North Korea

[cyclone]

Moon Warns North Korea Against Provoking During Military Drills

By Seyoon Kim  and Kanga Kong
August 21, 2017, 12:12 PM GMT+8

South Korean President Moon Jae-in warned North Korea not to use his nation’s latest round of annual military drills with the U.S. as an excuse for any further provocations.

The drills “are not aimed at raising military tensions on the Korean peninsula at all,” Moon said in a Cabinet meeting on Monday. “North Korea should never distort our efforts to maintain peace and use them to justify any provocative action to worsen the situation.”

The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military exercises routinely spark condemnation from North Korea. During last year’s drills, North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a submarine and put its military on the highest alert. The state-run Korean Central News Agency last week called them “reckless saber-rattling” and warned that they could spark an accidental war.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ary-drills

[karlmarx]

NK continues to push the boundaries. Almost as if they are asking for conflict. The probability increases with each inch of provocation they make.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ays-yonhap

Or is this a game of brinkmanship to get US/SK/Japan to agree to their terms?

[BlueKelah]

Pakistan managed to develop their own nuclear missiles despite much protest in the past. So long as NK doesnt attack anyone, the americans also cant do anything.

China on the other hand has managed to build military installations in the disputed south china sea.

What can usa do?

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

[weijian]

Pakistan managed to develop their own nuclear missiles despite much protest in the past. So long as NK doesnt attack anyone, the americans also cant do anything.

China on the other hand has managed to build military installations in the disputed south china sea.

What can usa do?

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

The default action is probably "do nothing", which is coincidentally the easiest thing to do (inertia) - and also the highest probability event.

[cyclone]

North Korea Slams `Evil' Sanctions, Vows Faster Nuclear Push

By Kanga Kong
September 13, 2017, 7:54 AM GMT+8 September 13, 2017, 11:10 AM GMT+8

North Korea rejected the latest round of United Nations sanctions on the isolated state, and vowed to accelerate its plans to acquire a nuclear weapon that can strike the U.S. homeland.

In its first official response to the new resolution, North Korea’s foreign ministry released a statement on state-run media saying the sanctions justified its nuclear push and strengthened its will to “follow this road at a faster pace without the slightest diversion until this fight to the finish is over.”

“The adoption of another illegal and evil ‘resolution on sanctions’ piloted by the U.S. served as an occasion for the DPRK to verify that the road it chose to go down was absolutely right,” the ministry said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. “The DPRK will redouble the efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and right to existence,” KCNA said, using the country’s formal name.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-sanctions

[cyclone]

North Korea Threatens to Use Nuclear Weapon to 'Sink' Japan

By Andy Sharp
September 14, 2017, 10:34 AM GMT+8

North Korea made an explicit threat to use a nuclear weapon to sink Japan, in remarks that further crank up heightened tensions in North Asia.

“The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche,” North Korea’s state-run news said Thursday, citing a statement by a spokesman for the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee that referred to the country’s philosophy of self-reliance. “Japan is no longer needed to exist near us.”

Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s top government spokesman, told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday that North Korea’s latest threat was an abominable provocation.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...sink-japan

[weijian]

A good read from a journalist who visited North Korea recently


The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/...orth-korea

[cyclone]

North Korean Hack of U.S. War Plans Shows Off Cyber Skills

By Kanga Kong , Sam Kim , and David Tweed
October 11, 2017, 12:12 PM GMT+8 Updated on October 11, 2017, 2:42 PM GMT+8

The techno soldiers of Kim Jong Un are growing more aggressive in defending North Korea’s supreme leader against threats from Donald Trump and South Korea.

The country’s hackers stole military plans developed by the U.S. and South Korea last year that included a highly classified “decapitation strike” against the North Korean leader, according to a South Korean lawmaker. The plans were devised as the regime in Pyongyang steps up nuclear tests and fired long-range missiles toward the Pacific Ocean.

The episode shows North Korea’s progress in infiltrating computer systems around the world three years after its hackers allegedly pilfered documents from Sony Corp. in retaliation for the film, “The Interview.” If Kim’s cyber warriors have indeed stolen the top-secret intelligence, it raises alarms about the security of U.S.-South Korea information and the effectiveness of potential military options.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ber-skills

[BlueKelah]

North Korean Hack of U.S. War Plans Shows Off Cyber Skills

By Kanga Kong , Sam Kim , and David Tweed
October 11, 2017, 12:12 PM GMT+8 Updated on October 11, 2017, 2:42 PM GMT+8

The techno soldiers of Kim Jong Un are growing more aggressive in defending North Korea’s supreme leader against threats from Donald Trump and South Korea.

The country’s hackers stole military plans developed by the U.S. and South Korea last year that included a highly classified “decapitation strike” against the North Korean leader, according to a South Korean lawmaker. The plans were devised as the regime in Pyongyang steps up nuclear tests and fired long-range missiles toward the Pacific Ocean.

The episode shows North Korea’s progress in infiltrating computer systems around the world three years after its hackers allegedly pilfered documents from Sony Corp. in retaliation for the film, “The Interview.” If Kim’s cyber warriors have indeed stolen the top-secret intelligence, it raises alarms about the security of U.S.-South Korea information and the effectiveness of potential military options.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ber-skills

No matter how you hack the USA, if they wanna bomb you via drones / aircraft carrier / etc.. there really is nothing much you can do. 

Trump is pretty lock and loaded at the moment. Bigger issue is actually China. Who knows maybe the north korean hackers are aided by their communist friends from other countries. Russia is also very famous for all the latest hacks and cracks.

[cyclone]

North Korea's economy may not survive another year, defector says

By: Evelyn Cheng
Published October 17, 2017

North Korea is so weak its economy might not last long under tough United Nations sanctions, a high-ranking defector said Monday in his first public speaking engagement in the U.S.

The former insider's view of dictator Kim Jong Un's oppressive regime comes just as North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador stepped up the tough talk. "Nuclear war may break out any moment," Kim In Ryong said Monday.

But North Korea may just be bluffing.

"I don't know if North Korea will survive a year [under] sanctions. Many people will die," said Ri Jong Ho, a former senior North Korean economic official. He was speaking through a translator at the Asia Society in New York.

"There is not enough to eat there" and the sanctions have "completely blocked" trade, he said, forcing the government to send tens of thousands of laborers overseas. Ordinary North Korean households have no electricity, he added, while the capital city only gets three to four hours a day.

More details in https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/north-ko...-says.html