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A U.S. envoy will hold talks with North Korea on its nuclear program in Beijing next week, the first such negotiations since the death of the nation's longtime leader Kim Jong Il. Glyn Davies, the U.S. envoy on North Korea, will meet Feb. 23 with North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday. It will be the third round of bilateral talks since last summer, aimed at restarting six-nation aid-for-disarmament negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program. The reclusive nation pulled out of the multi-nation talks in 2009. But it will be...

The Internet was abuzz with rumors today that North Korea’s newly installed leader, Kim Jong Un, was assassinated during a trip to Beijing, but U.S. officials are debunking the reports as not true. Several U.S. officials contacted by ABC News said there was no validity to the reports that originated on a Chinese social media site and soon spread to Twitter. “There’s nothing to this, ” said one U.S. official, who added that there were no indications that the reports were true. Another U.S. official said, “Our experts are monitoring the situation and we see no abnormal activity on the...

Unverified. Here is the newsline allegedly: According to reliable sources, North Korean leader jinzhengen in Beijing in February 2012, at 2 o'clock and 45 minutes, unknown persons broke into his residence shot and was subsequently shot and killed by the bodyguard. The latest news, the DPRK embassy vehicles surge in the number of times, from the initial 78 vehicles, up to now has been flooded with the embassy, ​​some more than 80 vehicles, North Korea is certainly a major event. . .

Did social media just prematurely kill off the leader of North Korea? Rumours that Kim Jong-un, the country’s supreme leader, has been assassinated just months after he took power originated on Chinese microblogging service Weibo and have now spread all over Twitter. Others are reporting that Jong-un may be on the run rather than dead, but that some kind of coup is taking place. The rumours remain unsubstantiated, and as Adrian Chen at Gawker wrote, these types of reports crop up often given the furtive nature of North Korea’s government. However, the reports are beginning to gather steam, especially now...

There are reports from within the isolated state that food supplies are again dwindling and that there has been an increase in the number of people attempting to cross the border into China. Many of those that do manage to cross the frontier eventually manage to reach South Korea, where an estimated 23,000 defectors have now settled. The Workers' Party has issued the stern warning in an effort to deter more from attempting the already perilous journey, apparently in an effort to ensure the stability of the new regime of Kim Jong-un, who took over from his father, according to...

Harsh Punishments for Poor Mourning The North Korean authorities have completed the criticism sessions which began after the mourning period for Kim Jong Il and begun to punish those who transgressed during the highly orchestrated mourning events. Daily NK learned from a source from North Hamkyung Province on January 10th, “The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn't seem genuine.” Furthermore, the source added that people who are accused of circulating rumors criticizing...

If you found yourself panicked that the highly acclaimed and inexplicably entertaining “Kim Jong Il Looking at Things” blog would become defunct after the Dear Leader’s recent death, fear no more. North Korea has a new leader, but more importantly, North Korea has a new person who likes to look at things. Although you can continue to enjoy images of the Dear Leader posted posthumously on the original blog, the site dedicated to his successor proves quite promising. Recent entries feature new images which, according to the Daily Mail, were taken during a tour of a military camp and released...

About 100,000 North Koreans turned out in freezing temperatures in the nation’s capital to march through the streets in another mass demonstration to show their support for their new leader, Kim Jong-Un.

North-Japan Set for “Strained” 2012 By Mok Yong Jae [2012-01-04 17:41 ] The Joint New Year’s Editorial released on the 1st did not mention Japan at all, raising the assessment that Japan will be kept far off in North Korea’s future. According to a professor with Kansai University and a North Korea expert in Japan, Lee Young Hwa, future North Korea-Japan relations will be strained. Professor Lee, speaking with Daily NK today, explained, “The main issue in North Korea-Japan relations is the ‘abductees’ problem, but for a while there will be no dialogue regarding this. North Korea will likely keep...

New Year, New Kim, Same Policies By John Hemmings January 02, 2012 Kim Jong-un is too weak to expect a shift in North Korean policy. The only question is whether 2012 will be a year of provocations. Events surrounding the death of Kim Jong-il have revealed a country in transition, and an elite apparently shifting seamlessly from one ruler to another. Yet the funeral list, the promotion of Kim’s youngest son as ‘Great Successor’ and ‘Supreme Commander,’ and the political movements around Kim’s sister Kim Kyung-hee and her husband, Chang Sung-taek have underscored the shifting balance of power between the...

