Tag: Russia

It looks like the Kim regime is once again playing the Russians against the Chinese like they did during the Cold War:

Moscow may be looking to take advantage of the nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and the international community . As cracks deepen in the decades-old friendship between China and North Korea amid increasing U.S. pressure, Russian President Vladimir Putin stands ready to fill Beijing’s shoes.

“ Russia (has) begun quietly laying the groundwork that would strengthen its ties to North Korea, thus increasing its global political leverage should it need it,” analysts at political intelligence firm Stratfor explained in a May 5 report, referring to Putin’s strained ties with the West.

Both countries share a long history of ideological and economic relations — in 2014, Moscow wrote off 90 percent of Pyongyang’s $11 billion debt from the Soviet-era — but recent projects indicate an even cozier relationship.

A new ferry service between Rajin and Vladivostok is due to begin on May 8 that’s expected to carry up to 200 passengers and 1,000 ton of cargo six times a month. Meanwhile in April, Russian military hardware was seen transported to the country’s border with North Korea but the Kremlin claimed the action was part of pre-planned military exercises, Reuters reported.  [CNBC]

You can read the rest at the link, but expect the North Koreans to also play the new ROK government against the United States as well in order to secure aid and political support while they continue their nuclear weapons development just like during the Sunshine Policy years.

While the US is busy trying to stop the North Koreans nuclear program, Vladimir Putin and the Russians are allegedly busy planting nuclear bombs off the US coast to create tidal waves:

A former Russian defence ministry spokesman has made an extraordinary claim that Russia is burying nuclear weapons off the coast of America.

Colonel Viktor Baranetz claims that the ‘mole nukes’ would be used to set off a tsunami which could swamp the American coast.

Baranetz made the claims in an interview with the Russian news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda – claiming that the measures are a response to America’s vast military budget.  [Yahoo News]

You can read more at the link.

SK experts believe NK had no choice but to abort the missile: at 49°, it was headed toward Rason/Najin and Russiahttps://t.co/a2GLKZieiC

— Noon in Korea (@NoonInKorea) April 30, 2017

The guided missile cruiser Varyag of the Russian Pacific Fleet enters South Korea’s southeastern port of Busan on April 11, 2017, as part of a regular exchange program with the South Korean Navy Fleet Command. (Yonhap)

After reading this article about the slave labor conditions these North Korean workers in Russia are facing; I couldn’t help, but think that this sounded like the conditions many juicy girls used to face not too long ago in South Korea:

A North Korean slave laborer died building a soccer stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia, for the 2018 World Cup, Norwegian football magazine Josimar reported Thursday. He was one of at least 110 North Korean slave laborers that toil at the building site.

Josimar and Western human rights groups are demanding that FIFA, the international football governing body, delve into abuses of the North Korean workers there.

Josimar found out about them when it was covering the construction of the Krestovsky Stadium, which was completed last month in time for the FIFA Confederations Cup in June.

The North Koreans lived in containers set up in a waste ground 200-300 m from the stadium. They worked at the site from 7 a.m. till midnight every day without a day off, Josimar said.

Their passports had been confiscated and they were under surveillance around the clock, banned from contacting workers from other countries. The site was surrounded by iron fence and barbed wire. A Russian supervisor at the site said the workers were “like robots” and looked deeply unhappy.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Russian flood relief supplies arrive in North Korea https://t.co/cFTLRdSACB pic.twitter.com/69DIpyhatu

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) November 19, 2016

"over decades Russia can indeed turn into a Godzilla-sized North Korea" https://t.co/RNCBQR2b8K unclear on authorship, but interesting

— Adam Cathcart (@adamcathcart) October 20, 2016

I am glad the Korean authorities caught these two because I can’t stand people who steal or leave graffiti everywhere:

Police have arrested two Russians for allegedly vandalizing subway cars in Daegu and stealing clothes from department stores in Seoul and Busan.

Daegu Dongbu Police Station said on Monday that the two men, 22 and 20, allegedly painted the word “ONAS” — meaning “we” in Russian — on two subway cars at a depot in the city’s Dong-gu district around 1:40 a.m. on Oct. 16.

A Daegu department store employee reported the men to police.

After analyzing CCTV footage, police discovered that the graffiti suspects were wanted by Busan Jungbu Police Station on a charge of stealing clothes worth 7.5 million won ($6,620) from department stores in Seoul and Busan on Oct. 11 and 12, respectively.

According to Daegu police, the Russians stole the clothes and vandalized the subway cars “for fun.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

You just have to love the hypocrites in the Russian and Chinese military who come out against THAAD deployment to South Korea with comments like this:

Washington was using the North’s actions as a pretext to gain military superiority over China, Chinese general Cai Jun told defence officials at a briefing on the forum’s sidelines.

Deploying the system in South Korea, he said, was “not conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula”, he said, adding “it has increased the risk of military conflict in the region”. [AFP]

You know what is not conducive to “peace and stability” North Korea continuous provocations, missile firings and nuclear tests.

Beijing fears that THAAD could be used against its own missiles, effectively undermining its nuclear deterrence capabilities against the US.

From a global perspective, Cai said, the US’s insistence on developing its missile defence programme could trigger “an arms race at a high level, even to outer space.”

It is pretty ironic that the Chinese are worried about an arms race when their unilateral territorial grabs in the South China Sea and the East China Sea is causing an arms race with neighboring countries in the reasons.

Speaking on a panel during the forum, Russian deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov also slammed the agreement.

“We are concerned about the attempts of certain nations to exploit the complex situation in the Korean peninsula,” he said, “pumping this sub-region with clearly excessive defence capabilities.”

The decision has “aggravated regional tension” and “adds problems to solving the situation.”

You can read more at the link, but if the Russians are so concerned about aggravating regional tensions and adding problems then why don’t they do something to stop North Korea nuclear and missile programs that are the main cause of all the regional tensions and problems?

A group of grandchildren of Koreans who were forcibly taken to work on Russia’s far east island of Sakhalin during the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula (1910-45), arrives at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Aug. 2, 2016. A civic organization in Busan invited the group to a five-day history tour program. Some 43,000 Koreans were sent to the icy island that was a part of the Japanese empire at the time. (Yonhap)