Pyongyang has a US pen pal. The US Institute for Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism Studies recently sent a warm congratulatory letter to the hermit kingdom, praising North Korea's recent underground nuclear bomb test.
KCNA, North Korea's state run news agency, reported:
"The US Institute for Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism Studies on Feb. 23 sent a letter to the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, hailing the third underground nuclear test in the DPRK."
It's unclear exactly where the institute is located and who its members are. But North Korea, through the privately run "Korea Friendship Organization," - which promotes North Korean ideology - does have a few international friends.
For example, there's a Korean Friend Organization in Chile, according to this website.
The letter-sending-institute, taking its name from former North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, went on to say that the US should change its foreign policy.
According to KCNA (via Peterson Institute for International Economics), the letter said:
"We fully support the DPRK's legitimate exercise of its sovereignty. Now is the time for the people of the US to pressurize the government to make a switchover in its policy towards the DPRK, put a definite end to the Korean War and contribute to ensuring peace of the Korean Peninsula."
Now just what Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism studies entail is unclear, though there is a Facebook page.
This propaganda video, which says "Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism is the only guiding idea of the Workers Party of Korea," doesn't explain much. But like the institute, it's both confusing and absurd.