BLITZER’S BLOG: Nervous about North Korea By Wolf Blitzer, CNN Atlanta (CNN) - Even while I’m here at the CNN Election Center in Atlanta getting ready for the Iowa caucuses, I’m hearing disturbing murmurings from my national security sources in Washington about North Korea. They clearly don’t know what the new leadership in Pyongyang is going to do, but they are bracing for a possible provocation on the Korean peninsula. The U.S. fear is that the new leader, Kim Jong Un, is going to orchestrate some risky act against South Korea to create tension. The goal would be to help...

01-02-2012 18:30 Speculation rises on Kim Jong-un’s visit to China By Kim Young-jin Reports that top North Korean officials are preparing to visit China fueled speculation Monday that new leader Kim Jong-un could soon visit his country’s main ally to shore up support after the death of his father, late ruler Kim Jong-il. Multiple local reports citing sources familiar with the matter said Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s powerful uncle and Kim Yong-nam, the North’s titular head of state, were ironing out the details of a visit to meet with Beijing officials. Given their reported closeness to the Kim family, some observers...

Economic reform takes backseat in North Korea January 02, 2012 By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO / Correspondent SEOUL--A Politburo meeting may signal a change in the decision-making process in North Korea--but that's about all expected to be different in the short term under Kim Jong Un's rule. Kim has shown increased dependence on the military as he tries to secure his position as North Korea's new leader. This approach will make it difficult to reform the nation's anemic economy or implement an open-door policy that could help the people. Kim, who on Dec. 30 was named supreme commander of the military, inspected...

Kim Jong Un pins his survival on N. Korean military December 31, 2011 By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO / Correspondent SEOUL--The relationship between Kim Jong Un and the country's military appears to be unsettled, with the inexperienced North Korean leader trying to keep the generals happy while at the same time keeping them in check. In the "military-first" policy created out of fear by his father and former leader Kim Jong Il, the military exerts great influence over the country's civilian leadership. On Dec. 30, the National Defense Commission announced that Pyongyang will maintain its hard-line policies. A South Korean government official...

Who is the real Kim Jong-un? Diplomats fret over North Korea's portly new leader and party officials fear a purge North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un, is a frightening unknown quantity in charge of a dangerously militarised state. Even his top officials fear a savage purge of their ranks. By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai 6:35PM GMT 31 Dec 2011 Officially aged 29, but probably only 26 or 27, Kim Jong-un is the youngest man in history with the power to launch a nuclear weapon. But the man who appears to have smoothly risen to become North Korea's "Supreme Military Commander", the...

North Korea said Sunday in its annual New Year's message that it will stage an all-out drive toward prosperity, with its army, ruling party and people ready to defend Kim Jong Il's young son and successor "unto death." The North's message, released by the official Korean Central News Agency, comes as the country enters a new era, with Kim Jong Un firmly installed as Supreme Commander of the military and ruling party leader following his father's Dec. 17 death. This year also marks a crucial one in the North's history as it works on its goal to build a "great...

Kim Jong-un, who was declared Supreme Leader of North Korea yesterday, issued his first terrifying threat of war today. North Korea may "smash the stronghold of the puppet forces" in the South in retaliation for "hideous crimes" committed during the mourning period for Kim Jong-il. Threats of war from Kim Jong-un's father, though terrifying, were routine. His father threatened and attacked the South multiple times, but he never started a war or launched a nuclear offensive or used his artillery force to devastate Seoul. (Snip) "When the whole nation is overcome with grief over the great loss, only the South

Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and supreme leader of the party, state and army, Tuesday visited again the bier of leader Kim Jong Il and expressed profound condolences. Overcome with the bitterest grief, Kim Jong Un, together with senior officials of the party, state and armed forces organs, paid silent tribute to his bier, praying for his immortality, and looked round it. Standing vigil by the side of the bier, Kim Jong Un greeted people of different social standings including representatives of various provinces visiting there to express condolences over...

Link is to Japanese from original South Korean source. First, and turning prematurely green, an obligatory picture of assailant (patent liar of the evening Korean Central TV out of Pyongyang for many years), tasked with emotionally reporting specifically on Kim Jong il, missile launches, underground nuke tests, heightened military alerts and the like, and now -- conceivably, on issues relating to Kim Jong Un. Secondly, her recent five-star performance wearing black mourning Korean "hanbok", telling the world that the Beloved Dear Chia Pet was no longer with us--a real tear jerker /sarc.

Not much is known about the heir apparent. On December 19th, North Korean state news agencies reported that Kim Jong Il had died. This event has catapulted Kim Jong Un into the seat of power and into the role of “dear leader”.So what do we really know about Kim Jong Un? According to the Washington Post, he loves Michael Jordan. Other than that? Not much. Most people assume he was born in 1983 or 1984, however, his mere existence was a moderately guarded secret until 2009 when he was named as the eventual successor to his father. As a child,...

