Category: North Korea

It was party time in Pyongyang this weekend and the Chinese made sure to come over and party with Kim Jong-un:

North Korea staged a paramilitary parade in Pyongyang on Saturday to mark the 75th anniversary of the regime’s founding day, with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, the North’s state media said.

Kim observed the military parade that took place “with splendor” at Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate the founding anniversary, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim did not deliver a speech at the event, which was also attended by his daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae.

Also present were a Chinese delegation, led by Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, and visiting members of a Russian army song and dance ensemble, the report added. Russia did not send a separate delegation this time.

Yonhap

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What price exactly is North Korea going to pay? Another sternly worded letter?:

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is seen speaking during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Sept. 5, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)

The top U.S. national security adviser urged North Korea not to provide any lethal weapons to Russia on Tuesday, saying it will pay a price if it decides to do so.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there were no indications that the North has provided large amounts of weapons to Russia but that negotiations toward that end between the two countries are “actively advancing.”

“Providing weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield to attack grain silos and the heating infrastructure of major cities as we head into winter, to try to conquer territory that belongs to another sovereign nation is not going to reflect well on North Korea and they will pay a price for this in the international community,” Sullivan told a press briefing at the White House.

Yonhap

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The fish of the East Sea continue to remain under attack by the North Koreans:

North Korea fired several cruise missiles Saturday into the Yellow Sea, just days after it shot off a pair of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in a show of anger against U.S.-South Korea joint military drills.

The missiles were fired from about 4 a.m. and the launch is being analyzed by US and South Korean intelligence agencies, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement to reporters. Pyongyang had threatened punishment for U.S. and South Korean military drills, which ran for 11 days until the end of August. 

North Korea on Aug. 30 test-fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles for simulated nuclear strikes, saying it wouldn’t bow down to threats after the U.S. sent a B-1B strategic bomber to airspace off the peninsula for joint drills. After that missile launch, South Korea and U.S. mobilized about 30 aircraft including F-35 stealth fighters for exercises that including air-to-ground live-fire training.

Stars & Stripes

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Like it has done just about every August in recent memory, the North Koreans are continuing their offensive on the fish in the East Sea:

North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, South Korea’s military said Thursday, in apparent protest against combined South Korea-U.S. military drills.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from an area in or around Sunan in Pyongyang between around 11:40 p.m. and 11:50 p.m. Wednesday.

The missiles each flew some 360 kilometers before splashing into the waters, the JCS said, with the allies’ intelligence authorities conducting further analysis.

Yonhap

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It looks like North Korea is going to learn to live with COVID like everyone else:

North Korea on Sunday approved the return of its citizens from abroad after over three years of stringent COVID-19 lockdowns, taking a big step toward aligning with global efforts to “live with the virus,” according to analysts. 

Experts say that the Kim Jong-un regime’s decision is likely driven by an exacerbating food crisis and economic difficulties, although the isolated nation still remains wary of a full-scale reopening of its borders.

Pyongyang’s state media, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reported Sunday that North Korean citizens who had been staying abroad were recently allowed to return home, marking the first approval of international passenger travel since the reclusive regime shut its borders in January 2020.

Korea Times

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It looks like North Korea will continue to launch these satellites until they figure out how to do it correctly:

North Korea said Thursday its second attempt to launch a spy satellite has ended in a failure, citing “an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight.” 

Pyongyang said it launched the spy satellite, the Malligyong-1, mounted on a new type of rocket named Chollima-1, but an error occurred during the third stage of the launch, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea will once again aim to put a satellite into orbit in October, KCNA said, following its first botched attempt in late May.

Yonhap

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No word yet if the North Koreans were successful at putting their satellite into orbit:

North Korea launched a long-range rocket in a southern direction on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, in the North’s likely second attempt to put a satellite into orbit.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the launch involved what the North called “a space launch vehicle.” It gave no further details.

On Tuesday, Japan’s coast guard said North Korean authorities notified it about a plan to launch a satellite at some time from Aug. 24 through Aug. 30. Coast guard spokesperson Hiromune Kikuchi said the notice didn’t specify the type of satellite, but that he believed it would be similar to a May launch by North Korea.

In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite plunged into the sea soon after liftoff, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to establish a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea had since vowed to make a second attempt.

Stars & Stripes

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North Korea must be confident they have fixed whatever issue plagued their last satellite launch and are ready to try again apparently over the next week:

North Korea has notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite between Thursday and Aug. 31, according to a Japanese news report, as the country seeks to put a spy satellite into orbit following its failure in May.

The North informed Japan’s coast guard of its plan to designate three maritime danger zones — two of which are west of the Korean Peninsula and the other is to the east of the Philippines’ island of Luzon, Japan’s Kyodo News reported Tuesday.

“The plan is believed to be a retry of a military reconnaissance satellite launch North Korea attempted in May, but that ended in failure,” it added.

The North launched its first military spy satellite, the Malligyong-1, mounted on a new type of rocket named the Chollima-1, on May 31. But the rocket crashed into the Yellow Sea after an “abnormal starting” of the second-stage engine, according to the North’s state media.

Yonhap

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