North Korea (Superthread)

[tomahawk6]

North Korea's leadership is a criminal enterprise.There are factions and everyone knows what will happen to them if they plot against Dear Leader.Jang's faction lost and have paid the piper.With the continued support of the Army, Kim Jong Il will be the front man for the organization.

 

[George Wallace]

Some day someone will wise up and his reign will come tumbling down.  Appearances, as we have seen, are not always what they seem.  There is still the possibility that there can be a secretive group, not necessarily within North Korea, plotting his demise. 

 

[CougarKing]

Let's wait and see if this supposedly larger missile is just a fake intentionally displayed to deceive the US/West or the real thing...

Korea building missile launch pad capable of aiming at U.S.: report

North Korea is improving one of its missile launch sites and may soon be able to fire rockets large enough to hit mainland United States, according to experts.


Recent satellite images appear to show that one of the country's launch stations has been modified to accommodate an intercontinental missile 25 percent larger than one it fired into space in Dec. 2012, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University’s U.S.-Korea Institute (USKI) published Wednesday.

The report added that the launch pad, which could be ready as early as March, would allow for "a more robust rocket test program in the future involving larger space launch vehicles and road-mobile ballistic missiles able to attack targets in Northeast Asia and the United States."

Read more here...

NBC News

 

[CougarKing]

North Korea's shadow looming over the next Olympic Winter Games in the city of Pyeongchang, South Korea:

Canada.com News

2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang try to escape the nuclear shadow of North Korea

SOCHI, Russia — The Sochi Olympics have hardly begun and already organizers of the next Winter Games in South Korea have shown up in southern Russia to tell the world that Pyeongchang will be ready to host the quadrennial in 2018.

Once they’d answered a series of vacuous questions from Russian journalists about how wonderful everything has been in Sochi, Kim Jin-Sun, the lead organizer of the next Winter Olympics, quietly informed his interlocutors that South Korea’s first Winter Olympics are expected to cost $7 billion — or less than one-seventh of the astronomical tab Russians have been stuck with to pay for the Sochi fortnight.

About $2-billion of that money will be spent on sports arenas and pistes, he said. The rest will be spent on major infrastructure projects, such as a 120-km high-speed rail line from Seoul to the mountain resort.

The elephant in the room for Pyeongchang, as it is for everything South Korea undertakes, is the unpredictable behaviour of its nuclear-armed northern cousins, whose artillery guns can easily reach the next city to host the Winter Games. That is one of the reasons why the South Korean bid was rejected twice by the International Olympic Committee before winning selection on the first ballot three years ago.

But that decision was made before the even more mercurial Kim Jong-un took over from his father. In a portend of what may lie ahead, South Korea is once again on high alert this week because of intelligence reports that North Korea is about to explode its fourth underground nuclear test.

(...)

 

[The Bread Guy]

:tsktsk: 
BAD North Korea! 

A wide array of crimes against humanity, arising from “policies established at the highest level of State,” have been committed and continue to take place in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, according to a UN report released Monday, which also calls for urgent action by the international community to address the human rights situation in the country, including referral to the International Criminal Court.

In a 400-page set of linked reports and supporting documents, based on first-hand testimony from victims and witnesses, the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the DPRK has documented in great detail the “unspeakable atrocities” committed in the country.

“The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,” the Commission -- established by the Human Rights Council in March 2013 -- says in a report that is unprecedented in scope.

“These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation,” the report says, adding that “Crimes against humanity are ongoing in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea because the policies, institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their heart remain in place.” ....

North Korea's response:  Lies!  All lies!

.... North Korea's diplomatic mission in Geneva dismissed the findings. "We will continue to strongly respond to the end to any attempt of regime-change and pressure under the pretext of 'human rights protection'," it said.

The two-page North Korean statement, in English, said the report was an "instrument of a political plot aimed at sabotaging the socialist system" and defaming the country.

Rights violations listed in the document and forwarded to Pyongyang for comment several weeks ago, "do not exist in our country," the statement added ....

 

[57Chevy]

                                        Shared with provisions of the Copyright Act

North Koreans really ARE kept in the dark: Astonishing NASA picture shows backward communist state as a black patch on the planet

Mail Online 24 Feb

North Korea appears like a black hole in a sea of light in this remarkable NASA satellite image of the isolated communist state.

Taken at night on January 30 from the International Space Station (ISS) this picture shows North Korea almost completely devoid of lights.

In stark contrast to the south of the image South Korea is shown bathed in light as is China to the north both clearly visible bustling with energy.

North Korea - which is ruled by supreme leader Kim Jong-un - is almost completely black appearing to show a distinct lack of power or energy supply.

The only exception is the country's capital Pyongyang to the south east of the nation which is illuminated by city lights.

However the rest of the country - which has a population of 24 million - is pitch black looking almost like a sea between South Korea and China.

more at link...

 

[CougarKing]

Anyone wonder how many ex-boyfriends she's fed to the dogs?

