North Korea

[JohnnyRico]

Analysts predict North Korea could launch fourth rocket test in show of nuclear strength

Pyongyang could launch fourth atomic rocket test after issuing defiant statement warning US

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 16 March, 2014, 5:13am
UPDATED : Sunday, 16 March, 2014, 5:13am

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

The National Defence Commission, chaired by leader Kim Jong-un (pictured), said the North would continue efforts "to bolster up its nuclear deterrence for self-defence".

North Korea has threatened to demonstrate its nuclear deterrence in a move analysts say could indicate the regime is preparing to carry out a fourth atomic test amid long-stalled disarmament talks.

The National Defence Commission (NDC), chaired by leader Kim Jong-un, said on Friday that the North would continue efforts "to bolster up its nuclear deterrence for self-defence".

"And additional measures will be taken to demonstrate its might one after another as long as the US nuclear threat and blackmail persist as now", it said.

North Korea and its main ally China want a resumption of six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons programme, but Washington and Seoul both insist that Pyongyang must first demonstrate a commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons.

"The US had better roll back its worn-out hostile policy towards the DPRK (North Korea) as soon as possible and shape a new realistic policy before it is too late," the NDC added.

"This would be beneficial not only to meeting the US interests but also to ensuring the security of its mainland."

In March last year, North Korea put its "strategic" rocket units on a war footing and threatened to strike targets on the US mainland, Hawaii, Guam, and South Korea as tensions soared.

Despite a successful long-range rocket launch in December 2012, most experts believe North Korea is years away from developing a genuine intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the mainland United States.

Analysts in Seoul said the NDC statement indicated North Korea was mulling three options - a fourth nuclear test, the firing of a long-range rocket and the unveiling of progress in its programme of enriching uranium.

North Korea carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and in February last year.

"This warning is not about an imminent action but an expression of frustration with Washington, which refuses to budge an inch," Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University for North Korean Studies said.

Professor Kim Yeon-chul of Inje University said the North might consider carrying out a test using enriched uranium it has been developing for two years.

The NDC stressed the North would never make a first, unilateral move towards giving up its nuclear weapons programme despite US pressure to do so.

 

[JohnnyRico]

100% of the Vote "Only Possible in North Korea"

Kang Mi Jin | 2014-03-14 09:23

A number of defectors now living in the South believe that Kim Jong Eun’s 100% approval rating at last week’s election is a feat “only possible in a society like North Korea.”

At least half of the delegates would have been eliminated had the election been truly democratic, the defectors assess, as most were nominated due to their powerful positions or highly effective flattery techniques.

Similarly, they argue, the announcement of a 100% turnout can be viewed in the context of a wider strategy to show the outside world that loyalty to the leader is strong and the regime continues to maintain its grip.

Speaking to Daily NK on the 13th, a defector who participated in the last Supreme People’s Assembly elections reported, “Although people registered to vote, many couldn’t make it on Election Day because they were too busy earning a living. There were fears at the time that questions would come down from the Upper [the authorities], so they reported a 100% turnout in our area.”

A second defector added, “During the 2009 election, around ten people lost track of the date when they were hunting up in the mountains. Upon their return to their village after Election Day they were dumbfounded to learn that there had been a 100% turnout.”

Moreover, “Kim Jong Eun is well aware what would occur should a truly democratic election take place to select the Supreme Leader. You are always being watched when casting your vote, so you couldn’t cast a dissenting vote even if you wanted to. This is North Korean society.”

 

[JohnnyRico]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kyong-hui

Kim Kyong-hui's political career began in 1971 with a position in the Korean Democratic Women's Union, and in 1975 she was transferred to the post of vice-director of the International Liaison Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, promoted to first vice-director in 1976. It was the period when North Korea was establishing diplomatic relations with a number of capitalist countries, like Thailand and Singapore, as well as the United Nations. She oversaw the placement of qualified diplomatic personnel during her tenure as International Department vice-director.[6]

--------------------------------------

Kim's Doppelganger Infects the Rumor Mill

Lee Sang Yong | 2014-03-14 03:14

Rumors suggesting that Kim Kyong Hui is in a state of serious ill health are spreading rapidly inside North Korea once again. There is even the suggestion that Kim has passed away and her funeral has already been held, and although Kim’s name appeared on a roster of Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) delegates following last Sunday’s election to the North Korean legislature, there is some suspicion that this was not the same woman at all.

