This blog offers selected features of alternative Asian TV segments, news stories, editorials, photos and more from Japan, Korea, India, China and many other Asian countries. This blog also includes some WTF Japanese, North Korean online videos, entertainment news, beautiful Chinese and Japanese models, and much more.
Just pause for a second and realize how incredibly MAGNIFICENT this title is: "Dennis Rodman Headed Back To North Korea". Seriously, with the way world events are now happening, this could turn out to be one of the greatest headlines of all of 2013:
OK, let's break it down some. Back in March of this year, the five-time NBA Champion, seven-time NBA rebound king and NBA Hall of Fame inductee Dennis Rodman visited Kim Jong Un and the Pirate Bay (temporarily) moved to Pyongyang. And since his first visit, other political events have occurred that could make this next trip a whole lot more meaningful if Rodman can successfully secure the release of Korean/American citizen Kenneth Bae. However, that is one big, huge "if", indeed.
Now, of course, this time around there will be more haters. And they're going to say that Rodman's a "traitor" and a "media whore" et al. And that Vice unethically manipulated and then paid off the DPRK elite etc. Or that the White House is secretly setting up the visit since it is now uninvited blah blah blah. But, maybe the real reason why this wonderful reunion is happening again is very simple and very human: Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un are just good friends.
And is there any better reason than that?
Associated Press/AP news video of Dennis Rodman returning to North Korea on September 3, 2013:
An American citizen currently being held in a North Korean prison, pleaded for forgiveness and help from the US Government yesterday in an exclusive video from CNN.
In a trial in Pyongyang on April 30, 2013 Pae Jun Ho aka Kenneth Bae was convicted of "hostile acts to bring down its government" and for planning religious activities against the state, according to KCNA. Bae confessed to all of his "crimes" and was given a 15-year sentence of hard labor.
"Although my health is not good, I am being patient and coping well," Bae said. "And I hope that with the help of the North Korean government and the United States, I will be released soon."
A pro North Korean group located in Tokyo, Choson Sinbo, was granted permission to make this interview video which they gave to CNN:
Last night Vice had their first season finale on HBO with the broadcast of their recent trip to North Korea. If you remember, back in February 2013 Vice correspondent Ryan Duffy and three members of the Harlem Globetrotters became the first American delegation to play together with North Korean athletes in a friendly exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang. The country's young, enigmatic leader Kim Jong Un attended the game with NBA hall-of-famer Dennis Rodman at his side. The game ended in a very diplomatic 110-110 tie and on the next day Duffy and the Globetrotters had a chance to talk directly with the North Korean players during lunch. Here is a part of that conversation:
Related:
Harlem Globetrotters vs DPRK Practice GameNKBA Kim Jong Un & Dennis Rodman Video Game
It is now being reported that there was a somewhat large Children's Day celebration at Pyongyang's Mangyongdae Amusement Park on June 2, 2013. This first-time event featured various games, dances and competitions. Children dressed up in traditional Korean clothes while playing together in musical groups and competing together in various playground games. Some children also shot arrows at a target that resembled an American soldier! This event also included children dressed up in cute replica military uniforms. And what Children's Day celebration would not be complete without a full-on miniature rocket launcher in a MILITARY PARADE!!! Check it out:
See also:
CNN: Homeless Kids in DPRK DocumentaryShocking North Korean Kids' Show PhotoShocking Undercover North Korean News Video
Here is a very shocking undercover video of the DPRK filmed by some freelance North Korean journalists working for Asiapress in December 2012 for Japanese TV. Below the video, we have provided an accurate English translation of the narrative. Viewer discretion is very strongly advised.
00:00 Close to the border with China, in Hyesan, Ryanggang province in this video filmed just last month there a lot of people waiting at a bus stop. Then a very crowded bus stops and the people try to get on it but they cannot as it is too jammed packed. Then the bus took off in order to shake off the people hanging onto the outside.
00:37 Then we see the market place of Hyesan. Here rice, meat and colorful shoes are being sold. It is said that there is a food shortage even though there is so much in the market. It appears to be a rich market supporting the residents' lifestyles. This is the way of living for these people in the countryside. These are the first favorable scenes that we have seen since Kim Jong Un became the leader of the DPRK.
