TIG Post

Tag: Kim Jong Un

  • Russia-North Korea to partner against ‘any enemy’ in event of attack in new level ties – Putin

    Russia-North Korea to partner against ‘any enemy’ in event of attack in new level ties – Putin

    Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia and North Korea have elevated their relationship to a “new level,” committing to mutual assistance in the event of an attack, marking a “breakthrough” partnership.

    This declaration came during the Russian president’s rare visit to North Korea.

    As Putin commenced his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, thousands of North Koreans lined the city’s broad streets, chanting “welcome Putin” and waving Russian and North Korean flags, along with bouquets of flowers.

    The visit featured a meticulously arranged display of influence in the authoritarian state.

    During the visit, the two leaders signed a new strategic partnership agreement, replacing previous deals from 1961, 2000, and 2001, as reported by Russian state news agency TASS.

    He said the deal encompasses the “political, trade, investment, cultural spheres, and the security sphere as well,” calling the pact “truly a breakthrough document.”

    Putin said joint drills involving the United States, South Korea and Japan were “hostile” toward North Korea,” characterizing the US policy as “confrontational.”

    Kim, meanwhile, called the new “alliance” a “watershed moment in the development of the bilateral relations.”

    But the deal between the two autocrats raised many questions, too – including whether Russia’s nuclear deterrent now extends to North Korea, and vice versa, or whether the two nations will now hold joint military drills.

    Putin received an enthusiastic welcome during a ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in North Korea’s capital, where mounted soldiers, military personnel, and children with balloons cheered under large portraits of both leaders.

    They introduced their respective delegations and stood side by side as the Russian national anthem played. Later, they rode together in an open-top limousine, smiling and waving to the crowds.

    The event underscored North Korea’s close ties with Moscow and likely served as a reminder to the West of Putin’s enduring influence, despite global criticism following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

    The partnership holds significance for Russia as well. While several governments have accused Pyongyang of supplying arms to Moscow during its conflict in Ukraine, both countries have consistently denied these allegations, despite substantial evidence suggesting otherwise.

    On Wednesday, Putin gifted Kim an Aurus car during their exchange of presents, as reported by Russian state media. This marks the second time Putin has bestowed this model upon his North Korean counterpart.

    Additionally, Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov mentioned that the Russian leader also gave Kim a tea set. Ushakov didn’t specify what gifts Putin received but described them as “also good gifts.”

    Putin arrived in North Korea early on Wednesday local time, exactly 24 years after his last visit to Pyongyang.

    The visit underscores the deepening alignment between the two nations amidst shared hostility towards the West and growing concerns over their enhanced military cooperation on the international stage.

    Before their talks commenced, Kim expressed his full support and solidarity with the Russian government, military, and people. He specifically referenced Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, emphasizing their efforts to safeguard sovereignty, safety, and territorial stability.

    “Situations continue to be complicated and ever-changing, but I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that we will continue to strengthen and closely engage in strategic communication with the (Russian) leadership,” Kim added.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin exit a welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang on June 19. Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP/Sputnik/Getty Images

    Putin hailed the countries’ ties as based on “equality and mutual respect,” and said an expected new bilateral agreement would “form the basis of relations between the two states for many years to come,” according to Russian state agency TASS.

    He also added that he hoped Kim would visit Moscow for their next meeting.

    The burgeoning relationship has sparked concern in both Seoul and Washington, not only over North Korea’s arms transfers to Russia, but also the prospect of Moscow transferring its superior military technology to aid Pyongyang’s heavily sanctioned weapons program

  • Kim Jong Un’s sibling disputes North Korea has given Russia armaments

    Kim Jong Un’s sibling disputes North Korea has given Russia armaments

    Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister said again on Friday that North Korea has not sent any weapons to Russia. She called it ridiculous that people are speculating about weapons deals between North Korea and Russia.

    The US and South Korea believe that North Korea is giving weapons to Russia for their war in Ukraine in exchange for advanced military technology and economic help. North Korea and Russia have said that it is not true many times.

    Experts from other countries think that North Korea did some tests with artillery and short-range missiles recently to show off the weapons they want to sell to Russia.

    Kim Yo Jong said that she doesn’t think it’s necessary to assess or interpret the North Korean-Russian dealings because she thinks it’s very ridiculous and doesn’t make sense.

    “We don’t want to share our military technology with any other country or make it available to the public,” she said in a message reported by the state media.

    She said North Korea tested weapons as part of their plan to build up their military over the next five years. She said the new weapons are made to attack Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

    “We’re not hiding the fact that we will use these weapons to stop Seoul from having any unnecessary thoughts,” said Kim Yo Jong.

    Last year, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said North Korea sent about 7,000 containers of weapons and military gear to Russia. In response, Shin said that North Korea got more than 9,000 Russian containers that probably had aid inside.

    In January, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, said that missiles from North Korea were used in an attack on Ukraine. At that time, officials in Ukraine said they found a missile in the northeastern Kharkiv region and believed it came from North Korea.

    Selling weapons to North Korea would break the rules of the United Nations, which Russia agreed to.

    In May, the White House said that Russia was sending more refined petroleum to North Korea than the UN Security Council allows.

    North Korea and Russia are becoming closer friends because they both have problems with the United States. North Korea is working on making nuclear weapons, and Russia is fighting a long war in Ukraine.

    Since 2022, North Korea has been doing a lot of missile tests that make other countries worried. The US is doing more military practice with South Korea and Japan because of this. Experts from other countries believe that North Korea probably believes that having more weapons will give them more power in future talks with the United States.

  • South and North cannot be united – Kim Jong Un

    South and North cannot be united – Kim Jong Un

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that joining with South Korea is not possible anymore and wants to change the constitution to call them the main enemy.

    Mr Kim also said three groups working on bringing families back together will close, according to state media KCNA.

    The president of South Korea said they will react even more strongly if North Korea provokes them.

    North and South Korea have been separated since the Korean War ended in 1953.

    They didn’t agree to a peace treaty and have been technically still at war ever since.

    Mr Kim gave a speech at North Korea’s parliament and said that they should change their rules to teach people that South Korea is their main enemy.

    He also said that if there is a war in Korea, the country’s laws should show how they would take control of the South.

    Mr Kim took over from his father as the leader of North Korea in 2011. He said that North Korea doesn’t want war, but also won’t try to avoid it. This was reported by KCNA.

    He said he was making a new decision about relationships between the north and the south, and he wanted to get rid of all the groups that were working on bringing them back together.

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told his cabinet that if North Korea does something bad, South Korea will hit back even harder. He said the South Korean military is very strong and can respond strongly.

    Increased conflicts or problems.

    He said this as tensions got worse between North and South Korea in the past few months.

    In November, North Korea stopped a deal with South Korea that was supposed to make their military less tense for five years. It said it would stop trying to stop a war and would send more soldiers to the border.

    The South had stopped the agreement for a little while because Mr. Kim said he sent a spy satellite into space.

    The North’s words and actions have been getting worse since then.

    During the end-of-year meetings, Mr. Kim said he wanted to change North Korea’s position on relations with South Korea and its policy on reunification. He said he wanted to make a big change in the policy towards “the enemy”.

    He also said he might use nuclear weapons on the South, and asked for more weapons for his country’s military.

    The North recently fired missiles and held live-fire exercises near South Korea.

    In a recent report by 38 North, an organization in the US that studies North Korea, two experts, Robert Carlin and Siegfried S Hecker, said that the situation in Korea is more dangerous now than it has ever been since the Korean War started in 1950.

    “It may seem like an exaggeration, but we think that Kim Jong Un has decided to go to war, just like his grandfather did in 1950,” the statement read.

    “We don’t know when or how Kim will attack, but the danger is much worse than the usual warnings from Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo about North Korea’s actions. ”

    It also said that it didn’t think North Korean media’s talk about getting ready for war was just empty threats.

