Free Republic

LTTE arms moved overland from China to NK for almost a decade by Shamindra Ferdinando Chinese arms consignments for the LTTE had been moved overland to North Korea across the China-North Korea border before being transferred to the terrorist group’s ‘floating’ warehouses on the high seas close to Indonesia, for about a decade, The Island learns. The LTTE had obtained its first Chinese arms consignment way back in 1994/1995 during the then People’s Alliance (PA) administration. On-going inquiries, well informed sources said, revealed that the China-North Korea overland transport of arms for the LTTE had operated for almost a decade...

Reconstruction of Ryongchon In 2004 much of the town of Ryongchon was tragically destroyed in a large explosion. Here is the Wikipedia page on the disaster if you would like a quick reference. I compiled a couple of images to construct this “before” picture of Ryongchon: Notice that the center of town is composed largely of traditional houses. Here is the first “after” image (which is the default image on Google Earth): As you can see a large number of traditional houses were destroyed as well as a school. Below I have compiled more recent images to show how the...

In North Korea, the military now issues economic orders By Blaine Harden Tuesday, November 3, 2009 SEOUL -- North Korea's military, whose nuclear program vexes the Obama administration, has grabbed nearly complete command of the nation's state-run economy and staked out a lucrative new trade in mineral sales to China to make money for its supreme commander, Kim Jong Il. As it deepens its dominance over nearly every aspect of daily life, the Korean People's Army is also deploying soldiers to take first dibs on all food harvested in the isolated, chronically hungry country, according to the latest assessments of...

North Korea has completed reprocessing of some 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyong nuclear facility and weaponized the plutonium extracted from the material, the country's official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

North Korea launched the cyber attack against South Korea and the United States The South Korean government is now blaming North Korea of launching organized cyber attacks against websites belonging to South Korea and the U.S. earlier in the year.Due to malicious software, numerous U.S. and S.K. Web sites were slowed or ground to a complete stop during the attack, as cyber experts scrambled to pinpoint the source of the problem. According to experts, the IP address traced to the attacks was leased from China, the South Korean National Intelligence Service noted in its report. “The attacks on Korean and...

(LEAD) N. Korea appears to have restored plutonium-generating plant: officials By Sam Kim SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has apparently restored its facility used to produce weapons-grade plutonium at its main nuclear complex that had been mothballed under a six-nation accord, officials here said Monday. "The reprocessing factory appears to have been restored to its earlier conditions," a senior defense official said, citing satellite photos that also showed a continuous stream of workers in and out of the site in Yongbyon, 90km north of Pyongyang.

Female dancer video circulating in N. Korea: defector SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- A video clip showing female dancers in skimpy costumes performing to American music is being secretly circulated in North Korea via CD-ROMs, a North Korean defector said Monday. The video, obtained by Yonhap News Agency from the defector, who requested anonymity, would not be considered obscene elsewhere in the world. But revealing outfits and American music are both considered taboo in the conservative North. In the clip, several groups of four women in crop-tops and thigh-length shorts or skirts dance to fast disco music on a brightly-lit...

North Korea presses US to accept direct talks Sun Nov 1, 10:36 pm ET SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea pressed the United States to accept its demand for direct talks on the communist regime's nuclear program, saying Monday "we will go our own way" unless Washington agrees. North Korea's Foreign Ministry did not elaborate on its comment, which appeared to be a threat to enlarge its nuclear arsenal. The ministry statement came as North Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator, Ri Gun, wrapped up a rare trip to the U.S. where he met with the chief American nuclear negotiator, Sung...

N. Korea to continue missile tests for upgraded version: expert SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is expected to continue short-range missile tests with the aim of developing an advanced KN-06 missile, according to a U.S. expert. Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corp., said that the North's launch of five KN-02 missiles on Oct. 12 was part of efforts to develop a more advanced KN-06 missile, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Saturday The KN-02, an upgraded version of the Russian SS-21, is known to have a range of up to 120 kilometers.

Seoul, Washington round out plans to handle N. Korean regime collapse: source SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the U.S. have completed joint action plans to respond to a regime collapse and other internal emergency situations in North Korea, a ranking government source said Sunday. The so-called "Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5029," drawn after years of bilateral consultation, dictates respective military responses by Seoul and Washington to several types of emergency situation in the communist North -- a civil war, an outflow of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the kidnapping of South Korean citizens, a mass influx of refugees...

