Tag: North Korea

It looks like Kim Jong-un is feeling much better after having not been seen publicly in three weeks:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a Central Military Commission meeting and discussed “new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country,” state media reported Sunday.

Also discussed at the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party were important military steps and organizational and political measures to further bolster up the overall armed forces, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“Set forth at the meeting were new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country and putting the strategic armed forces on a high alert operation in line with the general requirements for the building and development of the armed forces of the country,” the KCNA said.

It did not elaborate what the “new policies” for nuclear deterrence were.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea has renewed its claims that it did not hijack Korean Air flight YS-11 back in 1969:

After half a century, North Korea still insists it did not kidnap the South Korean passengers aboard Korean Air Lines flight YS-11 in 1969, according to a letter released by a United Nations human rights agency Monday.    
   
The incident in question refers to the hijacking of Korean Air Lines (KAL) flight YS-11, which was carrying four crew members and 46 passengers, on Dec. 11, 1969. The plane was destined for Gimpo International Airport, but after taking off from Gangneung, Gangwon, a North Korean spy aboard the plane forced the pilots to redirect the plane to land near Wonsan in North Korea that afternoon.    
   
Pyongyang claimed the pilots had voluntarily defected in protest of the military junta that ruled South Korea at the time.    
   
Thirty-nine passengers were repatriated back to the South two months later, but 11 never returned.   

Joong Ang Ilbo via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but the North Koreans made this same claim immediately after the hijacking. The North Koreans even put the two pilots, Yu Byong-ha and Choe Sok-man on radio where they confirmed this claim.  However, these claims were dismissed by the ROK authorities because the two pilots were both decorated ROK Air Force veterans who the investigation determined had no reason to defect. 

In fact the ROK authorities investigated the backgrounds of all 46 passengers on board the plane and cleared everyone except for two men, Han Chang-gi and Paek In-yong.  The ROK authorities could not find any background information on these two men leading them to believe they were the hijackers. The pilots’ so called confession on the radio was likely due to the threats made against them by the North Koreans. 

This hijacking ended up causing a huge uproar within South Korean society because this provocation was directed solely at civilians unlike past provocations that were primarily directed at military and government targets. What is really sad about this, is that today in South Korea there is probably a good amount of people who actually believe North Korea’s claim.

You can read much more about this hijacking at the below link:

Here is the latest on the health of Kim Jong-un from ROK intelligence:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears not to have undergone surgery, a presidential official said Sunday, flatly denying speculation over Kim’s health.

“There were media reports speculating about Chairman Kim’s surgery, citing a change in the way he walks,” a senior Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters, saying the presidential office judges this not to be true.

When asked whether the North Korean leader did not even go through a relatively moderate medical procedure, the official replied yes.

The official, who asked not to be named, however, refused to unveil the grounds that this judgment was made upon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I still think if he had anything done maybe it was a minor surgery such as on his ankle again or maybe they scoped his knee. These are simple surgeries that he would want time to recover from so he is not seen limping around.

Does anyone believe this excuse from the ROK military that the North Koreans unintentionally fired at a guard post because of the fog?:

 Several gunshots from North Korea hit a South Korean guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday, prompting the South to fire back, but the North’s firings do not appear to have been intentional, an official said.

South Korean soldiers on guard duty at the unit in the central border town of Cheorwon heard gunshots at around 7:41 a.m. and found four bullet marks on a wall of the guard post, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In accordance with the response manual, the military then fired a total of 20 shots in response — 10 rounds each time — and issued broadcast warnings, it added. No casualties or damage to South Korean facilities were reported. 

It is not known if North Korea sustained any damage. 

“We also sent a notice to the North Korean side via the inter-Korean communication line at around 9:35 a.m., and called for its explanation,” a JCS officer said. 

North Korea has given no response yet. 

The military is closely looking into the incident to learn more details by analyzing pieces of evidence, including shells found at the scene, as well as the North’s motivations for the firing. It does not appear to be an intentional provocation, according to the officer. 

“It was quite foggy and the North Korean soldiers usually rotate shifts around that time,” the JCS officer said, adding that no unusual movements by the North’s military have been detected.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the only way I can see the fog being a factor is that a North Korean soldier tripped over something and did not have his weapon on safe and it just happened to hit the ROK guard post. And this just happened to occur a day after Kim Jong-un made his first appearance in 20 days.