Author: GIKorea

The statement is not surprising, what is a little surprising is how long it took the Kim regime to make the statement in support of the Russians. I think this may be another indication that the Kim regime is readying for a nuclear test. They support the Russians now and the Russians will support them later in blocking sanctions in the UN Security Council after any nuclear test:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday expressed full support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country’s state media reported, despite international condemnation for his invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian people have “achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country … while braving all sorts of challenges and hardships,” Kim said in a message to Putin on the occasion of the Russia Day holiday, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. “The Korean people extend full support and encouragement to them.”

Kim’s apparent reference to the unprovoked attack against Ukraine as a “just cause” for defending Russia’s security is the latest sign that illustrates decades-old close bilateral ties between the two countries.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is something that has been done in the past, but was suspended under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration. Now with a new President it appears restarting trilateral cooperation may soon become a reality:

The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Saturday to step up cooperation to counter North Korea’s missile threats through their combined regular security exercises, including missile warning drills, Seoul’s defense ministry said. 

Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Nobuo Kishi, reached the agreement during their gathering held on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

These so called X-Files must have some pretty interesting information in them:

A former spy chief apologized Saturday for speaking publicly about an archive of secret “X-files” kept by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Former NIS Director Park Jie-won, who left the agency last month, told a local radio station on Friday that the files were created over the past 60 years from the governments of President Park Chung-hee to President Park Geun-hye and contained mostly unconfirmed rumors about politicians, entrepreneurs, journalists and others, including love affairs.

He lamented that he was unable to legislate a special bill to destroy the files.

The NIS called out Park in a press release Saturday, saying it was “inappropriate” for a former director to publicly speak about information he had obtained while in office, regardless of whether it was true or not.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest provocation by North Korea as they likely try and build up tensions leading up towards their suspected nuclear test:

North Korea test-fired suspected artillery pieces into the sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for greater defense capability to cope with outside threats.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected several flight trajectories believed to be North Korean artillery on Sunday morning. It said South Korea maintains a firm military readiness in close coordination with the United States amid boosted surveillance on North Korea.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

North Korea’s missile launches may get the bigger headlines, but their robust artillery is the real danger to South Korea due to the 25 million people in the Seoul region living within artillery range.

It seems to me that Kim Jong-un is setting conditions to justify a nuclear test:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for stronger “self-defense” measures to tackle “very serious” security challenges as he presided over a key ruling party session earlier this week, Pyongyang’s state media reported Saturday. 

But there was no specific message issued from the fifth enlarged plenary meeting of the party’s eighth Central Committee with regard to the possibility of the secretive regime carrying out another nuclear test. 

The North stopped short of delivering new major messages toward the United States or South Korea through the three-day high-profile session that ended Friday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.