The United States and its ally South Korea have drawn up a contingency plan to cope with emergencies in North Korea, including a possible regime change there, a report said Sunday. "Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5029" was completed by Seoul and Washington recently, Yonhap news agency said, quoting an unnamed Seoul source. It dictates how to respond case-by-case to such emergencies in North Korea as a civil war, an outflow of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a mass influx of refugees or a natural disaster, Yonhap said. Under the plan, the United States assumes the role of eliminating North Korea's WMDs,...

/begin my excerpts Picketing N. Korean Defector Bumping Face-to-Face into N. Korean Ambassador Ma Young-ae, N. Korean defector and artist, now residing in U.S. and heading (Christian) N. Korean Refugee Mission, was picketing with Choi Eun-chol, the (mission's) administrative manager, in front of N. Korea's Mission at U.N.. They were urging the International Criminal Court to indict Kim Jong-il, when they met face-to-face with (N. Korean) Ambassador (to U.N.) Shin Sun-ho. When she confronted him, he and his assistant gave her a brief look and headed for U.N. Headquarter. She followed them, with a new sign board saying, "Kim Jong-il,...

NKorea's latest missile tests failed: report (AFP) – 40 minutes ago SEOUL — North Korea's short-range missile tests earlier this month were a failure with none of the five projectiles reaching its target, a report said Thursday. The North test-fired five KN-02 missiles with a range of 120 kilometres (75 miles) from mobile launchers off its east coast on October 12. Radio Free Asia, quoting an intelligence source, said four of the five missed the mark and one did not even launch properly. "Two fell into the sea right after launch, another two missed the targets and the last one...

North Korean efforts to install one of ailing leader Kim Jong-il's sons as a hereditary successor are likely to fail, a senior defector from the communist country said on Tuesday. Kim Kwang-jin, a former state insurance executive who helped unveil widespread damage claims fraud by Pyongyang, said Kim's relative recovery from an apparent 2008 stroke does not alter the fact that the era of Kim rule is fading. "Fragile, worsening health, long drawn-out economic collapse and growing political instability in North Korea indicate that the Kim Jong-il regime is drawing to an end," Kim told a panel at a Washington...

North Korea has completed work on a new west coast site capable of launching improved intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to senior South Korean officials quoted by Yonhap news agency. The Dongchang-ri base has been under construction for several years despite long-running international efforts to shut down the communist state's missile and nuclear programmes. "The construction is as good as finished," one South Korean official told Yonhap on condition of anonymity. "The necessary facilities are all there." Another official said the North has been testing missile parts such as boosters at the site about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Pyongyang....

South Korea may buy four spy satellites over the next decade to monitor North Korea, the defence ministry said Wednesday. "Our ministry has been considering it but no decision has been made yet on who will be involved and details have yet to be fixed," a spokesman told AFP. He was commenting on a media report that said the ministry would forge technological cooperation with countries including Germany to secure the satellites. South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, quoting what it said was an internal ministry document, reported that the military plans to spend 600-700 billion won (514-600 million dollars) by...

Hell on Earth Oct 22nd 2009 The West still turns a blind eye to the world's most brutal and systematic abuse of human rights A SPRAWLING encampment of think-tankers, academics, hacks and policymakers earns a living outside North Korea’s walls. They pick over its nuclear intentions and the prospects for the diplomatic dance known as the six-party process, which is meant to persuade North Korea to give up its nukes for cash and security guarantees. The encampment needs something to live on. Since North Korea declared the six-party talks dead in the spring, scraps have been meagre. So the North’s...

Report ignites speculation of possible inter-Korean summit SEOUL/PHNOM PENH, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- Officials of South and North Korea secretly met in Singapore to discuss a possible summit between their leaders, South Korea's state broadcaster KBS reported Thursday, quoting unidentified sources. However, Seoul's presidential office refused to give a definitive response when asked about the meeting. "There is nothing we can confirm as of now," a Cheong Wa Dae official accompanying President Lee Myung-bak on a trip to Cambodia told reporters. The KBS report suggested a ranking South Korean official recently visited Singapore for a meeting with Kim Yang-gon, Pyongyang's...

