Just another example that the Israeli do not play around when it comes to bad actors plotting against them:
A missile launched by an Israeli jet flies near Damascus, the Syrian capital, in this Dec. 25 file photo. / Korea Times file
North Korean missile experts who worked on Syrian weapons development were killed and wounded in an Israeli airstrike in Syria, according to an Israeli media report.
Debka File, an Israeli defense media outlet, reported the airstrike, which hit the Scientific Studies and Research Center in the Syrian town of Masyaf on Saturday, killed and wounded weapons experts from North Korea and Belarus as well as Iranian and Syrian military officers. It said the missile technicians were hired to upgrade Syrian missiles, citing Western intelligence sources. It did not state the exact number of casualties.
AFP, meanwhile, wrote the attack was carried out early Saturday and killed several Iranian military personnel and wounded 17 Syrian troops and their allies.
“North Korean engineers were working on the production of solid fuel, while Belarusians were in the pay of Syria’s Organization of Technological Industries,” Debka File reported.
“Especially targeted were the sections working on the upgrade of Syrian and Hezbollah surface missiles, the production of solid fuel for those missiles and the departments focusing on installing new guidance instruments to enhance their precision.”
North Korea earns more revenue from its laborers in Russia than it does from its laborers in any other jurisdiction. Any DPRK workers that remain in Russia after December 22, 2019 would be doing so in violation of UNSCR 2397 (2017). https://t.co/ZrKqYS0qcq
I would not be surprised if the Kim regime intentionally made sure this was captured on satellite imagery just to further pressure the US to cut a “pretend denuclearization” deal with them:
Commercial satellite imagery from last week shows activity that could indicate the movement of radioactive material at North Korea’s main nuclear facility, a U.S. think tank said Tuesday. The April 12 imagery shows five specialized railcars near the uranium enrichment facility and the radiochemistry laboratory at the Yongbyon nuclear site, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “In the past these specialized railcars appear to have been associated with the movement of radioactive material or reprocessing campaigns,” it said in a report. “The current activity, along with their configurations, does not rule out their possible involvement in such activity, either before or after a reprocessing campaign,” it added.
NK leader inspects fish farmNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un (crouching) feeds fish during a visit to the Sinchang Fish Farm in South Pyongan Province on April 16, 2019, in this photo captured from the North’s Korean Central TV. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
It appears that the North Koreans are trying to get President Trump to remove anyone from negotiations that opposes their “pretend denuclearization” strategy:
North Korea is urging the U.S. government to remove Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from the current nuclear negotiations.
Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on Thursday ran an interview with the director of the North America desk of the North Korean Foreign Ministry.
The official said rather than Pompeo, Pyongyang hopes for a more amicable and seasoned official to represent Washington should the stalled North Korea-U.S. negotiations resume.
Arguing that Pompeo caused the collapse of the Hanoi talks, the official said it is fortunate that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un maintains good relations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
North Korea and Pompeo have had a rocky relationship.
In a briefing to foreign diplomats in Pyongyang on March 15, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui condemned Pompeo and White House National Security Advisor John Bolton for obstructing the talks in Hanoi.
It looks like North Korea has decided to fire a battlefield rocket which allows them to slowly increase tensions without creating a full blown crisis that firing a ballistic missile would do:
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central TV reported on Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave “field guidance” to pilots from Unit 1017 of the Korean People’s Army Air and Anti-Air Force, one of his most recent military outings. [YONHAP]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday supervised a test firing of a “new-type tactical guided weapon” developed by an institute responsible for its missile program, according to state media.
The development of the new weapon system was an “event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army,” read the state-run Rodong Sinmun’s English report on the test, which attributed the system’s development to the Academy of Defense Science.
Several military analysts in South Korea said it could be a variation of a short-range ballistic missile launcher imported from Russia called the 9K720 Iskander, which North Korea displayed at a military parade in Pyongyang last February.
The only description of the weapon itself in the Rodong Sinmun report was that its “design indexes” had “advantages … appreciated for the peculiar mode of guiding flight,” indicating that it was outfitted with a type of guidance system. The test involved “various modes of firing at different targets” that verified “the load of a powerful warhead,” the report added.
You can read more at the link, but Kim Jong-un promised President Trump to suspend missile and nuclear tests. When he decides to fire a ballistic missile is when we know negotiations are over. This test was just a warning to the Trump administration that the Kim regime is losing patience and want their “pretend denuclearization” deal.
The Moon Jae-in administration is again trying to pull a fast one to avoid North Korean sanctions:
The Korea Customs Service (KCS, 관세청) of South Korea has begun to consider measures to approve a ‘Made in [South] Korea’ label, not just for products made in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, but also for goods made all over North Korea. There is still a difference of opinions between the government of South Korea and the U.S. Nevertheless, the South Korean government seems to continue to try to evade economic sanctions against North Korea.
In the last summit between the U.S. and South Korea [on April 10, 2019], President Trump made clear that he is against easing the economic sanctions for resuming the Gaeseong industrial complex and Geumgang Mountain tourism.
President Trump said on April 11, “When we’re at the right time, I’d have great support; this isn’t the right time [to soften the sanctions].”
In contrast to the U.S. government’s position, the Korea Customs Service in March prepared the “Comprehensive Aid Roadmap,” which approves North Korean-made products as made in South Korea, and began an internal review. They want products made in all regions of North Korea to be labeled as “Made in Korea.” [Numerous products made in South Korea are labeled “Made in Korea” and most consumers would assume the goods are made in South Korea, not North Korea.]
You can read more at the link, but the Moon administration even wants to allow the Kim regime to export “Made in Korea” items directly from North Korea under the ROK’s FTA agreement. This is absurd I cannot imagine that the Trump administration is going to fall for this scheme.
NK department storeThis photo, released by the Korean Central News Agency on April 8, 2019, shows the women’s clothes section of the soon-to-be-opened Taesong Department Store in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. (Yonhap)
Moon Jae-in has chosen as his new Unification Minister someone that does not believe in sanctions on North Korea:
South Korea’s new point man on North Korea pledged Monday to try to use inter-Korean economic cooperation as a catalyst to move the hard-won peace process with the communist neighbor forward. Kim Yeon-chul, newly sworn in as unification minister, made the remarks in his inauguration speech Monday. He replaced Cho Myoung-gyon, who had served as unification minister handling inter-Korea affairs under the Moon Jae-in government since July 2017. “It is time for us to reap the fruits of peace that we have sown so far,” Kim said. “We need to seize the opportunity for co-prosperity of the South and the North. We never know when such a chance will come again if we miss it.
“I will work hard to strengthen a virtuous circle in which we strengthen peace by using business as a link and strengthen economic cooperation (with North Korea) again based on the peace,” he added. Kim did not mention any particular economic cooperation with North Korea, but he has supported the reopening of suspended cross-border projects, such as an industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong and tours to Mount Kumgang on the North’s east coast
Here is Kim Yeon-chul’s background, as expected he is a North Korea appeaser:
Kim, an expert on North Korean affairs and former head of a Seoul-based think tank, is known for his strong support for more active inter-Korean economic cooperation and criticism of sanctions imposed on North Korea. He has said that such restrictions have not been effective in forcing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Neither has appeasement and cross border projects caused North Korea to denuclearize either. In fact if anything the past appeasement strategy by South Korea is what gave the Kim regime the funding to advanced their nuclear and ICBM capabilities.
