One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

• Isaac Stone Fish, Let's stop calling North Korea “crazy” and understand their motives, The Guardian, April 13, 2017

Pyongyang, North Korea: Members of a propaganda troupe perform in a public square. Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images.

Superiority complex

北京 (Běijīng) – North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has claimed his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a significant step forward from the less powerful atomic bomb. [Read more].

• Eric Baculinao, F. Brinley Bruton and Arata Yamamoto, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Claims Country Has Hydrogen Bomb, NBCNews.com, December 10, 2015

The 2015 harvest is believed to have been worse than last year, which could mean that remote and impoverished areas – particularly the mountainous provinces of Chagang and Ryanggang along the border with China – will have a particularly difficult winter. Photo: Wong Maye-E/AP.

What time is it?

• Alessio Marino, Windows: il supporto al fuso orario della Corea del Nord arriverà il 20 Ottobre, tech.everyeye.it, October 12, 2015

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju who is seated to his right, attend a performance of the Chongbong band at a theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: KNS/AFP/Getty.

Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo

Cambia il fuso orario del Paese: gli orologi saranno portati indietro di 30 minuti. La decisione presa per motivi “patriottici” al fine di ritornare all’orario “originale” antecedente all’invasione giapponese del 1910, quando le due Coree erano unificate. [Read more].

• Giampaolo Visetti, Corea del Nord, l’ultima trovata di Kim Jong-un: dal 15 agosto arriva “l’ora di Pyongyang”, R.it, 7 agosto 2015

After news of his marriage to Ri Sol-ju emerged last July, the North Korean supreme leader Kim-Jong-un made the relationship public by taking her on a tour of the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground, a new amusement park in the capital, Pyongyang. Photo: KNS/AFP/Getty Images.

Panama hat

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Wŏnsan Baby Home and Orphanage in Wŏnsan (원산시), North Korea. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/REX Shutterstock.

Una giornata particolare

Pyongyang, June 18, 2015. A joint meeting was held on Thursday on National Day of Persons with Disabilities. Present there were Minister of Public Health Kang Ha Guk, chairman of the Central Committee of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled, officials concerned, disabled persons and their families, Pyongyangites, members of missions of international bodies such as the European Union Programme Support, foreign diplomatic envoys and staff members of their embassies here and overseas Koreans staying in the homeland. There were sports and amusement events. The high-profile event marks the 12th year since North Korea adopted the Korean Law for Persons with Disabilities (June 18, 2003), which according to KCNA, “makes it clear that the state is obliged to respect the individualities of persons with disabilities and ensure to them the same socio-political rights and benefits as those for persons without disabilities”.

The Terminal

People attend the opening ceremony for the newly built terminal of Pyongyang International Airport in this undated picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on July 1, 2015. Reuters/KCNA.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was once unhappy with its design, and his displeasure allegedly led to the execution of its principal designer last year, but despite all hurdles, the country’s new airport terminal in Pyongyang is now open for public. The terminal 2 of Pyongyang International Airport, which is reserved for international civilian flights, was inaugurated on Wednesday, state media reported. [Read more].

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles next to his wife Ri Sol Ju as he gives field guidance at the new terminal of Pyongyang International Airport in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 25, 2015. Reuters/KCNA.

• Kukil Bora, North Korea Opens New Pyongyang Airport Terminal Whose Design Once Irked Kim Jong Un, International Business Time, July 2, 2015

Hypnos

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his defence chief executed with an anti-aircraft gun for complaining about the young ruler, talking back to him and sleeping during a meeting presided over by Kim, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday, citing what it called credible information. [Read more].

A man watches a television showing news coverage of the reported execution of North Korea's defence minister Hyon Yong-Chol, at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images).

• The associated Press, North Korea executed defence minister with anti-aircraft fire, Seoul reports, CBCnews, May 13, 2015

Wuthering Heights

Si arricchisce l’album di immagini di propaganda di Kim Jong Un. Il “Supremo Leader”, dopo le immagini a bordo dell’aereo di Stato rilasciate dall’agenzia di stampa ufficiale lo scorso febbraio, ha deciso di farsi ritrarre sulla vetta della montagna più alta del paese, il monte Peaktu. Nelle immagini Kim Jong Un sorride all’alba del nuovo giorno vestendo in maniera non adatta ad una scalata di alta quota. L’immagine, impregnata di uno stile propagandistico tipico delle grandi dittature del Novecento, non è stata – come accade per tutte le notizie provenienti da Pyongyang – verificata da nessuna agenzia di stampa indipendente che, data la chiusura del paese asiatico, non è in grado di verificare il luogo e la veridicità dell’avvenimento. Il monte Peaktu, luogo privilegiato della narrativa nazionalistica coreana, è considerata sacra insieme ad altre due montagne (Jirisan e Hallasan) teatro entrambe della fondazione dei primi regni di Corea. [Read more].

• Corea, il grande scalatore: Kim Jong a piedi sul monte Paektu, la Repubblica.it, 20 aprile 2015
• Silvia De Santis, Kim Jong Un imparò a guidare a soli tre anni: le sue gesta sui libri di scuola, ultima frontiera della propaganda di regime, L’Huffington Post, 10 aprile 2015

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles during his inspection of Unit 1016 of KPA (Korean People’s Army) Air and Anti-Air Force honored with the Title of O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment, in Pyongyang. Photo: The Independent (@Independent).