(3rd LD) U.S. vows unlimited deterrence against N. Korea By Sam Kim SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. pledged Thursday to mobilize its warfighting assets to their maximum capacity if needed to defend South Korea against North Korea, which continues to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates "reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to provide extended deterrence for the ROK, using the full range of military capabilities, to include the U.S. nuclear umbrella, conventional strike, and missile capabilities," according to a joint statement with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young.

North Korea Faces Scrutiny Over Human Rights By EVAN RAMSTAD SEOUL -- North Korea's abusive treatment of its citizens, which has long been a secondary concern in diplomatic circles to the pursuit of nuclear weapons, will undergo increasing scrutiny in coming weeks as a high-profile review at the United Nations approaches. Diplomats in several countries and prominent human-rights organizations are revising data on atrocities in North Korea and preparing questions for its officials, who will go before the U.N. Human Rights Council on Dec. 7. Once every four years the council subjects each U.N. member to scrutiny. North Korea's review...

DPRK October forest fires via NASA According to NASA: Multiple fires burned in North Korea in mid-October 2009, sending a plume of smoke over the Sea of Japan. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on October 15. Red outlines indicate hotspots associated with active fires, although not all the fires have visible hotspots. The smoke plumes blow uniformly eastward, some of the individual plumes coalescing into a single large plume over the sea. Click image for full size version. I also made a Google Earth overlay of this image which you can...

DEMILITARIZED ZONE, Korea — You might call it a case of keeping up with the Joneses, or in this case the Kims. Work is under way on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone to renovate three guard posts and two checkpoint buildings into bigger, more modern structures. The construction comes a year after North Korea finished work on the replacement of four guard posts on its side of the DMZ, and a decade after the two sides engaged in a tit-for-tat battle to see who could build the more impressive reception centers in the Joint Security Area —...

Inter-Korean Thaw Sparks Rumors Rumor is rife about behind-the-scenes meetings between the two Koreas, especially since a U.S. official claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il invited President Lee Myung-bak to a summit. An academic who advises the government on North Korea policies said, "Rumor has it that a former corporate CEO who is close to Lee is meeting with a North Korean official in a third country like China. Such rumors seem to be rampant because no one can find traces of the National Intelligence Service or the Unification Ministry making contact with North Korean agencies as they did under...

The United States and China affirmed their commitment Tuesday to keep implementing U.N. sanctions on North Korea as part of efforts to bring the country back to the stalled six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions, a U.S. official in charge of sanctions on Pyongyang said. "What we were able to restate today is that there is a commitment to implementing the sanctions as a central aspect of our overall goal of returning to the denuclearization discussions" involving the Korean Peninsula, Philip Goldberg told reporters after talks in Beijing with Chinese officials, including Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei. "We continue...

SNIPPET: "After the 4 July DDoS attacks, wrongly attributed to North Korea, it’s wise to treat reports of DPRK security hacks with some caution. Nevertheless, The Korea Times reports the following: Classified Info on Dangerous Chemicals Hacked Hackers stole classified information on dangerous chemicals in their raid on the South Korean army computer network in what was believed to be an attack by North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday, quoting government officials." SNIPPET: "The Sydney Morning Herald adds more information: A North Korea cyber warfare unit hacked into a South Korean military command earlier this year and stole some...

The United States said on Friday it would allow a senior North Korean official to visit this month, a move analysts said could be a first step toward talks between the two on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs. The State Department said it had decided to grant a visa to Ri Gun, North Korea's No. 2 official at multilateral talks on its nuclear programs, to attend meetings in New York and San Diego with private scholars and experts who study North Korea. The department said nothing about the possibility of talks between U.S. and North Korean officials, but a source familiar...

Russia bewildered by N.Korea missile launch-Tass Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:24am EDT MOSCOW, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Russia is bewildered by the latest North Korean missile launch, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry source as saying on Monday. "The launch of short-range missiles by the Korean People's Democratic Republic causes bewilderment," the source said. "It was not the most suitable time to do this now, when all efforts are made to restart six-way talks on Korea's nuclear problem."