    At the same time, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is in Russia and is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

    The two countries have gotten closer lately, because both are not liked by Western powers. In September, Mr. Kim went to Russia and met Mr. Putin

  • Kim Jong Un allegedly turns forty

    Kim Jong Un allegedly turns forty

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might be turning 40, but some people are not sure.

    The leader of North Korea has never told anyone his birthday, so no one knows when it is.

    If what people are saying is true, he turned the milestone age on Monday. On that day, official pictures of him and his daughter visiting a chicken farm were also released.

    The quiet day is very different from the days of the people who came before him.

    Actually, the birthdays of his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung – big, national celebrations when they were in charge – are still celebrated as holidays today.

    It is not known why the suggested date of 8 January is a secret. Before, North Korean officials said thank you to Donald Trump for his birthday wishes in January 2020, but they didn’t say which day.

    More proof of the date came out six years ago. Dennis Rodman, a US basketball player, sang happy birthday to Kim Jong Un in front of a big crowd.

    Gilsup Kwak, the leader of One Korea Center, a website that focuses on North Korea, thinks there are several reasons why there is no information about his mother Ko Yong Hui. One reason is that she was supposedly born in Japan.

    Many people in North Korea still don’t trust Japan, which ruled the region from 1910 to 1945. This could hurt Kim Jong Un‘s claims about his family. So, people haven’t talked about it much. Making a big deal about his birthday might lead to getting attention he doesn’t want.

    “Mr Kwak said that the truth about Kim Jong Un’s birth is something that could make him vulnerable. ”

    But there are many other reasons, he says, such as thinking that honoring his ancestors and family is sufficient, and wanting to show himself as a down-to-earth leader.

    Some people think that his age is the issue. Experts say that older leaders in North Korea think that their ruler is still too young, even though they made his father’s birthday an official holiday when he turned 40.

  • “The Fat Boy with the Bomb” book enlists Vicky Hammah, Putin, Kim Jong Un and others

    “The Fat Boy with the Bomb” book enlists Vicky Hammah, Putin, Kim Jong Un and others

    Ghanaian politician Vicky Hammah has been listed alongside heavyweights like Russian President, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the controversial compendium “The Fat Boy with the Bomb and 299 of the World’s Craziest Politicians”.

    Authored by Brian O’Connell and Norman H. Chung and released in 2015, the book throws the spotlight on a variety of global political figures famed for their outlandish behaviour and statements.

    The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Vicky Hammah, did not shy away from acknowledging her unexpected feature.

    According to a series of screenshots from a post she made on social media, Vicky, in a seeming response to this revelation wrote, “My name made it into this book among some of the most powerful leader[s] yeeey 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 😂😂😂. Number 10 in Africa 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾. I’m a great ☺️”.

    Characterised on Amazon as an “illustrated international dossier of lunatic statesmen and insane leaders,” the book profiles 300 politicians in a range of political and mental hues. It’s an anthology of the peculiar, ranging from benign eccentrics to those with more severe delusions. With caricatures and brief accounts from across the political spectrum, it delves into the lives of those who have made absurd claims and taken extreme actions.

    The write-up on Hammah dubs her a “Goddess of beauty”, highlighting her tenure as Deputy Minister of Communications and her notorious dismissal following the emergence of a tape wherein she claimed she would not exit politics until amassing at least a million dollars.

    Additionally, the book recounts an incident with her alleged former boyfriend, Richard Frimpong Dardo, who was arrested for purportedly assaulting her in a dispute over sexual matters.

    Vicky Hammah, unfazed by the uncomplimentary aspects of her depiction, optimistically wrote, “In darkness light shines brightest😁😃,” accompanied by smiling emojis.

    Notable figures such as Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, also find mention in this controversial ‘register’.

  • Vicky Hammah joins Putin and Kim Jong Un in the league of world’s ‘most bizarre’ politicians

    Vicky Hammah joins Putin and Kim Jong Un in the league of world’s ‘most bizarre’ politicians

    Ghanaian politician Vicky Hammah has been listed alongside heavyweights like Russian President, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the controversial compendium “The Fat Boy with the Bomb and 299 of the World’s Craziest Politicians”.

    Authored by Brian O’Connell and Norman H. Chung and released in 2015, the book throws the spotlight on a variety of global political figures famed for their outlandish behaviour and statements.

    The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Vicky Hammah, did not shy away from acknowledging her unexpected feature.

    According to a series of screenshots from a post she made on social media, Vicky, in a seeming response to this revelation wrote, “My name made it into this book among some of the most powerful leader[s] yeeey 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 😂😂😂. Number 10 in Africa 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾. I’m a great ☺️”.

    Characterised on Amazon as an “illustrated international dossier of lunatic statesmen and insane leaders,” the book profiles 300 politicians in a range of political and mental hues. It’s an anthology of the peculiar, ranging from benign eccentrics to those with more severe delusions. With caricatures and brief accounts from across the political spectrum, it delves into the lives of those who have made absurd claims and taken extreme actions.

    The write-up on Hammah dubs her a “Goddess of beauty”, highlighting her tenure as Deputy Minister of Communications and her notorious dismissal following the emergence of a tape wherein she claimed she would not exit politics until amassing at least a million dollars.

    Additionally, the book recounts an incident with her alleged former boyfriend, Richard Frimpong Dardo, who was arrested for purportedly assaulting her in a dispute over sexual matters.

    Vicky Hammah, unfazed by the uncomplimentary aspects of her depiction, optimistically wrote, “In darkness light shines brightest😁😃,” accompanied by smiling emojis.

    Notable figures such as Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, also find mention in this controversial ‘register’.

  • Vicky Hammah features in the world craziest politicians alongside Kim Jong Un

    Vicky Hammah features in the world craziest politicians alongside Kim Jong Un

    Ghanaian politician Vicky Hammah has been listed alongside heavyweights like Russian President, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the controversial compendium “The Fat Boy with the Bomb and 299 of the World’s Craziest Politicians”.

    Authored by Brian O’Connell and Norman H. Chung and released in 2015, the book throws the spotlight on a variety of global political figures famed for their outlandish behaviour and statements.

    The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Vicky Hammah, did not shy away from acknowledging her unexpected feature.

    According to a series of screenshots from a post she made on social media, Vicky, in a seeming response to this revelation wrote, “My name made it into this book among some of the most powerful leader[s] yeeey 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 😂😂😂. Number 10 in Africa 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾. I’m a great ☺️”.

    Characterised on Amazon as an “illustrated international dossier of lunatic statesmen and insane leaders,” the book profiles 300 politicians in a range of political and mental hues. It’s an anthology of the peculiar, ranging from benign eccentrics to those with more severe delusions. With caricatures and brief accounts from across the political spectrum, it delves into the lives of those who have made absurd claims and taken extreme actions.

    The write-up on Hammah dubs her a “Goddess of beauty”, highlighting her tenure as Deputy Minister of Communications and her notorious dismissal following the emergence of a tape wherein she claimed she would not exit politics until amassing at least a million dollars.

    Additionally, the book recounts an incident with her alleged former boyfriend, Richard Frimpong Dardo, who was arrested for purportedly assaulting her in a dispute over sexual matters.

    Vicky Hammah, unfazed by the uncomplimentary aspects of her depiction, optimistically wrote, “In darkness light shines brightest😁😃,” accompanied by smiling emojis.

    Notable figures such as Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, also find mention in this controversial ‘register’.

  • Kim and Putin hold hands as Kim sarcastically hails ‘sacred war’

    Kim and Putin hold hands as Kim sarcastically hails ‘sacred war’

    Kim Jong Un has said that he will fully and completely support Vladimir Putin in Russia‘s fight, which is believed to be the war against Ukraine.

    Mr Kim said that North Korea will always support Moscow in their fight against imperialism. He also mentioned that North Korea’s relationship with Russia is their main focus and most important.

