Mick Hartley

In other North Korean news, from the official Rodong Sinmun - Member of Foreign Affairs Committee of British Labor Party Visits Pyongyang:

Glyn Ford, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Labor Party, visited the Mangyongdae Children's Camp.

He went round various places of the palace which has turned into a comprehensive extracurricular education base for schoolchildren.

He also toured the Pyongyang Cornstarch Factory, the Pyongyang Children's Foodstuff Factory, etc.

Ford, as it happens, has written a book on North Korea – North Korea on the Brink: Struggle For Survival. We get a flavour form the Amazon review:

North Korea's development and testing of nuclear weapons made headlines in the Western media, but is the country really a threat to the rest of the world? This accessible introduction examines the country's history and focuses on whether the threat is realistic or exaggerated by the US in order to gain international support for the controversial missile defence system. It also shows what the EU can do to engage with North Korea and counterbalance the US policy of isolationism.

North Korea is struggling to survive in the face of US threats of pre-emptive action and regime change by developing its own Weapons of Mass Destruction. For the EU, the challenge is to resolve this stand-off, providing North Korea with sufficient security guarantees to enable them to give up their nuclear weapons, and enough assistance to enable the economic and social reforms that the country so desperately needs.

I think we get the idea. Apologetics.

Will he be reporting back to Corbyn on how maligned the North Koreans are, and how we should be making every effort to engage with them? I'm sure he'll get a sympathetic hearing.