North Korea

[KimJongUn]

Satellite imagery shows 20-plus floor building at site of Pyongyang collapse

Imagery from May 2015 back to October 2014 reveals progress at site

July 16th, 2015
Chad O'Carroll

A new apartment block built on the site of last year’s deadly Pyongyang building collapse stands at more than 20 floors high, an analysis of recent satellite imagery reveals.

That makes the new building, whose core structure was completed in less than four months, almost the same size as the 23 floor apartment building which collapsed in May 2014, killing an unknown number of local residents.

Though the design of the now sky blue building appears slightly different to the apartment which once stood in its place, the rapid pace of its construction was cause for concern when initial imagery of the apartment structure appeared last year.

“It is clear they replaced it with another residential building that appears to have been built in the same quick fashion that led to the previous building’s collapse,” North Korea watcher Curtis Melvin told NK News last November.

Imagery marked May 2015 of the building — Picture: Google Earth

Satellite imagery originally analyzed by Melvin – dated July 4 – showed evidence of North Korean reconstruction at the site of the building collapse less than two months after the original accident occurred, possibly even weeks prior due to there being no earlier public satellite imagery available.

And photos taken by tourists from the Juche Tower last year showed the replacement building’s core to have been almost fully raised as early as August 15, with little additional height added by September 9.

Despite the rapid progress in reconstruction, it remains unclear if new residents have yet moved in to the new building.

North Korean media has been silent about its reconstruction to date.

Main picture: Google Earth

 

[KimJongUn]

North Korea adds new laws targeted at foreign investors

Real estate and insurance laws likely aimed at assuring nervous investors, could make living in the DPRK easier - expert

July 23rd, 2015
Leo Byrne

North Korea yesterday announced new real estate and insurance laws targeted at foreign investors, according to an article from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Although low on detail, the laws will apply to North Korea’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

“The rule of real estate consists of seven chapters and 59 articles and the rule of insurance four chapters and 52 articles. The rules deal with possession, registration and employment of real estates, their rent and rate, conclusion of insurance contract, formalities of insurance offices,” the KCNA article reads.

New provisions on real estate could allow for investors to stay in country more easily, according to Lee Jung-eun, professor at the Institute for Social Sciences at Kyungsang University.

“Investors were allowed a space of up to 3.3 square meters for living quarters in DPRK. These real estate dealings were not illegal but rather under the table dealings,” Lee said.

“These real estate regulations the DPRK has put in place now allow these under the table dealings to be official dealings.”

In an effort to attract further investment the DPRK has also placed tax and lease benefits in its SEZs, though many of the zones remain in the planning stages.

Political instability and unclear legislation are just two hurdles standing in the way of investing in North Korea, and are enough to keep many Western investors away. The vast majority of investors likely come from China and, to a much lesser extent, Russia.

“I think these new regulations are targeting the Russians and Chinese businesses as there are not that many countries that are interested in investing in DPRK,” Lee said.

According to a Global Times article published in May, recent reforms enacted by the DPRK aren’t enough to guarantee smooth passage through the DPRK’s tricky investment climate.

“The basic features of North Korean ‘reform’ measures are improving the policy flexibility, introducing new management styles and bringing the function of the market into full play, without changing its fundamental system,” said Cao Shigong, a member of the Korean Peninsula Research Society, Chinese Association of Asia-Pacific Studies.

Additional reporting by Ina Yoon

Featured Image: North Korea Propaganda Post Card by Ray Cunningham on 2013-07-02 20:46:44

 

[KimJongUn]

Czech Republic slams North Korea's voting system

Lee Dong Hyuk | 2015-07-23 13:04

On the heels of North Korea’s local election, the Czech Republic has criticized the isolated country’s system, noting that it violates a litany of universal civil rights, Washington-based Voice of America [VOA] reported.

According to the July 22nd report, the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the regional election process in North Korea, saying that it violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [UDHR] and other international agreements that stipulate civil and political rights.

Article 25 of the international agreement stipulates that all citizens should have the right to freely express their will through universal suffrage and a secret ballot system; while North Korea ratified this agreement, there is much skepticism as to how strictly it abides by it.

During the local elections, held in North Korea on the 19th of this month, the authorities reported a 100% approval rate for candidates and a 99.97% voter turnout. However, candidates in North Korea run unopposed and residents are subjugated to crackdowns or worse for failure to show up and vote, let alone registering rejection-- for which a box does exist, but is flanked by surveillance officials from various security organs in a separate portion of the voting area.

A former Cold War socialist state holding amicable relations with North Korea, the Czech Republic has changed its attitudes on North Korea drastically since the former’s transition to a democratic state, voicing criticism and calling on the North to abide by international regulations.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated last October to VOA that those responsible for perpetrating human rights abuses in North Korea must be brought to justice. The following February, the nation raised North Korea’s human rights issues with Kim Pyong Il, Kim Jong Il’s half brother and the ambassador of North Korea to the Czech Republic.

*Translated by Jihae Lee

 

[KimJongUn]

NIS surveillance tactics under fire

Kim Seong Hwan | 2015-07-23 09:25

Allegations that Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has used hacking software to spy on people’s smartphones in the South is heating up the country’s political stage. While opposition parties have been calling on the government to use all means possible, including special parliamentary committees, investigations, and hearings, to get to the bottom of the case, the ruling Saenuri Party has maintained the country should carry out an onsite investigation within the NIS office.

At the center of debate is whether the program was used only to collect intelligence on North Korea, as claimed by the NIS, or on private citizens in the South. In the heat of this all, concern is mounting that such political wrangling could jeopardize one of the spy agency’s core operations of gathering intelligence on the North.

“(The government) can penalize the NIS if thorough investigations reveal that the agency spied on civilians. Labeling the agency unpatriotic when allegations have yet to be cleared is something that’s very hard to understand,” a former high-level intelligence official in North Korea who defected to the South told Daily NK on condition of anonymity. “Collecting information about North Korea is only natural, given that the NIS is in charge of national security in a divided country.”

Carrying out a search and seizure, as the opposition party and progressive media have pushed for, is like telling the NIS to fight against the North with their hands tied behind their backs, he added, noting, “The General Political Bureau and the United Front Department of North Korea, which carry out spy activities in the South, are probably happy about the chaos in the South and trying to destabilize the NIS.”

