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Original in Japanese: 北朝鮮の飛翔体、弾道ミサイルか　国連制裁違反の可能性 ("North Korean Launch, Could Possibly Be Ballistic Missile, and Possible UN Violation") Two paragraph synopsis from the original Japanese--my translation (breaking): "Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the launch of projectiles yesterday from the east coast of North Korea into the Sea of Japan. Now based on photo analysis of the launch from images provided by official North Korean news sources, South Korean military specialists have analyzed the vehicle, and a viewpoint is emerging the launch yesterday was, in fact, likely a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions against North Korea launching such ballistic missiles." "...

Basically leading with short dispatches saying the North Koreans did this at around 0906 am local Saturday (8:06 pm eastern USA) in Korea/Japan, about 90 minutes ago, into the Sea of Japan, traveling 70 to 200 kilometers from a launch site near Wonsan on DPRK east coast. (Report in Japanese—because fast breaking) Conservative Sankei Shimbun news, Tokyo

It's a short hop from Pyongyang to Vladivostok by plane. There's even a semi-regular flight. But for his first summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has once again opted to go by train... Kim is reportedly traveling with a big entourage — possibly more than 200 people — and lots of supplies. His train, unmistakable with its dark green paint job and yellow piping, is perfect for that. It's built like a tank. Its cars are equipped with advanced communications and flat-screen TVs so he can give orders and receive news and briefings...

Weeks after the collapse of the summit between Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, the North Korean leader finally broke his silence. In a speech heavily focused on foreign affairs delivered to the Supreme People’s Assembly – North Korea’s pro forma parliament – Kim made clear his position. He said that a third summit with Trump wasn’t off the table just yet, but getting there would require evidence that the U.S. position on sanctions relief more seriously. To this end, Kim also echoed a message he had originally delivered during his New Year’s Day address: that...

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea announced that it has test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon. The Korean Central News Agency says Chairman Kim Jong Un observed the firing of the weapon Wednesday by the Academy of Defense Science. The agency reports that Kim said "the development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People's Army." The agency says Kim mounted an observation post to learn about the test-fire of the new-type tactical guided weapon and guide the test-fire. The announcement came after reports of...

North Korea is possibly building a new submarine that can fire ballistic missiles, according to South Korean and U.S. defense officials, Friday. This could be a serious security threat to the United States as the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) may reach as far as the U.S. mainland. "[SLBM technology] changes the defense equation in terms of where the origin could be," U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said Wednesday (local time) in a Senate hearing. The SLBMs are considered more threatening weapons than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), as they are harder to detect and increase the regime's strike...

(Kim Jong-Un's Assassinated Half-Brother) The morning of 13 February 2017 was like any other at Kuala Lumpur’s hectic international airport terminal so it would have been easy to miss a lone North Korean man, clad in a blue polo shirt and jeans, heading to check into his flight to Macau. As he ambled past a column, a backpack slung over one shoulder, a woman approached him and wiped an oily substance on his face before disappearing, her unusual actions caught on CCTV. Moments later, another woman came from behind and covered his eyes with her hands. She then slid...

Reports of a recent briefing by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) to the National Assembly’s intelligence committee noted that North Korea has started restoring structures on the rocket launch pad at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station (Tongchang-ri). The North had previously started to dismantle the rail-mounted transfer building on the launch pad along with the engine test stand last year at the beginning of US-DPRK negotiations. While progress was quick at first, both the launch pad and engine test stand had remained in about the same condition since August 2018. However, based on commercial satellite imagery, efforts to...

KIM Jong-un has threatened to kill his own citizens if they switch on South Korean tv shows. A source told Radio Free Asia’s Korean service that authorities have launched a crackdown on the illegal activity including a death sentence threat for those found breaking the law. The insider said: “In a recent lecture, they told us they are aware that a growing number of people are able to manipulate the frequencies to watch South Korean TV programmes. “They said that regardless of any individual’s status, those caught in violation could be executed by firing squad. They want to instill fear.”...

A year ago the Left was convinced that President Donald Trump was going to plunge the world into nuclear war in Korea. Today it is upset because he hasn’t done so — or at least has yet to achieve what no other president managed to do, force the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to disgorge its nuclear weapons. Neoconservatives are mad that he is talking with instead of bombing the North’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. And that the president has mooted the possibility of withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea. It doesn’t seem to matter what he does or doesn’t...

