North Korea (Superthread)

[Edward Campbell]

The red's would love that. No more defections. The PRC already send refugee/defectors back knowing that they and their families will be executed. These arent nice people.

The PRC sends back official defectors, usually military personnel/border guards* - I think that they assume that 99% are double agents of one sort or another. There is a fairly large NK refugee population in the PRC; illegal and very, very poor but not, usually, expelled/returned.

Up on the Yalu River, near Dandong, the Chinese (used to) gather to watch the North Koreans; some Chinese would throw wrapped food and cigarettes into the river just to watch the NK soldiers/guards dive for the "treats." Sad.


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*They being the only North Koreans who can get close (2 km, I think) to the border.


Edit: grammar  :-[

 

[Edward Campbell]

This report, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Shanghaist web site, would be considered idle gossip except for the fact, and it is a fact, that the North Koreans have sent assassins to China before and have kidnapped people from China:

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/11/16/kim_jong-ils_son_reappears_in_singa.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Kim Jong-il's son reappears in Singapore one year after fleeing Macau

Kim Jong-nam
Source: Shanghaist

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of late dictator Kim Jong-il, who reportedly fled Macau, where he had been living for a number of years, when his younger brother assumed control of North Korea, has reappeared in Singapore.

Jong-nam, who had been living in the Special Administrative Region for a number of years, ostensibly under the protection of the Chinese government, fled in January, allegedly due to a fear that his brother, Kim Jong-un, would try to have him assassinated in order to shore up his control of the tiny kleptocracy.

In October, South Korean authorities indicted a North Korean agent for violating the National Security Law. Prosecutors said Kim Yong-su had been ordered by the North Korean regime to travel to China in July 2010 to kidnap Kim Jong-nam.

Kim Yong-su has reportedly confessed to planning to bribe a Chinese taxi driver to drive into Kim Jong-nam and disguise it as an accident and claim diplomatic immunity to get him back to North Korea.
The Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim Jong-nam moved to Singapore because his apartments in Macau were known to the media and North Korean agents. He opted to settle in Singapore as it is easy for him to travel to Europe, where his 17-year-old son is a student at an international college in Bosnia. His wife, Lee Hye-kyong and his daughter, 13, are believed to still be living in Macau.

Since falling out of favour with his father in 2003, Jong-nam has consistently tried to present himself as a reformer, claiming that it was his liberal ideals, rather than the embarrassment he caused the regime with the Disneyland incident, that caused him to lose his place in the succession. It is debatable however, how much Jong-nam's apparent appetite for reform is his merely parroting lines he knows his hosts, particularly China, want to hear.

Singapore is a very secure place because Singaporeans are, broadly, very law abiding. I don't know how well equipped Singapore will be to confront the kind of thugs North Korea has, in the past, despatched to China. The Chinese have, I believe, routinely killed North Korean agents found in China and suspected to be on a mission to kill or kidnap North Koreans in China; I doubt the Singaporeans are mentally/morally/legally equipped to do that sort of thing.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Bond-style weapons carried by North Korean assassin unveiled
An innocent-looking arsenal of lethal spy gadgets has been unveiled by officials in South Korea, although the dissident they were designed to kill continues his efforts to destroy the North Korean regime.
Footage of three weapons that were found on a North Korean assassin when he was arrested on the platform of a subway in Seoul in September 2011 were shown on CNN on Monday.

The weapons, which would not be out of place in a James Bond film, included what at first glance appears to be a black torch with a wrist strap and the word "police" along one side. Upon closer inspection, however, one end has three holes and each contains a bullet, with a trigger mechanism in the body of the torch.

Two of the bullets remain in the weapon, which military authorities in the South said they have never seen before. Tests have shown that the flashlight-gun was accurate and the projectile was able to penetrate deep into a mattress from a distance of 16 feet, meaning it would have been lethal at short range.

The two other weapons found on the assassin, identified only by his family name of An, were an ordinary-looking ballpoint pen that contained a poison-tipped needle, while another pen was capable of firing a small projectile coated in a poisonous chemical. As little as 10 milligrams of the poison is reportedly sufficient to cause breathing problems and potentially heart failure.

