The URL DMZ.com was registered in 1995 and is set to renew in February of 2011. However, at press time, there is only a blank page. The closest thing to any DMZ.com Asian web presence is this Vietnamese travel agency.
Even though the DMZ is five times bigger than the thirty-mile zone that gave TMZ.com its name (the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea is 160 miles wide by two and a half miles high), I have a suggestion for the current owners of DMZ.com. In the interim of any future content or auction plans, why not throw up a TMZ-like parody website that covers the goings on in North Korea the way Harvey Levin keeps tabs on Hollywood?
There’s Kim Jong-nam (pictured), Macau gambler and occasional Tokyo Disneyland patronizer; Kim Jong-un, 27-year-old heir to a family fortune; and of course, Kim Jong-il, or at least a very convincing, plastically altered dead ringer, popping up suddenly in China, Pyongyang and wherever field guidance needs to be given.
Granted, Wolf Blitzner and outgoing New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson are not exactly Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. But with the right approach and tone, a North Korea gossip-spoof website anchored to the URL DMZ.com has the potential to – dare I say it – go nuclear.
Filed under: Commentary
The Dear Reader: DPRK Observations & Musings 
C’mon Richard! How could any satire be stranger than the real thing? The most bizarre thing of all, is how the U.S. (and other nations) keep bargaining with N. Korea over their nuclear weapons program. They never tell the truth and never keep their word about anything, yet there’s always talk, talk and more talk, as if we are hoping they will somehow reform. A classic tale of hoping for a different outcome while using the same tactics. Personally, I think the only hope we had was the appointment of Kim Jong-nam as “Dear Leader.” In spite of his rather sweaty, boozy appearance, he looks like a happy guy. We might have had a “Don’t worry, be happy,” regime…and Disneyland (which I hear needs a boost) could rise again in Pyongyang.
Funny how Disneyland for eldest and Eric Clapton (2006 concert in Germany) for middle son Kim Jong-chol respectively damaged their succession chances.
Kim Jong-un stuck to dad’s NBA & American movie sensibilities, and it seems to have paid off.