A North Korean diplomat who was until recently acting ambassador to Italy has gone missing after reports he was seeking asylum in the West. The diplomat, Jo Song-gil, disappeared with his wife and children after leaving the embassy without notice in early November, according to Kim Min-ki, a South Korean politician who was briefed by the National Intelligence Service. The Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing an unidentified diplomatic source, said Mr Jo, 48, had applied for asylum to an unspecified Western country and was in a "safe place" with his family under the protection of the Italian Government. But a...

North Korea’s claim last week that it had tested an unidentified “ultramodern tactical weapon” highlighted its desire to upgrade its conventional arms and reassure its military even as talks are under way to end its nuclear program, analysts said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un witnessed the test of a newly developed tactical weapon that could serve as a “steel wall”, state media reported on Friday, without giving details of the weapon. It was Kim’s first observation of a weapons test this year and could complicate already stalled nuclear talks with the United States, although Washington and Seoul downplayed the...

North Korea has ordered its citizens to donate dog hides to the regime as part of celebrations marking the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea on October 10. The government collects dog hides ahead of the anniversary each year “to raise funds for the party”, the dissident Daily NK website reported, but this year the authorities have raised the amount of money that families who do not keep dogs are required to pay instead. “Although the party is asking for dog hides, there are not many houses that have the luxury of raising a dog...

North Korea warned the US in a recent letter that talks are "again at stake and may fall apart," adding that it may resume "nuclear and missile activities" if its demands are not met. President Donald Trump unexpectedly canceled what was expected to be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's fourth trip to Pyongyang last Friday due to insufficient progress on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The decision was preceded by a "belligerent" letter that criticized his administration for failing "to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty," CNN reported Tuesday,...

US president Donald Trump said on Friday he had cancelled secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to North Korea because “we are not making sufficient progress” toward the goal of denuclearising the Korean peninsula. Mr Trump said in a message on Twitter that Mr Pompeo’s visit, which was set for next week, now would likely not take place until after Washington has resolved its trade dispute with China. Mr Trump said China was no longer helping on the North Korea issue. It was a dramatic shift of tone for Mr Trump, who had previously hailed his June summit with...

Recent comments by North Korea’s foreign minister could signal that dictator Kim Jong Un may break his vague pledge to President Trump to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. Since Kim, his father and grandfather who ruled before him all have a well-documented history of lying about North Korea’s military aims when it suits their interests, it should not come as a shock that Kim is continuing the proud family tradition. If so, Northeast Asia could very well be headed right back to the brink of war, with few options left to avoid what could be a dangerous...

Newly obtained evidence, including satellite photos taken in recent weeks, indicates that work is underway on at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled ICBMs at a large research facility in Sanumdong, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe classified intelligence. The findings are the latest to show ongoing activity inside North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities at a time when the country’s leaders are engaged in arms talks with the United States. The new intelligence does not suggest an expansion of North Korea’s capabilities but shows that work on...

One of three Americans who were freed from North Korea on Thursday asked to be let off the US State Department plane which brought them home as it refuelled in Alaska because he had not seen daylight for 'a very long time', it has been revealed. Kim Dong- chul, Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang-duk, also known as Tony Kim, arrived at Joint Air Base Andrews in Maryland at 2 am on Thursday. They were greeted by President Trump and the first lady on the tarmac. At around 6pm, their plane stopped in Anchorage, Alaska, to refuel where one of the...

Donald Trump has said that Russia is helping North Korea get supplies in violation of international sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting “closer every day” to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States. “Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea,” Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. “What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing.”

Despite the “rise and fall of the unipolar concert,” China and Russia’s balancing strategies have backfired: they are not leading to multipolarity, but are actually reinforcing unipolarity. The reason is that China and Russia’s balancing strategies have focused on regional “revisionism,” which has provoked powerful responses in East Asia and Europe to contain them. Russia’s balancing strategy has to a large extent proven to be counter-productive. Instead of preventing the expansion of NATO through a “divide and conquer” strategy, or driving a diplomatic wedge between the United States and Europe, Russian revisionism has united NATO...Perhaps most illustrative of all, a...