Not much is known about the heir apparent. On December 19th, North Korean state news agencies reported that Kim Jong Il had died. This event has catapulted Kim Jong Un into the seat of power and into the role of “dear leader”.

PYONGYANG, North Korea - The body of North Korea's long-time ruler Kim Jong Il was laid out in a glass coffin Tuesday as weeping mourners filled public plazas and state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as "born of heaven." North Korea's official television showed still photos of Kim in the coffin surrounded by wreaths, his body covered with a red blanket and his head on a white pillow. A giant red curtain covered a wall behind Kim. Kim Jong Un — Kim's third son and successor — visited the coffin along with top...

You know what a good funeral needs? Fireworks: North Korea test fired a short-range missile off the country’s eastern coast Monday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, the same day leader Kim Jong Il’s death was announced.The missile launch was not believed to be linked to the North Korean dictator’s death, Yonhap said, citing an unnamed South Korean official.“This is something that the military has continued to follow … we believe it is not related to the death of Chairman Kim Jong Il,� the official was quoted as saying.Kim, thought to be 69, died of a heart attack at 8:30...

From plastic surgery to basketball love – a glimpse into the bizarre world of North Korea's Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-un 1/ The next leader, Kim Jong-un is an unexpected style guru in North Korea – due to his haircut. Young men in Pyongyang are reportedly queuing at barbershops to copy his short, square, shaved-above-the-ears look, dubbed the "youth" or "ambition" haircut. 2 / South Korean media was awash last year with speculation that Kim had undergone plastic surgery numerous times – in order to look more like his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, founder of the state, whom he...

BRUSSELS — Responding to the growing threat of a humanitarian crisis in North Korea, the European Union will announce on Monday the release of about $14.5 million in emergency aid to feed as many as 650,000 North Koreans. The bloc’s executive body, the European Commission, said that after its experts witnessed evidence of a developing crisis last month during a mission to North Korea, it negotiated an agreement with the North Koreans about how to monitor the delivery of assistance. “Increasingly desperate and extreme measures are being taken by the hard-hit North Koreans, including the widespread consumption of grass,” the...

N. Korea: Kim Jong Un is songwriter NHK has learned that North Korean leaders have been publicizing the artistic achievements of Kim Jong Un, heir apparent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. North Korea has been spreading positive information about the younger Kim at meetings in various communities and companies every week. NHK has confirmed that people are being told that Kim Jong Un has talent not only in the fields of politics and defense but in music as well. The leaders are saying popular songs are being produced thanks to his leadership and a representative work of his...

2011/05/20 10:05 KST (LEAD) N. Korea's heir apparent Kim Jong-un visits China: source SEOUL/BEIJING, May 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, has been confirmed to be visiting China, a source in a Chinese border city said Friday. The junior Kim arrived in Tumen, in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin, early Friday morning, but his next destination has yet to be confirmed, the source in Tumen told Yonhap News Agency. The source asked not to be identified, citing the issue's sensitivity. Security has been tightened considerably in Tumen and areas linking the Chinese...

(LEAD) (Yonhap Feature) New video game on Kim Jong-un gains popularity worldwide By Tony Chang SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's heir-apparent son takes over the helm of his destitute communist country in 2012. He reunites the two Koreas, for which he is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but he takes further aim at world domination. The 20-something son, Kim Jong-un, who in real life is still being groomed to succeed his father as the country's next leader, is the very villain to shoot down in a new U.S. video game currently on sale worldwide. The...

March 10, 2011 Finding a Soul Mate for North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un By MARK McDONALD SEOUL — At first she did not know what to make of being romantically matched with Kim Jong-un, that roly-poly bachelor, the presumptive future lord and master of North Korea. Should she be offended, amused, angry, what? After some thought, she said: “I felt proud to be selected. I thought, ‘Cool. It means you’re in the elite.’ If he was South Korean, he’d be in the top 1 percent of the men.” Miss Kim, 28, a Korean-American who declined to be identified by her full...

Has N. Korea's mysterious successor made a blunder with binoculars? SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- Goof or genius? Last week, North Korea's official television station aired footage of leader Kim Jong-il's past military inspections, during which his third son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, was seen watching a tank drill while apparently holding a pair of binoculars upside down. The scene, belatedly discovered by South Korean journalists on Monday, was considered a rare blunder by North Korea's official media that spares no austerity in praising the ruling dynasty. It also contrasted with the intensifying cult of personality surrounding the 20-something...

