Tag: North Korea

Kim Jong-un has another member to add to his fan club:

Yes! I’m very excited about North Korea. If I could put all of my money into North Korea, I would. Massive changes are taking place there. I would not have invested in Kim Jong Un’s father or grandfather by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s like saying that in 1980 you shouldn’t invest in China because of Mao Zedong.

Mao was dead and Deng Xiaoping was making huge changes. They are making huge changes in North Korea. The kid is making astonishing changes.  [CNN Money]

I am sure that if Jim Rogers wants to put all his money in North Korea, the Kim regime would be more than happy to take it all from him.

Anyway here is another interesting thing that Rogers said that has a grain of truth to it:

When I go to New York I’m so happy that I live in Asia. New York is a third world city, with a third world airport and a third world tax.

Living in Singapore compared to living in New York? Living in Hong Kong compared to Chicago? No I don’t miss it. I’m still an American citizen, an American taxpayer, an American voter, but I’m glad I live here in Asia.

In this March 26, 2015 photo, taken by Google Earth, a 550-meter-long, 15-meter-wide runway for light planes lies parallel to an existing train station for only North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’ s use, located near his cottage in Wonsan on the North’s east coast. The Washington-based Radio Free Asia reported on May 8, 2015, that the runway’s construction has been completed. (Yonhap)

That is what this Voice of America article brings up:

South Korean officials Monday outlined their worries about North Korea’s first test missile launch from a submarine. Although the test does not immediately change the military status quo on the Korean peninsula, it shows Pyongyang is working on a difficult-to-detect missile system that could become capable of threatening countries around the world.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok confirmed that North Korea did test-fire an underwater ballistic missile on May 8. He called the test a serious and great concern and urged Pyongyang to immediately stop further development of this weapon. But the defense ministry spokesman also said the test indicates North Korea is years away from deploying this enhanced capability.

He said the ministry’s view is that North Korea’s test-fire this time shows it is in the early stage of development of a submarine launched ballistic missile program. According to the cases of advanced countries, he said, it takes about four to five years after the underwater test to complete the development of the system.

Still, the fact that Pyongyang is on a trajectory to develop a submarine based missile system means it could develop the capability to strike anywhere in the world, including the mainland of the United States.

This new capability would make less effective South Korea’s current Kill Chain missile system, intended to target and destroy North Korean missile launch sites.

The increased North Korean threat could trigger a new arms race on the Korean peninsula. It could also be used to justify the deployment of the United States anti-ballistic missile system called THAAD. Seoul had been reluctant to accept THAAD in part because China opposes its deployment.  [Voice of America]

You can read more at the link, but since the development of an actual working missile launched from a submarine is years away I don’t think this gives the ROK the cover it needs to allow the US to deploy THAAD to Korea against China’s wishes.

It looks like the Kim regime has found another way to bring in hard currency:

A Chinese province bordering North Korea will kick off its first four-day train tour to the reclusive state later this month, according to China’s state media on Saturday, joining other border regions that have begun train tours to the North.

The tour will take Chinese tourists to North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang from the Chinese border city of Dandong on May 26, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported, citing a tour agency in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning.

The report is the latest sign that North Korea has approved more cross-border tours for Chinese tourists to earn hard currency since it lifted travel restrictions imposed due to concerns over the Ebola virus.

During the four-day tour, Chinese tourists will also visit the southern border city of Kaesong, Mt. Myohyang and the truce village of Panmunjom, which sits in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, according to the report.

The trip costs from 2,000 yuan (US$321.90) to 3,000 yuan, the report said, without elaborating.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think it is safe to say that the North Koreans will not be detaining or shooting these tourists.

This image released by North Korea’s Rodong Shinmun shows what Pyeongyang claims to be a ballistic missile being launched from a submarine in waters near the northeast coast of Sinpo on May 9, 2015. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North’s state media, said the communist state successfully test-fired the submarine missile. (Yonhap)

The North Koreans seem to be building up to another provocation cycle over the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea:

Adm. Choi Yun-hee, the chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited the Navy’s western command headquarters on Saturday, vowing to defend the Yellow Sea border against possible provocations from North Korea.

Also on Saturday, North Korea test-fired three anti-ship missiles into the sea off its east coast in what was seen as its latest show of force against Seoul.

