North Korea (Superthread)

[CougarKing]

And again with the brinksmanship:  :

Reuters

North Korea prepares launch site for longer-range rockets: report
Thu Oct 2, 2014 2:37am EDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, already heavily sanctioned by the United Nations for its missile and nuclear tests, has completed a major overhaul of its rocket launch site, a U.S. think tank said on Thursday, enabling it to fire larger, longer-range rockets.

Reclusive North Korea, which is technically still at war with the South after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, routinely fires short-range missiles or rockets into waters off its east and west coasts.

A longer-range capability would be bound to concern its sworn enemies, Japan and the United States whom it regularly threatens with nuclear strikes.

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[tomahawk6]

Kim Jong Un is said to have 2 broken ankles.Frankly I wouldnt be surprised if Kim Jong Un was replaced.He has made enemies among the elite when he had his uncle killed.

 

[Hisoyaki]

Question is: Why wouldn't he try brinkmanship?

Everyone from Jimmy Carter to Madelaine Albright wants to make a deal with North Korea.

 

[tomahawk6]

Rumors of a coup attempt in North Korea.Pyongyang is said to be on lockdown.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11138105/North-Korea-capital-under-lockdown-amid-rumours-of-threat-to-Kim-Jong-un.html

 

[CougarKing]

At least one source says that Kim Jong Un may no longer be in charge:

Vice.com

Former Top Official Says Kim Jong-un Is No Longer in Control of North Korea

By Keegan Hamilton

October 2, 2014 | 4:05 pm
An elite group of exiles from North Korea gathered in September in the Netherlands to discuss the state of the regime they used to serve. The conference included top diplomats, an ex-senior official of the Ministry of Security, and a high-ranking military officer, but the keynote address was given by Jang Jin-sung, formerly a key member of Kim Jong-il's propaganda machine. Included in Jang's speech was a surprising assertion: North Korea is in the midst of a civil war.

According to Jang — a former counterintelligence official and poet laureate under Kim Jong-il — members of the government's Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), a powerful group of officials that once reported only to Kim Jong-il, have stopped taking orders from his son, Kim Jong-un. The OGD, Jang says, has effectively taken control of the country, and a conflict is simmering between factions that want to maintain absolute control over the economy and others seeking to gain wealth through foreign trade and a slightly more open market.

"On one hand, it's people who want to maintain a regime monopoly," Jang told VICE News through a translator in an interview Thursday. "On the other hand, it's not like people are fighting against the regime, but in a policy sense they want to take advantage to get influence. It's not actually consciously civil war, but there are these two incompatible forces at play."

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[jollyjacktar]

At least one source says that Kim Jong Un may no longer be in charge:

Vice.com

So, the Jong Show has turned into the Gong Show.

 

[a_majoor]

If any of this is true at all, then it is time to review this article:
When North Korea Falls.

While somewhat dated by now, many of the basic assumptions still stand. Perhaps the biggest assumption in the article which will have to be reexamined is the willingness and ability of the United States to intervene to stabilize the territory and secure WMDs in the territory of the DPRK in the event of an overt collapse. (Given the inability of the US to craft a coherent strategy to deal with issues as diverse as Russian adventurism to the spread of Ebola, a rapid response to events in the DPRK seem out of the question). Certainly the ROK cannot stand by during the turmoil, and China will also have to take steps of some sort as well.

The other, longer term effects that will have to be looked at is the emergence of a "Greater Korea". The ROK has tremendous industrial resources and power, and opening up the DPRK for economic development and having a vast pool of low paid and relatively unskilled labour to draw upon will have some dramatic effects on Korea internally as well as Korea's place in the world.

 

[tomahawk6]

He may not be in control.Many have thought that he was just a front man for those that wield the real power.

 

[CougarKing]

The DPRK govt. reaching out: a greater thaw in relations?

Reuters

Top North Korea officials make rare visit to South as diplomacy ramps up

By Ju-min Park

INCHEON South Korea (Reuters) - Isolated North Korea sent its highest level delegation to South Korea on Saturday to attend the Asian Games closing ceremony amid a flurry of diplomatic activity which has raised hopes for improved ties between the arch rivals.

Heading the delegation was Hwang Pyong So, who arrived at Incheon airport in full military uniform, and Choe Ryong Hae, two senior aides to North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Yang Gon, a senior ruling Workers' Party official and a long time veteran of dealings ties with the South, was also among the delegation.

They met South Korean government officials.

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[CougarKing]

A brief skirmish despite the visit by high-level North Korean envoys last week:

Reuters

South, North Korea ships fire shots at disputed sea border
Mon Oct 6, 2014 10:18pm EDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean naval ship fired warning shots on Tuesday after a North Korean patrol boat crossed a disputed sea border off the peninsula's west coast and fired shots back before retreating, a South Korean defense official said.

There were no casualties on the South Korean side and none of the shots by either side was aimed at the other's vessel, he told Reuters.

It was the latest in a series of similar altercations near Yeonpyeong island, which was bombed by the North in 2010 killing four people, including two civilians.

The area near Yeonpyeong has been the scene of clashes in the past that killed scores of sailors on both sides, with North Korean vessels frequently crossing the so-called Northern Limit Line, which it refuses to recognize as the maritime border.

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[CougarKing]

Maybe Kim Jong Un is in Macau with his older brother in exile...

Military.com

Is North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un Ill, Deposed or Taking a Break?

