The Nation Newspaper

Tag: North Korea

  • Sony hack: North Korea threatens U.S.

    North Korea has threatened unspecified attacks on the US in an escalation of a war of words following the Sony Pictures cyber-attacks.

    In a fiery statement, the North warned of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and “the whole US mainland”.

    North Korea denies US claims it is behind cyber-attacks linked to a film that features the fictional killing of its leader Kim Jong-un.

    North Korea has a long history of issuing threats against the US.

    The latest statement comes days after the US formally accused the North of orchestrating a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

    “The army and people of the DPRK [North Korea] are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the US in all war spaces including cyber warfare space,” a long statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency said.

    “Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama.”

    It accused President Obama of “recklessly making the rumour” that North Korea was behind the Sony attack.

    It also said it “estimates highly the righteous action” taken by the hackers of Sony, although it is “not aware of where they are”.

    North Korea frequently uses fierce rhetoric against both South Korea and the United States so there’s no great step-up in fierceness. And it is for domestic consumption as well as for outsiders.

    The statement has weight because it comes from the most powerful body in North Korea, the National Defence Commission, which is chaired by Kim Jong-un.

    It has two arguments – essentially “we didn’t do it” and “whoever did do it was right”.

    The statement goes into some detail about the FBI argument that there were signs in the computer code that North Korea was behind the Sony attack. it said such lines of code are commonplace and do not prove any North Korean involvement.

    The hack resulted in unreleased films and the script for the next James Bond film being leaked online.

    Details of corporate finances and private emails between producers and Hollywood figures were also released.

    Sensitive emails and personal details about stars were revealed after the attack on Sony

    The eventual fallout from the attack saw Sony cancel the Christmas release of a comedy called The Interview, a film depicting the assassination of the North Korean leader.

    That decision followed threats made by a group that hacked into Sony’s servers and leaked sensitive information and emails.

    The North has denied being behind the attacks, and offered to hold a joint inquiry with the US.

  • North Korea conducts live-fire drill

    North Korea conducts live-fire drill

    North Korea has conducted a live-fire drill near the disputed maritime border, Seoul officials say, but no shells fell in South Korean waters.

    It is the second time in a month that Pyongyang has carried out such drills.

    Last time, the exercises led to an exchange of artillery fire between North and South Korea.

    But on this occasion, North Korea’s live rounds fell short of the disputed western sea border and so South Korea did not respond.

    “The North’s shells fell in waters about 3km (2 miles) north of the NLL [Northern Limit Line, the disputed border],” Yonhap news agency quoted a spokesman from the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff as saying.

    “The South Korean military is currently monitoring North Korean artillery units, while maintaining high military readiness.”

    South Korea’s defence ministry said it was notified early yesterday that drills would take place near islands west of the Korean peninsula.

    Firing began around 14:00 (05:00GMT), with around 50 shells fired at two locations, Yonhap said.

    The western sea border has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas. The UN drew the border after the Korean War, but North Korea has never recognised it.

    A similar North Korean exercise at the end of March resulted in the two sides exchanging hundreds of rounds of artillery fire, after South Korea said rounds landed in its territory.

    Border islands in the area where the exercises took place are also hotspots.

    Residents on all five islands were told to move to evacuation centres during the drill, Yonhap said.

    The live-fire drill also follows President Barack Obama’s visit to South Korea last week, which was strongly opposed by North Korea.

    Washington has led calls for Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

    In a statement on Monday, North Korea launched one of its strongest attacks on the South Korean leader, President Park Geun-hye, calling her a “despicable prostitute” who pandered to her “pimp”, Mr Obama.

    South Korea described the comments as “foul words”.

  • North Korea rejects Hitler report

    North Korea has blasted a report that its leader, Kim Jong-un, gave out copies of Adolf Hitler’s memoir Mein Kampf to officials on his birthday, BBC reports.

    The report, from a news website run by North Korean defectors, said that senior officials were given the book as a gift in January.

    North Korea has denounced the defectors as “human scum” and threatened to kill them.

    Nazi leader Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in 1924 while in prison.

    The book, which translates as My Struggle in English, outlines his early life and racist views.

    News portal New Focus International wrote the original report, citing an unnamed North Korean official in China.

    “Mentioning that Hitler managed to rebuild Germany in a short time following its defeat in WWI, Kim Jong-un issued an order for the Third Reich to be studied in depth and asked that practical applications be drawn from it,” the source reportedly said.

    North Korea’s Ministry of People’s Security, which is responsible for policing, issued an angry response which was carried by the country’s official news agency, KCNA.

    It dismissed the report as a “smear campaign” written by “a handful of human scum… moving desperately to deter [North Korea’s] progress”.

    The defectors were being used by South Korea and the United States, it went on.

