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	<title>SwamplandCategory: North Korea &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<description>Political insight from the Beltway and beyond</description>
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		<title>SwamplandCategory: North Korea &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com</link>
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		<title>U.S. to Press China Over Repatriation of N. Koreans</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/22/u-s-to-press-china-over-repatriation-of-n-koreans/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/22/u-s-to-press-china-over-repatriation-of-n-koreans/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 02:01:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Matthew Pennington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93760</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — The United States will press China over its forcible repatriation of refugees to North Korea, a U.S. human rights envoy said Monday. He likened the North&#8217;s vast gulag to that operated by the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Robert King is among U.S. officials meeting in Washington this week with China&#8217;s envoy on Korean affairs, Wu Dawei. The Obama administration is looking for Beijing to use its leverage over its North Korean ally to tamp down its provocative behavior and move toward abandoning nuclear weapons. The prime focus of Washington&#8217;s policy is on tackling the emerging threat to the U.S. and its allies posed by North Korea&#8217;s missile and nuclear programs. But King said human rights were also important for U.S. policy. He described conditions in North Korea as deplorable, and took particular aim at the prison camp system which he said is estimated to hold between 130,000 and 200,000 people. He said it was &#8220;outrageous&#8221; that many detainees — more than half according to some reports — are imprisoned because of family ties rather than for committing a crime. &#8220;This is something that the last time it was done in the Soviet Union was in the 1930s. The Soviet Union in the 1970s was enlightened in comparison to North Korea,&#8221; he told reporters. King is U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights issues but has limited scope to engage directly with Pyongyang and influence conditions there. Since his appointment three-and-a-half years ago, he has only visited once, in 2011, when the U.S. was contemplating providing food aid to the impoverished country. (MORE: China Says New North Korea Nuclear Test Possible) King cited as progress the U.N. Human Rights Council&#8217;s decision in March, with U.S. support, to form a commission of inquiry into allegations of grave abuses and crimes against humanity in North Korea. King said that although the three-member commission was unlikely to be able to visit North Korea either, it would elevate legal pressure on Pyongyang.&#8221;We have to continue to press the North Koreans and call<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93760&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/china/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Why the North Korean Crisis Demands a New Diplomatic Approach</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/12/why-the-north-korean-crisis-demands-a-new-diplomatic-approach/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/12/why-the-north-korean-crisis-demands-a-new-diplomatic-approach/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:26:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Emily Rauhala / Seoul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92791</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92791&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/kerry.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se shake hands during their news conference at the foreign ministry in Seoul</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Take Cover! It&#8217;s NoKo New Year</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/11/take-cover-its-noko-new-year/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/11/take-cover-its-noko-new-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92615</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When North Korea&#8216;s founder Kim Il Sung was alive, he’d celebrate his birthday by imprisoning hundreds of thousands of “ideological offenders” or unveiling a blueprint for a “communist paradise.” His son and heir, Kim Jong Il, turned his father’s April 15 birthday into the closest thing to a religious holiday that an atheist, communist regime can have, resetting the calendar to Kim time by calculating the official date from his father’s birth day and year. But the biggest birthday celebrations for Kim-the-first and Kim-the-second became shows of military force. And now the latest in the line has taken up the tradition. Last year, after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011, Kim Jong Un tested long-range missiles on April 8. This year, he’s going all out. Marking what would have been his grandfather’s 101st birthday, he’s tested a nuclear weapon and long-range missies, ripped up the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, threatened nuclear war against the United States, and warned foreigners in both North and South Korea to leave the peninsula or risk getting caught in the crossfire. (MORE: In the Shadow of North Korean Threats, South Korea Shrugs) Below is a selection of the most provocative North Korean actions in the first two weeks of April leading up to Kim Il Sung’s birthday. 1912: Kim Il Sung is born. [1948: Kim Il Sung becomes the leader of North Korea upon its founding] April 1, 1984: North Korea tests its first ballistic, Scud-type missile. April 14, 1992: North Korea broadcasts a video of its nuclear sites. April 4, 1994: North Korea announces it’s stepping up its nuclear program, refusing United Nations inspectors access. [July 1994: Kim Il Sung dies, son Kim Jong Il succeeds him.] March 30-31, 1995: North Korea conducts a surface-to-ship missile test of four missiles. April 14-16, 1997: North Korea promotes 123 generals; opens an estimated  $120 million dollar renovated mausoleum for Kim Il Sung; announces a new calendar based off Kim Il Sung’s birth – so the “New Year’s” celebrations on April 15 marked year<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92615&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtr30swk.