Page 22 - North Korea

North Korea holds rallies against US "imperialism," warns of nuclear war

North Korea organises mass rallies in Pyongyang condemning US imperialism. People shouted slogans like the "war of revenge" to destroy the United States

N Korea calls failed spy satellite launch 'serious' shortcoming, vows a 2nd

Top North Korean officials vowed to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as they called their country's first, and failed, launch last month the most serious shortcoming this year and harshly criticized those responsible, state media reported Monday. In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite crashed soon after liftoff, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un's push to acquire a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the United States and South Korea. The failed launch and North Korean efforts to modernize its weapons arsenals were discussed heavily at a three-day ruling party meeting that ended Sunday, with the presence of Kim and other top officials. A lengthy Korean Central News Agency dispatch on the meeting didn't clearly say who spoke, but said a report to the meeting bitterly criticized the officials who irresponsibly conducted the preparations for (the) satellite launch. The report set forth tasks for officials a

S Korea to carry out 1st in-depth inquiry into forced labour in North Korea

South Korea plans to carry out its first in-depth inquiry into forced labour practices in North Korea through interviews with defectors who have arrived in South Korea over the past five years

N Korea opens key party meeting to discuss its economy, defense strategies

With leader Kim Jong Un in attendance, North Korea opened a key political conference to discuss improving its struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies in the face of growing tensions with rivals, according to state media reports Saturday. The enlarged plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee came as the United States sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea in the allies' latest show of force against the North, which has ramped up its testing of nuclear-capable missiles to a record pace in recent months. During the first day of meetings Friday, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said, party officials reviewed the country's economic campaigns for the first half of 2023, and discussed foreign policy and defense strategies to cope with the changed international situation. The agency didn't specify what was discussed or mention any comments made by Kim. It said the meeting will continue for at least another day. The arrival Frida

Chandrababu Naidu calls Jagan the brother of North Korea's Kim Jong Un

Jagan has till now ruled the State by simply threatening the people and the public is no longer ready to bear it, Chandrababu alleged

US nuke-powered submarine arrives in South Korea after Pyongyang's launch

A US nuclear-powered guided missile submarine arrived in South Korea for the first time in six years, amid heightened tensions after North Korea's launch of two ballistic missiles

US, South Korea, Japan condemn North Korea's latest missile provocation

The top national security advisers of the US, South Korea, and Japan condemned North Korea's missile launches on Thursday, calling them clear violations of multiple resolutions

South Korea says North Korea has launched ballistic missile toward sea

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile off its east coast on Thursday, hours after South Korean and US troops ended a fifth round of large-scale live-fire drills near the Koreas' heavily fortified border. The North Korean launch is its first since it failed in an attempt to put its first spy satellite into orbit in late May. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch occurred on Thursday evening but gave no further details. Japan's Defense Ministry also said it detected a possible ballistic missile fired by North Korea. The launch came after North Korea's military vowed an unspecified response to South Korean-US drills at a front-line South Korean firing range earlier on Thursday. The exercises were the fifth and last round of South Korean-US firing drills that began last month. This year's drills were the biggest of their kind since they began in 1977. Our response to (the South Korean-US drills) is inevitable, an unidentified spokesperson of the North Korean Defen

North Korea has launched ballistic missile toward sea, says South Korea

South Korea says North Korea has fired a ballistic missile off its east coast. South Korea's military says the North Korean launch occurred on Thursday evening but gave no further details. The launch came after North Korea's military vowed an unspecified response after South Korean and US troops finished five rounds of large-scale live-fire drills near the Koreas' heavily fortified border earlier Thursday.

N Korea's Kim Jong-un touts leadership of China's Xi in b'day greetings

Kim also said he is pleased to see Xi's achievements and wished him more success in his "important and responsible work" in leading China

North Korean hackers suspected in new $35 million cryptocurrency theft

North Korean hackers were suspected behind the theft of at least USD 35 million from a cryptocurrency service, multiple crypto-tracking experts told CNN Tuesday

North Korean leader's sister vows 2nd attempt to launch spy satellite

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a U.N. Security Council meeting over the North's first, failed launch. The North's attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit last Wednesday failed as its rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula's western coast. An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council was still convened at the request of the U.S., Japan and other countries to discuss the launch because it had violated council resolutions banning the North from performing any launch using ballistic technology. On Sunday, Kim's sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, called the U.N. council a political appendage of the United States, saying its recent meeting was convened following America's gangster-like request. She accused the U.N. council of being discriminative and rude because it only takes issue with the North's satellite launches while ...