“These rumors concerning Kim Kyong Hui’s health keep on coming up,” a source well acquainted with internal North Korean affairs told Daily NK on the 13th. “She has not been seen in public for six months now, and among heads of hard currency-earning firms operating under the Ministry of Public Security, there are some who believe she has actually already passed away.”

“These rumors are growing because people reckon that since she is Jang Song Taek’s wife and he got executed for being a counter-revolutionary, they are not going to give her a public funeral even though she is a Party secretary," the source said. "People are quite willing to accept this story as fact right now.”

According to the source, the more time that passes without Kim appearing in public, the more credence rumors of her death gain. She has not made a public appearance since September 2013, when she took part in events commemorating the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Since then she has missed a number of other key dates, including commemoration of the second anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death on December 17th, and the former leader’s birth date on February 16th.

“The claim that she has gone abroad for medical treatment has been going around inside North Korea ever since Jang Song Taek got executed," the source mused. "If she were healthy she’d have made an appearance if only to quell those rumors, but she didn’t."

At the same time as rumors of Kim’s death swirl inside North Korea, the suggestion has arisen within the intelligence community that the “Kim Kyong Hui” whose name appeared on a publicized list of SPA delegates on March 11th may not be Kim Jong Eun’s aunt at all. One intelligence official told Daily NK, “Kim was included on the list as the delegate for 285th Taepyeong District, but there is a good chance that this is just someone with the same name. One even wonders whether Kim may have left public life after clashing with Kim Jong Eun.”

Speaking about the claims surrounding Kim Jong Il's younger sister, one senior defector asserted, “In the event that our intelligence data is correct, and given that an SPA ‘election’ is more like a verification process than an election, Kim Kyong Hui’s absence from the list would tend to support the claim of her health problems.”

 

[JohnnyRico]

Unification Committee Slated for April

Lee Sang Yong | 2014-03-14 13:25

A national committee to prepare for unification of the two Koreas could be established as early as mid-April, the Blue House announced today.

The government plans to systematically prepare for the unification of the Korean peninsula by cooperating with the private sector and civil society and turning public opinion in favor of the notion.

Around fifty committee members from various fields will share their expertise and the head of the committee will report directly to President Park, a Blue House spokesperson said.

It is expected the policy research arm will be overseen by officials from a number of government departments, including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of National Defense.

 

[JohnnyRico]

Re: N.Korea builds 'shrine' to leader's likely successor



Border Areas Fearful as Investigators Remain

Kang Mi Jin | 2014-03-14 08:09

Daily NK has learned that crackdowns in North Korea’s border regions with China have restarted after being temporarily suspended in the lead up to the elections to select delegates for the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly.

A source in Yangkang Province told Daily NK on the 13th that investigators under the watch of the State Security Department are continuing in their attempts to eradicate defection and illegal communication with the outside world.

“The controls that had stopped briefly during the election period have started up again and security personnel have been dispatched. Such measures are initiated at the start of every year as a matter of course, but this kind of ongoing investigation is unprecedented.”

Continuing, the source claimed, “It seems they want to ensure that no explicitly anti-regime incidents take place, like an increase in defections immediately after the election in which the Marshal (Kim Jong Eun) won a delegate spot.”

According to the source, this year has seen a large number of investigation teams sent to the border areas as a preemptive move to limit mass defections after the execution of Jang Song Taek. The teams, believed to be made up of political university students affiliated with the Ministry of People’s Security, may summon for questioning anyone they suspect of trying to defect. As of yet, however, severe punishment has been minimal.

Nevertheless, “The people are worried sick that punishment will be greater now that the investigation teams have reappeared after the election. The security police have even got the heads of the People’s Units on board, and are instructing them to report anyone suspicious. The elections are over but the people are still being investigated, and some may well be sent away for re-education or to a prison camp.”