01:17 However, looking closely we also see many homeless children or "Kochebi" with vacant looks sitting or walking around the market. And then we see a very young child lying on the ground in front of a white wall. It looks like the child has fallen. But the people walk by without looking and showing no surprise. Then the photographer says that this child has been dead for the past three days.
02:04 Then we go inside to meet some of the people from Hyesan. One young girl says that the number of homeless children in the market and at the train station is increasing. She also says that there are many people dying. So many that she can't count them.
02:19 Then we see an elementary school in Sinuiju, North Pyeongan province. The sign at the entrance to the school building says "Thank you beloved Dear Leader Kim Jong Un." And then on a sign in the central square of the city we see this slogan "Let's unconditionally carry out Comrade Kim Jong Un's orders very thoroughly." Here the aim is to increase the authority of the First Secretary Kim Jong Un.
02:58 And then in the square there are some older women selling food. "Grandmother what do you have?"
"Some vegetables and bread."
03:13 Then we took a brief look at some of the town's other activities. "For the wealthy who have been living a good lifestyle from long ago, things have become better. But for common people like us, things have gotten much worse."
03:33 "In the current trading system, clampdowns have increased in all aspects. Further government tightening is also restraining the movement of people. The flow of goods gets stopped on the road and that hurts business."
03:49 And here at Sinuiju train station many people are importing goods from China to Pyongyang. People are walking one after another towards the station but these policemen are controlling the movement of the people and the goods. 04:05 "HEY YOU! GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE!" yelled a station employee wearing a red arm band. These officials are controlling the traffic of citizens and supplies.
04:35 In North Korea there is not enough electricity so often the schedule of the railways gets disrupted. Because of that problem the government has ordered that the movement of people and goods to be strictly controlled.
04:51 Here is news video journalist Ishimaru Jiro who has obtained a series of videos of the DPRK. "The majority of people in North Korea now are involved in trading activities so that they can keep eating. With all of these strict regulations, business gets slowed down and, in short, cash decreases. There is a lot of rice and other goods available in the markets, but without money, no one can buy them."
"In summary, people who do not have access to food cannot continue living."
05:19 In the current system there is a gap widening between the people who don't have and the people that have government power. 05:29 Here is a look at one day on the outskirts of Sinuiju. "What are you throwing away?" asks the photographer. "Grains of rice are falling," the old woman says. In the rice fields, there are some other people looking for grains of rice. This is another look at the widening gap between the residents. In the end, another old woman complains of not finding anything.
05:54 Arrests are severe and everyone's lifestyle is agonizing. What can this youngster in his 20s do? The only thing they (the government) are good at is making people suffer.
06:12 There is a common question of who are these "Kochebi" wandering the streets?
06:15 In the morning we saw another homeless child. He was wearing an adult-sized jacket and dragging a bag. He stood still and stared into the camera when next to the photographer. The photographer then gave him an ice candy and told him not to say anything about his camera. Then the photographer asked him "At your house, are both your father and mother gone?" He answered "Yes".
06:52 The widening gap between people in North Korea. Where will all of this end up going to?
UPDATE: 3-20-13 The situation in the DPRK is now being reported by independent and underground news networks as very critical and at least one food riot was averted in one major city. Watch for updates in the comments section.
See also:
North Korean Comic Jugglers Live Show (filmed in the DPRK)
The Making of "Nothing To Envy" Film'The Defector' Film Premieres at IDFAPremiere of "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone"North Korean Concentration Camp Drawings
Within this past week, we have seen former NBA star Dennis Rodman visit North Korea and then afterwards gush over Kim Jong Un with this: "I love him. The guy is awesome. He was so honest." About that former Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Ganyard said "There is nobody at the CIA who could tell you more personally about Kim Jong Un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary."
And now we have another ironic twist as seen in a recent blog post/press release by "Kim Jung-Bay" it appears as though The Pirate Bay has moved it's infamous website to Pyongyang, Best Korea North Korea!
