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Commentary and Debate

Commentary and Debate

The art of essay writing for the brainwashed

SEOUL, South Korea — When Korean American writer Suki Kim introduced the concept of an essay to her North Korean students, they were befuddled.
That’s because an essay, Kim writes, requires setting up a thesis, and then acknowledging and refuting the arguments on the other side.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Dec 29, 2014

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Political kidnappings, North Korean style

SEOUL, South Korea — It’s difficult to imagine that kidnappers could get away with abducting a privileged foreign student from a French university and spiriting him thousands of miles away to his home country via a flight departing from a public airport.

By Geoffrey Cain
USA TODAY

Dec 26, 2014

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GlobalPost boozes with Kim Jong-un

SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-un admits he’s never met an American journalist, but that doesn’t stop our frigid winter evening from being a convivial one. We clink glasses, swig a soju shot, and plunk a few slabs of pork belly on the grill.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Dec 19, 2014

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Alibaba.com: Supermarket for torture devices?

SEOUL, South Korea — It’s yet another booming market that China dominates: electric shock shields, spiked batons, electric shock stun batons, thumb cuffs, neck restraints and the like.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Dec 8, 2014

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Even a bad-boy dictator needs friends

SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong Un has had a wild and crazy 2014. He rang in the New Year with rumors (later retracted) that his executed uncle had been “stripped naked, thrown into a cage, and eaten alive by a pack of ravenous dogs.”

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Dec 2, 2014

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Samsung workers go on strike

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