Los Angeles Times | Oct 08, 2014 | by Carol J. Williams
If North Korean leader Kim Jong Un isn't sick, he must be dead -- at least politically.

That's the thinking behind a rash of rumors that the portly 31-year-old scion of the Hermit Kingdom's founding communists has been toppled from power.
Kim hasn't been seen in public in more than a month, and his absence from the Sept. 25 gathering of the rubber-stamp parliament injected adrenaline into Korea watchers' speculation that he has been deposed by a palace coup.

Then a high-level delegation of Pyongyang officials made a surprise visit to the South Korean city of Incheon on Saturday, ostensibly to catch the closing ceremonies of the Asian Games in which North Korean athletes did their rogue country proud. The top-ranking visitor, purported No. 2 Hwang Pyong So, conveyed Kim's "heartfelt greeting" to the South Korean officials with whom he met. That only served to ramp up media and academic speculation over why Pyongyang was making such a conciliatory gesture at this time.

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[CougarKing]

North Korea's new top leader?

Reuters

New star emerges in North Korea amid speculation over Kim

By By James Pearson and Jack Kim | Reuters – 1 hour 0 minutes ago

SEOUL (Reuters) - The man in the olive drab uniform and oversized Soviet-style military cap who strode through South Korea's main airport last week has climbed from an obscure desk job in North Korea to the most powerful position outside the ruling Kim family.

Hwang Pyong So, now a top military aide to the North's leader Kim Jong Un, has had an unprecedented rise to the top rungs of North Korea's leadership in the space of a few years. With intense speculation on the whereabouts of Kim after his disappearance from official media for over a month, Hwang is even more in focus.

Last week, Hwang was at the head of a delegation that visited South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in the city of Incheon with little advance notice.

He is the most senior official from the North to have ever come to the South, and opinion is divided on whether this could be a sign of turmoil in Pyongyang.

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[Colin Parkinson]

For all we know this is an elaborate game to get "traitors" in NK who wish for another regime to show their hand and then be dealt with when Kim re-emerges or it could be the real deal. Those that know won't be saying anything.

 

[CougarKing]

And the portly cheese eater one emerges once again...

Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un makes first appearance since September 3

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a newly built residential district and a scientific establishment, state media reported early on Tuesday, his first public appearances since Sept. 3.

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[CougarKing]

Reuters

North and South Korea military officials hold secret talks: lawmaker

SEOUL (Reuters) - High-ranking military officials from North and South Korea met secretly on Wednesday to discuss recent border altercations that involved gun fire, a South Korean opposition lawmaker and news reports said.

North Korea's military fired shots on Friday aiming at balloons sent by a private activist group from the South carrying leaflets with messages critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with some of the bullets landing in the South.

South Korea's military fired back in the incident that did not escalate or result in casualties.

The military officials met at the Panmunjom truce village that sits on the armed border separating the two Koreas, Park Jie-won, a senior opposition member of parliament said at a party meeting, according to a statement issued by the party.

Yonhap news agency also reported a meeting was held, citing an unnamed government source.

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[CougarKing]

The North Korean nuclear threat again:

Reuters

U.S. general says he believes North Korea can build nuclear warhead
Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:16pm EDT

By David Alexander and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said on Friday he believes Pyongyang has the capability to build a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a ballistic missile, but added there were no tests or other evidence it has taken that step.

Army General Curtis Scaparrotti said he thought North Korea's connection with Iran and Pakistan meant it probably had access to the expertise needed to miniaturize and mount an atomic weapon on a missile.

"I believe they have the capability to miniaturize a device at this point and they have the technology to potentially deliver what they say they have," Scaparrotti told a news conference at the Pentagon.

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[CougarKing]

Another possible naval threat from North Korea:

Military.com

North Korea May Be Developing Sea-Based Missiles

Associated Press | Oct 28, 2014 | by Matthew Pennington
North Korea has built a new testing facility that is probably intended to research how to launch ballistic missiles from submarines or ships, according to a U.S. research institute.

The North is still likely years away from fielding such missiles, but the finding will add to concern over its weapons development.

The analysis is based on recent satellite imagery at the east coast site of Sinpo, where the institute says North Korea has a naval shipyard and research institute. It shows a 12-meter (39-foot) -high stand on a 30-meter (98-foot) -wide concrete base that is the right size and design for testing how a missile would eject from a launch tube as on a submarine or surface combat ship, according to the analysis published by 38 North,[/b] the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

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[CougarKing]

From submarine commander to fighter ace...Kim Jong Un does it all...  :

Huffington Post

Kim Jong Un Hops In Fighter Jet For Weird Photo Opportunity

Now that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back in the spotlight after a lengthy disappearance, he's wasting no time engaging in one of his favorite activities: being photographed in weird places.

The latest photo op may be one of the oddest yet, showing him sitting in the cockpit of a Russian fighter jet with some kind of fancy and frilly headrest cover that looks like it came off a pillow on grandma's living room sofa.

Bloomberg said Kim's visit to the air base comes amid a new report that he recently ordered the execution of 10 senior officials on charges that include graft and watching South Korean soap operas.

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[Colin Parkinson]

Well I believe most western leaders have had similar pictures, mind without the custom headrest

 

[cavalryman]

Well I believe most western leaders have had similar pictures, mind without the custom headrest

Jean Chretien and the reversed helmet?  ;D