Free Republic

Defense: A ballistic missile launched from Alaska is shot down by an interceptor launched from California. With threats from North Korea to Iran, it's time to ignore the skeptics and fully fund missile defense.It was the most realistic and most successful missile defense test ever in a Strategic Defense Initiative that could one day save an American city from a rogue missile strike. Yet the "yeah, but" media greeted this triumph with claims the concept is still unproven. It was as if the Wright brothers had announced man's first flight, only to be greeted with cries that they hadn't built...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

South Korea's new defence chief said Thursday there was no evidence that the sudden discharge of water from a North Korean dam which killed six southerners was a deliberate attack. The North on September 6 released millions of tonnes of water into a cross-border river, which killed six South Koreans camping downstream. "We have no solid information to say the discharge was for a water attack," Kim Tae-Young, appointed defence minister on September 3, said in a report to parliament. He said the dam's floodgates were opened after it was full of water. The report tallies with accounts by the...

`S. Korea, US to Provide NK With Regime Guarantee` SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 08:39 A leading Japanese daily yesterday said South Korea and the United States are considering providing North Korea with a guarantee of its communist regime if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear program. The Asahi Shimbun said the offer is aimed at making a breakthrough in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as it would concretely reflect North Korea’s demand for the withdrawal of a "hostile" policy toward it. The planned proposal is aimed at leading North Korea to scrap its nuclear program by requiring verifiable and thorough denuclearization in...

Remote Lands Launches Luxury Bespoke Vacations in North Korea, Optionally by Private Jet Press Release Source: Remote Lands, Inc. On Tuesday September 15, 2009, 3:33 pm EDT NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Remote Lands today announced their groundbreaking tailor-made holidays to North Korea, optionally by private jet. For the first time ever, clients have the opportunity to travel in style and comfort with private guides and transportation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). They will be able to experience this physically beautiful country that is largely closed off to outsiders, and will be amongst the very few to enter one of...

North Korea is insisting on direct talks with the United States in an attempt to obtain recognition as a nuclear state, Seoul's top diplomat said Friday, warning that the North's atomic bombs are intended to target South Korea. The remark—implying that the communist nation has no intention of giving up atomic weapons—is the latest in a series of warnings that a wary South Korea has issued ahead of possible one-on-one negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea. After escalating tensions for months with nuclear and missile tests, Pyongyang recently offered to hold direct talks with the U.S.—a longstanding demand from...

Strategic Defense: With Iran on the verge of a deliverable nuke, the administration tells our allies in the dead of night that we will scuttle missile defense plans in Eastern Europe to please the Russians.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...

Security: As Defense Secretary Gates tours our missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin calls for restoration of the missile defense cuts. Meanwhile, North Korea points another missile at the U.S.

Bill Clinton's Doctor 'Took Close Look at Kim Jong-il' Bill Clinton's doctor, who accompanied the former U.S. president to Pyongyang last month, has told the U.S. government that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is still recovering from what appears to have been a stroke last year but is in stable condition, sources in Washington say. Diplomatic sources said Roger Band, a professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who regularly checks Clinton's health, accompanied the former president on a visit to the North and got a close look at Kim. Brand had been briefed by...

/begin my summary Kerry Considering Visit to N. Korea .. NK sent invitation "Kerry, eager to visit Pyongyang... date not determined" Likely to make the visit by end of this year after legislative agendas are all taken care of. /end my summary

10,000 More Troops for Yangkang By Lee Sung Jin [2009-09-14 15:27 ] Changchun, China -- According to inside sources, North Korea has decided to increase the size of the 10th Army Corps, which is stationed in Yangkang Province. Intended to expand the size of the force in the North Korea-China border region by 10,000, this is the first decision of its kind since the dispatching of the 9th Army Corps to North Hamkyung Province in 1995 to settle the 6th Army Corps coup d’etat conspiracy. An inside Yangkang Province source told Daily NK on the 11th, “The National Defense Commission...

Chinese police report finding bodies of 56 North Korean would-be refugees in Yalu river By Michael Rank Chinese police have reported how the bodies of 56 North Koreans attempting to flee to China, including seven children, were found floating in the Yalu river in 2003. An official notice issued by police in the border town of Baishan in Jilin province describes how 53 corpses were discovered by local people on the morning of October 3, 2003, followed by three more at 5 a.m. the following day. “An examination found that the dead were all citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic...