Yeom Don Jae, a former deputy head of the NIS also weighed in, saying, “The social perception itself that the NIS’ core intelligence activities are to spy on civilians is a threat to this country.” He added, “The NIS has adopted a policy that allows employees to refuse orders from above if deemed unjust. Everyone from the lowest ranking workers to director-level officials are all focused on their duties as NIS agents. In times like this, what kind of agent would do something so unjust that it ruins his or her entire life?”

Some say that with North Korea fostering cyersoldiers and using them for psychological warfare and cyberattacks on the South, the NIS’ role of countering these attacks needs to be strengthened.

“The current political atmosphere is raising distrust about the overall role of the NIS, even before it has been verified whether the agency actually spied on people in the South. Such a climate could hurt national security and be demoralizing for the agents,” Kim Gwang Jin, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, said.

Yoo Dong Yeol, head of Research Center for Freedom, asserted, “South Korea is in an anomalous state in which the NIS is being criticized for doing what it should be doing.”

“South Korea’s national security is being threatened as North Korea’s capabilities to launch cyberattacks against the South are getting stronger,” he explained. “We need the legal framework that will clearly delineate the legitimacy of NIS activities such as white hat hacking that can be used to block provocations from the North.”

The NIS and its employees released press releases and a joint statement on July 17 and 19, through which they said, there has been “no hacking of South Koreans,” and that the program was used to “collect intelligence on North Korea” as part of its original duties.

*Translated by Jihae Lee

 

[KimJongUn]

Protests increase for 'legitimate right' to sell

Choi Song Min; Kang Mi Jin | 2015-07-21 09:35

Occurrences of both individual and group protests by North Korean residents against Ministry of People’s Security [MPS] officials threatening their right to economic activities continues to grow in frequency, Daily NK has learned.

Clampdowns on markets have mitigated exponentially since the onset of the Kim Jong Un era, which has led to vitalization of market activities. Unlike in the past, the citizens are adamantly protesting against the remaining regulations on market activities. They believe more strongly than ever that the authorities should not crack down on business activities—indispensable for people to be financially independent and self-reliant in a system where state rations have long been absent.

Daily NK’s local sources across a number of regions, including North and South Pyongan Provinces and North and South Hamkyung Provinces, have reported that continually ebbing market crackdowns and regulations report that residents increasingly view forays into the business sector as their “legitimate right” and “refuse to sit idly by and watch MPS agents try to take these rights away.”

During Kim Jong Il’s era, the majority of North Korea’s population understood market activities-- no matter the purpose behind them-- as an illegal arena, rendering collective protests a rare, if ever, occurrence. The current climate, in which state propaganda has repeatedly called for a more self-sufficient population, breeds even more residents keen to serve as economic actors. This, according to our sources, all but ensures further and more frequent backlash against attempts by the state to hamper market endeavors.

A source in North Hamkyung Province weighed in on these developments through a phone call with Daily NK on July 14th, saying, “There was a recent case in Hamhung wherein MPS and merchants got into a major skirmish after the agents tried to regulate their actions. By now, tussles and confrontation between MPS agents and vendors have become common news.”

She added that the authorities have no justifiable grounds for clamping down on business endeavors when they are incapable of allocating provisions to the population. “If they were to shutter the markets or implement stricter regulations at this point in time, every citizen would rise up [in protest],” she asserted.

Citizens are not alone in sharing these sentiments--most authorities feel that crackdowns or regulations on the markets are gratuitous, if not futile, given how developed and widespread the jangmadang [market] system is.

Not only that, on the same day, an additional source in the same province reported a recent riot targeting MPS agents at Chongjin’s Sunam Market. The skirmish ignited when an agent arbitrarily targeted a male merchant in his 60s for the old middle-school textbooks mixed in with the secondhand books he was hawking at his stall.

When the books were confiscated he shouted, “What does the state give us? We don’t get rations or wages. If I got even one of those two things I wouldn’t be here doing this!” according to the source.

Moreover, “Passersby and merchants alike near the scene quickly stepped up to take the old man’s side, wasting no time in berating the MPS officials by shouting, ‘What’s wrong with what he said? Of course we’ve taken to market life--we’re hungry! We have to make ends meet! Why would be put ourselves through arduous work like this if we could be full and rich like you. Those who are full can’t grasp the hunger of others,” he explained.

Others at the scene chimed in, shouting, “Not even being able sell things without worrying--that’s too suffocating a reality,” according to the source, who added that this micro incident is directly reflective of a macro issue of citizens’ frustration regarding the authorities.

The agent, visibly overwhelmed by the outcries, tried to defend himself, shouting, “It’s not my fault that the state is not giving you rations. Go take your complaints to the district office,” according to the source, who said that he fled directly thereafter, during which citizens yelled after him, “ You’re all the same--living off the money of those struggling to get by!”

He added, “The MPS agent took off in a flash before the altercation could escalate further. Still, the tension hung heavy in the air long after his departure and a lot of the residents on the scene said that it helped them get [suppressed feelings] off their chests.”

Meanwhile, as previously reported by Daily NK, these latest trends come close on the heels of a riot between security agents and vendors in Musan Market and a tragic incident wherein a rice vendor threw herself off a cliff in defiance of a corrupt MPS official.

*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.

*Translated by Jihae Lee

 

[KimJongUn]

State attempts to stave off heat do more harm than good

Choi Song Min | 2015-07-22 16:00

Heading into the hottest days of summer, North Korea is said to have pulled forward operating hours for state agencies, factories and schools. However, the exceedingly early opening hours set at 5 a.m. are not only causing workers to be late, the early closing hours at state agencies are creating great inconveniences for residents, Daily NK has learned.

“With the start of ‘chobok’ (the first day of ‘sambok’, which mark the three hottest days of summer), all central agencies in Pyongyang and other offices and schools nationwide have been ordered to follow the ‘sambok schedule,” a source from South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on July 21st. “Because of this, all operations now start at 5 a.m. instead of the usual 8 a.m. and end at 1 p.m.”

This time shift was crosschecked with sources in two additional provinces, but for their safety their locations cannot be disclosed.

The stifling temperatures brought on during this period are particularly insufferable in Pyongyang and inland areas in the western and northern portions of the country. “It’s a struggle to work both indoors and outdoors,” she said, explaining that everyone is required to come to work before sunrise and finish up their tasks by noon to clock out before the peak hours of sun.

The early working hours in the summer were first implemented after the turn of the century under the orders of former leader Kim Jong Il. Although central agencies in Pyongyang, regional Party offices, and offices for those in higher ranks at trade companies are equipped with air conditioners, summer droughts limit energy output at hydroelectric power plants, making it impossible to run a fan, much less an air conditioner.

