By William Tucker

A North Korean defector has been sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to assassinate an anti-North Korean activist today. The court alleged that an individual identified only as An was paid by North Korea to use a poisoned needle to kill his target. An’s target was supposed to be Park Sang-hak, an activist known to fly balloons over the DMZ and into the North.

By William Tucker

Since the death of Kim Jong-Il in December of last year, two assumptions were made regarding the future of North Korea. One, Kim Jong-Un would order some form of provocative behavior without any sort of public warning to assert his hold on power, and two, the new leader would enjoy unquestioned rule. The problem with these assertions stems from a common misunderstanding of how North Korea functions.

By William Tucker

Over the past few weeks there have been small reports making their way through the press that suggest North Korea conducted two covert nuclear tests in 2010. Further adding to the intrigue is new reporting that suggests one of the tests was a weapon of Iranian design. There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of these claims, but perhaps the most compelling is the lack of any seismic data consistent with a nuclear detonation.

By William Tucker

Chinese state media outlet Xinhua is reporting that rioting near the city of Kashgar has left ten people dead. The report states that police killed two of the rioters and are searching for two other instigators. As of this writing there has been no word as to what sparked this recent unrest, but Xinjiang has long been a problematic province for Beijing.

By William Tucker

A few days ago a commenter on the IHS post UN General Assembly Calls for Assad to Step Down asked if supporting the Syrian opposition would be a wise move to counter Iranian influence. My response was that, “Some commentators have suggested that removing Assad would disrupt Iranian designs. I agree that it would; however nothing good would come of it.

By William Tucker

Coming on the heels of the Russian and Chinese veto of a Security Council resolution, the UN General Assembly took up the issue of Syria. The resolution in question, which passed the General Assembly by a vote of 137-12, called for Syrian President Bashir Assad to resign his post. Unlike the Security Council, the resolutions passed in the General Assembly are not legally binding.

By William Tucker

This past weekend three more Buddhist monks set themselves ablaze in Seda county of Sichuan province. These most recent self immolations bring the number to 19 since the protests began back in March of 2011. Each immolation prompted an immediate large scale protest resulting in the Chinese People’s Armed Police firing into the crowd. Independent reports are difficult to verify at this time.

By Jason Smeltzer The relationship between China and North Korea has traditionally been one of close cooperation spanning economic,…

By William Tucker

Two Tibetan monks have set themselves on fire, a practice known as ‘self-immolation,’ to protest Chinese policies over the past two days. These two acts take the number of self-immolations by Tibetan monks to 15 over the last year. As is typically the case, larger protests break out shortly after these acts occur. In this most recent case, Beijing has agreed to allow the protests to take place.