North Korea - Page 25

Geologists recorded another earthquake near North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site on Wednesday, an incident that South Korean officials believe is an aftershock from its last nuclear test in September 2017.

North Korea’s state media announced that Pyongyang sent a celebratory floral basket to the Cuban embassy on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Revolution. Dictator Kim Jong-un also sent a friendly greeting to dictator Raúl Castro, a sign North Korea expects Cuba to play a major role in its diplomacy in 2019.

President Trump issued a warm tweet to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of an anticipated second meeting early this year.

Contents: Generational Dynamics 2019 Forecast: The Camel versus the Can; Separatist violence in India’s Kashmir and Jammu; The Mideast – increasing ethnic and secular tensions; Russia’s existential threats to Ukraine; North Korea continues nuclear weapons development; China continues to prepare for war; Preparations for a global pandemic; Stock market bubble continues; U.S. debt continues to become increasingly unsustainable; The future of Generational Dynamics

Tech giant Microsoft announced this week that it has removed 50 web domains that were previously used by a North Korean government-backed hacking group.

It is a safe bet that 2019 will be a crucial year for North Korea. Dictator Kim Jong-un closed out the year by sending South Korean President Moon Jae-in a letter with a “positive” message, an invitation to hold further summit meetings, and a vague commitment from Kim to make his long-promised historic visit to Seoul.

North Korea’s state media has wrapped up 2018 with yet another tirade against the United States, this time condemning Washington’s condemnation of the dire state of human rights in the communist country and insisting that any criticism is the product of the envy Americans feel at the “flower garden of human love” in North Korea.

North Korea’s state media assailed the United States and allies at the United Nations Tuesday for helping pass a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s decades-long systematic human rights abuses, calling the resolution “a serious political provocation against the dignified” Korean state.

The South China Morning Post, citing Reuters statistics, reported on Monday that China has reduced its trade with North Korea by over 50 percent in the past year, potentially crippling Pyongyang’s economy given that China is North Korea’s largest trade partner.

North Korea announced on Thursday it will never unilaterally get rid of its nuclear weapons unless the United States removes its own “nuclear threat” from the Korean peninsula. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declared on Monday that it is prepared to send nuclear weapons inspectors to North Korea, when and if the North Korea regime agrees to accept them. North Korea ejected IAEA inspectors from the country in 2009.

North Korea declared on Monday it will not agree to any denuclearization agreement with the United States if Washington continues to pursue “vicious [and] hostile actions” against Kim Jong-un’s communist regime. 

Contents: US issues new sanctions on North Korea over human rights abuses; North Korea threatens retaliation for the sanctions; Japan-Korea relations worsen over ‘comfort women’ issue

The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo highlighted a report on Friday indicating that North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which it dramatically claimed to have been blown up as a gesture of goodwill, may still be able to function with minimal repairs.

China has apparently arrested another Canadian, just a few days after detaining analyst and former diplomat Michael Kovrig. The second detainee is Michael Spavor, a businessman with ties to North Korea who helped arrange meetings between dictator Kim Jong-un and former basketball star Dennis Rodman.

The prospects of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un visiting Seoul in the last few days left in this year are bleak, the Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday, citing South Korea’s presidential office.

Outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told NBC’s Today show on Wednesday that she took advantage of President Donald Trump’s stormy rhetoric and “unpredictable” nature to get things done at the United Nations.

South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyon expressed hope on Tuesday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will follow through on his promise to visit Seoul and make the trip a “stepping stone” to his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping held an audience with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho in Beijing on Friday to discuss how China could most easily facilitate friendly relations between the two nations, and help North Korea elevate its status internationally.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho arrived in Beijing on Thursday on a three-day trip to secure China’s support for the removal of economic sanctions on the regime amid a lack of progress with denuclearisation talks with the United States.

North Korea has spent the past six months “continuously upgrading” a key long-range missile facility despite public promises to reduce investments in military development, according to a report citing satellite image evidence published Wednesday.

Amal Clooney, the British-Lebanese human rights attorney married to Hollywood star George Clooney, eviscerated President Donald Trump Wednesday evening, accusing the commander-in-chief of providing autocratic regimes a “green light” to torture and murder journalists by labeling them the “enemy of the people.”

South Korea has expressed frustration and concern over the growing number of intrusions into its air defense identification zone at the hands of Chinese military aircraft in recent years, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported Wednesday. 

South Korean media reported Monday that Seoul is scrambling to invite North Korean dictator to the country before the end of the year, shortly after President Donald Trump suggested an early 2019 date for talks with Pyongyang.

The White House announced Saturday that President Trump has agreed not to further raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe heralded their “robust” relationship as they prepared to meet on issues including trade and North Korea at the G20 summit in Argentina Friday.

The socialist dictatorship in Venezuela welcomed a visit from Kim Yong Nam, the president of North Korea’s puppet legislature, on Monday for meetings with Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and dictator Nicolás Maduro.

A North Korean soldier who defected by running across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into South Korea last year claimed on Wednesday that remarks allegedly denigrating the South Korean military were taken out of context and says the newspaper publishing them has already apologized.

North Korean has destroyed ten of its front-line guard posts as part of an agreement to ease tensions along its heavily secured border with South Korea, Seoul’s Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.

A South Korean reality show seeks to set up local men with North Korean women as part of an effort to further unify the two countries, Newsweek noted in a report Monday.

A soldier who dramatically fled North Korea by crossing the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into South Korea last year told Japanese media that he believes about 80 percent of young North Koreans are “indifferent” towards the regime and have “no loyalty” to Kim Jong-un, English-language reports revealed on Monday.

Contents: North Korea announces a ‘Newly Developed Tactical Weapon’; The ‘Charm Offensive’ has almost run its course

North Korea has deported an American citizen who admitted to having entered the country illegally, claiming to be working at the direction of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), state media announced Friday.

North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported on Friday that dictator Kim Jong-un inspected a “newly-developed ultramodern” tactical weapon system at an undisclosed location. North Korean media clearly intended the report to be provocative, but South Korean analysts shrugged it off as testing for a battlefield rocket launcher that would have little impact on arms control negotiations.

Vice President Mike Pence said from the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on Thursday that President Donald Trump will hold a second meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un next year. Pence said Kim will be expected to submit a firm denuclearization plan at the meeting.

North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun condemned the United States and other Western countries for allegedly being home to the “world’s most serious violations of human rights” in an editorial Thursday.