Kim Jong Il Reportedly Calls for Third Nuclear Test Saturday , September 12, 2009 North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, during his most recent meeting with party and military leaders, reportedly gave instructions that the reclusive regime prepare for a third nuclear test, this time using enriched uranium, according to reports from Free Radio of North Korea, based in South Korea. Kim "emphasized the importance of improvement of nuclear technologies with the aim of attracting the U.S. to direct bilateral talks," according to the radio station's source. The meeting during which this order was reportedly given took place on Aug....

US ready for N Korea direct talks North Korea insists it has a right to nuclear weapons The US says it would hold direct talks with North Korea to persuade it to return to stalled multilateral talks on ending its nuclear programme. A spokesman for the US state department said that there had been no decision on when such talks might take place. Philip Crowley insisted the move was not a policy shift and talks would take place within "the six-party process". North Korea pulled out of multilateral talks in April after international criticism following a rocket launch. "It's a...

Kim Jong-il 'Has Not Appointed a Successor' North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is well and has not appointed a successor, the North's no. 2 official claimed Thursday. Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly told Japan's Kyodo news agency Monday, "The matter of inheriting the revolutionary traditions is important. But this has nothing to do with the successor issue." "There has been no talk of succession at this moment," he added. Kim Yong-nam was interviewed in Pyongyang. He denied reports that Kim Jong-il has appointed his third son Jong-un as his heir apparent, which he...

During Kargil, Pervez sent me to N Korea, got 200 missiles: A Q Khan Lalit K Jha Posted: Thursday , Sep 10, 2009 at 0509 hrs Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan has said his country was short of anti-aircraft missiles during the 1999 Kargil War, so General Pervez Musharraf sent him to North Korea to purchase 200 missiles. In an interview to Pakistani Urdu TV channel Aaj News — its translation has been obtained by Secrecy News of the Federation of American Scientists — Khan said: “In 1999, Gen Musharraf sent me along with Gen Iftikhar, who was...

Armies of N.Korean Kids 'Were on Stand-By for Clinton' When former U.S. President Bill Clinton took off from Pyongyang in early August after winning the freedom of two American journalists, he left 40,000-50,000 North Korean children and juveniles despondent. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had prepared a special performance of the "Arirang" mass calisthenics show for Clinton, which was to be attended by an audience of 100,000 Pyongyang residents, North Korean sources say. Kim reportedly asked Clinton three times to watch the show, but the former president changed the subject each time. On the day, the 40,000-50,000 children and juveniles...

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States moved on Tuesday to freeze the assets of two North Korean entities believed to be involved in atomic and missile programmes, raising pressure on Pyongyang to resume disarmament talks. Pyongyang has been sending out conflicting messages. In August, it made a series of conciliatory gestures, followed this month by more nuclear threats and then straining ties with Seoul by releasing water from a dam on a river flowing across the border, triggering a flash flood that killed six South Koreans. WHAT ARE NORTH KOREA'S LEADERS UP TO? Destitute North Korea wants cash and an...

South Korea suspects North Korea intentionally flooded a river at their shared border last weekend, a top government official said Wednesday, as rescuers recovered the bodies of a boy and two others engulfed by the surge of water. North Korea unleashed an estimated 40 million tons of water from a new dam without providing prior notice. Six South Koreans camping and fishing at the river were swept to their deaths. The North said Monday that it "urgently" ordered the discharge because the reservoir's water level was too high. Stopping short of an apology, Pyongyang said it would warn Seoul of...

A towering North Korean hotel which Esquire magazine once dubbed "the worst building in the history of mankind" has come back to life with a facade of shiny glass windows affixed to one side of the concrete monolith. But few expect the North will ever finish construction of its 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, started in 1987 and halted for 16 years because it could have bankrupted the destitute state. "The hotel doesn't look as shoddy as it once did, probably because of the reflective glass," said a member of a civic group in South Korea that recently returned from a visit...

6 Koreans Missing After River Near Border Surges Six South Koreans camping and fishing along a river flowing from North Korea were missing Sunday after it suddenly rose, possibly because a new dam in the North released a large amount of water without warning, The Associated Press reported Sunday, quoting officials. About 200 rescuers were trying to locate the missing people along the Imjin River, fire official Park Ju-il was quoted as saying. He said their identities were not immediately available. Gyeonggi provincial official Choi Kwon-rak said a North Korean dam just north of the border may have released large...

