A North Korean flag flutters on top of the 160-metre tall tower at North Korea’s propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File… Acquire Licensing Rights
North Korea on Monday denounced the U.N. atomic watchdog for joining a U.S.-led pressure campaign and “cooking up” a resolution over its nuclear programmes, calling the agency a “paid trumpeter” for Washington.
An unnamed spokesman of Pyongyang’s Ministry of Nuclear Power Industry released a statement criticising a resolution adopted on Friday at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference that calls for the North to curb its nuclear programmes.
The spokesman described the resolution as a “result of conspiracy” by the United States and its allies, saying North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state has already become “irreversible.”
“Such farce of the hostile forces is a revelation of their sinister intention to cover up their criminal acts of seriously threatening the international nuclear non-proliferation system and justify their hostile policy toward the DPRK,” he said, according to state media KCNA.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un recently made a rare weeklong visit to Russia and had a meeting with the president of the former Soviet Union nation Vladimir Putin.
EAM Jaishankar with representatives of the Quad countries, namely Yoko Kamikawa, Penny Wong and Antony Blinken. Credit: X/ @DrSJaishankar
After persuading the West to accept the G20 Delhi Declaration without a word of condemnation for Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine, India has joined the United States, Japan and Australia to tacitly ask Russia to refrain from clinching any arms transfer deal with North Korea.
The foreign ministers of Quad – a four-nation coalition comprising India, Japan, Australia and the United States – sent out a message to Russia, urging all member states of the United States to abide by the Security Council resolutions prohibiting “the transfer to North Korea or procurement from North Korea of all arms and related materiel”.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar joined his Japanese, Australian and American counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa, Penny Wong and Antony Blinken, for a meeting of the Quad on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk during Xi’s visit in Pyongyang, North Korea in this picture released by by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 21, 2019. KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to promote cooperative relations with China in a letter to President Xi Jinping, the North’s state media KCNA reported on Sunday.
The letter was in response to congratulations Xi sent for the North’s founding anniversary this month where the Chinese president had expressed his willingness to strengthen strategic communication and working-level cooperation.
“I believe … the DPRK-China friendly and cooperative relations would steadily develop in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the desire of the two peoples in the future,” Kim said in the letter sent on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Canada, where he will be guaranteed a warmer reception than he received during yesterday’s Washington visit. The Ukrainian president assured US politicians Kyiv is “winning” – but some sections of Congress are battling against more funding for the war effort.
Pic: https://www.aljazeera.com/
The three major powers have all built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites, according to CNN.
Satellite images obtained by the broadcaster appear to show expansions at the nuclear sites in recent years.
No evidence suggests any are preparing for imminent nuclear tests.
The sites are in China’s western region of Xinjiang, Russia’s Arctic Ocean archipelago, and America’s Nevada desert.
The images show new tunnels, roads and storage facilities, as well as increased vehicle traffic in and out of the sites.
Jeffrey Lewis, an adjunct professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, there are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China and the United States might resume nuclear testing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday inspected a Russian fighter jet factory that is under Western sanctions, part of a visit Washington and its allies fear could strengthen Russia’s military in Ukraine and bolster Pyongyang’s missile program.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits an aircraft manufacturing plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Khabarovsk region, Russia, September 15, 2023. Courtesy Governor of Russia’s Khabarovsk Krai Mikhail Degtyarev Telegram Channel via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation when they met on Wednesday.
South Korea and the United States said on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia was a violation of U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang, and that the allies would ensure there is a price to pay.
Putin told reporters Russia was “not going to violate anything”, but would keep developing relations with North Korea. His spokesman said no agreements had been signed during Kim’s visit on military issues or any other topic.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. view before and after Kim’s visit was that “talks about the provision of weapons by North Korea to Russia, to kill Ukrainians, have been advancing and continued to advance.”
“We’re not going to take their word for that, or basically anything they say,” he told a White House press briefing, when asked about the Russian statement. “We’ll see what actually ends up happening.”
“I can’t name a specific agreement for you today, but we take a look at that with a heavy grain of salt,” Sullivan added.
He said Russia, and China, had legal obligations to uphold U.N. resolutions on North Korea.
“We have very real concerns based on what Russia has just done, that they are going to live up to their basic responsibility as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council,” Sullivan said.
Kim, 39, on Friday visited aviation facilities in the far eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant and the Yakovlev plant, both units of United Aircraft Corporation, which is under Western sanctions.
At the Gagarin plant, which is also specifically under U.S. sanctions, Kim inspected assembly workshops where the Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter and Su-57 fighter are made, escorted by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, the government said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to visit North Korea, stoking U.S. concerns that a revived Moscow-Pyongyang axis could bolster Russia’s military in Ukraine and provide Kim sensitive missile technology.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny ?osmodrome in the Amur Oblast of the Far East Region, Russia, September 13, 2023 in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
The invite was made during a summit in eastern Russia at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and helping North Korea’s satellite programme.
Calling each other “comrades”, the two leaders toasted their friendship on Wednesday with Russian wine after the 70-year-old Putin showed Kim, 39, around Russia’s most modern space launch facility and they held talks alongside their defence ministers.
“At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time,” KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin “gratefully” accepted the invite and that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to Pyongyang in October. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin has rarely travelled abroad.
For the United States and allies, the burgeoning friendship between Kim and Putin is a concern. Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.
Both Russia and North Korea have denied those claims, but promised to deepen defence cooperation. During a visit to North Korea in July, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown banned ballistic missiles by Kim.
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday the Biden administration “won’t hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they conclude any new arms deals.
On Thursday, the top national security officials of the United States, South Korea and Japan discussed the Putin-Kim meeting in a call.
A White House statement said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and counterparts Takeo Akiba of Japan and Cho Tae-yong of South Korea noted that any North Korean arms exports to Russia “would directly violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt.”
South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) said on Thursday North Korea and Russia would “pay a price” if they violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Kim is due on Thursday to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to inspect Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, Putin said.
China is Kim and Putin’s biggest trade partner and most powerful political patron, and has influence that could prevent North Korean munitions being used in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un raise glasses in a toast during their meeting in the far-eastern Russian port of Vladivostok in 2019 [File: KCNA via AFP]China is the key to restraining a potential arms deal between Moscow and Pyongyang, an expert on North Korean military and politics has said as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Kim Jong Un appear poised to meet for talks in Russia’s Far East.
Kim arrived onboard his armoured train at the Russian border on Tuesday morning, crossing the frontier at Russia’s Khasan city en route to the meeting where the Russian leader is expected to seek access to stockpiles of North Korean ammunition, which Moscow badly needs to feed its war in Ukraine.
The two leaders find themselves in changed circumstances since they last met in 2019, said Fyodor Tertitskiy, a historian of North Korea and leading researcher at Kookmin University’s Institute for Korean Studies in South Korea’s capital Seoul.
Both leaders have items to trade, advantages to gain and pressures at home that might encourage them to align their strategic interests more closely when they meet in Russia.
