Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If President George W. Bush wants to make progress on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions before he leaves office next year, he first has to close the deal with Congress. The White House took a step to try to win congressional support on Thursday by laying out intelligence alleging that North Korea helped Syria to build a nuclear reactor that U.S. officials say was destroyed by Israel on September 6. The White House initially tried to keep the matter secret, fearing Damascus might be embarrassed by a public airing of the strike -- and the fact that...

PANMUNJOM, Korea (AP) - A U.S. diplomat left North Korea on Saturday with boxes of documents detailing activities at the nuclear reactor that is at the heart of the communist country's nuclear weapons program. Washington plans to scrutinize the technical logs from the Yongbyon reactor to see if the North is telling the truth about a bomb program that it has agreed to trade away for economic and political rewards. Sung Kim, the U.S. State Department's top Korea specialist, returned to South Korea by land across the heavily fortified border after collecting approximately 18,000 secret papers during a three-day visit...

WASHINGTON, April 29 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: TO BE LED) President George W. Bush said Tuesday the recent U.S. disclosure of North Korea's alleged transfer of nuclear technology to Syria was intended to sound a tough warning to Iran of its nuclear aspirations. Bush made the remarks at a White House press conference.

Ten North Koreans were killed in an IAF air strike on a Syria installation September, Bloomberg reported Monday, quoting an NHK report that cited unidentified South Korean intelligence officials. The report quoted a Japanese broadcaster who said that they had been assisting the Syrians in the construction of a nuclear reactor. Several North Korean workers survived the air strike, the report said. Yielding to months of pressure from the US Congress, the Bush administration gave members briefings on Thursday indicating that on September 6, Israel destroyed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help.

Syria 'had covert nuclear scheme' The US says there were similarities between the Syrian and North Korean reactors The United States has accused North Korea of helping Syria build a nuclear reactor that "was not intended for peaceful purposes". The site, said to be like one in North Korea, was bombed by Israel in 2007. Syria must "come clean" about its secret nuclear programme, the White House said in a statement after CIA officials briefed members of Congress. Syria has repeated denials that it has any nuclear weapons programme, or any such agreement with North Korea. Syrian officials have...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2008 – Syria’s building of a secret nuclear facility with North Korean help reinforces the need to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. “It should serve as a reminder to us all of the very real dangers of proliferation and need to rededicate ourselves to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, particularly into the hands of a state or a group with terrorist connections,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a Pentagon briefing. The reactor, destroyed by Israel in September before it...

The Bush administration released detailed photographic images on Thursday to support its assertion that the building in Syria that Israel destroyed in an airstrike last year was a nuclear reactor constructed with years of help from North Korea. The administration said it withheld the pictures for seven months out of fear that Syria could retaliate against Israel and start a broader war in the Middle East. The photographs taken inside the reactor before it was destroyed in an air raid on Sept. 6 clearly show the rods that control the heat in a nuclear reactor, one of many close engineering...

<p>WASHINGTON — After seven months of near-total secrecy, the White House is preparing to make public on Thursday video evidence of North Koreans working at a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor just before it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last September.</p>

The Bush administration will tell Congress tomorrow that a nuclear facility in Syria built with North Korean help was nearly complete when Israel bombed it in September, and that Pyongyang has not provided any further nuclear assistance to the hard-line Arab nation, at least at that site, U.S. officials said. CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and other intelligence officials are expected to brief several congressional committees in closed-door sessions, breaking the administration's silence on the issue. The Syrian facility has become a key issue in six-nation negotiations to end the North's nuclear programs. “The belief is that the reactor was...

The Bush administration said Wednesday it will not accept a North Korean nuclear declaration that does not fulfill Pyongyang's obligations under the six-party disarmament accord. U.S. intelligence officials are preparing to brief congressional leaders on North Korean proliferation activity. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. Officials here are underscoring the administration's firm line on the declaration in advance of a briefing on Pyongyang's proliferation activity that could harden congressional opposition to the six-party accord. Pyongyang is more than three months overdue in making a full declaration of its nuclear program, including any proliferation activity, under the Chinese-sponsored six-party...