Given these conditions, the source said the ‘sambok schedule’ could help workers improve efficiency on the job if not for unforeseen issues that have arisen. That is, the sudden change in working hours has stirred up confusion at factories and schools.

“Even young children need to start getting ready for school at around 4 a.m. Many are unable to get up so they end up skipping one or two hours of class, pulling down the attendance rate at certain times half or more,” she asserted.

She pointed out that as district and regional offices are already closed in the afternoon, when many people would usually visit, this situation is terribly inconvenient, noting, “State-owned restaurants also only stay open until lunch time and close when they would be busiest in the afternoon and dinner time. State officials who are on business trips to different areas complain since they don’t have anywhere to dine in the evening.”

By way of example, regional residents can just go back home and eat meals in their own houses. On the other hand, an official from Pyongyang on a business trip to Hyesan, for instance, would have nowhere to eat after 1:00 p.m. Other goods and services, such as those offered at hair salons or bathhouses, are possible to forego, but food is, of course, another matter entirely. While said official could seek sustenance out at the jangmadang [markets], the price is exponentially higher than the cheap eats available at state-run restaurants.

Moreover, despite the state's determination to tout the ‘sambok schedule’ as a direct manifestation of the Marshal’s [Kim Jong Un] love for the people, the source said residents have continued to dismiss it as a "desperate attempt at placation.”

“People say there’s no real point in going to work early since there’s not only no electricity but not enough work to go around; all this [directive] does is make everyone more exhausted," she concluded.

*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.

*Translated by Jihae Lee

 

[KimJongUn]

Pyongyang style: North Korea girl bands rock China's border

AFP
July 23, 2015, 10:16 pm

Hunchun (China) (AFP) - Like many Chinese hotels, the Kunlun International hotel has rock bottom prices. It also boasts rooms with round beds and dance poles, and an all-female North Korean rock band who belt out "Anthem of the Worker's Party" and other socialist classics every night.

Young and good-looking, the seven-piece group bear a striking similarity to the Moranbong band, a North Korean musical phenomenon who have been accorded huge success since their members were hand-selected by leader Kim Jong-Un.

Now, imitators from Pyongyang are performing in Chinese border towns, looking to provide genuine entertainment rather than the novelty value long offered by North Korean restaurants and bands in Asia -- which provide the diplomatically isolated government with much-needed hard currency.

At the hotel in Hunchun, sandwiched in a sliver of China between Russia and North Korea, the band -- who have no name of their own -- wore lurid red and were bathed in purple spotlights and clouds of dry ice.

They delivered ear-splitting renditions of traditional Korean folk songs and patriotic tunes, complete with howling electric guitars, heavy drums and thumping basslines.

The Chinese tribute to the ruling organisation, "Without The Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" was given the same treatment, in front of a video of a waving Chinese flag.

Three middle-aged Chinese men raised their arms, crying "Bravo!"

"North Korea is so impoverished and they really need the open up economically like China did," said tourist Zhao Dongxia.

"But the band was pretty good. It's the first time I've seen North Koreans. They didn't look that poor."

- Symbol of Kim's reign -

Pyongyang strictly controls which citizens are allowed to leave the country, and Beijing's policy is to repatriate illegal border crossers ?- returning them to an uncertain fate.

The performers spend almost all their time in the hotel, rarely venturing outside, singer Lim Tae-Jeong told AFP, picking up a Chinese edition of Vogue.

"I can't read Chinese but I love to look at the pictures, the clothes are very different, very modern," she said in halting Chinese.

"Of course I love the Moranbong band, although we are not anywhere as good as them," she demurred.

South Korea?s pop culture has given Seoul a soft power push in recent years, and singer Psy?s 2012 hit Gangnam Style became a worldwide phenomenon.

The Moranbong band have not had a similar global impact. But inside North Korea, streets reportedly empty during their concerts and students can sing their repertoire at the drop of a hat.

All women, they are radically different from previous musical offerings, with fast tempos and disco stylings.

Pekka Korhonen, a political science professor at Finland's University of Jyväskylä who runs a website dedicated to tracking the group, attributes the traits to Kim's years spent studying and living in Europe.

"The Moranbong band is incredibly popular, but what does popular mean in North Korea?" he said.

"The band is a symbol of Kim's new reign, and therefore will be popular until he says otherwise."

- 'Huge crowds' -

North Korea has been sending workers abroad for decades, working in everything from Russian logging camps to Gulf state construction sites and restaurants in Cambodia.

According to human rights groups, the bulk of their hard currency salary is confiscated by the state, and the programme has expanded since Kim came to power in late 2011 as a way of subverting sanctions.

A 2012 study by the North Korea Strategy Center and the Korea Policy Research Center estimated that 60,000 to 65,000 North Koreans were working in more than 40 countries, providing the state with $150 million to $230 million a year.

Many of the border performers have attended music college, although some shows are little more than glorified karaoke.

At one such display in a Hunchun restaurant, three singers doubled as the only waitresses, singing duets with diners for a fee and awkwardly accepting proffered 100 yuan notes -- an unusual sight in a country where tipping is extremely rare.

The Ryugyong hotel in nearby Yanji shares its name with a gargantuan 105-floor pyramid-shaped Pyongyang hotel that began construction in 1987 but still stands unfinished.

Women in red and white uniforms performed a synchronised a tap dancing routine evoking a socialist Riverdance.

All the artists express deep pride for their country, but musical prominence can be perilous in the North.

The Unhasu Orchestra, previously the pinnacle of North Korean music, was disbanded in 2013, and according to South Korean intelligence Kim had four members executed by firing squad earlier this year for espionage. Pyongyang has not commented on the issue.

Ryu Seol-Sin has been in China for nearly two years and has started to think about her return home.

The 28-year-old is a graduate of Kim Won-Gyun Pyongyang University of Music, reportedly the same alma mater as many Moranbong members.

"I used to want to work very hard and try to rise to play for huge crowds," she said. "But now I think I want to teach music, I think it's a more stable and safer way to serve my country."

 

[KimJongUn]

​

 

[KimJongUn]

North Korea adds new laws targeted at foreign investors

Real estate and insurance laws likely aimed at assuring nervous investors, could make living in the DPRK easier - expert

July 23rd, 2015
Leo Byrne

North Korea yesterday announced new real estate and insurance laws targeted at foreign investors, according to an article from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Although low on detail, the laws will apply to North Korea’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

“The rule of real estate consists of seven chapters and 59 articles and the rule of insurance four chapters and 52 articles. The rules deal with possession, registration and employment of real estates, their rent and rate, conclusion of insurance contract, formalities of insurance offices,” the KCNA article reads.

