Category: North Korea

Little Kim was recently out with her father Big Kim again:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a second public appearance with his daughter during a photo session with officials involved in this month’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, state media said Sunday.

Photos published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) showed the daughter, presumed to be Kim’s second child, Ju-ae, dressed in a long black winter coat with a fur collar and with her hair partially tied back, as she walked hand in hand or linking arms with her father.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but some of the speculation I have read is that Kim Jong-un is show casing his daughter now to set her up for succession. She is believed to be 10 years old so I find it hard to believe she is being set up for succession at that age.

I think it is more likely that Kim is using his daughter to soften his image in preparation for any future negotiations. His sister has long been playing the bad cop with bombastic language and threats while Kim Jong-un is the good cop where he speaks more measured and is mostly smiling in photo ops.

It is interesting that Kim Jong-un is showing off his daughter now to the world. Was it take your kids to work day in North Korea? 😉

North Korea revealed leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter for the first time Saturday in photos showing them attending the test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day.

The North’s state media reported that Kim inspected the launch of a Hwasong-17, the country’s largest ballistic missile, at Pyongyang International Airport on Friday. 

He was present at the scene “together with his beloved daughter and wife,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

Photos released by the news agency showed his daughter in a white winter jacket and black pants standing and walking together with Kim in front of the missile that sat on a launch truck. 

The daughter apparently in her tweens was also seen along with her mother, Ri Sol-ju, watching her father as he instructed military officials.

It marked her first official appearance in state media.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Kim Jong-un is believed to have two daughters and one son.

Chongryon has long been a pro-Kim regime organization in Japan affiliated with organized crime and North Korea propaganda:

North Korea warned Wednesday that Japan will “pay a high price” if it continues to unduly persecute and oppress a group of pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans in Japan, mentioning its firing in October of a ballistic missile over the neighboring country.

North Korea regarded “persecution and oppression” against the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, also known as Chongryon, and North Koreans living in Japan as a challenge to its dignity and sovereignty, according to a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“We’ve solemnly stated that the Oct. 4 firing of a new type of a ground-to-ground intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a warning to our enemies over instability on the Korean Peninsula,” the KCNA said, referring to the North’s launch of the Hwasong-12 ballistic missile over Japan.

“Whether this warning will lead to actual results will depend on attitudes of hostile forces, including Japan,” it said, warning Japan will “pay a high price” against anti-North Korea acts.

The commentary appears to refer to an increase in hate crimes reported against students at schools for ethnic Koreans in Japan.

Chongryon is the largest organization of pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans in Japan that was established in 1955.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If the North Koreans really wanted to send the U.S. a message on a election day they could have launched an ICBM. The fact they launched a lone short range missile is a pretty small reaction to the U.S. election:

North Korea launched one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area in or around Sukchon, South Pyongan Province, at around 3:31 p.m.

The North’s latest provocation came as ballots are being counted in the U.S. mid-term elections. The South’s military has been staging computer-simulated Taegeuk drills since Monday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea’s ICBM test has been called a failure, but in my view the test is only a failure if it causes them to stop testing, which they are clearly not going to do. North Korea’s scientists can learn a lot from failed launches to improve the design of their ICBM. They will continue to improve their designs the more they test and it appears another test could happen later this month:

This combined photo, released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Monday, shows the North Korean military firing missiles into the East Sea and the West Sea from Nov. 2 to Nov. 5 corresponding to a South Korea-U.S. joint air exercise. Yonhap

Undeterred by the failed test of what is suspected to have been a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week, North Korea is expected to push ahead with another launch of its largest and most powerful missile ahead of a holiday marking its successful nuclear-capable missile test, according to diplomatic observers, Monday.

North Korea designated Nov. 29 as “Rocket Industry Day” commemorating the anniversary of test-firing a Hwasong-15 nuclear-capable ICBM on Nov. 29, 2017. The missile is believed to be theoretically capable of hitting targets anywhere in the U.S. mainland. Afterwards, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared the completion of “the state nuclear force.”

On Thursday, the totalitarian state test-fired a Hwasong-17, but it failed while in flight, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). 

“Ahead of conducting a nuclear test, North Korea needs to vindicate that it has mastered nuclear-strike capability by being able to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in the continental United States, so it is highly expected to launch an ICBM like it did in 2017,” said Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is just all the more reason why countries should not be giving aid to North Korea, clearly the Kim regime believes firing missiles is more important than buying food:

North Korea launched at least 23 missiles on Wednesday and six more on Thursday, adding to its already record-breaking pace of weapons tests this year. Many were nuclear-capable ballistic missiles designed to destroy South Korean and U.S. targets.

They likely include a developmental Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, surface-to-air missiles and a variety of short-range ballistic missiles. North Korea has a reputation for frequent missile tests, but it has never launched that many missiles in a single day.

Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation, said the cost of a North Korean missile test could range between several million dollars to $10 million, which would be lower than similar tests in other countries, partly because North Korean labor is cheap.

Bruce Bennet, another expert at the RAND Corporation, told Radio Free Asia that the short-range missiles Wednesday cost between $2 million to $3 million each and the total cost for the day was somewhere between $50 million and $75 million. RFA said the maximum estimate is about the amount of money that North Korea spent to import rice from China in 2019 to cover grain shortages that year.

Stars & Stripes

You can read much more at the link.

According to the article this failed ICBM launch was intended to fly over Japan. This is one of my concerns that a failed missile launch ends up impacting in Japan, what could the response to such an incident lead to?:

North Korea continued its saber-rattling for the second day straight, Thursday, by firing at least six missiles, but its military show of force ended up being compromised after the launch of the country’s largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) failed while in flight.

The unsuccessful ICBM launch may cause further delays to the possible next nuclear test by the North, which is believed to have been fully prepared for it since May, as it is still short of putting the United States on high alert or gaining its attention, according to diplomatic observers. 

According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea launched what was presumed to be an ICBM from the Sunan area of Pyongyang at 7:40 a.m., then two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) from Kaechon in South Pyongan Province at 8:39 a.m. The JCS also said that it detected three SRBMs between 9:35 p.m. and 9:49 p.m. traveling toward the East Sea from Koksan County in North Hwanghae Province. 

As for the ICBM, the JCS did not specify what type of missile North Korea had prepared, but it was presumed to be the Hwasong-17, which analysts say may be capable of carrying multiple warheads and traveling up to 15,000 kilometers, far enough to strike anywhere in the U.S. The missile was first unveiled in October 2020.

The ICBM flew about 760 kilometers at an apogee of around 1,920 kilometers and a top speed of Mach 15, but something seemed to have gone wrong following second-stage separation, the JCS added.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the failure means that the North Koreans will likely have to do another ICBM launch in the near term.