However, any agreement will be an “alliance of convenience” and one in which China – being the largest trading partner as well as Moscow and Pyongyang’s most powerful political patron – will tacitly have great influence in deciding the outcome, Tertitskiy said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Khasan, Russia, September 12, 2023, in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency on September 13, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his visit to Russia shows the “strategic importance” of the two countries’ ties, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday ahead of an expected summit with President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting, which could be as early as Wednesday, is being watched apprehensively by Washington and allies, who suspect the two leaders will discuss military cooperation and could agree on a deal to trade arms and defence technology.
Hours ahead of the anticipated summit, North Korea launched at least two ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military and Japan’s coast guard said. Details on the type of missiles were not yet released.
The Japanese government said a second missile was launched and both fell outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Kim arrived in Russia by private train on Tuesday in the Russian Far East accompanied by top defence industry and military aides, and was welcomed by an honour guard and senior Russian and regional officials, KCNA said.
“Kim Jong Un said that his visit to the Russian Federation … is a clear manifestation of the stand of the WPK and the government of the DPRK prioritising the strategic importance of DPRK-Russia relations,” the KCNA report said.
The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while the WPK is the Workers’ Party of Korea, the country’s ruling party.
U.S. officials have said arms talks between Russia and North Korea were actively advancing, and Washington and allies have expressed concern that Kim and Putin would discuss providing Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang on Sunday afternoon for Russia via his private train, state media KCNA reports; declassified intelligence shows that Russia targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles last month, Rishi Sunak has revealed.
Pic: @primamedia via AP
Possible sighting of Kim Jong Un’s train in Russian Far East
A picture has emerged of a train resembling one previously used by Kim Jong Un travelling through Russia.
The screenshot, from a video released by Russian Telegram channel Prima Media, shows a green train with yellow trimmings steaming near Khasan, some 127 km (79 miles) south of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
People attend what North Korean state media report was the country’s launching ceremony for a new tactical nuclear attack submarine, in North Korea, in this handout image released September 8, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korea has launched its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine” and assigned it to the fleet that patrols the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan, state media said on Friday.
Submarine No. 841 – named Hero Kim Kun Ok after a North Korean historical figure – will be one of the main “underwater offensive means of the naval force” of North Korea, leader Kim Jong Un said at the launch ceremony on Wednesday.
Analysts said the vessel appears to be a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s and began producing domestically. Its design, with 10 launch tube hatches, showed it was most likely armed with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, analysts said.
But such weapons won’t add much value to the North’s more robust land-based nuclear forces, because its submarines may not survive as long during a war, said Vann Van Diepen, a former U.S. government weapons expert who works with the 38 North project in Washington.
“When this thing is field deployed, it’s going to be quite vulnerable to allied anti-submarine warfare,” he said. “So I think from a sort of hard-headed military standpoint this doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
South Korea’s military said that the submarine didn’t appear ready for normal operations, and that there were signs North Korea was attempting to exaggerate its capabilities.
At the launch ceremony, Kim said arming the navy with nuclear weapons was an urgent task and promised more underwater and surface vessels equipped with tactical nuclear weapons for the naval forces, news agency KCNA reported.
“The submarine-launching ceremony heralded the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK,” KCNA said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea plans to turn other existing submarines into nuclear armed vessels, and accelerate its push to eventually build nuclear-powered submarines, Kim said.
“Achieving a rapid development of our naval forces … is a priority that cannot be delayed given … the enemies’ recent aggressive moves and military acts,” the North Korean leader said in a speech, apparently referring to the United States and South Korea.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the submarine launch drew condemnation from South Korea and Japan.
“North Korea’s military activity is posing graver and more imminent threat to our country’s security than before,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a briefing.
Arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing, a U.S. official said on Tuesday and warned leader Kim Jong Un that his country would pay a price for supplying Russia with weapons to use in Ukraine.
Providing weapons to Russia “is not going to reflect well on North Korea and they will pay a price for this in the international community,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
The Kremlin said earlier on Tuesday it had “nothing to say” about statements by U.S. officials that Kim planned to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss weapons supplies to Moscow.
Kim expects discussions about weapons to continue, Sullivan said, including at leader level and “perhaps even in person”.
“We have continued to squeeze Russia’s defense industrial base,” Sullivan said, and Moscow is now “looking to whatever source they can find” for goods like ammunition.
“We will continue to call on North Korea to abide by its public commitments not to supply weapons to Russia that will end up killing Ukrainians,” Sullivan said.
On Monday, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Kim and Putin could be planning to meet, and the New York Times cited unnamed U.S. and allied officials as saying Kim plans to travel to Russia as soon as next week to meet Putin.
Asked if he could confirm the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, I can’t. There’s nothing to say.”
As Russia’s isolation over its war in Ukraine has grown, it has seen increasing value in North Korea, according to political analysts. For North Korea’s part, relations with Russia have not always been as warm as they were at the height of the Soviet Union, but now the country is reaping clear benefits from Moscow’s need for friends.
MOSCOW-PYONGYANG DEFENSE COOPERATION
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, April 25, 2019. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
A North Korean defense ministry official in November said Pyongyang has “never had ‘arms dealings’ with Russia” and has “no plan to do so in the future.”
Moscow and Pyongyang have promised to boost defense cooperation.
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who visited Pyongyang in July to attend weapons displays that included North Korea’s banned ballistic missiles, said on Monday the two countries are discussing the possibility of joint military exercises.
“Just as you can tell a person by their friends, you can tell a country by the company it keeps,” said Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow with Chatham House’s Russia & Eurasia Programme. “In Russia’s case, that company now consists largely of fellow rogue states.”
The trip would be Kim’s first visit abroad in more than four years and the first since the coronavirus pandemic.
While he made more trips abroad than his father as leader, Kim’s travel is often shrouded in secrecy and heavy security. Unlike his father who was said to be averse to flying, Kim has flown his personal Russian-made jet for some of his trips but U.S. officials told the New York Times that he may take an armored train across the land border North Korea shares with Russia.
North Korea has previously denied having any “arms dealings” with Russia, however, the US has imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between the two countries.
Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, pictured together in 2019
Kim Jong Un could travel to Russia to meet president Vladimir Putin, according to a US official.
The North Korean leader could make the trip as early as this month, according to the unnamed source, with the port city of Vladivostok, near to the border between the two countries, believed to be a possible meeting point.
It comes as the US claims the Kremlin is attempting to acquire military equipment for its war in Ukraine.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Monday that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu had travelled to North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang last month.
It is believed Mr Shoigu attempted to persuade North Korea – one of the most militarised countries in the world – to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.
Ms Watson said: “We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia.”
She added that the US is urging North Korea “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”.
It comes after Mr Shoigu also said on Monday that Russia and North Korea may hold joint war games.
“Why not, these are our neighbours,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Mr Shoigu as saying.
“There’s an old Russian saying: ‘You don’t choose your neighbours, and it’s better to live with your neighbours in peace and harmony’.”
When asked about the possibility of joint exercises between the two countries, he said they were “of course” being discussed, the agency said.