January 7, 2011 Low Profile of an Heir Reinforces a Mystery By MARK McDONALD SEOUL, South Korea — When he was introduced to the public in September, Kim Jong-un appeared destined to succeed his father, Kim Jong-il, as the leader of North Korea, an irascible, destitute and nuclear-armed nation. But a growing number of experts in Seoul are beginning to question whether he has been fully certified, despite his elevation to a high military rank and the urgency created by his father’s poor health. “There are some minor but real reasons to ask if we are rushing our judgment about...

Starving North Korea is reportedly spending more than £100 million on new offices and villas for Kim Jong-un, the country's heir-apparent. The construction spree, documented in satellite photographs and informant accounts assembled by South Korea's intelligence services, began as Kim Jong-un was named to succeed his ailing father, Kim Jong-il, last month. No independent corroboration of the photographs was possible, but two North Korea experts told The Daily Telegraph that the material was credible. North Korea's ruling family has long been known to live in considerable luxury, unlike the vast majority of the population it rules over. House 15 in...

12/27/10 SEOUL -- A train packed with birthday gifts for North Korea's leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un derailed this month in a possible act of sabotage, a Seoul-based radio station which broadcasts across the border reported on Monday. Open Radio for North Korea, a non-profit station which often cites sources in the reclusive, impoverished North, said the train laden with gifts including televisions and watches came off the rails on Dec. 11 near North Korea's border with China. "The security service has been in an emergency situation because a train departing Sinuiju and headed for Pyongyang derailed on Dec. 11," the radio...

A train carrying birthday presents for Kim Jong-un, chosen successor to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was derailed, a radio station that broadcasts into North Korea said yesterday. “A cargo train that left Sinuiju for Pyongyang on Dec. 11 was derailed somewhere between Yomju Station and Tongnim Station,” a source within North Korea’s National Security Agency was quoted as saying by Open Radio for North Korea. Sinuiju, a port city on the Chinese border, and Yomju and Tongnim are in North Pyongan Province, northwest of the North Korean capital city of Pyongyang. “That incident put the North’s National Security Agency...

Jong-un’s birthday is now holiday, says report December 24, 2010 North Korea has declared a public holiday to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong-Il’s youngest son, a report said yesterday, as the regime grooms him to take over power from his father. Good Friends, a Seoul-based welfare group with contacts in the North, said the propaganda department in the northeastern city of Hoeryong had since mid-October held lectures for ruling party secretaries at each factory, workplace and public institution. The lectures, among other topics, mentioned the accomplishments of “Young General” Kim Jong-un “as well as the honor and pride...

Kim Jong-un 'Loves Nukes, Computer Games and Johnny Walker' Kim Jong-un, the third son and heir of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, showed a strong affection for nuclear weapons since he was a child, according to Kim senior's former personal chef. Kenji Fujimoto quoted Kim Jong-un as saying uranium mines are the North's "sole assets." Fujimoto was Kim's chef for 13 years until he fled the communist county in 2001 and knew both his second son Jong-chol and Jong-un since they were small. Having recently published the Korean edition of a book entitled "North Korea's Heir, Why Kim Jong-un?," Fujimoto...

South Korean, U.S. and Japanese foreign ministry officials talked about the possibility that the North Korean regime has lost control and gone off the rails since the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, it emerged Friday. On Thursday, President Lee Myung-bak said North Koreans are now much aware of the outside world. "I feel reunification is now not far off." A senior government official said, "Having watched the North launch a series of provocations such as the torpedo attack on the Navy corvette Cheonan, its uranium enrichment program and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, officials in Seoul, Washington and Tokyo recently...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea warned Monday that U.S.-South Korean cooperation could bring a nuclear war to the region, as the South began artillery drills amid lingering tension nearly three weeks after the North's deadly shelling of a South Korean island. The South's naval live-fire drills are scheduled to run Monday through Friday at 27 sites. The regularly scheduled exercises are getting special attention following a North Korean artillery attack on front-line Yeonpyeong Island that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.

SEOUL (Reuters) – The death of a North Korean military official and the naming of leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un to the funeral preparation committee was jumped on by South Korean media on Monday as showing he had risen to second-in-command. In the opaque world of North Korea, experts are forced to dissect and analyze every snippet of information -- sometimes reading between the lines, or words -- in search of the truth. South Korean media concluded that by being named immediately after leader Kim Jong-il to the funeral committee by the North's state-run news agency KCNA, the leader's third son had...

In a deeply Confucian, elder-respecting society, the transfer of power to a youngest son (especially one who looks like an overfed kid fresh out of school) is a tricky exercise. The North Korean regime is wrapping up festivities celebrating the debut of Kim Jong Un, the youngest acknowledged son of Kim Jong Il. If all goes according to plan — not likely — Jong Un will eventually succeed his father as “Great Leader” of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On Sunday, we got two clues about the chubby dictator-in-waiting, who joined his dad on the reviewing stand high atop...

