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China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea releases captured Chinese fishermen, boats
2012-05-22
[L.A. Times] North Korea has released 29 captured Chinese fishermen and three fishing vessels, putting an end to a 13-day ordeal that raised questions about the stability of the Pyongyang regime.

The fishermen returned to the Chinese port of Dalian on Monday morning, the New China News Agency reported.

Chinese media suggested that Beijing did not pay a ransom for the boats. The news agency report credited China's ambassador to Pyongyang, Liu Hongcai, with securing the release through "negotiation and close contact" with the North Korean government.

The boats were stopped May 8 while fishing in what the Chinese boat owners claimed were Chinese waters, and were forced at gunpoint to sail toward North Korea.

The release of the boats does little, however, to clear up questions about whether impoverished North Koreans are engaging in Somalia-style piracy to raise money. Following the death of leader Kim Jong Il in December, North Korea elevated his 28-year-old son, Kim Pudge Jong-un,
...the hereditary potentate of North Korea...
to replace him, and some believe the transition has not gone smoothly.

"If North Korean governmental authorities are linked to this incident, we could suspect that the central government's control has weakened in the process of power shift to Kim Jong Un," said Lee Dong-bok, senior associate at Center for Strategic and International Studies in Seoul.

Last week, Sun Caihui, the owner of one of the fishing boats, described the vessel that captured his as a small, heavily armed military vessel. "The kidnappers' ship is definitely from the North Korea military," he said.

China is North Korea's main ally and the source of most of its fuel oil, investment capital and food aid, but Pyongyang has irritated its patron in recent months by ignoring Beijing's calls for restraint in its weapons programs.

Chinese fishery officials were quoted Monday as demanding an investigation into who in North Korea was behind the seizure of the boats. The state-run Global Times newspaper said hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels had been ordered to retreat westward to avoid another incident.

One official told the newspaper that there had been other incidents in which the North Korean coasties had stolen from Chinese ships.

"The North Korean coastiess took almost everything, even pencils and clothes. They also pumped the fuel out of seized boats, leaving just enough for the journey home," a local boat owner was quoted telling the newspaper.
Posted by:Fred

#6  And when we say there is absolutely no cannibalism in the Royal Navy NoKor, we mean there is not very much.
Posted by: SteveS   2012-05-22 18:21  

#5  I imagine now in North Korea they have the cannibalism problem relatively under control.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-05-22 13:07  

#4  I've heard of biting the hand that feeds you, but these mooks take the cake.
Posted by: mojo   2012-05-22 11:31  

#3  A case of mistaken identity. Foreigners all look the same to the Norks - fed.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-05-22 08:34  

#2  As per TOPIX, North Korea just recently executed persons for engaging in HUMAN CANNIBALISM, + more similar cases are likely. Its just more evidencia that post-Big Daddy Heir-Scion Jong-un may not be able to control NOKOR's on-going mass starvation no matter what Him + Pyongyang Boyz do - WID OR WIDOUT THE NOKOR ARMY, NOR VEE THE NEW SINO-NOKOR FTAS.

The US-Allies, and only the US-Allies [UNO], must be willing to give out much more bullah food + econ asistance than current, as China won't. IMO IT WON'T MATTER TO RISING CHINA IFF THE US-WORLD BELIEVE THEY HELPED OR ORDERED NOKOR TO FIRE ITS "SPACE ROCKET" [Nuke Tests?], AS ITS PRIORITY IS PROCURING MAHANIST-STYLE "SOLE" OVERSEAS AIR-SEA-MISSLE-SPACE PORTS FOR THE PLA IN THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" + BEYOND. They'll deny responsibility for the "Space Rocket" [Nuke Tests?] anyway, iff only for a time, + will still take over NOKOR either in Major War or State Collapse.

NEW US MIL PRESENCE IN PHILIPPINES, SOUTH CHINA SEA + STALLED TAIWAN REUNIFICATION + FUKUSHIMA-DESTABILIZED JAPAN = PLA BASES CLOSER TO SOUTH KOREA + JAPAN, NO LONGER NORTH OF THE YALU???

Jong-un, aka "Pudgy", is contin what late Big Daddy Jong-il did before he croaked - Jong-un is wilfully + deliberately pushing the "Mutual Destruction/Annihilation" button = envelope in warning to South Korea, USFK, UNCOM + Washington, etc. i.e. HELP ME + NORTH KOREA SAVE NORTH KOREA, OR FTLG I'M TAKING YOU ALL DOWN WID US BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!

Short of Total War, NOKOR's Mirror has run out of spaces to crack - its cracks have cracks have cracks, etc. IT NEEDS PRECIOUS TIME TO REBUILD, + THAT MEANS THE US MUST SURRENDER LIKE FRANCE, BECAUSE CHINA WON'T.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-05-22 00:56  

#1  Weren't those sacred Nork waters? Where only Norks (and now Chinese) are safe?
Posted by: gorb   2012-05-22 00:19  

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