Free Republic

Kim Jong Il's former Japanese chef visits N.Korea A former Japanese chef for the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, has just ended a visit to North Korea. Kenji Fujimoto served as the chef for the former leader for 13 years until 2001. He arrived at an airport in Beijing from Pyongyang on Saturday after a stay of more than 10 days. Fujimoto did not disclose details about his trip which started on April 12th. Four years ago, Fujimoto was invited by the current leader Kim Jong Un, who assumed power after his father's death, to visit the country...

Kim Jong Un broadcasts 'Master Chef'-style cooking competition while North Korea starves Published April 22, 2016 Cheese-chomping despot Kim Jong Un held a “Master Chef”-style competition to find North Korea’s top cooks as millions across the nation starve. The Emmental-obsessed dictator gave the show, which was broadcast on state TV, the green light despite an estimated two-thirds of the country’s 27 million people surviving on food rations. The Commie connoisseur developed a love of European cheeses and fine wines when he went to school in Switzerland. But the tubby tyrant was served decidedly different fare during the contest as competitors...

North Korean Missile Exploded, Damaged Launcher in Failed Test U.S. commander says threats from Pyongyang increasing BY: Bill Gertz April 20, 2016 5:00 am North Korea’s first attempt to test-launch a new intermediate-range missile last week failed after the Musudan blew up shortly after launch, causing a huge fireball that damaged the mobile launcher, according to American defense officials. “We’re still assessing the specifics of it but I can tell you that it was a fiery, catastrophic attempt at a launch,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Friday. “It was not successful.” The test failure on Friday represents...

(2nd LD) Removal of U.S. nuclear umbrella would lead Seoul to contemplate nuclear armament: incoming USFK commander 2016/04/20 05:23 (ATTN: ADDS comments in paras 16-17; CHANGES headline) By Chang Jae-soon WASHINGTON, April 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea would have to think about developing its own nuclear weapons for self-defense if the United States removes its "nuclear umbrella" protection for the Asian ally, the incoming commander of U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday. Gen. Vincent Brooks, nominated to succeed Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti as USFK commander, made the remark during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, stressing that it's very important for...

Govt closes down city North Korean clinics Apr 17, 2016 Dr. Hamis Kigwangalla, the deputy minister of Health, Social Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, announced during an impromptu visit to the clinics on Friday, one located at Mahiwa Street and the Oriental Traditional Medicine at Magomeni Mikumi both operated by Maibong Company, a North Korean firm.The deputy minister said the two clinics were operating without legal documents including lacking a business license. While being interrogated by the minister, a healer at the clinic whose name could not easily be availed told the minister that their business is jointly operated with...

Three Nobel prize winners to visit North Korea in late Aril: VOA 2016/04/18 13:10 SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap) -- Three Nobel laureates will visit North Korea late this month on a rare mission to engage the communist country through science and technology, a media report said Monday. During their April 30 to May 6 trip, the Nobel prize winners will give lectures and hold seminars at the North's three most prestigious schools -- Kim Il-sung University, Kimchaek University of Technology and Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, according to the Washington-based Voice of America (VOA). VOA made the report in...

North Korea bans piercings and Western-style clothing By James Rothwell 17 April 2016 • 7:42pm They are already forced to wear regime-approved hairstyles, chosen from a state-sanctioned list of drab cuts. Now North Koreans have been banned from having piercings as part of a crackdown on Western culture in the secretive regime ahead of its annual workers' conference. The rule, which also forbids wearing Western clothing such as jeans, has reportedly focused on the North Hamgyong and Yanggang provinces. Both areas border with China, where citizens to have easier access to information - and cultural trends - from the outside...

North Korean official on Trump comments: 'Totally absurd and illogical' By Will Ripley and Tim Schwarz, CNN Updated 1344 GMT (2044 HKT) April 17, 2016 Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) — A North Korean official said recent remarks by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump are "absurd and illogical," in a rare interview granted to a CNN team in Pyongyang. Trump suggested the U.S. military should withdraw from key allies South Korea and Japan, and both countries could instead arm themselves with nuclear weapons. "Donald Trump's remarks are totally absurd and illogical," says Ri Jong Ryul, deputy-director general of the Institute of International...

North Korea gearing up for another 'nuclear test' after failed missile launch April 16, 2016 08:27 SGT By Jacob J North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suffered a double whammy as a medium-range rocket launch failed and ally China castigated the reclusive regime for its military misadventures. However, the setback will only spur the dictator to adopt a tougher posturing in a bid to shore up power and Pyongyang was more likely than not to carry out a fifth nuclear test, observers have said. South Korean officials and international experts said the chances of North Korea conducting another nuclear test were...