SEOUL, South Korea — The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, attended a massive military parade with his youngest son and designated successor on Sunday as the ruling Communist regime celebrated the 65th founding of its Workers’ Party. The son, Kim Jong-un, wearing a dark suit despite his recent promotion to four-star general, watched the festivities and reviewed squads of goose-stepping troops with his 68-year-old father and other senior politicians and generals. The event was held in Kim Il-sung Square, named for Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, the founder of the North Korean state.

North Korea has increased public executions, apparently in a bid to tighten controls amid the designation of North Korean leader's son Kim Jong-un as his father's heir. According to data released on Tuesday by Grand National Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, the regime publicly executed at least 22 people until the first half of this year since a botched currency reform late last year. Yoon, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee, obtained the data from an intelligence agency. According to the data, the regime executed 10 people, including two women, on charges of robbery, rape...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s youngest son, Jong-un has been promoted to military general ahead of the long-awaited Workers’ Party convention to be held today. The report made by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency has shown this to be a clear sign that Kim Jong-il is pushing his son in line to become his successor. In KCNA’s brief dispatch, which was released around 1 a.m. last night, it stated the son as well as five others had been named four-star generals in the Korea People’s Army, including Kim Jong-il’s sister, Kim Kyong-hui. Choe Ryong-hae, a long-time aide to...

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has apparently named his third son as a four-star general in the military ahead of the country's biggest political convention in three decades, making his hereditary succession plan official for the first time.

The most dangerous regime on earth may reveal the identity of its next leader on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the North Korean regime, always opaque and endlessly fascinating, will reveal the identity of its next leader.Maybe.The Korean Workers’ Party will hold its first major gathering since 1980 this week. At the 1980 Congress, Kim Jong Il, the current leader, made his debut. Analysts think his son, Kim Jong Un, will be introduced at the event as the next Kim to rule the North.Not much is known about the autocrat-in-waiting. He is the youngest of the three acknowledged sons of Kim Jong...

A fierce battle is being waged behind the scenes for control of North Korea as Kim Jong-il prepares to anoint his successor, it has emerged. Factional in-fighting has broken out between Chang Song-taek, the rogue state's second-in-command, and a group of senior reform-minded officials... Chang has recently seen his hardline views being challenged by a group of reformists, bent on opening up the North Korean economy to Chinese-style capitalism. The split in the Workers' Party, which echoes the division in the Chinese Communist party between hardliners and reformists during the 1970s and 1980s, may have prompted the recent two-week delay...

His grandfather is known as the Great Leader, his father as the Dear Leader. It seems only fair to confer a similar accolade on North Korea's dictator-in-waiting: the Phantom Leader, perhaps. As the party that has ruled the secretive state for more than six decades prepares to anoint Kim Jong-un as its next leader at a rare gathering of cadres in the capital, Pyongyang, the world is still some way off establishing the facts about communism's crown prince. So little is known about Kim Jong-un, the third and youngest son of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, that even the...

New North Korean Leader Could Rule By September Daily Beast Jul. 23, 2010, 3:51 PM As N. Korea rattles its saber at the U.S., American intel agents are racing to learn more about Kim Jong Un, who may succeed his ailing father as leader within weeks. Philip Shenon reports on the wave of executions that has Korea watchers on edge. The CIA is scrambling to gather every scrap of information it can find on the youngest son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il in the belief that the Swiss-educated, Hollywood-loving, Nike-wearing son could take over for his ailing father...

Kim Jong-un, the youngest son and possible heir of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was elected to the parliament of the one-party communist state in March of last year, a Western source told a small group of reporters in Seoul. “We confirmed Kim Jong-un was elected as a representative from District 216 through North Korean sources two months after the election,” the Western source said. The Supreme People’s Assembly is a rubber stamp for the Communist Party and is comprised of high-ranking Communist Party officials. The election of Kim Jong-un, 27, is further evidence that he is being groomed to...

North Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong-il is speeding up the transfer of power to his son Jong-un, intelligence suggests. "There is intelligence information indicating Kim Jong-un accompanied Kim Jong-il on an inspection tour last week to North Pyongan Province," a South Korean government official said Thursday. "One thing that is certain is that posters lauding Jong-un were hung in the factory Kim Jong-il toured." On Saturday, North Korea's official KCNA news agency broadcast Kim's "on-the-spot-guidance" tour of a factory in Sinuiju showing posters urging North Koreans to "match footsteps" with their leader's "self-sacrifices for CNC." The official said the word...