Deeply dissatisfied with the editorial direction of the Asahi Shimbun, the author resolves to end a long-standing subscription maintained for monitoring purposes.
By contrasting Asahi’s front-page focus with Sankei’s reporting on North Korea’s financial strain, the text highlights perceived distortions within Japan’s media landscape.

Yesterday’s front page was truly appalling…The moment I saw the article, I felt nauseated.
2018-01-29.
As for my subscription to the Asahi Shimbun, I had continued it with the determination never again to let Japan be shaped according to their wishes…maintaining it in order to monitor their pages, yet I hardly read it at all and only glanced at it from time to time.
I merely looked at it occasionally.
Yesterday’s front page was truly dreadful…I felt sick the moment I saw the article and flung the newspaper aside.
In large print it declared: “Moritomo scandal—Akie Abe’s name appears…”.
What on earth goes on inside the minds of the people at this newspaper company?
Or is there some reason that compels them to continue acting as agents for China or the Korean Peninsula?
Surely many commentators are now monitoring this newspaper, so I will at least stop subscribing to it.
The following was an article carried on page three of yesterday’s Sankei Shimbun, and it was probably only Sankei that carried it at that time.
Is Kim Jong-un’s secret fund running dry?
U.S. report: due to nuclear and missile development.
Radio Free Asia (RFA, online edition), a U.S. government-affiliated broadcaster, reported by the 27th that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s secret funds are nearing exhaustion as a result of a series of nuclear and missile development programs.
The tightening of international sanctions against North Korea has also had an impact, and North Korea’s move to participate in the PyeongChang Olympics is said to be aimed at escaping economic hardship.
Multiple Chinese-related sources connected to senior North Korean officials disclosed this to RFA.
According to the report, the secret funds were inherited from his father Kim Jong-il, and “Room 39” of the Workers’ Party, which oversees foreign currency earnings, gathers between $500 million and $1 billion annually through activities such as currency counterfeiting and drug production.
Sources testified that “much of the funding for nuclear and missile development comes from Chairman Kim’s secret funds.”
It is also said that large sums have been “wasted” on construction projects personally championed by Kim, including the Masikryong ski resort in eastern North Korea.
Furthermore, a UN Security Council resolution adopted after North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test last September effectively banned the acceptance of North Korean laborers, and the resulting sanctions have made it difficult to earn foreign currency, accelerating the shortage of funds.
North Korea is believed to be staging a conciliatory posture toward South Korea, including participation in the PyeongChang Olympics, as a “breakthrough for its financial difficulties.”
However, shortages of funds for constructing facilities for the elderly have also arisen domestically, fueling dissatisfaction.
(Seihei Mitsuzuka).