US says North Korean missile launch was a 'catastrophic' failure By The Associated Press | Posted Apr 15th, 2016 @ 6:31pm WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is describing a North Korean missile launch today as a "catastrophic" failure. The launch was meant to celebrate the birthday of the country's founder. But a South Korean news agency says the missile exploded in the air just a few seconds after liftoff. It was reportedly a new and powerful type of mid-range missile. A Pentagon spokesman says it appears to have been fired from a mobile launcher, since the location of the launch...

Waking supervolcano makes North Korea and West join forces Rare example of collaboration with isolationist regime's researchers helps reveal secrets of one of the world’s largest volcanoes By Andy Coghlan If it blows again, it could make Vesuvius look like a tea party. Now, in a ground-breaking collaboration between the West and North Korea, vulcanologists are gaining new insights into Mount Paektu, on North Korea’s border with China, and whether it might blow its top any time soon. If it does, the outcome could be catastrophic. Paektu’s last eruption, a thousand years ago, is the second largest ever recorded, topped...

(3rd LD) N. Korea fails 1st mid-range ballistic missile launch: military 2016/04/15 15:46 (ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES throughout) SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea conducted its first test-launch of the medium-range ballistic missile Musudan early Friday from its east coast, but the launch ended in failure, officials said. "North Korea seems to have tried a missile launch from the East Sea area in the early morning today, but it is presumed to have failed," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Sources said the launched missile was the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), also known as the BM-25. The...

U.S. sources: Signs of North Korea mobile ballistic missile launch By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent Updated 1807 GMT (0107 HKT) April 12, 2016 CNN) — U.S. intelligence satellites have spotted signs that North Korea may be preparing for an unprecedented launch of a mobile ballistic missile which could potentially hit portions of the U.S., CNN has learned. Opinion: Impose sanctions on North Korea's enablers Two U.S. officials told CNN that if the regime proceeds with a launch, the latest assessments are the most likely scenario is the launch of the so-called Musudan missile, which the U.S. believes could potentially...

North Korean restaurant defectors 'were in China and left legally' China has said that 13 North Korean restaurant workers who defected to South Korea last week had been working in China and had left legally. In a rare comment on such issues, a foreign ministry spokesman said the 13 had the right documents to exit China. China tends to view North Koreans who escape across its border as illegal economic migrants and sends them back. The group are now in South Korea, which provides an aid and adjustment package for all North Koreans who defect.

North Korea scolds Obama by adopting the voice of Abraham Lincoln By Anna Fifield and Yoonjung Seo April 11 at 7:51 AM  TOKYO — We don’t know what Abraham Lincoln would have made of Barack Obama, since the 16th president died 144 years before the 44th took office. But never fear. North Korea’s propagandists have taken it upon themselves to channel Honest Abe and — surprise, surprise — the report card they give the current leader of the United States is not a good one, especially not when it comes to his policy toward the regime of Kim Jong...

(2nd LD) N.K. military intelligence officer defected to S. Korea last year: Seoul 2016/04/11 14:23 (ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 6, 12, 15-17) SEOUL, April 11 (Yonhap) -- A ranking North Korean military officer in charge of conducting intelligence operations defected to South Korea last year, Seoul's defense ministry said Monday, as the North's leader is tightening his grip on the regime. A North Korean senior colonel, whose name has been withheld, defected in 2015 after working at the North's reconnaissance bureau tasked with carrying out espionage missions against the South, the ministry said. "(The North Korean military...

North Korea’s Largest Recent Defector Group Arrives in South Korea The group of 13 worked in a North Korean restaurant in an unidentified country By Alastair Gale Updated April 8, 2016 10:00 a.m. ET SEOUL—In one of the largest known group defections of North Koreans in recent years, 13 restaurant workers from the country have arrived together in South Korea, Seoul said. The group of one male manager and 12 female employees were based at a restaurant in an undisclosed country outside North Korea and reached South Korea on Thursday, a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry said. The defection...

(2nd LD) N. Korea claims success in new ICBM engine test 2016/04/09 11:04 (ATTN: ADDS photo, details in last 5 paras) SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea claimed Saturday that it has successfully conducted a ground test of a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the latest in a series of Pyongyang's claims of progress in its nuclear and missile programs. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued an order to conduct a "jet test of a new type high-power engine of intercontinental ballistic rocket and personally came to the Sohae Space Center to guide the test," the...

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Yonhap) -- Recent satellite imagery shows "suspicious activity" at North Korea's nuclear complex in what could be a sign that Pyongyang might be trying to harvest weapons-grade plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, a U.S. website monitoring the North said Monday. The website 38 North said in a report that the satellite imagery has shown "exhaust plumes" from a thermal plant used to heat the Yongbyon nuclear complex's Radiochemical Laboratory, where spent nuclear fuel rods are reprocessed to extract plutonium. "During the past five weeks, exhaust plumes on two, possibly three, occasions were observed at the Radiochemical Laboratory's...