Page 21 - North Korea

North Korea plans to launch satellite within week between Aug 24-31: Japan

On May 31, Pyongyang attempted to put into orbit what it claimed was a military spy satellite but was unsuccessful

N Korea may launch spy satellite in coming days after earlier failure

North Korea told Japan on Tuesday it plans to launch a satellite in the coming days, possibly a second try to put a military spy satellite into orbit three months after its first effort failed, Japanese officials said. In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite plunged into the sea soon after liftoff, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un's push to establish a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea had vowed to make a second attempt after studying what went wrong with the first launch. Japan's coast guard said North Korean authorities notified it about a plan to launch a satellite from Aug. 24 and the end of Aug. 30. Coast guard spokesperson Hiromune Kikuchi said that the notice didn't specify what type of satellite North Korea intends to launch but that he believes it possibly refers to one similar to the spy satellite in the May launch. The North Korean notice mentioned three maritime zones that could be affected b

N Korea watches cruise missile launches as US, S Korean troops begin drills

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has observed the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from a navy ship, state media reported Monday, as the U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off major annual drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. The North's report on missile tests came three days after the leaders of the U.S., South Korea and Japan agreed to expand their security and economic ties at a summit in the United States. During an inspection visit of a navy flotilla on the eastern coast, Kim boarded a patrol boat to review its weapons and preparations for combat. He later watched its seamen conducting a drill of launching strategic cruise missiles, the official Korean Central News Agency said. KCNA didn't say when the missile launches happened, and a state media photo showed Kim watching the launch of a missile from another place, not on the patrol boat. KCNA's use of the word strategic in reference to the tested weapons implied they were developed to carry nuclea

North Korea increasing repression as people are reportedly starving: UN

North Korea is increasing its repression of human rights and people are becoming more desperate and reportedly starving in parts of the country as the economic situation worsens, the UN rights chief said Thursday. Volker Turk told the first open meeting of the U.N. Security Council since 2017 on North Korean human rights that in the past its people have endured periods of severe economic difficulty and repression, but currently they appear to be suffering both. According to our information, people are becoming increasingly desperate as informal markets and other coping mechanisms are dismantled, while their fear of state surveillance, arrest, interrogation and detention has increased, he said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il closed the borders of his northeast Asian nation to contain COVID-19. But as the pandemic has waned, Turk said the government's restrictions have grown even more extensive, with guards authorized to shoot any unauthorized person approaching the border and with .

N Korea preparing ICBM tests, spy satellite launch: S Korean spy agency

North Korea is preparing its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit as well as tests of long-range missiles to mark a key national anniversary and protest efforts by the United States to strengthen its regional alliances, South Korea's intelligence service told lawmakers Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been expected to conduct weapons tests in response to major US-South Korean military drills that begin next week and a trilateral US-South Korea-Japan summit at Camp David in the United States this Friday. The National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that North Korea may try to launch a spy satellite in late August or early September ahead of the country's 75th anniversary on September 9, according to Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers who attended the briefing. The NIS said North Korea has been testing an engine for the rocket to be used for the satellite launch and has installed an additional land antenna to receive satellite data

Travis King wants refuge from mistreatment, racism in US Army: North Korea

A private in the US Army, King dashed into the North while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) on the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas

N Korea denounces US plans for open UNSC meet on its human rights record

North Korea on Tuesday denounced US-led plans for an open Security Council meeting on its human rights record as despicable and only aimed at achieving Washington's geopolitical ambitions. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong called the United States a declining power and said if the council dealt with any country's human rights, the US should be the first as it is the anti-people empire of evils, totally depraved due to all sorts of social evils. The United States, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, scheduled the meeting on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name, for Thursday. It will be the first open council meeting on the DPRK rights issue since 2017. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters last week that UN human rights chief Volker Trk and Elizabeth Salmon, the UN's independent investigator on human rights in the reclusive northeast Asia country, would brief council members. The Security Council

North Korean leader slams 'irresponsible' officials as typhoon hits country

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lashed out at "irresponsible" officials for failing to prevent damage from typhoon Khanun that swept through the Korean peninsula last week

Kim Jong Un orders increased missile production ahead of US-S Korea drills

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made another inspection tour of major munitions factories and ordered a drastic increase in production of missiles and other weapons, state media said Monday, days before South Korea and the US begin annual military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. Kim's push to produce more weapons also comes as US officials believe Russia's defence minister recently talked with North Korea about selling more weapons to Russia for its war with Ukraine. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited factories producing tactical missiles, mobile launch platforms, armoured vehicles and artillery shells on Friday and Saturday. During a stop at the missile factory, Kim set a goal to drastically boost production capacity so the facility can mass produce missiles to meet the needs of frontline military units, KCNA said. The qualitative level of war preparations depends on the development of the munitions industry and the factory bears a very importa

Kim Jong tours weapons factories, vows to boost war readiness amid tensions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the country's key weapons factories, including those producing artillery systems and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military's arms and war readiness, state media said Sunday. Kim's three-day inspections through Saturday came as the United States and South Korea prepared for their next round of combined military exercises planned for later this month to cope with the growing North Korean threat. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as the pace of North Korea's missile tests and the joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, which Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals, have both intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle. Some experts say Kim's tour of the weapons factories could also be related to possible military cooperation with Moscow that may involve North Korean supplies of artillery and other ammunition as Russian President Vladimir Putin reaches o