Six South Koreans were missing near the border with the North, after a sudden rise in a river possibly due to water released from a dam in the North, a fire and rescue official said Sunday. "North Korea likely released water from its dam in the Imjin River," said an official at a fire station in Yuncheon, a town in northern Gyeonggi province just south of the border. "Six people are missing and the search and rescue operation is under way," he said, adding another 10 were rescued.

Two American journalists freed by North Korea after 4 1/2 months of captivity have admitted that they had crossed into the communist state. But they also say they were back across the border - "firmly back inside China," according to their joint statement - when North Korean border guards chased and apprehended them, then "violently dragged" them back into the North. The journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, posted their account late Tuesday on the Web site of their San Francisco organization, CurrentTV. It was their first explanation of how they were apprehended on March 17. Former President Bill Clinton...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Friday vowed to keep up its tough sanctions regime on North Korea after Pyongyang said it had reached the final stage of enriching uranium. "We continue to be committed to ensuring that North Korea upholds its international obligations and we continue to strongly implement the sanctions that were approved," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "Our goal continues to be, and will continue to be the denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula, he said. In a defiant response to tougher UN sanctions, North Korea said Friday it was building more plutonium-based atomic weapons and...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Friday that it is in the final stages of enriching uraninum, a process that could give the nation a second way to make nuclear bombs. The official Korean Central News Agency said in a report early Friday that North Korea informed the U.N. Security Council it is forging ahead with its nuclear program in defiance of international calls to abandon its atomic ambitions. The dispatch said plutonium "is being weaponized," and that uranium enrichment—a program North Korea revealed in recent months—was entering the "completion phase."

PAKISTAN SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON: The United States warned Tuesday that reputed Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has regained freedom of movement in Pakistan, still risks spreading his nuclear weapons know-how. It stopped short of criticizing its ally in the war on terror but recalled that Washington has long raised with Islamabad its fears about Khan, who five years ago admitted leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya." SNIPPET: "David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector and nuclear specialist, told AFP that ‘it is a mistake’ to remove restrictions on a man who cannot be ‘trusted.’He said there is...

The two American television reporters imprisoned in North Korea for over four months have written an article describing the circumstances surrounding their arrests and detention, claiming they were arrested on Chinese soil. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who work for the American Current TV channel, were arrested in March and put on trial after allegedly crossing the North Korean border without entry permits and sentenced to 12-years in a labour camp.... In the lengthy article posted on Current TV's website, the women said they never intended to cross a frozen river into North Korea and were “firmly back” on Chinese...

Two U.S. journalists held for months by North Korea for illegal entry admitted they crossed into the reclusive state but said North Korean guard arrested them on the Chinese side of the border. In their first public account of the ordeal that was published in the Los Angeles Times web site on Tuesday, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee of media outlet Current TV, said that when they set out, they had no intention of leaving China. "But when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank...

In the midst of public outcry over the decision by Scottish authorities to free Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, convicted in 1991 for his involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the anniversary of an older case of state-sponsored terrorism, the shooting down by KAL 007 by Soviet jet fighters in 1983, is almost forgotten by the media and public. When a bomb planted by Libyan terrorists tore Pan Am flight 103 from the sky on December 21, 1988, 270 people — 259 of them on the plane and 11 more on the ground — were killed....

Axis Of Evil: North Korean arms bound for the Islamic Republic of Iran in violation of U.N. sanctions were intercepted, but Tehran will still be the first nuclear terror regime. No wonder Dick Cheney wanted to attack.The United Arab Emirates' seizure of a French-owned ship transporting 10 containers of North Korean-made explosives, rocket-launched grenades and other arms disguised as oil equipment to Iran is a welcome confirmation that the Muslim Middle East recognizes the Islamofascist threat in its midst. Disturbingly, however, it also confirms that the axis of evil that aligns North Korea, Iran and other bloodthirsty regimes against the...