N. Korea produced 30 kg plutonium: report TOKYO - NORTH Korea told the United States in December it has produced a total of around 30 kg of plutonium, about 20 kg less than what the United States estimates, a Japanese newspaper reported on Monday. The daily Tokyo Shimbun reported that North Korea's chief envoy to the talks, Kim Kye Gwan, told his US counterpart, Christopher Hill in North Korea last December the North had used about 18 kg of its plutonium stockpile for nuclear development and around 6 kg for its first and only underground nuclear test in October 2006....

North building underground runway, report says April 19, 2008 A U.S. commercial satellite has found a huge underground runway being built in eastern North Korea, a news report said yesterday. A photograph provided by “Google Earth,” a U.S. provider of satellite photos, showed that North Korea is building a 30-meter (98-foot) wide and 1,800-meter-long military runway at a site southwest of Wonsan, the U.S. government-funded radio station Voice of America said. “The cement-coated airstrip stretches southwestward from the northeast and is connected to a mountain tunnel,” the report said. “Around the runaway are stacks of soil and rocks dug out...

President George W. Bush is fond of comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. But as he meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington this week, his policy regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program looks more like something out of Bill Clinton's or Jimmy Carter's playbook. In dealing with the Soviet Union on arms control, Reagan was famous for repeating the Russian phrase, "Doveryai, no proveryai" (trust, but verify). Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reportedly once complained to Reagan, "You use that phrase every time we meet." To which Reagan smilingly replied, "That's because I like it so much." This administration...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Indication of another missile test (Kyodo News) U.S. "spotted training activities at a base near Pyongyang" According to Apr. 13 dispatch of Kyodo News, U.S. military intelligence has picked up lots of movements in a recent few days near a missile launch base at Shinori located to the N. West of Pyongyang. It reported that U.S. spy satellite has been watching over the N. Korean movements, which also spotted their training activities at the base. U.S. military has not determined what these activities are for, but some suspect that N. Korea is preparing for...

In this final year of the Bush presidency, what was once a doctrine of preemption has given way to a weird presumption that threats that Washington doesn't officially acknowledge somehoe won't hurt us. It's an alarming sign when CIA director Michael Hayden says, as he did on NBC that, personally, he believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, but officially he stands by the NIE report that maybe they aren't. So America sails on, under the fiction that nothing dramatic need be done, despite Hayden's further warning that in Iran, "the development of fissile material, the development of delivery systems, continue...

No breakthrough in North Korea talks, U.S. says 39 minutes ago The United States and North Korea have made no breakthrough toward a final resolution for Pyongyang's declaration of its nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on Wednesday. Six-nation talks aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been held up pending a full accounting of North Korea's nuclear activities, a declaration due at the end of last year. Negotiators to the six-party talks met Chinese foreign ministry officials in Beijing on Wednesday. Hill said he had "good discussions" with his Chinese, Japanese and South Korean counterparts,...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

This is barely being reported on the MSM and yet it’s developing into a major clash. The recent Arab summit in Damascus was a flop and left Syria with a lot of anger and embarrassment. The Israelis have openly admitted to bombing that mystery installation in Syria for being a nuclear bomb assembly factory set up by the North Koreans. This ruination of their plans has naturally outraged the Syrians. At the same time, many Arab states are exasperated with Syria for their continued support of Hizbollah in Lebanon and their efforts to control that country. The other Arab states...

All eyes are focused on the much anticipated U.S.-North Singapore Conference, initiated by the U.S. and North Korea to address the ongoing nuclear declaration issue, scheduled to take place today. According to Israeli reports, the U.S. and Israel have agreed to take this opportunity to “pressure North Korea to cease its nuclear cooperation with Iran.” A daily internet newspaper in Israel, Haaretz, released on the 7th that “According to information obtained by Washington and Jerusalem, North Korea transferred technology and nuclear materials to Iran to aid Tehran's secret nuclear arms program.” Haaretz reported that “U.S. and Israeli officials agreed last...

South Korea's new President Lee Myung Bak and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed Monday to push ahead with efforts to link the trans-Korean railway with the trans-Siberian railway and other tripartite economic cooperation projects involving North Korea, according to local media. Lee and Putin exchanged views on the matter in a telephone conservation in which Lee also sought greater Russian efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Yonhap News Agency quoted presidential spokesman Lee Dong Kwan as saying. Lee expressed appreciation for Russia's cooperation in sending the first South Korean astronaut into space aboard a...

