North Korea focuses on food production

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has called for a "decisive turning-point" this year in ending the country's long-running food shortage. The ruling communist party's daily Rodong Sinmun described solving the problem as the nation's most pressing task.

South Korea's unification ministry said in February that the North's food production would fall more than one million tons short of demand this year.

The North suffered famine in the 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands. Poor weather was blamed but analysts said the inefficient command economy also played a large part.

Since then it has relied on overseas aid to feed millions of its people. However North Korea in March refused to accept further food aid from the United States. South Korea also did not make its customary shipment of hundreds of thousands of tons of rice and fertilizer last year because the North failed to request the deliveries.

[AFP]

North Korean forces invading South Korea

North Korean forces are invading South Korea.

So goes the war game scenario at the Pentagon, reported by TIME, a fictional future scenario designed to help U.S. forces anticipate and prepare for tomorrow's military problems.

The scenario facing the Pacific Command (PACOM) posits that Kim Jong Il dies in 2016 and is replaced by a new leader who resumes the processing of uranium for the countries' long-disputed nuclear weapons program. Once two North Korean uranium enrichment plants are discovered, the United Nations passes a security council resolution to oppose the action.

In response, North Korean forces cross the DMZ and launch an invasion of South Korea by disguising thousands of troops within groups of refugees, creating what is called "an irregular warfare-type scenario that may require a mixture of conventional and counterinsurgency tactics."

U.S. forces launch measured air strikes as an initial move. "With the Korean Peninsula," says Army Spokesman Harvey Perritt, "the problem is bigger than just military." The response to a North Korean attack, he says, would have to require diplomatic, humanitarian and other solutions, including the involvement of many other allies. That does not bode well for the world beyond the games, where Pyongyang remains a frightening question mark.

North Korea hacking U.S. and South Korea

North Korean citizens have extremely limited access to the Internet, unlike South Korea which has one of the world's highest per capita rates of broadband Internet connection.

However their government, under the thumb of dictator Kim Jong Il, is not shy about using technology to further its aims. JoongAng Daily cites shadowy "intelligence sources in Seoul" when it reports North Korea has set up a cyber warfare unit with the aim of disrupting US and South Korean networks. The source also claims North Korea visits US military sites more frequently than any other country.

The North's military has expanded their cyber warfare unit, staffing it with about 100 personnel, mostly graduates of a Pyongyang university that teaches computer skills, Yonhap news agency reported.

North Korean defectors speak out

North Korean defectors recently testified before U.S. Congress that North Korea's government deprives its people of almost all political and civil liberties.

Choi Zoo Hwal is a former North Korean military colonel who defected to South Korea in 1995. He told U.S. lawmakers that few North Koreans dare to oppose the government because they view it as a divine authority. "There is no freedom to choose jobs, a place to live in or the freedom of religion whatsoever in North Korea," he said. "North Korean residents have to live under horrendous control."

Another North Korean defector, Kim Seung-min said the United States could improve the situation by supporting a radio station like his (Free North Korea Radio), that informs North Koreans about conditions in and outside the country. Despite attempts from North Korea to jam signals from his station, he remains firm that North Koreans should have access to freedom of thought, or "mental food" as he calls it.

The North Korean defectors also urged the U.S. to back a South Korean group that sends leaflets into the North by balloon calling for the ouster of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il. South Korea's government has appealed to the activists to stop, saying the leaflets have inflamed relations with Pyongyang.

Defectors testify on North Korean Human Rights

Amongst the North Korean defectors who have been testifying before the U.S. Congress on the human rights situation in North Korea is Kim Tae Jin, who spent four years in a concentration camp before escaping to South Korea in 2001.

Kim, who is now a leading pro-democracy activist, told the Congressional hearing in Washington that most political prisoners in North Korea are jailed for religious reasons or because their family members were accused of crimes.

Kim Tae Jin said “I am a living testimony to the horror and pain [prisoners] have to go through” and that from day one, he and other prisoners got a minimum amount of food and did not have water fit for human consumption. Kim says he only was allowed to drink water dripping from a toilet and then had to use the same water to wash his dishes.

A recent U.S. State Department report on human rights in North Korea estimated that the government is holding 150,000 to 200,000 people in political prison camps. It said prison conditions were harsh, prisoners were tortured and some women underwent forced abortions.

North Korean Defector recalls torture

There were gasps in the audience at a press conference by female North Korean defectors in Washington, D.C. as Bang Mi-sun rolled up her black skirt and showed the deep ugly scars in her thighs.

As soon as she was asked to recount her life in a North Korean concentration camp, Bang (55) stepped on a chair and roll up her skirt. Various parts of her thighs were sunken as if the flesh had been gouged out. She also walks with a limp

Bang had formerly been an actress, who fled North Korea with her children when her husband starved to death, but soon fell victim to human traffickers. She was arrested by Chinese police and was sent back to the North, where she was tortured.

In 2004, she escaped again.