Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Friday, December 24, 2004

Changes in North Korea?

North Korea Zone posts an article from the Guardian
European policymakers have been advised to prepare for "sudden change" in North Korea amid growing speculation among diplomats and observers that Kim Jong-il is losing his grip on power...


We've been down this path before, but...

The Guardian article is here
Veteran North Korea watchers say government officials are contradicting one another and being forced to wear military uniforms instead of their usual civilian clothes. "I've never seen or heard so many signs of division within the leadership," said a western observer who has been travelling in and out of Pyongyang for more than five years. "Kim Jong-il seems to be losing control."

"There is a great deal of pressure coming from somewhere," a North Korea-based diplomat said. "We don't know whether it is internal or external, but something is going on."

In typically pugnacious style, North Korea denounced such speculation as part of a psychological warfare campaign by the US and its allies. "The system in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is politically stable and is as firm as a rock," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. "No matter how noisily the US may cry out, we will take it as no more than a dog's barking at a moon."
"...[A] dog's barking at the moon." Nice turn of phrase.

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