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Kim Jong-un's Family Consolidate Positions There are increasing signs that the immediate family of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are consolidating their positions in the regime, amid hints that his sister Yeo-jong has been promoted to a senior post. The official [North] Korean Central News Agency on Thursday reported that the Kim Jong-un, his wife Ri Sol-ju and Kim Yeo-jong, watched a performance in Pyongyang on Wednesday. In the status-conscious official media, the order of names speaks volumes, and KCNA named Yeo-jong ahead of Ri Jae-il, a senior official in charge of propaganda at the Workers Party. Previously she was...

Mapped: North Korea’s oil routes North Korea takes Russian oil while China's crude cut-off seems increasingly unlikely North Korea has stepped up oil imports from Russia with a growing fleet of tankers plying the country’s Far Eastern ports and terminals, NK News can reveal after a two-month investigation into the DPRK’s vessel movements and oil trading activities. The growing trade with Russia comes amid continuing reports that China has cut-off crude oil deliveries to North Korea. However, NK News has also found at least one North Korean crude oil tanker still regularly visiting Chinese terminals, indicating that trade is ongoing...

China Discovers Cross-Border Tunnels Leading to Xinjiang, North Korea Images from a Chinese satellite show cross-border tunnels in sensitive regions. By Shannon Tiezzi August 26, 2014 In April 2013, China launched Gaofen-1, its first high-definition earth observation satellite (Gaofen-2 was launched just last week, on August 19). This week, China’s National Space Administration reported that Gaofen-1 had captured images showing “dozens of cross-border tunnels” in northwest Xinjiang and along the China-North Korea border. It’s unclear exactly what the tunnels are used for, but Chinese media tied their existence to previous reports on illegal China-North Korea border crossings, as well as...

On Wednesday, about 200 South Koreans attached thousands of chocolate snacks to 50 giant balloons and released into North Korea after Pyongyang reportedly banned the coveted treats from the country earlier this month. The pies, which have become popular among hungry North Koreans, are considered as a symbol of capitalism and represent a cultural impact that might encourage an uprising. “We will continue to send Choco Pie by balloons because it is still one of the most favorite foodstuffs in North Korea,” said Choo Sun-Hee, one of the organisers of Wednesday’s balloon launch.In response to the activity, Pyongyang has pressed...

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Saturday. The launch came the day before the 61st anniversary of the Korean War armistice. South Korean military officials say the North fired a Scud missile from around Ryongyon county in South Hwanghae Province on the western coast near the military demarcation line on Saturday night. North Korean media on Sunday suggested the country's leader Kim Jong Un himself ordered the missile to be fired. The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim directed a firing drill after checking on the deployment of US forces in...

U.S. dismisses Russian concern about THAAD system in S. Korea 2014-07-25 10:44 The United States said Thursday an advanced missile defense battery it plans to deploy to South Korea is not aimed at Russia, after Moscow expressed concern that the system would negatively affect the regional situation and provoke an arms race. The U.S. military plans to bring a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense battery into South Korea to help deter threats from North Korea. The U.S. has conducted a site survey for the system, though no decision has been announced as to where to put it. Russia's...

North Korea to build underwater hotel in East Coast city of Wonsan North Korea announces major plan to renovate Wonsan beach area North Korean authorities have announced an expansive development project for the east coast city of Wonsan that will include the construction of an underwater hotel, a Pyongyang Times article said last Tuesday. The ambitious plan, which focuses on the construction and development of infrastructure and buildings primarily related to the leisure sector, will see Wonsan become a “tourist city,” the Pyongyang Times said.

North Korea Furious Over Kim Jong Un Parody Dance Video By Lakshmi Gandhi North Korean officials are learning that nothing can stop the spread of a viral video - especially one that features a fake Kim Jong Un dancing and fighting his way through a series of absurd situations. The latest parody video starring North Korea's leader features him being kicked to the ground by President Obama after pirouetting through a ballet studio, dancing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and acting as a member of the grounds crew at a baseball game, all to the tune of a Chinese pop...

South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned this week that if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, it could prompt the volatile country's neighbors to seek their own nuclear defense. "North Korea would effectively be crossing the Rubicon," she told the Wall Street Journal.

North Korean Nuclear Site Steps up Activities ahead of Obama's South Korea Visit By Vasudevan Sridharan April 21, 2014 09:41 GMT North Korea is believed to have stepped up activities at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site ahead of US President Barack Obama's two-day visit to South Korea from 26 April. "The Punggye-ri nuclear test site has shown increased movement of vehicles and forces compared to the past. South Korean and US forces have been closely monitoring the latest development to detect signs of another test," a senior South Korean military official told Yonhap news agency. North Korea had earlier threatened...

