In H1 of 2022 only 19 North Korean refugees made it to South Korea. 16 female, 3 male. This is a lower rate than any point this century, and a direct result of pandemic-related restrictions on movement, especially in China. pic.twitter.com/UL5I75e58i
Hackers continue to be a major money source for Kim crime family in North Korea:
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco attends a briefing in New York on April 27, 2022. Monaco said on Tuesday, July 19, that the FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP)
The FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware, ultimately recovering half a million dollars in ransom payments and cryptocurrency, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday.
Monaco revealed new details of the attacks during a speech in which she encouraged organizations hit by ransomware to report the crime to law enforcement, both so that officials can investigate and so that they can help victim companies try to get ransom payments back.
In this case, Monaco said, a Kansas hospital that paid a ransom last year after being attacked by ransomware also contacted the FBI, which traced the payment and identified China-based money launderers who assisted the North Korean hackers in cashing out the illicit proceeds. The FBI was able to recover half a million dollars, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital.
You can read more at the link, but besides doing this for the cash these hackers are also exfiltrating private medical information. It makes me wonder how secure the DOD’s medical record servers are?
You can always count on the Kim regime to making something up to justify provocations on their part. Here is the most absurd justification they have given yet:
North Korea suggested Friday its COVID-19 outbreak began in people who had contact with balloons flown from South Korea — a highly questionable claim that appeared to be an attempt to hold its rival responsible amid increasing tensions over its nuclear program.
Activists for years have flown balloons across the border to distribute hundreds of thousands of propaganda leaflets critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and North Korea has often expressed fury at the activists and at South Korea’s leadership for not stopping them.
You can read more at the link, but there is a domestic aspect to this as well that the Kim regime wants North Koreans to think the propaganda balloons, U.S. dollars, smuggled K-drama DVDs, etc. are all infected with COVID-19 to keep their citizens away from them.
North Korea rolled out the big propaganda posters threatening missile strikes on Washington for a mass anti-US rally on Saturday, the June 25 holiday marking the start of the Korean War. First big public events like this in 5 years (read here: https://t.co/Pc7UmQJB75) pic.twitter.com/QdYhVqqbvJ
Here is one view on why North Korea hasn’t conducted their long predicted nuclear test:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un laughs during a meeting of the central military commission of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, Wednesday, to discuss major tasks to build up national defense and implement key defense policies. Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has yet to press the nuclear button, despite urgent warnings from South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities that the North has completed preparations for another nuclear test.
Diplomatic observers agree that a nuclear test is still imminent. But they believe the delay may be due to pressure from China or because Pyongyang is weighing the possible political repercussions.
Citing comments made by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Eighth Workers’ Party Conference in January 2021 that his country will enhance its nuclear and missile capabilities, as well as the 31 missiles launched so far this year and the reconstruction of its nuclear test site, Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, said the reclusive country is prepared for a seventh nuclear test.
However, DeTrani said pressure from China may be behind the delayed nuclear test, because increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula with South Korea and the United States is not in the best interests of Beijing.
You can read more at the link, but it is believed that Emperor President Xi has too much on his plate right now to deal with increased tensions on the Korean peninsula if a nuclear test was to happen.
THREAD Yesterday I spotted what was likely an extremely rare and illegal shipment directly from South Korea to North Korea The An Hai 6 departed Busan's northern port on May 18, South Korea and popped up in Nampho, North Korea a month later. https://t.co/CXIaySziul
ROK Drop favorite Andrei Lankov thinks that North Korea is building their nuclear weapons program to forcefully reunite the peninsula and the Hankyoreh disagrees with this assessment:
North Korean state-run KCTV showed the above footage on May 27, 2022, of Kim Jong-un directing a rehearsal ahead of the April 25 military parade. (Yonhap News)
In a recent interview with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov said that North Korea has “had great success with focusing all its national capabilities on developing nuclear weapons and missiles.” He went on to say that North Korea’s plans for a forced reunification under communism are “not a dream, but a reality.”
As a basis for that prediction, he explained, “If the US were to fight to protect Seoul, the US president would have to consider the possibilities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York suffering multiple North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strikes that cause countless casualties.” (……)
Also, how would the US react to North Korea threatening to strike its major cities with ICBMs to force it to stay out of the situation? Would it bow to those threats in order to avoid suffering its own losses?We don’t need to think too hard to find the answers. The South Korea-US alliance would respond to the North’s threat of nuclear strikes by showing their ability and willingness to retaliate forcefully. If the North actually did use tactical nuclear weapons, it would respond with massive retaliation.
You can read much more at the link, but I actually agree some what with both viewpoints. As things stand now North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons to forcibly reunite the peninsula because of the massive retaliation they would face and US missile defenses that mitigates their ICBM threats.
However this may not be the case in the future. The Kim regime has clearly been working to undermine the US-ROK alliance, most notably by pushing for the Korean War peace treaty during the prior Moon administration. If the US agreed to a peace treaty then that draws into question the existence of the US-ROK alliance. Any effort to forcibly reunite the peninsula requires the Kim regime to break up the US-ROK alliance.
They also need a credible threat to the US homeland. Right now their ICBMs cannot penetrate US missile defense defending the American continent. However, the Kim regime continues to test their ICBMs likely focusing on developing countermeasures to penetrate US missile defenses.
I there are no US troops in South Korea and North Korea has a credible nuclear threat to US cities would the US respond to threats made to the ROK? I think the answer to that question really depends on relations between the ROK and US at the time. I think it is more likely though the Kim regime will use their nuclear weapons to create a crisis to extort the ROK with.
