Free Republic

N. Korea conducts ejection launcher test for submarine missile: report 2014/11/22 03:48 WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has conducted a test of an ejection launcher that helps fire missiles from submarines in a sign that the communist nation is making progress in its efforts to develop a submarine-based ballistic missile, a news report said Friday. The land-based test simulated the initial stage of boosting a missile out of a submarine launch tube and is a sign that the rogue state is moving ahead with plans for underwater missile strike capabilities for a future nuclear-tipped missile, the Washington Free...

North Korean linked to Kim Jong-un's purged uncle 'goes missing' in Paris Kim Jong-un's secret agents strike in Paris, reports say, as North Korean architecture student whose father was close to dictator's uncle goes missing By Henry Samuel, Paris 5:44PM GMT 21 Nov 2014 Comments4 Comments The son of an aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle has gone missing in Paris, sparking speculation that secret agents tried to kidnap him to spirit him back to the Communist nation. Referred to only by his surname Han, the architecture student went missing two weeks ago, raising concerns for his safety....

Russian FM: Putin ready for summit with N.K. leader Published : 2014-11-21 09:28 Updated : 2014-11-21 09:28 Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Moscow's top diplomat said Thursday after holding talks with Kim's special envoy. Russia confirmed that it is ready for contact with North Korea at various levels, including the highest level, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency whether his discussions with the North's special envoy, Choe Ryong-hae, included the possibility of Kim's visit to Russia. Lavrov also said that the...

20 November 2014 Last updated at 04:44 North Korea responds to UN with nuclear test threat North Korea has threatened to conduct a nuclear test in response to a United Nations move towards a probe into the country's human rights violations. Its foreign ministry on Thursday accused the United States of orchestrating a recent UN resolution calling for the investigation. North Korea previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Its threat comes as new satellite images emerge indicating fresh activity at a North Korean nuclear facility. A UN human rights committee on Tuesday passed a resolution calling on...

(2nd LD) NK special envoy set to meet Putin 2014/11/18 18:36 MOSCOW, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's special envoy later Tuesday, an official from Putin's office said. Choe Ryong-hae, the Workers' Party of Korea secretary, "is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on President Putin at 5 p.m. today," the Kremlin official told Yonhap News Agency. The public affairs office of the Kremlin later confirmed the planned meeting. Putin plans to have a closed-door meeting with Choe and there will be no press availability, it said. Choe is widely...

Kim Jong-un abandoning Xi Jinping to chase Putin Staff Reporter 2014-11-18 15:11 (GMT+8) Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. (Internet photo) North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un appears to be switching his diplomatic focus from China to Russia and is attempting to line up a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, reports Duowei News, a Chinese political news outlet based overseas. The 31-year-old dictator, who has reappeared on the scene following a mysterious health-related absence, sent his special envoy Choe Ryong-hae to Moscow on Monday for an eight-day trip with undisclosed intentions, according to a report from South...

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un to Visit Moscow and Meet Putin By Gopi Chandra Kharel November 14, 2014 14:56 IST North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is sending a special envoy to Russia next week before his own possible visit to Moscow, reports from Russia, China and the Korean peninsula suggested on Friday. Kim plans to send a top Communist Party official to Russia next week as his special envoy, according to Moscow's foreign ministry. But this official North Korean trip is likely to be a prelude to a visit to Moscow by the North Korean leader himself, some observers in...

150,000 N.Koreans Sent to Slave Labor Abroad The international media have put the spotlight on thousands of North Koreans sent to labor on building sites abroad in conditions of virtual slavery. Extensive reports in the Guardian and the Financial Times have found that the North Korean regime pockets practically all the money they earn racing against time to build the World Cup facilities in Qatar and elsewhere. They are involved in construction of the 86,000-seat main stadium for the 2022 World Cup, a top-class hotel complex and two golf courses in Lusail, a new planned city 20 km north of...

Kim Jong-un accountable for massive human rights atrocities, says UN Comments by special rapporteur in North Korea are strongest yet about supreme leader’s responsibility for abuses Reuters in Seoul The Guardian, Thursday 13 November 2014 08.30 GMT A UN investigator has said there is enough evidence to hold North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accountable for “massive” human rights atrocities committed by the state. The comments by Marzuki Darusman, special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, are some of the strongest yet from the UN about Kim’s responsibility for what they say are widespread abuses. A UN inquiry concluded in...

Russia To Revamp North Korea's Rail System, Eyes Mineral Resources By Michelle FlorCruz  October 30 2014 2:07 PM Russia and North Korea are considering a deal that would allow Russia access to the pariah nation’s mineral resources. Moscow reported that in exchange for access to the North’s mineral-rich lands, Russia would invest $25 billion into revamping the country’s dated railway network. According to Russia’s state-run Rossiskaya Gazeta, which quoted Russia’s minister for development of Far Eastern Russia, Alexander Galushka, the project would take on the task of updating roughly 3,000 km, or about 1,875 miles, of the North’s railroads...

