Free Republic

Explosions reported after an air raid warning in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa... US politics a Reuters/Ipsos poll out on the Democrat and Republican Presidential contests... Changes in the French cabinet relatively minor... The "Wall Street Journal" reports Chinese hackers got into the email account of the US Ambassador in China... A US F-16 fighter targeting a Russian warplane in Syria... "Dame Alison Rose's apology is a start, but it is no more than that" British media host and political activist Nigel Farage... A tense situation in Baghdad following the early morning torching of the Swedish Embassy... Opponents of...

SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- Fresh satellite imagery showed a 10-meter-long truck and a possible crane at North Korea's satellite launching site, U.S. experts said, amid concerns the communist nation could launch a long-range rocket from the site. Jack Liu, an expert on North Korea's missile program, and Peter Makowsky, an imagery analysis expert, said in an analysis on the website 38 North that continued activity was captured on satellite imagery taken Wednesday of the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, better known as the Dongchang-ri site. (Please see full article for details)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given an order to open a long-closed border hotline with South Korea at 0630 GMT on Wednesday for talks, an unidentified North Korean official announced in a televised statement.

N.Korea Threatens S.Korean Marines with 'Annihilation' In this video grab from MBC, North Korean propaganda leaflets are found on Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea on Monday. North Korea on Monday floated hundreds of propaganda leaflets into South Korea threatening the "annihilation" of the 6th Marine Brigade on Baeknyeong Island, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The burst of belligerence comes less than a week after the execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Song-taek, who was seen as a moderate. The previous day, the North Korean propaganda website, Uriminzokkiri also threatened to "mercilessly throw a battering ram"...

A damaging Friday news dump before a holiday weekend? Who could have seen that coming? Dump away, Justice Department: The Justice Department said on Friday that officials up to Attorney General Eric Holder vetted a decision to search an email account belonging to a Fox News reporter whose report on North Korea prompted a leak investigation. In a statement emailed to Reuters, the department said the search warrant for the reporter's email account followed all laws and policies and won the independent approval of a federal magistrate judge. We're apparently supposed to feel better about everything because the DOJ "followed...

International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz warned on Sunday that Iran having a nuclear weapon would be equal to “thirty nuclear North Koreas”. “We have the right and the ability to defend ourselves,” he said in a speech at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York. “The cooperation with the United States is very important but ultimately each country will make its own decisions on maintaining its security,” said Steinitz, stressing that “Israel can deal with any threat.” 80 years ago, said Steinitz, “only one person identified on time and warned the world against the rearmament of Nazi Germany. This was...

On April 6, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed severe concern over the current tense situation on the Korean Peninsula to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the phone, and said Beijing "does not allow troublemaking at the doorsteps of China." In wake of the rising tensions on the Korea Peninsula, for the regional peace and stability and to safeguard China's national interest, it is necessary to address relevant sides over the issue: To DPRK: do not misjudge the situation To the United States: do not add fuel to the flames To South Korea: do not miss the focus To...

A report prepared for U.S. lawmakers says North Korea may have provided arms and training to terrorist organizations in Lebanon and Sri Lanka. The Congressional Research Service report, obtained by the Reuters and Yonhap news agencies Wednesday, casts doubt on what it says is the long-standing U.S. view that North Korea halted such activities in 1987. CRS cited French and South Korean sources alleging North Korea has provided more recent support for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The report also mentioned a Japanese newspaper report in September that Pyongyang sold arms to the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka. A U.S....

DMZ infiltration units...? Backwards and broke, Pyongyang long-ago abandoned any idea of winning a conventional war with the South and their American allies... that is, ever since they saw US forces cut Saddam's armor into tinsel with shock-n-awe back in 2003. So to remain a credible threat, the Norks rely on a three-pronged strategy of heavy artillery at the DMZ to pound Seoul into smithereens along with missiles that can menace the rest of the ROK... this while building the world's largest special forces, fiercely-loyal and highly-trained in asymmetrical warfare and infiltration strategies including Islamic-terrorist-inspired car bombs, roadside explosives, etc.  The ambitious plans...

With its ruthless dictator, network of forced labour camps and iron grip of its ruling party, North Korea is the last country one might expect to see a middle-aged woman berating a policeman for demanding a bribe. But extraordinary video images smuggled out of North Korea, combined with reports of graffiti and posters critical of the regime, indicate a growing willingness among a previously cowed public to speak out and demand change. Such dissent would once have been unthinkable in the reclusive state, but now hunger and plummeting living standards are now triggering demands for freedom - something that no...