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Kim il-sung birthday north korea</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/557ff2649ffce53285c86e4b694cff6d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>The Kim Who Cried Wolf</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/29/the-kim-who-cried-wolf/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/29/the-kim-who-cried-wolf/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:48:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Klein</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[In the Arena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91693</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Isn&#8217;t it interesting that North Korea&#8217;s ever more extravagant military threats aren&#8217;t drawing much media attention in the U.S.?  No one really expects a war to break out. But what if one does? What if Kim gets so far out on the ledge&#8211;with his threats to attack both South Korea and the US&#8211;that he can&#8217;t back down? It&#8217;s unlikely, but not impossible. Kim Jong Un&#8217;s current desperation is a direct result of Barack Obama&#8217;s response to the traditional North Korean strategy of making threats in order to get the rest of the world to sit down at the table and negotiate, an offer that usually yields some concessions. But Obama&#8217;s response is not to respond at all. He&#8217;s calling the North Koreans&#8217; bluff. It is a logical strategy, given past results: concessions achieved, the Koreans quit talking. If Obama&#8217;s strategy works, Kim&#8217;s only rational moves will be to back down and hide away, or back down and negotiate&#8211;on our terms. But he also has irrational options and, again, what if he doesn&#8217;t back down? East Asians can&#8217;t abide losing face. Men in their 20s can be testosterone-addled, especially when it comes to honor and the shooting of missiles. This brings to mind the topic of my print column this week: President Obama&#8217;s saber-rattling on Iran is a more nuanced and rational version of the same game that Kim Jong Un is playing. He&#8217;s threatening military force if Iran moves toward producing an atomic bomb&#8211;a threat that, if exercised, would lead to a war that could be far more disastrous than Iraq (or Afghanistan, or Vietnam). It is a mystery to me: Obama&#8217;s overwhelmingly rational and excellent foreign policy is marred occasionally by unseemly rhetorical outbursts. His repeated threats that various Middle Eastern dictators &#8220;must&#8221; step down worked in Egypt and Libya, but doesn&#8217;t seem to be having much of an impact in Syria. Iran can be deterred from ever using a bomb, just as the Soviet Union was. The leaders there are different from Kim: the powerless Ahmadinejad talks crazy, but Iran<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91693&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtxy1le.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over an urgent operation meeting at the Supreme Command in Pyongyang</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jklein1271</media:title>
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		<title>Could Dennis Rodman&#8217;s North Korea Trip Affect U.S. Policy?</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/04/could-dennis-rodmans-north-korea-trip-affect-u-s-policy/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/04/could-dennis-rodmans-north-korea-trip-affect-u-s-policy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:32:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Crowley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=89628</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The tale of Dennis Rodman’s bizarre visit to North Korea got a little stranger on Monday, when the former NBA star’s visit to Pyongyang became a topic at both the White House and the State Department. At press briefings in both buildings, Obama Administration representatives spoke with caution about the quality time “The Worm” spent watching a basketball game with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose regime calls America “the sworn enemy of the Korean people” and produces YouTube videos of Manhattan’s destruction. And they implicitly rejected the invitation conveyed by Rodman on behalf of Kim for Obama to pick up the phone and call the North Korean leader. “The United States has direct channels of communications with the DPRK,&#8221; explained White House spokesman Jay Carney, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “And instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain the elites of that country, the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been starved, imprisoned and denied their human rights.” (MORE: 5 Things We Hope Dennis Rodman Learned About North Korea) The State Department offered a virtually identical response: “We have direct channels of communication with the DPRK,” deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell said dutifully, before repeating the rest of Carney’s response almost verbatim. “North Korean words and stunts such as this have no meaning,” Ventrell added. “What matters are the actions they take and the need to come in line with their international obligations.” REUTERS / KCNA Is it true that Rodman’s trip had no meaning at all? Clearly, his visit to the country (sponsored by Vice Media, which is filming for a newsmagazine show that will debut next month on HBO*) isn’t about to alter Pyongyang’s nuclear policy. But wasn’t there value in seeing the Hermit Kingdom’s relatively new leader’s weakness for American basketball — one that American diplomats might try to exploit? Not really, say some North Korea experts. “We have learned something more about Kim Jong Un’s love of basketball,” says Charles Armstrong,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=89628&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/2013-03-01t143759z_1827429693_gm1e9311.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Former NBA star Dennis Rodman</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/25edc643b57a776abbc75835c699af51?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">crowley100</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rodman.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Former NBA star Dennis Rodman (2nd R, front) and his company visit the Tower of Juche Idea in Pyongyang</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rodman-north-korea.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman hug in Pyongyang</media:title>