North Korea has previously denied having any “arms dealings” with Russia, however, the US has imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between the two countries.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the Pukjung Machine Complex and a major munitions factory in an undisclosed location in North Korea in this picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and obtained by Reuters on Sep 3, 2023. (Photo: KCNA via REUTERS)
North Korea conducted a simulated “tactical nuclear attack” drill early on Saturday (Sep 2) that included two long-range cruise missiles carrying mock nuclear warheads, in response to allied exercises by the US and South Korea, state media reported on Sunday.
The KCNA news agency said the drill was carried out to “warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger” as Pyongyang again vowed to bolster military deterrence against Washington and Seoul.
The two cruise missiles carrying mock nuclear warheads were fired towards the West Sea of the peninsula and flew 1,500km at a preset altitude of 150m.
A separate statement said Kim visited Pukjung Machine Complex, which produces marine engines, and a major munitions factory to stress the importance of strengthening Pyongyang’s naval forces.
“He affirmed that a future plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the WPK (Worker’s Party of Korea) would set forth an important modernization of the complex and the development direction of the shipbuilding industry,” the KCNA statement said.
The statement did not specify the date of his visit.
The latest missile test came just after the joint annual summertime exercises between South Korea and the US, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, came to a close on Thursday after an 11-day run, featuring air drills with B-1B bombers.
Details of the launch were being analysed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
A tactical guided missile is launched, according to state media, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo: KCNA via Reuters)
North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea in the early hours of Saturday, according to the South Korean military.
Details of the launch were being analysed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
It was the latest in a series of missile tests and military exercises conducted by the North in recent weeks, including a failed spy satellite launch late last month.
Seoul announced sanctions on Friday on five North Korean individuals and one company in response to Pyongyang’s launch of what it said was a space rocket last month.
North Korean leader Kim Jong visits the training centre of the General Staff Department of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) in an undisclosed location in North Korea in this picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and obtained by Reuters on Aug 31, 2023. (Photo: KCNA via REUTERS)
North Korea conducted a simulated “scorched-earth” nuclear strike on targets across South Korea, state media reported on Thursday (Aug 31), in reaction to allied exercises that it said amounted to plans for a preemptive nuclear attack by the United States.
The missile unit fired two ballistic missiles and correctly carried out its “nuclear strike mission”, the General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by the news agency KCNA.
“The KPA staged a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched-earth strikes at major command centres and operational airfields of the ‘ROK’ military gangsters on Wednesday night,” it said, using initials of South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after the US deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills.
The latest launch came a day before South Korea and the US wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has long denounced as a war rehearsal.
The White House says Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un exchanged letters about working together.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un pose for a photo prior to their talks in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 25, 2019. | Pool Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko
New U.S. intelligence shows North Korea and Russia are “actively advancing” high-level talks for additional weapons and other materials to assist Moscow’s brutal war in Ukraine, the Biden administration disclosed on Wednesday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently traveled to North Korea to try to secure additional artillery ammunition, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Since that visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their cooperation.
Also after Shoigu’s visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-up discussions about potential arms deals between the two nations, Kirby said. Under the potential agreements, North Korea would ship Russia “significant quantities and multiple types” of weapons for use in Ukraine, he said.
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The potential deals also include the provision of raw materials that could help boost Russia’s military manufacturing capability, Kirby said.
“Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Kirby said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official name. “We’re continuing to monitor this situation closely. And 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.”
The alleged arms talks come as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine drags on with no end in sight. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed to make major breakthroughs, despite ample military support from the West. Both Russia and Ukraine are burning through ammunition and seeking any edge they can in a bid to gain a permanent upper hand.
The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kirby declined to describe how the United States had obtained the information, citing the importance of protecting sources and methods used. Still, it was the latest example of the Biden administration publicly disclosing intelligence in a bid to stay ahead of Moscow as it has pursued its war on Ukraine.
Kirby said the fact that Putin was approaching a country like North Korea, one of the most isolated on the planet, was a sign of Putin’s desperation, even as he acknowledged it was not clear how long Russia would continue to wage war.
Flights have already begun operating to Beijing in China and Vladivostok in Russia ahead of the borders reopening, but it is unclear who has actually travelled onboard.
North Koreans line-up for a flight to Pyongyang at Beijing Capital International Airport on Saturday. Pic: AP
North Korea has become the latest country to reopen its borders following the COVID-19 pandemic – but only to its own citizens.
Pyongyang announced its own citizens will be allowed to fly back into the country, with those returning having to quarantine for seven days for “proper medical observation”, according to a statement on state television.
While details are scant, experts believe North Koreans abroad include students and workers, and were mostly based in allied countries such as China or Russia.
North Korea slammed its borders shut after the pandemic started, banning tourism, flying out key diplomats and halting border traffic and trade, with analysts believing the move harmed its food security and economy.
South Korea’s spy agency said it believes the North will slowly begin to fully reopen its borders in an effort to revive its economy.
North Korea has been seeking to place what would be its first military spy satellite into orbit, saying it eventually plans a fleet of satellites to monitor moves by U.S. and South Korean troops.
The launch prompted emergency warnings in Japan just before 4 a.m. local time (1900 GMT) over the J-alert broadcasting system. (Source: Associated Press/File)
North Korea’s second attempt to place a spy satellite in orbit failed on Thursday after the rocket booster experienced a problem during its third stage, state media reported, as space authorities vowed to try again in October.
Its first try in May also ended in failure when the new Chollima-1 rocket crashed into the sea.
The pre-dawn launch came in the first hours of an eight-day window that North Korea had given for the attempt.
The nuclear-armed country has been seeking to place what would be its first military spy satellite into orbit, saying it eventually plans a fleet of satellites to monitor moves by U.S. and South Korean troops.
“The flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight,” state news agency KCNA said of Thursday’s launch.
South Korea’s military said it tracked the flight from its launch at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground and also concluded that it was a failure.
The launch prompted an emergency warning in Japan just before 4 a.m. local time (1900 GMT) over the J-alert broadcasting system, telling residents of the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa to take cover indoors.
About 20 minutes following the alert, the Japanese government followed up with a notice that the missile had passed through towards the Pacific Ocean and lifted the emergency warning.
In a televised press conference, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the repeated missile launches were a threat to regional security.
“We will strongly protest against North Korea and condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
Matsuno said parts of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.
South Korea’s National Security Council condemned the launch as a provocation and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning the North’s use of ballistic missile technology.
North Korea’s attempted satellite launch violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the U.S. State Department said late on Wednesday, urging North Korea to refrain from “further threatening activity” and calling on Pyongyang to engage in serious diplomacy.
“Space launch vehicles (SLVs) incorporate technologies that are identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
MORE LAUNCHES TO COME
North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) said it would investigate and take steps to fix the cause of Thursday’s failure but that it “is not a big issue” in terms of the rocket system’s overall reliability.
“NADA expressed the stand that it would conduct the third reconnaissance satellite launch in October after thoroughly probing the reason and taking measures,” KCNA reported.