Methods of investigation are growing ever more varied and stringent as the days go by, and more and more residents are making themselves scarce, the source reported. For many, the sole focus remains on avoiding being picked up by security agents - something that could happen at any time and for any minor infraction.

“Those who have communicated with the outside world before are now so scared that they’ve decided to keep a low profile. Even though some communication still occurs, people are telling their contacts, ‘Let’s not share information for a while.’”

Daily NK first reported the large-scale dispatch of the investigation teams in January. North Korea has since classified all activity related to defection as a crime against the ‘Highest Dignity’ and a direct betrayal of Kim Jong Eun.

 

[MasterYoda]

Hmph

Base

Action

 

[JohnnyRico]

US Seals take control of rogue North Korea-flagged oil tanker in Libya

PUBLISHED : Monday, 17 March, 2014, 4:58pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 18 March, 2014, 1:31am

Agence France-Presse in Tripoli

A US Sea Hawk helicopter drops supplies to amphibious assault ship USS Bataan. US Navy Seals took control of a North Korea-flagged tanker at a port in eastern Libya. Photo: AFP

US Navy Seals boarded and took control of an oil tanker yesterday that had loaded crude at a rebel-held port in eastern Libya and escaped to sea, the Pentagon said.

No one was hurt "when US forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker Morning Glory, a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans", Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

The operation was conducted in the early hours of yesterday in international waters southeast of Cyprus.

The Seals operated from the USS Roosevelt, a guided missile destroyer that provided helicopter support, while sailors from another destroyer, the USS Stout, boarded the tanker and prepared to sail it to an unnamed port in Libya.

The Morning Glory last week slipped through a Libyan naval blockade off the eastern port of al-Sidra - controlled by rebels seeking autonomy from Tripoli - after reportedly being loaded with 234,000 barrels of crude.

Libya's interim government confirmed the takeover of the ship and thanked "particularly the United States and the Republic of Cyprus".

It said in a statement that the tanker was on its way to Libya and that crew members "will be treated in accordance with national and international laws".

Cyprus said its vessels had monitored the tanker's course as it made its way near the Mediterranean island, remaining in international waters and eventually stopping 18 nautical miles south of the port city of Limassol.

A Cypriot police source said three men - two Israelis and a Senegalese - were detained for questioning on suspicion of attempting to buy the tanker's cargo, but were freed after a court refused to issue an arrest warrant.

Two of the men carried diplomatic passports - one from Senegal and one from a central African country, the security source said. Cyprus media said the three flew into Larnaca on a private jet late on Friday, hired a boat from the marina and went out to the tanker to negotiate with the crew. Police monitored their movements and the boat was intercepted once they were back in Cyprus waters. The trio flew to Tel Aviv on Sunday.

The oil tanker's escape after Libyan authorities had repeatedly vowed to take all measures to stop it dramatically underscored the weakness of the central government, which has struggled to rein in heavily armed former rebels from the 2011 revolt.

Rebels pressing for autonomy for Libya's eastern Cyrenaica region have been blockading the country's eastern oil terminals since July, leading to a decline in oil exports from 1.5 million barrels a day to just 250,000.

But the loading of the Morning Glory and its escape to sea marked a major escalation in the struggle and triggered the ouster last Tuesday of the liberal-backed prime minister Ali Zeidan, whose inability to bring law and order to Libya was highlighted by his own brief abduction by armed men late last year.

The Morning Glory originally was a North Korean-flagged ship, but Pyongyang on Wednesday had "cancelled and deleted" its registry.

Additional reporting by Reuters

 

[JohnnyRico]

Kim Jong Un’s sister and Megumi Yokota’s daughter worked together – reports

Abduction victim's daughter may have known Kim Yo Jong from Kim Il Sung University

March 18th, 2014
Kosuke Takahashi

Japanese media on Tuesday reported that the younger sister of North Korea’s leader may have worked with the daughter of a high-profile Japanese abduction victim.

Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister and Kim Eun Gyong, daughter of Megumi Yokota, abducted by North Korea in 1977, may have worked together at a key government institution in Pyongyang last year after graduating from the same university.

The Yomiuri Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun, among other media, said Kim Yo Jong and Kim Eun Gyong, both aged 26, graduated from Kim Il Sung University and both majored in computer science. The newspapers quoted Choi Sung-yong, head of the Representative of the Abductees’ Family Union, a South Korean civic group working for the release of South Korean abductees by the North, as a specific news source.

South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo quoted Choi as saying Kim Eun Gyong still “is working with” Kim Yo Jong and “is being protected by the ruling dynasty.”

The JoongAng said Yokota’s daughter “is a member of the top elite in North Korea, working with Kim Yo Jong in the same department.” Kim Yo Jong herself recommended Kim Eun Gyong for the job and they have been working together at “a core organization” in Pyongyang, it reported.

“The leader’s sister is taking care of her,” Choi was quoted as saying by the South Korean newspaper. “That means North Korea appears to supervise Kim Eun Gyong. For North Korea, she is a precious bargaining chip in diplomacy with Japan.”

The parents of Megumi Yokota on Monday said that they refrained from talking about Megumi’s whereabouts with their granddaughter while spending five days at a guesthouse in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator earlier this month.

They said they received no new information about the fate of their daughter, raising speculation that they may want to protect their granddaughter’s life.

“(Eun Gyong) has her position to consider,” said Yokota’s father Shigeru, 81. “Even if (she) knew something, she wouldn’t be able to say much about it. She just said (Megumi) kind of died according to the (North Korean) government.”

“(We) did not make the meeting a place involving political issues,” Sakie Yokota, 78, said. “We just wanted to have a reunion of relatives in a peaceful and heartwarming atmosphere. I have kind of touched upon (about Megumi) in a roundabout way, but we don’t know how far that is true. So (I) thought it’s better not to talk about it.”

The Yokotas also said they did not talk about Megumi’s former husband, Kim Young Nam, the father of Eun Gyong.

Kenji Fujimoto, a former personal sushi chef for Kim Jong Il, has told NK News that Megumi may have been a Japanese language tutor for Kim Jong Un and (Kim Jong Il’s second son) Kim Jong Chol.

Picture of Kim Yo Jong: The KCNA

Picture of Kim Eun Gyong: Government of Japan

 

[steffychun]

Kim Jong Un’s sister and Megumi Yokota’s daughter worked together – reports

Abduction victim's daughter may have known Kim Yo Jong from Kim Il Sung University

March 18th, 2014
Kosuke Takahashi

Japanese media on Tuesday reported that the younger sister of North Korea’s leader may have worked with the daughter of a high-profile Japanese abduction victim.

Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister and Kim Eun Gyong, daughter of Megumi Yokota, abducted by North Korea in 1977, may have worked together at a key government institution in Pyongyang last year after graduating from the same university.

The Yomiuri Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun, among other media, said Kim Yo Jong and Kim Eun Gyong, both aged 26, graduated from Kim Il Sung University and both majored in computer science. The newspapers quoted Choi Sung-yong, head of the Representative of the Abductees’ Family Union, a South Korean civic group working for the release of South Korean abductees by the North, as a specific news source.

South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo quoted Choi as saying Kim Eun Gyong still “is working with” Kim Yo Jong and “is being protected by the ruling dynasty.”

The JoongAng said Yokota’s daughter “is a member of the top elite in North Korea, working with Kim Yo Jong in the same department.” Kim Yo Jong herself recommended Kim Eun Gyong for the job and they have been working together at “a core organization” in Pyongyang, it reported.

“The leader’s sister is taking care of her,” Choi was quoted as saying by the South Korean newspaper. “That means North Korea appears to supervise Kim Eun Gyong. For North Korea, she is a precious bargaining chip in diplomacy with Japan.”

The parents of Megumi Yokota on Monday said that they refrained from talking about Megumi’s whereabouts with their granddaughter while spending five days at a guesthouse in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator earlier this month.