While we cannot confirm the below photo as official it does clearly appear as though The Dear Leader did in fact meet with Mr. Sunde and Mr. Svartholm and has saved The Pirate Bay, saved freedom and saved freedom of speech for our glorious worldwide internets! Manse! Manse!*
See also:
Kim Jong Il Invented Photoshop!Kim Jong Il & Om Yun Chol Win Olympic Gold!People's Daily: Kim Jong Un "Sexiest Man Alive"
An American space expert said North Korea has succeeded in launching a satellite into space.
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said late Tuesday from Cambridge, Massachusetts, that the three-stage Unha-3 rocket launched early Wednesday morning delivered the satellite into orbit and constituted "a perfect success for North Korea."
Continued...
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Via indiegogo November 20, 2012
One of the best books written about North Korea's recent history is the award-winning "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick. In this fast page-turning chronicle, Demick presents a rare up close and personal view into the daily lives of people living within a horrifying and brutal totalitarian nation. Through fifteen years of tyrannical rule and hardship after hardship, the author follows six North Koreans who fall in love, get married, raise families and confide their innermost thoughts and feelings in Demick. As unemployment and famine ravage the land, the six families risk everything to escape.
Now a small award-winning documentary production company named Mosaic Films is in the early planning stages of the production of an animated feature film based on Demick's book. Led by filmmaker Andy Glynne, Mosaic Films is now running a donation campaign in an effort to secure funding for production costs. Supporters for this film include Amnesty International, NK News, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and others. Below is a trailer and a short message from Glynne:
And here is part of an interview with North Korean defector Kim Jooil. This is part of a testimony initiative within the Nothing to Envy project.
If possible please contribute to the making of the "Nothing To Envy" documentary here. There are many interesting prizes being given away for donors. For more information please visit the movie's official website.
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Related:
'The Defector' Film Premieres at IDFAPremiere of Camp 14 - Total Control ZoneNorth Korean Concentration Camp Drawings
Via DocGeeks November 17th, 2012
Last December we reported on the The Defector documentary while it was still being produced by the award-winning Fathom Film Group. Their kickstarter project achieved its funding goal on December 11, 2011 and the post production of this film was completed. Now this movie has been selected to premiere at the prestigious International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA). Filmed undercover by Korean-Canadian filmmaker Ann Shin, this documentary will be showing at the IDFA from November 14-25. Shin had this to say about the film:
“The film has been 3 years in the making and we’re excited to be launching at IDFA” says Producer/Director Ann Shin. “It’s about a human smuggler who deals with desperate North Koreans wanting to escape."
Via BBC News September 24, 2012
Three film producers from Belgium (Anja Daelemans), the United Kingdom (Nick Bonner) and North Korea (Ryom Mi Hwa) came together last year and created a romantic comedy movie entitled "Comrade Kim Goes Flying." This film is a heartfelt story of a young North Korean woman seeking her childhood dream of becoming a trapeze artist. This international collaboration involved movie actor training for some performers of the Pyongyang Circus and includes some other well-known movie stars in the DPRK. Unlike most male-dominated, state run stories of success, this North Korean comic drama explores the individual quest of a young heroine striving for self-fulfillment in a unique North Korean setting. The two main characters in the movie Han Jong Sim as Comrade Kim Yong Mi and Pak Chung Guk as Pak Jang Phil, are two young professional circus athletes who went through an accelerated acting class for this motion picture. Below is the official movie trailer:
Comrade Kim Goes Flying premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (tiff) and is now showing at the Pyongyang International Film Festival (PIFF). For more information about this film, please visit the official website.
See also:
North Korean Comic Jugglers Live ShowPremiere of "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone"Buy A North Korean Bride Only $50,000!!!
Here is a recent live performance video of a North Korean comic juggler duo entertaining a military audience. This rare, light-hearted stage act also includes a short segment that features a member from the crowd. It is interesting to see the enthusiastic audience reactions from the various jokes performed by the funny jugglers. Check it out:
See also:
North Korean Version of "Take on Me"North Korean Woodstock Music Festival PhotoThe Pyongyang Circus Video