    The leaders gathered at a remote Russian spaceport called Vostochny Cosmodrome in the eastern part of the country. They visited the sites where rockets are launched and later had a private meeting.

    According to a news report from Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti, the discussions went on for four to five hours, and then Mr. Kim departed

    Experts believe that North Korea might possess many old artillery shells and rockets, which were designed by the Soviet Union. These weapons could greatly benefit the Russian army in Ukraine.

    But if Russia buys weapons or gives rocket technology to North Korea, it would break the rules that limit international trade that Russia has agreed to before.
    The choice to meet at Russia’s main space launch center, known as the cosmodrome, indicates that Mr. Kim wants help from Russia to create military surveillance satellites.

    In the past, he said the satellites are really important to make his missiles with nuclear weapons more dangerous.

    In the past few months, North Korea has tried many times but has not been successful in launching its first military spy satellite into space.

    Mr Putin greeted Mr. Kim’s car, which was brought from Pyongyang on a special train, by shaking his hand for about 40 seconds at the entrance to the launch site.

    In his introduction, Mr Putin greeted Mr Kim and expressed his pleasure in meeting him. He mentioned that the discussions would focus on working together in terms of the economy, helping people in need, and discussing the state of affairs in the area.

    Kim showed support for Moscow’s actions to protect its interests, possibly referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

    The North Korean leader said that Russia is currently fighting against powerful forces to protect its rights, security, and interests.

    The two men started their meeting by visiting a place where they launch rockets called Soyuz-2. Mr Kim asked a lot of questions about the rockets to a Russian space official.

    Mr Kim and Mr. Putin had a meeting with their teams and later had a private conversation, said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin.

    According to Russian state media, after the discussions, the president of Russia hosted a formal meal for Mr.

    The meeting shows that the two leaders have similar interests as they deal with their own increasing conflicts with the United States.

    It happened shortly after the North Korean leader fired some missiles towards the eastern seas.

    It is believed that the weapons flew across the country, which has made Japan and South Korea worried about their neighbor, who is sometimes unpredictable.

    Japan’s Coast Guard, based on information from Tokyo’s Defense Ministry, said that the missile probably landed, but advised boats in the area to be cautious of things falling from the sky.
    For Putin, meeting with Mr. Kim is a chance to get more weapons because the war has used up a lot of ammunition.

    For Mr Kim, this is an opportunity to bypass extremely harmful UN penalties and many years of being cut off from diplomatic connections.

    When asked if Russia will assist North Korea in creating satellites, Mr. Putin stated that is the reason they have come to North Korea.

    The leader of North Korea is very interested in rockets. He said they’re also trying to develop space, using the short form of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

    When asked about working together with the military, Mr. Putin said we will discuss everything carefully and not make quick decisions. There is enough time available.

    According to South Korea, Mr. Kim also brought along Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official who is responsible for policies related to weapons, on recent visits to factories that make artillery shells and missiles.

    Even though North Korea has been launching missiles often, Wednesday’s launches before the summit were unexpected. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with relations between North and South Korea, stated that this was the first time North Korea had launched a missile while Mr. Kim was traveling abroad.

    According to Moon Seong Mook, an analyst from the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul, Mr Kim may have ordered the missile launches to send a message to Mr Putin about North Korea’s defense plans. This would also show that Mr Kim still has control over the country’s military actions, even when he is not present in North Korea.

    Mr Moon, a former high-ranking military officer from South Korea who took part in previous talks with North Korea, explained that the North may have launched these missiles to show their anger towards the United States. This anger stemmed from a comment made by Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the State Department, who called Mr. Putin an “international outcast” seeking help in a war.

    The United States has said that North Korea gave Russia weapons, like artillery shells, and sold them to a group called Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials said that the claims are not true.

    People started thinking that Russia and North Korea might work together in the military after the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, visited North Korea in July.

    Mr Kim went on a tour of his weapons factories. Experts believe he wanted to update the weapons in North Korea and also see if he could sell some to Russia.

  • Kim planning ‘full-scale visit’ – Kremlin

    Kim planning ‘full-scale visit’ – Kremlin

    A person from the Russian government called Dmitry Peskov has said that the meeting between Kim Jong Un from North Korea and Vladimir Putin from Russia will make their friendship stronger.

    Kim is going to meet Putin. She is taking a train that is protected. She is starting her journey from the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang. She will be going to Russia for a meeting with a group of people.

    Press Secretary Peskov said that if the situation requires it, the two leaders will keep talking privately.

  • Kim Jong Un to reportedly meet Putin in Russia

    Kim Jong Un to reportedly meet Putin in Russia

    Reports indicate that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has commenced his journey to Vladivostok for an upcoming summit with Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin.

    According to South Korean media sources citing a government official, Kim’s armored train, typically used for his foreign visits, has left Pyongyang. The summit is anticipated to occur as early as Tuesday local time.

    Earlier, the Russian news agency Interfax had reported that Kim’s visit to Russia was expected “in the coming days.” This summit marks Kim Jong Un’s first international trip in over four years and his first since the onset of the pandemic.

    During the meeting, the two leaders are likely to discuss the potential for North Korea to provide military support to Russia for its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, as indicated by a US official speaking to the BBC’s US partner, CBS.

    Kim Jong Un’s previous foreign trip was to Vladivostok in 2019 for his initial summit with Putin, following the breakdown of North Korea’s nuclear disarmament talks with then-US President Donald Trump.

    The North Korean leader’s travel to Vladivostok involves an armored train rumored to include at least 20 bulletproof cars, making it heavier than standard trains and limited to a maximum speed of 59 km/h (37 mph). The journey to Vladivostok is expected to span an entire day.

    This potential meeting comes after the White House disclosed that arms negotiations between North Korea and Russia were “actively advancing,” with Russia’s Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, reportedly attempting to negotiate the purchase of artillery ammunition from Pyongyang during a recent visit to North Korea.

    Russia is believed to be in need of 122mm and 152mm shells due to dwindling stocks, although determining North Korea’s full artillery inventory is challenging due to its secretive nature.

    The weapons displayed during the meeting between Kim Jong Un and Sergei Shoigu in July included the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile, believed to be North Korea’s first ICBM to use solid propellants.

    This event marked the first time Kim Jong Un had opened North Korea’s doors to foreign guests since the onset of the Covid pandemic.

  • Kim Jong Un of North Korea allegedly travelling to Russia – South Korean media

    Kim Jong Un of North Korea allegedly travelling to Russia – South Korean media

    Per South Korean media and government officials, it seems that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is currently travelling on a train towards Russia.

    Russia and North Korea have not confirmed the meeting officially.

    The newest news in the media is that Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin are likely to have a meeting soon to talk about weapons. The exact date and place of this meeting have not been announced yet.

    If the visit happens, it would be Kim’s first trip to another country since the Covid-19 pandemic started. North Korea, which has closed its borders for most of the past three years, has only recently started to loosen travel restrictions.

    Kim has only gone on 10 trips since taking control in 2011. All of those happened in 2018 and 2019, when the leader of North Korea talked with then-US President Donald Trump about his nuclear weapons and missiles. They had three meetings in Singapore, Hanoi, and the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

    Kim also went to China four times during those two years to meet with the leader of China, Xi Jinping. He also met with Putin once in Vladivostok in April 2019. Afterwards, we went on a trip to the DMZ in 2018 to meet with the South Korean President at that time, Moon Jae-in.

    Vladivostok is located 130 km (80 miles) away from the North Korea border.

    The leader of North Korea likes to travel in a fancy train that is protected and his father also did the same. However, most of his trips to other countries are not done by train. Three out of the nine trips were taken by airplanes, and two trips, which were both to the DMZ, were done by car.

    The Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, went to Pyongyang in July to ask them to sell artillery ammunition.

    Jake Sullivan, a person from the White House who helps keep the country safe, said that North Korea will face consequences if it makes a deal with Russia to get weapons. He didn’t say exactly what those consequences would be.