New provisions on real estate could allow for investors to stay in country more easily, according to Jung Eun-lee, professor at the Institute for Social Sciences at Kyungsang University.

“Investors were allowed a space of up to 3.3 square meters for living quarters in DPRK. These real estate dealings were not illegal but rather under the table dealings,” Jung said.

“These real estate regulations the DPRK has put in place now allow these under the table dealings to be official dealings.”

In an effort to attract further investment the DPRK has also placed tax and lease benefits in its SEZs, though many of the zones remain in the planning stages.

Political instability and unclear legislation are just two hurdles standing in the way of investing in North Korea, and are enough to keep many Western investors away. The vast majority of investors likely come from China and, to a much lesser extent, Russia.

“I think these new regulations are targeting the Russians and Chinese businesses as there are not that many countries that are interested in investing in DPRK,” Jung said.

According to a Global Times article published in May, recent reforms enacted by the DPRK aren’t enough to guarantee smooth passage through the DPRK’s tricky investment climate.

“The basic features of North Korean ‘reform’ measures are improving the policy flexibility, introducing new management styles and bringing the function of the market into full play, without changing its fundamental system,” said Cao Shigong, a member of the Korean Peninsula Research Society, Chinese Association of Asia-Pacific Studies.

Additional reporting by Ina Yoon

Featured Image: North Korea Propaganda Post Card by Ray Cunningham on 2013-07-02 20:46:44

 

[KimJongUn]

Ban tightens on N. Korean songs of 'resistance'

Choi Song Min | 2015-07-24 16:58

In an attempt to root out elements that can lead to potential political instabilities in the country, North Korea is stepping up music censorship and scrapping all cassette tapes and CDs that contain state-banned songs even if homegrown. Kim Jong Un is believed to have issued such orders out of concern that certain songs could instill people with criticism or resistance against the leadership, Daily NK has learned.

“Recently, the Central Party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department has drawn up a list of ‘songs of no origin’ and ‘banned songs’ and is circulating it throughout homes,” a source based in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Thursday. “Included on the list are songs from the North’s own movie ‘Im Kkeok Jeong (leader of a peasant rebellion in the 16C)."

These songs, she explained, have titles like “Take action blood brothers” “To get revenge” and the list also includes the song “Nation of no tears” from a made-for-TV movie “Echoes of Halla.” Some of these tunes were already banned a few years ago, like “Take action blood brothers”, but this is the first time the state has actively taken forceful measures to wipe out any means of immediate access to them.

This was confirmed by additional sources in North Pyongan Province, and both Hamkyung Provinces.

“The local propaganda departments are getting inminban [people’s unit] heads to collect cassettes and CDs from people’s homes and are combing through them,” the source said. “If even one song from the banned list is discovered, they incinerate the whole thing."

The list includes many of people’s all-time favorites, which has in turn stirred up complaints about the new censorship rules, according to the source.

Some have raised question as to why they cannot sing songs from a movie produced by the country, putting propaganda officials in a tight spot. “Recently, this has even led to fights between residents and the inminban heads. Some women have gotten so angry that they’ve stormed into the local propaganda offices complaining that they incinerated their goods without even telling them, she explained.

Such measures carried out by the state have failed to produce the intended results, only igniting more discontent among those who can reasonably surmise why such orders were handed down.

“People have likened the times to the past when yangban (Korea’s ruling class during the Joseon Dynasty) used to rule over others, like during Im Kkeok Jeong’s era,” the source explained. “They know the leader and those in the upper echelons of society are scared the Im Kkeok Jeong song will become one of resistance against themselves.”

Predictably, an additional reverse effect of the move has been brewing fervent interest about the song in those who previously had little to no interest in it.

Some residents have even broken down the lyrics and have offered their own interpretations of why certain songs have been banned. In the case of songs from “Echoes of Halla,” -- often sung by people when times are rough -- people believe officials were worried the lyrics ‘new neighborhood’ and ‘nation without tears’ would be interpreted as South Korea. Hence, the move to ban the song out of fear that it would become a song of hope for defectors, the source surmised.

“But most people believe once a song is in your head, it cannot be erased,” she pointed out, adding that in light of new measures of oppression, understanding for those who have already escaped the North continues to spread, with some even calling them “enlightened.”

*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.

The following is an excerpt from the banned song “Take action blood brothers” from the North Korean movie “Im Kkeok Jeong”:

From the deepest parts underground ring out the sound of people’s grief

Tears of blood have pooled together, oh in this unfair world

Mountains and rivers tell us please,

How are we to live in a world that splits our spines

And deprives us of our parents and our children

*Translated by Jiyeon Lee

 

[KimJongUn]

After living in asylum in Brazil, a former North Korean prisoner of war yearns to return to his homeland one last time

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 30 July, 2015, 7:40pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 30 July, 2015, 7:40pm

Andrew Salmon in Seoul

Captured North Korean and Chinese soldiers being held in a detention camp in Pusan, South Korea in 1953. Photo: US Department of Defence

Kim Myung-bok, 79, has not set foot on his native soil for 60 years. Now, the slight, emotive veteran of the North Korean People’s Army begs for the chance to see his homeland one last time.

“When a tiger is dying, it returns to its den,” said a weeping Kim this week in Seoul, quoting an archaic Korean proverb. “I don’t know if my family is alive or dead, but I want to visit my hometown again.

Kim, who has spent his years since the war living in Brazil as a farmer, was on his first trip to the Korean peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War ended.

Speaking to reporters in halting, half-forgotten Korean, he begged for the opportunity to visit his parents’ grave, meet surviving relatives, and scatter the ashes of departed comrades in North Korea before he dies.

Kim is one of the last surviving characters in one of the war’s least-known chapters.

Captured in 1950, the North Korean was imprisoned in a Prisoner of War (POW) camp in South Korea. Behind the barbed wire, a brutal “war within a war” was fought between hardcore communist POWs and rightists.

After the war’s end in 1953, among 170,000 communist POWs, almost 27,000 defected. However, 77, traumatised by the carnage, turned their backs on the peninsula, and were granted asylum in neutral countries - Argentina, Brazil and India.

Eighteen remain alive; Kim is one of them.

This week, on his first trip to South Korea, he was accompanied by South Korean documentary director, Cho Kyeong-duk, who is making a film, “Return Home” about the last surviving neutral-country POWs.

