North Korea (Superthread)

[CougarKing]

All North Korean vessels in foreign ports should have been seized long ago because of the crazy regime they belong to:

Guardian

Philippines impounds North Korean boat under new UN sanctions

The Philippines has impounded a North Korean vessel under tough new United Nations sanctions introduced in response to Pyongyang’s recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

The 6,830-tonne cargo ship Jin Teng will not be allowed to leave Subic port, north-east of the capital Manila, where it had been docked for three days and its crew will be deported, presidential spokesman Manolo Quezon said on state-run radio station Radyo ng Bayan on Saturday.

(....EDITED)

“The world is concerned over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and as a member of the UN, the Philippines has to do its part to enforce the sanctions,” Quezon said.

 

[CougarKing]

SRBMs fired:

BBC

North Korea 'fires short-range missiles'

    10 March 2016
North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea's military has said.

It said the missiles, launched off the east coast, flew some 500km (310 miles) and fell into the water.

Shortly after the launch, Pyongyang announced it "nullifies" all inter-Korean cooperative projects and will liquidate South Korean assets in the country.

Most South Korean assets in the North are in the Kaesong industrial zone.
(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Maybe Kim Jong Un rode the sub, weighing it down the sub so it could never surface again...  ;D

CNN

US says North Korean sub missing
Washington (CNN)The North Korean regime lost contact with one of its submarines earlier this week, three U.S. officials familiar with the latest information told CNN.

The U.S. military had been observing the submarine operate off North Korea's east coast when the vessel stopped, and U.S. spy satellites, aircraft and ships have been secretly watching for days as the North Korean navy searched for the missing sub.

The U.S. is unsure if the missing vessel is adrift under the sea or whether it has sunk, the officials said, but believes it suffered some type of failure during an exercise.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Cue theme song for the neverending launches: The Neverending story!  :

Canadian Press

Seoul: North Korea fires ballistic missile into sea
[The Canadian Press]
Hyung-Jin Kim And Kim Tong-Hyung, The Associated Press

March 17, 2016

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea defied U.N. resolutions by firing a medium-range ballistic missile into the sea on Friday, Seoul and Washington officials said, days after its leader Kim Jong Un ordered weapons tests linked to its pursuit of a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile fired from a site north of Pyongyang flew about 800 kilometres (500 miles) before crashing off the North's east coast.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it wasn't known what type of missile was fired, but a South Korean defence official, requesting anonymity citing department rules, said it is the first medium-range missile launched by the North since April 2014 when it fired two.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Edward Campbell]

A look, from the ISS, at North Korea by night:

See the video here at the 30 second point.

 

[jollyjacktar]

They really should pay their power bills.

 

[Journeyman]

If this was a Politics thread, I would expect comments on how effective and environmentally-enlightened their energy conservation efforts were.

      :stirpot:

 

[jollyjacktar]

No, wait.  How could I have missed it.  They're celebrating Earth Day because the Dear Leader Jr. is such a humanitarian and Liberal minded guy. 

;D  Better?

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Why do you guys always try to come up with convoluted answers ???

Don't you know that NK is the world's largest Dark Sky Preserve ?

 

[CougarKing]

Part of North Korea's own footprint in Africa:

Defense News

Namibia confirms North Korean-built arms and ammunition factory
Oscar Nkala, Defense News 9:10 a.m. EDT March 17, 2016

GABORONE, Botswana — The Namibian government has confirmed that North Korea built an arms and ammunition factory in the African country and is in the process of executing other contracts for the construction of the country's first military academy, military barracks and a new headquarters for the Ministry of Defense (MoD).

The confirmation came a week after the government refuted the recent United Nations Panel of Experts (PoE), which found that Pyongyang has continuously violated UN Security Council sanctions imposed to protest its nuclear weapons program by providing military weapons, training and embarking on military-related construction projects in African countries, including Uganda and Namibia.

This week, Namibian Deputy Prime Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah confirmed that the North Korean state-owned firm Mansudae Overseas Projects, through its subsidiary Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID), had indeed built a small arms and ammunition factory in the capital Windhoek.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Again:

Associated Press

South Korea says North Korea fired short-range projectile
[The Canadian Press]
Kim Tong-Hyung, The Associated Press

March 29, 2016

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired a short-range projectile from an area near its eastern coast on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, in what appears to be another weapons test seen as a response to ongoing military drills between Washington and Seoul.

