Author: GIKorea

Kim Jong-un is going on a long train ride through the Russian Far East. It does make me wonder when he is gone this long how does he maintain secure communications with his underlings back in Pyongyang? May he has a Starlink terminal on his train. 😉

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (rear) boards his special train after holding a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East on Sept. 13, 2023, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day. Kim invited Putin to visit his country.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s special train appears to be moving toward Russia’s Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk on Thursday, a day after his rare summit with President Vladimir Putin, according to sources. 

According to the sources, Kim’s olive green, bullet-proof train appears headed toward the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he will visit an aircraft factory, following his meeting with Putin held Wednesday at the Vostochny spaceport where he pledged full support for Russia.

Putin earlier told a Russian media outlet that Kim will fly to Komsomolsk-on-Amur to visit an aircraft plant and travel to Vladivostok to view Russia’s Pacific Fleet after the summit.

But Kim appears to have taken his train to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, some 1,170 kilometers east of the space center.

Kim is expected to arrive in the Russian city late Thursday and stop by an aircraft plant that manufactures Sukhoi fighter jets the following day, according to the sources.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is the one area where the ROK military is lacking compared to North Korea’s military, conducting parades:

This Oct. 1, 2013 file photo shows a military parade taking place in central Seoul to mark Armed Forces Day. Yonhap

South Korea will stage a large-scale military parade in central Seoul later this month for the first time in a decade, featuring tanks, fighter jets and other advanced assets, to mark the 75th anniversary of Armed Forces Day, defense officials said Wednesday.

Some 4,000 troops and over 170 pieces of military equipment, including K2 battle tanks, the country’s new “high-power” missile, and attack drones, will parade from Sungnyemun Gate to Gwanghwamun Square on Sept. 26 to commemorate the landmark anniversary, according to the officials.

This year’s event will proceed under the theme of “strong military, strong security, and peace through strength” to demonstrate the military’s resolve to defend the country, with a focus on sending a message to North Korea against provocations, one of the officials said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon has named a new Defense Minister among other cabinet positions he announced changes for:

People Power Party Rep. Shin Won-sik leaves his office at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday named ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Shin Won-sik, former culture minister Yoo In-chon and former ruling party emergency committee member Kim Haeng as new defense, culture and family ministers, respectively.

The nominees are familiar faces in Korean politics, with Shin and Yu having the reputations of hardline conservatives. Pundits are saying this is in line with the conservative wing of Yoon, who has been stressing ideology and anti-communism ideas in recent public remarks.  

Korea Times

The North Korean regime and the South Korean leftists are really going to dislike Shin as the new Defense Minister since he is pro-strong ROK military and anti-Communist:

Shin is a retired three-star general and former deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has been spending most of his military career in key posts. During his discharge ceremony in 2016, Shin said the military should prepare for “unification through northern advancement,” meaning unification through toppling the North Korean regime. (……)

Shin is also one of the first people who triggered the ongoing controversies over assessing independence fighter Hong Beom-do, who was involved with the Soviet Communist Party, spearheading campaigns that resulted in Hong’s bust being removed from the Korean Military Academy. 

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty clear that North Korea expects help from Russia to jump start their space program in return for the arms they are about to export to them in support of their war in Ukraine:

This AFP photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) smiling during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome space center in Russia’s Amur region on Sept. 13, 2023. (Yonhap)

 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday pledged to throw his full support behind Russian President Vladimir Putin as the two isolated leaders held a rare summit at Russia’s rocket launch facility, as concerns grow over a possible arms deal between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Proposing a toast at an official dinner after the summit, Kim told Putin that the Russian army and people will triumph over “evil” forces, in apparent endorsement of its war in Ukraine. 

Kim said he was confident that Russia will win a great victory in the “sacred” struggle to punish the “evil” with hegemonic pretensions. The summit came amid concerns that the two countries may advance arms negotiations and bolster military cooperation.

Kim, via a translator, added that he is deeply convinced that the Russian army and people will demonstrate their priceless virtues of honor in the apparent “special military operation” in Ukraine and building a strong state.

Following the summit talks held at the Vostochny space center in Russia’s Amur region, Putin told a local news channel that he sees prospects for military and technical cooperation with the North.

Putin also announced that Kim will travel to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East after the summit.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but since Kim Jong-un has jumped out and supported preemptive wars he shouldn’t complain in the future if a “special military operation” is launched against him.

The never ending battle over the ACFT continues to be waged:

The new sergeant major of the Army offered a full-throated endorsement of the Army Combat Fitness Test on Tuesday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill debate defense spending and the future of the controversial physical assessment.

“We’re going to continue doing the ACFT,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said during a question-and-answer session at the opening of this week’s annual Maneuver Warfighter Conference on Fort Moore, Ga., the former Fort Benning. “The ACFT is really helping us change the culture of fitness in the United States Army.”

His backing of the six-event, CrossFit-style Army fitness test comes as competing bills in Congress propose different futures for the Army’s physical exam.

The House-passed version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act would force the Army to adopt gender-neutral standards for the ACFT. But the Senate version of the bill would mandate the Army dump the ACFT, at least temporarily, in favor of its old test, the three-event Army Physical Fitness Test, or APFT. Both chambers in July passed their version of the legislation, which sets annual Pentagon policy and spending priorities, but must rectify differences within the versions before one compromised bill approved by Congress can be sent to the White House to be signed into law by the president.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It appears the going rate for a DPK politician to visit North Korea is at least $3 million:

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was grilled by prosecutors again Tuesday over allegations of his involvement in a company’s illegal remittance to North Korea in 2019.

Lee, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, left the Suwon District Prosecutors Office after around five hours of questioning on charges of third-party bribery, three days after he underwent the first round of questioning on Saturday.

“I don’t know why (investigators) called me again, as they again failed to put forth even a single piece of evidence,” Lee told reporters upon leaving the office.

The investigation centers on allegations that Ssangbangwool Group, an underwear maker, illegally transferred US$8 million to North Korea between January 2019 and January 2020 on behalf of Gyeonggi Province.

Prosecutors suspect that, of the total remittance, $5 million was meant for Gyeonggi’s smart farm support program in North Korea while the remaining $3 million was what the North had demanded as the cost of facilitating Lee’s visit to North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this story only came out because the former company chairman was arrested for embezzlement and made the accusations.

Kim Jong-un meets paramilitary parade participants

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (in white shirt, 1st row) joins a photo session with the participants of a paramilitary parade in Pyongyang on Sept. 10, 2023, in this photo captured from the North’s Korean Central Television the next day. The parade, staged Sept. 8 to mark the 75th anniversary of the country’s founding, was mostly led by the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, a civilian defense organization in the North consisting of around 5.7 million workers and farmers. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)