Tag: North Korea

Tweet of the Day: Real Journalist

| May 12, 2016

Tweet of the Day: Open Challenge

| May 11, 2016

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/729358813430726656

North Korean Commander of Strategic Forces Removed After Multiple Missile Test Failures

| May 11, 2016

In the least surprising news of the day, the North Korean military commander responsible for their ballistic missile program has been removed after repeated failures of their Musudan and submarine launched ballistic missiles:

The North Korean military commander responsible for the country’s recent botched missile launches was removed from the ruling party’s central military commission, the results of the party congress showed Tuesday.

The name of Gen. Kim Rak-gyom, the chief commander of the North Korean military’s strategic forces in charge of missile operations, was omitted when the North released the list of the reshuffled Central Military Commission at the closure of the congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Along with Kim, other officials were let go, which caused a downsizing of the commission to a 12-member body.

South Korean military officials said the move may have been punishment for the back-to-back failures of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

“We are paying close attention to the exclusion of strategic forces commander Kim Rak-gyom from the Central Military Commission,” one official here said. “We need to study further personnel decisions, but the likelihood is that Kim may have been held accountable for (the failed launches).”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I would have to think that this has to be one of the least desirable command jobs in the North Korean military.

BBC Journalist Expelled from North Korea for Not Accurately Reporting Regime Propaganda

| May 10, 2016

Here is what happens when journalists who visit North Korea go off script:

Report: North Korea expelled BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and his team from the country.  The BBC said on Monday that its correspondent Wingfield-Hayes, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were about to leave the country when they were stopped by North Korean officials at the airport on Friday.  They were detained and questioned for eight hours by North Korean officials. Authorities took issue with “disrespectful” reports the team filed in Pyongyang last week.

[Sound bite: Audio footage of report by BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes (English)]  “But we’re not allowed to talk to ordinary people. If I turn trying to ask these people, they ran away. Everything we see looks like a set-up.”  (…………)

Secretary General O Ryong-il of the North’s National Peace Committee said that Wingfield-Hayes had to sign a statement of apology.

[Sound bite: O Ryong-il – Secretary General, DPRK National Peace Committee (Korean)]  “We have decided to expel the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes from the territory of the DPRK and we are going to never admit him again into the country for any report.”  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but this continues to make me wonder why journalists even bother to go to North Korea if all they get to report on is regime propaganda?

Tweet of the Day: Honest Reporting In North Korea

| May 10, 2016

Tweet of the Day: Farming In North Korea

| May 9, 2016

Kim Jong-un Says North Korea Will Only Use Nuclear Weapons If Regime Is Threatened

| May 9, 2016

Kim Jong-un is once again making it pretty clear to the rest of the world that he has no intention to ever denuclearize:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country will not use nuclear weapons as long as the country’s sovereignty is not threatened and called his regime “a responsible nuclear state” at the seventh congress of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang.

“Our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes,” Kim was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday. Kim made the remark in a report on the achievements of the Workers’ Party during the congress. KCNA didn’t specify whether Kim made the remark on Friday or Saturday.

It was considered a clear rebuff to calls from the international community that he drops North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: Exciting North Korean Party

| May 8, 2016

Picture of the Day: North Korea’s Gorae Submarine Back In Port

| May 8, 2016

N. Korea's SLBM push

This image taken of the North’s Shinpo Shipyard on April 29, 2016, six days after the North’s latest submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test, shows that a submersible missile test stand barge has been moved from its normal position, in this photo provided by the website 38 North and Airbus Defense and Space. (Yonhap)

Kim Jong-un Makes False Claims During Address to Workers’ Party Convention

| May 8, 2016

I wonder how many people in attendance at the Workers’ Party political convention know the extent of Kim Jong-un’s exaggerations?  The Taepodong-2 rocket launch was successful, but the satellite portion of the test was a failure.  The hydrogen bomb test has also been assessed as a failure:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hailed the country’s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch early this year as a success in his opening address at its first party congress in nearly four decades.

Clad in a black western-style suit and tie, Kim called the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) congress, which kicked off on Friday, a “historic landmark” for the country, according to footage aired by the communist country’s state-run TV station.

The seventh party congress, the first in 36 years, was held as the U.N. Security Council slapped tougher sanctions on Pyongyang in March over its January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in February.

“This year, our military and people successfully carried out the first hydrogen bomb test and launched a satellite (into orbit), boosting the country’s dignity and national power,” Kim said in an opening speech, flanked by his key aides.

The party gathering is the first of its kind since October 1980 and also the first under the current leader, who assumed power in late 2011 following the sudden death of his father, Kim Jong-il.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.