China is North Korea’s largest trading and aid partner. This year they celebrate the 60th year anniversary of diplomatic ties with more cooperation and exchange projects to celebrate said Chinese state media.
Category: North Korea
North Korea announced that it would elect new members to its rubber-stamp legislature on March 8, a move delayed for several months amid speculation about the leader Kim Jong-il’s health
Communist North Korea announced it will elect new delegates to its rubber stamp parliament in March, marking another step in a leadership shakeup that has already included a cabinet reshuffle.
seems like north korea’s kim jong-il has recovered from his stroke, reports AFP:
Chosun Ilbo quoted US and South Korean intelligence officials as saying Kim’s personal armoured train had travelled to those areas which he was reported by state media to have visited.
South Korea’s main spy agency says it is not involved in an alleged plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, after Pyongyang’s claims of an assassination attempt fuelled cross-border tensions.
A great slide show from the International Herald Tribune.
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Mobile phones to ring in N. Korea
A mobile phone service has been launched in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive and tightly controlled states, the official news agency has reported. The Egyptian telecom giant Orascom announced in January that it would invest US$400 million in North Korea.
North Korea first experimented with mobile phones in 2002, but recalled the handsets 18 months later after a mysterious train explosion that killed an estimated 160 people. Some experts argue that officials feared the incident was an attempt to assassinate the regime’s “dear leader”, Kim Jong-il, and that mobile phones were involved.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is “trying to test the process,” U.S. President George W. Bush told Reuters on Monday following the breakdown of six-party disarmament talks last week.North Korea threatened on Saturday to slow disablement of its main nuclear plant after Washington said energy aid to the state had been suspended due to failed talks on verifying the North’s nuclear operations.
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Kim Jong-il’s stroke confirmed
A doctor has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il did indeed suffer a stroke earlier this year.
According to François-Xavier Roux, “Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke but did not undergo an operation. He is now better.”
Nuclear talks collapsed on Thursday, postponing a new round of talks until after President-elect Barack Obama is sworn into office.
Four days of negotiations in Beijing ended in an impasse after North Korea refused to agree to a system of verifying that it had ended all nuclear activity, which it had pledged to do. Among other things, the North Koreans have objected to allowing soil and air samples to be taken near nuclear facilities and sent overseas for testing.