National Post

‘Eccentricity to the point of weirdness’: Kim Jong-un’s erratic younger sister elevated to key role in North Korean regime

Kim Yo-jong now North Korea leader Kim Jong-un's key advisor


The younger sister of Kim Jong-un has been elevated to a key role in the North Korean regime and is on the verge of becoming Mr Kim’s closest adviser, despite her youth and reported erratic behaviour.

Kim Yo-jong, 24, emerged in the run-up to the March 9 election in North Korea, in which her brother won 100% of the vote in his constituency. Kim Kyong-hui, Mr Kim’s frail and alcoholic aunt, has been conspicuous by her absence since the election. Her husband, Jang Song-thaek, was publicly denounced and executed in December.

That void has apparently been filled by Ms. Kim, who was said by state media to be “a core worker of the Workers’ Party Central Committee.”

Ms. Kim studied in Switzerland at the same time as her older brother. Media reports have suggested that she is already in charge of her brother’s daily schedule, “as well as coordinating every detail of his fashion and hair style,” the JoongAng Daily reported.


(...EDITED)

Plus more about Beijing's influence over Pyongyang...

"Growing Chinese Influence Worries North Korean Officials"

Chosun


" Kim said North Korean officials are aware of problems like mounting trade deficits and loss of capital, but there is no alternative. The North is handing over mining rights and licenses to develop special economic zones to China, but at the same time the regime "doesn't trust China.”

Kim recalled that nation founder Kim Il-sung, who signed a friendship treaty with China in 1961, warned North Koreans not to trust the Chinese. "This is why North Korea is unwilling to give up its nuclear weapons despite pressure from China."

North Koreans living in the border regions are so difficult to control that Kim Jong-il once asked whether they were part of North Korea at all. "If the central government issues orders, officials in the provinces just file false reports to maintain their privileges, which has become a chronic problem," Kim said. "Kim Jong-un basically just rules over Pyongyang, and even the North’s second city of Hamhung is a different world." "

(...EDITED)

 

[57Chevy]

Leadership  :

Someone laughed  :nod:

All Men In North Korea Are Now Reportedly Required to Get the Same Haircut as Kim Jong Un is shared with provisions of The Copyright Act

 

[CougarKing]

Leadership  :

Someone laughed  :nod:

All Men In North Korea Are Now Reportedly Required to Get the Same Haircut as Kim Jong Un is shared with provisions of The Copyright Act

For those wondering how the "haircut" looks, check the picture of this road-side vendor in China who is reputed to be an exact duplicate of North Korea's leader.    ;D

 

[CougarKing]

More nuclear brinksmanship... 

Defense News

North Korea Vows Not To Rule Out a New Nuclear Test
Mar. 30, 2014 - 11:12AM  |  By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea vowed not to rule out a “new form” of nuclear test Sunday after the UN Security Council condemned its latest ballistic missile launch amid simmering tensions over Seoul’s joint military drills with Washington.

Pyongyang has carried out a series of rocket and short-range missile launches in recent weeks which have prompted stern reactions from South Korea and the United States.

On Wednesday it upped the ante by test-firing two mid-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Japan, sparking condemnation from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

“(We) would not rule out a new form of a nuclear test for bolstering up (our) nuclear deterrence,” Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the North’s state-run KCNA news agency.

(...EDITED)

 

[CougarKing]

Reminds me of the time a couple of years ago when North Korea shelled an island held by South Korean troops.

From AFP

2 Koreas trade shots across maritime border

By:  Agence France-Presse
March 31, 2014 12:19 PM

SEOUL -- (UPDATE - 12:48 p.m.) The two Koreas traded live fire into the sea across their disputed maritime border on Monday, after Seoul said a North Korean military exercise dropped shells into South Korean waters.

"Some of the shells fired by North Korea dropped in our area and our side responded with fire," a spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.

There was no indication that either side was firing at any particular target.

Officials on the South Korean border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong said residents were being evacuated to shelters as a precaution.

The North Korean live fire exercise began at 12:15 pm (0315 GMT) and the South began responding with its own volley of artillery shells within 30 minutes.

"For the moment, both sides are firing into the sea," the JCS spokesman said.

North Korea regularly conducts live-fire drills but, in an unusual move, it had notified the South of Monday's exercise in advance.

The JCS had immediately warned it would respond in the event of any shells falling on its side of the border.

(...EDITED)

 

[CougarKing]

Russia hoping to further open up North Korea's economy?

Chosun

Russia Eyes Kaesong Industrial Complex

North Korea and Russia will discuss the possibility of Russian companies opening factories in the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, Radio Free Asia reported Friday.

Russia's Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka visited the North for five days last week to explore ways of boosting business cooperation, according to the radio station. Galushka apparently discussed improving business conditions for Russian companies in North Korea, measures to protect Russian investments, and multiple-entry visas.

Other points on the agenda were development of North Korea's Rajin-Sonbong economic zones, steps to modernize the North's mines, power plant projects, rail lines connecting Russia and Korean Peninsula and a gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea via the North.

