Eastern Asia

As regular as it may sound, one is bound to note that there’s a rapid acceleration of political processes that can be observed in the world today in general and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular.

The latest round of the DPRK demonization is connected not only with the notorious “murder at the airport” incident, but also with other news, the main of which (as usual, with reference to South Korean intelligence) being information on the repression of the DPRK Minister of State Security, Kim Won-hong.

Prominent American propagandist Howard French recently published a lengthy editorial in the Guardian titled, “Is it too late to save Hong Kong from Beijing’s authoritarian grasp?,” in which he attempts to buttress an otherwise categorically false narrative surrounding an alleged indigenous struggle for democracy and independence within Hong Kong.

In observing the coverage of the next lap of the intra-Korean escalation and periodically answering journalists’ questions, the author would like to pay particular attention to the important issue of the media environment being awash with information on the DPRK missile launches, or concerning North Korea’s sixth nuclear test that will allegedly take place shortly. At the same time, the media is failing to cover events developing in the South in the same direction.

In observing the coverage of the next lap of the intra-Korean escalation and periodically answering journalists’ questions, the author would like to pay particular attention to the important issue of the media environment being awash with information on the DPRK missile launches, or concerning North Korea’s sixth nuclear test that will allegedly take place shortly. At the same time, the media is failing to cover events developing in the South in the same direction.

Against the backdrop of the scandal surrounding the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the author notices two tendencies. From one side, the excitement leads to the introduction of additional sanctions measures, from the other side, it becomes all the more clear that sanctions pressure on the DPRK does not work.

As we have already mentioned, in response to the deployment in South Korea of US missile defence systems, China has already adopted several measures. In light of these developments, the deployment of the first batch of missile launchers has also not been without its counter measures.

At the beginning of March of this year, the National People’s Congress (the Chinese National Parliament) held its ordinary annual meeting. The National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are considered (in a rather broad sense) the Congress’s two Houses. The Chinese press has christened this event “the two sessions”.

The main event in the development of the plot surrounding the murder in Malaysia was the fact that on 3 March 2017, Malaysian authorities deported Ri Jong Chol, a citizen of the DPRK, who had previously been detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder. After a week of detention he was expelled from the country due to problems with his work visa and was not employed where stated in his documents.

In 2003 I had, along with some American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild, the good fortune to be able to travel to North Korea, that is the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, in order to experience first hand that nation, its socialist system and its people.