North Korea

[Volkonski]

Hungry soldiers have been known to destabilize governments.

[Frater I*I]

Hungry soldiers have been known to destabilize governments.

Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus

[Volkonski]

Yep.

[Volkonski]

North Korea space launch fails after rocket crashes into sea

https://www.dw.com/en/north-korea-space ... a-65775554

An attempted North Korean space launch on Wednesday morning ended in failure after it briefly triggered evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan.

Both the Chollima-1 rocket and its payload — claimed by Pyongyang to be a military satellite — crashed into the ocean, North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency reported.

Japan's coast guard said that North Korea informed it of a plan to launch a military satellite between May 31 and June 11.

The launch initially prompted authorities in parts of South Korea and Japan to issue evacuation alerts. But shortly afterwards, Seoul said the warnings had been "incorrectly issued" while authorities in Japan also lifted their alert, stating the rocket was no longer expected to fly over Okinawa.

[RTH10260]

US citizen crosses border from South Korea into North Korea
UN Command says American national is in custody after crossing border without authorisation

Associated Press in Seoul
Tue 18 Jul 2023 12.29 BST

An American national has crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea, according to the US-led UN Command overseeing the area.

The body tweeted on Tuesday that the US citizen was on a tour of the border village of Panmunjom and crossed into North Korea without authorisation.

It said he was in North Korean custody and that the UN Command was working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident. It gave no further details on the person’s identity or why he crossed the border.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... orth-korea

[neonzx]

Update.

U.S. soldier detained after intentionally crossing into North Korea

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... ional-dmz/

A U.S. Army soldier who intentionally crossed from South Korea is believed to be in North Korean custody, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.

The soldier had been punished for misconduct while serving in South Korea and was being sent home to the United States. But he did not get on his scheduled flight after U.S. military personnel took him to the airport, the official said.

The soldier made a “deliberate decision” to cross, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The United States is trying to determine his whereabouts and condition, the official added.

The American, whom officials did not identify by name, was visiting the Joint Security Area that separates North and South Korea while on an “orientation tour,” the United Nations said.

He crossed the military demarcation line that runs through the demilitarized zone and went into North Korea, according to the United Nations Command, which is responsible for ensuring security on the inter-Korean border.

“We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident,” the United Nations Command said in a tweet, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and its armed forces.

[RTH10260]

US soldier got in fights, damaged police car before dash to North Korea - court docs

Ju-min Park
Updated Wed, July 19, 2023 at 11:59 AM GMT+2


SEOUL (Reuters) -Months before he fled into North Korea, U.S. soldier Travis King faced two assault allegations and was fined by a South Korean court for damaging a police car, according to a court ruling and a lawyer who represented him.

The U.S. military was scrambling to establish the fate of King, who made an unauthorised crossing of the inter-Korean border into North Korea on Tuesday, throwing Washington into a new crisis in its dealing with the nuclear-armed state.

King's motivations for his high-stakes gambit remain unclear.

U.S. officials said he had finished serving time in detention in South Korea for an unspecified infraction and was transported by the U.S. military to the airport to return to his home unit in the United States, when he apparently decided to join a tour to the North Korean border.

King pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public goods stemming from an October incident, and on Feb. 8 the Seoul Western District Court fined him 5 million won ($4,000), according to a copy of the ruling reviewed by Reuters.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldier had been due to face disciplinary action by the U.S. military.

Reuters was not immediately able to ascertain whether the disciplinary action was linked to his conviction over damaging the police vehicle.

The Seoul court said on September 25 last year King punched a man in the face at a club several times but the case was settled.

Two weeks later, on October 8, police officers responded to a report of another altercation involving King, and tried to question him. He continued with his "aggressive behaviour" without answering questions from police, according to the court document.

Police placed him in the backseat of their patrol car where he shouted expletives and insults against Koreans, the Korean army, and the Korean police, the ruling said. During his tirade, he kicked the vehicle's door several times, causing about 584,000 won in damages, the ruling said.

The court said the defendant had admitted to the charges, had no previous criminal record, and paid 1 million won to fix the vehicle, citing reasons in favour of him in the sentencing.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-soldier-g ... 03418.html

[RTH10260]

How fast does the US military want this guy back? Let him smolder in N.Korean detention, perhaps?