US, allies clash with Russia, China over N Korea's failed satellite launch

The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China on Friday over North Korea's failed launch of a military spy satellite this week in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, which Moscow and Beijing refused to condemn. The confrontation was the latest over the North's escalating nuclear, ballistic missile and military programs, which US deputy ambassador Robert Wood warned are threatening international peace and security. The failed launch not only disrupted maritime and air traffic in the region, but it also caused alarm for its neighbours in Japan and the Republic of Korea, he said. Pyongyang is threatening another launch soon. The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea's first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking so far unsuccessfully to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and cut off funding. In the last sanctions resolution adopted by the council in Dece

N Korean leader's sister slams US for criticising failed satellite launch

The powerful sister of North Korean Kim Jong Un on Thursday accused the United States of "gangster-like" hypocrisy for criticizing her country's failed launch of a military spy satellite and insisted a successful launch will be made soon. Kim Yo Jong said North Korea's efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance capabilities were a legitimate exercise of its sovereign right and restated the country's rejection of UN Security Council resolutions that ban it from conducting any launch involving ballistic missile technology. Her comments on state media came a day after the rocket carrying the satellite failed. North Korea said the rocket lost thrust after a stage separation and crashed in waters off the Korean Peninsula's western coast. Washington, South Korea and Japan had quickly criticized the launch. Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the US National Security Council, said Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised

North Korea's attempt to launch first spy satellite ends in failure

North Korea said Wednesday that its attempt to launch the country's first spy satellite has failed. In a statement published on state media, North Korea said a rocket carrying the spy satellite crashed into waters off the Korean Peninsula's western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages. It said scientists were examining the cause of the failure. South Korea's military earlier said the North Korean rocket had "an abnormal flight" before it fell in the waters. North Korea launched a rocket Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, prompting brief evacuations in those countries as the North appeared to be attempting to put its first military spy satellite into orbit. The rocket was launched about 6.30 am from the North's northwestern Tongchang-ri area, where the country's main space launch centre is located, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. South Korea's military was trying to confirm whether the launch was successful, accordin

N Korea confirms plan to launch its first military spy satellite in June

North Korea on Tuesday confirmed plans to launch its first military spy satellite in June and described such capacities as crucial for monitoring the United States' reckless military exercises with rival South Korea. The statement came a day after North Korea notified Japanese authorities that it plans to launch the satellite sometime between May 31 and June 11, and that the event may affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines' Luzon Island. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he ordered Japan's Self Defense Forces to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory. In comments published on state media, senior North Korean military official Ri Pyong Chol berated the combined US-South Korean military exercises, which Pyongyang has long described as invasion rehearsals. He said North Korea considers space-based reconnaissance as indispensable to monitor in real time the dangerous military acts of the US and its vassal ..

N Korea tells neighbour Japan it plans to launch satellite in coming days

Japan's coast guard said North Korea has notified it that it plans to launch a satellite in coming days, which may be an attempt to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit. Japan's coast guard said the notice from North Korean waterway authorities said the launch window was from May 31 and June 11 and that the launch may affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines' Luzon Island. Japan's coast guard issued a safety warning for ships that would passing through the area during the launch window. The prime minister's office said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed officials to do their utmost to gather and analyze information related to the launch and inform people about it. Pyongyang said early this month its first military spy satellite was ready for launch. Such a launch would use long-range missile technology banned by past UN Security Council resolutions. North Korea's past launches have demonstrated an ability to deliver a satel

S Korea, US troops to hold massive live-fire drills near N Korea border

The South Korean and U.S. militaries were set to begin massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North's warning that it won't tolerate what it calls such a hostile invasion rehearsal on its doorstep. Thursday's drills, the first of the allies' five rounds of firing exercises until mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea has typically reacted to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. North Korea has argued its torrid pace of tests was meant to respond to the expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say the North aims to advance its weapons development then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy. The U.S.-South Kore

South Korean, German leaders agree to cooperate on supply chains, N. Korea

The leaders of South Korea and Germany on Sunday pledged more cooperation in building stable industrial supply chains and addressing the challenges posed by nuclear-armed North Korea as they met in Seoul after flying in from the Group of Seven meetings in Japan. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, pointed to the similarities between the two major manufacturing nations that are dependent on foreign trade and said a stronger supply chain partnership would help them cope with intensifying global economic instability and geopolitical conflicts. He said the countries in particular will work to advance trade relations in high-tech industries and clean energy, including semiconductors and hydrogen projects, and pursue further opportunities in defense cooperation. Yoon said they also discussed the growing threat posed by North Korea, which has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022 while accelerating its push t

S Korea, Japan use G-7 to push improvement in ties long marked by animosity

Amid the high-level efforts to deal with a raft of global emergencies, this weekend's Group of 7 summit of rich democracies will also see an unusual diplomatic reconciliation as the leaders of Japan and South Korea look to continue mending ties that have been marked for years by animosity and bickering. At first glance the two neighbours would seem to be natural partners. They are powerful, advanced democracies and staunch US allies in a region beset with autocratic threats. The continuing fallout, however, from centuries of complicated, acrimonious history, culminating in the brutal 1910-1945 Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula, has resulted in more wariness than friendship. A big part of the sudden recent shift in tone is a shared focus on China's growing aggressiveness, t he threat of North Korea's fast-improving arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles and deep worry about how Russia's war in Ukraine is influencing both issues. Some diplomatic nudging by Washington, which