Russia deploys missiles along border with North Korea Tony Halpin in Moscow Russia has put defences on alert along its border with North Korea amid tensions over possible new missile tests by the secretive Communist regime. The Kremlin ordered troops to deploy Russia’s most advanced missile defence system, the S-400, to intercept any threats from North Korea’s nuclear programme. General Nikolai Makarov, the head of the Russian army, said that a mobile battery of 32 surface-to-air missiles had been put into operation in anticipation of any Korean tests. “We are taking these preventative measures as a security guarantee against faulty...

They Died With Gucci's On /snip Satellite photos show that construction of new facilities continues in the suburbs of the capital, where the elite families live. There is no let-up in the importing of luxury goods, including automobiles. The leaders in the north are determined to go down with their Gucci's on. One thing the elite cannot have is cell phones. The use of such devices was made legal again at the beginning of the year (at least in the capital), and all the swells, and even their college age kids, have them. But not the most senior officials, who...

Ain't No Sunshine Kim Dae-jung may have been a democrat, but the late South Korean president was no saint. His true legacy will be one of utter failure in dealing with his northern neighbor. BY SUNG-YOON LEE | AUGUST 24, 2009 Since his death on Aug. 18, Kim Dae-jung has been celebrated as a "great leader." Delivering his eulogy at Kim's state funeral on Aug. 23, South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo called the former president "a great leader of modern history," one whose "sacrifices, dedication, and devotion allowed freedom, human rights, and democracy to fully blossom in Korea." North...

Jong Woon Propaganda Comes to a Halt By Moon Sung Hwee, from Jagang in 2006 [2009-08-27 10:31 ] According to sources from inside North Korea, domestic propaganda building up the reputation of Kim Jong Woon as the successor to Kim Jong Il, which had been intense, has been temporarily halted. Since August, potential anomalies in the third-generation succession system have been detected. Kim Gil Myung (pseudonym), who trades between Dandong, China and Shinuiju, North Korea, met with a Daily NK reporter on the 20th. "The succession project (regarding Kim Jong Woon) has completely stopped,” he said, “Since the start of...

Phuket 'Scene of FBI, North Korean Arms Dealings' By Alan Morison Monday, August 24, 2009 SOME remarkable meetings take place on Phuket, and we are not talking Asean summits, even though it was good for the island to have US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drop by in July. This particular meeting, reported for the first time today, is a different kind of gathering, more reminiscent of the one involving a Vietnamese lawyer who now stands accused of plotting to overthrow his country's leaders after meeting other alleged ''conspirators'' on Phuket. Let's call it the Uncle Sam Sham Scam. This...

Amid the millions of flowers laid at the funeral shrine of the former South Korean President, they didn’t stand out — a large wreath of white, pink and red. But these were the special hybrid of begonias known as Kimjongilia, named after the man who had sent them from Pyongyang and after whom they are named — North Korea’s "Dear Leader", Kim Jong Il. Such an expression of mourning for the late Kim Dae Jung, and the six-man delegation of senior party officials who yesterday met with the current South Korean President, Lee Myung Bak, were unprecedented. But what do...

SEOUL, South Korea — A high-level North Korean delegation conveyed a message from their leader Kim Jong Il to the South Korean president during a rare meeting Sunday at the presidential Blue House. President Lee Myung-bak and the North Korean officials discussed inter-Korean cooperation during the half hour meeting, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said. He said he could not provide details about the contents of Kim's message. The Blue House meeting — the latest sign of warming ties between the two Koreas after months of tension — took place just hours before the funeral of Kim Dae-jung, the former South...

The sunset of South Korea's 'sunshine policy' Two leaders reached out to the North and got nothing but disappointment and lies. By Donald Kirk August 20, 2009 No South Korean leader generated such dreams as did Kim Dae-jung, who died on Tuesday. His five-year presidency, and his "sunshine policy" of reconciliation with North Korea reached its spectacular height in June 2000, when he flew to Pyongyang for the first-ever inter-Korean summit. North Korean "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il hosted him in an atmosphere of confidence that the half-century of war and confrontation between the two Koreas was nearing an end....

Defense: The Air Force airborne laser program successfully completes a simulated kill from a plane able to find, track and destroy a live ballistic missile. We can shoot down enemy missiles. Instead, we're shooting down the laser program.The Aug. 10 effort was the third such test — sort of like a sniper sighting the target with the red dot of a laser without actually pulling the trigger. In early June, the airborne laser (ABL) program engaged two un-instrumented missiles. This was the first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile. A modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air...