Until now, the Chinese have staunchly supported their North Korean allies, along whose side they fought in the war. China previously insisted that the war was waged out of American aggression. The official title of the conflict on the mainland is "The War to Resist America and Aid Korea".Chinese history textbooks state that the Korean War began when "the United States assembled a United Nations army of 15 countries and defiantly marched across the border and invaded North Korea, spreading the flames of war to our Yalu river." The official Chinese media stated for the first time that it was...

Clinton: Koreas security situation 'precarious' By MATTHEW LEE (AP) BEIJING — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship has created a "highly precarious" security situation in the region and that the Obama administration is working to prevent an escalation of tension that could lead to conflict. Speaking to reporters in Beijing shortly after the White House issued a statement offering Washington's full and unequivocal support for Seoul, Clinton said all of North Korea's neighbors, including its chief ally China, understand the seriousness of the matter and want to "contain"...

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SEOUL, South Korea - North and South Korea announced Wednesday that their leaders will hold their second-ever summit this month, reprising the historic 2000 meeting that launched unprecedented reconciliation between the two longtime foes. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will meet Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, South Korean presidential security adviser Baek Jong-chun told reporters. At the only other such North-South summit, Kim met then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in June 2000, also in Pyongyang. North Korea also released a statement confirming an agreement on the summit signed Sunday between the...

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea said on Wednesday they had agreed to resume ministerial talks, a day after a breakthrough energy-for-arms deal at six-party talks on the North's nuclear programs in Beijing. The dialogue between the two Koreas -- still technically at war -- collapsed in acrimony after Pyongyang tested a volley of missiles last July. The South's Unification Ministry said delegates would meet in the North Korean border city of Kaesong on Thursday to discuss when to open new talks. North Korea's state-run news agency said Pyongyang agreed to the proposal for renewed contact between the two...

US spy satellites detect N Korea's nuclear moves By Colin Joyce in Tokyo and Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 05/10/2006) The United States has detected activity in North Korea indicating possible preparations for an underground nuclear test. Spy satellites have picked up unusual movement of vehicles at potential test sites, although an American official said it did prove that a test was imminent. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe: the North Korean issue is expected to dominate his visits to China and South Korea The images were seen the day after North Korea said it would conduct its first test, a...

SEOUL, South Korea - Soldiers from North and South Korea exchanged fire along their border late Monday but no one is hurt, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The clash happened just before sunset when North Korean soldiers fired two bullets toward South Korean guard post in the eastern part of the Demilitarized Zone and South Korean soldiers immediately fired back six rounds, the top commanders said.

On July 4, while Americans across the country were getting their bottle rockets and Roman candles ready to celebrate our independence, a small, poor country half a world away was preparing its own "rockets' red glare." North Korea's Fourth of July missile test was several things: an infantile demonstration of aggression by an isolated nation and a seriously destabilizing act felt throughout the Pacific Rim. But most of all it was a failure - a failure of a missile technology and a failure of diplomacy. This test was a failure for North Korea because its outdated Taepodong 2 missile crashed...

Korea's Oldest Artificial Pond Discovered By Kim Ki-tae Staff Reporter The nation¡¯s oldest artificial pond was found in Andong, North Kyongsang Province. The pond¡¯s construction dates back to the Bronze Age. Museum of Dongyang University yesterday announced that the artificial pond was created at least 2,600 years ago, after examining the site where the pond used to be, a swampy place in Chojon-ni, Sohu-myon in the region. It said the rectangular pond was formed in the valley area by digging paths from nearby streams. The artificial lake is estimated to be 50 meters long and 15 meters wide, with a...

Vice-president Dick Cheney stepped up America's war of words with North Korea yesterday by calling it a police state run by an irresponsible leader indifferent to the fate of his malnourished people.His words came just 48 hours after the Pentagon announced that it was sending 15 F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter-bombers to South Korea, a US ally, for an undetermined period. The aircraft crews, trained to seek out targets with precision weapons, needed to familiarise themselves with the Korean terrain, the air force said. Speaking to CNN in an interview broadcast last night, Mr Cheney described North Korea's leader, Kim Jong...