(LEAD) S. Korea fires warning shots at N. Korean soldiers approaching border 2014/11/10 16:58 SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korean troops fired warning shots Monday after a North Korean patrol approached the tensely guarded land border that separates the rival countries, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday. No exchange of fire, however, took place between the two Koreas, as the North Korean soldiers moved away from the military demarcation line (MDL) without firing back, according to the JCS. "Some 10 North Korean soldiers came close to the military demarcation line (MDL) in the northern city of Paju...

White House: No diplomatic outreach in Clapper’s visit to North Korea By Kyle Balluck - 11/09/14 06:30 AM EST Director of National Intelligence James Clapper went to North Korea with the “sole purpose” of obtaining the release of Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller, according to a senior administration official. The official spoke to reporters traveling with President Obama early Sunday morning before Air Force One took off for the president’s Asia trip. “It was not to pursue any diplomatic opening,” the official said, according to a pool reporter, adding that Clapper was selected for the secret mission because...

U.S. citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller have been released from North Korea, where they were detained for two years and seven months, respectively, the U.S. State Department announced Saturday.

France, Israel and Saudi Arabia confront an administration conducting a make-believe foreign policy. When the history of the Obama administration's foreign policy is written 20 or so years from now, the career of Wendy Sherman, our chief nuclear negotiator with Iran, will be instructive. In 1988, the former social worker ran the Washington office of the Dukakis campaign and worked at the Democratic National Committee. That was the year the Massachusetts governor carried 111 electoral votes to George H.W. Bush's 426. In the mid-1990s, Ms. Sherman was briefly the CEO of something called the Fannie Mae Foundation, supposedly a charity...

/begin my excerpts [Between Seoul and Pyongyang: by Ju Sung-ha] Details on the Attempted Assassination of Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang 2014-11-04 03:00:00 A picture on Nov. 3,2012, the day of assassination attempt. Everybody is laughing, following Kim Jong-un, but only Jang Song-thaek (on the left of Kim) is not, holding his hands back and staring forward. From N. Korea’s Central TV.Attempt on Kim Jong-un’s life occurred in Pyongyang, two years ago, on Nov. 3, 2012 Kim Jong-un’s schedule on the day included the tour of Ryu-kyong-won, a multipurpose recreation facility, people’s outdoor skating rinks, and roller-skating rinks, which were nearing...

North Korea leader on TV without cane but still limping in sign of recovery SEOUL Thu Nov 6, 2014 8:38am EST (Reuters) - North Korea's state television showed leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday walking with a limp but without a cane in the clearest indication yet that he was recovering from an unconfirmed health problem that had kept him sidelined for more than a month.

North operates new uranium plant Four to five weapons can be made yearly with the enriched fuel Nov 05,2014 Google Earth satellite images of the Yongbyon nuclear complex in North Korea. A new plant producing weapons-grade uranium in the complex has doubled its capacity, according to a senior South Korean official. North Korea has started operating a new plant to produce weapons-grade uranium, doubling its capability to make fuel for atomic bombs, a senior South Korean official told the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday. “In 2012, the North started building a new facility next to its old uranium plant, about 120 meters...

Korea: Paranoia In High Places November 3, 2014: In North Korea it appears that another ten senior officials were recently executed for corruption. The ten had disappeared from view in September. The charges also included viewing videos of South Korean TV shows, but the main charge was stealing money meant for the state. Even more officials were sent to labor camps, where is a slight chance they may later be “rehabilitated” and returned to power. So far this year Kim Jong Un has had at least fifty senior officials executed and over 200 demoted and some of these were sent...

N. Korea launches ballistic missile submarine: gov't sources 2014/11/02 08:00 SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has launched a new submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, military and government sources in Seoul said Sunday, raising further concerns over the North's evolving missile and nuclear threats. The communist country "imported a Soviet-era Golf-class diesel submarine and modified it," a government source said on condition of anonymity. The Soviet vessel was built in 1958 and decommissioned in 1990. "The new submarine is 67 meters long with a beam of 6.6 meters, and has a dived displacement in the 3,000-ton range," the...

Kim Jong Un unhappy with construction of new airport terminal Recent field guidance continues state media trend of showing Kim's hands-on leadership November 1st, 2014 Justin Rohrlich North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed dissatisfaction during a recent inspection of the construction of Terminal 2 at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday. Construction at the airport, which has been undergoing renovations since 2011, will now be halted while modified designs for the interior are prepared. “Defects were manifested in the last phase of the construction of the Terminal 2 because the designers failed to...