The North’s May 31 bid to launch the Chollima-1 satellite rocket also went wrong, with the booster and payload plunging into the sea after a failure in the second stage. State media blamed the setback on an unstable and unreliable new engine system and fuel.
South Korea recovered parts of that failed rocket, including the satellite payload, which it said did not appear to have military capability.
It was not a major surprise that Thursday’s launch appeared to have failed as well, but the state media report suggests that North Korea has made some progress since May’s crash, said Ankit Panda of the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
A TV screen shows a report of North Korea’s rocket launch with file image during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug 24, 2023.” (Photo: AP/Lee Jin-man)
North Korea’s second attempt to place a spy satellite in orbit failed on Thursday (Aug 23) after the rocket booster experienced a problem during its third stage, state media reported, as space authorities vowed to try again in October.
Its first try in May also ended in failure when the new Chollima-1 rocket crashed into the sea.
The pre-dawn launch came in the first hours of an eight-day window that North Korea had given for the attempt.
The nuclear-armed country has been seeking to place what would be its first military spy satellite into orbit, saying it eventually plans a fleet of satellites to monitor moves by US and South Korean troops.
“The flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight,” state news agency KCNA said of Thursday’s launch.
South Korea’s military said it tracked the flight from its launch at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground and also concluded that it was a failure.
The launch prompted an emergency warning in Japan just before 4am local time over the J-alert broadcasting system, telling residents of the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa to take cover indoors.
About 20 minutes following the alert, the Japanese government followed up with a notice that the missile had passed through towards the Pacific Ocean and lifted the emergency warning.
In a televised press conference, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the repeated missile launches were a threat to regional security.
“We will strongly protest against North Korea and condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
Matsuno said parts of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.
South Korea’s military condemned the launch as a provocation and violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning the North’s use of ballistic missile technology.
Mr. Kim inspected one of his fleets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, and watched as the crew staged a drill launching ‘strategic cruise missiles,’ state-run news agency KCNA reported
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from a navy ship, as the U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off major annual drills, on August 21, 2023. | Photo Credit: AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a navy unit and oversaw a strategic cruise missile test, state media reported on August 21, ahead of the start of joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.
Mr. Kim inspected one of his fleets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, and watched as the crew staged a drill launching “strategic cruise missiles,” state-run news agency KCNA reported.
President Joe Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea agreed Friday to expand security and economic ties at a historic summit at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, cementing a new agreement with the allies that are on an increasingly tense ledge in relations with China and North Korea.
Biden said the nations would establish a communications hotline to discuss responses to threats. He announced the agreements, including what the leaders termed the “Camp David Principles,” at the close of his talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“Our countries are stronger and the world will be safer as we stand together. And I know this is a belief that all three share,” Biden said
“The purpose of our trilateral security cooperation is and will remain to promote and enhance peace and stability throughout the region,” the leaders said in a joint statement.
Biden maintained, as have US, South Korean and Japanese officials, that the summit “was not about China” but was focused on broader security issues. Yet, the leaders in their joint summit concluding statement noted China’s “dangerous and aggressive” action in the South China Sea and said they “strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific.”
Yoon noted in particular the threat posed by North Korea, saying the three leaders had agreed to improve “our joint response capabilities to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, which have become sophisticated more than ever.”
He said as the three appeared before reporters that “today will be remembered as a historic day, where we established a firm institutional basis and commitments to the trilateral partnership.”
Japan’s Kishida said before the private talks that “the fact that we, the three leaders, have got together in this way, I believe means that we are indeed making a new history as of today. The international community is at a turning point in history.”
The visitors spoke in their home languages, their comments repeated by a translator.
The U.S., Japan and South Korea agreed to a new “duty to consult” security pledge committing them to speak with each other in the event of a security crisis or threat in the Pacific.
The pledge is intended to acknowledge that they share “fundamentally interlinked security environments” and that a threat to one is “a threat to all,” according to a senior Biden administration official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement.
Under the pledge, the three countries agree to consult, share information and align their messaging with each other in the face of a threat or crisis, the official said.
The Camp David retreat, 65 miles (104.6 kilometers) from the White House, was where President Jimmy Carter brought together Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978 for talks that established a framework for a historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in March 1979. In the midst of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the retreat — then known as Shangri-La — to plan the Italian campaign that would knock Benito Mussolini out of the war.
Kishida and Yoon were mindful of Camp David’s place in U.S. and world history, making repeated references to its past and now their place in it during their comments at the news conference after the meeting with Biden. The leaders arrived in Washington on Thursday and, as guests of Biden, on Friday were flown separately to Camp David on U.S. military helicopters like the ones Biden uses.
Biden’s focus for the gathering was to nu dge the United States’ two closest Asian allies to further tighten security and economic cooperation with each other. The historic rivals have been divided by differing views of World War II history and Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
But under Kishida and Yoon, the two countries have begun a rapprochement as the two conservative leaders grapple with shared security challenges posed by North Korea and China. Both leaders have been upset by the stepped-up cadence of North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, the self-ruled island that is claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, and other aggressive action.
Leaders say the allies are ‘fully demonstrating their invincibility’ and pledge to bolster security ties as US accuses Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Moscow.
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged letters pledging to develop ties into what Kim called a “long-standing strategic relationship”.
The letters mark the 78th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, which is also celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea.
In his letter to Putin on Tuesday, Kim said the two countries’ friendship was forged in World War II with victory over Japan and is now “fully demonstrating their invincibility and might in the struggle to smash the imperialists’ arbitrary practices and hegemony”, state news agency KCNA said.
“I am firmly convinced that the friendship and solidarity … will be further developed into a long-standing strategic relationship in conformity with the demand of the new era,” Kim was quoted as saying in the letter.
“The two countries will always emerge victorious, strongly supporting and cooperating with each other in the course of achieving their common goal and cause.”
The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms transactions.
‘Deeply concerned’
Moscow and Pyongyang – both increasingly isolated from the West and weighted with sanctions – have drawn closer since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine and commenced large-scale hostilities last year.
Last month, Russia’s defence minister stood shoulder to shoulder with Kim as they reviewed North Korea’s newest nuclear-capable missiles and attack drones at a military parade in the capital Pyongyang.
Washington remains “deeply concerned” about North Korea aiding Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and believes Moscow is seeking to increase its cooperation with Pyongyang, US Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
“Any kind of security cooperation or arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of UN Security Council resolutions,” Patel said at a regular news briefing.
Putin, in his message to Kim, also pledged to bolster bilateral ties.
In its first comments on the story, state news agency KCNA says Travis King decided to enter North Korean territory last month, partly because he was “disillusioned at the unequal American society”.
Detained US soldier Travis King entered North Korea because of “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army”, the communist country’s state media has claimed.
He has also “expressed willingness” to seek refuge in North Korea after crossing the border last month, Pyongyang has said in its first comments on the story.
King was “disillusioned at the unequal American society”, KCNA claimed.
North Korean investigators have concluded that he crossed from South Korea deliberately and illegally, intending to stay in the North or in a third country, KCNA said.
King, 23, was reportedly facing disciplinary action by the US military when he crossed over while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) – the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.