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		<title>Obama, the Korean DMZ and Fuzzy Red Lines</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/26/obama-the-korean-dmz-and-fuzzy-red-lines/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/26/obama-the-korean-dmz-and-fuzzy-red-lines/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Mar 2012 05:45:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White House]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=68161</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On a chilly spring Sunday, with the sun peeking through the clouds, President Barack Obama visited Camp Bonifas — named for a U.S. soldier who was decapitated with an ax by North Korean troops — along the Korean demilitarized zone. Wearing a windbreaker given to him by General James D. Thurman, commander of the joint forces in Korea, Obama gazed across into North Korea through binoculars. “North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or by provocations,” he said in a joint press conference later that evening in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. “North Korea knows its obligations, and it must take irreversible steps to meet those obligations. On this, the United States and the Republic of Korea are absolutely united.” Koreans on both sides of the DMZ can be forgiven if they roll their eyes at U.S. Presidents and their speeches. Nearly 18 years ago, President Bill Clinton stood not far from the observation deck that Obama visited on Sunday and declared: “It doesn’t make any sense, I mean when you examine the nature of the American security commitment in Korea and Japan, for this reason it’s pointless for them to try and develop a nuclear weapon because if they ever used a nuke, it would be the end of their country.” In 2006, North Korea announced its first successful test of a nuclear bomb and is now suspected of having nearly a dozen bombs. And yet, beyond sanctions, the U.S. and its allies have done little in reaction. (PHOTOS: Koreas Exchange Fire at Disputed Border) Time and again, North Korea has steamrolled across U.S. red lines with impunity. Matching engagement in six-party talks — between the U.S., both Koreas, Russia, China and Japan — with hostile actions such as further uranium and plutonium enrichment, nuclear tests and “satellite” launches, which everyone knows are actually intercontinental ballistic missiles. The change of regime in December when Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il died and his third son, 29-year-old Kim Jong Un, was elevated to lead North Korea, seems to have changed little. North Korea last<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=68161&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/sl_noko_0323_blog.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">sl_noko_0323_blog</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>North Korea Nuclear Suspension: Diplomatic Coup for Obama, but No Rapid Change Expected</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/02/29/north-korea-nuclear-suspension-marks-diplomatic-coup-for-obama-but-no-rapid-change-expected/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/02/29/north-korea-nuclear-suspension-marks-diplomatic-coup-for-obama-but-no-rapid-change-expected/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:16:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=66871</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[U.S. officials cautiously welcomed the news on Wednesday that North Korea has agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests and nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, at its Yongbyon facility. The deal will also allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a &#8220;modest step&#8221; in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on the State Department budget Wednesday. But most diplomats warned not to expect a sudden opening of North Korea any time soon. The agreement comes less than a week after U.S. and North Korean officials met in Beijing for the third time since July. That meeting had been scheduled for December but the death of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il delayed it. There had been some concerns that the succession of his son, 29-year-old Kim Jong Un, might derail or alter the talks, especially after North Korean put out a press release demanding 300,000 tons of food aid, well in excess of the 240,000 tons that had been on the table. But the mantra of Kim-the-younger’s transition has been continuity. And much of the agreement announced on Wednesday had already been in place before Kim-the-elder’s death, including the final figure of 240,000 tons of food aid targeted with monitoring at mostly vulnerable populations like children, the elderly and nursing mothers. In the 300,000 request, Pyongyang had asked for half to food to come in grain so it could go to feed, say, an army or the country&#8217;s elite. (MORE: Reading the Tea Leaves in Newly Announced U.S. Talks with North Korea) As part of the agreement, the U.S. also reaffirmed it does not have hostile intentions toward North Korea, pledged to abide by previous armistices and to increase “people-to-people” exchanges to North Korea in the areas of culture, education and sports. And officials were quick to note that no steps taken today are permanent; North Korea could recoil at any time and reengage its nuclear programs. “The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=66871&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Reading the Tea Leaves in Newly Announced U.S. Talks with North Korea</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/02/14/reading-the-tea-leaves-in-newly-announced-u-s-talks-with-north-korea/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/02/14/reading-the-tea-leaves-in-newly-announced-u-s-talks-with-north-korea/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreign Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=65831</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Despite the change in regime, the lines of communication between the U.S. and North Korea have remained open, leading to the announcement on Monday that they they would hold talks on Feb. 23 in Beijing. It will be the third in a series of &#8220;conversations&#8221; between the two countries which began last July in the hopes of restarting the six-party talks (the six being the U.S., North and South Korea, China, Russia and Japan) that were blown up by North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and ballistic missile tests of 2009. The Beijing meeting had originally been scheduled for the week after Kim Jong Il&#8217;s death and U.S. diplomats were unsure what to expect when they reached out to their North Korean counterparts. When the previous North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung died, Kim Jong Il spent three years mourning his father. Does the renewal of the &#8220;conversation&#8221; signal anything about Kim Jong Il&#8217;s young son and successor Kim Jong Un? Because they are a rescheduling of talks previously scheduled, most analysts interpret the move as a continuation of Kim Jong Il&#8217;s policies. Could there be more clues? The North Korean delegation will be led by North Korean&#8217;s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, just as the last two meetings have been. It&#8217;s anyone&#8217;s guess if there will be any new faces among Pyongyang&#8217;s negotiators at this meeting. If there are, they may hold subtle hints to shifts in the regime&#8217;s thinking. Or not. North Korean tea leaves are particularly difficult to read. (PHOTOS: Pictures Inside North Korea) Next week&#8217;s Beijing meeting, Washington says, will be to get Pyongyang back to the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six Party Talks. According to that declaration, North Korea would take concrete steps to denuclearization, observe a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing, abide by the armistice that&#8217;s already in force and find ways to expand its dialogue with South Korea. But North Korea appears to have already upped the ante. On the table before Kim Jong Il&#8217;s death was some 240,000 metric tons<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=65831&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Inside Kim Jong Il&#8217;s Eerie Authoritarian World</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/12/19/inside-kim-jong-ils-eerie-authoritarian-world/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/12/19/inside-kim-jong-ils-eerie-authoritarian-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Massimo Calabresi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bill Clinton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong il]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[madeleine albright]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=61664</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To understand just how hard it is for the Obama Administration or anyone else to predict what the death of Kim Jong Il will bring to North Korea, it helps to understand just what a backward, out-of-touch place that country is. Having raided my mid-&#8217;90s notes to flesh out Jim Jackson’s excellent obituary of Vaclav Havel for TIME yesterday, I reviewed this morning my October 2000 notes from Secretary Madeleine Albright’s exploratory visit to Pyongyang, during which I was a pool reporter. The visit was the first, and only, by a U.S. Secretary of State, and was intended to test signs of diplomatic outreach by Kim as President Bill Clinton prepared to leave office. Albright’s first official stop after landing at the seemingly abandoned airport was fitting: the mausoleum of Kim Jong Il’s father Kim Il Sung, who had been embalmed and put on display (like Mao, Lenin and Stalin) after his 1994 death. Kim the elder’s arrested decay replicated the state of his country: frozen in time and sustained only by extraordinary intervention. A famine immediately after Kim Il Sung’s death killed more than 1 million people just as Kim Jong Il was consolidating power. Poverty of the most abject sort still gripped the country five years later, with peasants using centuries-old technology for farming. Electricity and indoor plumbing were scarce. Even the capital city was beset with deprivation: breaking away from my minder’s tour of the monuments to Kim Il Sung’s heroism, I wandered into a public park and found a hungry man boiling a dead dog in an aluminum pot over an open fire. You would not have known the state of the country from the “100 Flowers Blooming” guest house where Albright met Kim. In preparation for the meeting, the pool reporters were told to avoid any quick movements in the Dear Leader’s presence, not ask any questions unless Kim addressed us and under no circumstances stray from our minders. They walked us down a long corridor framed by thick bright-lime-green marble columns that led to enormous wood<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=61664&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/kim.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">kim</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">calabresim</media:title>
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