They said they received no new information about the fate of their daughter, raising speculation that they may want to protect their granddaughter’s life.

“(Eun Gyong) has her position to consider,” said Yokota’s father Shigeru, 81. “Even if (she) knew something, she wouldn’t be able to say much about it. She just said (Megumi) kind of died according to the (North Korean) government.”

“(We) did not make the meeting a place involving political issues,” Sakie Yokota, 78, said. “We just wanted to have a reunion of relatives in a peaceful and heartwarming atmosphere. I have kind of touched upon (about Megumi) in a roundabout way, but we don’t know how far that is true. So (I) thought it’s better not to talk about it.”

The Yokotas also said they did not talk about Megumi’s former husband, Kim Young Nam, the father of Eun Gyong.

Kenji Fujimoto, a former personal sushi chef for Kim Jong Il, has told NK News that Megumi may have been a Japanese language tutor for Kim Jong Un and (Kim Jong Il’s second son) Kim Jong Chol.

Picture of Kim Yo Jong: The KCNA

Picture of Kim Eun Gyong: Government of Japan

DPRK is beyond evil.

 

[JohnnyRico]

North Korea fires 30 short-range rockets: Yonhap

SEOUL Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:56pm EDT

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) provides field guidance during a visit to a machine plant managed by Kang Thae Ho in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang March 20, 2014. REUTERS/KCNA

(Reuters) - North Korea fired 30 short-range rockets into the sea off the east of the Korean peninsula early on Saturday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff in South Korea.

The rockets, which are believed to be old Soviet-developed FROG rockets that North Korea has had since the 1960s, flew for 60 km (37 miles) before crashing into the sea, Yonhap said.

Six days ago, North Korea had fired 25 short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast.

South Korea believes the short-range rocket launches conducted by North Korea this month are an "armed protest" against the South Korean-U.S. military drills that are currently taking place.

The North has denounced the joint military exercises as a preparation for war while Seoul and Washington have said the annual drills are defensive in nature.

Early last year, North Korea conducted its third nuclear weapons test, having successfully launched a long-range rocket in 2012 that critics say was aimed at proving technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Both of those are banned under U.N. sanctions.

(Reporting by Narae Kim; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

 

[nutbush]

he is the sexiest person in the universe...

<a href="http://s613.photobucket.com/user/hightoss/media/1382303_538901542888699_1500301833_n.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt218/hightoss/1382303_538901542888699_1500301833_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1382303_538901542888699_1500301833_n.jpg"/></a>

 

[Desire]

 

[nutbush]

wtf!!!

Quote Originally Posted by Leongsam View Post
"Respect" has no meaning in an online forum you twit. It's a term reserved for the real world not a fairyland forum where you can make up any story you want.

Take my case as an example.. I've repeatedly told everyone how I started companies and made a pile selling them and I'm now happily retired with millions in the bank. Well it's all a big fat lie.

Don't believe 99% of what you read here. People adopt personas of who they wished they were not who they actually are.

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

Kim Jong-un Lookalike in China Cooks Up a Storm

englishnews@chosun / Mar. 21, 2014 10:44 KST

A barbecued meat vendor in the Chinese city of Shenyang has seen sales at his street stall go through the roof after he started dressing and modeling his looks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Passersby stop to stare and have their pictures taken with the man. He tells curious passersby he will reveal his identity only if they buy his barbecued meat.

His true identity remains a secret, but his business is booming, according to media reports.

 

[JohnnyRico]

N.Korean Propaganda Against the South Is Failing

englishnews@chosun / Mar. 22, 2014 08:13 KST

North Korean textbooks describe South Korea as a "fascist, military dictatorship" filled with "poverty and starvation," but fewer and fewer North Koreans are buying the propaganda.

◆ "Living Hell"

North Korean textbooks teach that South Korea is dominated by "foreign powers" that trample on the Korean people and "taint" its history, language and way of life. A book of writings purportedly by former leader Kim Jong-il describes the South as a "living hell" dominated by the "terror and repression" of the U.S.

