Free Republic

While I was heartened to hear that USAF Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, like Army Chaplain (Capt) James Yee before him, had been cleared of charges of espionage and treason, I am nevertheless still deeply disturbed by the lack of media attention given this case. Granted, the allegations made a huge splash when they first surfaced in the fall of 2003, fueled to a white hot frenzy by prosecutorial whisperings of possible death sentences. At that time, the government was happy to have us believe that the tentacled reach of Al Qaeda extended all the way to the ranks of...

`2004 Explosion Was Attempt on Kim Jong Il`s Life` MARCH 22, 2010 05:42 A 2004 explosion at a railway station in North Korea was an attempt to assassinate leader Kim Jong Il, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted an analysis as saying yesterday. “The train explosion at Ryongchon Station in North Pyongan Province on April 22 that year killed nearly 200 people, injured more than 1,500, and destroyed more than 8,000 homes. The explosion is believed to have been an attempt to assassinate Kim,” Xinhua said. Though Xinhua quoted an analysis, it is quite unusual for the news agency to...

Reconstruction of Ryongchon In 2004 much of the town of Ryongchon was tragically destroyed in a large explosion. Here is the Wikipedia page on the disaster if you would like a quick reference. I compiled a couple of images to construct this “before” picture of Ryongchon: Notice that the center of town is composed largely of traditional houses. Here is the first “after” image (which is the default image on Google Earth): As you can see a large number of traditional houses were destroyed as well as a school. Below I have compiled more recent images to show how the...

Let's Move the Factory for the Sake of Kim Jong Il! By Lee Sung Jin [2009-03-06 13:31 ] Changchun, China -- North Korean authorities are relocating the No. 95 Munitions Factory in Hyesan in order to facilitate Kim Jong Il's field visits to Yangkang Province by rail. A source from Yangkang Province said in a phone conversation with Daily NK on the 4th, "Under the name of the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party a final decree was issued last February which urged, 'Complete the relocation of Factory No. 95 by May at all costs!’ So...

A poster's note: the following article is a copy lifted from the original site. It contains some obvious typos and other problems you can easily notice. I decided to keep the original as it is instead of tempering with it, though. "Stand in Line for Half Day Long to Make a Phone Call" Demand for Wire Telephones after the Government Confiscation of Cellular Phones By Kim Young Jin, Tumen of China[ 07.20.2005(Wed) 16:49 ] North Korean people standing in a line to use a pay phone Recently in North Korea, demand for house phone skyrocketed and as the government confiscated...

/begin my translation Another Explosion--Woes Swirling Around Kim Jong-il To put it rather starkly, both Koreas are now apparently racing toward their end. While Roh Moo-hyun regime, with its anti-constitutional attempt to dismantle Republic of Korea, is driving S. Korea toward an ideological civil war, the Kim Jong-il regime of the North is also heading for its termination. In addition to the mass explosion which reportedly occurred on (Sept.) 9th, lots of intelligence are coming in which point to many troubling developments swirling around Kim Jong-il. 1. Since his favorite wife, Ko Yong-hee, died last month, Kim Jong-il has been...

/begin my translation Kim Dok-hong, "Vengeful Anti-Regime Group is in N. Korea" According to the July 26th report of Sankei Shimbun (in Japan), Kim Dok-hong, who defected (to S. Korea) with Hwang Jang-yop, former secretary of N. Korean Worker's Party(communist party), was quoted saying that a vengeful anti-regime organization is in action, opposing the Kim Jong-il regime of N. Korea. Mr. Kim said so, while revealing that he is in contact with the anti-regime group in N. Korea during the interview with the newspaper, which was held in Seoul. He revealed that the anti-regime group concluded, "Ryongchon Explosion in last...