Tag: North Korea

A ROK Drop favorite Park Sang-hak and his activist allies plan on dropping copies of the now cancelled Hollywood movie “The Interview” over North Korea if they can get a copy of the film:

Human Rights Foundation founder Thor Halvorssen says the group plans on buying copies of “The Interview” — which depicts the assassination of North Korea’s leader — and including them in upcoming balloon drops over North Korea. The group is waiting to hear whether Sony will release the movie in an alternate format since it canceled plans to release the film in theaters. (On Wednesday, Sony said it had no further plans for release.)

For the last two years, the Human Rights Foundation has been working with groups in South Korea to drop balloons into the North that are filled with banned items.

HRF has teamed up with Park Sang Hak, who worked for the North Korean government before defecting to South Korea. He is now the chairman of an activist group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, and has successfully led multiple balloon launches into North Korea.

Park told CNNMoney it’s a wider effort to help North Koreans gain access to different perspectives. And that perspective may soon include the controversial film that North Korea has condemned.  [CNN]

You can read more at the link, but this is another possible response to the Sony hack which would be to help fund defector groups to get subversive media into North Korea.

Mad about free speech and North Korea? Hack back, says group: http://t.co/uAh5v6XE5K

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) December 19, 2014

North Korea looks like they want to take a page out of the playbook they used for the sinking of the Cheonan where everyone knew they did it, but by continuing to deny it it allows their allies like Russia and China to help cover for them to prevent any real consequences for the attack:

North Korea said U.S. accusations that it was involved in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures were “groundless slander” and that it was wanted a joint investigation into the incident with the United States.

An unnamed spokesman of the North’s foreign ministry said there would be “grave consequences” if Washington refused to agree to the joint probe and continued to accuse Pyongyang, the official KCNA news agency reported on Saturday.

On Friday, President Barack Obama blamed North Korea for the devastating cyberattack, which led to the Hollywood studio cancelling “The Interview”, a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In its first substantive response to the accusation, the isolated North Korea said it could prove it had nothing to do with the massive hacking attack.

“We propose to conduct a joint investigation with the U.S. in response to groundless slander being perpetrated by the U.S. by mobilizing public opinion,” the North Korean spokesman said.

“If the U.S. refuses to accept our proposal for a joint investigation and continues to talk about some kind of response by dragging us into the case, it must remember there will be grave consequences,” the spokesman said.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link, but North Korea is back making threats against the US again.  It will be interesting to see what the US response will be, but I do not see this as an act of war as some people are claiming.  Why should poor network security by a company be a reason to draw the US into a war?  This is a crime not an act of war.  Pushing for further members of the Kim regime to be tried at the International Criminal Court would be one way to respond.  It is highly symbolic, but it would be highly embarrassing for the Kim regime just like the past referral of North Korea for human rights violations was.  Putting North Korea back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List, a list they never should have been taken off of in the first place, would be another way to respond.  Finally as One Free Korea points out taking financial action against the regime could be the most effective way to really get the attention of the Kim regime to act as a deterrent against such a cyberattack in the future.

(LEAD) U.S. formally accuses N. Korea of involvement in Sony hack http://t.co/sLktpv8L8s

— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) December 19, 2014

Here is an interesting report that says that North Korea was training agents to conduct terrorist attacks within the United States according to Bill Gertz in the Washington Free Beacon:

 

North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report.

The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country.

According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.”

The document states that the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, the ministry in charge of the military, “established five liaison offices in the early 1990s, to train and infiltrate operatives into the United States to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in case of hostilities.”

