Tag: North Korea

This is another useful system the North Koreans have now added to their arsenal:

North Korea has successfully test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile over the weekend, state media reported Monday, a low-level provocation amid stalled talks with the United States.

The test-firings, which took place Saturday and Sunday without leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, came right after the North held a scaled-down military parade, and appeared to be intent on demonstrating its military power in a low-level provocation without violating U.N. sanctions.

The North is banned from using ballistic technology under multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. Cruise missiles, however, are not subject to the sanctions as they are considered less of a threat than ballistic missiles.

The missiles “traveled for 7,580 seconds along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters” in North Korea and “hit targets 1,500 km away,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a fairly simple malware attack launched by the North Koreans:

A hacker group believed to be linked to North Korea has attempted to steal data from South Korean experts working as members of an advisory panel for the defense ministry, a cybersecurity firm said Sunday.

Emails were sent to some members of the advisory panel earlier this month from hackers who disguised themselves as a North Korea-related department of the defense ministry, notifying them of an upcoming seminar on the occasion of the anniversary of a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement, according to ESTsecurity.

A few days later, another email was sent, asking the panel members to open attached papers written for the event. It had some disguised images on the attachments that appeared to be official government documents, according to ESTsecurity.

ESTsecurity said it suspects North Korea-linked hacking organization Thallium to be behind the attempted attacks.

The hackers attached malicious files disguised as government documents to emails that can install malware on users’ computers, allowing them to steal information.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

By North Korea standards this was a pretty low key military parade which could signal that the Kim regime still thinks some kind of future deal could be reached:

North Korea held a midnight military parade to mark the 73rd anniversary of its founding, but leader Kim Jong-un did not deliver an address and no new strategic weapons were displayed, according to state media and South Korean officials.

The parade, which began at midnight Thursday, was watched closely by South Korea and others because the North could show off state-of-the-art weapons systems or leader Kim could make a speech about inter-Korean relations or nuclear talks with the United States.

But the parade at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square featured artillery-carrying tractors and military search dogs rather than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and other strategic weapons. Also seen were fire engines looking like the same model produced by German carmaker Mercedes Benz.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is a surprising topic North Korea has decided to weigh in on:

North Korea on Friday denounced the expiration of a pandemic-related U.S. government ban on residential evictions, saying Washington should address its own human rights issues before “poking its nose” into other countries’ affairs.

A U.S. government ban on evictions for residents that have failed to pay rent during the COVID-pandemic expired at the end of last month in most parts of the country, putting millions of vulnerable residents at risk of losing their homes.

“Before talking impudently about the ‘human rights issues’ of other countries, the U.S. should address the human rights problems of its own society, which are daily getting worse, owing to its anti-popular policies,” the North’s foreign ministry said on its website.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but with all the helped wanted signs across the country my sympathy meter for people facing eviction has definitely lowered significantly since the beginning of the pandemic.

I think what the Kim regime is signaling with these statements against the upcoming CCPT military exercise between the US and the ROK is that they are running out of patience with the Moon administration:

South Korea and the U.S. began a four-day preliminary drill, Tuesday, in the run-up to the main combined exercise set to kick off next week. 

“They must be made to clearly understand how dearly they have to pay for answering our good faith with hostile acts after letting go the opportunity for improved inter-Korean relations,” Kim said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

His statement came one day after Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, also denounced South Korea and the U.S., Tuesday, for pushing ahead with the exercises despite her earlier warning that they would “cloud inter-Korean relations.” Following her announcement, the North stopped answering the South’s telephone calls via liaison and military hotlines. The two Koreas had made calls twice a day since the lines were restored July 27. (………)

“As Kim Yo-jong clarified its plans in the denunciation of the combined exercises in a statement on March 15, the North Korean regime is highly anticipated to ditch the inter-Korean military agreement, while disbanding the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country and the Mount Geumgang International Tourism Bureau.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime has likely long been told by the Moon administration that a deal with the U.S. is near and has yet to deliver. With Moon’s time in office rapidly coming to end the Kim regime is likely seeing they need to push the Moon administration harder to get a deal done.

I bet he just had a cyst removed, just like his grandfather Kim Il-sung had removed decades prior:

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was recently photographed out in public with what appeared to be a large green spot on the back of his head, once again fueling speculation over his health — long a topic of global fascination.

Another image showed him sporting an oblong bandage over the blemish. (…….)

On social media in recent days, some have pondered whether a medical procedure could have left behind a dark mark, while others pointed out that Kim’s grandfather and the founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, was also pictured when he was alive with a “tennis ball-sized” growth on the back of his head.

Kim’s grandfather died of a heart attack in 1994, as did Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011 at age 69.

Seattle Times

You can read more at the link.

The North Koreans have been much quieter then I was expecting them to be this summer. This leads me to believe there must be a lot of back channel communication happening that we don’t know about:

South and North Korea have restored their communication lines, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday, with leaders of the two countries agreeing to rebuild mutual trust for better inter-Korean relations. 

This latest development has raised hopes for another reconciliatory mood on the Korean Peninsula and a resumption of the stalled nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea. 

“South and North Korea have agreed to restore their communication lines, which had been severed, as of 10 a.m., Tuesday,” presidential senior secretary for public communication Park Soo-hyun said during a press conference.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.