korean unification studies

The Roh administration is seeking to change the law for inter-Korean exchanges, removing the requirement for South Korean citizens to report contact with North Korean residents. The Chosun-Ilbo reports:
The revision keeps the stipulation of Para. 2, Article 9 of the old law — “South Korean residents must report to the Unification Minister beforehand if they want to […]

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Japan - North Korea relations have never been great. But relations have recently been even worse due to a failure to make progress on the kidnapping issue. For those that don’t know, in 2002, North Korea admitted that it had abducted 13 Japanese nationals. It has since  repatriated 5 Japanese nationals, but insists the other 8 are […]

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The most common reason given why Kim Jong-Nam is not favorite to succeed Kim Jong-Il is because of a botched 2001 trip to Disneyland, Japan on a faked Dominican passport. It is argued that this put Kim Jong-Nam out of favor with his father and resulted in a family fracture and Kim Jong-Nam’s exile to […]

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North Korea has postponed the Arirang mass games according to Reuters. Apparently it is impossible to hold the mass spectacular under such conditions. Reuters reports the KCNA state broadcaster as stating:
“It has now become hard to continue the performance as working people in different parts of the country are all out to recover from the flood […]

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Several papers are reporting that Kim Jong-Nam has apparently returned to North Korea. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper states that Kim Jong-Nam has returned to ‘proceed to the next step’ in his role, according to an unnamed source from America…
“Kim Jong Nam, 36, travelled from China to Pyongyang in late June, and his return “has […]

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The reported death toll from the North Korean floods has doubled to around 600 people, according to the North Korean official news agency, KCNA. Thousands more are reported to be injured.
The material losses include more than 20 percent of rice paddies and 15 percent of corn-growing areas, according to the UN Office for Coordination of […]

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The South Korean Government Ministry of Unification has a blog over at naver.com which is well worth checking out. The blog, which can be accessed here, has some useful statistics on the recent flooding, including rainfall levels and number of people made homeless in each province. It also has some images of the flooding, which do look rather devastating.
The […]

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The Minister for Unification at a regular press briefing on 24 August stated that South Korea will be sending USD40 million in construction materials in addition to the USD7.5 million in emergency relief aid already announced. In addition, 21 private organizations notified the Ministry Of Unification that they would give the North approximately USD15.7 million.
 Yep. It […]

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