The North also teaches students that the U.S. must be driven out and South Korea liberated. Textbooks say U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea "fire guns in broad daylight, plunder homes and rape women." There are also rumors that North Korean defectors have their "eyes gouged out and limbs severed" if they go to South Korea.

◆ Diminishing Impact

But North Koreans from all walks of life prize South Korean-made products. One North Korean trader who crossed over the border into China said, "The best gifts for high-ranking [North Korean] officials are South Korean cosmetics or clothes. We bring them in secretly after removing their labels or crossing them out."

He said South Korean products are traded illicitly in open-air markets and can be sold at high prices if the removed labels are shown to customers.

Another North Korean said, "North Koreans know people in the South are better off, because they watch South Korean TV shows and movies. High-ranking officials and fairly well-off families all have South Korean products at home."

South Korean rice cookers, cosmetics and passenger cars are so popular that they are beginning to replace Chinese products.

A recent survey by the Chosun Ilbo of 200 North Korean defectors showed 59 percent believed South Koreans are "far better off" than North Koreans and 23 percent a little better off. However, 11.5 percent thought the South is crawling with beggars and three percent thought people live under poorer conditions than in the North.

Also, 81 percent of the defectors felt South Korean investment in North Korea would be viewed positively by North Koreans. This shows that positive attitudes toward the South are spreading despite constant propaganda painting a negative picture of South Korea.

Some propaganda badly misfires. One North Korean defector who is at university here said, "When I was in the military, I was shown a movie criticizing the decadent nightlife in South Korea. But that's how I found out that life in South Korea is better, because of the brightly-lit neon signs there in contrast to the darkness in Pyongyang at night due to a lack of electricity."

Kim Chong-song, who under his real name was a high-ranking official in the North, said, "In the past, information was blocked and propaganda and brainwashing were used to maintain the regime, but such ideological education no longer works now practically every North Korean has seen South Korean TV series."

 

[JohnnyRico]

Newly elected assembly to meet April 9

Parliament expected to approve personnel changes following Jang purge

March 21st, 2014
Rob York

The first session of the newly elected 13th Supreme People’s Assembly, with Kim Jong Un and several of his favored officials as members will convene April 9.

A terse announcement on the new SPA’s first meeting came via the Rodong Sinmun on Thursday.

“The 1st Session of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK will be convened in Pyongyang on April 9, Juche 103 (2014), according to a decree of the Presidium of the SPA on March 19,” it said.

North Korea uses the “Juche” system for counting years, starting with the birth year of Kim Il Sung in 1912. The Presidium is the core membership of the SPA, which handles most of its important decisions. The larger SPA – with 687 members as of the latest elections – is largely a rubber-stamp parliament which meets infrequently, as little as once a year.

Though the Rodong announcement contained little information aside from the date the SPA convenes, AFP reported on Thursday that the new parliament would likely approve personnel changes required after the execution of Kim Jong Un’s uncle and the North’s former number two man Jang Song Thaek.

It also noted that the SPA rarely meets for longer than a day.

SPA elections took place earlier this month, with just one candidate for each of the 687 districts up for grabs. Voters were given the choice of a “yes” or “no” vote for each race, but state media reported a 100 percent turnout and 100 percent approval rate for each candidate.

Though SPA membership is a mostly symbolic achievement, analysis has focused on the rise of several government officials believed to be favored by Kim Jong Un. This includes:

• Jang Jong Nam – Minister of the People’s Armed Forces
  
• Ma Won Chun – Deputy director of a WPK Department (with Capital Construction Portfolio)
• Choe Hwi – First deputy director of the WPK Propaganda & Agitation Department
• Ri Yong Gil – Chief of the KPA General Staff

The reshuffling of personnel at the top of the North’s power structure has been seen as Kim solidifying his power by installing those loyal to him. This has been seen in Jang’s purge, as well as the recent appearance of Kim Yo Jong, who analysts believe is assuming the role of confidant, much as Kim Kyong Hui – Kim Jong Un’s aunt and Jang Song Thaek’s wife – did for Kim Jong Il, Kimg Jong Un’s father.