    North Korea is already being punished by the United Nations and the United States for having weapons of mass destruction.

    The possible meeting between Putin and Kim could allow Pyongyang to obtain weapons that have been banned from them for 20 years, especially for their nuclear missile program.

    Additionally, this comes after over a year and a half of fighting in Ukraine, which has significantly damaged the Russian military and caused a shortage of resources.

  • ‘Nuclear assault submarine’ lunched by Kim Jong Un

    ‘Nuclear assault submarine’ lunched by Kim Jong Un

    Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, recently attended an event where a new submarine was shown to the public. The North Korean government claims that this submarine has the ability to launch nuclear weapons.

    The media of the government said that the submarine greatly improved the country’s ability to protect itself with nuclear weapons.

    It is called Hero Kim Kun Ok because of a North Korean naval officer and important person from history.

    North Korea has wanted to build a submarine that can shoot nuclear weapons for a while.

    In pictures shown by the government, Mr. Kim is standing in a place where they make ships, with naval officers around him. There is a very big black submarine next to him that is much bigger than him.

    He said that the sub will be one of the navy’s main ways to attack underwater.

    “He said that the nuclear attack submarine used to represent aggression towards our country in the past. But now it represents our strong and intimidating power that scares our enemies who don’t play fair. ”
    But some people are doubtful about how well it will work.

    Experts think that the submarine is an old model from the Soviet Union called Romeo-class, which Mr. Kim examined in 2019. However, it has been changed so that it can now transport nuclear weapons.

    Joseph Dempsey, who works at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, stated that the platform has some basic limitations and weaknesses.

    According to Vann Van Diepen, a former US government weapons expert, the characteristics of these weapons are being loud, not fast and having a short distance they can reach.

    Mr Dempsey said that it seems like the back and the things that make the sub move have been made unclear so that it is not obvious that it is an old ship.

    We are not sure if this submarine is working. The North Koreans have not shown that they can successfully launch missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

    It’s believed that the ship is made to carry short-range missiles that can be launched from submarines. These missiles can hit targets in nearby areas.

    South Korea has criticized the launch and is unsure if the North’s submarine is actually as powerful as claimed.

    Japan has also shown worry or discomfort. According to Reuters, Hirokazu Matsuno, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, said that North Korea’s military activity is now a bigger and more immediate threat to our country’s security than it was before.
    North Korea has been doing a lot of tests with missiles this year. They have been testing both ballistic and cruise missiles regularly. They have been testing even more than before in 2022.

    The submarine was discovered a few days before the 75th anniversary of the North’s establishment. Government-controlled media outlets have announced that China will send a group of representatives to join in the festivities.

    This news also comes after hearing that Mr. Kim is planning to go to Russia this month to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

    There is worry that North Korea might ask Moscow for advanced weapons technology in exchange for something.
    People went to an event that North Korean state media said was the country’s ceremony for introducing a new submarine that can launch nuclear attacks.

  • Putin to engage Kim Jong Un over ‘supply of weapons’

    Putin to engage Kim Jong Un over ‘supply of weapons’

    North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is reportedly planning a visit to Russia later this month for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, according to a US official who spoke to CBS, a partner of the BBC.

    The purpose of their meeting is said to revolve around discussions concerning the potential supply of weapons from North Korea to support Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

    The precise location of the scheduled meeting remains undisclosed, and there has been no immediate response or confirmation from either North Korea or Russia in response to these reports. Anonymous sources cited by the New York Times suggest that Kim Jong Un may opt for travel by an armored train.

    This development follows recent statements from the White House indicating progress in arms negotiations between North Korea and Russia. John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, revealed that during a recent visit to North Korea, Russia’s Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, attempted to persuade Pyongyang to provide artillery ammunition to Russia.

    Notably, the meeting showcased various weapons, including the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile, believed to be North Korea’s first ICBM using solid propellants. This event marked the first time Kim Jong Un had welcomed foreign visitors since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Mr Putin and Mr Kim have since exchanged letters “pledging to increase their bilateral co-operation”, he said.

    “We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia,” Mr Kirby said, using an abbreviation for the North.

    He cautioned that the US was prepared to take action, including the imposition of sanctions, should North Korea indeed provide weapons to Russia.

    Both Washington and Seoul express concerns about the potential outcomes of such a deal, which could lead to increased military cooperation between these two Asian nations.

    Recently, South Korea’s intelligence service shared information that Mr. Shoigu had proposed the idea of joint naval exercises involving Russia, China, and North Korea, akin to those conducted by the US, South Korea, and Japan.

    Another worry is the possibility of Russia supplying North Korea with weapons at a critical juncture when Pyongyang might be in dire need of them.

    Furthermore, there’s apprehension that Kim Jong Un may request advanced weapons technology or expertise from Mr. Putin to facilitate advancements in his nuclear weapons program.

    Nevertheless, the agreement could be more transactional in nature than a long-term strategic partnership. Currently, Russia requires weapons, while North Korea, grappling with sanctions, faces pressing financial and food shortages.

    According to reports from The New York Times, the meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin could potentially occur in Vladivostok, a port city on Russia’s eastern coast. The newspaper’s diplomatic correspondent, Edward Wong, informed the BBC News channel that an advance team of North Korean officials had traveled to Vladivostok and Moscow in the previous month.

    They “included security officers who deal with the protocol surrounding the travel of the leadership, so that was a strong sign for officials looking at this”, Mr Wong said.

    Pyongyang and Moscow have both previously denied that the North is supplying Russia with arms for use in its war in Ukraine.

    John Everard, who served as UK ambassador to North Korea between 2006 and 2008, told the BBC that publicity around the possible visit was a “strong reason why the visit is now unlikely to take place”.

    “Kim Jong Un is completely paranoid about his personal security. He goes to great lengths to keep his movements secret and if it’s known that he’s planning to go to Vladivostok to meet President Putin, he’s likely just to cancel the whole thing,” he said.

    Pyongyang knows that Moscow is “desperate” for munitions and the price that North Korea will ask for them will be “eye-wateringly high”, he added.

    While North Korea has stockpiles of weapons “they’re in very poor condition”, he added.

    The two leaders last met in April 2019, when Mr Kim arrived by train in Vladivostok. He was welcomed by officials with a traditional offering of bread and salt. This was also probably the last time Mr Kim travelled abroad.

    After the meeting, Mr Putin said Mr Kim would require “security guarantees” in order to abandon his nuclear programme.

    That meeting came just months after a summit in Vietnam between Mr Kim and then-US President Donald Trump had failed to make progress on denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

  • North Korea declares its readiness to launch first spy satellite

    North Korea declares its readiness to launch first spy satellite

    North Korean state media KCNA said on Wednesday that Kim Jong Un, the country’s leader, has instructed authorities to be ready to launch the nation’s first military surveillance satellite.

    Kim Jong Un announced that the nation’s military surveillance satellite production has been finished during his visit to the National Aerospace Development Administration on Tuesday. He also ordered the dispatch of “several reconnaissance satellites,” according to KCNA.

    Along with his daughter, who is thought to be Ju Ae, he paid the visit. Together with her father, she has already been to a lot of events this year.

    Last December, North Korea claimed it had conducted an “important final stage test” for the development of a spy satellite. The country’s space development agency announced that it would finish preparations for the first military reconnaissance satellite by April 2023.

    Despite the North Korea claims, recent satellite images of the country’s space launch center show no signs of an imminent launch, said Dave Schmerler, senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the United States.

    “But North Korea could launch this via a road mobile vehicle. So were all just waiting to see what they do,” Schmerler said.

    North Korea’s recent missile launches, including the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, have come from mobile launchers.

    On Tuesday, Kim stressed the role of military satellites as to protect national safety and territorial stability in the midst of escalating military threats and challenges by the United States and South Korea. Kim also spoke about the role of satellites and its strategic value when deploying military force preemptively according to the situation, KCNA said.

