Kim Jong Un

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Inside North Korea's Bizarre, Compulsory Elections

Voters were "singing and dancing" as they cast their ballots

(Newser) - To say North Koreans turned out in droves to vote in state elections yesterday would be an understatement, because state media are reporting 99.7% voter turnout, Sky News reports. That's only the first eyebrow-raiser about the country's electoral process, held every four years so voters can "...

South Korea: North Says It 'Purged' Defense Chief

Hyon Yong Chol is out; Gen. Pak Yong Sik is in

(Newser) - North Korea has officially confirmed the purging of its defense chief two months after Seoul's spy service said he had been executed for disloyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean official said today. South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in May that People's Armed...

Kim Jong Un's Bloody Tenure: 70 Executions

South Korean minister discusses dictator's 'reign of terror'

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has executed 70 officials since taking power in late 2011 in a "reign of terror" that far exceeds the bloodshed of his dictator father's early rule, South Korean officials said today. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, at a forum in Seoul,...

Kim Jong Un Claims to Have Cured Cancer

Thanks to a top-secret wonder drug, but, sadly, there's no proof

(Newser) - Normally if a country announces a wonder drug that can cure some of mankind's worst maladies, it would be cause for celebration. Unless that country happens to be North Korea. Its official news agency claims that scientists have developed a top-secret drug called Kumdang-2 that can cure AIDS, Ebola,...

N. Korea Claims It Can Make Mini Nukes

Not so fast, says US Joint Chiefs vice chair

(Newser) - China warned us . Less than a month after North Korea says it fired a missile off a submarine, the country's National Defense Commission is now claiming it can craft mini nuclear weapons that fit on the tips of such missiles, Yonhap reports. "We have had the capability...

Latest Target of Kim Jong Un's Wrath: Failed Lobster Breeders

Says terrapin farm may 'impair prestige' of Korean Workers' Party

(Newser) - Employees at a terrapin farm on the outskirts of Pyongyang might want to lay low for a while. According to North Korean state news agency KCNA, their Dear Leader isn't too pleased with the way things are managed at Taedonggang Terrapin Farm, which was visited by Kim Jong Un’...

2 Things Give Pause About the North Korea Execution

Some air their doubts about Hyon Yong Chol's execution by anti-aircraft gun

(Newser) - Public execution by anti-aircraft gun was the price of perceived disloyalty for North Korea's defense chief—or was it? The report of Hyon Yong Chol's alleged April 30 execution in front of hundreds came from the mouth of South Korea's National Intelligence Service. Today, the New ...

Report: N. Korea Defense Chief Executed by Anti-Aircraft Gun

Spy agency says he fell asleep at military event, disagreed with Kim

(Newser) - Public execution by anti-aircraft gun was the price of perceived disloyalty for North Korea's defense chief, according to South Korea's spy agency. Lawmakers in Seoul say they were told yesterday that military chief Hyon Yong Chol was killed for falling asleep during a military event and for disagreeing...

Kim Jong Un Blowing Off Moscow Trip: Kremlin

'Domestic affairs' keeping North Korean leader from first foreign visit

(Newser) - He's not coming. A Kremlin spokesman said today that North Korea's Kim Jong Un, set to make his first official trip abroad since taking power, won't be showing up in Moscow next month to help commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi...

N. Korea Executed 15 for Challenging Kim: Report

One official didn't like his plan for a flower-shaped building

(Newser) - North Korea has reportedly executed at least 15 people this year, including a vice forestry minister who criticized the country's forestation plan. Two South Korean lawmakers, briefed by the country's spy agency, say another senior official was killed for fighting Kim Jong Un's plan to erect a...

Kim Jong Un Scaled the North's Tallest Peak*

*Here, have some nice pabulum with that propaganda

(Newser) - Today, being the seventh day, presumably Kim Jong Un is resting. But yesterday, the North Korean despot was busily scaling the snowswept 9,000-foot tallest peak in his kingdom, and state media is reporting everything but that he did it in a single bound, reports the BBC . "Climbing Mount...

What N. Korean Kids Learn: Kim Jong Un Drove at 3

Kim Jong Un, boy genius, also won yacht races at age 9, per new curriculum

(Newser) - Parents outraged by Common Core can at least be glad their kids aren't being schooled in North Korea. The Telegraph reports that middle school and high school teachers there have been issued a manual to use while teaching a new subject for 2015: "Kim Jong Un's Revolutionary...

Look Who's Back: Kim Jong Un's MIA Wife

Ri Sol Ju makes first public showing in months at soccer game with her husband

(Newser) - Someone's been taking that Beatles song "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" a little too seriously. But four months is a long time even by North Korean dictator standards, which may explain why pictures released by the country's state news agency show Kim Jong Un...

Kim Jong Un Resurrects 'Pleasure Squad'

New troupe of female entertainers in training in Pyongyang

(Newser) - Kim Jong Un is reportedly taking after his father and recruiting new talent to what has become known as the "pleasure squad." Kim Jong Il was a well-known fan of the troupe of female entertainers, which Kim disbanded after his father's death. But it appears he has...

North Korea's Interview Threat Actually Works

Activists postpone DVD balloon airdrop

(Newser) - Almost five years ago, 46 sailors on a South Korean warship were killed in a torpedo attack that Seoul blamed on North Korea—and if North Korea doesn't officially say it's sorry for that ambush by Thursday (the fifth anniversary), an activist group will eventually fly 500,000...

S. Korean Prez: I'd Meet With Kim— Unconditionally

Countries' presidents have met just twice since WWII

(Newser) - The leaders of North and South Korea have met just twice since World War II ended, but Park Geun-hye, the South's current leader, is willing to change that, Reuters reports. "My position is that to ease the pain of division and to accomplish peaceful unification, I am willing...

Kim Jong Un Is 32 Today ... Maybe

Or 31 or 33, or something like that

(Newser) - In case you've somehow managed to erase this detail from memory, USA Today reminds us that exactly one year ago, Dennis Rodman was singing "Happy Birthday" to "best friend" Kim Jong Un. Today is indeed believed to be the North Korean leader's birthday, but it's...

North Korea Is Evil, but We Choose to Laugh

Slate writer: We can't seem to comprehend what's really happening there

(Newser) - The US has imposed new sanctions on North Korea over the Sony hack, and Slate writer Anne Applebaum finds it strange that a screwball comedy forced the hand of the White House, while "multiple reports of massive human rights abuse over many decades never had the same effect."...

Kim Jong Un's Eyebrows Are Shrinking

They've gotten shorter between Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2014

(Newser) - Kim Jong Un's annual New Year message may have steered clear of digs at the US and Sony, but it did raise one pressing question: What's up with Kim's eyebrows? The South China Morning Post reports they now look like "little dashes," which it suggests...

Kim Open to Face-to-Face Summit With S. Korea Leader

His new year's speech has a surprising overture

(Newser) - Months ago, North Korea unleashed a sexist diatribe against South Korea's female president that included calling her a "prostitute." Today, however, Kim Jong Un suggested the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between him and Park Geun-hye, reports Yonhap News . “Depending on the mood and circumstances to...

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