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North Korea has axed its spy chief as well as the long-running head of Kim Jong Un’s security — signs of a major shakeup during the ongoing mystery over the dictator’s status. Jang Kil Song was ousted as head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the North’s military intelligence agency, according to the Korea Herald, citing a report by South Korea’s Unification Ministry. The RGB is behind the Hermit Kingdom’s most high-profile attacks as well as spy missions, including those against the US, the report says.

 Kim Jong-nam Says N.Korean Regime Won't Last Long Kim Jong-nam Former North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has said the isolated regime will eventually fail with or without reforms. The comment appears in e-mail conversations exchanged over seven years between Kim Jong-nam and a Japanese journalist and obtained by the Monthly Chosun. The nearly 100 e-mails were sent from 2004 until December last year to Yoji Komi, an editor at the Tokyo Shimbun daily. The two also spoke in person in January and May last year. ◆ Oppostion to Dynastic Succession Kim Jong-nam, who was passed over...

AFP - South Korea's film community reacted angrily Monday to a major cinema chain's decision to stop screening a documentary that questions whether North Korea was really behind the 2010 sinking of the warship Cheonan. Megabox withdrew the movie "Project Cheonan" from 27 of its theatres on Saturday, citing customer safety concerns after unidentified conservative activists threatened to stage protest rallies outside the multiplexes. The Megabox move "does serious violence to our cultural vitality which prospers on the basis of diversity and the freedom of expression," the representatives of 11 film industry groups, including directors, producers, critics and others said...

South Korea reiterated warnings to Pyongyang over future military attacks as South Korea commemorates the fatal 2010 sinking of the patrol ship Cheonan allegedly by North Korea. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said South Korea will "thoroughly retaliate against North Korea" if provoked again," a report by Yonhap news agency said. Last week Lee and Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik visited the National Cemetery in Daejeon to pay respects to the dead sailors. The 1,200-ton naval corvette Cheonan sank rapidly after an explosion from a suspected torpedo ripped the vessel in half in March 2010. It sank just more than 1...

"After the North's attack on the Cheonan last year, Gen. Walter Sharp, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, expressed concerns about our military's increase of firepower near the demilitarized zone," the government source said. "Since the start of this year, the U.S. has asked officially and unofficially for explanations of the military's aggressive deterrence strategy against the North."

Instead, the ministry aims to focus on the defense against North Korea, both in terms of the North’s so-called asymmetrical advantage in local provocations and full-scale warfare. This will likely scrap or delay initiatives to boost military capability against threats from neighboring powers and for futuristic high-tech warfare. They include building additional large warships and purchasing aerial refueling aircraft.

North Korea on Tuesday denied any involvement in sinking the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan based on what it claims was an internal investigation, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported. The statement was issued by the top decision-making National Defense Commission. Earlier on May 28, the commission held a press conference for domestic and foreign journalists to rebut the findings of an international probe that put the blame squarely on the North. A South Korean security official said Pyongyang "apparently decided to refuse South Korea's repeated demands for an apology as a precondition for massive aid requested by...

The South Korean Red Cross sent 5,000 tons of rice in emergency aid to North Korea in September, a humanitarian gesture that came after months of silence between the two Koreas since the warship sinking. Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, earlier this month, North Korea’s military has saved up to 1 million tons of rice for its officials and soldiers

U.S. to send George Washington to Yellow Sea for future joint drills with S. Korea: Pentagon By Hwang Doo-hyong WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States Thursday reaffirmed its pledge to send a super carrier to joint military exercises with South Korea in waters near China despite Beijing's objections. "The USS George Washington will indeed exercise in the Yellow Sea again," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "We have said that will take place. I don't think we have determined a date yet, but rest assured, the George Washington will operate in the Yellow Sea, as it does in other...

US Aircraft Carrier to Exercise in Yellow Sea Al Pessin | The Pentagon05 August 2010 The Pentagon announced Thursday that the U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington will participate in planned exercises with South Korean forces in the Yellow Sea, between the Korean Peninsula and China. The announcement comes in spite of strong objections from China. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell made the announcement, saying the carrier's return to the Yellow Sea will be part of the series of U.S.-South Korean air and naval exercises that started late last month east of the peninsula. "They will be taking place in both...

