A hell of a lot of bad news for the country

There’s a shrinking economy

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — North Korea’s economy contracted in 2006 for the first time in eight years, as the communist country agreed to begin dismantling its nuclear weapons program this year in return for energy assistance.

The economy shrank 1.1 percent last year because of energy shortages and bad weather after expanding 3.8 percent in 2005, South Korea’s central bank said in a report released in Seoul today. This is the first time the economy has shrunk since 1998.

“Adverse weather conditions caused a decline in agricultural and fisheries production,’’ the Bank of Korea said in an e-mailed statement. “The nuclear issue also led to worsened international relations and energy shortages and appears to have resulted in an overall worsening of its economy.’’

Floods leave 300,000 homeless

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — Floods and landslides in North Korea have killed 214 people and driven as many as 300,000 from their homes, the United Nations said as distribution of the first international aid began in hardest-hit areas.

The UN, which yesterday deployed disaster assessment teams across the country in response to a request for help from the communist regime, said the heavy rain that caused the damage would continue for another day.

“We are defining what needs to be done,’’ Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN’s deputy emergency relief coordinator, told reporters in New York. “The most urgent needs will be food, medical support and emergency shelter.’’

And just to make things worse, the waters have reached what’s left of North Korea’s farmland

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 15 (AP) — North Korea detailed a picture of widespread devastation on Wednesday after heavy rains wiped out more than a tenth of its farmland during peak planting season, according to the official news media.

The destruction to the country’s agriculture sector, if confirmed, would amount to a quarter of the damage North Korea asserted it suffered in flooding in 1995. That disaster, coupled with outdated farming methods and the loss of North Korea’s benefactor after the collapse of the Soviet Union, led to a famine that is estimated to have killed as many as two million people.

The only way off this sinking ship is northward.

(Via. One Free Korea)This statement almost makes me glad that parts of Pyongyang is underwater

N. Korea blasts U.S. for not working harder to free Korean hostages in Afghanistan

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) — North Korea blasted the United States Wednesday for “sitting idle” and turning a blind eye to the protracted captivity of 19 South Korean hostages by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

“The families of the victims and other people from all walks of life in South Korea ardently appealed to the U.S. to actively come out for the settlement of the problem,” North Korea’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary.

Of course North Korea does not believe in taking missionaries hostage when torture and public execution is a more feasible option.

Property seized from the descendants of collaborators? North Korea? Nope

A presidential agency Monday decided to confiscate land that is now owned by the descendants of 10 pro-Japan collaborators during the colonial period (1910-1945).

It was the second step after the agency decided to seize the property of the offspring of another nine pro-Japan collaborators last May.

The Investigative Commission on Pro-Japanese Collaborators’ Property has conducted the confiscation as part of the efforts to clear away the colonial-era legacy.

The commission will seize about one million square meters of land by the 10 collaborators, which is valued at 25.7 billion won.

That will make a funny story at the summit.