[raison de arizona]

Yeah, and I might I also add, wtf?

[raison de arizona]

North Korea not responding to US attempts to discuss American soldier who ran across border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea wasn’t responding Thursday to U.S. attempts to discuss the American soldier who bolted across the heavily armed border and whose prospects for a quick release are unclear at a time of high military tensions and inactive communication channels.

Pvt. Travis King, who was supposed to have been heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, after finishing a prison sentence in South Korea for assault, ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American held in North Korea in nearly five years.

“Yesterday the Pentagon reached out to counterparts in the (North) Korean People’s Army. My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, told reporters Wednesday in Washington.

https://apnews.com/article/north-korea- ... b98dacb30a

[Dave from down under]

How fast does the US military want this guy back? Let him smolder in N.Korean detention, perhaps?

You have to go through the motions of wanting him back..

The same motions as you would for someone you wanted back..

On the basis that he might have gone there mistakenly or drunkenly or insanely..

But if he wants to be there and N K are happy to have him...

admittedly once he is awol he just is another criminal fleeing..

[neeneko]

Even if they don't want him back and are not going to even try, it is still the type of thing you want diplomats to have a chat about.

[RTH10260]

North Korea not responding about US soldier who crossed border
Travis King had finished prison term in South Korea for assault and was supposed to be returning to Texas

Associated Press in Seoul
Thu 20 Jul 2023 12.49 BST

North Korea is not responding to US attempts to discuss the American soldier who crossed the heavily armed border and whose prospects for a quick release are unclear when military tensions are high and communication channels inactive.

Pte Travis King, who was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, after finishing a prison sentence in South Korea for assault, ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American to be held in North Korea in nearly five years.

“Yesterday the Pentagon reached out to counterparts in the [North] Korean people’s army. My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US state department, told reporters on Wednesday in Washington.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... oss-border

[RTH10260]

North Korea claims US soldier who crossed over ‘disillusioned by society’
Travis King entered the country while on tour of a border village on 18 July, becoming the first American detained in nearly five years

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wed 16 Aug 2023 00.59 BST

North Korea has claimed that an American soldier who bolted across the heavily armed border from the South wants to seek refuge from “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” in the US military.

In its first public acknowledgment that Private 2nd class Travis King entered the North while on a tour of a Korean border village on 18 July, the regime said the 23-year-old had voiced “disillusionment” with US society.

“During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harboured ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US army,” the state-run news agency KCNA said on Wednesday, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.

“He also expressed his willingness to seek refugee in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society.”
to classify soldier who entered North Korea as prisoner of war
Read more
KCNA said King was being “kept under control” by soldiers from the North’s Korean People’s Army.

While King’s comments could not be independently verified, his detention in North Korea – the first involving an American for nearly five years – is a propaganda coup for the regime.

KCNA, the official voice of the North Korean dictatorship, releases statements to support its contention that that the US is a depraved adversary bent on invading the North.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ed-society

[raison de arizona]

North Korea's Kim blasts 'irresponsible' top officials for flood damage

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has lashed out at top officials for their "irresponsible" response to flood damage, saying they had "spoiled" the national economy, state media reported on Tuesday.

Kim inspected a tideland on the west coast on Monday after seawater recently destroyed an embankment with inadequate drainage system, flooding more than 560 hectares of land, including over 270 hectares of rice paddies, news agency KCNA said.

Chastising officials for their "very irresponsible" neglect of duties, Kim singled out Kim Tok Hun, premier of the cabinet, for inspecting the destroyed site once or twice "with the attitude of an onlooker".

"He said ... in recent years the administrative and economic discipline of the Kim Tok Hun Cabinet has got out of order more seriously and, consequently, the idlers are spoiling all the state economic work with the irresponsible work manner," the KCNA said in an English-language dispatch.

