Tag: North Korea

Kim Jong Un Has Photo Session with Servicemen's Families | @KCNAWatch http://t.co/YAfv4rQoef pic.twitter.com/sVTHzJknHP

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) December 9, 2014

Considering North Korea’s long defense relationship with Syria to include trying to make them a nuclear reactor, it only makes sense that ISIS would have captured plenty of North Korean manufactured weaponry:

The terror group ISIS that is effectively in charge of vast swathes of Syria and Iraq is using North Korean-made tanks and portable missiles, the website NK News claimed Monday.

It cited intelligence sources as claiming tanks used by ISIS in an attack on a Kurdish region in northern Iraq in September were Soviet T-55 tanks upgraded in North Korea, and portable missiles used by militants are of a type manufactured in the North.

Earlier, German intelligence told lawmakers that ISIS has portable surface-to-air missiles that are capable of shooting down civilian aircraft. A photo of an ISIS militant brandishing the weapon was posted on Twitter.

At the time, German intelligence believed the weapon was Russian, Bulgarian or Chinese in origin.

But NK News said ISIS got its hands on North Korean-made weapons by capturing them from government forces in Syria. The two countries maintained close ties since the 1970s and the North exported various weapons to Syria, including the upgraded T-55 tanks and portable surface-to-air missiles.  [Chosun Ilbo]

The original NK News article for those that have a subscription can be read at this link.

Kim Jong Un Inspects Air Force Unit | @KCNAWatch http://t.co/p8xWrjlnUD pic.twitter.com/hnkckRFLCy

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) December 8, 2014

North Korea calls Sony Pictures hack 'a righteous deed' but denies involvement http://t.co/N8FS2UcR2V #KoreaNews

— Korea News Summary (@ROKreport) December 7, 2014

This photo released by Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 5, 2014, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting the North Korean military’s Unit 1313 to inspect its winter training. (Yonhap)

Reports are stating that Sony has linked North Korea to the cyberattack against their company:

A Sony Pictures internal investigation has identified North Korea as the source of a devastating computer attack, and the studio is deliberating whether to announce the findings publicly, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The company’s investigation has linked the hackers that stole a major holiday film release and unleashed a destructive computer worm to a North Korean group known as DarkSeoul, which was responsible for similar attacks on South Korean banks and television studios last year, a second person familiar with the investigation said.  [Stars & Stripes]

I don’t think there is much Sony can do about this other than they need to improve their network security from these attacks.  If North Korea was able to do this imagine what the Russians or Chinese could do with their advanced hacking operations? Companies need to make network security a top priority.

KCNA ridicules "EU’s Bat-blind Behavior" on human rights http://t.co/EYyM6AoHU7

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) December 3, 2014

Two months ago the infamous DMZ Christmas tree was pulled down and now for whatever reason the Defense Ministry has decided to allow a Christian group to construct a new one:

A North Korean religious association slammed a South Korean Christian group’s plan to light a big Christmas tree in the Aegibong Peak Observatory in Gimpo, south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

It said Friday that the lighting is, “an act of madness and it is unacceptable.”

“The Christian Council of Korea (CCK) attempts to use religion as a means to spur confrontation between the people of the two sides. It should realize that the malicious plan could lead to a military action from the North,” the North’s association said.

The reaction came weeks after the CCK unveiled a plan to set up a big Christmas tree in the observatory and light it on Dec. 23. The tree will be dressed in Christmas lights for two weeks until Jan. 6, the group said.

The Ministry of National Defense approved the plan.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the tree is used by the ROK military as a psychological warfare weapon.  The North Koreans can look across the border and see the lights of South Korea to include this Christmas tree which stands in stark contrast to the regular power outages they face in North Korea.

An event marking World AIDS Day is underway at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Dec. 1, 2014. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)

Reading between the lines here this Chinese General appears to be signaling to the North Koreans that they will not save the Kim regime if they do something foolish like start a war.  However, I see nothing in here that says they will not get involved to stabilize a post-Kim regime North Korea after they do something foolish:

China would not help save North Korea even if the neighboring North’s regime collapses, a former general of China’s military said Tuesday, in rare explicit comments that possibly reflect Beijing’s growing frustration with its unpredictable ally.

“China is not a savior,” Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing military region of the People’s Liberation Army, wrote in an op-ed published by the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties with China’s ruling Communist Party.

“If North Korea really collapses, even China can’t save it,” Wang said.

The comments by Wang were in response to a recent contribution by another Chinese expert, who urged Beijing not to “abandon” North Korea.  [Yonhap]

Here is more of what Wang had to say from the South China Morning Post:

Wang said China would not get involved in any new war on the Korean peninsula.

“China cannot influence the situation on the Korean peninsula … China has no need to light a fire and get burnt. Whoever provokes a conflagration bears responsibility,” he wrote. “Now there is no more ’socialist camp’. It is not necessary for China’s younger generation to fight a war for another country.”

Wang criticised the North for its nuclear development, using it as an example of how the country’s interests can differ from China’s and saying it had “already brought about the serious threat of nuclear contamination in China’s border area”.

But he also slammed Western countries for “demonising” North Korea and interfering in its internal affairs in the name of human rights. “China absolutely does not meddle,” he wrote.

Beijing will “support what should be supported and oppose what should be opposed” regarding the North, Wang said, indicating that China was not ready to completely give up on its troublesome neighbour.

China will neither “court” nor “abandon” North Korea, he wrote. “This should be China’s basic attitude.” [South China Morning Post]

You can read more at the link.