“One of the driving forces behind the establishment of the units and infiltration of operatives was the slow progress in developing a multi-stage ballistic missile.”  [Washington Free Beacon]

You can read more at the link, to include the comments from a ROK Drop favorite and Korean War historian Mark Sauter on this issue.  Gertz’s information is based on heavily redacted documents that Mark Sauter was able to uncover through Freedom of Information Act requests.  Here is probably the most interesting passage from these documents:

North Korea’s interest in training its agents about Americans is supported by many other reports, including the one below about an alleged U.S. citizen known as “Jackson” who instructed North Korean special forces operatives in “U.S. Special Forces tactics, American English, and interrogation techniques” from before 1983 to at least 1993. The American, called “Comrade Ch’ang-sik” in Korean and said to be a U.S. Air Force POW, trained members of the 52^nd Seaborne Sniper Battalion. He was reported to be the chief of psychological operations study at the Reconnaissance Bureau’s Madonghui College.*  [DMZ War]

Here is a copy of the redacted report about this American:

What is really interesting about this is that the EC-121 shootdown occurred over the Sea of Japan.  Some wreckage from the crash along with two bodies were recovered on the Sea of Japan.

• DMZ Flashpoints: The 1969 EC-121 Shootdown

So the picture the source saw could not have been the EC-121.  Maybe it was just a picture from the Korean War years that people mistook for the EC-121?  Looking at his estimated age of “Jackson” he would be too young to be a Korean War POW and I have never heard of an Air Force officer being taken hostage or defecting across the DMZ.  So who is this guy?  Mark Sauter believes it may be US Army defector Jerry Parrish:

However, if the “Jackson report” above is accurate, it may be even more likely that “Jackson” was one of the five U.S. Army defectors to North Korea during the Cold War. These men were sometimes described as “POWs” by escapees from North Korea and some of “Jackson’s” characteristics match defector Jerry Wayne Parrish, now dead. [DMZ War]

Specialist Jerry Parrish defected to North Korea in 1963 while on patrol along the DMZ.  Here is a picture of Parrish while in North Korea:

If the mysterious “Jackson” is Parrish it seems what US Special Forces knowledge he was teaching was not from personal experience.  This leads me to believe his main job was teaching English like the other US defectors did.  Anyway this is just another interesting chapter of the ongoing conflict with North Korea that these declassified documents are slowly shining a light on.

Sony Pictures has decided to cancel the release of “The Interview” due to the fact many movie theaters decided not to show the film due to the various threats made online against anyone showing it.  This decision has upset celebrities because it appears North Korea who the US government has supposedly linked to the hack has been able to silence free speech in the US:

Celebrities expressed their outrage at Sony Picture’s decision to cancel plans to release “The Interview” on Christmas Day on Twitter.

The news comes after many major theater owners canceled next week’s screenings of the controversial film, which depicts the assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.

U.S. investigators appeared ready to blame North Korea for the crippling hack attack at Sony Pictures, which saw the leak of internal emails and personal information that escalated to a threat that people should avoid going to theaters where “The Interview” is playing.

When the film was pulled, celebrities vented their disappointment and raised concerns about the precedent it would set for controversial films in the future.

Actor Judd Apatow, a friend of one of the film’s lead actors Seth Rogen, tweeted: “I think it is disgraceful that these theaters are not showing The Interview. Will they pull any movie that gets an anonymous threat now?

West Wing actor Rob Lowe, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film said: “Wow. Everyone caved. The hackers won. An utter and complete victory for them.  [CNN]

You can read much more celebrity feedback at the link. However, I cannot blame the theaters because I think they are less worried about a bomb attack, but instead more worried about being hacked like Sony was.  I’m sure all these movie companies are probably now doing huge reviews of their network security right now.  Yes if North Korea was behind this attack they have effectively been able to silence Hollywood and even silence future movies about North Korea:

The shockwaves from the Sony hack have finally reached Hollywood’s development community, as New Regency has pulled the plug on its Steve Carell movie “Pyongyang,” which Gore Verbinski had been prepping for a March start date, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

Based on the graphic novel by Guy Delisle, “Pyongyang” is a paranoid thriller about a Westerner’s experiences working in North Korea for a year.  [The Wrap]

A plus for all of this out this hack is that the Kim regime has saved us from watching what reviewers are calling not a great movie. On a downside it looks like there will never be a Team America Part 2.

Defectors attack North Korea with helium balloons http://t.co/QYs6gea9sz pic.twitter.com/EzG74N5o8o

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 16, 2014

There is just so much wrong with this whole incident:

Police said on Sunday a teenager has been arrested on charges of detonating a homemade acid bomb at a recent public talk, whose two co-hosts face questioning for apparently making pro-North Korean comments.

