North Korea Leadership Watch

Ri Chol to Leave as UN & CH Diplorep

Yonhap, citing a source in Berne and general diplo gossip, reports that Ri Chol is leaving his posts. He is concurrently the DPRK’s Ambassador to Switzerland and to the UN Mission in Geneva. While Ambassador […]

Mar, 10

KJI Attends Mass Rally in Hamhung

Kim Jong-il attended a mass rally in Hamhung, South Hamgyong, to commemorate the re-opening (or is it un-mothballing?) of the 8 February Vinalon Complex. Yonhap reports: North Korea often organizes such pro-government rallies, forcing […]

Mar, 07

New Kim Family Aide Memoir

Kim Jong-ryul, a former KPA Colonel and employee of Kim Il-sung’s secretariat (and perhaps KJI’s Personal Secretariat), has told his story to two Austrian journalists and released a memoir in German Im Dienst des Diktators: […]

Mar, 05

More KJI China Trip Scuttlebutt

Mainichi Shimbun reports of an alleged Kim Jong-il trip to China. Citing an anonymous “diplomatic official in Beijing” the recent delegation led by KWP International Department Director Kim Yong-il is an advance team for a […]

Mar, 04

Kim Jong-un's Military Education Through the Looking Glass

In the last successor gossip, Dong-a Ilbo reports that hereditary successor Kim Jong-un presided over KPA artillery drills in January near the West Sea, citing “a ranking source in Pyongyang.” This seems to add a […]

Mar, 03

KJI's Interpreter

Choson Ilbo has a profile on the man who shadows Kim Jong-il at his meetings with the Chinese. Citing a weekly Hong Kong newspaper, CI identifies KJI’s interpreter as Kim Song-nam, a China specialist at […]

Mar, 02

State Dept. on NK Narcotics

The US State Department has released its 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. While the DPRK seems to do a fair trade in bootleg cigarettes in Rason and currency counterfeiting: No confirmed instances of large-scale […]

Mar, 02

KJI February 2010 Appearances

Kim Jong-il February 2010 Appearances (PDF) In February 2010 Kim Jong-il was reported to have made public appearances 12 times at 11 different locations (he visited the 8 February Vinalon Complex twice). This is nearly […]

Mar, 01

Circumstantial 6PT Return

Yonhap’s Hwang Doo-hyong reports of a possible DPRK return to the Six Party Talks in March or April: North Korea will likely come back to the six-party talks on its nuclear programs within a matter […]