Category: North Korea

I wonder if Private King now wishes he got on the aircraft last week?:

State Department Press Secretary Matthew Miller is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington on July 24, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)

The United States has not had any substantive response from North Korea about the safety of a U.S. service member who crossed the inter-Korean border into the reclusive state last week, a state department spokesperson said Monday.

Matthew Miller also said the North has not responded to any requests, including those from United Nations Command (UNC), to confirm the whereabouts or well-being of the U.S. soldier.

“It is my understanding that there have been no new communication since last week. communications that happened in the early days,” the department spokesperson told a daily press briefing when asked if there has been any communication with North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but King will be used as a bargaining chip at some point when North Korea needs to use him. They just don’t need to play that card yet.

North Korea appears to be launching an offensive on the fish of the East Sea as they fire two more ballistic missiles:

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the East Sea late Monday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

“Our military detected two ballistic missiles North Korea fired from areas near Pyongyang into the East Sea at 11:55 p.m. on the 24th and at midnight of the 25th,” it said.

Both missiles flew about 400 kilometers before falling into the sea, it added.

The military is still analyzing the North’s latest missile launch to determine the exact type of the missiles fired, according to the JCS.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Did not expect to ever see another Charles Robert Jenkins wannabe, but it has happened:

An American soldier facing military disciplinary actions fled across the heavily armed border from South Korea into North Korea, U.S. officials said Tuesday, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.

Two U.S. officials said the soldier detained was Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King, who had just been released from a South Korean prison where he’d been held on assault charges and was facing additional military disciplinary actions in the United States.

King, who’s in his early 20s, was escorted to the airport to be returned to Fort Bliss, Texas, but instead of getting on the plane he left and joined a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom, where he ran across the border.

At a Pentagon press conference Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not name King, but confirmed that a U.S. service member was likely now in North Korean custody.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if Pvt. King is already regretting his decision? Did he not do a simple Google search to see what North Koreans due to American detainees such as Otto Warmbier who retuned home beaten and brain dead? What a headache for whoever his commander is.

For once I actually agree with Kim Yo-jong that anyone that thinks they will willingly give up their nuclear weapons is delusional:

The powerful sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned Monday that it would be “delusional” for the United States to believe that Pyongyang’s disarmament was possible.

Kim Yo-jong criticized Washington’s policies of strengthening its extended deterrence and military alliance with South Korea, stating that such actions would only make it difficult for Pyongyang to engage in dialogue, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“The U.S. is being delusional if it believes that it could halt our advancement and further achieve irreversible disarmament by temporarily halting joint military drills, suspending the deployment of strategic assets or reversibly easing sanctions etc,” Kim said. 

Kim also rejected U.S. calls for unconditional talks, dismissing them as a ploy to hinder North Korea’s progress.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The North Koreans used the excuse of regularly scheduled US intelligence flights as their excuse for firing an ICBM when the real reason they fired it is because they are likely upset about President Yoon attending the NATO summit:

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, after the recalcitrant regime warned of military action over U.S. spy aircraft operations earlier this week.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area in or around Pyongyang at about 10 a.m., and the missile, fired at a lofted angle, flew around 1,000 kilometers before splashing into the water.

The North’s first ICBM launch in about three months came amid tensions heightened by Pyongyang’s tough rhetoric against the United States, a move seen as aimed at firming up internal unity and building a rationale for provocations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This should not be surprising that the North Koreans are making bold threats they likely won’t or can’t carry out:

Anchor: The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued another warning just several hours after claiming that a U.S. military reconnaissance plane repeatedly violated the North’s airspace. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, on its part, urged Pyongyang to put a stop to such false claims that heighten military tensions.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North’s leader, warned on Tuesday that U.S. forces will face a “very critical flight” if they continue with what she termed an “illegal intrusion.”

She issued the warning in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) as she said that she will act “upon authorization” if a U.S. spy plane again violates the North’s exclusive economic zone(EEZ).

The warning came just nine hours after Kim accused a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft of intruding into the zone over waters east of Tongchon of Kangwon Province and waters southeast of Uljin County in North Gyeongsang Province between 5:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Monday.

In a separate statement issued under the name of the defense ministry spokesperson, the reclusive state repeated Kim’s claims and warned that it can shoot down U.S. planes.

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

I wonder what made up airspace boundaries Kim Yo-jong is claiming this aircraft violated?:

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, on Monday claimed US reconnaissance aircraft intruded in the country’s airspace.

Kim issued a statement alleging that a US spy aircraft intruded in the North’s eastern airspace twice at around 5 a.m. and 8:50 a.m., respectively, on the same day.

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, she said the US is “engaging in a serious military provocation by conducting aerial surveillance.”

Kim Yo-jong added that the North will not respond directly to the US reconnaissance activities outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone, but warned that it will take “decisive action” if the US military again crosses its maritime military demarcation line.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s military rejected the North’s claim of its airspace being violated as “not true” and described flights by US aerial surveillance assets around the peninsula as part of regular surveillance activities.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.