As United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this week met in Seoul with their Republic of Korea , the defining crisis that was supposed to highlight the relevance and effectiveness of their relationship, instead cast an ugly shadow over the event. The United States failed to organize a vigorous international backlash against North Korea for its sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan, and has now exhibited disconcerting second thoughts about its own response.

A major US-South Korean military exercise involving about 20 ships, 200 planes and 8,000 personnel will start Sunday in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to deter North Korea, the US military said on Tuesday. The July 25-28 drill will highlight the resolve of the two countries "to face any threat North Korea may pose", the US-led United Nations Command said in a statement. The war games are a response to the sinking of a South Korean warship earlier this year, which Seoul and Washington blame on North Korea. The announcement followed talks between visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates...

The nuclear-powered aircraft - carrier USS George Washington will make a port call in South Korea Wednesday, ahead of a joint naval drill in the East Sea next week. The 97,000-ton ship based in Yokosuka, Japan, will arrive at South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan with some 60 aircrafts, including F-18 Super Hornets, news agency Yonhap said. The report quoting the US military said, three destroyers from the US carrier's strike group, including the USS McCampbell and the USS John S McCain, will also arrive in South Korea on the same day. SKorea and the US have agreed to...

The United States may dispatch its high-tech F-22 Raptor stealth fighter to the Korean Peninsula for the upcoming joint military exercises with South Korea aimed at sending a warning message to North Korea for its continued provocative acts, a government source said Sunday. "Chances are high that the F-22 fighter jet will take part in the South Korea-U.S. joint drills to be held in the East Sea within July, in which a U.S. aircraft carrier will also participate," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "The U.S. is considering the F-22's participation in the training."In response to the March...

South Korea is planning to hold an anti-submarine exercise next month in the Yellow Sea following a joint naval drill with the United States expected to be staged later this month in the East Sea, a military source said Friday. The planned exercise is a display of military force intended to deter future provocation by North Korea in the wake of the North's deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March, the source said. No date has been fixed for the exercise that will take place in the Yellow Sea, where a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan warship,...

South Korea's foreign minister made it clear Sunday that the country does not want the six-way nuclear talks over North Korea's nuclear program to resume until the communist nation stops pushing for unacceptable preconditions. "It is not time to discuss six-way talks laden with North Korea-set preconditions," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said in an interview with state-owned broadcaster KTV. Yu said the North is apparently attempting to use the long-stalled nuclear negotiations as a means to distract world attention away from the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. A South Korea-led multinational probe found that the North...

The U.S. government is apparently debating how to stage joint exercises with South Korea not only this month but all year round as a response to North Korea's torpedo attack on the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March. A diplomatic source in Washington on Tuesday said the U.S. is thinking a lot about these joint exercises "to deliver a clear message to the North." Following the planned joint drill this month, the two countries will further upgrade the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, which is staged in August every year, and may also possibly conduct various other kinds of drills....

Military officers from the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) and North Korea ended a rare meeting Thursday, officials said, the first such meeting since the March sinking of a warship blamed on the communist country. "The meeting ended at around 11:30 a.m.," said an official at the UNC. The official said he had no information on the results of the meeting that lasted about one and a half hours, adding they will be announced later in the day. The colonel-level meeting was aimed at arranging talks of general-grade officers between the two sides for discussions on the sinking, which a...

The United States announced Wednesday that some of the naval exercises planned with South Korean forces will be held in the Yellow Sea, between the Korean Peninsula and China, in spite of Chinese government concerns about the plan. The Pentagon also confirmed for the first time that a U.S. aircraft carrier will be involved in the exercises, but would not say whether the huge ship will participate in the Yellow Sea part of the event. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said the United States respects and considers China's views, but will not be deterred from holding the exercises. They were...

North Korea Using Cheonan in Propaganda By Namgung Min [2010-07-14 14:17 ] ▲ The propaganda poster, 'If you come at us, (we will destroy you) with a single blow!' (source: RFA) A recent North Korean propaganda poster depicting a blue warship being smashed in two by a red fist has been released by Radio Free Asia (RFA). The poster was provided by a Chinese trader who had just returned from a business trip to North Korea, according to RFA. Beneath the picture, it screams, “If you come at us, (we will destroy you) with a single blow!” Releasing the image...