    Kim said the acquisition of military reconnaissance satellites was “indispensable,” calling them a “right to national sovereignty and self-defense.” He cited tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the need for managing “prospective threats,” KCNA reported.

  • Increased activity underway at North Korea nuclear complex following Kim Jung’s bomb-fuel order – Reports

    Increased activity underway at North Korea nuclear complex following Kim Jung’s bomb-fuel order – Reports

    After the North Korean leader ordered an increase in the production of bomb fuel to increase the country’s nuclear arsenal, a U.S. think tank reported on Saturday that satellite images of the country’s main nuclear site show a high level of activity.

    The Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon site may be close to completion and moving into operational status, according to the 38 North North Korea monitoring project, which is based in Washington.

    The report said the images showed that a 5 megawatt reactor at Yongbyon continued to operate and that construction had started on a support building around the ELWR.

    Further, water discharges had been detected from that reactor’s cooling system.

    New construction had also started around Yongbyon’s uranium enrichment plant, likely to expand its capabilities.

    “These developments seem to reflect Kim Jong Un’s recent directive to increase the country’s fissile material production to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal,” the report added, referring to the North Korean leader.

    On Tuesday, North Korea unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads and vowed to produce more weapons-grade nuclear material to expand its arsenal, while denouncing stepped up military exercises by South Korea and the United States.

    Its state media said Kim had ordered the production of weapons-grade materials in a “far-sighted way” to boost the country’s nuclear arsenal “exponentially.”

    It is unclear whether North Korea has fully developed miniaturized nuclear warheads needed to fit on smaller weapons it has displayed and analysts say perfecting such warheads would most likely be a key goal if it resumes nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.

    South Korea and the United States have warned since early 2022 that North Korea may resume nuclear testing at any time.

    In a report last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated North Korea had assembled up to 20 nuclear warheads, and probably possessed sufficient fissile material for approximately 45–55 nuclear devices.

  • North Korea’s Kim Jong Un commends army ahead of anticipated military array

    North Korea’s Kim Jong Un commends army ahead of anticipated military array

    To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the North Korean army’s founding, Kim travelled with his daughter to see military officials.

    During celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the founding of his army, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised the “irresistible might” of his nuclear-armed forces while paying a visit to military officials with his daughter.

    The visit and speech to military leaders coincide with hints that North Korea is getting ready to hold a sizable military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where the country’s expanding nuclear and conventional weapons programmes are anticipated to be on display.

    Kim and his general officers paid a visit to their lodging on Wednesday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

    The visit comes a day after Kim presided over a meeting with his top military officials and called for an expansion of combat exercises aimed at sharpening war readiness.

    State media photos showed military officials applauding at the banquet, which appeared to be held at Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo Hotel on Tuesday.

    Kim and his daughter, believed to be nine or 10 years old, were dressed alike in black suits and white dress shirts and held hands as they walked down a red carpet alongside Kim’s wife, Ri Sol Ju.

    In her fourth documented public appearance, Kim’s daughter stood closely with her father as he shook the hands of senior officials and sat next to him at a table surrounded by military officers.

    Previously, she had been pictured attending an intercontinental ballistic missile test launch and accompanying her father during meetings with military scientists and an inspection of ballistic missiles.

    “For the strengthening and development of our armed forces, let us all double our efforts and do more for the prosperous development of the socialist motherland,” Kim said during a speech at the banquet, according to KCNA.

    In a separate report, KCNA cited Kim’s leadership of large-scale military drills last year, including the flights of hundreds of fighter aircraft, as “inflicting a strong blow on the largest joint air exercise ever conducted by the United States and its agents” in November.

    Rob McBride, reporting from the South Korean capital, Seoul, said satellite images appeared to show that a set-piece parade was being prepared in the North Korean capital. Such a display of military hardware comes after an unprecedented year of approximately 80 ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang in 2022, he said.

    Such parades are typically held in downtown Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square and are often used to show off new weapons, including ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

    The last four military parades have been held after dark.

    Illuminated aircraft flew low over Pyongyang at about 1am on Wednesday (19:00 GMT, Tuesday), and music could be heard from the square, suggesting a parade was imminent, Seoul-based NK News reported, citing videos it obtained.

    Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies think tank, told Al Jazeera that North Korea wants to show the world “that their tactical nuclear capability is real and it can operate in any situation”.

  • Kim Jong Un orders execution of anyone caught watching porn in North Korea

    Kim Jong Un orders execution of anyone caught watching porn in North Korea

    Anyone caught watching porn will be executed by Kim Jong Un’s new secret squads as part of the North Korean dictator’s campaign to combat “foreign influences.”

    According to evidence from a defector in a recent study, enforcers are trying to outlaw foreign television, haircuts, and even birthday parties.

    The ‘gruppa’ or ‘non-socialist groupings’ squads are charged by Pyongyang with pursuing infractions of the official ideology of the Communist Party.

    ‘The groups operate as a hidden tool, which is used by the government to achieve their ultimate objectives of ubiquitous surveillance and the ability to thoroughly oversee each and every resident,’ the report says.

    Foreign media, particularly anything deemed to be ‘Western’, is strictly prohibited in North Korea – which brainwashes its population to unquestionably support Kim Jong Un and his ruling regime. Any dissent is severely punished.

    The dictator views South Korea as an American puppet state, and is highly sensitive to any of its media crossing the border from China, fearing the influence it may have.

    For some time now, any sign that someone may have been consuming media from the South has resulted in brutal consequences.

    Now, according to the report by the Database Centre for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) based in Seoul, Kim is tightening his grip even more with the gruppa.

    Citizens are being prosecuted for anything from defection, drug dealing, smuggling and begging, to being absent from work, traffic offences, adultery, dying one’s hair, religious practices and taking part in ‘decadent culture’ – which can include parties.

    ‘It is worse than the Kim Jong Il era,’ one testimony quoted in the report said. 

    ‘The border has become tighter, more barbed wire fences have been installed. Also, there were instructions to directly fire at any person crossing the border.

    ‘[…] I’ve heard about people being shot for distributing impure cultural contents. There was one person who was executed for watching pornography and prostituting at his place after Kim Jong Un took office.’

    ‘First they check how you dress. Then what type of music you listen to, what videos you watch, whether you have dyed your hair […] You cannot have a birthday party as a group,’ the defector said, according to the report.

    ‘They keep saying not to have gatherings and drink alcohol because when people are drunk, they will end up singing one or two South Korean songs for sure.’

    The report said that the secret informants are becoming increasingly preoccupied with the smuggling and distribution of South Korean media. 

    Outlawed songs, movies and television shows such as ‘Squid Game’ or ‘Crash Landing on You’ are sometimes smuggled into the country on USB flash drives. 

    One of the methods used by the ‘non-socialist groups’ is to cut off power to the homes of people suspected of watching banned media, and therefore preventing them from removing DVDs of videotapes from the payer and hiding their ‘guilt’.

    Punishments range from demotion at work, being fired, or even sent to a re-education or labour camp. In the most extreme cases – such as being found to have been watching pornography – people could be executed by firing squad.

    ‘If you consume sexual media content in North Korea, you are either punished with a lifetime term of “reform through labour” or even executed by firing squad. Watching typical South Korean or American material will lead to a sentence of fewer than ten years of ‘reform through labour,’ according to another defector’s testimony. 

    Earlier this month, it was reported that four students were expelled from university and forced to work in a coal mine because they sounded as if they had been watching too much foreign TV, by using accents or phrases from the South.

    It is believed the students likely picked up the way of speaking through watching media outlawed by the ruling party.

