Global Publishers Woo N.Korean Defector

Park Yeon-mi /Courtesy of Freedom Factory

North Korean defector Park Yeon-mi, who is touring Europe to lecture about North Korea's human rights abuses, is being courted by global publishers with a view to bringing out her autobiography next year.

Italy's Corriere della Sera reported that Penguin acquired the rights for the U.S. and U.K., Goldmann for Germany, and Bompiani for Italy -- all major players.

According to British industry magazine The Bookseller, Park's autobiography will be published under Penguin General's Fig Tree imprint, which handles popular non-fiction. Penguin and Goldmann are part of Penguin Random House, the world's largest publishing and media conglomerate. Bompiani is part of the Italian media conglomerate RSS.

Park fled North Korea in 2009 when she was just 17 after her father was sent to a political prison camp. She came to South Korea after a harrowing journey through Mongolia and recently emerged as an icon of the North Korean human rights struggle after speaking in public about the horrors she suffered in the reclusive country.

She attended a young leaders' meeting in Ireland last month, called on China to stop repatriating North Korean defectors, and spoke in the U.K. Parliament urging the international community to become more aware of the problem.

She also told British citizens in an online discussion that North Korean defectors are often ostracized and marginalized in South Korea after risking their lives to get there.

Park says her mother was raped while trying to protect her during their harrowing escape, and revealed that one South Korean university professor referred to North Korean defectors as "potential terrorists."

The BBC chose her one of 100 women of 2014.

Penguin said that Park has become the vanguard of the movement to reform North Korean human rights abuses.

The book will be written in an "as told to" format by journalist Maryanne Vollers, who wrote "Ghosts of Mississippi" about racism in the U.S. Vollers and ghosted the autobiographies of Hillary Clinton and actresses Sissy Spacek and Ashley Judd.

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UN Security Council to Tackle N.Korean Human Rights

The UN Security Council is to put North Korea's human rights violations on its agenda later this month, U.S. human rights envoy Robert King told a forum in Washington on Friday.

"We'll see that the North Korea human rights issue is put on the agenda of the Security Council," King said. "There may be a discussion at the Security Council later this month."

Among the 15 member nations of the Security Council, South Korea, Australia, Chile, France, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Rwanda, the U.K. and the U.S. signed a letter to the council's president seeking to place the issue on its agenda. But Argentina, Chad, China, Nigeria and Russia did not sign.

The council consists of five permanent members and 10 nations rotating as non-permanent members every two years. An issue is placed on the council's agenda if more than nine out of its 15 member nations support it.

The council has held several meetings on North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, but this is the first time that its human rights abuses will be discussed.

A government official here said, "If an issue is placed on the agenda, it is customarily discussed for three years."

Last April, the council was briefed on North Korea's human rights abuses by Michael Kirby, a former Australian High Court judge who led the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea. But the meeting was held behind closed doors.

The council's official meetings, by contrast, are open to the media and will lead to increased international attention on the North's horrific human rights abuses.

The council has the right to refer high-ranking North Korean officials to the International Criminal Court or impose additional sanctions on the North, but China and Russia, which have friendly ties with the North and veto power, oppose the move.

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Britain to Invite N.Korean Journalists for Training

Britain says it will invite North Korean journalists to the country for a study tour early next year.

In a written statement to the House of Lords this week, Joyce Anelay, the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the upcoming visit will constitute the final stage of the British government-funded project titled "Inside Out: Working in North Korea to connect its journalists to the Internet world."

"[It] is an on-going media project being delivered by the Thomson Foundation, an independent UK organization with a proven track record of working in a number of countries, including now, for the first time, in [North Korea]," wrote Anelay.

She explained the project "aims to expose participants to the U.K. media, instructing them on international reporting practices and the development of technical skills to build websites using a variety of international sources."

The first stage of the project began with a pilot workshop for 46 journalists in the North's capital of Pyongyang between Oct. 13 and 22.

Anelay said that while in Britain, the North Koreans will learn how multimedia websites work at British media companies.

Britain has said its policy toward Pyongyang is one of "critical engagement," which means making clear the views of the international community on the North's nuclear weapons program and human rights record, while encouraging the communist regime to work with the outside world through educational and cultural exchanges.

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N.Korean Fingerprints All Over Cyber Attack on Sony

North Korea is the prime suspect in a recent cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the studio behind a Hollywood comedy about the attempted assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Bloomberg on Tuesday reported Korean language code was found in the malware that was used to cripple Sony's computer systems.