    The ministry was determined to “physically remove [the] despicable human scum who are committing treason”, the statement added.

    The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

     

  • South, North Korea agree to high-level talks

    South and North Korea plan to seek closer contact through high-level talks this week after months of escalating tension, according to officials on Monday in Seoul.

    Representatives from the two sides agreed on Monday to meet during a working session in the border location

    of Panmunjom, according to South Korea’s unification ministry.

    The planned talks are to take place on Wednesday and Thursday in Seoul.

    The deal was the result of negotiations lasting almost 17 hours.

    It was not clear who North Korea would send, a spokeswoman said.

    South Korea is to be represented by Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl Jae. Seoul originally proposed a ministerial-level meeting.

    Tensions have been high between North Korea and South Korea and its ally the U.S. since North Korea carried out its third nuclear test on Feb. 12.

    The test triggered condemnation from the international community and resulted in more sanctions against the

    reclusive state.

  • American jailed 15 years in North Korea

    American jailed 15 years in North Korea

    North Korea sentenced U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour on Thursday for what it said were crimes against the state.

    It said a move that will likely see him as a bargaining chip in talks with the Washington.

    Bae 44, was born in South Korea but is a naturalised American citizen and attended the University of Oregon.

    According to U.S. media, he recently lived in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood.

    A North Korean defector said Bae will likely serve his sentence in a special facility for foreigners, not in one of the repressive state forced labour camps.

    More than 200,000 people are incarcerated in these camps, beaten and starved, sometimes to death, according to human rights bodies.

    Bae’s sentencing comes after two months of saber-rattling by Pyongyang that saw North Korea threaten both in the  U.S. and South Korea with nuclear war.

    Bae is believed to be a devout Christian, according to human rights activists in South Korea, who say he may have  been arrested for taking pictures of starving children, known as “kotjebi’’ or fluttering swallows.

    He was part of a group of five tourists who visited the northeastern pary of North Korean city of Rajin in November  and has been held since then.

    Some media reports have identified Bae as the leader of the tour group and NK News, a specialist North Korea news Website, said he was the owner of a company called Nation Tours that specialised in tours of north-eastern part of  North Korea.

    The reports could not be verified and North Korean state news agency KCNA did not list any specific charge other than crimes against the state, and used a Korean rendering of Bae’s name, Pae Jun-ho, when it reported the Supreme Court ruling.

    “North Korea has shown their intention to use him as a negotiating card as they have done in the past,’’ said Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based think-tank.

    Bae’s sentence was heftier than the 12 years handed down to two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, in 2009. It took a visit to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton to secure their release.

    North Korea appears to use the release of high profile American prisoners to extract a form of personal tribute, rather than for economic or diplomatic gain, often portraying visiting dignitaries as paying homage.

    According to North Korean law, the punishment for hostile acts against the state is between five and 10 years imprisonment with hard labour.

    “I think his sentencing was heavy. North Korea seemed to consider his acts more severe,’’ said Jang Myung-bong, honourary professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and a North Korea law expert.

    North Korea is one of the most isolated states on earth. Its official policy of “Juche’’ or self-reliance is a fusion of Marxism, extreme nationalism and self sufficiency centred on the cult of the ruling Kim family.

    Bae will not however be incarcerated in one of the North’s notorious slave labour camps, such as the one where defector Kwon Hyo-jin was locked up. There, Kwon said, prisoners were worked to death and often survived only by eating rats and snakes.

    “If an American served jail together with North Korean inmates, which won’t happen, he could tell them about capitalism or economic developments. That would be the biggest mistake for North Korea,’’ said Kwon, a North Korean sentenced to one of its camps for seven years until 2007.

    He defected to South Korea in 2009.

    “Bae would be sent to a correctional facility that only houses foreigners which was set up as a model for international human rights groups,“’It was not known if Bae had been taken immediately to jail.”

    Ling, the journalist, told U.S. television that she was placed in a five by six foot cell when captured and then kept in a regular room afterwards.

    Bae was given counsel by the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which has consistently declined to comment on the case, as the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with the North.

  • U.S urges China to ‘rein in’ North Korea

    U.S urges China to ‘rein in’ North Korea

    The United States said it is urging China to use all its leverage to help rein in North Korea’s “destabilising” actions.

    U.S Secretary of State John Kerry is in South Korea, where he is expected to call on China to evoke “a sense of urgency” in its talks with the North.

    Pyongyang has ratcheted up tensions in the region, threatening nuclear strikes against South Korea and the U.S.

    A leaked U.S intelligence report has said the North may now be capable of mounting nuclear warheads on a missile.

    On Thursday, a U.S Congressman read out what he said was an unclassified section of a Defense Intelligence Agency study.