He was also said to have been struggling with the death of his young cousin, according to US media reports.
He is the first American to be detained in North Korea for almost five years.
The US Pentagon said it could not verify King’s alleged comments.
“The department’s priority is to bring Private King home. We are working through all available channels to achieve that outcome,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.
King has been declared AWOL, according to US officials. The punishment for being absent without leave can include forfeiture of pay or dishonourable discharge.
US officials have also said they believe he crossed the border intentionally.
The Pentagon says it is focused on Travis King’s ‘safe return’
KCNA said in a statement: “During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harboured ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, August 9, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un replaced the military’s top general and called for more preparations for the possibility of war, a boost in weapons production, and expansion of military drills, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
Kim made the comments at a meeting of the Central Military Commission which discussed plans for countermeasures to deter North Korea’s enemies, which it did not name, the report said.
The country’s top general, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il was “dismissed,” KCNA reported, without elaborating. He had served in his role for about seven months.
Pak was replaced by General Ri Yong Gil, who previously served as the country’s defence minister, as well as the top commander of its conventional troops.
Ri also previously served as the army chief of staff. When he was replaced in 2016 his sacking and subsequent absence from official events sparked reports in South Korea that he had been executed. He reappeared a few months later, when he was named to another senior post.
Kim also set a target for the expansion of weapons production capacity, the report said, without providing details. Last week he visited weapons factories where he called for more missile engines, artillery and other weapons to be built.
Photos released by KCNA showed Kim pointing at Seoul and areas surrounding the South Korean capital on a map.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, rockets and missiles. Russia and North Korea have denied those claims.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the country’s key weapons factories, including those producing artillery systems and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military’s arms and war readiness, state media said Sunday.
Kim’s three-day inspections through Saturday came as the United States and South Korea prepared for their next round of combined military exercises planned for later this month to cope with the growing North Korean threat.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as the pace of North Korea’s missile tests and the joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, which Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals, have both intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle.
Some experts say Kim’s tour of the weapons factories could also be related to possible military cooperation with Moscow that may involve North Korean supplies of artillery and other ammunition as Russian President Vladimir Putin reaches out to other countries for support in the war in Ukraine.
During Kim’s visit to an unspecified factory producing large-caliber artillery systems, he stressed the factory’s “important responsibilities and tasks in perfecting (the North’s) war readiness,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim praised the factory’s efforts to employ “scientific and technological measures” to improve the quality of shells, reduce processing times for propellent tubes and increase manufacturing speed, but also called for the need to develop and produce new types of shells, KCNA said.
At another factory manufacturing launcher trucks designed to transport and fire ballistic missiles, Kim said increasing the supply of the vehicles is a top priority for the military and complimented workers for establishing a “solid foundation” for production.
At a factory producing engines for cruise missiles and drones, Kim called for “rapidly expanding” production, KCNA said. Kim’s stops also included a small arms factory, where he stressed the need to modernize the weapons carried by soldiers. Photos published by state media showed Kim firing at least two different scoped rifles from a table.
North Korea’s Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song speaks during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly after China and Russia vetoed new sanctions on North Korea in the U.N. Security Council, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., June 8, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
The Permanent Mission of North Korea to the United Nations has criticized the U.S. for having nuclear weapons and urged it to stop “sharing nuclear” or “beefing up extended deterrence,” state media KCNA reported on Saturday.
While criticizing the U.S. over the AUKUS alliance and the Nuclear Consultative Group with South Korea, Pyongyang defended its nuclear weapons as an “exercise of sovereignty.”
“Signatories to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) should not take issue with the DPRK over its legitimate exercise of sovereignty, as it had legally withdrawn from the NPT 20 years ago,” the DPRK permanent mission to the UN Office and international organizations in Vienna was quoted as saying.
[1/5] People attend a mass rally denouncing the U.S. in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 25, 2023 in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)North Korea held mass rallies in Pyongyang where people shouted slogans vowing a “war of revenge” to destroy the United States, as it marked the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, state media reported on Monday.
About 120,000 working people and students took part in the rallies held across the capital on Sunday, state news agency KCNA reported.
Photos released by state media showed a stadium crowded with people holding placards reading “The whole U.S. mainland is within our shooting range” and “The imperialist U.S. is the destroyer of peace.”
Sunday’s anniversary came amid concerns Pyongyang could soon conduct another launch of its first military spy satellite to boost monitoring of U.S. military activities after its first attempt ended in failure on May 31.
North Korea now had “the strongest absolute weapon to punish the U.S. imperialists” and the “avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy,” KCNA said.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has been testing various weapons including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tension with the South and the South’s main ally, the United States.
In a separate foreign ministry report, North Korea said the U.S. was “making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war,” accusing Washington of sending strategic assets to the region.
South Korea says its neighbour has launched a “space-launch vehicle”. It comes after North Korea announced plans to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite.
A TV screen displays a warning message called ‘J-alert’ in the response to a rocket launch in North Korea
North Korea has attempted to launch its first military spy satellite – sparking emergency alerts in neighbouring South Korea and in Japan.
Air raid sirens sounded off across South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on Wednesday morning, while Japan also issued a missile warning, following the launch of a rocket from North Korea’s northwestern Tongchang-ri area.
It comes after Pyongyang announced plans to launch its first military spy satellite – which it said would be used to monitor US activity.
The country’s state-controlled news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday that the launch of the satellite had failed and that the rocket had crashed into the Yellow Sea.
It said officials would investigate the “grave” defects – believed to have involved the rocket’s engine and fuel system – and that a second launch would take place soon.
On Wednesday, the US condemned the launch attempt – which it said involved the use of ballistic missile technology – and that Joe Biden and his security team were assessing the situation in coordination with allies.
A satellite image of North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station near Tongchang-ri. Pic: AP
South Korea’s military described Wednesday’s rocket by its neighbour as a “space-launch vehicle”.
It also said that it had recorded an “abnormal flight” before the rocket plunged into the sea.
Officials in South Korea’s capital of Seoul sent alerts over public speakers and smartphones for residents to prepare for evacuation following the launch.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko Kishida inspect honour guards upon their arrival to Seoul airbase in Seongnam on May 7, 2023. (Photo: AFP/Kim Hong-ji)
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Seoul on Sunday (May 7) to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, facing a sceptical public there as the leaders seek deeper ties amid nuclear threats from North Korea and China’s increasing assertiveness.
Kishida’s bilateral visit, the first by a Japanese leader to Seoul in 12 years, returns the trip Yoon made to Tokyo in March, where they sought to close a chapter on the historical disputes that have dominated Japan-South Korea relations for years.
Soon before departing, Kishida told reporters he hoped to have “an open discussion based on a relationship of trust” with Yoon, without elaborating on specific issues.
Yoon is facing criticism at home that he has given more than he’s received in his efforts to improve relations with Japan, including by proposing that South Korean businesses – not Japanese companies as ordered by a court – compensate victims of wartime labour during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial occupation.
South Korean officials are hopeful that Kishida will make some kind of gesture in return and offer some political support, although few observers expect any further formal apology for historical wrongs. Yoon himself has signalled he doesn’t believe that is necessary.
