Tag: North Korea

It looks like things really are returning back to normal in post-COVID North Korea:

North Korea is witnessing an escalation in terror, as the totalitarian state has increasingly relied on public executions, a move by its dictator Kim Jong-un to strengthen his grip over national governance.

According to reports citing an informed source with insights into North Korean internal affairs, the number of public executions has been massively increased. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea saw an average of about 10 public executions annually, but over the past year, this number has surged to an estimated 100 or more.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea took measures to reduce public executions significantly in a bid to prevent the spread of infections. However, with the pandemic subsiding and human interactions increasing, these gruesome acts have resurged.

“North Korea public executions occur relatively frequently,” Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute, said.

“These executions cover a wide range of cases, including heinous crimes, drug smuggling, and, in rare instances, individuals caught producing and selling prohibited content, including South Korean dramas.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is how the Russians moved all the arms they received from North Korea into Russia for further movement to the battlefields of Ukraine:

This image, provided by the U.S. government, shows apparent arms transfers between North Korea and Russia. (Yonhap)

Two Russian ships made at least five round trips between North Korea and Russia, beginning mid-August, in what could be arms transfers, the Washington Post reported Monday, citing satellite imagery.

Based on analysis by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based think tank, the ships have been travelling between the northeastern North Korean port of Najin and a port facility in Dunay in Russia’s Far East between mid-August and Saturday.

The analysis came after the U.S. government revealed Friday that the North shipped more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia in recent weeks for use in Ukraine, highlighting burgeoning military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea once again spouting nothing, but a bunch of hot air. An attack on a U.S. aircraft carrier would lead to ending of the regime and they know it:

North Korea threatened Friday to stage the “most powerful and rapid first strike” against U.S. strategic assets deployed to the Korean Peninsula, in the latest bellicose rhetoric that underscored Pyongyang’s concerns about U.S. military capabilities in the region.

The nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier docked at the southeastern port of Busan on Thursday for a five-day visit — the first since September 2022 — in a show of force against North Korea. The visit came soon after trilateral naval drills involving the United States, South Korea and Japan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Russians have a new source of munitions to help them in their continuing war effort in Ukraine:

North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia in recent weeks for use in Ukraine, a White House official said Friday, lambasting burgeoning cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow as a threat to regional stability.

In a press briefing, John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, disclosed the information, amid persistent speculation that the Sept. 13 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin might have led to an arms deal.

Kirby also voiced concerns about possible Russian assistance to the North in return for arms support, disclosing the U.S.’ observation that Russian ships offloaded containers in the North, which he said “may constitute the initial deliveries of material from Russia.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It sounds like the U.S. needs to invest in more missile defense to keep up with the threat:

North Korea is “on pace” to deploy sufficient nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to overcome the U.S. missile defense and may be preparing for a nuclear test to enable tactical nuclear operations, a congressional report showed Thursday.

The Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States issued the final report. It was launched by the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2022 to examine America’s long-term strategic posture.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If North Korea conducts a nuclear test getting international attention seems to be reason why they would do it, not a food crisis as the ROK government is speculating. A nuclear test may also be something done in coordination with Iran to divert U.S. resources from the Middle East as Iran continues to use its proxies there to wage war on Israel and Sunni Arab states:

The reigniting of the Israel-Hamas conflict, coupled with Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, could shift the United States’ attention further away from North Korea’s nuclear quandary, analysts said Tuesday.

The conflict flared up following the Palestinian militant group’s deadly surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, as Washington’s stated commitment to diplomacy with Pyongyang has fallen on deaf years amid the North’s unceasing drive for nuclear armament.

President Joe Biden pledged “full support” for Israel. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean while Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the U.S.’ “solidarity” with Israel.

The U.S.’ apparent reapportioning of diplomatic and security resources for conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe has raised speculation that it would be harder for the U.S. to pay more attention to addressing the North Korean conundrum.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems like we have been talking about North Korea conducting a possible nuclear test for the past two years and for whatever reason they haven’t done one yet. I am not convinced that a food crisis is what is going to cause them to conduct a new nuclear test:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik speaks during a visit to the command center of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Paju, 37 kilometers north of Seoul, on Oct. 9, 2023, in this photo provided by his office. (Yonhap)

 North Korea may stage various provocations, including a nuclear test, to divert its public’s attention from the country’s ongoing food crisis, South Korea’s defense ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry made the assessment in a policy report for a parliamentary audit amid growing tensions after North Korea revised its constitution late last month to stipulate the policy of strengthening its nuclear force.

“In order to pass on internal complaints of food woes and failures in economic policy to the outside world, there is a possibility of (the North) conducting various strategic and tactical provocations, including a seventh nuclear test,” the ministry said in the report.

The isolated regime, which has faced chronic food shortages, last conducted a nuclear test in September 2017.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.