North Korea (Superthread)

[Oldgateboatdriver]

The Firm is North Korean (read belongs the NK military and benefits mostly to someone high and mighty in the party) but you can be sure the ships fly flags of convenience. That's why they bother to try and change the names, changes that are accompanied I am sure by simulated changes of ownership to avoid their being tracked by ordinary maritime shipping "intelligence" sources. They remain dedicated to breaking through the imposed sanctions.

 

[a_majoor]

It would be very sad if these ships were to suffer "accidents" on the open ocean, or maybe encounters with pirates off the coast of Africa or the The Strait of Malacca .....

 

[CougarKing]

or maybe encounters with pirates off the coast of Africa or the The Strait of Malacca .....

If you recall from the Modern Piracy thread, there was already one incident where Somali pirates attacked a North Korean vessel, only to find the North Korean crew armed to the teeth with small arms.

 

[a_majoor]

If you recall from the Modern Piracy thread, there was already one incident where Somali pirates attacked a North Korean vessel, only to find the North Korean crew armed to the teeth with small arms.

Then its a twofer!

 

[CougarKing]

I wonder if the US, Japan or South Korea ever considered an Osiraq-style surgical air strike on any North Korean nuclear weapons facility? For those unaware, Osiraq was the site of a nuclear weapons development facility in Iraq which was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in the 1980s, if I can recall correctly.

Reuters

U.S. says 'seriously concerned' about North Korea's nuclear work

(Reuters) - The United States remain seriously concerned about North Korea's nuclear work which it said breached international agreements, it said on Wednesday, a day after the isolated Asian country said it had the power to deter a U.S. "nuclear threat."

The Unites States said North Korea's graphite moderated reactor could enable it to produce additional plutonium for weapons in the near future, among other nuclear activities.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[a_majoor]

I'm sure all kinds of ideas have been floated, but the key sticking point is that the DPRK can effectively retaliate (even if just by arranging an WWI like artillery barrage on Seoul), unlike Iraq or even Syria when the IDF bombed their nuclear reactors.

Once you cross the start line on a project like that you are essentially comitting to "all or nothing"

Sadly (as touched on in PM Netanyahu's speech last night), Iran really did not have the ability to effectively retaliate against an American or Israeli strike against their nuclear program (maybe indirectly through disrupting the oil market or via sponsoring more terrorism), but for various reasons, everyone has been staying their hand until it may be too late.

 

[OldSolduer]

But now that watch their leaders in HD,

http://www.nknews.org/2015/03/north-korean-tv-uploads-first-hd-footage-including-archives-of-kim-jong-il/

 

[midget-boyd91]

But now that watch their leaders in HD,

http://www.nknews.org/2015/03/north-korean-tv-uploads-first-hd-footage-including-archives-of-kim-jong-il/

So, are they going to track down the cameramen and throw them in the Gulags if footage of Kim Jong Il/Un with a pimple surfaces?

 

[OldSolduer]

So, are they going to track down the cameramen and throw them in the Gulags if footage of Kim Jong Il/Un with a pimple surfaces?

Or that retarded haircut.

 

[midget-boyd91]

Also: This was just wayyyy too good to NOT share for everybody else's eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEv9GC0q8Co&t=17

 

[CougarKing]

A Canadian being held by Pyongyang?

Reuters

Missing Canadian pastor being held by North Korea: church

OTTAWA (Reuters) - North Korea has detained the head pastor of a large Canadian church who went missing after he traveled to the secretive state on a humanitarian mission, a church spokeswoman said Thursday.

Canadian foreign ministry officials informed the family of the detention of Reverend Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, from the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, spokeswoman Lisa Pak told Reuters. He was last heard from on Jan. 31.

Lim had made hundreds of trips to North Korea, where he helps oversee a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage in the Rajin region, Pak said. She said she wouldn't speculate on why North Korea had detained him.

North Korea and China have clamped down on Christian groups over the past year, and several American Christians have been detained by North Korea.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Yet another missile launch:

Reuters

North Korea fires short-range missiles ahead of U.S. defense chief visit to Seoul

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Friday test-fired four missiles off its west coast, a week ahead of a visit to Seoul by the U.S. defense secretary, in what South Korea called a bid to stoke tension during its joint military drills with the United States.

North Korea occasionally fires short-range missiles into the sea as part of its military drills and has conducted such launches during times of tension with neighboring South Korea.

The four short-range projectiles flew roughly 140 km (84 miles) and plunged into the sea late on Friday afternoon, South Korea's office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

The North Korean ICBM threat in focus again:

US Naval Institute

NORAD Chief: North Korea Has Ability to Reach U.S. With Nuclear Warhead on Mobile ICBM

PENTAGON — North Korea has the ability to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the West Coast of the U.S. with a nuclear weapon from a mobile launcher, according to a Department of Defense intelligence assessment cited by the head of NORAD in a Tuesday press briefing.