Astonished by modern Seoul, Kim - smiling briefly – said: “This is part of my hometown, surely, surely.”

But he ultimately yearns to return to North Korea.

“I want to touch the skeletal remains of my parents,” he said.

“And if my siblings had any children, I want to meet them, too.”

Kim also carried the embers of two ex-comrades who died in Brazil. He hopes to honour their final wish and scatter their ashes in North Korea.

For two years, Kim sought a visa from North Korea’s embassy in Brazil – without success. On his behalf, Cho contacted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for help – but didn’t get a response. In desperation, Cho brought Kim to South Korea to raise publicity for his plight.

However, fearful of being dubbed a traitor, Kim will not travel to North Korea alone and seeks the assurance of a film crew.

“If I visit North Korea, they will protect me,” he said.

“To go alone - I am terrified.”

As a South Korean national, it will be difficult for Cho to travel North; he said he would willingly outsource filming in North Korea to another crew.

But another ex-North Korean POW, a comrade of Kim who was formerly resident in Brazil and now the United States, has no intention of visiting North Korea.

“I am scared,” said Pastor Kang Hi-dong, 87, who also features in Cho’s film. “Even if they give me permission, I won’t go.”

 

[KimJongUn]

North Korea’s vice premier 'executed' for criticising Kim's forestry policies

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 12 August, 2015, 9:09pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 12 August, 2015, 9:45pm

Agence France-Presse

Choe Yong-Gon pictured in 2005. He has apparently been executed for voicing frustration at the policies of leader Kim Jong-Un. Photo: AFP

North Korea’s vice premier Choe Yong-Gon has been executed for voicing frustration at the policies of leader Kim Jong-Un, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said, citing an anonymous source.

Choe, who took the job in June 2014, was executed by firing squad in May after voicing opposition to forestry policies promoted by Kim, Yonhap said, citing the source “with knowledge of the North”.

Choe was last seen in the North’s state media last December at the death anniversary of the late leader Kim Jong-Il, South Korea’s unification ministry said.

Seoul was “closely monitoring the possibility of any changes in Choe’s circumstances”, said the ministry, which is in charge of cross-border affairs.

Choe’s death, if confirmed, would be the second reported this year. Defence minister Hyon Yong-Chol was said to have been executed in April by anti-aircraft fire for insubordination and dozing off during formal military rallies.

Such a violent method of execution has been cited in various unconfirmed reports as being reserved for senior officials who the leadership wished to make examples of.

The North has not officially confirmed Hyon’s execution – reported in May by Seoul’s intelligence agency – but announced his replacement, Pak Yong Sik, in July.

The South’s spy agency also claimed in May that Kim had executed dozens of officials – including his own uncle– since taking power after the death of his father in December 2011.

Pyongyang in December 2013 made an unusually public announcement of the shock execution of the uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, for charges including treason and corruption.

Kim, believed to be in his early 30s, has repeatedly reshuffled senior army officials in a move analysts say was aimed at forcing them to remain loyal to the young ruler.

The Kim dynasty has ruled the impoverished and isolated North for more than six decades with an iron fist, a pervasive personality cult and almost no tolerance for dissent.

 

[KimJongUn]

North Korea builds private runways so plane-loving Kim can land next to his palaces

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 4:41pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 4:41pm

Reuters in Seoul

His father was afraid to fly, but North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has taken to the skies, building a series of small runways long enough to land light, private aircraft next to some of his palaces, satellite imagery shows.

Construction of Kim’s personal landing strips began in 2014 and some were completed as recently as last month, according to satellite imagery identified by Curtis Melvin of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

“These runways are located near Kim family compounds – sometimes within the security perimeters – and next to private train stations that were used by Kim Jong Il,” Melvin said.

Kim Jong Un giving field guidance to the machine plant managed by Jon Tong Ryol. Photo: Reuters

The young leader’s father, Kim Jong Il, was famously afraid of flying and travelled everywhere by armoured train – including on official state visits to China and Russia.

But Kim Jong Un has paid much attention to aviation during his three-year rule over the isolated and impoverished country.

State television has shown him piloting planes – including a small Cessna-like single-engined plane manufactured in North Korea – and sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

Kim Jong Un giving field guidance to the construction of the Mirae Scientists Street at his plane. Photo: Reuters

Photos shown at a state concert in April last year showed Kim as a young boy, dressed in a child-sized North Korean air force uniform and saluting. He has hosted two “flying contests” for North Korean pilots since he came to power in late 2011.

In addition to various titles, Kim also officially holds the rank of Marshal in the North Korean military.

One of the five new runways, beside a private palace in the eastern port city of Wonsan, was built over a helipad where Kim greeted basketball player Dennis Rodman and his delegation in September 2013.

Kim Jong Un getting on a flight as he gives field guidance to the machine plant managed by Jon Tong Ryol. Photo: Reuters

The 500-metre-long airstrip is a few hundred metres from the Songdowon Children’s Camp, and a sandy tourist beach open to foreigners.

The palace area is also home to Kim Jong Un’s private yachts, jet skis, and villas he uses to entertain friends and guests.

Another landing strip identified by Melvin lies a short drive from another sprawling palace complex where Japanese sushi chef Kenji Fujimoto said in his memoirs he spent summers with the late Kim Jong Il.

Late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, who hated flying, pictured in 2010 waving from a train while leaving Beijing ending his five-day visit to China. Photo: AFP

In February, state media released photos of Kim Jong Un inspecting Pyongyang construction work from the windows of his private jet – a converted Soviet-era Ilyushin IL-62 named “Chammae-1” after a native species of hawk. The inside is plush, with leather chairs, crystal ashtrays and large wooden tables.

After inspecting a factory making light aircraft in April, Kim Jong Un “personally conducted” a take-off and landing test.

“I have to try the airplane as it was produced by our working class,” Kim Jong Un said, according to state media.

 

[steffychun]

War is coming.

 

[KimJongUn]

South Korea shells North after rocket attack as cross-border tensions reach dangerously high levels

South Korea hits back with dozens of shells after the North fired a rocket over the border at a loudspeaker blaring anti-Pyongyang messages

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 3:59pm
UPDATED : Friday, 21 August, 2015, 2:54am

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

A South Korean soldier talks on a radio as he sits on a military vehicle at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Yeonche. Photo: Reuters

South Korean artillery units fired dozens of shells into North Korea today in response to a rocket fired over the heavily-militarised frontier, as both sides pushed already elevated cross-border tensions to dangerously high levels.