"Other aspects of the breach bear important similarities to attacks that wiped out the computers of South Korean banks and broadcasters in March 2013," Bloomberg added quoting sources in the investigation.

"The malware, designed by unknown operators, has the ability to overwrite data files, including what's called the master boot record, making computers unusable," Bloomberg quoted the FBI as saying in a flash alert to U.S. companies.

The hackers leaked the seven-figure pay top Sony executives take home as well as the company's latest blockbusters including "Fury" and "Annie" onto the Internet.

They used computers in Thailand, Italy, and Poland that have nothing to do with Sony by infecting them with a virus, the FBI speculated.

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3 Women Behind the N.Korean Throne

Three women form a core part of the repressive North Korean regime, loyally lining up behind their tubby brother and husband to fend off challenges to his authority.

They are leader Kim Jong-un's wife Ri Sol-ju, his older half-sister Kim Sul-song, and his younger sister Kim Yeo-jong.

Kim Sul-song is the oldest of the three. She is believed to have been born in 1974, the eldest daughter of former leader Kim Jong-il and his second wife Kim Yong-suk. She studied political economics at Kim Il-sung University. Since the late 1990s, she has worked in the Workers Party.

She is believed to have acted as a secretary to her father, managing his security detail and engagement schedule, and now does the same job for Kim Jong-un.

Ken Gause of the U.S. Center for Naval Analyses speculates that Kim Sul-song is at the apex of a structure that collects and controls the information flow in the regime.

From left, Kim Yeo-jong, Kim Sul-song and Ri Sol-ju

Kim Sul-song and her husband, Sin Pok-nam, a senior party official, played a central role in purging former eminence grise Jang Song-taek and are now spearheading the reform of the party, New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Hong Ihk-pyo said last year quoting a North Korean source in China.

Ri, who was born in 1989 or thereabouts, is believed to have been influential in helping Choe Ryong-hae, who had been almost elbowed aside by Hwang Pyong-so, return to the center of power recently.

Ri came to Choe's rescue because she is close to his wife Kang Kyong-sil, according to rumors.

There also is speculation that Air Force general Ri Pyong-chol was appointed to the top decision-making National Defense Commission in September because Ri Sol-ju's father was an Air Force pilot.

This suggests that she is a vital ally for anyone seeking promotion.

Kim Yeo-jong has taken a key post in the Workers Party, though what exactly her duties are is unclear.

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British Documentary to Focus on Young N.Korean Defector

Park Yeon-mi

Park Yeon-mi, the North Korean defector who was named as one of the 100 women of 2014 by the BBC, will feature prominently in a documentary about North Korean human rights abuses

Producers Square Eyed Pictures said they are making the film, tentatively titled "While They Watched" to raise worldwide awareness of the issue.

The film will try to show what is happening in North Korea and suggest what the international community can do. Based on a hypothetical scenario in which the North Korean regime has collapsed, the film looks back at events.

Park (21) has become well known on various North Korea-related programs.

Park fled to South Korea via Mongolia with her mother at the age of 17 in 2009. She fell in love with the English language, which she never learned in North Korea and later hosted an online TV program with an American host and wrote for the Washington Post about the black market in North Korea and the changing mentality of the young generation.

Last month, she testified about human rights abuses in the British Parliament. Her belief in the demise of the "juche" ideology of self-reliance and rise of the market economy in North Korea has caught the world's attention.

"While They Watched" will be completed in December and released shortly after.

View the original article here

3 Women Behind the N.Korean Throne

Three women form a core part of the repressive North Korean regime, loyally lining up behind their tubby brother and husband to fend off challenges to his authority.

They are leader Kim Jong-un's wife Ri Sol-ju, his older half-sister Kim Sul-song, and his younger sister Kim Yeo-jong.

Kim Sul-song is the oldest of the three. She is believed to have been born in 1974, the eldest daughter of former leader Kim Jong-il and his second wife Kim Yong-suk. She studied political economics at Kim Il-sung University. Since the late 1990s, she has worked in the Workers Party.

She is believed to have acted as a secretary to her father, managing his security detail and engagement schedule, and now does the same job for Kim Jong-un.

Ken Gause of the U.S. Center for Naval Analyses speculates that Kim Sul-song is at the apex of a structure that collects and controls the information flow in the regime.