The focus of the summit instead will likely revolve around security cooperation in the face of North Korea’s nuclear threats, said Shin-wha Lee, a professor of international relations at Seoul-based Korea University.
“Within the framework of the ‘Washington Declaration,’ which outlines plans to strengthen extended deterrence, Korea will explore ways to enhance the collaborative efforts with Japan,” she added.
“We have a lot of opportunities to cooperate when it comes to addressing the threat of North Korea” and securing a free and open Indo-Pacific, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
Tensions have simmered between Washington and Beijing as China becomes more assertive in its territorial claims over Taiwan and in the South China Sea, while the US shores up alliances across the Asia-Pacific.
But the historical differences between South Korea and Japan also threaten to cast a shadow over the blossoming ties between its two leaders.
The majority of South Koreans believe Japan hasn’t apologised sufficiently for atrocities during Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea, Lee said. “They think that Prime Minister Kishida should show sincerity during his visit to South Korea, such as mentioning historical issues and expressing apologies,” she added.
On the other hand, Japan is taking it slow, said Daniel Russel, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific.
Kim Jong Un, seen here in 2017, is known to be a heavy smoker
British American Tobacco is to pay $635m (£512m) plus interest to US authorities after a subsidiary admitted selling cigarettes to North Korea in violation of sanctions.
The US authorities said the settlement related to BAT activity in North Korea between 2007 and 2017.
BAT’s head Jack Bowles said “we deeply regret the misconduct”.
The US has imposed severe sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile activities.
Tuesday’s settlement was between BAT and America’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
BAT is one of the world’s largest tobacco multinationals and one of the UK’s 10 biggest companies. It owns major cigarette brands including Lucky Strike, Dunhill and Pall Mall.
In a statement, BAT said it had entered into a “deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ and a civil settlement agreement with OFAC, and an indirect BAT subsidiary in Singapore has entered into a plea agreement with DOJ”.
The DOJ said BAT had also conspired to defraud financial institutions in order to get them to process transactions on behalf of North Korean entities.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is known to be a heavy smoker. Last year the US attempted to get the UN Security Council to ban tobacco exports to North Korea, but this was vetoed by Russia and China.
At a briefing on Tuesday, the DOJ’s assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said the settlement was the “culmination of a long-running investigation”, describing it as “the single largest North Korean sanctions penalty in the history of the Department of Justice”.
He said that BAT was engaged in an “elaborate scheme to circumvent US sanctions and sell tobacco products to North Korea” via subsidiaries.
“Between 2007 and 2017 these third-party companies sold tobacco products to North Korea and received approximately $428m.”
Criminal charges were also revealed against North Korean banker Sim Hyon-Sop, 39, and Chinese facilitators Qin Guoming, 60, and Han Linlin, 41, for facilitating sales of tobacco to North Korea.
The man known as David tells Sky News how his father disappeared without a trace and his mother was tortured in a labour camp – as he provides a rare insight into life in North Korea since the COVID pandemic.
For David, the streets of Seoul are a much longed for safe haven.
To the casual observer, there is nothing out of the ordinary about him.
He is a slight man, softly spoken, dressed in baggy jeans and wide glasses that are fashionable in South Korea.
But his story and what he has been through to get here are utterly remarkable.
He is a North Korean defector, one of the very few to have escaped the DPRK (Democratic Republic of Korea) within the last few years.
“My mother bribed the soldier beforehand,” he tells me as he gestures on a map to where he crossed the border north into China.
“The river was frozen solid. I remember walking maybe 15 minutes to 20 minutes across the ice.
“I remember shivering after crossing the river and climbing over the fence that the Chinese guards had set up.”
For the safety of his relatives that remain in North Korea, we can’t tell you exactly when or exactly how he left. Any specific identifying detail could result in harsh punishments for his loved ones.
But his stories from inside are astonishing and offer a rare glimpse into what life has been like there since the pandemic struck.
Father disappeared without a trace
His childhood, it seems, was a relatively normal one in DPRK terms – helping from a young age to tend the fields and attending school when he could.
But everything changed shortly after his father suddenly disappeared without a trace.
“It wasn’t until about a year later when he got in touch with us that I realised he had fled to the south,” he explains.
“He contacted my mother via telephone. What we didn’t realise was that the North Korean state political security department had been tapping our landline. As a result, our mother was sent away to the labour camp.”
Initially, he was allowed to visit his mother every three months in detention, and he describes what he saw there as shocking.
“The amount of food provided in these detention centres is pitifully little,” he says.
“Prisoners receive around 20 to 30 kernels of corn each meal, which is obviously not enough for a person to survive on, so I packed a lunch when I went to visit her.
The pandemic has made North Korea all but impenetrable
“My mother’s body had shrunk to half her original size in the three months she had been in detention. My eyes filled with tears the moment I saw her; she was so dishevelled and gaunt that I didn’t recognise her initially.
“They also beat the women in prison. Mother’s eyes were swollen to bits and there were bruises everywhere. I wept when I saw her wounds.”
Mother tortured
David was just a child at this time but he was left to fend for himself and his siblings. He says he left school and tried to make ends meet, working in the fields and logging in the winter, but also stole food to survive.
He took what little he could to his mother.
“My mother said that if the inmates’ families didn’t visit them in prison, they would starve to death from malnutrition,” he explains.
“She said tens of people died every day from malnutrition. She even said that people would die in the middle of meals.
“To dispose of the corpses, she said they folded them at the waist and put them in sacks.
“Afterwards, the corpses were buried near the fences of the prison. Also, because the graves weren’t very deep, the stench of the corpses would come up from the ground in the spring when it became warmer.”
His mother described to him the torture she faced, being made to sit for up to 17 hours and beaten if they moved as much as a finger.
A military parade in Pyongyang in February
She also described how inmates whose families did not have the means to bring extra food or bribe the guards would have a life expectancy of just three to four years.
David’s stories matter because recent testimony from inside North Korea is very rare indeed.
The pandemic has made this already secretive state all but impenetrable.
Policy to shoot anyone trying to cross border
In the 2010s, around 1,000 people a year successfully defected from North Korea – the vast majority crossing the northern border with China before seeking asylum in a third country.
But a combination of the strict closed-border policy implemented by both China and the DPRK, plus a new policy to shoot anyone trying to cross, means that in 2022 that number had plummeted to just 67.
Second underwater drone test in just over two weeks as Pyongyang continues efforts to expand and modernise its weaponry.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered a rapid modernisation of the country’s arsenal [File: KCNA/KNS via AFP]North Korea has conducted another test of a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, according to state media.
The country tested the so-called Haeil-2 more than a week after it disclosed a new underwater drone system dubbed Haeil-1, which translates to “tsunami” in Korean, and is designed to undertake sneak attacks in enemy waters.
Analysts are sceptical about whether the underwater vehicle is ready for deployment but say North Korea is eager to display its diverse weaponry against the United States and South Korea, which have been conducting large-scale military exercises in recent weeks.