The assassin had arranged to meet Park Sang-Hak in Seoul and prosecutors believe he had been ordered to kill the outspoken human rights activist.

rest of article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9704846/Bond-style-weapons-carried-by-North-Korean-assassin-unveiled.html

 

[jollyjacktar]

Chinese newspaper has a 55 page photo Kim Jong issue after getting burned by The Onion.  ;D

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239298/The-Onion-fools-Chinese-newspaper-Kim-Jong-sexiest-man-alive-headline.html

 

[busconductor]

One of my Korean colleagues in the workplace were discussing politics in North Korea when I asked him if "North Korea's mass importation of foreign products and production of cell phones for sale to their citizens (or their market socialism) a complete surrender to capitalism. He said, "energy and transportation are owned by the state. How can  it be capitalist but socialist".. They will never surrender to a system where the law of supply and demand is irrefutably valid. My 1 cennt opinion and with due respect.

 

[cupper]

One of my Korean colleagues in the workplace were discussing politics in North Korea when I asked him if "North Korea's mass importation of foreign products and production of cell phones for sale to their citizens (or their market socialism) a complete surrender to capitalism. He said, "energy and transportation are owned by the state. How can  it be capitalist but socialist".. They will never surrender to a system where the law of supply and demand is irrefutably valid. My 1 cennt opinion and with due respect.

Huh?

 

[a_majoor]

The DPRK has finally demonstrated they can launch a long range rocket. Infographic on the National Post here:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/12/north-koreas-unha-3-long-range-rocket-graphic/

This does not mean they can launch rockets at will, and their rather spectactular failures to date indicate that this rocket must have been hand built with the personal attention of every qualified person in the DPRK, rather than being built on a factory basis like most American, Russian, Chinese and European rockets.

 

[Edward Campbell]

US officials have told NBC News that the North Korean spacecraft (type still undetermined) is "spinning out of control."

 

[wildman0101]

Sinning out of control.. Oh Great. And where might it come down? When,,,Why,,Where. I seem to remember
my history bout the German's,, Heavy Water,,, V-2 Rocket's,, Next ICBM,, Uranium ... Close to having an A-Bomb. If it wasn't for our operation's Special Force's both men and woman Plus the bombing,,, ect. Other
we as Canada know i would'nt be here today. N/K is one freaky nation.  Just my thought's. Scoty B

 

[a_majoor]

Sinning out of control..

OK, the Pope is on it now..

 

[cupper]

OK, the Pope is on it now..

The man is technosavy, since he just started posting on Twitter.  :facepalm:

(Can you go to hell for face palming the Pope?)

 

[Edward Campbell]

The Straits Times is reporting, via AFP that the NK satellite appears dead ~ no radio signals.

 

[57Chevy]

                                                    Article shared with provisions of The Copyright Act

North Korea to target U.S. with nuclear, rocket tests
Reuters
By Ju-min Park and Choonsik Yoo, 24 Jan

North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".

The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction North Korea for a rocket launch in December that breached U.N. rules.

"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defence Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA.

North Korea is believed by South Korea and other observers to be "technically ready" for a third nuclear test, and the decision to go ahead rests with leader Kim Jong-un who pressed ahead with the December rocket launch in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

China, the one major diplomatic ally of the isolated and impoverished North, agreed to the U.S.-backed resolution and it also supported resolutions in 2006 and 2009 after Pyongyang's two earlier nuclear tests.

Thursday's statement by North Korea represents a huge challenge to Beijing as it undergoes a leadership transition with Xi Jinping due to take office in March.

China's Foreign Ministry called for calm and restraint and a return to six-party talks, but effectively singled out North Korea, urging the "relevant party" not to take any steps that would raise tensions.

"We hope the relevant party can remain calm and act and speak in a cautious and prudent way and not take any steps which may further worsen the situation," ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular press briefing.

"We hope the relevant party can remain calm and act and speak in a cautious and prudent way and not take any steps which may further worsen the situation," ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular press briefing.

North Korea has rejected proposals to restart the talks aimed at reining in its nuclear capacity. The United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas are the six parties involved.

"After all these years and numerous rounds of six-party talks we can see that China's influence over North Korea is actually very limited. All China can do is try to persuade them not to carry out their threats," said Cai Jian, an expert on Korea at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Analysts said the North could test as early as February as South Korea prepares to install a new, untested president or that it could choose to stage a nuclear explosion to coincide with former ruler Kim Jong-il's Feb 16 birthday.