Last update - 09:48 07/04/2008 U.S., Israel concerned N. Korean nuclear know-how reached Iran By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Israel, North Korea, Syria The United States and Israel seek to pressure North Korea to cease its nuclear cooperation with Iran, which is one of the motives behind their agreement to disclose details on the air-force strike in Syria last September. According to foreign press reports, the strike targeted a nuclear installation built with North Korean assistance. According to information obtained by Washington and Jerusalem, North Korea transferred technology and nuclear materials to Iran to aid Tehran's secret nuclear arms...

Syria strike details to be released Apr 6 04:31 AM US/Eastern Write a Comment Israel and the US are coordinating the release of details of a mysterious Israeli air force strike in Syria, according to reports. The Haaretz newspaper says US officials might disclose details of the Sept 6 strike later this month during congressional hearings. The Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported that the matter would come up April 17 before the congressional Committee on Foreign Relations. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would not comment on the Haaretz report. But Israeli security officials told The Associated Press that they object to...

/begin my translation Growing Mushrooms and Raising Rabbits for Celebrating 60th Anniversary of Party's Birth Issue No. 118 2008.04.03 People are busy trying to grow mushrooms and raise rabbits all over the country, following Kim Jong-il's directive issued on Feb. 3, 2008. Ministry of Agriculture, which will be in charge of this drive, are prodding factories, enterprises, and other work units all over the country to carry out the directive. Workers at factories, enterprises, and work units as well as children at Kindergarten should grow mushrooms and raise rabbits until the 60th Anniversary of Korean Worker's Party's Founding. People's...

Singapore: Singapore Says It Will Investigate Alleged North Korea Rocket Exports To Myanmar News 2008-04-04 10:33 SINGAPORE: The Singapore government said Thursday (3 Apr) it will look into allegations that a Singapore company was involved in the exports of rocket launchers by North Korea to Myanmar, following a media report. Japan's national broadcaster NHK reported Wednesday (2 Apr) that North Korea started full-scale exports of rocket launchers to Myanmar through a trading company based in Singapore. The report, however, did not identify the Singapore-based company, or give any other details. Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it took such allegations seriously...

BEIJING, April 3 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The United States and North Korea may solve a snag over a list of Pyongyang's nuclear programs, which is stalling the country's denuclearization process, by having North Korea "acknowledge" U.S. concerns, diplomatic sources said Thursday. The plan emerged at bilateral talks in Geneva last month, as a possible solution to the deadlock in the six-party process for ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions, according to the sources. The six countries involved in the process reached a breakthrough agreement last year under which North Korea promised to disable its key nuclear facilities and declare all its nuclear...

A video documentary series shot partly with hidden cameras by a film crew that ventured into North Korea posing as tourists reveals a closed cult society that revolves around the worship of the dictator, Kim Jong-Il. The series of videos was filmed and edited by crew members at an eclectic website called "Vice," described by Vanity Fair as a "purveyor of hipster style and nihilism." Although its home page contains "art" material that may be objectionable to family viewers, officials there have set up a special web page linking directly to the 14 episodes created

IN a cold sweat, I was led away by the jackbooted and armed North Korean border guards to a bleak side room. My crime was that I’d disobeyed strict orders and taken pictures of the Stalinist dictatorship’s long-suffering people and the ruthless military who keep them suppressed.

Seoul remains calm despite threats from N. Korea SEOUL, March 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea remained silent Monday to North Korea's provocative threats to turn everything in the country into ashes while officials at the Defense Ministry said they simply see no need to respond to what they called "unfortunate" rhetoric. The Defense Ministry was earlier expected to issue a statement, but ministry officials said they were still weighing their options. "It truly is unfortunate for North Korea to make such threats, but the government sees no need to be alarmed and make an immediate response," a ministry official said,...