Top Russian official pitched N Korea on increasing sale of munitions: WH

The White House on Thursday said US intelligence officials have determined that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke last week to North Korean officials during a visit to Pyongyang about increasing the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine. Shoigu made the pitch during his visit to North Korea for events marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, according to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. Russian President Vladimir Putin dispatched Shoigu to lead the Russian delegation for the commemoration. The Biden administration says Shoigu's pitch to tighten cooperation with North Korea underscored that the Kremlin has become reliant on the country, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programs and human rights records. This is yet another example of how desperate Mr. Putin

North Korea's Kim shares center stage with Russian, Chinese delegates

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared center stage with senior delegates from Russia and China as he rolled out his most powerful, nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, marking a major war anniversary with a show of defiance against the United States. State media said Friday Kim attended Thursday evening's parade with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese ruling party official Li Hongzhong from a balcony looking over the city's main square. The streets and stands were packed with tens of thousands of mobilized spectators, who roared in approval as waves of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks and huge, intercontinental ballistic missiles wheeled out on launcher trucks filled up the main road. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the parade also featured ceremonial flights of newly developed surveillance and attack drones, which were first unveiled by state media this week as they reported on an arms exhibition attended by Ki

Kim Jong Un meets with Russian defence minister on military cooperation

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss military issues and the regional security environment, state media said Thursday as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of an armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim and Shoigu talked Wednesday in the capital, Pyongyang, and reached a consensus on unspecified matters of mutual concern in the field of national defense and security and on the regional and international security environment. The report did not specify what was discussed. KCNA also said Kim took Shoigu to an arms exhibition that showcased some of North Korea's newest weapons and briefed him on national plans to expand the country's military capabilities. Photos from the exhibition showed Kim gesturing while talking to Shoigu as they walked near a row of large missiles mounted on launcher trucks. In a rare case of diplomatic opening since the start

Any nuclear attack will result in end of N Korean regime, warns S Korea

Seoul's warning has come after Pyongyang had said the deployment of a US nuclear-capable submarine and other strategic assets here could meet the conditions for its use of nuclear arms

N Korea fires cruise missiles, stays mum on US soldier who crossed border

North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward its western sea Saturday, South Korea's military said, marking the second launch event this week apparently in protest of the docking of a nuclear-armed US submarine in South Korea. While adding to its barrage of missile launches in recent months, North Korea remained publicly silent for a fifth day on the fate of an American soldier who bolted into the North across the heavily armed Korean border this week. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launches were detected beginning around 4 am but did not immediately report how many missiles were fired or how far they flew. It said the US and South Korean militaries were closely analysing the launches. On Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. They flew about 550 kilometers (341 miles) before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula. The flight distance of those missiles roughly matched the distance between .

Japanese, US, and South Korean officials condemn North's weapons plans

Senior officials from Japan, the US and South Korea condemned North Korea over its recent ICBM-class ballistic missile launches and vowed to step up their trilateral cooperation to strengthen deterrence and sanctions against the North, while stressing the need for dialogue with Pyongyang. Their meeting Thursday in the central Japanese city of Karuizawa comes days after North Korea's solid-fuel ICBM launch last week, which landed in the water off the western coast of Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido and one day after the launch of two missiles on Wednesday. The US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, also said that the United States was working hard to gather information about an American soldier who fled to the North earlier this month. The US was seeking to ensure his safety and return him home, Kim said. Pvt Travis King, 23, had been held in South Korea on assault charges and was released on July 10 after serving his time. He was taken to the airport Monday bu

No word from North Korea on US soldier who dashed across military border

US officials said Pyongyang has not responded to communication from the American military about the soldier, Private Travis T. King

N Korea silent on apparent detention of US soldier who crossed border

North Korea was silent about the highly unusual entry of an American soldier across the Koreas' heavily fortified border although it test-fired short-range missiles Wednesday in its latest weapons display. Nearly a day after the soldier bolted into North Korea during a tour in the border village of Panmunjom, there was no word on the fate of Private 2nd Class Travis King, the first known American detained in the North in nearly five years. The North's missile launches Wednesday morning were seen as a protest of the deployment of a US nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea the previous day and weren't likely related to King's border crossing. It's likely that North Korea will use the soldier for propaganda purposes in the short term and then as a bargaining chip in the mid-to-long term, said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea. King, 23, was a cavalry scout with the 1st Armoured Division who had served nearly two months in a South Korean

US soldier flees into North Korea in new crisis over nuclear-armed state

The U.S. Army identified the soldier as Private Travis T. King who joined up in 2021 and was facing disciplinary action

N Korea fires 2 missiles into sea as US docks nuclear submarine in S Korea

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea early Wednesday in what appeared to be a statement of defiance as the United States deploys a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in decades. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that from 3.30 to 3.46 am North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near capital Pyongyang that flew about 550 kilometers before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula. Those flight details were similar to the assessment of the Japanese military, which said the missiles landed outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone and that there were no immediate reports of damage from ships or aircraft in affected areas. The flight distance of the North Korean missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a US nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the ...