Tag: North Korea

Here are the latest comments from President Yoon on North Korea:

 President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that the North Korean regime is an “irrational group” that has legalized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons and will likely carry out multiple provocations to interfere with South Korea’s April parliamentary elections.

Yoon’s remark came as North Korea has ratcheted up tensions on the Korean Peninsula with a series of weapons tests since the start of the year, including back-to-back cruise missile launches last Wednesday, Sunday and Tuesday. (…..)

“Such actions themselves are anti-national and anti-unification, and provocations and threats that run counter to history,” Yoon said while presiding over the annual central integrated defense council meeting at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae.

“The North Korean regime is an irrational group that has legalized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons as the only (country) in the world to do so. If it was a sensible regime, it would abandon its nuclear weapons and search for a way for its people to live, but the North Korean regime is bent only on maintaining its hereditary, totalitarian regime,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I think what President Yoon gets wrong is that the Kim regime is rationale from their perspective. It makes sense for them to continue to conduct weapons tests and maintain their status as a global threat to be taken seriously. Why would the U.S. make any serious concessions to North Korea during any potential negotiations if North Korea did not have proven ICBM and nuclear capabilities? These capabilities have also become a source of national pride for North Korea, a country that has little to be proud of.

It also makes sense that the Kim regime is going to continue to conduct provocations before April’s parliamentary elections. To get to any potential negotations where concessions favorable to North Korea are made they need to get Yoon and other conservatives out of office. The parlimentary elections are the first step to politically neutering ROK conservatives and set conditions for another Korean leftist to become the next President.

North Korea ultimately wants to get sanctions dropped while giving up little to nothing in return. They almost got this deal during the Moon administration and South Korea and the Trump administration in the U.S.

This would be a big development if true, however with the decrepit state of its submarine fleet it is doubtful this is a real functional wartime capability for the Kim regime:

This photo, carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29, 2024, shows the North’s firing of submarine-launched cruise missiles the previous day.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen the test-fire of submarine-launched cruise missiles and reviewed a project to build a nuclear-powered submarine, state media reported Monday.

The new Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile precisely hit an island target after flying over the East Sea for 7,421 seconds and 7,445 seconds, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, suggesting the test involved two missiles.

The flight time translates to two hours, three minutes and 41 seconds, and two hours, four minutes and five seconds, respectively. The KCNA did not give further details, including whether the missiles were launched from a submarine or a barge and how far they flew.

Yonhap

Kim Jong-un made sure to throw in the word “nuclear” to get the media’s attention:

Kim stressed Sunday that “the nuclear weaponization of the navy is an urgent task of the times and a core requirement for building the state nuclear strategic force,” the KCNA said.

“He set forth the important tasks arising in realizing the nuclear weaponization of the navy and expanding the sphere of operation of the state nuclear deterrence in a diversified way,” it said.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday it is weighing the possibility that North Korea might have “exaggerated” information on the missile’s flight time, adding that it is analyzing details of the launch platform.

The latest launch came as North Korea has been diversifying missile launch platforms to deliver nuclear weapons in a bid to bolster its capabilities to stage a surprise attack and evade the existing missile defense system.

You can read more at the link, but the ROK is probably right that this test is exagerated. However, it is clear what they are working towards because a submarine with cruise missiles would pose a challenge to missile defenses because you don’t know where it is to direct your missile defense radars against.

It looks like the Kim regime really wants people to see they have a viable cruise missile threat:

 North Korea fired several cruise missiles from its east coast on Sunday, the South Korean military said, days after Pyongyang test-fired new strategic cruise missiles from the west coast. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North’s launch took place around 8 a.m. in waters off Shinpo Port, but did not elaborate, citing an ongoing analysis.

“While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military has been closely coordinating with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea’s provocations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ROK defense minister had some blunt talk for the Kim regime:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visits the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets, on Jan. 24, 2024, in this photo provided by his office. 

 South Korea’s defense chief said Wednesday that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it wages war, hours after the North fired several rounds of cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea in its latest series of weapons tests. 

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik issued the warning during his visit to the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets.

“North Korea has defined the Republic of Korea as its principal enemy and has maintained a hostile policy under the goal of communizing the whole Korean Peninsula,” Shin was quoted as saying, referring to South Korea’s official name.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest provocation in what will likely continue to be a busy year of provocations from North Korea:

North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series of saber-rattling that heightened tensions.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North’s launch took place around 7 a.m. but did not elaborate, citing an ongoing analysis.

“While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military has been closely coordinating with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea’s provocations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The underwear guy is out of jail for now:

This undated file photo shows former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae delivering a speech at an unidentified event.

A local court on Tuesday granted bail to the former chairman of South Korean underwear maker Ssangbangwool who had been arrested for embezzlement and illegal remittance to North Korea.

The Suwon District Court allowed former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Sung-tae to be released on bail on condition that he pay 100 million won (US$75,000) and carry a real-time location tracking device with him until trials are over.

The former chairman was released late Tuesday evening when the deposit was paid, a company official said.

“With the court’s decision, the former chairman will attend the remaining trials without physical detention,” Ssangbangwool said in a statement. 

On Feb. 3, 2023, Kim was indicted and detained on charges of embezzlement of funds worth 54 billion won in the group’s five unlisted “paper” companies and an illegal remittance of $8 million to the North and has since been behind bars.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it is alleged that the money he was sending to North Korea was a payoff to allow Lee Jae-myung to travel to North Korea when he was the Gyeongi-do governor at the time.

The Kim regime has found a new and inventive way to raise tensions on the peninsula. They know that anything they claim that has the word “nuclear” in it the media widely publish even without any evidence to support it:

A set of file photos, carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on April 8, 2023, show the North testing an underwater nuclear-capable attack drone named the Haeil from April 4-7. (Yonhap)

The United States on Friday called on North Korea to refrain from further “provocative” and “destabilizing” actions, and to return to dialogue, after Pyongyang claimed to have tested an underwater nuclear weapons system under development.

The North’s defense ministry said the country conducted an “important” test of the Haeil-5-23 system, denouncing this week’s naval drills between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan as “reckless confrontation hysteria,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“We call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocative, destabilizing actions and return to diplomacy,” a State Department spokesperson said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

Considering the war on fish the North Koreans have waged in the East Sea with all their missile launches, they could really win the war on the fish if they start detonating underwater nuclear devices.