Authorities here in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, about 250 kilometers south of Seoul, said they’ve arrested an 18-year-old high school senior named Oh for possession and detonation of an illegal explosive device and property damage, among other counts.

Iksan police said Oh attended a talk hosted last Wednesday by Shin Eun-mi, a Korean-American who’s written books on North Korea, and Hwang Sun, the former deputy spokeswoman of the now-defunct Democratic Labor Party. They alleged that the teenager snuck in his sulfuric acid bomb with the intent to disrupt the talk, which was held at Shindong Cathedral in Iksan, and also destroyed windows and flooring of the venue.

According to police, Oh has been a member of a popular, right-leaning online community called “Ilbe” since last summer, and purchased his chemicals for the homemade bomb online in July.

Separately, Shin and Hwang are under investigation for allegedly making pro-North Korean remarks during their talks. Local conservative civic groups filed a complaint against the two with the police. Seoul’s National Security Law prohibits any “anti-state” activities attempting to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.  [Yonhap]

First of all this teenager should be prosecuted for whatever crimes can be linked to this homemade explosive device.  Shin may be a North Korean apologist, but that doesn’t mean she deserves to have an explosive device detonated by her.  Secondly why is an American in South Korea taking part in political activity, especially sensitive political activity that involves North Korea?  The Korean government does not allow foreign visa holders to conduct political activity in South Korea:

Scope of activities and employment for foreigners staying in Korea

• Foreigners are granted rights to any activities granted by their visa, and may stay as long as their given period of stay. They are not, however, allowed to participate in any political activities except when specifically allowed by law.

So did Shin have approval from the Korean government to conduct political activity with her visa?  I doubt it.  Instead of bringing up the controversial National Security Law, the Korean authorities should instead prosecute her for violating her visa status.

Does everyone remember the American idiot who tried to swim to North Korea a few months ago? Well he’s back and this time he made into North Korea via China:

SEOUL (Reuters) – A U.S. citizen who said he illegally entered North Korea held a press conference in Pyongyang on Sunday to deliver a 4,000-word statement denouncing U.S. domestic and foreign policy, CNN said.

CNN said the man identified himself as Arutro Pierre Martinez, 29, from the U.S. border town of El Paso. His mother told CNN her son was bipolar, and had previously tried to enter North Korea from the South Korean side.

“He is very smart and he got the court to let him out and instead of coming home to us he bought a ticket and left for China,” the television news channel quoted Patricia Eugenia Martinez as saying. (Reuters via reader tip)

You can read more at the link, but this guy went to North Korea two days after the other two Americans were released. This just shows that the U.S. government negotiating for the release of these individuals is just encouraging others idiots and the mentally ill to go to North Korea as well.

These people need to be treated like the past military defectors that were allowed to rot in North Korea. The U.S. Government needs to let Martinez rot there as well.

This hack of Sony by likely North Korean hackers is actually turning out to be a very effective way for the North Koreans to influence how Hollywood tries to depict their country in future films.  The Kim regime has clearly had enough of being the stereotypical bad guys for various Hollywood films and the leak of these internal Sony emails is proving to be highly embarrassing and could lead to legal action against the company for many years to come:

The hits on Sony keep coming.

As journalists pore over hundreds of thousands of internal Sony emails the hacker group calling itself Guardians of Peace starting releasing on Nov. 24, more sensitive information continues to be uncovered, including revelations published on Friday by The Daily Beast, Re/code, Gawker, and The Verge.

To date, the hackers have released Sony executives’ salaries, top-secret profitability data, employees’ Social Security numbers, embarrassing emails and at least five films and opened up legal risks for years to come. The most revealing information leaked so far has come from the email exchanges between studio execs and Hollywood’s elite. Here are 10 of the latest developments. [Yahoo Movies]

You can read more at the link, but surely any Hollywood film company is going to think twice about making North Korea the stereotypical bad guys for their films after this cyberattack against Sony.