The two countries hope to boost bilateral trade to US$1 billion by 2020. According to the South's Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency, North Korea recently imported Russian-made heavy equipment for unloading cargo at dockyards.

(...EDITED)

 

[CougarKing]

Seems the North was conducting surveillance of the area during the last artillery barrage described earlier:

From the Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo News:

North Korean 'drone' recovered in South after exchange of artillery fire

North Korea fired missiles into disputed waters Monday, raising tensions on the peninsular. The
discovery of a suspected North Korean drone points to increased surveillance in the area.

(...EDITED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Japan will shoot at any missile launch from North Korea from now until the end of the month.They will get to try out their Aegis system in a real world scenario. :camo:

http://news.yahoo.com/japan-orders-military-strike-north-korea-missile-launches-035401914--sector.html;_ylt=AwrBJSCofj9TaTQAkX_QtDMD

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will strike any North Korean ballistic missile that threatens to hit Japan in the coming weeks after Pyongyang recently fired medium-range missiles, a government source said on Saturday.

 

[tomahawk6]

The US is stepping up to the plate with 2 Aegis destroyers and Global Hawk.

http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140406/NEWS08/304060016/U-S-sending-2-warships-Japan-counter-North-Korea

TOKYO — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged warning to Asia Pacific nations Sunday, announcing that the U.S. will send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North Korean threat, and saying China must better respect its neighbors.

 

[a_majoor]

With the proliferation of ballistic missiles and Anti Access/Area Denial threats growing in the region, I would not be surprised to see a lot more theater missile defense activity in the region, either purchasing of already existing systems like the Israeli Arrow/David's Sling/Iron Dome layered system or various land and sea based versions of the Aegis system already in use by the USN and JSDF, followed by the wealthier nations developing their own systems.

A North Korea ringed by ABM systems would also mean that many nations threatened or potentially threatened by Chinese TBMs and AA/AD systems would also have a means of limiting that threat as well.

 

[CougarKing]

The 2nd suspected North Korean drone had pictures of South Korea's "Blue House", their presidential residence, when it was discovered by ROK forces.

A suspected North Korean drone, reportedly equipped with a Japanese-brand camera, that crashed in Paju on March 24.

picture source: Nikkei

North Korean drones send shock waves across South
April 4, 2014 4:48 am JST
KENTARO OGURA, Nikkei staff writer

SEOUL -- The apparent ease with which a drone believed to be of North Korean origin shot photos of the presidential palace in Seoul without being detected has some South Koreans worried.

    Photos of the building complex known as the Blue House were found in the unmanned aircraft, which crashed on March 24 in Paju, near the border with North Korea. A spokesperson for South Korea's defense ministry said in a news conference on Thursday that the drone is likely to have come from North Korea, partly because Hangul writing on the battery used a spelling unique to the North.

    The drone's body was made of polycarbonate, which is difficult for radar to detect, and it was also painted sky blue to make it less visible to the naked eye. According to South Korean media, a Canon camera was mounted on the bottom and the plane could fly for about two hours, covering a distance of 150km.


Read more from Nikkei.

 

[midget-boyd91]

After closely examining the pictures of the DPRK drones, I'm fairly confident that I had one of those when I was twelve years old. Could only turn in one direction, and it was written off when it crashed into the side of an RCMP cruiser. (Cruiser is still to blame for being on the road... I mean runway.)

 

[CougarKing]

North Korean drones...made in China. What a surprise.  :boring:

Drone incursions over South Korea




The mini drones operated by North Korea over South Korea are the SKY 09 made in China by the Taiyuan Navigation Technology company. The models operated by North Korea was equipped with a muffler, to reduce the drone’s acoustic signature.
Source: Defense update site

 

[CougarKing]

A look at another side of North Korea: its underground market economy that persists despite state controls.

National Post

Jesse Kline: Signs of hope in North Korea as people ditch their ‘voluntary servitude’ for the free market

(...EDITED)


This quiet free market revolution started in the mid-1990s, when the country stopped receiving food aid from China and the Soviet Union. Coupled with disastrous government policies that prevented aid from getting to some of the hungriest regions and punished people who tried to smuggle or buy their own food, the loss of aid resulted in the great famine, which killed somewhere between 600,000 and 2.5 million people. “Facing the very real possibility of death by starvation,” Lankov writes, “North Koreans reacted in an all too predictable way: They rediscovered the private economy.”


Despite the fact that private industry remains illegal, people began setting up private farms, often on the side of mountains, and growing food to feed their families and sell to others. Some people re-purposed unused equipment to produce their own consumer goods. Many of these goods were sold at underground markets; some were smuggled into China and traded for other products.


This burgeoning underground market economy was likely one of the main reasons that the North Korean people were able to put a stop to the famine in 1999. Beginning around the turn of the century, private individuals were producing everything from clothing to cigarettes. Since that time, other businesses have popped up, including private restaurants, warehouses, libraries and shipping companies.

(...EDITED)