North Korea followed up with an ultimatum sent via military hotline that gave the South 48 hours to dismantle loudspeakers blasting propaganda messages across the border or face further military action.

The message, issued by the Korean People’s Army general staff, stipulated that the 48-hour period would expire at 5:00pm on Saturday.

People watch television news reporting on North Korea's rocket firing, at a railway station in Seoul today. Photo: AFP

Direct exchanges of fire across the inter-Korean land border are extremely rare, mainly, analysts say, because both sides recognise the risk for a sudden and potentially disastrous escalation between two countries that technically remain at war.

Thursday’s incident came amid heightened tensions following mine blasts that maimed two members of a South Korean border patrol earlier this month and the launch this week of a major South Korea-US military exercise that infuriated Pyongyang.

A defence ministry spokesman said South Korea had detected a rocket fired from the North Korean side across a western section of the border shortly before 4:00pm (0700 GMT).The South’s Yonhap news agency said the rocket landed in a mountainous area not far from a South Korean military base in Yeoncheon county -- some 60 kilometres north of Seoul. There were no casualties or damage.

Shopkeeper closes the shutters of his store near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju. Photo: Reuters

South Korean military units retaliated by launching “dozens of rounds of 155mm shells” targeting the rocket launch site, the defence ministry said in a statement.

“We have strengthened our military readiness and are closely watching movements of the North’s military,” it added.

The spokesman said South Korean troops had been placed on highest-level alert, while President Park Geun-Hye chaired an emergency meeting of her National Security Council and ordered a “stern response” to any further provocations.

A local government official in Yeoncheon county said that residents of several border villages had been ordered to evacuate their homes for nearby shelters.

South Korea's President Park Geun-hye presides over a special National Security Council meeting at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul. Photo: Reuters

Dan Pinkston, Korea expert at the International Crisis Group in Seoul, said the motive for the initial North Korean rocket firing was unclear.

“It could always have been an error, but more likely it was the show of displeasure that the North has been threatening for a while now,” Pinkston said.

The incident will fuel tensions that have been on high simmer in recent weeks following the border landmine incident.

Seoul said the mines were placed by North Korea and responded by resuming high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the border, using loudspeakers that had lain silent for more than a decade.

South Korean residents gather at a shelter in the South Korean town of Yeoncheon where the shell fell today. Photo: AP

The North denied any role and threatened “indiscriminate” shelling of the loudspeaker units - a threat it reiterated in the ultimatum sent by military hotline on Thursday.

It had also vowed retaliatory strikes after Seoul and Washington refused to call off their annual Ulchi Freedom military drill, which kicked off Monday and roleplays responses to an invasion by the nuclear-armed North.

North Korea regularly ups its bellicose rhetoric before and during the annual joint exercises, but rarely follows through on its threats.

In the past, its default response has been to test fire missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan).

“Sending a rocket over the border is surprising, because the inherent risks are just so big,” Pinkston said.

Army Brigadier General Ahn Young-ho (front), who has headed a joint probe into the explosion of land mines in the DMZ, briefs reporters on the incident in which two soldiers were injured while on patrol. Photo: EPA

“If it had hit something strategic or caused any casualties, the South’s response would have been far stronger, and then suddenly we’re on the path towards a serious confrontation,” he added.

The last direct attack on the South was in November 2010 when North Korea shelled the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong, killing two civilians and two soldiers.

On that occasion, South Korea responded by shelling North Korean positions, triggering brief fears of a full-scale conflict.

In October last year, North Korea border guards attempted to shoot down some helium balloons launched across the land border by activists and carrying thousands of anti-North leaflets.

The incident triggered a brief exchange of heavy machine-gun fire and scuppered a planned resumption of high-level talks.

 

[KimJongUn]

'Be ready for war', Kim Jong-un tells North Korea's troops after issuing ultimatum to end South's propaganda broadcasts

PUBLISHED : Friday, 21 August, 2015, 9:06am
UPDATED : Saturday, 22 August, 2015, 12:49am

Agencies in Seoul and Pyongyang

Kim Jong-Un at an emergency meeting on Thursday. Photo: AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un yesterday declared his frontline troops in a "quasi-state of war" and ordered them to prepare for battle a day after the most serious confrontation between the rivals in years.

South Korea's military on Thursday fired dozens of artillery rounds across the border in response to what Seoul said were North Korean artillery strikes meant to back up a threat to attack loudspeakers broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda.

The North's declaration yesterday is similar to its other warlike rhetoric in recent years, including repeated threats to reduce Seoul to a "sea of fire," and the huge numbers of soldiers and military equipment already stationed along the border mean the area is always essentially in a "quasi-state of war."

Still, the North's apparent willingness to test Seoul with military strikes and its recent warning of further action raise worries because South Korea has vowed to hit back with overwhelming strength should North Korea attack again. Pyongyang says it did not fire anything at the South, a claim Seoul dismissed as nonsense.

Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to "enter a wartime state" and be fully ready for any military operations starting yesterday evening, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

The North’s official KCNA news agency said the move came during an emergency meeting late Thursday of the powerful Central Military Commission of which Kim is the chairman.

During the meeting, Kim ordered frontline, combined units of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) to “enter a wartime state” from 5pm today.

The troops should be “fully battle ready to launch surprise operations” while the entire frontline should be placed in a “semi-war state,” KCNA quoted him as saying.

The CMC meeting came hours after the two Koreas traded artillery fire on Thursday, leaving no apparent casualties but pushing already elevated cross-border tensions to dangerously high levels.

The KPA followed up with an ultimatum sent via military hotline that gave the South 48 hours to dismantle loudspeakers blasting propaganda messages across the border or face further military action.

The ultimatum expires on Saturday at 5pm.

A South Korean soldier pulls barricades across a road leading to North Korea's Kaesong joint industrial complex at a military checkpoint in the border city of Paju on Friday. Photo: AFP

The South’s defence ministry dismissed the threat and Seoul has vowed to continue the broadcasts.

The North's media report said "military commanders were urgently dispatched for operations to attack South Korean psychological warfare facilities if the South doesn't stop operating them".

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified government source, reported South Korean and US surveillance assets detected the movement of vehicles carrying short-range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles in a possible preparation for launches.

Thursday’s artillery exchange in a western quarter of the border came amid heightened tensions following mine blasts that maimed two members of a South Korean border patrol earlier this month and the launch this week of a major South Korea-US military exercise that infuriated Pyongyang.

Seoul said the mines were placed by North Korea and responded by resuming high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the border, using loudspeakers that had lain silent for more than a decade.

