Category: North Korea

This could be taken as a sign that the sanctions are working at strangling the Kim regime if they are resorting to counterfeiting US dollars that are not as of high quality as the ones seen in the past:

Image via the Asia Sentinel.

Following initial reports last week that a North Korean agent was arrested in the border city of Dandong in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, multiple sources confirmed Wednesday that the official had been involved in distributing counterfeit U.S. dollars.

After years of circulating counterfeit $100 banknotes, North Korea’s so-called supernotes seemed to have disappeared in recent years. Pyongyang’s forged $100 bills, considered nearly flawless, were a major source of slush funds for the regime and date back to the 1970s. But a major crackdown by U.S. authorities and new security features on banknotes led to a decline in the trade.

The recent arrest indicates their possible resurgence.

One source familiar with Beijing-Pyongyang relations told the JoongAng Ilbo that the agent captured by Chinese officials earlier this month brought $5 million in cash into China from North Korea in order to make payments for household goods and home appliances.
These goods were supposedly distributed to the North Korean people during the April 15 celebration of the birthday of the country’s late founder, Kim Il Sung, as well as during its ruling Workers’ Party’s seventh congress held in early May, the first of its kind in nearly four decades.

Because of international sanctions on North Korea, including those in UN Security Council Resolution 2270 passed in March, Pyongyang is being blocked from financial transactions giving it access to U.S. cash.

“The $5 million was exchanged at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China for some 30 million yuan [$4.6 million] and then deposited,” the source said.

“But a number of the notes were found to be counterfeit $100 bills when they were run through the banknote counter by a bank employee, so Chinese authorities ordered the relevant account be frozen and arrested the North Korean agent.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but this does make me wonder if North Korea is the only country that traffics in state sponsored counterfeiting?

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/745903052712976384

North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-un (seated) and military officials are elated after watching what the country claimed as a successful launch of its ballistic missile Hwasong-10 in this photo released by the North’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on June 23, 2016. The North claimed success in the June 22 launch of the missile, known as the intermediate-range Musudan in the outside world, saying it flew the targeted 400 km and re-entered the atmosphere after soaring to an altitude of 1,413.6 km. If true, it would mark significant progress in the North’s missile technology. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

I would like to see him try because Japan and Okinawa already have Patriot and Aegis missile defenses while THAAD was deployed to Guam specifically to defend against the Musudan missile threat.  I will be more concerned if they successfully develop an submarine launched ballistic missile capability:

Leader Kim Jong-Un threatened US military bases across the Pacific after North Korea’s test of a powerful new missile triggered emergency UN Security Council talks on curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Kim, who personally monitored Wednesday’s Musudan missile test, applauded a “great event” that significantly bolstered the North’s pre-emptive nuclear attack capability, the official KCNA news agency reported.

“We have the sure capability to attack in an overall and practical way the Americans in the Pacific operation theatre,” Kim was quoted as saying.

A Korean-language version of the same report had Kim referring to “the American bastards.”

The Musudan has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres (1,550 to 2,500 miles), with the upper estimate covering US military bases as far away as Guam.

After a string of failures in recent months, North Korea tested two Musudans on Wednesday, one of which flew 400 kilometres into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

KCNA said the missile had been fired at a high angle to simulate its full range, and had reached a maximum height of more than 1,400 kilometres.

The test “marked an important occasion in further strengthening the nuclear attack capacity of our state,” Kim said.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but this picture released by North Korea shows how much Kim Jong-un had invested in the successful development of the Musudan:

These two looked happier than Lebron James winning the NBA Championship.

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/744693726249791488

Hwang In-cheol holds up a sign saying “North Korea…Be Free My Father” at an event to send a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the border city Paju, north of Seoul, on June 17, 2016. His father Hwang Won has been in captivity since December 1969, when a South Korean plane carrying Hwang, a radio producer, and 50 other crew members and passengers was hijacked by a North Korean agent on its way from the eastern South Korean city of Gangneung to Seoul. (Yonhap)

For those interested the story of how Mr. Hwang’s dad was taken hostage can be read at the below link:

• DMZ Flashpoints: The 1969 Hijacking of Korean Airlines YS-11

It appears the North Koreans are determined to keep testing the Musudan until they get it to work:

North Korea is said to have deployed an intermediate-range missile to Wonsan, Gangwon Province on Tuesday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it is closely monitoring the North for possible missile launches.

A military official said that such preparation follows four failed test-firings of Musudan intermediate-range missiles in April and May.

The military is said to believe that the North will launch a Musudan missile as early as Tuesday or Wednesday.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but four of these Musudans have exploded shortly after launch.  If they keep executing these tests the North Koreans will probably through trial and error eventually get it to work.  The significance of them getting this missile to work is that they can then range US military bases on Okinawa and Guam with the Musudan.

North Korea has "no trust, no expectations" for Trump or Clinton, officials say https://t.co/QJEWa1PCy1

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) June 20, 2016

https://twitter.com/RimjingangNK/status/743625346130419713

It is amazing how gullible people keep falling for these fake news stories they see pop up in their social media feeds and don’t bother to read the article.  This recent example of a false news story saying Kim Jong-un was killed by a suicide bomber even impacted the Korean stock market:

A false news story that claimed Kim Jong Un was assassinated caused tremors in South Korea’s foreign exchange market on Friday.

The story published on fake news outlet East Asia Tribune alleged the North Korean leader was attacked by a female suicide bomber and killed in an explosion in Pyongyang.

The article also claimed the report was from Pyongyang’s state television network KCTV.

While the report was quickly dismissed on social media, on Friday morning in Seoul the story affected movements in the currency market, local news service Financial News reported.

The exchange rate for the South Korean won spiked to 1178 won to the U.S. dollar, before closing at 1172.7 won.

Defense stocks also rose momentarily on Friday but once rumors were dispelled trading resumed normal levels, according to local press.  [UPI]

You can read the rest at the link.