Such irresponsibility and lack of discipline from officials is "mainly attributable to the feeble work attitude and wrong viewpoint of the premier of the cabinet," Kim said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 023-08-22/

[johnpcapitalist]

North Korea's Kim blasts 'irresponsible' top officials for flood damage
Chastising officials for their "very irresponsible" neglect of duties, Kim singled out Kim Tok Hun, premier of the cabinet, for inspecting the destroyed site once or twice "with the attitude of an onlooker".

"He said ... in recent years the administrative and economic discipline of the Kim Tok Hun Cabinet has got out of order more seriously and, consequently, the idlers are spoiling all the state economic work with the irresponsible work manner," the KCNA said in an English-language dispatch.

Such irresponsibility and lack of discipline from officials is "mainly attributable to the feeble work attitude and wrong viewpoint of the premier of the cabinet," Kim said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 023-08-22/

I'm guessing that the premier of the cabinet is soon going to experience a more painful end of his career than those Russian oligarchs and administrators who seem to have a problem with windows. The North Koreans have been quite sadistic and ruthless about how they execute people to make an example of them. Kim Jong-Eun is not the cuddly nitwit that he often seems to be.

[Volkonski]

North Korea says any US interference with its ‘space assets’ will be deemed ‘declaration of war’

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/01/asia/nor ... index.html

North Korea has warned any potential interference or attack on its “space assets” by the United States will be “deemed a declaration of war,” the state media outlet KCNA reported on Saturday.

“The US Space Force’s deplorable hostility toward the DPRK’s reconnaissance satellite can never be overlooked as it is just a challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK, and more exactly, a declaration of war against it,” the country’s defense ministry said in a statement reported by KCNA.

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

The warning came less than two weeks after Pyongyang said it had put its first spy satellite into space, in a move which analysts predicted could enable the country to more accurately target opponents’ forces, if the spacecraft works.

Neither South Korea, the United States nor Japan, all of which are experiencing increasing military tensions with North Korea, could confirm “Malligyong-1,” had made it into orbit.

Just days after the North Korean launch, the South sent its own first spy satellite into orbit with the help of space company SpaceX.

[RTH10260]

I predict N.Koreas satellite will run into a space laser and they would not be aware of it frying its innards

[raison de arizona]

N.K. leader says he has 'no intention of avoiding war' with S. Korea
Lee Minji, 이민지

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called South Korea the country's "principal enemy" and said he has "no intention of avoiding war," state media said Wednesday.

Kim also threatened to annihilate the South if it attempts to use force against the North, as he inspected a munitions factory, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"Predicating that the ROK clan is our principal enemy, he said what the DPRK should prioritize in the relations with the hostile state" is "to bolster up the military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent first of all," KCNA said, using the acronyms for the official names for the South and the North -- ROK and DPRK.

"He said that we would by no means unilaterally bring a great event by the overwhelming strength in the Korean peninsula but we have no intention of avoiding a war as well," KCNA said.

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240110000800315

[RTH10260]

Is Kim getting power hungry since he can supply Russia with war gadgets for Ukraine? Or he knows it's election year in the US?

[Suranis]

He might be responding so some domestic crises or other.

[RTH10260]

Looks like Kim does no longer wish to eat bestest chocolate cake with the former guy ...

Unification with South Korea no longer possible, says Kim Jong-un
In a speech, the North Korean leader has called for constitutional change to identify the south as ‘number one hostile state’

Justin McCurry in Tokyo and agencies
Tue 16 Jan 2024 04.18 CET

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has called for a change to the constitution to identify South Korea as the “number one hostile state”, ending the regime’s commitment to unifying the Korean peninsula.

In a speech to the supreme people’s assembly – North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament – Kim said he no longer believed unification was possible and accused the South of attempting to foment regime change and promote unification by stealth.

In another sign of quickly deteriorating ties between the two Koreas, which ended their 1950-53 war with a truce but not a peace treaty – Kim said: “We don’t want war, but we have no intention of avoiding it.”

The state-run KCNA news agency said on Tuesday that North Korea would close three agencies that oversee unification and inter-Korean tourism: the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, the National Economic Cooperation Bureau and the Mount Kumgang International Tourism Administration.

“The two most hostile states, which are at war, are now in acute confrontation on the Korean peninsula,” a decision adopted by the assembly said, according to KCNA. “The reunification of Korea can never be achieved with the Republic of Korea”, the official name of South Korea.

