http://www.yibuk.com An objective perception of North Korea, it's people and it's culture... Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:38:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The DPRK are ratching up the rhetoric against South Korea and specifically against hard-line president, Lee Myung Bak, on the first anniversary of his election. As an anniversary present, the Space Cadets in the DPRK are preparing to send an improved (working?) Taepodong-2 into space. Oh, and by-the-way, they have 180,000 spec ... http://www.yibuk.com/space-cadets-wish-happy-anniversary/329/ [caption id="attachment_327" align="alignright" width="92" caption="Huawei 3G Phone"][/caption] It looks like Orascom Telecom is using localized Korean versions of 3G phones from China's Huawei.  According to this article, the service has attracted 6,000 applications in 2 weeks.  There is no mention of the approval process. In addition to the expected calling charges, the ... http://www.yibuk.com/huawei-3g-cell-phones-in-dprk/317/ Orascom Telecom Holding SAE has announced that they would like to get paid for their telecom services that they will be providing in North Korea by opening up their own bank and presumably handling subscriber payments and financing of that oh-so-chic $700 3G cell phone. There were times that, out of ... http://www.yibuk.com/ora-bank/313/ Well, today's the day - Orascom Telecom is to launch a 3G mobile telephone network today in Pyongyang.  That is despite the fact that cell phones are still technically banned in the country and also despite the fact that the Dear Leader is said to be recovering from a reported ... http://www.yibuk.com/3g-launches-in-pyongyang/307/ The on-again, off-again relationships used by North Korea to play China off against Russia is a familiar pattern used quite effectively over the years to keep both at arms length and from gobbling up the DPRK as a satellite country. And with Russia's announcement that they will continue to supply fuel ... http://www.yibuk.com/russian-fuel-shipments-to-continue/305/ To, put an exclamation point on the legacy of the unpopular outgoing US President, an Iraqi journalist gave the ultimate arabic insult by throwing - and very accurately I might add - both of his shoes at George Bush. Every action has a reaction and this appears to be the latest ... http://www.yibuk.com/other-shoe-drops-thrown-actually/303/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="280" caption="Release the Balloons!"][/caption] All this talk of balloons floating over North Korea and all the roil it is causing, reminds me of Nena's #1 hit single "99 Luftballons" from the 80's.  It is balloon warfare at it's best. The original song in German was a protest against the ... http://www.yibuk.com/dprk-99-luftballons/297/ Last week, I met up with some relief workers monitoring the food distribution in the DPRK.  They are on their first set of well-deserved R&R after about 7 weeks of field work.  In general, they report good co-operation with their North Korean counterparts, although they acknowledge that they are working ... http://www.yibuk.com/food-delivery-progressing-well/287/ Here's an enlightening interview with Marcus Noland, currently a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and an expert on North Korea.  According to Mr. Noland, a growth rate of 7% and an economically different North Korea by 2018 is in the offing: "I would be very surprised if ... http://www.yibuk.com/winds-of-change-marcus-noland/283/ This New York Times article takes a sobering look into the life of an NK refugee.  It is a story of a young female boxer who left DPRK as a young teenager along with her family and made it to South Korea only to face prejudice and other hardships. "The photos, ... http://www.yibuk.com/nk-refugee-boxer/281/