N. Korea appears to be readying more missile testing: source SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appeared to be readying to test-fire short-range missiles off its west coast on Tuesday, a day after it launched five from the east, a South Korean source said. North Korea earlier announced a navigation ban on both coasts from Oct. 10-20, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The communist state test-fired KN-02 missiles from its east coast on Monday. Data picture "There are signs that the missile launches are being prepared on the west coast," the source said, adding...

orth Korea may be preparing to launch more short-range missiles a day after the communist state fired a barrage of missiles, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday, quoting a government source. Indications of additional launches are coming from the western part of the Korean peninsula, the source was quoted as saying. North Korea has issued a warning for vessels to stay out of waters off its coasts

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has fired five short-range missiles off its east coast and declared a "no sail" zone in the area from October 10-20, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a government source as saying on Monday. South Korean government officials were not immediately available for comment. (snip) It was not clear whether these were routine military exercises. But they coincided with local media reports that the United States is planning to send its aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday.

North Korea fired five short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, a news report said, even as South Korea proposed working-level talks with its communist neighbor. Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified South Korean government official, said the North test-fired the missiles on Monday afternoon from its eastern coastal launch pad. ,P. Yonhap said the North has issued a no-sail zone in an area off the east coast Oct. 10-20... Calls to the South Korean Defense Ministry seeking comment on the report were not immediately answered Monday. Earlier Monday, South Korea proposed working-level officials of the two sides meet...

N. Korea Swiftly Expanding Its Special Forces Commandos Trained in Terror Tactics In Effort to Maintain Military Threat By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, October 9, 2009 SEOUL -- North Korea has massively increased its special operations forces, schooled them in the use of Iraqi-style roadside bombs and equipped them to sneak past the heavily fortified border that divides the two Koreas. By expanding what was already the world's largest special operations force, the North appears to be adding commando teeth to what, in essence, is a defensive military strategy. The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

China detects deadly nerve gas at border with NKorea: report 1 hr 51 mins ago TOKYO (AFP) – China has detected deadly nerve gas at its border with North Korea and suspects an accidental release inside the secretive state, a Japanese news report said Friday. The Chinese military is strengthening its surveillance activities after detecting the highly virulent sarin gas in November last year and in February in Liaoning province, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources from the Chinese military.

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

North Korea wants to placate key benefactor China by offering to return to disarmament talks and it is unclear whether it really intends to give up its cherished nuclear deterrent, analysts said Tuesday. Leader Kim Jong-Il told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao late Monday the North is willing to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations -- on condition it first holds talks with the United States to improve "hostile relations". Some analysts expressed scepticism about the North's conditional offer to return to six-party dialogue, almost six months after it quit the forum and announced it would restart its bomb-making programme....

North Korea’s armed forces are capable of carrying out 13 kinds of viral and bacterial attack, the South Korean Government said yesterday in one of the most detailed assessments of the dictatorship’s biological weapons arsenal. In a submission to the South Korean National Assembly, the Defence Minister also said that the North had 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, believed to include mustard gas, phosgene and sarin. Among its biological agents are cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, typhus, typhoid fever and dysentery. Despite the alarming assessment, Kim Tae Young also said that his country’s armed forces had the capacity pre-emptively to destroy...

SEOUL, South Korea — A news report says North Korea is in the final stage of restoring its nuclear facilities. Seoul's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified South Korean official Tuesday as saying that intelligence authorities in Seoul and Washington reached the conclusion after scrutinizing about 10 atomic facilities in North Korea. North Korea vowed in April to restart its nuclear facilities in anger over a U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived Sunday in Pyongyang and was greeted at the airport by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Xinhua News Agency reported.

N. Korean leader stresses self-supporting economy SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il recently inspected production facilities for food and other daily goods in Pyongyang, lauding workers for making progress in building the "nation's self-supporting economy," the North's media reported Thursday. Kim gave field guidance to workers at the Pyongyang Catfish Farm and praised them for bringing about "unprecedented innovations" in fish farming in recent years, the North's Korean Central News Agency said. Kim was accompanied by Kim Ki-nam, a secretary of the Workers' Party's central committee, and other senior party officials, according to the agency. The...