Kim Kyong Hui was also re-elected to the SPA, despite not having been seen in public since Jang’s execution.

Picture: The KCNA

 

[JohnnyRico]

Was defector-turned-spy a trained saboteur or maladjusted refugee?

Hankyoreh investigation casts doubt on prosecution’s claims about motivations

March 22nd, 2014
Jee-yeon Shin

SEOUL – Questions have emerged as to whether a notorious espionage case involved a trained spy or a maladjusted North Korean trying to return to her home.

South Korea’s Hankyoreh newspaper published an exclusive on Saturday about Won Jeong-hwa, a defector convicted of espionage for North Korea in 2008.

Given the weight of evidence – including Won’s own admission – the Hankyoreh’s reporting primarily concerns her motives for spying, rather than her guilt.

The prosecution has insisted that she, as a daughter of Won Suk Hee – a man dispatched as a spy to South Korea and who died in 1973 – was a trained espionage agent groomed in a camp famous for training spies sent to the South.

Won’s stepfather Kim Dong-soon – who defected from North Korea in December 2000 and who raised Won Jeong-hwa from the age of 4 – has said that the prosecution’s claims about her background are false. Won herself has also denied the prosecution’s accusations, claiming that she has not returned to North Korea since 1996, the year she defected from North Korea.

Won did confess, however, that she had asked Kim Kyo Hak, the deputy leader of the North Korean trade delegation at that time, if there was any way for her to go back to North Korea to see her mother. Won said that from then on, Kim ordered her to leak information from South Korea.

The Hankyoreh reported that this would shake the prosecution’s arraignment if Won’s statements were true: Won would therefore not be an elaborately prepared SPSD spy, but a North Korean defector who failed to adjust in South Korea and was looking for ways to go back to the North. The Hankyoreh stated that this would challenge the credibility of the prosecution that mainly relied on Won’s statements.

Won’s defense attorney Jang Kyung-uk, however, told the Hankyoreh that “Won Jeong-hwa is mentally unstable, so her statements can be easily changed by her surroundings.”

Picture: Stacya, Flickr Creative Commons

 

[JohnnyRico]

​

 

[JohnnyRico]

Re: Kim Jong-il: the life and times of the leader of North Korea


Seoul Asks Pyongyang to Repay for Loan in 2007

[2014-03-21, 18:25:47]

The South Korean government has asked North Korea to repay a loan from 2007 worth 80 billion won.

The Korea Exim Bank extended the loan in the form of raw materials for North Korea's light manufacturing industry.

A Unification Ministry official said it notified North Korea's Joseon Trading Bank to make the first payment of eight-point-six million U.S. dollars by March 24th.

Over the next ten years, North Korea has to pay back the principle and the interest of around 86 million dollars on installment.

In 2007, the Seoul government provided North Korea with raw materials for the production of shoes and soap under a ten-year repayment plan with a five-year grace period.

In 2008, North Korea paid back three percent of the principle and promised to repay in forms of development rights and underground resources.

Seoul predicts North Korea will unlikely comply with its demand for repayment citing the North's track record of failing to pay back food loans.

 

[JohnnyRico]

N.Korean Military Warned Not to Trust China

englishnews@chosun / Mar. 24, 2014 11:42 KST

North Korea's Kang Kon Military Academy, which trains the country's top officers, has hung up signs with a quote from nation founder Kim Il-sung that China is a "turncoat and our enemy."

Kim made the remark during a visit to the academy in 1992, angered by Beijing's decision to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea.

The former leader then instructed school officials to hang signs bearing his remark on the walls of the school, which remained there until 1995. They reappeared briefly in 2009 after the North conducted its second nuclear test.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the signs displayed again at the academy after China joined UN Security Council sanctions last year over the North's long-range missiles and third nuclear test.

Sources say the signs also urge soldiers to take a "proper view" of China and to incite revolution on the Korean Peninsula without outside help.

The signs are reportedly also displayed at training schools for high-ranking Workers Party officials.

A source said, "The position of the North Korean regime is to use China, but not trust it."