Word: pyongyang
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When it comes to sticking a finger in the rest of the world's eye, Kim Jong Il is always as good as his word. For days, the U.S. and North Korea's neighbors in east Asia kept insisting that Pyongyang stand down from plans to test an intercontinental rocket. But on Sunday morning, North Korea launched it anyway - as it pledged to - saying the rocket bore nothing more than a communications satellite. With six U.S. cruisers equipped with Aegis anti-missile systems deployed in the region - to watch and gather intelligence, not fire on the rocket, Pentagon officials...
...hissy fit." On April 5, the North made good on its plan to launch a Taepodong II rocket, an armament with a range of about 2,500 miles to 2,800 miles (4,000 km to 4,500 km), which would bring Hawaii within its reach. On March 31, Pyongyang announced that it will charge two young American journalists with "hostile acts," claiming that they strayed into North Korean territory from northeastern China. And despite a worsening economy, the regime said it would toss out international-aid workers who were delivering desperately needed food rather than accede to demands from...
...that Pyongyang doesn't welcome journalists to the People's Paradise. Each year, scores of journalists are invited to cover everything from glitzy festivals to picturesque mountain resorts and showcase factories. Everyone must obey the rules, which constantly change to make spontaneous exchanges with ordinary citizens very difficult, says one foreign journalist who visited Pyongyang recently. "This time," says the reporter, "I could take my laptop, but I could not walk alone in Pyongyang...
...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 of the Demilitarized Zone, journalists don't really expect to land interviews with regular...
Observers expect the two American reporters now being detained for "illegally intruding" into the North will become a pawn to be used by Pyongyang at an opportune political moment. And with Pyongyang's internationally unpopular missile-satellite launch in the pipeline, analysts would be surprised to see the duo return home in the coming days. Pyongyang might also want to send a clear signal to other journalists that it won't tolerate any lurking around its border...