Category: North Korea

This weekend North Korea decided to attack the fish in the East Sea again:

North Korea on Sunday launched eight short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The missiles were fired between 9:08 a.m. and 9:43 a.m. from the Sunan area, where North Korea’s international airport is located, the Joint Chiefs said in a text message to reporters. Further details were not immediately available from the military.

South Korea’s military is prepared for additional missile tests and is “maintaining a full readiness posture” and working closely with U.S. forces, the Joint Chiefs said.

The launches mark the 17th round of missile tests so far this year by North Korea and its first in June.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like a seventh nuclear test by North Korea will happen in the near term:

North Korea has been testing a nuclear triggering device apparently in preparation for what would be the country’s seventh nuclear test, a senior presidential official said Wednesday.

The experiments have been taking place at a location away from Punggye-ri, the site of all six North Korean nuclear tests to date, said Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the National Security Office, without naming the place.

“Operation tests of a nuclear detonation device, which are to prepare for the seventh nuclear test at Punggye-ri, are being detected,” Kim told reporters. “The possibility of an imminent nuclear test in the next day or two is low, but after that, there is certainly a possibility.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The North Korean sent off some fireworks after President Biden left the region:

 North Korea fired three ballistic missiles Wednesday morning off its eastern coast, prompting the United States and South Korea to respond with a show of force of their own launches.

North Korea’s missiles, fired hours after President Joe Biden wrapped up his first presidential trip to Seoul and Tokyo, came from the Sunan area, where the regime’s airport is located, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

The three missiles were fired at 6 a.m., 6:37 a.m. and 6:42 a.m. The first, believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, flew roughly 224 miles at a peak altitude of 336 miles; the second “disappeared” at an altitude of 12 miles; and the third, believed to be a short-range ballistic missile, flew about 472 miles at an altitude of 37 miles, according to South Korea’s military.

Stars & Stripes

Here is what the US and the ROK did in response:

Following the launches, U.S. Forces Korea announced in an unsigned press release that it had fired surface-to-surface missiles toward its eastern coast “to demonstrate the ability of the combined [U.S.-South Korea] force to respond quickly to crisis events.”

USFK, which is responsible for roughly 28,500 troops on the Korean Peninsula, said in the release it used the Army’s Tactical Missile System and South Korea’s Hyunmu-2 missile system for the live-fire exercise.

South Korea’s military also conducted an armed exercise consisting of 30 South Korean F-15K jets, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement Wednesday.

You can read more at the link, but the missile tests are what I thought was the most likely provocation the Kim regime would do. What to watch for next is a nuclear test. I think this will be tied to any increased rhetoric from the US and ROK condemning the North in the coming days. I guess we will see what happens.

I guess we will see if the North Koreans conduct a nuclear test during President Biden’s trip to South Korea. I doubt they will because that would be extremely provocative, however I would not be surprised if they did one shortly after such as during the Memorial Day weekend. However, I would not be surprised if they did a missile test during President Biden’s visit:

Excavation work at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear testing site suggests the regime is gearing up for a seventh nuclear test, according to a U.S.-based think tank.    
   
Beyond Parallel, a North Korea analysis portal operated by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that Pyongyang is making preparations at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province based on satellite images captured on Tuesday.  
   
Photos of Punggye-ri – the only known nuclear testing facility in North Korea – shows “continued activity outside the new portal” for a tunnel leading into an underground test site. Support equipment around the tunnel’s entrance indicates ongoing work inside the tunnel.  
   
Further evidence cited by Beyond Parallel for the possibility of an upcoming test included changes in lumber piles, the renovation of existing buildings, and construction of new buildings in the main administration and support areas in and around the test site, suggesting a continued expansion of the support infrastructure. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest scam by North Korea to avoid sanctions on the country because of their nuclear and missile programs:

The U.S. warned businesses Monday not to be fooled into hiring IT staff from North Korea taking advantage of the anonymity of remote working.  
   
In an advisory issued by the State Department, Treasury Department and the FBI, the U.S. government said the use of freelance IT staff by the North was a way for it to bypass U.S. and United Nations sanctions and earn foreign exchange for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.  
   
“There are thousands of DPRK IT workers both dispatched overseas and located within the DPRK, generating revenue that is remitted back to the North Korean government,” the advisory stated, referring to the North by the acronym for its official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  
   
“These IT workers take advantage of existing demands for specific IT skills, such as software and mobile application development, to obtain freelance employment contracts from clients around the world, including in North America, Europe, and East Asia,” the advisory said. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.