FASHION POLICE
North Korean officials have started confiscating cheap knockoffs of the leader’s trademark outerwear after they got just too fashionable in Pyongyang.
Donald Kirk is a journalist and the author of several books about Asian affairs, including Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine (2009); Okinawa and Jeju: Bases of Discontent (2013); Kim Dae Jung and the Quest for the Nobel (with Kim Kisam, 2016)
Send him a tip: tips@thedailybeast.com. You can also use our anonymous document submission system, SecureDrop. Click here to find out how.
BLACK SHEEP
The Supreme Leader’s older half-brother, who has been spotted at several Eric Clapton concerts over the years, could succeed Kim Jong Un. But he’s not exactly dictator material.
NATION OF DOG LOVERS
President Moon Jae-in just made his stance on the longstanding tradition clear. Whether he’ll be able to follow through with an all-out ban on dog-eating is less certain.
BIG D*CK ENERGY
Even South Korea’s pro-peace president has lost patience with U.S.-backed talks and started firing missiles.
exclusive
YOU SURE, MA’AM?
The message was so bizarre that some believed it must be a hoax, but sources told The Daily Beast that Queen Elizabeth really did send the note to the head of a rogue regime.
YOU OK?
From the hazmat suits to an oddly silent Supreme Leader, Pyongyang’s midnight march on Thursday was even stranger than prior parades.
exclusive
‘I WANT TO GET HOME’
Michael Spavor was the life of the party, always greeting me like an old friend. Now, he’s a pawn in a dangerous diplomatic game.
A BIT MUCH
Kim Jong Un’s notorious little sister blasted the virtual U.S.-South Korea military simulations as “preliminary exercises for nuclear war.”
BLAME GAME
Military leaders bore the brunt of the dictator’s frustration indicating that the economic crisis in North Korea is spiraling out of control.
WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON?
The ex-Marine risked his life to help North Korean dissidents escape—possibly with the help of the CIA. So why did the U.S. slam him in jail?
