As talks on nuclear disarmament in North Korea have had their ups and downs a trickle of information comes out of the hermit nation. A Daily Mail article has reported on a mass public execution

n a sports stadium in South Pyongan province. The mans alleged offence was to have made phone calls to outside world. An estimated 150,000 people witnessed the firing squad kill the man. Its unclear how the daily mail has received the info for the article but different sources have said that public executions are apparently on the rise in the totalitarian country.

Dictator Kim Jong Il is arguably the most powerful and ruthless ruler in the world. It is widely believed that millions of North Koreans suffer from different forms of malnutrition and starvation. There are an estimated 5 major internment camps in the north with the one being yodok camp which a famous book written on the atrocities committed there. The Aquariums of Pyongyang has become a seminal work and awarded its author with an audience with the President of the United States.

Nonetheless the North has tried to reconcile with the south if only to help feed its millions of starving people. The heads of state of the Koreas have met to discuss reunification and there is very positive movement on the disarmament of the north’s nuclear capability.

North Korea's isolation from the rest of the world can be felt even in cyberspace.

The North has asked for a domain name for the country “ kp “.The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers the ICANN, has not yet authorized this move as only 30 sites are authorized for surfing by North Koreans. All of those government propaganda sites.

 What seems to worry many is not the north’s nuclear intentions rather its nuclear know how that apparently has reached Syria and Iran. A clandestine raid on a Syrian nuclear facility by Israeli Special Forces revealed a facility apparently setup by North Korean scientists. The North Koreans deny the allegation vigorously.

North Korea is a very strange place.