North Korea - Page 17

Reports out of South Korea continued to deny on Wednesday and Thursday local time that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s life is in danger. The rebuttals are designed to counter American media reports that Kim could be on his deathbed or even “brain dead.”

Although the Communist tyranny that rules North Korea officially insists it has absolutely zero cases of coronavirus infection, members of the ruling party have been admitting to select domestic audiences that cases began appearing near the borders in March and have been spreading in at least three regions of the country.

South Korean officials told the nation’s Yonhap news agency on Tuesday that a CNN report claiming North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was “in grave danger” were “not true” and that “nothing unusual” appeared to be happening in the communist country.

South Korea has responded to claims that Kim Jong-un is in “grave condition”, stating they have not observed unusual activity in the North.

Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean exile who attended Trump’s 2018 State of the Union Address, won a seat in South Korea’s National Assembly.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was reportedly absent from celebrations for the country’s most important political holiday on Wednesday, a highly unusual occurrence that raises speculation as to whether he may have contracted the Chinese coronavirus. 

North Korea boosted its public health spending by 7.4 percent and published assurances of hygiene protocol at government facilities in state media on Monday, once again giving no indication it had identified any coronavirus cases.

The communist regime in North Korea reportedly executed three officials last week on charges of treason after they allegedly stole some of the country’s emergency food supplies. 

A senior health official in North Korea told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency on Wednesday that “not one single person” in the country had tested positive for Chinese coronavirus, a claim disputed by an ever-growing chorus of observers.

A Japanese report claimed that over 100 soldiers in North Korea have died of Chinese coronavirus in the past month, the conservative South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would be open to helping North Korea fight the Chinese coronavirus during a weekend press conference at the White House.

A few countries were still reporting zero infections from the Wuhan coronavirus this week – and some of those reports are viewed with extreme skepticism by outsiders – but at this point, the disease has reached most of the world’s large nations.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un called for the construction of “modern general hospital” this week to “better protect the precious health and safety of our people,” despite the fact his country denies having any cases of Chinese coronavirus.

According to official reports, the Wuhan coronavirus has not quite covered the entire world yet. Several countries, including a few with sizable populations, are reporting zero infections.

U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Robert Abrams told reporters on Friday he is “fairly certain” the coronavirus has spread to North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s official statement claiming it has documented zero cases so far.

The conservative South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo claimed on Wednesday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un fled the nation’s capital, Pyongyang, fearing a potential infection of Chinese coronavirus.

North Korean state media has for weeks now been publishing photoshopped images of people wearing surgical masks to give the impression that the country is effectively responding to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The North Korean regime chartered a flight to the Russian Far East on Monday carrying dozens of diplomats and other foreigners as the communist regime intensifies its lockdown against the coronavirus.

Two Chinese nationals were charged by the Treasury Department on Monday with laundering over $100 million worth cryptocurrency that had been stolen by North Korean hackers, US prosecutors said.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has filed a libel lawsuit against the Washington Post for “millions of dollars” on Tuesday, claiming the outlet published “false and defamatory statements” about an alleged conspiracy with Russia.

During a Fox News Channel town hall event on Monday, former mayor Mike Bloomberg said, “a lot of my criticisms of Donald Trump are not his policies, it’s the way he’s doing it.” The billionaire cited the president’s strategy of being tough on China and holds talks with North Korea as areas where the two agree.

North Korea canceled two major annual festivals in Pyongyang celebrating the birthday of late communist dictator Kim Jong-il due to fears of a potential spread of coronavirus, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Friday.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and former Vice President Joe Biden slammed U.S. President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s Democrat presidential debate over his handling of negotiations to denuclearize North Korea.

North Korea still officially claims it has zero cases of coronavirus infection, but one of its officials told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Saturday that 1,300 people suspected of carrying the virus have been quarantined at a hotel in Pyongyang. 

Appearing Monday on CNN, former National Intelligence Director James Clapper said President Donald Trump’s desire to have administration officials that are on board with his policies reminds him of North Korea. 

North Korean police have issued a decree warning of harsh penalties for smugglers, potentially including execution, in a bid to keep the Chinese coronavirus at bay.

Trump’s former ambassador to Japan, Bill Hagerty, seems like a done deal for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in Tennessee, as despite a handful of other challengers that are not gaining traction, Hagerty has the full support of the president and first family.

China steals Western capabilities, intimidates smaller nation states and seeks “advantage by any means and at any cost,” U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper cautioned on Saturday as he cast the world’s most populous nation as a disruptive threat to world order.

A U.S. federal indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Chinese telecom giant Huawei and four of its subsidiaries with “a pattern of racketeering activity” that included stealing trade secrets from other corporations.

An alleged United Nations report unearthed by Reuters on Monday concluded that at no time in 2019 did the communist regime in North Korea stop its nuclear weapons program, raising questions as to why allies Russia and China insisted the U.S. support relieving Pyongyang of those sanctions as a reward for halting nuclear development.

The allotment of green cards to foreign nationals arriving from countries listed on President Trump’s travel ban have continued almost unchanged, dropping by less than five percent, since 2017. 

North Korea on Friday temporarily suspended “all air and train routes” to China due to the coronavirus outbreak, in addition to closing off its land border.

More than 260,000 foreign nationals have been legally admitted to the United States from all 13 travel ban countries between 2016 and 2018.

A major gap between liberal and conservative priorities exists in South Korea. Seoul’s liberal leadership is driven by a pro-North Korean ideology clearly evidenced just last November.

North Korea’s communist regime banned all foreign visitors from entering the country on Tuesday as a precaution against the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in China, according to tourist companies who operate in the country. 

The U.S. State Department issued an assertive vote of confidence for American Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris on Monday after he urged Seoul to pause before allowing tourism to North Korea, a remark that rekindled personal attacks on Harris’ mustache for being “too Japanese.”