From left, Kim Yeo-jong, Kim Sul-song and Ri Sol-ju

Kim Sul-song and her husband, Sin Pok-nam, a senior party official, played a central role in purging former eminence grise Jang Song-taek and are now spearheading the reform of the party, New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Hong Ihk-pyo said last year quoting a North Korean source in China.

Ri, who was born in 1989 or thereabouts, is believed to have been influential in helping Choe Ryong-hae, who had been almost elbowed aside by Hwang Pyong-so, return to the center of power recently.

Ri came to Choe's rescue because she is close to his wife Kang Kyong-sil, according to rumors.

There also is speculation that Air Force general Ri Pyong-chol was appointed to the top decision-making National Defense Commission in September because Ri Sol-ju's father was an Air Force pilot.

This suggests that she is a vital ally for anyone seeking promotion.

Kim Yeo-jong has taken a key post in the Workers Party, though what exactly her duties are is unclear.

View the original article here

British Documentary to Focus on Young N.Korean Defector

Park Yeon-mi

Park Yeon-mi, the North Korean defector who was named as one of the 100 women of 2014 by the BBC, will feature prominently in a documentary about North Korean human rights abuses

Producers Square Eyed Pictures said they are making the film, tentatively titled "While They Watched" to raise worldwide awareness of the issue.

The film will try to show what is happening in North Korea and suggest what the international community can do. Based on a hypothetical scenario in which the North Korean regime has collapsed, the film looks back at events.

Park (21) has become well known on various North Korea-related programs.

Park fled to South Korea via Mongolia with her mother at the age of 17 in 2009. She fell in love with the English language, which she never learned in North Korea and later hosted an online TV program with an American host and wrote for the Washington Post about the black market in North Korea and the changing mentality of the young generation.

Last month, she testified about human rights abuses in the British Parliament. Her belief in the demise of the "juche" ideology of self-reliance and rise of the market economy in North Korea has caught the world's attention.

"While They Watched" will be completed in December and released shortly after.

View the original article here

Mystery Surrounds N.Korean Student in Kidnap Attempt

The Foreign Ministry is trying to confirm French reports that a young North Korean studying in Paris remains missing after escaping from agents who tried to bring him back to the North.

The ministry said on Thursday that it is "assessing the situation and taking necessary measures" in close cooperation with French authorities.

According to French media, the North Korean student, surnamed Han, had been attending the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette after being invited to study there by the French government in 2011.

Early this month he was seized and bundled to the airport by a team of North Korean agents but managed to escape and went into hiding.

There are rumors that Han is the son of an aide to executed North Korean eminence grise Jang Song-taek, and that his father was purged along with other supporters, making him guilty by association. But a government source here was unable to confirm that.

Jang, the once powerful uncle of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, was executed in December of last year after being found guilty of treason and his supporters purged. Diplomatic sources said North Korea merely added to the endless string of reasons for international condemnation by trying to kidnap someone on foreign soil.

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UN Moves Closer to Indicting N.Korean Rights Abusers

The UN human rights committee passed a resolution on Wednesday calling on the Security Council to refer high-ranking North Korean officials to the International Criminal Court. The decision is expected to increase international pressure on Pyongyang to address its dire human rights situation.

The non-binding recommendation, which was proposed by 60 countries including the EU, was passed 111 in favor and 19 against with 55 abstentions and is expected to be passed by the UN General Assembly next month.

North Korean delegates watch vote results during a meeting of the UN human rights committee at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday. /AP-Newsis

The next step is the Security Council, which will consider whether to refer North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other officials to the ICC and subject them to UN-led sanctions. But since the North's long-time allies China and Russia have a veto in the Security Council, the process will probably stop there.

Still, the latest resolution is the most forceful criticism yet of North Korea's human rights abuses. South Korean Ambassador to the UN Oh Joon hailed it as "historic" since it has created the legal basis to single out those in the North responsible for human rights abuses.?

Choe Myong-nam, a North Korean official in charge of UN affairs and human rights, denounced the resolution as being "full of groundless criticisms" and added the usual warning of "serious consequences" if it is passed.

Choe added the move leaves North Korea no choice but to continue with its nuclear weapons program.

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N.Korean Envoy Meets Putin

North Korea and Russia, both teetering on the edge of diplomatic isolation for one reason or another, are forging closer ties.

Choe Ryong-hae, the second most powerful man in North Korea, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Kremlin said Choe gave Putin a personal letter from leader Kim Jong-un but did not elaborate what the two talked about.

Choe, who is on an eight day trip to Russia, is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

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