    Credit: Dailymail.com.uk

  • Kim Jong Un’s daughter appears in public for second time – raising speculation of a successor in the making

    The unexpected second appearance of the North Korean leader’s daughter has raised speculation that she could be a successor in the making or be trained for a leadership position.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in public with his daughter for the second time, as the two posed for photos with soldiers, scientists and others involved in this month’s Hwasong-17 missile launch.

    State media outlet KCNA reported that Mr Kim and his daughter found the crowd “filled with boundless passion and happiness” as they expressed “the highest glory and ardent reverence for him”.

    Mr Kim was quoted as saying: “It is the truth taught by history that only when we become the strongest – not the weak – in the present world where the strength in showdown just decides victory, can we defend the present and future of the country and nation”.

    He also said that scientists and technicians should “make a do-or-die struggle… and thus expand and bolster up the nuclear war deterrent of the country at an exceptionally rapid speed”.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter attend a photo session with the scientists, engineers, military officials and others

    KCNA said that the workers “hardened their resolve” to carry out the task, “burning their hearts with a single mind to repay the privileges and trust shown by him at any cost”.

    The photos were not dated but were released by the North Korean government late on Saturday.

    Independent journalists were not given access to the event, which was described by KCNA as a “photo session”.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter attend a photo session with the scientists, engineers, military officials and others

    The Hwasong-17 is North Korea’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, and it was tested earlier this month, with some experts saying it has the potential to strike anywhere on the US mainland.

    Mr Kim had boasted that the ICBM was a “reliable and maximum-capacity” weapon to contain US military threats.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter
    His daughter had watched the test with him – her first appearance in public.

     

    Her second appearance has raised speculation that she could be a successor in the making, but analysts say it would be an unprecedented uphill struggle in North Korea’s male-dominated dynasty.

    KCNA has not identified her, calling her “beloved daughter”, but experts believe she is Ju Ae, estimated to be aged between 12 and 13, although some think she could be as young as nine.

    Mr Kim is believed to have as many as three children – two girls and a boy – but in showing Ju Ae to the world twice in a matter of days, he has indicated that she could be a successor in the making or be trained for a leadership position.

    Source: Skynews.com 

  • North Korean tensions: Why is Kim Jong-un putting more on the country?

    Tensions with North Korea come and go, but the situation on the Korean peninsula is the most volatile it has been in five years, and it appears to be getting worse.

    The North has fired a missile over Japan in the last month, forcing residents to seek shelter; this is a hostile and provocative act. It has launched several other ballistic missiles, flown warplanes close to the South Korean border, and fired hundreds of artillery shells into the sea, which have landed in a military buffer zone established by the two Koreas in 2018 to maintain peace.

    Technically, the two countries are still at war.

    On Monday a North Korean merchant ship crossed the countries’ sea border, causing both sides to fire warning shots. South Korea says the incursion was intentional.

    So, what is Kim Jong-un up to? There are three reasons North Korea tends to launch missiles – to test and improve its weapons technology, to send a political message to the world (primarily the US), and to impress its people at home and shore up loyalty to the regime.

    It can be hard to decipher which of these ends Pyongyang’s actions serve, but this time Mr Kim has been explicit. State media has reported several times that the recent launches and drills are in response to military exercises being run by the US, South Korea, and Japan. The North has blamed its enemies for escalating tensions and says its launches are a clear warning they should stop.

    Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo have been holding large-scale military exercises, separately and together, for the past two months, to show they are ready for a North Korean nuclear attack. There is little doubt these have antagonised Mr Kim, who has always viewed such exercises as his enemies rehearsing for an invasion. The reason North Korea started developing nuclear weapons in the first place was to stop itself from being invaded.

    But there is a less explicit reason he could be upping the pressure now. Some believe may be preparing the ground for a more provocative test – the detonation of a nuclear weapon for the first time in five years, or even a small-scale attack on South Korea.

    Last year he laid out a five-year plan, detailing all the new weapons he planned to develop. It included smaller battlefield nuclear bombs and short-range missiles to carry them. The recent tests are evidence Mr Kim is not only working his way through this weapons wish list but that he is training his troops to use them. He used some of the recent drills, he said, to simulate a nuclear attack on South Korea.

    Now Mr Kim needs attention. He needs the world to notice the progress he has made if he is one day to get harsh international sanctions on his country lifted. Sanctions haven’t stopped North Korea from developing weapons, as they were designed to, but they are hurting its economy.

    Talks aimed at reducing those sanctions have long stalled and North Korea is slipping down the global agenda. The world is far more concerned with the war in Ukraine, and the rise of an authoritarian China. President Biden’s position is that sanctions on North Korea can only be eased when it agrees to give up all its nuclear weapons.

    In the meantime, Washington and Seoul have agreed to strengthen their defence of the Peninsula by holding the military exercises Pyongyang hates so much, and responding to its provocations with force. Following the North’s latest round of missile launches and drills, South Korea sent up warplanes and shot artillery of its own.

    If Mr Kim is to get the US to negotiate on terms more favourable to him, he must prove how dangerous his country has become. Last month he declared North Korea to be a nuclear weapons state, a position he said was irreversible.

    We should be worried about how assertive it seems to have become, said Kim Jong-dae, a former advisor in South Korea’s Defence Ministry. He pointed out how in the past North Korea has waited until US forces have finished their military exercises before retaliating. This time they fired artillery into the sea while exercises were ongoing.

    “We have never seen this audacity and aggression before, it is different. It is the North acting like a nuclear state,” he said.

    The US and South Korean governments believe preparations for North Korea’s seventh nuclear weapon test are complete and the North is waiting for the opportune political moment to act. An attractive window is opening, with China’s Communist Party Conference now over and the US midterm elections approaching.

    Meanwhile, South Korea is in the midst of yet another round of war games, with the US scheduled to join in. These may well provide Kim Jong-un with the pretext he has been waiting for.

     

  • The nuclear threat from North Korea hangs over Kamala Harris’s trip to Asia

    Washington issues a warning ahead of the US Vice President’s trip to South Korea, saying that North Korea might conduct a nuclear test while she is there. Ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang continue to ratchet up the critical situation.

    As US Vice President Kamala Harris visits Seoul this week, the US, South Korea, and Japan are closely monitoring North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

    North Korea has carried out over 30 missile tests in 2022 and US officials are warning that Pyongyang could use Harris’s visit as an opportunity to carry out a seventh nuclear test, and the first since 2017.

    “We have made clear that such a test would result in additional actions by the US to demonstrate our ironclad commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea and to our Japanese allies,” an unnamed White House official told reporters during a background conference call last week.

    “We have made clear how concerned we have been by North Korean provocations and destabilizing behavior, and a nuclear test would certainly be in that category,” the official added.

    North Korea on Sunday test-fired a short-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, one day before the US and South Korean troops began combined naval exercises.

    Satellite images of North Korea’s Sinpo naval dockyards, on the east coast, suggest that a new submarine, capable of firing ballistic missiles, is about to be launched.

    Kamala Harris shaking hands with Fumio KishidaKamala Harris met with Japanese PM Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday

    Major US-South Korea military drills

    On Monday, the US and South Korea kicked off four days of joint military maneuvers with at least 20 warships and dozens of aircraft.

    The 101,000-ton aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is leading a US battle group made up of guided-missile destroyers and the USS Annapolis, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine. It is the first joint US-South Korea exercise with an aircraft carrier since 2017.

    In a statement, the South Korean military said the drills are aimed at showing “powerful resolve to respond to North Korean provocations” and improving capabilities to perform joint naval operations.

    On Monday, Kim Song, the head of the North Korean mission to the United Nations, said that US-led exercises are “an extremely dangerous act” that could push the region “to the brink of war.”

    “The security environment of the Korean Peninsula is now caught in a vicious cycle of tensions and confrontation due to the growing hostility of the United States and its following forces against the DPRK [North Korea],” he added.

    Will North Korea test nukes?

    During a visit to South Korea by US President Joe Biden in May, intelligence officials warned that North Korea was “preparing” for a nuclear test during the visit.