Not only does the Pentagon worry that the road mobile weapon — the KN-08 — is able to launch with reduced warning from inside North Korea but also that the current regime has advanced its nuclear weapons technology enough to arm the ICBM with an effective warhead.

“Our assessment is they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland and that’s the way we think, that’s our assessment of the process,” NORAD and U.S. Northern Command head Adm. William Gortney said in a press briefing to reporters.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Someday, Beijing may have to deal with Pyongyang if the latter continues to threaten the relative stability in the region that has allowed China's economy to thrive...

Whether the Chinese deal with their former proteges by force remains to be seen:

Reuters

China warns on rising North Korea nuclear capability: WSJ

SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese nuclear experts have warned that North Korea may already have 20 nuclear warheads and the capability to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to double its arsenal by next year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Chinese estimates of Pyongyang's nuclear production, relayed to U.S. nuclear specialists, exceed most previous U.S. forecasts, which range from 10 to 16 bombs currently, said the report, which cited people briefed on the matter.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Edward Campbell]

Dealing with North Korea by force is not a sure thing, even for China.

The geography is daunting; Korea is a peninsula.

                   

The only 'land' border is, in fact, a large river. The Yalu is a formidable obstacle and the Chinese road/rail network in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, while much improved, is not as extensive and well developed as in other, more populated regions. A good logistical tail would be essential because the DPRK military is large and might not collapse at the first sign of Chinese regulars.

Xi Jinping is, I think, a traditionalist; if I'm correct he will eschew conventional war, considering it only as a last resort, and will try to defeat North Korea by any other means. For the moment, the DPRK is as much a useful tool as it is a problem. The "trick" for Kim Jung Un's government is to maintain that balance.

Edited to add:

Further to the above, Ray Kwong, a well connected journalist/teacher/entrepreneur suggests that Korea may have a good stock of nuclear weapons ...

         

                    ... even the low end estimate (guesstimate?) is enough to make even the Chinese think twice.

There has to be a better way ...

 

[CougarKing]

One can only hope they weren't literally fed to the dogs like his uncle or executed at point-blank range with anti-aircraft guns like his uncle's aides this time...

Reuters

North Korea's Kim ordered 15 executions this year: South's spy agency

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year as punishment for challenging his authority, South Korea's spy agency told a closed-door parliament meeting on Wednesday.

A vice minister for forestry was one of the officials executed for complaining about a state policy, a member of parliament's intelligence committee, Shin Kyung-min, quoted an unnamed National Intelligence Service official as saying.

"Excuses or reasoning doesn't work for Kim Jong Un, and his style of rule is to push through everything, and if there's any objection, he takes that as a challenge to authority and comes back with execution as a showcase," Shin said.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Spring cleaning Kim Jong Un style.

 

[CougarKing]

Riiight. Let's see how far they will cross into North Korea before the sentries clobber them...

Foreign Policy

North Korea’s Fellow Travelers
Gloria Steinem, two Nobel Laureates, and 26 other women will be making a big mistake if they march across the DMZ with Christine Ahn.

On May 24, a march billed as WomenCrossDMZ will try to pass through the two-mile wide demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea in a “symbolic act of peace.” Organized by the Korean-American activist Christine Ahn, the march’s 30 confirmed participants include feminist icon Gloria Steinem, Nobel Laureates Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Maguire, filmmaker Abigail Disney, and Amnesty International Americas director Erika Guevara Rosas.

Ahn says that her march, walking from north to south, intends “to help reunite families, improve human rights in North Korea, and end the state of war for 70 million Koreans.” With Steinem and Nobel Laureates on board, the effort has garnered coverage from the New York Times and the Guardian. Ahn, who is in contact with officials from North Korea, said she traveled there to obtain Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un’s official stamp of approval: an expression of “full support” and a promise to “render all necessary assistances” for plans that even include an “international peace symposium” in Pyongyang, where marchers hope to share “ideas of mobilizing women to bring an end to violent conflict.”

(...SNIPPED)

 

[midget-boyd91]

Riiight. Let's see how far they will cross into North Korea before the sentries clobber them...

Foreign Policy

Sounds like they'll be walking the other way, from north to south.

 

[CougarKing]

The extreme, hyperbolic statements used by the North Korean media, such as the claim they can now "wipe out" all their enemies, really is hilarious sometimes.

Daily Mail

North Korea claims 'eye-opening success' of first test-firing of ballistic missile from submarine

Kim Jong Un says North Korea is now capable of 'wiping out' any enemy
Security experts call claims of the weapons advance are 'alarming'
Missiles on a submarine are harder to detect before they are launched
But previous tests were conducted from a platform and not a submarine

(...SNIPPED)