North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his wife Ri Sol-ju view a joint performance given by the State Merited Chorus and the Moranbong Band, a popular all-female music band, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, in this photo released by the North’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Oct. 19, 2015. (Yonhap)
Here is a small example of one of the illegal scams the Kim regime has operating around the world to bring in foreign currency:
Two North Korean diplomats have been caught smuggling a large stash of top-end Cuban cigars into Brazil.
The two were arrested at Campinas International Airport in São Paulo, according to the Brazilian daily O Estado.
Both are trade attaches at the North Korean Consulate there.
They had come from Cuba via Panama carrying 3,800 cigars worth W90-150 million in six travel bags (US$1=W1,133).
Cigar smuggling is apparently a common sideline for North Korean diplomats in Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela who are under growing pressure from Pyongyang to earn valuta.
Top-end Cohiba Cigars sell for W40,000-50,000 apiece, but the North Koreans can buy them for 1/10 of that money in the Cuban black market. [Chosun Ilbo]
That is the question a lot of people have been wondering for years since it was first unveiled and analysts at NK News share their opinion about the KN-08 after its recent reappearance at a North Korean military parade:
The KN-08 mobile missile system on display at the October 10, 2015, parade in North Korea is significantly different from the KN-08 missiles displayed at all previous parades. The changes visible in the KN-08 design include a shortened missile, either a new nosecone or a shroud, and indicate a possible basis on the Russian R-29R missile. It is apparent that North Korea is continually researching and upgrading its ballistic missile designs.
Assuming these differences are real and not simply models or deceptive false alterations, the KN-08, appears significantly shorter, indicating the elimination or redesign of later stages. Additionally, it has a radically different nosecone that could be indicative of guidance systems based on Russian technology. In the best case scenario, it is either a cosmetic cover for the purposes of the parade or a shroud for protecting the reentry vehicle (RV, colloquially referred to as the warhead) during ascent. The data cabling along the side has also changed, though this is a much more minor data point than the previous two.
The differences between early and current KN-08s are so great that, if both sets have been functional missiles, they should and will likely receive a different common designation from the previous KN-08 (such as KN-08 Mod 2 for example). Alternatively, since the KN-08 is not fully operational, it may be that the previous versions end up waved off as prototypes and KN-08 becomes the standard for the final product. [NK News]
I highly recommend reading the whole thing at the link, but I don’t think it is a mock up and is instead a prototype that the Kim regime is continuing to develop.
If there is one thing the Kim regime is persistent in pursuing is a peace treaty with the US to end the Korean War. The reason they are persistent is that a formal peace treaty would then call into question the continued existence of the US-ROK alliance. The North Koreans have tried for decades to drive a wedge between the ROK and the US and a peace treaty is one way they try and do this:
North Korea has called on the United States to sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War, without commenting on the summit talks between President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted the North’s Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement that Pyongyang and Washington could remove the source of war and put an end to the nuclear arms race by building trust.
The ministry reportedly said that one way to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula is for the North to bolster its defense capability based on nuclear weapons, while another way is for Washington to abandon its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and accept the North’s call for a peace treaty to replace the armistice agreement.
The statement came 20 hours after the South Korea-U.S. summit, in which Park and Obama called for the North’s denuclearization. [KBS World Radio]
Large missiles believed to be KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles appear during a large-scale military parade at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square on Oct. 10, 2015, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, in this photo released on Oct. 12 by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)
One analyst believes that key decision making for the Kim regime has shifted towards the Workers’ Party due to an increase in meetings of its Central Military Commission after key events:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have made the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party the country’s primary institution to formulate and communicate policy, a U.S. researcher said.
Michael Madden, an expert on North Korean leadership, made the claim in an article contributed recently to the website 38 North, noting that Kim convened two CMC meetings in August alone, though such meetings were held only twice a year in previous years.
“From 2012 to 2014, the CMC gathered twice a year, about once every six months. The August meetings took place within a week of each other, by contrast, bringing this year’s total to three after a gathering held in late February,” Madden said in the article.
The first of the two August meetings was held on Aug. 20 when military tensions were running high with South Korea following an exchange of artillery fire across the border. During the meeting, Kim declared a “quasi” state of war between the North and the South.
Kim convened the second CMC meeting on Aug. 27, two days after a peace deal defused the military standoff, and replaced several CMC members during the meeting.
“The personnel changes and the commission’s high profile role in the crisis reflect broader indications that Kim is building the CMC into a more inclusive and powerful organization,” Madden said. [Yonhap]
Singers from the Moranbong band and musicians from the State Merited Chorus perform in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015. The performance was part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party. WONG MAYE-E/AP
Going to see North Korea’s most popular musical groups is kind of like a night at the concert anywhere — except for just about everything.
There will be a pretty good light show. The skill of the performers will be unquestionable, their melodies pleasing to the ear. The arena will probably be packed and the crowd will rise to their feet several times to applaud. But for most non-North Koreans, that’s where the feeling of familiarity quickly tapers off.
In authoritarian North Korea, everything must have a political message — even, and perhaps especially, its state-sponsored entertainment.
After a spectacular military parade and mass rally in Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country’s ruling party on Saturday, North Korea’s capital was filled with the sound of music Sunday as some of its most popular performers took the stage, one of which was built specifically for the festivities and floats on a river.
Headlining the effort to give the normally dour capital a more celebratory mood for the next few days are the State Merited Chorus and its orchestra, who on Sunday shared the stage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s own hand-picked girl group, the Moranbong Band.
Yet to be seen is the Chongbong Band, which remains somewhat mysterious but has been hailed by the state-run media as the next big thing on the North Korean music scene. [Associated Press]
This photo taken on Oct. 9, 2015, from an observatory in the South Korean border city of Paju, north of Seoul, shows the North Korean national flag flying on the top of a blue steel tower in Kijong-dong, a propaganda village in the northern sector of the 4-kilometer-wide zone that separates the two Koreas. North Korea will hold a military parade and other events the next day to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. (Yonhap)