The South Korean military said the North side fired first on Thursday and that it retaliated with dozens of 155mm howitzer rounds.

The CMC backed the army’s ultimatum and also ratified plans for “a retaliatory strike and counterattack on the whole length of the front”, KCNA said.

The Unification Ministry announced it was restricting access to the North-South’s joint industrial zone at Kaesong.

Only South Koreans with direct business interests in Kaesong - which lies 10km over the border inside North Korea - would be allowed to travel there, a ministry spokesman said.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff urged the KPA to refrain from any “reckless acts”. South Korean television broadcast images of President Park Geun-Hye wearing army fatigues as she addressed a meeting of top military commanders outside Seoul. “Any provocations by North Korea will not be tolerated,” Park told the gathering.

China expressed “deep concern” over the situation and urged "relevant parties to remain calm and restrained”.

“China follows the situation of the Korean Peninsula very closely, and is deeply concerned about what has happened recently,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement posted to the ministry’s website.

“China staunchly safeguards regional peace and stability and opposes any action that may escalate tension,” Hua said, adding that China was willing to work with “relevant parties to jointly ensure peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula”.

The Kaesong industrial estate hosts about 120 South Korean firms employing some 53,000 North Korean workers and is a vital source of hard currency for the cash-strapped North.

Restricting access will likely be seen as a thinly veiled threat by Seoul to shut the complex down completely if the situation at the border escalates further.

A South Korean soldier walks by barricades on the road leading to North Korea's Kaesong joint industrial complex. Photo: AFP

Direct exchanges of fire across the inter-Korean land border are extremely rare - mainly, analysts say, because both sides recognise the risk for a sudden and potentially disastrous escalation between two countries that technically remain at war.

South Korean troops were placed on maximum alert, while President Park Geun-Hye chaired an emergency meeting of her National Security Council and ordered a “stern response” to any further provocations.

The CMC meeting in Pyongyang insisted that the situation would only de-escalate if South Korea turned off the propaganda loudspeakers.

According to the KCNA report, military commanders were despatched to the frontline to prepare “to destroy the means for psychological warfare... and put down possible counter-actions.”

The United States and United Nations both said they were following the situation on the Korean peninsula with deep concern.

The US State Department urged Pyongyang to avoid provoking any further escalation and said it remained “steadfast” in its commitment to defending ally South Korea.

Associated Press, Agence France-Presse

 

[KimJongUn]

South troops on maximum alert as 'war-ready' North Korea's deadline to end propaganda broadcasts draws near

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 22 August, 2015, 11:25am
UPDATED : Saturday, 22 August, 2015, 11:37am

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

South Korean President Park Geun-hye (left) appeared on television wearing army fatigues and saying that provocations from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right) would not be tolerated. Photos: AFP

South Korean troops stood at maximum alert today, with North Korea threatening to go to war unless Seoul meets a looming deadline to halt loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border.

The North Korean People’s Army (KPA) said late last night that its frontline troops had moved into a “fully armed, wartime state” in line with the wishes of leader Kim Jong-un and ahead of the deadline at 5pm, local time, today.

Kim’s order yesterday to move to a war footing came after an exchange of artillery fire on Thursday that claimed no casualties but triggered a dangerous spike in cross-border tensions.

North Korean border troops had shelled loudspeakers on the South side, prompting South Korean soldiers to fire several artillery rounds back.

People in Pyongyang walk past a large screen broadcasting a propaganda movie showing soldiers chanting slogans while raising their weapons. Photo: AP

The clash came just days after Seoul resumed propaganda broadcasts that had halted for more than a decade – the practice was ended by mutual consent in 2004 – in response to land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean border soldiers earlier this month. Pyongyang denied a role in the land mine incident.

The latest incident outraged the North, which issued its 48-hour ultimatum.

South Korea says it has no intention of removing the loudspeakers, and on Friday President Park Geun-hye appeared on television, wearing army fatigues and telling top military commanders that further North Korean provocations “will not be tolerated”.

The North Korean foreign ministry warned in a statement early Saturday that “the situation which has reached the brink of war is now hardly controllable”.

The international community has long experience of North Korea’s particularly aggressive brand of diplomatic brinkmanship and, while there is concern over the potential for escalation, many see the situation as another exercise in sabre-rattling by Pyongyang.

“Given their past negotiating style and tactics, the likelihood that they will follow through with their threat of a military action is low,” said James Kim, a research fellow at the Asan Institute think tank in Seoul.

South Korean army soldiers today adjust barricades set up on Unification Bridge, which leads to the demilitarized zone, near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea. Photo: AP

At the same time, Kim acknowledged that second-guessing Pyongyang’s game plan was always risky, and the possibility of a North Korean strike of some sort could not be ruled out.

“If so, South Korea must have a firm, strong, and timely response to signal its resolve that it will not be intimidated. Anything less would be an invitation for further provocation,” he said.

For the moment, there has been little sense of panic among ordinary South Koreans who have become largely inured over the years to the North’s regular – and regularly unrealised – threats of imminent war.

Officials say weekend traffic at South Korean highways is close to normal, and border town residents remain at home after returning from shelters during Thursday’s cross-border artillery fire.

Military trucks and other mobility equipment are readied at a US Army unit in Dongducheon, northeast of Seoul. Photo: EPA

North Korea also permitted more than 240 South Koreans to enter a jointly-run industrial complex at its border city of Kaesong today.

Technically, the two Koreas have been at war for the past 65 years, as the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire that was never ratified by a formal peace treaty.

The last direct attack on the South was in November 2010 when North Korea shelled the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong, killing two civilians and two soldiers.

The situation is being closely watched, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon calling for restraint from both sides and the United States urging Pyongyang to avoid further escalation.

There are nearly 30,000 US troops permanently stationed in South Korea, and the Pentagon has reiterated its commitment to the defence of its ally.

A call for calm and restraint also came from China, the North’s main diplomatic protector and economic supporter.

Ties between Beijing and Pyongyang have become strained, and China will be keen to avoid any regional flare-up as it seeks to attract world leaders to Beijing next month for a three-day celebration of Japan’s defeat in the second world war.

With additional reporting by Associated Press

 

[Microsoft]

Waiting for Hung Il Gong return...with 300 suntian to fight for N Korea...


