*** FOREIGN TIPS

North Korea Listed Among 14 Worst Countries in Religious Freedom

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been designated among the 14 worst countries for religious freedom, an independent body said on April 28, citing the North's "deplorable human rights and religious freedom record."

   The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal government commission, recommended in an annual report that North Korea be listed as a country of particular concern (CPC) along with 13 other countries.

   The State Department has designated North Korea as a CPC since 2001.

   In November, the U.S. State Department listed North Korea as among eight CPCs, together with China, Iran, Eritrea, Myanmar, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, saying the reclusive socialist state severely restricts religious activity except for that supervised by the government.

   The North Korean government "controls nearly every aspect of its citizens' daily lives, including religious activity, which is allowed only in government-operated religious federations or a small number of government-approved house churches," the commission's report said. "All other public and private religious activity is prohibited."

   Hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees are believed to be hiding in China.

   Most North Korean refugees, fleeing poverty, aim for South Korea via neighboring China.

   South Korea has received more than 20,000 North Korean defectors since the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The U.S. has taken in about 100 North Korean refugees since the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004.

   China has come under criticism for repatriating North Korean refugees under a secret agreement with North Korea, categorizing defectors as economic immigrants rather than refugees, despite the danger of them being persecuted back home.

   The commission recommended that the U.S. raise human rights issues in future six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization, which includes the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. That has been promised by Robert King, U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights issues, although the talks have been deadlocked over North Korea's missile and nuclear tests and other provocations.

  
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N. Korea's Int'l Patent Applications Dry up Since Late 2010: WIPO

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has not filed a single international patent application with the global patent governing body since last September, a media report said.

   The U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA), citing an official at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), reported on April 28 that North Korea has applied for 22 international patents since 1993 but new applications have dried up since September 2010.

   North Korea's previous patent filings included those on finger print-recognition technology and fuel-efficient engines and others. The country joined the United Nations patent body in 1974.

   South Korea, meanwhile, has applied for 2,800 patents with WIPO in September last year, averaging about 700 per month.

   Ham Yoon-seok, a Korean patent attorney working in the United States, said that North Korean law does not properly recognize the intellectual property rights of inventions and patents, attributing the notion to the weak patent applications.

  
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Number of N. Korean Travelers to U.S. Double in Recent Months: Report

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Despite persistent tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, the number of North Koreans that visited the United States in the past six months has more than doubled from the same period last year, a media report said.

   RFA reported on April 29 that the number of North Korean passport holders who visited the U.S. between March and October of last year stood at 129, compared to 59 from the same period last year.

   The report, which cited data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, reported that most of them traveled to the U.S. on either B1 or B2 tour visas or G3 visas, which are given to government agency officials.

   The increase in travel apparently attests to what seems to be a subtle increase in Washington-Pyongyang diplomacy in the wake of international efforts to revive the dormant six-way nuclear talks.

   Between March and April a delegation of North Korean economic officials toured parts of the U.S. at the invitation of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, San Diego.

   It is rare for North Korean officials to visit the U.S. The North and the U.S. fought in the 1950-53 Korean War and have no diplomatic relations. The two sides have also been at odds over Pyongyang's nuclear programs and a series of provocations.

  
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North Koreans' Access to U.S. Broadcaster Web Site Increases

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- U.S.-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia recently reported that access to its Web site by computers within North Korea has shown steady increase.

   RFA reported on April 30 that the number of connections to its Internet site from five IP addresses located in Hanam-ri, North Korea, from March 16 to April 27 amounted to 19.

   North Korea strictly controls the flow of information, and only elites are believed to have cell phones and access to the Internet.

   The figure nearly doubled from the 10 connections recorded during a period of one month since mid February.

   Back tracking of the IP addresses showed that all of the connections were made on computers using the Windows XP operating systems.

   The connections from North Korea showed that users were searching RFA news on pending issues on North Korea, such as international movements on resuming food aid to Pyongyang, joint Seoul-Washington military drills and latest coverage on Kim Jong-il and heir apparent Kim Jong-un.

  
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N.K. Intensifies Crackdown on Defectors After Successor Designation

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has intensified its crackdown on defectors to tighten social discipline since leader Kim Jong-il's designation of his youngest son as successor late last year, sources in Seoul said on May 1.

   The move comes as Kim Jong-un, who was named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party and a four-star general last year, has become deeply involved in the country's police and security affairs starting this year, they said.

   "I understand Kim Jong-un is involved in security affairs in the method of directly receiving reports and handing down instructions though he does not have any formal titles of related offices," a source told Yonhap News Agency. "He is especially showing a lot of attention to the issue of defectors."

   Kim is also thought to be behind Pyongyang's persistent demand for the return of four North Korean residents who sought asylum in South Korea after their fishing boat drifted across the tense western sea border into the South in February.

   The four were part of a larger group of 31 North Koreans. Seoul sent 27 of them back to their homeland in March, but the other four remained after they expressed their desire to defect. The North has since called for their repatriation, a demand that Seoul has spurned.

   Kim allegedly instructed related government offices to bring the four people home by all means in order to prevent similar recurrences.

   The heir-apparent's strong commitment to resolving the incident pushed the North's public security agencies to produce a tangible result in dealing with the matter, according to the sources.

   Some speculate that the intensified crackdown is driven as part of Pyongyang's efforts to strengthen Kim's role in its power hierarchy.

   Experts in Seoul view the move as an attempt to tighten the country's social system, which has become weakened by years of food shortfalls, a weak economy and energy shortages. They, however, are skeptical about its effectiveness.

   "North Korea may be desperate to clamp down on defectors in an effort to tighten loosened social discipline as it tries to bolster successor Kim Jong-un's power, but it will not be able to find a fundamental solution without solving the economic crisis," one of the experts said requesting not to be named. "The move will only end up increasing public sentiment against him."

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