The projectile was fired near the North Korean port city of Wonsan and flew about 200 kilometres (125 miles) before crashing into land northeast of the launch site, South Korean military officials said.

It was unclear whether the projectile was a ballistic missile or an artillery shell, said a Joint Chiefs of Staff official who didn't want to be identified, citing office rules. It was too early to tell whether North Korea used a land target to test the accuracy and range of its weapons or experienced problems after planning a launch into the sea, said an official from Seoul's Defence Ministry, who also didn't want to be named because of department rules.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

The day may come when the PRC washes its hands of their step child and come south to topple them.They could then allow reunification which would bring jobs and commerce north.The need for a US presence in the south would vanish as well.A win win for everyone except the Kim's.

 

[jollyjacktar]

There are those predictions for 2016 which state that Kim will fall this year with a coup and the two Koreas will become one once more.

 

[Journeyman]

There are those predictions for 2016 which state that Kim will fall this year with a coup and the two Koreas will become one once more.

I knew a Navy Int O, focussed on Asia, who announced every week that North Korea was just about to collapse and/or start WW3.

That was only about 25 years ago.    :boring:

 

[tomahawk6]

They cannot exist without China.The recent threats and missile launches isnt good for China.Making the problem go away is good for business.

 

[Edward Campbell]

They cannot exist without China.The recent threats and missile launches isnt good for China.Making the problem go away is good for business.

Repeating myself, again ...

The DPRK actually performs services that are useful to China:

1. It keeps America and Japan off balance. No one really blames the Chinese very much: the DPRK has been firmly consigned to the "raving nut-bar" end of the political spectrum and no one expects China to go to war to change that; and

2. It actually helps Sino-Korean (South Korean) relations because China does intervene, fairly regularly, to denounce the DPRK's latest lunacy and this keep South Korea happier. China wants good relations with South Korea: it is a major source of investment and technology for China. 

From China's point of view the DPRK does more strategic good than harm, and it does so at low cost to China.

 

[CougarKing]

North Korea showcases another capability:

NBC

North Korea Jams GPS Signals to Fishing Boats: South

by Stella Kim and Ian Wood


North Korea is jamming GPS navigation systems near its border with South Korea, affecting hundreds of fishing boats but not causing any danger, officials in Seoul said Friday.

About 280 South Korean vessels experienced problems with their GPS navigation systems and many were forced to return to their ports Friday, defense officials said.

It came hours after North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea, angry at ongoing U.S joint military drills with South Korea.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Repeating myself, again ...

The DPRK actually performs services that are useful to China:

1. It keeps America and Japan off balance. No one really blames the Chinese very much: the DPRK has been firmly consigned to the "raving nut-bar" end of the political spectrum and no one expects China to go to war to change that; and

2. It actually helps Sino-Korean (South Korean) relations because China does intervene, fairly regularly, to denounce the DPRK's latest lunacy and this keep South Korea happier. China wants good relations with South Korea: it is a major source of investment and technology for China. 

From China's point of view the DPRK does more strategic good than harm, and it does so at low cost to China.

While I respect your opinion ER,I do not agree.In the news this morning we have activity at the "mothballed" nuclear facility at Yongbyon and Chinese sanctions on its client North Korea.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/04/05/suspicious-activity-at-north-korea-nuclear-site-us-think-tank-reports.html


https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-restricts-trade-north-korea-104337866.html?nhp=1

 

[Edward Campbell]

While I respect your opinion ER,I do not agree.In the news this morning we have activity at the "mothballed" nuclear facility at Yongbyon and Chinese sanctions on its client North Korea.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/04/05/suspicious-activity-at-north-korea-nuclear-site-us-think-tank-reports.html


https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-restricts-trade-north-korea-104337866.html?nhp=1

I really don't know what to think about the Fox News report, except that I do not believe that China wants or will tolerate a DPRK that can actually strike its neighbours. As to the sanctions: that is, I think, a good example of China intervening to denounce the DPEK and, thereby, keep ROK happier. Sanctions are better than words ... and China is sitting on a mountain of its own coal and steel.

 

[tomahawk6]

A North Korean Sinpo class sub tried to launch a missile but returned to port.The article speculated that there had been a malfunction.Kim seems determined to keep pressing his luck.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/report-korean-submarine-attempts-missile-test-launch-160407161600861.html