The latest test took place from April 4 to April 7, state media KCNA reported on Saturday.
“The underwater nuclear attack drone Haeil-2 … cruised 1,000km [621 miles] of simulated underwater distance,” the agency said, adding that the test warhead was also detonated.
“The test perfectly proved the reliability of the underwater strategic weapon system and its fatal attack ability,” the report said.
North Korea announced last month it had successfully tested the Haeil-1 underwater attack drone [KCNA/ KNS via AFP]North Korea carried out a record number of weapons tests in 2022 and has maintained its military momentum this year, claiming it needs to bolster its defences because the US-South Korean drills, which this week included at least one US nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bomber, are rehearsals for invasion.
On March 23, North Korea claimed it tested an underwater nuclear attack drone able to unleash a “radioactive tsunami“. On that occasion, state media said the drone cruised underwater for 59 hours and 12 minutes before detonation.
Satellite imagery has also indicated a high level of activity at North Korea’s main nuclear complex after leader Kim Jong Un ordered the production of weapons-grade nuclear material be ramped up.
Last year, North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power, while Kim has told the North Korean military to intensify drills in preparation for a “real war“.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches fire assault drill, at an undisclosed location in North Korea March 10, 2023 in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the country to stand ready to conduct nuclear attacks at any time to deter war, accusing the U.S. and South Korea of expanding joint military drills involving American nuclear assets, state media KCNA said on Monday.
Kim’s remarks came as the isolated country conducted what KCNA called exercises aimed at bolstering its “war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability” on Saturday and Sunday to send strong warnings against the allies.
In the exercises, a ballistic missile equipped with a mock nuclear warhead flew 800 km (497 miles) before hitting a target at the altitude of 800 m (0.5 mile) under the scenario of a tactical nuclear attack, KCNA said.
Kim, who oversaw the test, said the exercises improved the military’s actual war capability and highlighted the need to ensure its readiness posture for any “immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack” through such drills.
“The present situation, in which the enemies are getting ever more pronounced in their moves for aggression against the DPRK, urgently requires the DPRK to bolster up its nuclear war deterrence exponentially,” KCNA quoted him as saying.
Kim was using the acronym of his country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The nuclear force of the DPRK will strongly deter, control and manage the enemy’s reckless moves and provocations with its high war readiness, and carry out its important mission without hesitation in case of any unwanted situation,” he added.
KCNA photos showed Kim attended the test, again with his young daughter, as flames roar from the soaring missile before it hit the target.
South Korea and Japan reported a launch of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile off the east coast on Sunday, the latest in a series of missile tests in recent weeks.
North Korea’s ‘Youth Vanguard rose up at once to join the war to defend the homeland’
File: Troops take part in a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea’s army, in Pyongyang, North Korea in February (KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo)
North Korea has claimed that nearly 800,000 of its citizens have volunteered to join the military or get re-listed to “wipe-out war maniacs” US and South Korea, state reports from the isolated country said on Saturday.
“The soaring enthusiasm of young people to join the army is a demonstration of the unshakeable will of the younger generation to mercilessly wipe out the war maniacs making last-ditch efforts to eliminate our precious socialist country, and achieve the great cause of national reunification without fail and a clear manifestation of their ardent patriotism,” North Korean daily Rodong Sinmun reported.
It claimed that the hermit kingdom’s “youth vanguard rose up at once to join the war to defend the homeland and the war to destroy the enemy”, reported Seoul-based NK news.
The soldiers have signed up against the “US imperialists and puppet traitors [who] are trying to destroy our independence and right to live and develop”, the report added.
Visuals released by the North Korean state media showed dozens of youngsters queuing up at state-led rallies at theatres and construction sites on Friday.
The report claimed that the military enlistment numbers “are continuously rising” around North Korea.
North Korea requires men in the country to mandatorily serve in the military for at least 10 years and women are required to serve for at least three years under the conscription practice.
Officials have not provided the age of tens of thousands of people it claims have signed up to be a part of North Korea’s armed forces.
People in Seoul watching reports of the long-range missile’s launch on Thursday morning
North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan are due to meet for a landmark summit.
Both Japanese and South Korean officials confirmed the long-range missile’s launch on Thursday morning.
It flew about 1,000km (620 miles) landing in waters west of Japan.
It is the fourth missile launch from Pyongyang this past week – although the other rounds have been short-range.
The activity comes amid ongoing naval drills between the US and South Korea around the Korean peninsula- the allies’ largest in five years. North Korea has repeatedly said it sees such exercises as provocation.
The missile was fired at 07:10 (22:10 GMT) from Pyongyang on the east coast of North Korea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
Japan’s defence ministry confirmed it as an ICBM type and said it flew higher than 6,000km for about 70 minutes.
Following Thursday’s launch, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered his country’s military to continue with the joint US exercises as planned.
He added that Pyongyang would pay for its “reckless provocations”.
North Korea last fired an ICBM less than a month ago- an action that sparked a UN emergency meeting and condemnation from G7 countries.
North Korea has warned that it would be a “clear declaration of war” if its missiles were shot down during test launches over the Pacific Ocean. (Photo: AFP/KNS/KCNA)
North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile Thursday (Mar 9), Seoul’s military said, Pyongyang’s latest show of force just days before South Korea and the United States kick off major joint military exercises.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their worst points in decades, with the nuclear-armed North conducting ever more provocative banned weapons tests as Seoul moved to ramp up security cooperation with Washington in response.
Last year, Kim Jong-Un’s regime declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power and vowed to exponentially increase weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons, as the US looks to move more assets to the region to defend ally Seoul.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it “detected the launch of one short-range ballistic missile from the North’s western port city of Nampo at 6:20 pm (5.20pm, Singapore Time)”.
“Our military maintains a full readiness posture while closely cooperating with the US as we have strengthened surveillance and vigilance,” it added.
North Korea has long claimed its nuclear weapons and missile programmes are for self-defence and has bristled over US-South Korea military exercises, describing them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Earlier this week, North Korea accused the US of “intentionally” ramping up tensions, and Kim’s powerful sister warned that if the US were to intercept one of Pyongyang’s missile tests, it would be seen as a “clear declaration of war”.
“FREEDOM SHIELD”
After talks between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump collapsed in 2019, diplomacy has stalled and the North has doubled down on military development.
South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon Suk-yeol has moved to boost diplomatic ties and security cooperation with Tokyo and Washington in response to growing threats from Pyongyang.
US President Joe Biden will host Yoon for a state visit on Apr 26, and the South Korean leader will also visit Tokyo next week, his office said.
This month, the US and South Korean militaries will hold their largest joint drills in five years.
Ahead of those exercises, named “Freedom Shield” and scheduled for at least 10 days starting Mar 13, the allies held air drills this week featuring a nuclear-capable US B-52 heavy bomber.
A missile is displayed during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea’s army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
North Korea said any move to shoot down one of its test missiles would be considered a declaration of war and blamed joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea for growing tensions, state media KCNA said on Tuesday.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, warned in a statement that Pyongyang would see it as a “declaration of war” if the U.S. took military action against the North’s strategic weapon tests.
