open the door, but did it affect how we approach our music? No. If anything, it just proves that music is universal.

(http://entertainment.time.com/2013/01/11/can-the-new-single-from-k-pop-stars-girls-generation-challenge-gangnam-style/#ixzz2I09KW97A)

Google inadvertently reveals North Korean gulag

Google Earth presents a bird's eye view of many things that secretive North Korea wants to keep hidden. Human rights activists and bloggers have taken a Google program used mostly for recreation, education and marketing and applied it to map a vast system of dozens of prison camps that span North Korea, a country slightly smaller in area than Greece and home to 23 million people. As many as 250,000 political prisoners and their families toil on starvation rations in the mostly remote mountain camps, according to estimates by international human rights groups.

The good that Google has done, however inadvertently, by helping people tell the truth about North Korea, will probably be reflected in the history of the country one day.

Stanton's blog freekorea.us/ carries satellite images from Google Earth and analysis of the features of six political prisoner camps - three of which he is credited with playing a role in confirming or identifying. The blogger identifies images of gates and guard houses, and in some cases coal mines and crude burial grounds - corroborated through the work of experts and interviews with defectors from North Korea who lived or worked in the camps.

"The dramatically improved, higher resolution satellite imagery now available through Google Earth allows the former prisoners to identify their former barracks and houses, their former execution grounds, and other landmarks in the camps," said the study.

Satellite imagery readily available through Google Earth has certainly enabled human rights experts to decisively confirm that these facilities do exist, despite the fact that the North Korean regime denies their existence.

(http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/01/10/korea-north-google-maps-idINDEE90900320130110)

'May your reign continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations, until the pebbles grow into boulders lush with moss.' This is the lyrics to Kimigayo, the national anthem of the Imperial Japan. This anthem is a symbol of Japanese nationalism, imperialism and militarism, which expresses praise and loyalty to the Japanese Emperor. Japanese prime minister, Abe, and the Liberal Democratic Party started off their first working day of 2013 by singing this song. Although in 1999, Kimigayo was legally recognized as the official national anthem, with the passage of Act on National Flag and Anthem, the song is often seen as a symbol of past imperialism and militarism. Kimigayo was the de facto national anthem before the country's defeat in World War II. The victory of Abe, often branded as a hawkish politician is seen as a sign that Japan might be shifting back to the right-wing. Abe used 'Take Back Japan' as the campaign slogan for the December election that returned the long-dominant party to power. Abe wants to loosen the limits of Japan's 1947 pacifist constitution on the military and recast wartime history with a less apologetic tone. He will also put patriotism back in the school curriculum and made education reform a priority. This is all to revive nationalism and imperialism in Japan, which will deepen the conflict between its Asian neighbors.

(http://japandailypress.com/abe-and-ldp-sing-national-anthem-in-spirit-of-taking-bakc-japan-0720958)

Ex-USFK commander, retired Army General Burwell Bell, warned that North Korea will carry out nuclear tests no later than April in order to strengthen their position in the negotiation between the two Koreas. According to Bell, North Korea not only wants to prove to the ROK and the US that they have the capability of launching long-range missiles, but they also possess nuclear weapons.

At the nuclear test facility in Poonggyeri, North Korea has fully prepared for a nuclear test. In order to maximize the effect of brinkmanship, North Korea has repeated the pattern of missile and nuclear tests. I believe that North Korea will carry out nuclear tests when the new ROK administration comes into power this March to leverage an advantageous position in the negotiation talks between the two Koreas.

However, the effect of North Korea's leverage will no longer be effective. Even if North Korea threatens with missile and nuclear tests, the international community will no longer be surprised. North Korea will not benefit from the nuclear test. It will only cause harm to the country. The international community will reinforce sanctions on North Korea. This will ultimately advance the day Kim Jong-un's regime will fall.

(http://www.voakorea.com/content/article/1576622.html)

Girl's Generation New Song

Prior to the release of “I Got a Boy”, Girls’ Generation unveiled the music video for “Dancing Queen,” an upbeat, retro-inspired recreation of soul artist Duffy’s hit song “Mercy”.


The unexpected song was revealed to be the girls’ title track off their first mini-album back in 2008. However, the song and video was later scrapped, being subsequently replaced with the group’s iconic breakout single “Gee”.

While the song finally saw a proper release four years later, the group recalled the time of feeling heartbroken when first hearing of the cancellation of the single.

“When we first heard that the song and video would be cancelled, we had a difficult time and shed many tears,” said Girls’ Generation. “It was a difficult time, but later with the  success of ‘Gee’, it made it all worth the hardships.”

Meanwhile, the girls will be busy promoting their latest single “I Got a Boy,” an urban dance number with hip-hop inspired aesthetics. With the group’s TV comeback show wrapped up, the girls will begin their round of promotions starting with tomorrow’s episode of ‘M! Countdown‘.

IMHO, the lyrics aren't all that great, but still they're SNSD. Love their dances, and change in the genre of their music.

According to a fortune teller based in Hong-Kong, Kim Jong-un will face a violent death in 2013. Kim Jong-un will face a great threat during the coming spring, and may lose his life. The people near Kim Jong-un will try to harm him. Therefore, if he is cautious, he will be able to pass the crisis.

If he passes this period, he will live without much incident until the coming fall. Around October and November, Kim Jong-un's fortune is very ominous, and may die.

Kim Jong-un's original physiognomy would've allowed him to live the full of his natural span of life, but because he had plastic surgery to look like his grandfather, he will die of chemical or metal material.

When the fortune teller was asked whether the cause of death was from a bullet wound, which contain both chemical and metal, the fortune teller just smiled and neither affirmed are negated.

(www.frontiertimes.co.kr/news/htmls/2011/12/2011122677745.html)

Kim Jong Un New Year's Address

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas in a surprise New Year's broadcast on state media. The address by Kim, who took power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year's editorial published annually in the past in leading state newspapers.

The New Year's address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader, following the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.

Kim's statement apparently contains a message that he has an intention to dispel the current face-off (between the two Koreas), which could eventually be linked with the North's call for aid from the South.

Kim Jong-un's New Year's message was different in format but not in content. The young leader is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, rather than his father. While the younger Kim's public diplomacy resonates well with the North Korean public, the new North Korean leader's impact on the outside world is undermined by North Korea's continued provocations and bombastic rhetoric.

(http://news.yahoo.com/nkoreas-kim-wants-better-living-163554621.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CfbzeRQoBkAgzfQtDMD)