    Biden’s visit was not greeted with any North Korean weapons testing, nuclear or otherwise. However, hours after the US president ended his Asia trip, Pyongyang test-fired three ballistic missiles.

    Infografik Raketenreichweiten Korea EN

    This time around, analysts suggest North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could consider putting off a nuclear test in order to not overshadow Chinese President Xi Jinping and the upcoming Chinese Communist Party conference. But that is not a given.

    “There are limits to Pyongyang’s self-restraint,” said Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul.

    “The Kim regime sees itself in an arms race with South Korea and may be looking to make up for a lost time after its pandemic struggles,” he underlined.

    “Significant North Korean missile tests can contribute to national pride and send international signals. Pyongyang could be making a show of strength while a US aircraft carrier is visiting South Korea for defense exercises,” the expert said.

    “North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are in violation of international law, but Kim tries to depict his destabilizing arms buildup as a righteous effort at self-defense,” and tests are part of a “long-term campaign for advancing offensive military capabilities,” he added.

    The bigger picture for Asian security

    Yakov Zinberg, a professor of international relations specializing in East Asian affairs at Tokyo’s Kokushikan University, told DW that the latest saber-rattling on the Korean Peninsula “is all part of a sequence of actions and reactions among interlocking alliances that inevitably encompass the Taiwan situation and Ukraine.”

    “Harris’s visit is a message that the US remains committed to its allies and partners in the region and is a warning to North Korea not to get any closer to Russia,” he added. North Korea has denied US reports that it has been providing weapons to the Russian military as sanctions squeeze Moscow’s supply.

    Kim Jong Un threatens to use nuclear weapons if attacked

    On Harris’s itinerary will be a visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea, which symbolizes tensions on the Peninsula since the Korean War ended in 1953 without a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.

    Park Jung-won, a professor of international law at South Korea’s Dankook University, told DW the vice president’s visit to the DMZ is “highly symbolic.”

    “Pyongyang’s provocations are an effort to take advantage of the global turmoil at the moment and Harris’s visit is largely designed to underline the strength of the alliance with South Korea,” he said.

    Park added that tensions between China and Taiwan also feed into larger strategic calculations in Northeast Asia.

    In an interview earlier this week, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said that in the event of a conflict breaking out around Taiwan, North Korea is expected to launch an attack against South Korea.

    “I agree with that assessment,” said Park, adding that China and North Korea recognize the strategic advantage of simultaneous conflicts on the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan and the challenges that would pose to the defending states.

    “The US and South Korea must engage in discussions and draw up a detailed action plan for this sort of scenario,” Park said.

  • North Korea makes the “irreversible” decision to declare itself a nuclear-armed state

    In a move that its leader Kim Jong Un calls “irreversible,” North Korea has enacted new legislation proclaiming itself a nuclear weapons state.

    Kim vowed the country would “never give up” its nuclear weapons and said there could be no negotiations on denuclearization as he hailed the passage of the law, North Korean state media reported Friday.
    The new law also enshrines Pyongyang’s right to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect itself — updating a previous stance under which it had said it would keep its weapons only until other countries denuclearized and would not use them preemptively against non-nuclear states.
    Nuclear weapons represent the “dignity, body, and absolute power of the state,” Kim said as he welcomed the decision by the country’s rubber-stamp parliament — the Supreme People’s Assembly — to pass the new law in a unanimous vote.
    “The adoption of laws and regulations related to the national nuclear force policy is a remarkable event as it’s our declaration that we legally acquired war deterrence as a means of national defense,” Kim said.
    “As long as nuclear weapons exist on Earth, and imperialism and the anti-North Korean maneuvers of the US and its followers remain, our road to strengthening our nuclear force will never end.”
    The new law also bans the sharing of nuclear technology with other countries.
    It comes amid rising regional tensions over North Korea’s expansion of its nuclear weapons and missiles program.
    Kim has made increasingly provocative threats of nuclear conflict toward the United States and its allies in Asia in recent months.
    At the same time, the US has become increasingly concerned that North Korea may be preparing to carry out its first underground nuclear test in years
    Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the law demonstrated Pyongyang’s hopes of strengthening its relations with China and Russia at a time of heightened global tensions.
    “North Korea mentioning the possibility of using nuclear weapons if and when an attack on the state and leader is imminent is significant, even though it states nuclear weapons as a defensive last resort,” Yang said.

  • North Korea now a nuclear weapons state

    A law has been passed in North Korea, declaring the country a nuclear weapons state.

    State news agency KCNA has revealed that leader Kim Jong-un called the decision “irreversible” and ruled out the possibility of any talks on denuclearisation.

    North Korea now has the right to use a pre-emptive nuclear strike to protect itself, per the law.

    Despite crippling sanctions, Pyongyang has conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017.

    It has continued to advance its military capability – in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions – to threaten its neighbours and potentially even bring the US mainland within striking range.

    Mr Kim carried long-range launches and nuclear tests in 2019 following two headline-grabbing but inconclusive summits with then US president Donald Trump.

    But talks between the countries have since stalled. Although the Biden administration has indicated it’s willing to talk to Pyongyang, it hasn’t said whether President Joe Biden would meet Mr Kim.

    The White House also said its attempts to contact Pyongyang and overtures of help over its Covid outbreak had gone unanswered so far.

    The US reviewed its North Korea policy last year and reiterated that “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula was the goal. Mr Biden said he would pursue it with a mix of diplomacy and “stern deterrence”. Mr Kim responded by saying his country must prepare for both “dialogue and confrontation”.

    Meanwhile, tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked this year with Pyongyang firing a record number of ballistic missiles.

    South Korea and the US have responded with a volley of missiles and the largest joint military exercises on the peninsula in years.

  • North Korea’s Kim says nuclear deterrent crucial

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons guarantee its safety, state media reported Tuesday, signalling once again that it will not give up its arsenal. Kim was addressing a conference of veterans on the 67th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended Korean War hostilities, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

    Up to three million Koreans died in the three-year conflict, in which the armistice has never been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving North and South technically still at war.

    “Thanks to our reliable and effective self-defensive nuclear deterrent, there will no longer be such word as war on this land,” Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

    “Our national security and future will be firmly guaranteed forever,” he added.

    Pyongyang insists that it needs its nuclear arsenal to deter against a possible US invasion.

    It has spent decades developing it and is internationally isolated as a result, subject to multiple United Nations Security Council sanctions over its banned weapons programmes.

    Inter-Korean relations have been in deep freeze for months, following the collapse of a summit in Hanoi between Kim and US President Donald Trump last year.

    That nuclear negotiation foundered on what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for a loosening of sanctions.

    Kim declared in December an end to moratoriums on nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and Pyongyang has repeatedly said it has no intention to continue talks unless Washington drops what it describes as “hostile” policies towards the North.

    Source: AFP NEWS AGENCY

  • North and South Korea in gunfire exchange after Kim Jong-un reappears

    North and South Korea have exchanged gunfire in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) which divides the two countries.

    Seoul’s military said shots from the North hit a guard post in the central border town of Cheorwon. It said it returned fire and delivered a warning announcement.

    Such incidents across the world’s most heavily fortified border are rare.

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told US media the shots from the North were believed to be “accidental”.

    Meanwhile South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying the shots were not likely to have been intentional.

    No injuries were reported in the incident. Military officials in the South say there was no sign of unusual troop movements.

    There’s a “low possibility” that the shots fired by North Korea were intentional, according to the South Korean military. But at this stage it is unclear how they’ve made that assessment.

    Even if it was an accident or a miscalculation, it shows just how important it is for troops to keep level heads in the heavily fortified DMZ to ensure the situation isn’t made much worse.

    If it was a more tactical decision by North Korea then that’s a very different matter.