She also hinted that the North could fire more missiles into the Pacific Ocean. The United States and its allies have never shot down North Korean ballistic missiles, which are banned by the United Nations Security Council, but the question drew new scrutiny since the North suggested it will fire more missiles over Japan.
“The Pacific Ocean does not belong to the dominium of the U.S. or Japan,” Kim said.
Analysts have said that if North Korea follows through on its threat to turn the Pacific Ocean into a “firing range”, it would allow the isolated and nuclear-armed state to make technical advances in addition to signalling its military resolve.
In a separate statement, the chief of the Foreign News Section at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of “aggravating” the situation by conducting a joint air drill with a B-52 bomber on Monday and planning U.S.-South Korea field exercises.
Pyongyang statement comes after Seoul and Washington announced more than 10 days of large scale military exercises.
US Air Force B-1B bombers and F-16 fighter jets along with South Korean Air Force F-35A fighter jets take part in a joint air drill on February 19, 2023 [File: South Korean Defence Ministry/Handout via Reuters]North Korea has called on the United Nations to demand an immediate halt to joint military drills by the United States and South Korea.
In a statement on state media on Sunday, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said the drills and the rhetoric from the allies have pushed tensions to an “extremely dangerous level”.
He said the UN and the international community “will have to strongly urge the US and South Korea to immediately halt their provocative remarks and joint military exercises”.
The statement comes after officials from Seoul and Washington announced on Friday more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises, including amphibious landings, from March 13 to 23.
The allies have said the exercises are defensive and are necessary to counter the rising threats from North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes, which are banned by UN Security Council resolutions.
But Pyongyang sees the drills as a rehearsal for invasion.
On Saturday, it blamed Washington for what it called the collapse of international arms control systems and said its nuclear weapons were “the surest way” to ensure the balance of power in the region.
Seoul and Washington also conducted a combined air drill with a US long-range bomber and South Korean fighter aircraft on Friday, the latest in their series of joint training in recent weeks.
FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
North Korea’s foreign ministry on Sunday (Mar 5) called on the United Nations to demand an immediate halt to combined military drills by the United States and South Korea, saying they were raising tensions that threaten to spiral out of control.
The drills and rhetoric from the allies are “irresponsibly raising the level of confrontation”, Kim Son Gyong, vice foreign minister for international organisations, said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
The United States and South Korea will conduct more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises in March, including amphibious landings, officials from the two countries said on Friday.
The US and South Korea say the exercises are in self-defence and are necessary to counter the rising threats from North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes, which are banned by UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korea on Saturday blamed the United States for what it said was the collapse of international arms control systems and said Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons were a just response to ensure the balance of power in the region.
The allies also conducted a combined air drill with an American long-range bomber and South Korean fighter aircraft on Friday, and have been staging weeks of exercises for special rations troops.
“The UN and the international community will have to strongly urge the US and South Korea to immediately halt their provocative remarks and joint military exercises,” Kim said.
North Korea’s first ICBM test in five years was a missile capable of flying farther with a larger payload than earlier ones. But, experts say the weapon is unlikely to move the needle on any negotiations with the US.
An image of the ‘Hwasong-17’ provided by North Korean state media
North Korea continues to advance its military technology in the face of international pressure and sanctions that have been unable to deter Pyongyang’s development of more capable and deadly weaponry.
North Korea has carried out more than a dozen weapons tests in the first three months of 2022, but an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on Thursday appears to be a new milestone.
What has been called the “monster missile” by analysts, the “Hwasong-17” is the largest ICBM Pyongyang has ever tested.
“If launched on a normal trajectory, it would range the entirety of the continental United States with some range to spare,” Ankit Panda, an Asia-Pacific security expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told DW.
North Korea has not tested an ICBM since 2017, and leader Kim Jong Un said in April 2018 that Pyongyang “no longer needed” to test long-range missiles and nuclear weapons before two summits with former US President Donald Trump.
Now, five years later, Kim has personally observed an ICBM launch, with accompanying propaganda broadcast in state media lauding a “new strategic weapon … confirming the modernity of our strategic force.”
Pyongyang said the Hwasong-17 launch will “clearly show the might of our strategic force to the whole world once again,” while warning that North Korea was “fully ready” to “contain any military attempts by US imperialists.”
North Korea is banned from testing ICBMs, and the US has already announced sanctions in response to the tests.
However, as has been seen with past failures at “denuclearization,” the Kim regime’s actions show that it considers military deterrence as more important to its survival opposed to any damage sanctions could cause.
“Every test yields useful data for the North Koreans on improving the credibility of their nuclear deterrent,” Panda said.
What do we know about Hwasong-17?
The Hwasong-17 was first revealed at a military parade in October 2020, although this week was the first time it was test fired, according to 38 North, a US-based think tank.
An ICBM is a guided missile designed to deliver nuclear warheads at a range of between 5,500 to 16,000 kilometers (3,400 to 9,900 miles), although they can also deliver other payloads. ICBMs are also much faster and have a greater range than other types of ballistic missiles.
North Korean media reported Hwasong-17 flew to an altitude of over 6,200 kilometers for 67 minutes at a range of 1,090 kilometers before hitting a target in the sea. Japan and South Korea also reported similar data. 38 North said the missile is estimated to be 2.5 meters in diameter.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) walks near what state media said was a new inter-continental ballistic missile STR KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
Seoul (AFP) – Leather jacket, sunglasses and a gigantic missile: North Korean state media announced the launch of Pyongyang’s largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile with an attempt at old school Hollywood flair on Friday.
Leader Kim Jong Un walks towards the camera, flanked by generals, as they prepare to fire the giant Hwasong-17 missile — Pyongyang’s first ICBM test since 2017.
Over suspenseful music, the camera cuts between two generals and Kim checking their watches, before, in slow motion, Kim whips off his sunglasses and gives a nod, prompting soldiers to move the enormous missile into position.
The footage — swiftly remixed into parodies on social media — also focuses on the missile itself. A dramatic countdown scene leading up to the launch shows soldiers shouting “fire!” as the button for the test is finally pressed.
Cheong Seong-chang of the Center for North Korea Studies at the Sejong Institute, said the style of the video shows Pyongyang’s increasing confidence in its military capabilities.
“They have gained confidence in their military power to the point where they feel comfortable making it into a movie and enjoying it,” he told AFP.
North Korea appeared to have fired a short-range multiple rocket launcher on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, amid heightened military tensions on the peninsula after a spate of larger missile launches by the nuclear-armed North.
While they garner much less attention than the massive intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), North Korea has displayed several new types of multiple launch rocket systems in recent years, adding to an already large arsenal of artillery and rockets ideal for potentially striking targets in the South.
“This morning there was firing in North Korea which is assumed to be multiple rocket launcher shots, and our military was monitoring the related situation and maintaining a readiness posture,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without elaborating.
North Korea’s military fired four shots around 7:20 a.m. (2220 GMT on Saturday) for about an hour toward its west coast from an unidentified location in South Pyongan Province, Yonhap news agency reported.