Defense: Overlooked in the defense budget cuts is the decimation of missile defense systems. As North Korea tested an ICBM, our defense secretary was scrapping a system that could have destroyed it with a single shot.We will miss the F-22 Raptor, perhaps the only plane that could evade the sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system Russia is selling to Iran. Russia's S-300 system is "one of the most lethal, if not the most lethal, all-altitude area defense" systems, according to the International Strategy and Assessment Service, a Virginia-based think tank. But the aircraft we and the nation will miss the...

LAST week, I speculated about what "ransom" the Obama administration may have had ex-President Bill Clinton promise to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee from the North Korean regime. It didn't take long to learn at least the first concession. President Obama has broken with past US policy to agree to bilateral talks with North Korea -- a diplomatic plum that Kim Jong Il has sought for years, and a major coup in his attempt to nail down the succession of his 26-year-old son, Kim Jong Un. While the administration maintains that Clinton (in the words of...

Two North Korean diplomats are in Santa Fe and will meet with Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday. A spokesman for Richardson said a delegation from the North Korean mission to the United Nations will meet at the governor's mansion for a daylong meeting but the topic was not disclosed. The North Koreans had requested the visit, but the governor's office said Richardson will not be negotiating nor will he be representing the Obama administration. The delegation, which includes Minister Myong Gil Kim and Councilor Jong Ho Paek, also are scheduled to receive briefings on renewable energy initiatives in New Mexico...

WASHINGTON — When former President Bill Clinton landed in Pyongyang on Aug. 4 to win the release of two imprisoned American journalists, senior officials said, he met an unexpectedly spry North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, who feted him over a long dinner that night, even proposing to stay up afterward. Kim was flanked by two longtime aides — a surprise to Americans who had suspected that both men had been pushed aside — and he gave no hint that North Korea was in the throes of a succession struggle, despite the widespread questions over how long he might live....

North Korea Monday ordered its army and people on special alert as US and South Korean troops began a joint exercise, and vowed to respond to any military provocation with a nuclear attack. The communist state's military supreme command, in a report on official media, described the exercise south of the border as a "grave threat" to peace and a prelude to an invasion. It vowed to respond to "even the slightest military provocation" infringing on its sovereignty with a "merciless and prompt annihilating strike at the aggressors with all offensive and defensive means including nuclear deterrent involved." SNIP Some...

20 Killed in Failed Syrian Scud Missile Test by Hana Levi Julian (IsraelNN.com) At least 20 Syrian civilians were killed and 60 were wounded in a failed missile test in May, Japan's Kyodo News reported Friday. The test involved two updated Scud missiles developed together by Syria, North Korea and Iran. Both exhibited defective guidance systems, according to a Middle Eastern military source quoted in the report. One of the short-range ballistic missiles hit a market near the Syrian-Turkish border, causing dozens of civilian casualties. Syrian forces attributed the blast to a gas explosion and blocked off the site to...

Strategic Defense: The Air Force's airborne laser program passes yet another test, proving "unproven" missile defense once again. The question is not whether we can get it to work, but whether we can afford not to.The news that Iran has enough nuclear material to build a nuclear weapon in relatively short order and is well along on missiles to deliver its nukes has put a sense of urgency on the proposed missile defense system slated for Poland and the Czech Republic. Fortunately, another answer to the threat posed by rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea has just passed a...

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak will announce Saturday a plan to offer massive aid to North Korea if it abandons its nuclear ambitions, his office said Friday in a press release. The plan will be contained in a speech to commemorate the 64th anniversary of liberation from the Japanese colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945. "As for policies toward North Korea, a broad range of proposals will be made for the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, covering areas of the political, economic, military and security," the press release said. Lee will also reiterate...

U.S. sees growing backing for N.Korea sanctions 14/08/2009 01:01 By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. efforts to enforce U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea after its nuclear test in May are gaining growing support from countries and banks, a senior American official said on Thursday. Ambassador Phil Goldberg, the U.S. coordinator for implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions, said efforts to inspect North Korean vessels for illegal weapons and to curb financial transactions by Pyongyang entities suspected of proliferation were winning widespread backing.

The monument "African Renaissance" under construction near Dakar International Airport in Senegal(photo taken on Aug. 10.) The monument, 50 meter high, is to be completed in coming December. N. Koreans have been building it since last year.