Russia's parliament has agreed to write off about $10 billion of North Korea's Soviet-era debt, in a deal expected to facilitate the building of a gas pipeline to South Korea across the reclusive state. The State Duma lower house in Moscow on Friday ratified a 2012 agreement to excuse the bulk of North Korea's debt. It said the total debt stood at $10.96 billion as of September 17, 2012. The rest of the debt - $1.09 billion - would be redeemed during the next 20 years, to be paid in equal instalments every six months. The outstanding debt owed by...

The United Nations’ World Food Program failed to carry out sufficient inspections of food distribution sites in North Korea to ensure that supplies went to the country’s suffering people rather than the dictatorial communist regime, according to the U.N. agency’s own internal watchdog. ... Moreover, even WFP’s knowledge of what aid supplies it has received from abroad are based on the say-so of a regime-run company that the watchdog says may be lying about the amount of work it does, overcharging the U.N. for the work—and in any case is doing it without a contract, which keeps the relationship legally...

WASHINGTON – A long-suppressed report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security for the Defense Department concludes that North Korea could deliver on its threats to destroy the United States with a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack. The report remains blocked from release to the American public. However, a copy obtained by Peter Vincent Pry from sources within DHS finds North Korea could use its Unha-3 space launch vehicle to deliver a nuclear warhead as a satellite over the South Pole to attack the U.S. from the south. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/dhs-study-north-korea-capable-of-emp-attack-on-u-s/#vd4I5JDwebgQHTta.99

Roof of Kim Jong-un's Jerry-Built Luxury Villa Caves In The roof of a luxury villa in Wonsan belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has collapsed, apparently due to faulty construction. A comparison of a photo of the villa taken by South Korea's Arirang 3 satellite and an earlier image of the area on Google Earth shows a building in the compound with a collapsed roof. One U.S. satellite image expert who analyzes photos of the luxury villas and government buildings used by the North Korean elite said the building appears to be an aquarium that was built in 2011....

N.Korea Shuts Down Jang Song-taek's Department The North Korean regime has shut down the Workers Party department once headed by purged eminence grise Jang Song-taek and executed or interned 11 high-ranking officials, sources said Sunday. One of them was burned alive. A source said the regime is preparing a third purge of officials who supported Jang. The first purge involved his family, relatives and high-ranking party officials, while the second purge underway. The third will target his supporters in provincial chapters of the Workers Party. The source said Jang's elder sister Kye-sun and her husband and ambassador to Cuba Jon...

Japan has ordered a destroyer in the Sea of Japan to strike any ballistic missiles that may be launched by North Korea in the coming weeks after Pyongyang fired a Rodong medium-range missile over the sea, a government source said on Saturday.

<p>A South Korean newspaper has reported that the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un will execute 200 high-ranking government officials believed to be loyal to Jang Song-thaek, Kim's once-powerful uncle who was shockingly deposed and executed last December.</p> <p>The Chosun Ilbo reported the pending executions Tuesday, citing a source who said that North Korea's State Security Department had conducted a sweep to root out Jang's remaining supporters in the government. Under Pyongyang's brutal "guilty blood" system of criminal sentencing, the Chosun Ilbo's source told the paper that up to 1,000 more people, all family members of the condemned, could be sent to North Korea's infamous prison camps.</p>

N.Korea 'to Execute 200 Jang Song-taek Loyalists' North Korea is poised to execute 200 high-ranking officials loyal to ousted eminence grise Jang Song-taek, a source said Tuesday. Some 1,000 members of their families could be sent to concentration camps under the North's barbaric system of guilt by association. The source said the State Security Department has conducted a sweep to ferret out Jang's supporters after his execution in December last year and identified 200 core supporters and another 1,000 followers. The department has authorization from the North's highest court to hold closed-door trials to deliver death sentences, the source added....

SEOUL — South Korean defense officials think a drone found Monday on one of its northwest border islands was flown by North Korea, according to media reports. The drone was found on Baengnyeong Island, located about 10 miles from North Korea, around 4 p.m. Monday after a three-hour exchange of artillery fire between the two Koreas along their disputed maritime border. Ministry of National Defense officials could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday, but a spokesman said Tuesday the ministry was investigating the origin of the drone. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described his country’s relations with the...

South Korean Marines fired artillery shells across a disputed sea border Monday after North Korean shells from a live fire drill conducted by Pyongyang fell into the water south of the frontier, Seoul officials told the Associated Press. No shells from either side were fired at any land or military installations, an official with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. He provided no other details and spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules. There were no immediately reports of any injuries. However, residents of a South Korean island near the border said that they had been moved...