Category: North Korea

This does not surprise me at all because I doubted their launch claims from the beginning:

Photographs showing a North Korean missile launched from a submarine were manipulated by state propagandists and the country may be years away from developing such technology, analysts and a top U.S. military official said on Tuesday.
North Korea, sanctioned by the United States and United Nations for its missile and nuclear tests, said on May 9 it had successfully conducted an underwater test-fire of a submarine-launched ballistic missile which, if true, would indicate progress in its pursuit of missile-equipped submarines. (….)

But North Korea is still “many years” from developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, U.S. Admiral James Winnefeld told an audience at the Centre for Strategic & International Studies in Washington on Tuesday.

“They have not gotten as far as their clever video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe,” said Winnefeld, who is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Analysis seen by Reuters from German aerospace engineers Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker of Schmucker Technologie appeared to support Winnefeld’s statement.

The Munich-based pair said photos of the launch were “strongly modified”, including reflections of the missile exhaust flame in the water which did not line up with the missile itself. [Reuters]

You can read more at the link. 

I can only imagine how many intelligence agents were following him around considering the media was able found out about his trip:

A brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited London and attended a concert by Eric Clapton, according to a Japanese news report and a source.

   Kim Jong-chol, older brother of the North’s leader and known as a big fan of Clapton, was caught on camera while attending the concert at Royal Albert Hall in London on Wednesday, Japan’s TBS television station reported.

   Dressed in a T-shirt and a leather jacket, Kim was with what appeared to be his girlfriend, it said.

   A source in London confirmed that Kim visited London and stayed at a downtown hotel. The source also said that Kim was scheduled to board a flight to Moscow on Friday.

   Rates at the hotel range from 247 British pounds (about 420,000 won) to 2,184 pounds (3.7 million) per night.  [Yonhap]<\blockquote>

According to this report there has been no signs of an impending launch yet:

South Korea sees no signs of North Korea preparing to fire a long-range rocket, the Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday, despite reports that the North plans to test-launch a rocket carrying a satellite.

Citing “sources in a number of governments,” Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered its National Aerospace Development Administration earlier this year to prepare to test-launch a rocket carrying a satellite in October to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the nation.

The U.S., Japan and South Korea suspect the project will “effectively be a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile” that the North is allegedly developing, according to the report.

“South Korean and U.S. authorities are closely monitoring the North Korean movements,” Defense Ministry vice spokesman Nah Seung-yong told a regular briefing. “But we’ve yet to confirm any specific signs or movements of its actual firing of missiles.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I will take the word of a South Korean official over an anonymous defector:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, is still alive although she is “in a vegetative state,” according to a government official Wednesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, rejected growing speculation that Kim, 68, either died by natural causes or was executed by her nephew.

The official, however, said her health has deteriorated after stepping down from all posts in the tyrannical state.

“Kim Jong-un executed Jang Song-thaek, but he is taking care of his aunt and letting her live,” the official said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but when it comes to some of these type of accounts around Kim Jong-un from defectors it appears to me they just repeat rumors or exaggerate what they know.

Since this report comes from the South Korea’s National Intelligence Service I give it a little more credence than reports that come from defectors:

North Korea executed its defense chief late last month, South Korea’s spy agency reported Wednesday, the latest chapter in leader Kim Jong-un’s reign of terror.

A firing squad executed the defense minister with an antiaircraft gun, the agency said.

Four-star Gen. Hyon Yong-chol, minister of North Korea’s People’s Armed Forces, was executed around April 30 at a military academy in Pyongyang with hundreds of senior military officials watching, said the National Intelligence Service (NIS), citing multiple sources but refusing to disclose them in detail.

The spy agency said Hyon could have been charged with treason but it was likely that he was executed because he showed some sign of disrespect to leader Kim Jong-un rather than plotting a rebellion.

The NIS said Hyon had expressed dissatisfaction with Kim Jong-un’s governing style, without elaborating further. The agency said Hyon dozing off at a military event held on April 24 and 25 in Pyongyang might have sealed his fate.

In a photo published by the state-run daily Rodong Sinmun on April 26, Hyon appeared to have his eyes closed during an event for military officials presided over by Kim Jong-un, who was seated in the center in the front row. Hyon was seated to Kim’s left.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but it is a good thing that the US military doesn’t have this execution policy when people nod off in hours long meetings because we would not have a military.

Here is the latest from the North Korea rumor mill:

You can read more at the link, but statements like this from defectors needs to be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism which the media usually doesn’t care about.

Some frank Machiavellian tips on how Kim Jong Un can maintain power in coming years, by Andrei Lankov and Peter Ward: http://t.co/27S4HzuTs3

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) May 11, 2015

I am not surprised by this at all because what appears to be an ejection test does not equal a capable and fielded system:

North Korea did not test fire a ballistic missile from a submarine as Pyongyang claimed over the weekend and the country is still a long way from achieving such a capability, US officials said Monday.

The North’s state media said on Saturday that a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) had been tested but US officials rejected the regime’s account.

“That was not a ballistic missile,” a defense official told AFP.

The official played down the test, saying it did not represent a technical breakthrough for the North.

“They are trying to develop that capability,” but there was no “imminent” threat of a submarine-launched missile arsenal coming on line in North Korea, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pyongyang’s state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un touted the test as an “eye-opening success” that gives his military a “world-level strategic weapon.”

The precise nature of the launch remained unclear. Some analysts suggested the missile might have travelled only a few hundred meters, and that the event did not qualify as a full flight test.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but I agree with the South Korean estimate that they will not be able to reliably fire a ballistic missile from a submarine for about five more years.  Even then I think the accuracy and range will not be all that great but enough to target South Korea and Japan.

Via a reader tip comes news that the North Korean general who masterminded the sinking of the Cheonan that leftists still believe was not executed by North Korea has died:

A powerful North Korean general who Seoul believes was behind the sinking of a South Korean warship and the shelling of one of its islands in 2010 has died, state media said Monday.

Kim Kyok-Sik died on Sunday of respiratory failure while suffering from an unidentified type of cancer, according to Rodong Shinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. He was 77.

“The comrade served in very important positions… in the military for a long time, making great contributions to firmly protect our socialist motherland,” it said.

The four-star general was named by South Korea as being the operational commander behind the sinking of the Cheonan navy corvette in March 2010 and the shelling eight months later of the border island of Yeonpyeong.

A South Korean-led investigation involving a team of international experts concluded the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean submarine torpedo and Seoul cut trade and aid links to Pyongyang in response. [AFP]

You can read the rest at the link.

Kim Jong-un has another member to add to his fan club:

Yes! I’m very excited about North Korea. If I could put all of my money into North Korea, I would. Massive changes are taking place there. I would not have invested in Kim Jong Un’s father or grandfather by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s like saying that in 1980 you shouldn’t invest in China because of Mao Zedong.

Mao was dead and Deng Xiaoping was making huge changes. They are making huge changes in North Korea. The kid is making astonishing changes.  [CNN Money]

I am sure that if Jim Rogers wants to put all his money in North Korea, the Kim regime would be more than happy to take it all from him.

Anyway here is another interesting thing that Rogers said that has a grain of truth to it:

When I go to New York I’m so happy that I live in Asia. New York is a third world city, with a third world airport and a third world tax.

Living in Singapore compared to living in New York? Living in Hong Kong compared to Chicago? No I don’t miss it. I’m still an American citizen, an American taxpayer, an American voter, but I’m glad I live here in Asia.