    He said it assessed “with moderate confidence” that the North could fire a nuclear-armed missile, though with “low reliability.”

    BBC reports that the North has tested both nuclear weapons and missiles, but it had been thought it had not yet developed a device small enough to be a viable and deliverable weapon.

     

  • U.S urges China to ‘rein in’ North Korea

    U.S urges China to ‘rein in’ North Korea

    The United States said it is urging China to use all its leverage to help rein in North Korea’s “destabilising” actions.

    U.S Secretary of State John Kerry is in South Korea, where he is expected to call on China to evoke “a sense of urgency” in its talks with the North.

    Pyongyang has ratcheted up tensions in the region, threatening nuclear strikes against South Korea and the U.S.

    A leaked U.S intelligence report has said the North may now be capable of mounting nuclear warheads on a missile.

    On Thursday, a U.S Congressman read out what he said was an unclassified section of a Defense Intelligence Agency study.

    He said it assessed “with moderate confidence” that the North could fire a nuclear-armed missile, though with “low reliability.”

    BBC reports that the North has tested both nuclear weapons and missiles, but it had been thought it had not yet developed a device small enough to be a viable and deliverable weapon.

     

  • Korea, Syria high on G-8 agenda

     

    The Korean and Syrian crises will be high on the agenda for foreign ministers from the G-8 group of nations, as their talks began in London.

    BBC says Japan, present at the talks, is looking for a strong statement of solidarity over Korea.

    North Korea has been making bellicose threats against South Korea, Japan and United States bases in the region.

    The foreign ministers will also debate the Syrian crisis and peace prospects in the Middle East.

    United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the ministers to Lancaster House on Thursday morning.

    He said: “We’ve got many issues to discuss today around the themes of conflict prevention and conflict resolution.

    “We are going to be discussing counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation – that will give us an opportunity to discuss the DPRK (North Korea) and Iran.”

    The Group of Eight nations comprises the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.

    Britain currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the G-8 and the talks are a prelude to the group’s annual summit later this year in Northern Ireland.

     

  • The North Korea conundrum

    The North Korea conundrum

    Obama is reacting prudently. But Pyongyang’s belligerence doesn’t bode well for arms control.

    The Obama administration is reacting responsibly to a series of provocations from North Korea, shoring up defenses while seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis. But even if North Korea is deterred from attacking South Korea or U.S. forces for the foreseeable future, the defiance it has demonstrated in the last several weeks renders more elusive than ever achievement of the administration’s ultimate goal: a Korean peninsula without nuclear weapons.

    Last month the U.N. Security Council — including China, North Korea’s longtime patron — approved new economic sanctions after North Korea conducted a third nuclear test. Undeterred, the North announced Tuesday that it would restart a plutonium reactor it shuttered in 2007.

    The immediate concern for the United States and South Korea is a cascade of statements and actions by North Korea that threaten the military and political status quo on the Korean peninsula. North Korea insists that it’s responding to a threat posed by U.S. military aircraft that took part in recent training exercises; the real explanation for its bellicose actions is the ongoing campaign to deprive the North of nuclear weapons.

    The North has declared that it is entering a “state of war” with the South and has barred South Korean employees from an industrial park jointly operated by the two Koreas. As for the United States, the regime has announced that its military has been authorized to respond to U.S. aggression with “smaller, lighter and diversified” nuclear weapons. On Thursday, South Korea’s defense minister said that the North had moved to the east coast of the country a missile with a “considerable” range.

    Though few experts actually believe North Korea has any intention of attacking U.S. interests or South Korea, the U.S. responded by deploying two missile defense warships in the Pacific Ocean and will position missile defense systems in the U.S. territory of Guam. Such measures are prudent. Korea’s Kim Jong Un has only been in power for a little more than a year, and it would be irresponsible for the Obama administration to ignore his bold threats.

    Meanwhile, the Obama administration is attempting to enlist China in an effort to calm the situation, enforce the sanctions and up the pressure on its North Korean ally. That’s the best option, to be sure; China, after all, keeps Kim’s regime afloat with food and energy supplies. Unfortunately, similar entreaties by this and other American administrations have proved largely unsuccessful over the years because China has many strategic reasons to continue to support the status quo.

    Even if the current crisis is brought to a quick end, it demonstrates how determined North Korea is to establish itself as a nuclear power, an ambition that if accomplished could lead not only South Korea but Japan to consider acquiring nuclear weapons. That is why the United States must continue to try to engage North Korea in an agreement in which it would trade its nuclear program for aid and normal relations. Unfortunately, the events of the last few weeks suggest that there is little interest in such an agreement in Pyongyang.

    Los Angeles Times

  • North Korea to restart nuclear reactor in weapons bid

    North Korea to restart nuclear reactor in weapons bid

    North Korea announced plans on Tuesday to restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that has been closed since 2007, but emphasized it was seeking a deterrent capacity, the state-owned KCNA news agency said.