North Korea testing South with jet fighters: report Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:07pm EDT By Jon Herskovitz SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean jet fighters have sortied close South Korea's airspace at least 10 times since conservative president Lee Myung-bak took office last month, prompting Seoul to scramble its own planes in response, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on Monday The flights add to a list of provocative gestures from the North since Lee's government warned Pyongyang that if it wants to keep receiving aid, it should improve human rights, abide by an international nuclear deal and start returning the more...

Syria got N. Korea help for N-facility 03/31/2008 BY NANAE KURASHIGE THE ASAHI SHIMBUN An Israeli airstrike against Syria last September targeted a nuclear-related facility that was under construction with technical assistance from North Korea, according to Israel's prime minister. Japanese government sources said over the weekend that the Israeli leader, Ehud Olmert, briefed Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda about the attack during summit talks in Tokyo on Feb. 27. It is apparently the first time that the intended target had been disclosed to the head of a foreign government. Previously, Jerusalem had only acknowledged it carried out the Sept. 6,...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea threatened South Korea with destruction Sunday after Seoul's top military officer said he would consider attacking the communist nation if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack. The statement from North Korea's official news agency marked the third straight day of bellicose rhetoric from the North, which is angry over the harsher line the South's new president has taken against the country since assuming office last month. "Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike," said an unidentified KCNA military commentator. "Everything will be in ashes, not just...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea's official news agency warned South Korea Sunday that the country's military would not "sit idle" until "warmongers" launched a pre-emptive strike. "Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire, if our advanced pre-emptive strike once begins," the North's Korean Central News agency said. The harsh rhetoric from an unidentified KCNA military commentator also warned that the North will suspend all scheduled inter-Korean dialogue unless Seoul retracts and apologizes for a remark by the new head of the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kim Tae-young told a parliamentary hearing Wednesday the...

TOKYO, March 28 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A man who appears to be a defector from North Korea took refuge at the Japanese Embassy in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Thursday, a Japanese government source confirmed Friday.

The expulsion of South Korean officials from the Kaesong Industrial Complex on March 27th, along with the test firing of short range missiles into the West Sea on March 28th is causing many in the South to ask questions. North Korea fired three Surface to Surface missiles with a range of 46km into the West Sea at 10:30 A.M. It has been 9 months since the test firing of the KN-02 missile with a 120km range, which occurred three times in May - June, 2007. This missile test appears to be general military training because the North Korean naval winter...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Thursday said that it was “deeply regrettable” that North Korea had ordered South Korea officials to leave its territory, but that South Korea was undaunted by the move. The predawn expulsion on Thursday followed an announcement on Wednesday by the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, that his government would not expand economic cooperation with North Korea unless it cooperated in dismantling its nuclear weapons programs

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - North Korea's number two leader ended a trip to Namibia, a leading uranium producer, on Sunday saying he would strengthen ties with the country. North Korea, under pressure to declare its nuclear programmes, and Namibia said they signed a memorandum of understanding on diplomatic consultations. Kim Yong-nam, president of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, started an African tour on Thursday in Namibia, the world's fifth-largest uranium miner. In a joint statement issued by Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba's office, the countries "expressed satisfaction" that their ties have grown. North Korea watchers said the search for business...

'Huge Food Shortage In North Korea' By Sky News SkyNews - Thursday, March 20 03:18 pmA dire food shortage across North Korea has become so acute it has started to affect the country's elite in the capital, Pyongyang, reports say. Aid agency Good Friends says food rations for some parts of the city have been cut by up to 60%, while others have seen their supplies cut off completely. Only citizens who show absolute loyalty to leader Kim Jong Il and his regime are allowed to live in Pyongyang and are considered better off than their fellow countrymen. But the...

PYONGYANG, March 22 (AP) - (Kyodo)—North Korea is aiming at winning more than 10 medals during the Beijing Olympics this summer, an official of the country's Olympic committee says. Jong Hae Man, vice director of the DPRK Olympic Committee's technique and training subcommittee, told Kyodo News that so far, about 50 athletes are training for 10 sports North Korea has qualified to compete in during the Summer Games. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. When asked about the number of medals North Korea will try to win, Jong said, "Our aim...

Countries around the world have expressed their support to the Chinese government on its handling of the recent riots in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region. A spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday strongly denounced the unsavory elements of their moves to seek "the independence of Tibet" and scuttle the upcoming Beijing Olympics. He expressed support to the Chinese government in its efforts to ensure social stability and the rule of law in Tibet and to defend the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people. A spokesman of Mongolia's...

