Tag: North Korea

Here we go again with the nuclear-free pipe dream; can anyone explain a good rationale of why Kim Jong-un should give up his nuclear weapons?:

 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un only on the condition that the latter agrees to reduce his country’s nuclear capabilities.

“On the condition that (Kim) would agree that he would be drawing down his nuclear capacity. To get that,” Biden said when asked on what preconditions that he would agree to meet the North Korean leader.

“The Korean Peninsula should be a nuclear-free zone,” he added while speaking in the second and last presidential TV debate with his Republican rival, President Donald Trump.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the new missile that debuted at a North Korean military parade last week:

A new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that North Korea unveiled last week is believed to be labeled “Pukguksong-4ㅅ,” featuring a Korean letter, not “Pukguksong-4A,” which indicates that it is a sea-based system.

On Saturday, the communist country unveiled a new SLBM during a massive military parade held in Pyongyang to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of its Workers’ Party, along with a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and other advanced conventional weaponry.

Asked about the military’s analysis of the new system, Navy Chief of Staff Boo Suk-jong said that the name inscribed on the missile includes “ㅅ,” a consonant of the Korean alphabet, rather than the English letter “A,” to mark that it is designed to be launched from the water.

In Korean, the word meaning “for use in water,” starts with that character.

North Korea has three types of Pukguksong missiles — Pukgukson-1, 2, 3, and Pukguksong-2 is a ground-based one, not an SLBM. As the upgraded version of the Pukguksong-1, the Pukguksong-3 SLBM is believed to have a flight range of 2,000 kilometers or longer, and the regime last carried out a flight test of the weapon in October 2019.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Both the Unification and the Defense Ministries believe that North Korea will not execute a high level provocation before the U.S. presidential election; instead they will display a new missile:

North Korea appears to be preparing a measured show of force at an upcoming military parade marking the 75th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party, South Korea’s top inter-Korean official said Thursday.    

During a parliamentary audit hearing at the National Assembly, Minister of Unification Lee In-young presented a somewhat different forecast from Seoul’s military officials — as well as his own ministry — of what lay in store during Pyongyang’s big event Saturday, for which the regime has been preparing for months.  

“In the past, ahead of a U.S. presidential election, and to show off its nuclear or missile capacities, [the North] would actually fire or test [missiles],” Lee said. “But this time, we are getting indications that [Pyongyang] will conduct something on the level of lower intensity acts or shows of force.”  

Lee did not elaborate on what he meant by “lower intensity,” but according to his own ministry’s report to the National Assembly, Pyongyang was likely to unveil a new “strategic weapon” it has warned about for months, which could range from a new form of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to a submarine-launched ballistic missile.     

A similar prediction was made a day earlier by Seoul’s Minister of National Defense Suh Wook, who expressed agreement with a lawmaker’s assertion that the North was more likely to display a new missile than conduct an active provocation in the form of a weapons test.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I think this shows that the North Koreans believe if they behave it will improve their chances of a deal to reduce sanctions with the next President.

Not the best apology, but I guess it is something:

 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has offered an apology to the South Korean people for the killing of a fellow citizen by its military earlier this week, Cheong Wa Dae announced Friday.

In a formal notice sent to the South, the North conveyed Kim’s message that he feels “very sorry” for greatly “disappointing” President Moon Jae-in and other South Koreans with the occurrence of the “unsavory” case in its waters, instead of helping them amid their suffering from the new coronavirus, according to Suh Hoon, director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae.

Yonhap

Notice how he still takes a shot at South Korea as being some kind of coronavirus hotbed. What makes this apology even worse is that they are apparently lying about what happened if you believe what the South Korean military is saying:

South Korean authorities have said the 47-year-old official surnamed Lee went missing at 11:30 a.m., Monday, while on duty on a patrol ship off the west coast, and was found by North Korean military personnel in the sea off Yeonpyeong Island near the maritime border at around 3:30 p.m., Tuesday. 

According to the South Korean version of the story, Lee was on an unidentified floating item and expressed his willingness to defect to the North Koreans, who questioned him from a distance while leaving him in the water. About six hours later, the North Koreans shot him to death, then doused the body with oil and burned it. 

Pyongyang’s account, however, differed in many crucial parts of the story.

In a notice it sent to the South, Friday, the North said an “unidentified man” who illegally intruded into its territorial waters on a floating item failed to properly respond to their verbal security checks when he was about 80 meters away. Approaching the man, the North Koreans shot two blanks, and he was seen as attempting to flee. They then fired more than 10 gunshots at a distance of 40 to 50 meters as allowed under the related rules of maritime border security. 

When they approached for closer inspection, they were unable to find any trace of the body other than a large pool of blood, which led them to believe he had died from bullet wounds and sunk into the water. They subsequently set the floating item ― not the body ― on fire following the quarantine rules, according to the North’s account.

According to the notice, Lee did not express his willingness to defect.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Just think the Korean left will probably still advocate for opening the Kumgang Resort in North Korea even after this latest travesty:

 North Korea shot and killed a South Korean official drifting at sea before dousing his body with oil and setting it on fire, the defense ministry said Thursday, prompting the country to erupt in outrage and casting a pall over the already frayed inter-Korean ties.

The 47-year-old official affiliated with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries disappeared from the 499-ton boat before noon Monday while on duty aboard an inspection boat in waters off the western border island of Yeonpyeong.

“North Korea found the man in its waters and committed an act of brutality by shooting at him and burning his body, according to our military’s thorough analysis of diverse intelligence,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but one theory is that the fisheries official was trying to defect and the North Koreans shot and killed him then burned the body to prevent the spread of coronavirus.