North Korea confirms it has landed a man on the Sun

North Korea sends a 17-year-old man to the Sun, a journey that took just four hours
By: Anthony Garreffa | BREAKING STORY News | Posted: Jan 23, 2014 4:51 am
Comment | Email to a Friend | Font Size: AA


This just in: North Korea has landed a man on the Sun. 17-year-old Hung Il Gong started his journey at 3am this morning, travelling alone, to reach our nearest star, a journey that took him just 4 hours.

image: http://imagescdn.tweaktown.com/news...a_confirms_it_has_landed_a_man_on_the_sun.jpg

A North Korean central news anchorman said during a live broadcast: "We are very delighted to announce a successful mission to put a man on the sun. North Korea has beaten every other country in the world to the sun. Hung Il Gong is a hero and deserves a hero's welcome when he returns home later this evening".

Hung is expected back on Earth in just a few hours time, where he will be greeted by his uncle, and supreme leader: Kim Jong-un. Hung traveled in the cover of darkness, as it would protect him from the harsh, and extreme temperatures of the Sun. Hung will also be bringing back some sun spot samples for his uncle, which I'm sure he will show off to the world in a short amount of time.

The North Korean central news agency is calling the 18-hour mission the "greatest human achievement of our time" - and so they should, landing a man on the Sun, a trip that took 18 hours return, is quite the achievement, all things considered. I wonder if Dennis Rodman considered this a slam dunk for the country.



Read more at http://www.tweaktown.com/news/35032/north-korea-confirms-it-has-landed-a-man-on-the-sun/index.html

 

[KimJongUn]

Pyongyang’s new airport internet room doesn’t have any keyboards - or internet

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 August, 2015, 12:00am
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 August, 2015, 10:23am

Associated Press in Pyongyang

Computers with no keyboard provided are seen at an Internet corner at the airport in Pyongyang. The new airport building has just about everything including the Internet room. The problem is, it doesn't seem to work. Photo: AP

Pyongyang’s shiny new airport building has all the features international travellers have come to expect, though some lose their luster upon closer examination. Case in point: Its Internet room appears to be missing the Internet.

On two recent trips through the airport by The Associated Press, the room’s three terminals were either occupied by North Korean airport employees, making it impossible for others to use them, or were completely empty, with their keyboards removed. Attempts to open any browser with a mouse resulted in a failure to connect.

Maybe it was a temporary glitch. It’s hard to say, since airport officials have refused to comment to the AP.

But a quick check of the history on two of the terminals showed one was either empty or had been cleared, and the other had a record only of a visit to Naenara, the North’s official website.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-Ju inspect the new terminal at Pyongyang International Airport in June. Photo: AFP/KCNA VIA KNS

At first glance, Internet at the airport would seem like quite a concession for a country that is almost completely sealed off from the World Wide Web.

Hardly any North Koreans have personal-use computers and most of those with online access can see only the country’s domestic version of the Web — an intranet that has only websites that are sanctioned by the government and is for internal use only.

The Internet itself can be seen only by a small number of elites, IT experts or others with a clear need to use it, and always under close supervision.

The Internet room at the airport, which opened a few months ago, is just part of efforts there to give visitors the sense that North Korea is just like any other modern travel destination.

Arriving passengers see coffee and well-stocked souvenir shops, a DVD stand, information desk and a slickly produced billboard showing a crew of the nation’s flag-carrier, Air Koryo, looking sharp in their blue and red uniforms. There are even two chocolate fountains, one for white chocolate and the other for dark.

Another nod to international norms can be seen right behind the Internet room, in the smoking room.

In something almost never seen in the North, where just about every adult male who can afford it, including leader Kim Jong Un, is a smoker, the room has a big sign warning that the habit is hazardous to one’s health.

 

[KimJongUn]

Kim Jong-un sacks top North Korean officials in wake of border stand-off with South

The move by the North Korean leader's suggests the officials were punished causing the tense confrontation

PUBLISHED : Friday, 28 August, 2015, 1:47pm
UPDATED : Friday, 28 August, 2015, 3:51pm

Associated Press in Seoul

Kim Jong-un hailed this week's agreement with South Korea as a “crucial landmark”. Photo: EPA

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dismissed top officials in the wake of a recent stand-off with South Korea, state media reported on Friday, a move that suggests the young leader holds them responsible for allowing the confrontation to nearly spin out of control.

The rival Koreas earlier this week threatened strikes against each other before agreeing on measures to reduce animosity. The stand-off began after land mines that Seoul says the North planted maimed two South Korean soldiers.

Seoul responded by resuming propaganda broadcasts critical of Kim’s authoritarian rule for the first time in 11 years. Pyongyang then threatened to destroy the South Korean loudspeakers, and Seoul says the rivals exchanged artillery fire at the border.

During a ruling Workers’ Party meeting, Kim hailed the agreement, which came after marathon talks, as a “crucial landmark” that put “catastrophic” inter-Korean relations back on track toward reconciliation, according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency.

Kim also dismissed an unspecified number of members of the party’s Central Military Commission, which handled the stand-off, a KCNA dispatch said.

It gave no reasons for the dismissals, but outside analysts said they might have been sacked because they misjudged South Korea’s strong response to the mine blasts.

The North Korean leader presided over a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang. Photo: EPA

North Korea is intolerant of any outside criticism of its political system and worries, analysts say, that the broadcasts heard over the border could demoralise frontline troops and residents and eventually weaken Kim’s leadership.

South Korea switched off its loudspeakers on Tuesday after North Korea expressed “regret” that the South Korean soldiers were injured by the mine explosion. The vague agreement allows Pyongyang to continue denying it laid the mines and Seoul to claim that the term “regret” signals an apology.

It was not known if the dismissed North Korean officials received heavier punishment other than being removed from their party posts.

Since taking over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong-il in late 2011, Kim Jong-un has orchestrated a series of executions and purges in what foreign analysts say was an attempt to bolster this grip on power. South Korea’s spy service said that in April Kim had his defence chief executed for disloyalty.

South Korean officials hope the agreement will help improve ties, but the two Koreas have a history of failing to follow through on past reconciliation accords, and their ties have been bad since conservatives took power in Seoul in early 2008.

In an indication that North Korea’s hardline stance hasn’t changed despite the agreement, Kim said the deal was achieved not on the negotiating table but thanks to his country’s military capability based on its “nuclear deterrent,” according to the KCNA. He was quoted as saying the North’s military will guarantee peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the party meeting Kim also ordered soldiers to help a recently flooded city, a sign of his need to show his people he cares about a decrepit economy.

Kim Jong-un has vowed to revive the economy and boost standards of living even as he pushes development of nuclear-armed missiles condemned by neighbouring countries and the United States.