Kim’s comments drew immediate condemnation from the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who accused Pyongyang of being “anti-national” in labelling the South as a hostile country.

Yoon also condemned North Korea’s recent missile launch and live-fire exercises near the countries’ tense maritime border, warning that provocations would invite retaliation on a “multiplied scale”.

Kim’s speech marks a departure from decades of official policy that saw reconciliation and unification as the ultimate goal, despite frequent rises in tensions on the peninsula.

Some analysts believe that by classifying the South as its biggest adversary, the North could be attempting to justify the use of nuclear weapons in any future war.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... im-jong-un

[RTH10260]

North Korea demolishes symbol of hope for reunification with South – report
The Arch of Reunification – built in 2000 after a landmark inter-Korean summit – has disappeared from satellite imagery

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wed 24 Jan 2024 04.09 CET

North Korea has demolished a monument that symbolised hope for reconciliation with the South, days after the regime’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas was no longer possible.

In the latest sign of rising tensions on the peninsula, the Arch of Reunification – built in 2000 after a landmark inter-Korean summit – has disappeared from satellite imagery, according to the NK News website. It was not immediately clear when or how it had been taken down, NK News said.

Kim, whose tone has become markedly belligerent in recent weeks, described the concrete arch – which shows two women, one each from the North and South, holding an emblem of the outline of the Korean peninsula – as an “eyesore” at a speech this month to the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament.

He added that the North’s constitution should be amended to reflect South Korea’s new status as his country’s “principal enemy” – effectively ending decades of official policy that stressed the eventual reunification of the autocratic North with the democratic South.

The 30-metre arch, formally known as the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, symbolised self-reliance, peace and national cooperation, according to South Korean government records.

Located on Reunification Highway, which connects Pyongyang to the heavily armed border with the South, it was reportedly erected to commemorate plans for reunification put forward by Kim’s grandfather and North Korean founder Kim Il-sung.

While purely symbolic, its reported removal will add to fears that North Korea has taken a more provocative course in its relations with the South and its allies, months before the US presidential elections.




https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... im-jong-un

[RTH10260]

Kim Jong-un’s bellicose stance could signal conflict, or his preference for a President Trump
North Korea’s leader has increased his displays of military aggression but analysts are split on whether it’s a sign of electoral interference or a war footing

Justin McCurry in Tokyo and agencies
Tue 30 Jan 2024 03.34 CET

When a highly militarised dictatorship fires artillery shells in the direction of its neighbour, which it has just denounced as its “greatest enemy”, then tests cruise missiles and underwater nuclear attack drones, it is reasonable to believe that armed conflict could follow.

But when that country is North Korea, conventional geopolitical punditry is often left wanting.

Even so, recent actions by Kim Jong-un’s regime have been coated in more than the usual thin veneer of belligerence towards its adversaries in Seoul and Washington.

The year was barely days old when Pyongyang sent hundreds of artillery rounds into the West Sea, close to islands just south of the northern limit line – the de facto maritime border with South Korea that Kim recently said he no longer recognises.

That was followed by tests of what the North described as an “underwater nuclear weapon system” – a capability that would make its attacking options far more mobile and harder to detect – in response to joint military drills by the US, South Korea and Japan. It also claimed to have tested a solid-fuelled ballistic missile with a hypersonic warhead. On Sunday, Kim oversaw the test launch of a “new strategic cruise missile” from a submarine, according to state media, and on Tuesday South Korea said that multiple unidentified cruise missiles had been fired into the sea off its west coast.

The world is used to ostentatious displays of North Korean missile technology, each test a reminder that decades of international sanctions have failed to bring Kim’s nuclear ambitions to heel. It has grown accustomed, too, to the regime’s routine justification – that its nuclear arsenal is a defensive response to the threat posed by “hostile forces”, namely the US and its east Asian allies South Korea and Japan.

But Kim’s recent pronouncements have caused more alarm than usual. They may not have included threats to turn Seoul into a “sea of flames”, but his animosity towards his neighbour is arguably more worrying for the absence of violent rhetoric.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... -submarine

[raison de arizona]