Tag: North Korea

North Korea must be confident they have fixed whatever issue plagued their last satellite launch and are ready to try again apparently over the next week:

North Korea has notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite between Thursday and Aug. 31, according to a Japanese news report, as the country seeks to put a spy satellite into orbit following its failure in May.

The North informed Japan’s coast guard of its plan to designate three maritime danger zones — two of which are west of the Korean Peninsula and the other is to the east of the Philippines’ island of Luzon, Japan’s Kyodo News reported Tuesday.

“The plan is believed to be a retry of a military reconnaissance satellite launch North Korea attempted in May, but that ended in failure,” it added.

The North launched its first military spy satellite, the Malligyong-1, mounted on a new type of rocket named the Chollima-1, on May 31. But the rocket crashed into the Yellow Sea after an “abnormal starting” of the second-stage engine, according to the North’s state media.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Why is the U.N. providing North Korea any aid? I don’t care if it is just tents, the Kim regime has money to build nuclear weapons, ICBMs, submarines, etc., but can’t buy their own tents?:

A U.N. Security Council panel has approved sanctions exemptions for the World Health Organization (WHO) allowing the delivery of tents into North Korea, its website showed Saturday.

On July 20, the U.N. committee overseeing sanctions approved the waiver on the importation of five “multipurpose” tents into the North for humanitarian relief to civilians to help cope with flood, drought and other emergencies, according to the U.N. website.

The exemption will be valid for nine months, the committee said.

It remains unclear when the items will be delivered to the North, as the reclusive country maintains border controls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is the question being discussed in the Korea Times:

Will North Korea use King as a bargaining chip or perhaps a propaganda tool? The reality is, according to Washington experts, that the North is less interested in getting short-term gains by releasing him. However, another question is whether or not he should be viewed as a valuable asset given his low military rank. 

“King could either be a bargaining chip or a propaganda tool. If he desires to stay in North Korea for fear of punishment awaiting him in the U.S., he would probably become the latter. Once Pyongyang decides on an approach, they will reply to the United Nations Command’s (UNC) attempts to discuss the matter,” according to the Korea Society director. 

Over the years, there have been a number of U.S. citizens who have crossed the border separating the two Koreas. These people were mostly human rights activists, missionaries and, from time to time, soldiers. On occasion, based on the weight of each incident, the North Korean regime has used political tactics in its handling of border crossers.

The widely-known cases are the defection of Charles Jenkins and James Dresnok back in the 1960s, both of whom were featured in various North Korean films as “U.S. villains.” In Jenkins’ case, for example, he thought he would be traded to the Soviet Union and then back to the U.S., where he would serve time in jail ― which he preferred over possible deployment to Vietnam. He was held in North Korea for 39 years, where he was tortured and used in propaganda.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I think this decision is really dependent on King. If he is willing and enthusiastically embraces being a propaganda tool than North Korea will probably keep around while he is still useful. The minute he is no longer useful is when they will deport him.