    It also stated that North Korea did not repeat recent threats to attack South Korea and the U.S.

    The state-owned KCNA news agency said North Korea would restart all nuclear facilities for both electricity and military uses.

    The announcement came amid soaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the U.S. bolstered its forces in the region after a series of threats by Pyongyang to attack U.S. bases in the Pacific and to invade South Korea.

    North Korea, one of the most isolated and unpredictable states in the world, conducted its third nuclear test in February but is believed to be some years away from developing nuclear weapons, although it claims to have a deterrent.

    A speech by the North’s young leader Kim Jong-un, delivered on Sunday but published in full by KCNA on Tuesday, appeared to dial down the prospects of a direct confrontation with the U.S. as he stressed that nuclear weapons would ensure the country’s safety as a deterrent.

    “Our nuclear strength is a reliable war deterrent and a guarantee to protect our sovereignty,” Kim said.

    “It is on the basis of a strong nuclear strength that peace and prosperity can exist and so can the happiness of people’s lives.”

    Kim’s speech, delivered to the central committee meeting of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, appeared to signal a small shift from threats against South Korea and the U.S., but it was some distance from any kind of end to the crisis.

    “The fact that this (speech) was made at the party central committee meeting, which is

     

    the highest policy-setting organ, indicates an attempt to highlight economic problems and shift the focus from security to the economy,” said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

    But if Pyongyang follows through with its plan to restart the nuclear facilities, it will have longer-term security implications for the region.

    Reactivating the aged Soviet-era reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear plant will produce plutonium, a tested path to acquire more fissile material than a uraniumn enrichment programme.

    It was unclear how quickly the Yongbyon plant, whose cooling tower was destroyed as part of a de-nuclearisation deal, would take to restart and it was impossible to verify whether it was still connected to North Korea’s antiquated electricity grid at all.

    “It was a reactor that was nearing obsolescence with a cooling tower that wasn’t functioning properly when it was blown up. It could mean they’ve been rebuilding quite a few things,” said Yoo Ho-yeol, North Korea specialist at Korea University in Seoul.

    The move to restart the reactor comes as a big blow to China’s stated aim of restarting de-nuclearisation talks on the Korean peninsula, prompting a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing to express regret at the decision.

    As well as restarting the 5MW reactor at Yongbyon, the North’s only known source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme, KCNA said a uranium enrichment plant would also be put back into operation.

    The nuclear plant’s output would be used to solve what KCNA termed an “acute shortage of electricity” and to bolster “the nuclear armed force”.

    After being hit with U.S. sanctions for conducting the February nuclear test and what it has viewed as “hostile” military drills being staged by Seoul and Washington in the South, Pyongyang had threatened a nuclear strike on the U.S., missile strikes on its Pacific bases and war with South Korea.

    Washington, which has said it has not seen any evidence of hostile North Korean troop moves, deployed a warship off the Korean coast overnight.

    The U.S. earlier bolstered forces staging joint drills with South Korea with Stealth fighters and has made bomber overflights in a rare show of strength.

    Much of the rhetoric that has come from Pyongyang in recent weeks has been a repeat of previous bouts of anger, but the length and intensity has been new, leading to concerns that the tensions could spiral into clashes.

    In Washington, the White House has said the U.S.takes North Korea’s war threats seriously.

    However, the White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday: “I would note that in spite of the harsh rhetoric we are hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as large-scale mobilisations and positioning of forces.”

    A U.S. defence official said on Monday the USS McCain, an Aegis-class guided-missile destroyer used for ballistic missile defense, was positioned off the peninsula’s southwestern coast.

    It was not immediately clear where the ship was on Tuesday.

    In Pyongyang, the party congress meeting and a subsequent assembly of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament reiterated the usual anti-American rhetoric and criticised South Korea, but the mood appeared to have changed.

    The pariah state has once again started emphasising economic development as it shifts to the major April 15 celebration of the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current ruler.

    For the young Kim, it appears that cementing control of the party and state had now taken top priority as well as improving living standards in a country whose economy is smaller than it was 20 years ago, according to external assessments.

    Kim appointed a handful of personal confidants to the party’s politburo, further consolidating his grip on power in the second full year of his reign.

    Former premier Pak Pong-ju, a key ally of the leadership dynasty, was re-appointed to the post from which he was fired in 2007 for failing to implement economic reforms.

    Pak, believed to be in his 70s, is viewed as a key confidant of Jang Song-thaek, the young Kim’s uncle and also a protege of Kim’s aunt. Pak is viewed as a pawn in a power game that has seen Jang and his wife re-assert power over military leaders.