Tag: North Korea

In the Demilitarized Zone, soldiers are more than happy to take photos and crack a smile. This is a far cry from the scare tactics and intimidation used on the South Korean side. This is almost certainly on purpose, possibly a passive-aggressive way to make a mockery of the precautions on the South.  [Business Insider]

You expect something wacky like creating your own timezone from the North Koreans, but the fact that politicians in South Korea want to inconvenience their own citizens just to stick it to Japan is even wackier in my opinion:

You can read more at the link.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) and Ri Sol-ju (L) applaud as they watch an art performance given by the State Merited Chorus to mark the 62nd anniversary on July 27 of the Armistice Agreement that effectively ended the 1950-53 Korean War, in this image taken from the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Aug. 4, 2015. The report did not mention when the meeting was held. (Yonhap)

Despite the US policy of advocating for a denuclearized North Korea, the Kim regime repeatedly says they want nothing to do  with it:

A North Korean official taking part in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Kuala Lumpur said Wednesday that there is nothing to change regarding Pyongyang’s nuclear issue.

The official revealed the stance when he was asked by reporters to comment on the North’s nuclear issue.

The North has repeatedly said that it is not interested in talks seeking Pyongyang’s unilateral scrapping of nuclear ambitions. South Korea and the U.S., on the other hand, have been calling on the North to engage in dialogue in the wake of the Iranian nuclear deal.

The North Korean official left open the possibility of Pyongyang holding bilateral talks with members of the six-way nuclear talks, including China and Japan as he said it remains to be seen if time will be allotted.  [KBS World]

You can read more at the link.

This is another innovative way to go after the Kim regime financially:

An Israel-based civil rights group is trying to seize a North Korean ship being held in Mexico in a rare effort to make Pyongyang pay at least part of a rare $330 million U.S. District Court judgment against it.

The Shurat HaDin law center in April won the ruling over the abduction of a South Korean-born pastor in China and his presumed torture and killing in North Korea. Now the center seeks whatever assets it can find from the largely isolated country.

It has focused on the cargo ship the Mu Du Bong, which has been held in Mexico after it ran aground there last year.

Civil courts in Mexico City and the state of Veracruz have declined to hear Shurat HaDin’s request, but it is now appealing.  [Korea Herald]

You know the propaganda balloon campaign continues to be effective when the group continues to get this kind of reaction from the Kim regime:

North Korea threatened to attack South Korean activists, Monday, for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the inter-Korean border.

The threat by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) came three days after a conservative civic group flew about 10,000 leaflets to the North from Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, located close to the border.

The leaflets featured an “execution list after Korean unification” that included North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the North’s party officials and military brass, along with Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju.

“We regard the leaflet distribution as an apparent act of war and are running out of patience with it. Such a small action can lead to the destruction of the group,” the CPRK said.

“The leaflets carry unacceptable and offensive crap. It is another military provocation.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but these balloon launches are one of the few ways that the South Koreans are able to get through the information blockade that insulates much of the interior of North Korea.  The border area have long been the source of the majority of the refugees due to the proximity of the border and the fact that outside information from China is available via radio and cell phone towers.

I don’t think this news should be very surprising to anyone:

U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea have been making sophisticated maps of underground military facilities in North Korea to better deal with threats posed by the North, a military journal showed Saturday.

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) has been also running an education program for senior South Korean and American military officers to share information on North Korea’s underground facilities and to jointly respond to the North’s military threats, according to a contribution by Korean Army Maj. Park Sung-man in a journal titled “Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

The program, named “Underground Facility,” was drawn up in the mid-1990s by the U.S. Army. Since last year, ranking Korean military officials have joined the program, which was introduced to USFK in 2007.

The move indicates growing alertness against North Korea’s military threats as the North has been keen on building underground facilities that are presumed to be around 6,000 to 8,000, it said.

USFK has been making maps on such facilities based on accounts by North Korean defectors and other available information, it added. [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Hacking led to intelligence on North Korea weapons, Seoul says http://t.co/uCGwZOMIJr

— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) July 29, 2015

Here we go again with the usual rhetoric from North Korea during every Joint exercise:

Anchor: South Korea has made clear that suspending its joint military exercises with the U.S. cannot be a precondition for dialogue with Pyongyang. Seoul revealed the stance after North Korea said that if the United States wants to engage in dialogue it must stop taking part in the joint drills.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that ending South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises cannot be a precondition for dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.

The ministry Spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters that the joint drill is an annual event of a defensive nature.

Kim’s remarks came shortly after North Korea said the United States must stop its joint military exercises with South Korea if it wants to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang.

Kim said the joint exercises are necessary to prepare against the North’s provocations, adding that they are akin to a student preparing for a test.

Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the North’s Foreign Ministry said that if the U.S. abandons hostile activities, including the exercises, and chooses to walk a different path, then it would be possible to engage in dialogue and resolve many issues.  [KBS World]

You can read more at the link, but basically the North Koreans are trying to put the blame on the US for why talks cannot be started.

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/626342851081818112