South Korean military officials identified the North’s anti-ship missiles KN-01 cruise missiles and said the missiles were fired off into the sea off Wonsan, a major port on the North’s east coast, in a span of one hour starting at 4:25 p.m.

The missiles with a range of 100 kilometers are believed to have been modified from Chinese Silkworm missiles, they said.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but all though the North Koreans test fired the missiles into the East Sea in was clearly intended to send a message to the South Korean Navy operating ships along the NLL.

Like any of these reports from anonymous sources, treated them with a healthy dose of skepticism because who knows if they are true:

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has demanded that officials “go to South Korea if they have to” to arrest those who defected on his birthday, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).

The non-profit news outlet quoted internal sources as saying Kim was furious when told that 16 North Koreans defected on February 16.

“During Kim’s birthday, the nation was under a special warning period for defecting, and when reported by his officials, Kim ordered them to send out an arrest squad to catch the ‘fleed family,'” the source was quoted as saying.

The source also said officials were threatened with punishment if they failed to bring back the defectors from North Hamgyong Province.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It appears that the North Koreans may be ramping up to justify a provocation in the Yellow Sea:

South and North Korea exchanged barbs on Friday over Pyongyang’s claims of South Korean ships’ violation of the western sea border.

In what it called “an emergency special warning,” the communist country’s Command in Southwestern Sector of Front claimed that South Korean Navy speedboats made a “military provocation” by deeply intruding into the North’s territorial waters in the Yellow Sea two or three times a day between May 1 and 7.

“From this moment, it will make a sighting strike without any prior warning at any warship of the South Korean Navy intruding into the extension of demarcation line in the hotspot (of the sea),” said the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea also threatened to successively deal stronger blows to the South’s ships if South Korea makes counterattacks on the North, according to the KCNA.

Pyongyang does not acknowledge the border, known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command when the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a ceasefire. The North has long demanded that the line be drawn farther south.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like North Korea has its very own Amazon like online shopping service now with likely few people to use it:

Online shopping has arrived in North Korea, though it is as isolated from the rest of the world as the country itself, and the vast majority of North Koreans lack the technology to use it.

The website Okryu, aimed primarily at smartphone users, offers products from North Korean companies including women’s clothing, bags, shoes, medicine, cosmetics, furniture and food. Payment, in local currency only, is taken from the main North Korean debit card system.

To keep it all hermetically sealed, the site works not on the World Wide Web but on North Korea’s own intranet, a self-contained version of the Internet set up and maintained strictly for domestic use.

North Koreans call it the “domestic web” and it’s been around for years, but not used very much, largely because very few North Koreans have personal-use computers that can go online at all.

Smartphone use, however, is growing, and Okryu’s presence suggests that the government does not consider the technology to be a threat to the country’s rigid social order.  (…………..)

Okryu is managed by the General Bureau of Public Service, a government organization that oversees shops, restaurants and producers of consumer goods. Bureau official Jong Sol Hwa recently confirmed the online shopping site, announced with much pride by state media last month, is up and running.

It is impossible to say how popular the new site is or if the average North Korean shopper is even aware of it. The site’s managers have not announced statistics about page views, unique users or sales volume.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It seems to me that this “Silk Road” initiative is an attempt by the Chinese to put infrastructure in place in neighboring countries so that they become more dependent on Chinese trade and thus can be more easily controlled by Beijing:

China has told North Korea that its ambitious Silk Road project aimed at reviving the ancient trade route between Asia and Europe would bring a “historic” opportunity to advance bilateral cooperation between the two nations.

The Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Li Jinjun, made the remarks at a meeting with the North’s Vice Foreign Minister Ri Gil-song on Monday, the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang said in a statement.

It was the second time in less than two weeks that the Chinese ambassador publicly briefed North Korea on Beijing’s Silk Road project.

With a US$40 billion fund, China has aggressively pushed for the so-called “One Belt, One Road” initiative aimed at building ports, expressways, railways and other infrastructure with its neighboring countries.

“China is pushing ahead with the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative that will bring new and historic opportunities for bilateral and regional cooperation,” the Chinese ambassador was quoted as telling the North Korean official.

On April 23, the Chinese ambassador met North Korea’s Minister of Foreign Trade, Ri Ryong-nam, and expressed hope for the North to join the Silk Road project.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.