Why Kim Jong Un won't visit North Korea's flooded regions

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Why Kim Jong Un won’t visit North Korea’s flooded regions

Security concerns keep the North Korean leadership from traveling too far from Pyongyang

Donald Kirk October 7, 2016

Why Kim Jong Un won’t visit North Korea’s flooded regions

KCNA

Pity Kim Jong Un. He can’t visit his grandmother’s birthplace in the desolate town of Hoeryong way up in the northeastern corner of North Korea on the Tumen River border with China.

That’s too bad, since the town’s most noteworthy feature, not counting one of North Korea’s infamous prison camps, is a memorial honoring Kim’s grandmother Kim Jong Suk, wife of Kim Il Sung.

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About the Author

Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk is a veteran correspondent and noted author on conflict and crisis from Southeast Asia to the Middle East to Northeast Asia. Don has covered wars from Vietnam to Iraq, focusing on political, diplomatic, economic and social as well as military issues. He is also known for his reporting on North Korea, including the nuclear crisis, human rights and payoffs from South to North Korea preceding the June 2000 inter-Korean summit. Kirk earned his Bachelors at Princeton and a Masters in International Relations from the University of Chicago. He also holds an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Maryland College Park.

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