    The timing is interesting. It’s just 24 hours since the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un re-appeared after a 21-day absence. There have also been a large number of military drills in the North in recent months to improve readiness to fight an “actual war”, according to state media.

    Pyongyang has sometimes used the tactic of escalate to de-escalate, using its military posturing as leverage in later negotiations.

    But any sign of direct fire will be a disappointment to many in South Korea. There has been a lot of work in the last two years to ease tensions between the two countries after President Moon Jae-in met Kim Jong-un. The two sides signed a military agreement – any deliberate shots fired would breach that pact.

    The last time the North opened fire on the South happened in 2017 when a North Korean soldier made a dash across the military demarcation line to defect.

    The demilitarised zone (DMZ) was set up after the Korean War in 1953 in order to create a buffer zone between the two countries.

    For the past two years, the government in Seoul has tried to turn the heavily fortified border into a peace zone.

    Easing military tensions at the border was one of the agreements reached between the leaders of the two countries at a summit in Pyongyang in September 2018.

    Kim Jong-un’s reappearance in public, reported by North Korean state media on Friday, followed an almost-three-week unexplained absence that sparked intense global speculation about his health.

    Source: bbc.com

  • North Korea’s Kim makes first appearance in nearly three weeks

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance since speculation about his health began last month, cutting the ribbon at the opening of a fertilizer factory, KCNA reported Saturday.

    Kim attended the event on Friday in Sunchon, near the capital Pyongyang, after nearly three weeks of swirling rumours that the leader of the nuclear-armed nation was seriously ill or possibly dead.

    The North Korean leader had not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers’ Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported that he had inspected fighter jets.

    At Friday’s event, “all the participants broke into thunderous cheers of ‘hurrah!’” when Kim appeared, the Korean Central news agency reported.

    He inspected the facility and was “briefed about the production processes,” the report said.

    Kim “said with deep emotion” that his grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il “would be greatly pleased if they heard the news that the modern phosphatic fertilizer factory has been built,” it added.

    Also in attendance were other senior officials, including his sister and close adviser, Kim Yo Jong. Photos from the ceremony were not immediately released.

    Conjecture over Kim’s health had grown since his conspicuous no-show at April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather, the North’s founder — the most important day in the country’s political calendar.

    His absence unleashed a series of unconfirmed reports over his condition, triggering global fears over the North’s nuclear arsenal — and who would succeed Kim were he unable to lead.

    A top security advisor to South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said less than a week ago that Kim was “alive and well,” downplaying rumors that he was ill or incapacitated.

    The advisor, Moon Chung-in, told CNN that Kim had been staying in Wonsan — a resort town in the east of North Korea — since April 13, adding: “No suspicious movements have so far been detected.”

    – Rumours of ill health –

    Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, reported that Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure last month.

    Citing an unidentified source inside the country, it said Kim — who is in his mid-30s — had needed urgent treatment due to heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.

    Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in “grave danger” after undergoing surgery, quoting an anonymous US official.

    US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that Kim was alive earlier this week.

    On Friday, Trump refused to comment on Kim’s reported re-emergence.

    Previous absences from the public eye on Kim’s part have prompted speculation about his health.

    The North is extremely secretive, and doubly so about its leadership.

    Kim’s father and predecessor had been dead for two days before anyone outside the innermost circles of North Korean leadership was any the wiser.

    In 2014, Kim Jong Un dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane.

    Days later, the South’s spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.

    Source: france24.com

  • US ‘hasn’t seen’ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently, Mike Pompeo

    US officials “haven’t seen” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently and are watching reports about his health “closely”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

    He also expressed concern that the hermit state could be hit either by the coronavirus outbreak or a famine.

    Mr Kim, 36, last appeared in state media on 12 April, triggering speculation that he was seriously ill.

    But officials in South Korea later said such reports were not true.

    There have also been suggestions that North Korea’s “supreme leader” may be staying at the sea resort of Wonsan to protect himself from possible exposure to coronavirus.

    The secretive state shut its borders in late January due to the pandemic.

    What did Mike Pompeo say?

    Asked on Wednesday by Fox News to comment on the recent reports on Mr Kim’s health, Mr Pompeo said: “We haven’t seen him. We don’t have any information to report today, we’re watching it closely.

    “There is a real risk that there will be a famine, a food shortage, inside of North Korea too,” he added.

    “We’re watching each of those things closely, as they have a real impact on our mission set, which to ultimately denuclearise North Korea,” the secretary of state said.

    In the 1990s, a devastating famine is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of North Koreans.

    On Monday, President Donald Trump said he had a “very good idea” about Mr Kim’s condition, but added that “I can’t talk about it”.

    “I just wish him well,” he added.

    Mr Trump has met Mr Kim three times since 2018 – but the denuclearisation talks have stalled in recent months.

    When did speculation start?

    Kim Jong-un recently failed to appear for the celebration of his grandfather’s birthday on 15 April. This is one of the biggest events of the year, marking the birth of the nation’s founder.

    Kim Jong-un has never missed this event – and it seemed very unlikely that he would simply choose not to turn up.

    Inevitably, his absence prompted speculation and rumour, none of which is easy to substantiate.

    Kim Jong-un last appeared in state media on 12 April “inspecting a pursuit assault plane group” in a handout that is undated. As ever, the images portrayed him as relaxed and at ease.

    He chaired a key political meeting the day before, from state media despatches. But he has not been seen since.

    The claim about Mr Kim Jong-un’s ill health first surfaced in a report for a website run by North Korean defectors earlier this month.

    An anonymous source told the Daily NK that they understood he had been struggling with cardiovascular problems since last August “but it worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu”.

    This led to a chain of reporting by international media on a single-sourced story.

    News agencies then began to run with that claim, and it was all they had until some reports emerged that intelligence agencies in South Korea and the US were monitoring the claim.

    But then came a more sensational headline in US media that the North Korean leader was in a critical condition after heart surgery.

    However, a statement from the South Korean government, and sources at Chinese intelligence – speaking to the Reuters news agency – said this was not true.

    Source: bbc.com

  • North Korea’s Kim ‘alive and well’ – Seoul

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is “alive and well”, a top security adviser to the South’s President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim’s health following his absence from a key anniversary.

    “Our government position is firm,” said Moon’s special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “Kim Jong Un is alive and well.”

    The adviser said that Kim had been staying in Wonsan; a resort town in the country’s east, since April 13, adding: “No suspicious movements have so far been detected.”

    Conjecture about Kim’s health has grown since his conspicuous absence from the April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North’s founder, the most important day in the country’s political calendar.

    Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers’ Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.

    His absence unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, which officials in Seoul previously poured cold water on.

    “We have nothing to confirm and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now,” the South’s presidential office said in a statement last week.

    South Korea’s unification minister Kim Yeon-chul reiterated Monday that remained the case, adding the “confident” conclusion was drawn from “a complex process of intelligence gathering and assessment”.

    ‘Grave danger’

    Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, has reported Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.

    Citing an unidentified source inside the country, it said Kim, who is in his mid-30s, had needed urgent treatment due to heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.

    Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in “grave danger” after undergoing surgery, quoting what it said was an anonymous US official.

    US President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected reports that Kim was ailing but declined to state when he was last in touch with him.

    On Monday, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Kim had sent a message of thanks to workers on the giant Wonsan Kalma coastal tourism project.

    It was the latest in a series of reports in recent days of statements issued or actions taken in Kim’s name, although none has carried any pictures of him.

    Satellite images reviewed by 38North, a US-based think tank, showed a train probably belonging to Kim at a station in Wonsan last week.

    It cautioned that the train’s presence did not “indicate anything about his health” but did “lend weight” to reports he was staying on the country’s eastern coast.

    Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously difficult, especially regarding anything to do with its leadership, which is among its most closely guarded secrets.

    Previous absences from the public eye on Kim’s part have prompted speculation about his health.

    In 2014 he dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane. Days later, the South’s spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.

    Source: france24.com