This photo carried by the North’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on June 29, 2016, shows top leader Kim Jong-un posing with the people who contributed to the June 22 missile launch that the country claims was successful. Experts say flight analysis of the intermediate-range ballistic missile Hwasong-10, known as Musudan in the outside world, suggests advancement in the North’s missile technology. (Yonhap)
In the least surprising news of the day, the spies over at the NIS have disclosed that Kim Jong-un is fat and out of shape:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is currently suffering from insomnia, as well as diseases caused by obesity, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Friday, adding he has gained 40 kilograms over the past four years.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in its report to a meeting of the parliament’s intelligence committee that Kim is presumed to weigh 130 kilograms, a jump from 90 kilograms when he took office in 2012.
Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party, who chairs the committee, said Kim is currently under great stress due to his safety, which has led to excessive binge eating and drinking.
Kim also fears that overseas media reports on his childhood may spread throughout Pyongyang, which may hurt his legitimacy as the leader of North Korea. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
It looks like the North Koreans could be up to no good again in the western islands:
South Korea’s military is on high alert for possible North Korean military provocations after the communist country increased the amount of weapons and troops on its western islands, government sources said Wednesday.
“North Korea has deployed weapons, surveillance assets and troops to its islands, Galdo and Arido, north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea,” one government source said, asking not to be named. “Our (South Korean) military is mindful of the possibility of sudden provocations by the North in the region.”
The NLL is a de facto maritime border between the Koreas.
Possible provocations could include shelling attacks on South Korean warships or seizing South Korean fishing boats in the tense border areas, other sources indicated.
In response, the South Korean military has placed its troops on alert and increased its sea border surveillance using unmanned aerial vehicles, including Israel-made Heron drones, the sources said.
They said the North has recently installed military bunkers on the previously uninhabited Galdo and deployed about 60 military forces and six 122-millimeter multiple-launch rocket systems there.
A squad of 20 soldiers has been deployed on Arido, also formerly uninhabited, along with surveillance radar and a camera, according to the sources. [Yonhap]
North Korea looking for donations: shovels, pickaxes, nails, welding, gloves, soap and toiletries https://t.co/8TOyQpxTkb
— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) June 28, 2016
This is just more evidence that the Kim regime is using the Chinese fishing boats as an asymmetric warfare tactic against South Korea:
South Korea urged North Korea on Monday to immediately stop making military threats such as shelling the South’s Yeonpyeong Island.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency called on South Korea to stop “reckless military provocations” by continuing its crackdowns on illegal Chinese fishing boats in the neutral waters of the Hangang River estuary near the western sea border. The state-run news agency said that such actions could spark a retaliation from the North similar to the attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November of 2010 which resulted in four people dead and 18 injured.
South Korea’s unification ministry responded by saying such rhetoric is not appropriate and do not help improve inter-Korean ties . [Arirang News]
You can read more at the link.
Not that I don’t believe this is probably happening, but anonymous North Korean sources I always keep some skepticism about:
North Korea has been diverting U.N. food aid for its infants to other uses, a group of defectors from the communist state claimed Friday, stressing the need for stronger oversight over the humanitarian aid program.
The North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said that North Korean officials have taken away powedered milk and other items for infants and toddlers, and provided them to ranking military and party officials, who then sold them on the black markets for profit.
“Many packs of flour and milk powder, which the United Nations has provided for North Korean infants, have been circulating on the market,” the group said, quoting an anonymous North Korean source.
“In the presence of outside monitoring staff, North Korean officials pretend to distribute food aid to infants as planned, but later they take it away,” the source was quoted by the group as saying. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
Newest propaganda video from Uriminzokkiri using images of Musudan missile launch https://t.co/1ZSCGwd9TL
— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) June 27, 2016
North Korean Dam Near Inter-Korean Border Holds Water to Full Capacity, Raising Concerns of Sudden Release https://t.co/x1Mc9ebgPw
— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) June 27, 2016
Ignition! @nknewsorg @ISNJH @Joshua_Pollack @DaveSchmerler @mhanham @ArmsControlWonk @38NorthNK @missiledefadv pic.twitter.com/1d1YUMk1vp
— Tal Inbar (@inbarspace) June 23, 2016
https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/746720560332283904
