Category: North Korea

It appears that whatever issues the North Koreans had with their first Musudan launch they have not been able to identify because the missile has reportedly once again blown up shortly after launch.  What is significant about this is that the Musudan is the missile that the North Koreans have developed to specifically target the US territory of Guam and threaten US forces there with a nuclear strike.  As it is now Kim Jong-un might just be happy if his Musudan gets up in the air much less reaching Guam.  These failed tests also calls into question their other road mobile missile technology such as the KN-08 which they claim can target the US mainland with nuclear weapons:

North Korea fired off what appeared to be its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) early Thursday, but the launch seems to have ended in failure, a military official said.

The missile appears to be the same model that North Korea tried to launch on April 15, according to the insider.

“The missile, presumed to be a Musudan, was fired around 6:40 a.m. from the vicinity of Wonsan, but it appears to have crashed a few seconds later,” the official said.

“It is highly likely that the launch failed. With that in mind, South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed assessment,” he said.

Others said the missile seems to have plunged into the coastal area, and the failed launch was caught by a U.S. surveillance satellite.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

How to get a gig at the [North Korean] Workers' Party Congress (Rodong Sinmun, 27 Apr.) pic.twitter.com/I1hZRqPNDY

— Adam Cathcart (@adamcathcart) April 27, 2016

Seen here is wreckage retrieved by the South Korean Navy of a turbo pump from a long-range rocket that North Korea launched over South Korean territorial waters on Feb. 7, 2016. South Korea’s defense ministry made it public on April 27, 2016, saying the launch was for a ballistic missile test. The North claimed at that time it launched not a missile, but a satellite. The ministry provided this photo. (Yonhap)

Kim Jong-un has announced the date for his big political convention in an effort to bolster his grip on power in North Korea:

Facing mounting international pressure over its nuclear and missile ambitions, North Korea has set a date for its biggest political convention in decades next week that is expected to bolster young dictator Kim Jong Un’s grip on power.

The ruling Workers’ Party, led by Kim, will open its 7th congress in Pyongyang on May 6, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.

It will be the first time the congress, the highest-level decision-making party organ, will be held since 1980, when Kim’s late father Kim Jong Il was awarded a slew of top jobs in a confirmation that he was in line to succeed his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.  (……..)

South Korea’s spy service said Wednesday it expects Kim to use the congress to try to strengthen and prolong his authoritarian leadership. The National Intelligence Service said the convention would handle personnel reshuffles, review state projects and revise party regulations, according to lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo, who attended the private NIS briefing.

Kim has orchestrated a series of high-profile executions, purgings and demotions in what outside analysts say was an attempt to remove potential rivals or show he’s an absolute ruler.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like North Korea must have some confidence that they figured out what happened that caused the destruction of their last Musudan missile launch a couple of weeks ago because they are reportedly ready to try again:

North Korea appears to be readying to test-launch another intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) after the country botched its first attempt earlier in the month, government sources said Tuesday.

North Korea was initially detected to have loaded one or two IRBMs, known as Musudan, on the transporter erector launcher, near the country’s eastern port city of Wonsan, earlier in the month.

On April 15, one of the missiles was test-fired but reportedly blew up only a few seconds after lifting off.

“Signs have been detected that North Korea is trying to launch another Musudan missile after their failed launch that took place earlier on the birthday of (North Korean founder) Kim Il-sung,” one government source said.

“The remaining missile appears to be standing by for launch,” the source noted.

Another source added, “The military is picking up signs which indicate North Korea will likely launch the Musudan missile in the near future, and they are keeping close tabs on that.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Chosun Ilbo: NKorean labourers protest in Kuwait. And in Qatar, two have taken refuge in police station.https://t.co/SSlgGlXIWf

— Sokeel Park 박석길 (@Sokeel) April 25, 2016

This just shows that even with all the sanctions on North Korea they still have enough money to complete large construction projects like this:

North Korea has completed the construction of its third hydropower station near its border with China, Pyongyang’s state media reported Saturday, in its latest effort to tackle a power shortage following heavy sanctions on the reclusive state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accompanied senior officials to visit the hydropower station built by a river near Mount Paektu in Paekam, Yangang Province bordering China, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. It did not provide the exact date of his visit.

Kim praised workers for finishing construction four months ahead of schedule to present it to the Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), slated for May, the report said.

Two other power plants were built near the border area, but cracks shown shortly after opening the facilities in early October raised criticisms of its shoddy construction.

Completing three hydropower stations in a year was to “hit hard the heads of the U.S. imperialists and their followers hell-bent on their moves to ratchet up sanctions against the DPRK and stifle it on the principle of self-reliance and self-development,” the KCNA said in an English-language report.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/724217327198306305

North Korea’s missile tests may get all the headlines, but here is what is even more deadly to South Korea is the new MLRS system they have fielded:

North Korea has deployed some 300 new multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) along its front line with South Korea, which can hit Seoul and surrounding areas, military sources said Sunday.

Local sources, citing intelligence findings, said Pyongyang has placed the 122 millimeter rocket launchers north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

These weapons systems have an estimated range of some 40 kilometers that can place large areas in and around the capital city within striking distance.

“The North has been deploying the new rocket launchers with regimental units along the DMZ since 2014,” said an official insider, who declined to be identified.

He said that there is a pressing need to counter such threats, adding that both Seoul and Washington have made joint threat assessments on these weapons systems.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This is clearly an attempt by the North Koreans to try and create a wedge in the US-ROK alliance by ending the combined military exercises.  Maybe they see a chance with an exiting US President to get a deal like this done which leaves them with a nuclear deterrent and a weakened US-ROK alliance.  I would be very surprised if such a deal was ever agreed to. Even if the Kim regime thinks a deal cannot be done their offer is also a way to justify their nuclear test program to an international audience:

-The foreign minister of North Korea says in an interview with The Associated Press that his country is ready to halt its nuclear tests if the United States suspends its annual military exercises with South Korea.

He also defended the country’s right to maintain a nuclear deterrent and warned that North Korea won’t be cowed by international sanctions.

Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, in his first interview with a Western news organization, held firm Saturday to Pyongyang’s longstanding position that the U.S. drove his country to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent. At the same time, he suggested that suspending the military exercises could open the door to reduced tensions.

“If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the whole entire world as well,” he said. “It is really crucial for the United States government to withdraw its hostile policy against the DPRK and as an expression of this stop the military exercises, war exercises, in the Korean Peninsula. Then we will respond likewise.”

Ri, who spoke calmly and in measured words, a contrast to the often bombastic verbiage used by the North’s media, claimed the North’s proposal was “very logical.”

“Stop the nuclear war exercises in the Korean Peninsula, then we should also cease our nuclear tests,” he said, during the interview, conducted in the country’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations. He spoke beneath portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il, North Korea’s two previous leaders.  [CBS News]

You can read more at the link.