"North Korea will have felt betrayed by China for agreeing to the latest U.N. resolution and they might be targeting (China) as well (with this statement)," said Lee Seung-yeol, senior research fellow at Ewha Institute of Unification Studies in Seoul.

U.S. URGES NO TEST (continues at link)

 

[a_majoor]

While the DPRK is only marginally capable of creating rockets to threaten the United States, it would be folly to suggest that the US (or anyone else, for that matter) rely on China to control the DPRK. The Chinese have their own agenda, and having the DPRK to use as a cat's paw to distract and disrupt other powers operating in the region is probably much more attractive to the Chinese leadership than actually "controlling" the DPRK in any meaningful way.

The United States and her allies would be far better off continuing to isolate the DPRK (let China carry the whole cost of logistical support to the DPRK), while also perfecting technical means to neutralize or mitigate the effectiveness of North Korean rocketry. The ABM Squadron in Alaska is a good start, and more modern technical means from advanced sensors to ship born and airborne systems designed to intercept missiles can be developed and deployed in the region as well.

 

[GK .Dundas]

This report, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Shanghaist web site, would be considered idle gossip except for the fact, and it is a fact, that the North Koreans have sent assassins to China before and have kidnapped people from China:

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/11/16/kim_jong-ils_son_reappears_in_singa.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Singapore is a very secure place because Singaporeans are, broadly, very law abiding. I don't know how well equipped Singapore will be to confront the kind of thugs North Korea has, in the past, despatched to China. The Chinese have, I believe, routinely killed North Korean agents found in China and suspected to be on a mission to kill or kidnap North Koreans in China; I doubt the Singaporeans are mentally/morally/legally equipped to do that sort of thing.

Wait a minute the ....Disney Land Incident????  Ahh yes North Korea  the gift that keeps on giving! :rofl:

 

[57Chevy]

The Chinese have their own agenda

So does North Korea, or so it seems.
They want to go ahead and do they want, when they want, and how they want to go about doing it, whatever THAT may be.


N. Korea threatens South if it supports U.N. sanctions
Calum MacLeod, 25 Jan
USA Today

BEIJING — North Korea warned Friday it will take "strong physical countermeasures" against South Korea if Seoul takes part in United Nations sanctions aimed at punishing Pyongyang for the rocket launch.

"Sanctions mean war and a declaration of war against us," the Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

The threat comes a day after North Korea vowed Thursday to target the USA, its "sworn enemy," with a nuclear test and further long-range missile tests, as Pyongyang continued to reject a U.N. Security Council resolution that expanded sanctions against the already highly isolated nation.

South Korea said Friday it will not tolerate North Korean provocations but will continue to push for dialogue with Pyongyang, a special envoy to President-elect Park Geun Hye said after the North's top governing body declared it would continue atomic tests and rocket launches.

"President-elect Park makes it clear that North Korea's nuclear ambitions and further provocations against the South will not be tolerated," envoy Rhee In Je said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Article shared with provision of The Copyright Act
and continues at link...

 

[a_majoor]

All too true. The Chinese do not have total control over the DPRK, but since they have the logistical lifeline that keeps the state going, they have more control than the ROK, the United States or us, for that matter.

I strongly suspect that having the DPRK disrupt the region or draw attention to itself and away from other things is, to the Chinese leadership, something that outweighs the disadvantages of having the DPRK around.

 

[Edward Campbell]

There are disturbing reports in the media about continued famine, starvationsand even cannibalism in North Korea. Perhaps it is reminiscent of the great Chinese famine of 1958-62 in which tens of millions died. It is, almost certainly, caused by the same socialist errors: forced collectivization which everyone with an IQ above absolute zero knows is stupid, and the sort of bureaucratic fear that is endemic in totalitarian states.

 

[dapaterson]

There are disturbing reports in the media about continued famine, starvations and even cannibalism in North Korea. Perhaps it is reminiscent of the great Chinese famine of 1958-62 in which tens of millions died. It is, almost certainly, caused by the same socialist errors: forced collectivization which everyone with an IQ above absolute zero knows is stupid, and the sort of bureaucratic fear that is endemic in totalitarian states.

Is this the North Korea thread or Idle No More thread?

 

[GAP]

Is this the North Korea thread or Idle No More thread?

They got their stupids, we got our stupids.....only difference is their's is in power, our's is working towards that.....