Word: korean
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...speech to the Islamic world, he has to come to terms with the fact that, beyond the water's edge, he depends on the cooperation of others to get things done - European armed forces, Chinese bond holders, an Arab public suspicious of any American initiative, and an obdurate Stalinist Korean dynasty...
Even before the mystifying Kim Jong Il took power in 1994, the outside world was trying mightily to figure out how the North Korean regime works. Spy satellites are trained on its suspected nuclear sites 24 hours a day. Defectors from the North have been thoroughly scrubbed, and spies have been recruited. Diplomats from the U.S. and four other countries have talked on and off for years with their counterparts from Pyongyang. For all that, the May 25 nuclear-weapons test--North Korea's second in three years--makes clear just how dangerously unpredictable...
...North Korean leaders have long cited the year 2012 as being particularly significant. It will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the nation's founder and Kim Jong Il's father and predecessor. Kim Jong Il, now 67 and ailing since a stroke last summer, is thought to be arranging his succession: analysts believe he wants to pass power to his youngest son, 26-year-old Kim Jong...
Saturday's match, overseen by a stern, whistle-blowing Chinese referee, was far more controlled, though no less feisty. Opposing players harried and hounded, clattering into each other with hard tackles while creating few scoring opportunities. The North Korean spectators were uniformed in a sea of red shirts and caps, many banging drums in disciplined, choreographed rhythm. The cameras in the stadium, wielded by the North Korean authorities, didn't reveal whether the nation's Dear Leader and known football enthusiast, Kim Jong Il, was in attendance. Advertising billboards arrayed around the pitch for the benefit of the television audience...
Save for a few players born in Korean enclaves abroad, most of the North Korean team exists in obscurity at home. Ri Myung-guk, the mop-haired beanpole of a goalkeeper, seemed to characterize that alienation, his shoulder-padded jersey far too large for his alarmingly skinny frame, and his sweat pants - always a fashion faux-pas in the football world - pulling up short across his shins. Yet, the last time North Korea's footballers participated in the World Cup, they were the pride of the continent and the darlings of football fans around the world. In the 1966 tournament...