This site often highlight a successful escape from North Korea. It is equally important to highlight when it does not succeed (Via. Japan Probe)

TAINAI, Niigata — Skeletal remains found here in December appear to have belonged to a North Korean man involved in either a boating accident or a failed attempt to flee the Stalinist state, police said.

Increasing numbers of wooden North Korean boats have washed ashore in places such as Niigata and Ishikawa prefectures recently.

Clothes covering the remains discovered on a Tainai coastline toward the end of last year indicate that the dead man was probably North Korean.

Police said the head and torso discovered on Dec. 11 belonged to a man aged in his 30s to 50s, who had died somewhere between two to six months previously. The remains were clad in a mauve polo shirt and khaki jacket with a star-shaped mark on one of its chest buttons.

Police said the designs and materials used with the clothes are not available in Japan and probably came from North Korea.

Based on this report it is uncertain whether this victim was trying to escape, but it does not look like it is some unlucky fisherman. Here’s the accompanying news report

No surprise here

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean rice aid intended for hungry North Koreans is believed to have been diverted to the communist nation’s military, an official said Thursday.

South Korean border guards have observed front-line North Korean units unloading sacks bearing the logo of the South’s Korean National Red Cross from late 2006 until recently, the Defense Ministry official said.

Some 400 sacks ended up with the North Korean army on about 10 occasions, according to observations by surveillance equipment at South Korean military posts along the heavily fortified border with the North, he said.

“We presume the sacks contained rice,” the official told The Associated Press, asking not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue. But he said it was unclear what was inside the bags because no South Koreans inspected them.

Most South Korean aid is delivered to the North by sea, so it would be unusual to find North Korean soldiers along the land border handling the rice.

North Korea’s military is given priority in receiving the impoverished country’s scarce resources under the “military-first” policy of leader Kim Jong Il. The 1.1 million-member military, the world’s fifth largest, is the backbone of Kim’s totalitarian rule.

If I remember correctly, the justification for this is that South Koreans will feel good even if food goes to hungry soldiers. That’s great until one realizes they are feeding the beast that may eat them one day. If you follow this issue, this is typical “unification” policy that contains all fluff and no substance.

How does one bring up human rights when the biggest controversies, it seems, is over the kind of music is played in Pyongyang

NEW YORK (AFP) — The New York Philharmonic has run into criticism surrounding its landmark trip to North Korea later this month, with the city’s leading tabloid labeling the Pyongyang concert “a disgrace.”

“The New York Philharmonic was set to hand North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il a propaganda coup when it tours the tyrant’s economically and morally destitute realms later this month,” the paper wrote in a broadside editorial Tuesday.

“And then (musical director) Lorin Maazel opened his mouth — and made things worse,” it continued, criticizing the 77-year-old maestro for comments suggesting the United States had a less-than-perfect human rights record.

I had no opinion in the NY Philharmonic’s trip to the North until the music director decided to do a little moral equivalence over the human rights issue. While I somewhat agree that whatever the US’s shortcomings it does slightly diminish its position, it should not stop the US from criticizing North Korea’s record.

Meanwhile, the Koreas cannot decide what song to play in a soccer match

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has balked at South Korea playing its national anthem or raising its flag at a World Cup soccer qualifier in Pyongyang next month, claiming a neutral flag and traditional folk song should be used.

To promote unity at friendly sport events between the two Koreas in recent years, the sides have displayed a flag depicting a united Korea in blue and substituted the traditional folk song “Arirang” for their national anthems.

North Korea wants to do the same with the March 26 World Cup qualifier in the North’s capital, said Yoo Young-chol, spokesman for South’s Korea Football Association.

The two sides held a meeting in the North Korean border city of Kaesong last week to discuss the match.

Sometimes I wonder how to go on when faced with such trivial matters.