Salvaging Our North Korea Policy.... By JOHN R. BOLTON There are signs, albeit small ones, that the Bush administration may be reaching the end of its patience with the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. These signs could prove illusory. But as it nears its end, the administration has a serious responsibility: It must not leave its successor with an ongoing, failed policy. At a minimum, President Bush should not bequeath to the next president only the burned-out hulk of the Six-Party Talks, and countless failed and violated North Korean commitments. Since they were conceived in spring 2003,...

03/12/2008 12:51 Kim Jong-il fears coup, strips military of power A North Korean government source says a major shift is underway in North Korea’s military-first policy. Decisions are overturned and funds for the armed forces are cut by 30 per cent to prevent the generals from taking over. Secret police is strengthened. Seoul (AsiaNews) – North Korea’s decades-old “military-first” policy is changing as the power of the Communist regime’s army is reduced in favour of the Ministry of People’s Security. Some experts suggest the shift is related to the ongoing battle over the succession to the ‘dear leader’ who fears...

Imagine 99 identical Barbie dolls in green Army fatigues and boots arrayed in parade rank before a crimson backdrop. It's an image of militaristic, monolithic power that pretty much sums up artist Mina Cheon's decidedly dim view of totalitarian rule. But in 99 Miss Kims (2005), on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery in the exhibit Mina Cheon: Addressing Dolls, Cheon marshals nearly 100 smaller-than-life doll figures as surrogates for the tense, larger-than-life human drama unfolding on the Korean peninsula. The piece is a not-so-veiled reference to the ideological and cultural regimentation imposed by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, and...

As we noted here and, I believe, elsewhere, it has been rumored that North Korean nuclear engineers have been sent to Syria to aid that country's nuclear weapons development program. Today, diplomatic sources confirmed that North Korean engineers and "materials" have, in fact, been dispatched to Syria: Read more at the link.

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

A little night music can soothe the savage beast, at least sometimes. This, alas, can give a well-meaning musician the idea that his tuba is mightier than his enemy's sword. Lorin Maazel, the musical director, boasted that his orchestra had thawed a cold war once before, with a concert in the old Soviet Union in 1959. After that it was inevitable that the Berlin Wall would come tumbling down. Mr. Maazel imagines that his Pyongyang concert was available to ordinary people, but the 2,500 men and women who filled every seat of the East Pyongyang Grand Theater were carefully chosen....

N. Korea invites Eric Clapton to play Pyongyang Feb. 26 2008 CTV.ca News Staff Musicians may be at the forefront in helping thaw diplomatic relations between North Korea and the international community. On the same day that the New York Philharmonic performed in the communist country, the North Korean embassy in London has confirmed reports that rock legend Eric Clapton has been officially invited to perform in the communist country. The North Korean president's son is apparently a big fan of Clapton's music. Clapton spokesperson Kristen Foster says the musician has not made any firm commitments. "Eric Clapton receives numerous...

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets China's top leaders in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss how to persuade North Korea to fully declare its nuclear programs as a step toward eliminating them. North Korea promised to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives in a 2005 agreement between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. However, the deal has been stymied by Pyongyang's failure to meet an end-2007 deadline to disclose its nuclear programs. A senior U.S. official said Rice hoped her Asian trip would act as...

Just happened a few hours ago in brutal communist North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.The New York Philharmonic. CLICK HERE, THEN UNDER THE SINGER'S PHOTO, HIT PLAYBe patient as it loads. May not be viewable on all PCs.

N Korea Fighter Jets Flew Record Number Of Missions Last Mo-AFP SEOUL (AFP)--North Korea's fighter jets flew a record number of daily missions during exercises last month despite a nationwide shortage of fuel, experts said Thursday. The jets staged more than 100 missions on a single day in January, breaking a 1995 record for daily sorties, according to a military official quoted by Yonhap news agency. He said the communist state, between the late 1990s and this winter, had refrained from major military drills - possibly because of a lack of fuel. "Despite its shortage of fuel, the North Korean...

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...