In November of last year, while leading a tour group in North Korea, Bae was detained, found guilty of an unknown crime, and has now been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a N. Korean gulag. The North Korean government hasn’t said what the alleged crime was, and probably won’t.

Without the recent nuclear threats, would Bae’s story be making headlines? He’s been there for a while now…

Maybe we can send Dennis Rodman back to talk to his buddy Kim Jong Un, and explain that detaining people isn’t good for his public image. I guess threatening to launch missiles at people isn’t either though.

Take a minute to read about Kenneth Bae’s story. A Facebook page has been created to share updates and news about his detainment.

Maybe also take a few minutes out of your day to contact your representative in Congress and ask them what they’re doing to help free Kenneth Bae. All the Facebook likes in the world won’t get through to North Korea, but maybe letting our representatives know what’s at stake to their constituents, will help.

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Cities, and the famous Bukchang Gulag can now be viewed in detail, thanks to the work of crowdsourced Google Earth  and other satellite images.

This image (courtesy of CNN) shows a Guard’s Restroom with a Google restaurant icon. I hope that’s just some weird iOS 6 type glitch, and not another chapter in the story of recently reported North Korean cannibalism…

The “official” story is that he’s accompanying former New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, on a humanitarian mission to negotiate the release of a Korean American hostage. CEOs are the new influential world leaders, so I suppose it’s possible, but somehow I think Schmidt lacks that Clinton charm that helped to free Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

Some believe that Schmidt is there to urge Kim Jong Un to ease restrictions on internet and data access. Others believe there’s a different agenda. North Korea is a new frontier when it comes to Google style information sharing. Schmidt will likely learn at least a tiny bit about the future of digital media in the new regime, and he may be looking for a foothold. Five years of Google in communist China didn’t pan out quite the way everyone had hoped though. How will North Korea handle the world’s largest search engine? Will Google+ and its Google Hangouts help re-unite the peninsula? All I know is that if any of the Kim boys want to add me to their circles, I’m SO adding them back.

Care to see Kim Jong Il’s body embalmed? It’s happening soon and you can see him as soon as in January. He’ll be placed next to his father, Kim Il Sung. (Stripes – Kim Jong Il)

Unfortunately, there are no photos of the unicorn, or unicorn horn, or the ancient King who rode the unicorn. Fortunately, you can still purchase a Unicorno in commemoration of this find! (GR store)

“According to the Korean Central News Agency, the lair of the mythical creature is located 200 meters (about 219 yards) from the Yongmyong Temple in Pyongyang. A rock that sits in front of the lair contains carvings that some believe date back to the period of the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392), the outlet notes.” (Huffpo – Unicorn Lair)

Park Jae-Sang, better known as Psy, and his hit song “Oppa Gangnam Style”has taken the world by storm without any sign of slowing down. As the newly deemed King of Kpop joyously revels in his newfound fame, it might come as a surprise to some that he wasn’t always so congenial towards America. A video surfaced from a concert in 2004 where he smashed a miniature model of a tank on stage while the crowd raucously cheers, coupled with the lyrics:

싸이 rap : 이라크 포로를 고문해 댄 씨발양년놈들과
고문 하라고 시킨 개 씨발 양년놈들에
딸래미 애미 며느리 애비 코쟁이 모두 죽여
아주 천천히 죽여 고통스럽게 죽여

Translation:
Kill those fucking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives
Kill those fucking Yankees who ordered them to torture
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law, and fathers
Kill them all slowly and painfully.

This song may have come around the time of the U.S.’s internationally maligned invasion of Iraq, but there’s an older context beneath all this. South Korea adhered to the Sunshine Policy towards North Korea up until Lee Myung-Bak’s presidency. The policy was intended to improve relations between the North and South with the (partial) aim of (eventual) reunification. Critics say that the downside of such a fool’s crusade is that the South opted for the North’s interests over the former’s closest ally, the United States. This included, as B.R. Myers alleges in his book The Cleanest Race, “encouraging an anti-American line in education and urging the media to ‘finlandize’ their coverage of the DPRK.”

It doesn’t stop there. On June 13th, 2002, a military vehicle accidentally killed two teenage girls in what would later be deemed the “Yangju Highway Incident.” The tragedy sparked a greater wave of anti-American sentiment along with Apolo Ohno 2002 Winter Olympics controversy.

The Korea Herald ran a story in Dec. 2002, on “Socially Active Celebrities” supporting the ROK’s Anti-American ’cause.’ Guess which celebrity’s name pops up? Flight of the Kiwi posted more excerpts from the article. 

This is all the more reason why its so curious that he’s beaming with America’s affection towards him. As of right now, the best defense on his end is that he was merely pandering to popular sentiments of the time. Either that or he could just be an opportunist as this one CNN iReport suggests. Nevertheless, the important question is how Americans will receive it if news of his previous opinions go viral.

Either the have the greatest sense of humor of all time, or they just don’t know how to research. Yet, to his defense, he is looking dapper on his horse. (People’s Daily – Sexy Kim Jong Un)

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Part 2

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(Huffpo – North Korea)

Laura Ling related Gangnam Style to North Korea and the tiny, tiny changes that are happening. (LA Times – Laura Ling)