Category: North Korea

I am wondering if these claims and rhetoric from the Kim regime is being used to set conditions for a terrorist attack within South Korea in response to any future measures the US may take against North Korea?:

North Korea threatened Friday to launch an anti-terrorist attack against the intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States as it accused them of plotting to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea’s Ministry of State Security claimed that a terrorists’ group supported by the CIA and South Korea’s intelligence agency infiltrated North Korea to stage a terrorist attack against the North Korean leader by using a bio-chemical substance.

“We will ferret out and mercilessly destroy to the last one the terrorists of the U.S. CIA” and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service “targeting the dignity of the DPRK supreme leadership,” North Korea’s Ministry of State Security said in an English-language statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

We will see how long China keeps the pressure on the Kim regime to abandon their nuclear weapons:

Cracks in the alliance between North Korea and China widened Thursday as Pyongyang labeled its longtime communist ally a traitor, while Beijing expressed skepticism about renewing a 56-year old friendship and mutual assistance treaty.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency issued a commentary on Wednesday that included a rare and blunt attack on China. The commentary said China had violently crossed a “red line” in their relationship. “It is a “disloyal and betraying act,” it said.

The North “will never beg for the maintenance of friendship with China, risking its nuclear program which is as precious as its own life, no matter how valuable the friendship is,” the commentary also said.

In an attempt to avoid a formal diplomatic feud, the North issued the commentary in the name of a private citizen, Kim Chol, rather than having it come from a government official or entity.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

This sounds like more lies from the Kim regime which is probably more directed to their domestic audience because the CIA killing Kim does not solve the nuke problem:

North Korea on Friday accused the CIA of plotting with South Korea to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un, amid soaring tensions in the flashpoint region.

The CIA and Seoul’s Intelligence Services have “hatched a vicious plot” involving unspecified “biochemical substances” to kill the hermit state’s young leader during public ceremonial events in Pyongyang, the Ministry of State Security said.

For the CIA “assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months,” the Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

The accusation comes as Pyongyang issues increasingly belligerent rhetoric in a tense stand off with the administration of US President Donald Trump over its rogue weapons program.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but it seems like if anyone wanted to kill Kim Jong-un it would be the Chinese who would likely have the influence to install their own strongman that would cause less international headaches than the current Kim regime.

It appears that along with the submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test capability currently developed on North Korea’s east coast, the Kim regime is busy trying to develop this same test capability on its West Coast as well:

Recent satellite images show North Korea may be steadily building up its submarine-launched ballistic missile program.

The commercial satellite imagery published by 38 North, a Johns HopkinsUniversity website dedicated to North Korea issues, show a second test stand barge for Pyongyang’s SLBMs.

The images from April 19 are aerial shots of Nampo Naval Shipyard, on the western coast of North Korea, writes Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.

The barge is “identical” in size and layout to the original barge that was first identified in 2014, according to the analyst.

The first barge was found at Sinpo South Shipyard on the east coast where as many as six SLBM launches took place since 2014.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link.

SK experts believe NK had no choice but to abort the missile: at 49°, it was headed toward Rason/Najin and Russiahttps://t.co/a2GLKZieiC

— Noon in Korea (@NoonInKorea) April 30, 2017

It is interesting that this announcement is coming from the North Koreans and not from USFK:

North Korea claimed Tuesday that U.S. B-1B strategic bombers made flights over the Korean Peninsula early this week in an exercise on dropping nuclear bombs, saying that Washington is to blame for rising tensions.

The United States carried out a military provocation Monday by flying B-1B bombers over Korea less than one day after Seoul and Washington wrapped up their joint military drills at the end of last month, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The allies completed their two-month joint exercises on April 30, with U.S. strategic assets taking part in the training, such as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, F-35 stealth fighter jets and B-1B bombers.

“The B-1Bs from Guam sneakily flew over sky above the East Sea (on Monday) and joined cooperative operations with strategic striking means, including the aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarine,” the KCNA said in an English report.

It is not confirmed whether the North’s claim is true as South Korea and the U.S. have not unveiled relevant information.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Maybe I should start a new daily posting here on the ROK Drop called “North Korean Threat of the Day”?:

North Korea warned Monday that it will carry out a nuclear test “at any time and at any location” set by its leadership, in the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters in the region.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high for weeks, with signs that the North might be preparing a long-range missile launch or a sixth nuclear test — and with Washington refusing to rule out a military strike in response.

A spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said Pyongyang was “fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US”.

The regime will continue bolstering its “preemptive nuclear attack” capabilities unless Washington scrapped its hostile policies, he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” the spokesman added, apparently referring to a sixth nuclear test and using the North’s official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

Another US politician shares his point of view on what to do about North Korea:

Ohio Gov. and former U.S. presidential candidate John Kasich said Friday the best way to solve the problem of North Korea is “to eradicate the leadership.”

Kasich made the remark to reporters in Washington, noting that other forceful means, such as a military strike and war, are not a viable option because a North Korean counterstrike could result in a massive loss of lives.

“I believe the best way to solve this problem is to eradicate the leadership,” Kasich said.

He said that the U.S. could “remove a number of the top people and have a more benign leadership there that understands what’s at risk.”

Asked if that could be done militarily, he said, “You have to have very good intelligence. You have to have an ability to do things very quickly. It’s not beyond our capability to achieve that.”

“I don’t want to say any more than that, but that’s what I believe we need to do, as opposed to a full military strike,” Kasich said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Does anyone think their nuclear program wasn’t already accelerated?  I doubt the Trump administration is going to be too impressed with this claim:

North Korea pledged Monday to bolster its nuclear weapons program at maximum speed, issuing the country’s first official response to the recently released North Korea policy by the U.S. administration, which focuses on “maximum pressure and engagement.”

“Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called ‘maximum pressure and engagement’, the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence,” a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

DPRK is the abbreviation of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” according to the statement, carried by the state news wire Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The Committee for Human Rights In North Korea has published an open letter to President Trump asking him to use his Twitter account to promote human rights in North Korea:

To be sure, the national security of the American people and that of our allies is incredibly important and certainly your number one responsibility. However, human rights for the North Korean people are important as well.

In the Art of the Deal, your closing words include, “In my life, there are two things I’ve found I’m very good at: overcoming obstacles and motivating good people to do their best work.” You have also demonstrated a mastery of highly effective and spontaneous communications. Your unconventional communication and problem-solving talents are sorely needed, now.

Much like you have reduced the influence of the conventional news media by communicating with the American people directly through your Twitter account, an approach to North Korea’s problem sets is needed to blast through the traditional conventions that have not worked.

So beyond thumbing through the playbook of failed engagement and negotiation strategies, or placing over-reliance on an unreliable China, do what you do best—communicate directly to the people through Twitter. Use this venue to talk directly to the 25 million North Koreans who suffer under a brutal, multi-layered system of repression. Yes, North Koreans do not have access to your Tweets, but nearly everybody else does and numerous human rights groups have ways of sending those tweets into North Korea through surreptitious means.  [HRNK]

You can read the full letter at the link.