(LEAD) 11 N. Koreans defect to S. Korea through East Sea SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap)-- Eleven North Korean defected to South Korea through waters off the South's east coast on Thursday, a government source said. The source said the 11 North Koreans -- five men and six women -- expressed their willingness to seek asylum in the South after crossing the sea border in a ship around 6:30 p.m. and arriving in the South Korean port city of Jumunjin on the east coast. The Ministry of Defense is expected to announce details on their defection soon, according to the source.

North Korea is increasingly focused on cyber warfare, improvised explosives and missile technology as the regime fears it would be defeated in a direct confrontation with US and South Korean forces, a US commander said on Tuesday. The emphasis on unconventional methods comes amid signs North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il appears to be firmly "in charge" and in decent health, General Walter Sharp, commander of US forces in Korea, told reporters on Tuesday. "I think the North Koreans probably realized they could not win in a normal conventional all-out attack," Sharp said. Given the strength of South Korean and US...

North Korea drops communism, boosts "Dear Leader" Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:21am EDT (For full coverage of North Korea, click [ID:nNORKOR]) By Jon Herskovitz and Christine Kim SEOUL, Sept 28 (Reuters) - North Korea has revised its constitution to give even more power to leader Kim Jong-il, ditch communism and elevate his "military first" ideology, South Korea's Unification Ministry said on Monday. Though there is little doubt over the 67-year-old Kim's power, secured by his role as chairman of the National Defence Commission, the new constitution removes any risk of ambiguity. "The chairman is the highest general of the entire...

The press is all agog over the President leading the UN security council which came out with extremely artfully worded resolution that endorses the eventual goal of "a world without nuclear weapons". That document is so carefully wordsmithed that the 2 most obvious violators of the UN's non proliferation treaty Iran and North Korea weren't mentioned by name. A vaguely worded document from an dysfunctional international agency and the press tells us how much progress is being made. The facts tell a different story, a story of a rookie in way over his head.

Noodles Hot in North Korea 2009-09-22 A budget food item in South Korea is now a prized gourmet item across the border. SEOUL—North Koreans are consuming increasing quantities of brand-name instant noodles, and the three-minute fast food packages are among the hottest gifts at this year's traditional harvest festival, or Chuseok. Top brand on the menu for harvest gifts this year is Shin Ramyun, made by South Korean food manufacturer Nong Shim in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang. "North and South Koreans are one people, and that is why people in the North like the spicy, but refreshing taste...

South Korea could mount swift and precise attacks on North Korea's nuclear bases should war break out on the peninsula, Seoul's incoming top military officer said Thursday. General Lee Sang-Eui, named as next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Seoul had a list of major targets its forces would strike first should a conflict erupt. Nuclear weaponry would pose the greatest threat, he told a parliamentary confirmation hearing, pledging to "mobilise all means available to precisely and swiftly strike" such bases. New Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young told his own confirmation hearing last week that Seoul knew where the...

/begin my excerpts [No. 32][Analysis] Faking Good Health by Kim Jong-il, a Risky Move - Faking appearance of good health to boost his negotiating position with U.S. - Smoking and drinking, a result of mild depression, a complication from his stroke - Ignores doctors' advice that he should have a healthy life-style - Words among N. Korean high-level officials, "his days are numbered" Recent reports say that Kim Jong-il's health has improved. He is said to be mentally alert, and his speech, normal. However, this appearance masks the worsening condition inside. It is true that he has shown improvement in...

Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after midnight I was informed in a telephone call by President Barack Obama that (his) administration had decided to pull out from the planned missile defense shield installations" in the Czech Republic and Poland, the...

NKorea's Kim angry with son 2009-09-23 20:21 Kim 'in control' Tokyo - "Friction" has developed between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and his youngest son, who has been touted as most likely to take over the isolated communist state, a Japanese news report said on Wednesday. An angry Kim has even ordered state news agencies to temper praise of Kim Jong-Un and talk of any succession, Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) said on its internet news site.

United States President Barack Obama and members of his administration are going to great lengths to explain the reasons why the US abruptly changed course with respect to its anti-missile strategy for Europe. In the process, little or nothing has been said about the impact of this new plan on Asia. Silence or not, both China and Japan must assess the consequences of this activity because what the US is now proposing for Europe in terms of missile defense is right in line with what has been unfolding all along in East Asia, where the US Navy forms the front...