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...totalitarian state. Thousands of North Koreans, now refugees, live in the city as well as other cities and small villages in the area, a reward for escaping across the narrow and heavily guarded shallow Tumen River that marks the border between China and the brutal regime of Kim Jong Il. But untold numbers of North Koreans have been shot and killed there as well, and as two American reporters on assignment discovered last week, the waterway can also be treacherous for journalists...
Cell phones and GPS's are a no-no, trips to the countryside without permission are almost always forbidden, with the occasional but rare exception. Most journalists are shepherded by a guide wherever they go, which is usually to view monuments of Kim Jong il and his deceased dad. They are told to shy away from asking citizens political questions. While residents of Pyongyang are less afraid to interact with foreigners than, say, a decade ago, they "won't speak to journalists without permission," says Lankov. Even at the joint South and North Korean industrial complex at Kaesong, just north...
...other reason some wonder whether the recent saber-rattling from the North is standard operating procedure is murkier: questions still surround the health of the North's Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il. Kim suffered a stroke late last summer, and since then he has been seen in public even more rarely than usual. On Sunday he was photographed "voting" in North Korea's sham parliamentary elections, and he looked noticeably older and thinner than he did just six months ago. There are conflicting opinions about his level of involvement in managing the country since the stroke. (See pictures...
...pictures of the rise of Kim Jong Il...
...North Korea doctored pictures of Kim Jong Il...