Category: Pyongyang, North Korea

South Korea’s Scandal-Mired President Is Formally Ousted. What’s Next?

Here's a look at possible scenarios in the frantic weeks ahead and some of the potential presidential contenders vying for the presidential Blue House: With Park now formally unseated, the country, by law, must hold a presidential by-election within 60 days. This means the vote will likely take place on May 9. The winner of the election will be immediately sworn in as the country's leader, according to South Korea's National Election Commission.

Why North Korea doesn’t trust China an inch

People walk past portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo / AP The assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the older brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who had been under Chinese protection and living in Macau, was followed by another round of missile launches by Pyongyang, stirring vocal anger from Seoul and Tokyo and quiet fury from Beijing.

Japanese lawmakers demand new weapons to take on N Korea

Any weapon Japan acquired with the reach to hit North Korea would also put parts of China’s eastern seaboard within rang Influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea. Japan has so far avoided taking the controversial and costly step of acquiring bombers or weapons such as cruise missiles with enough range to strike other countries, relying instead on its U.S. ally to take the fight to its enemies.

US, China lock horns on missile defense against NKorea

In this March 7, 2017, photo, protesters shout slogans during a rally to oppose the plan to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea. If China was hoping for a concession from the U.S. after recently suspending coal imports from cash-poor North Korea it got the opposite.

Malaysian PM Hints at Severing Ties with N.Korea

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak hinted at the possibility of severing diplomatic ties with North Korea completely after it kicked out the North Korean ambassador over the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam. Asked if it was possible that all ties with the rogue nation will be severed, Najib said Malaysia has to wait and see, according to the Star daily.

North Korea bans Malaysians from leaving

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his estranged older half-brother Kim Jong Nam, who was murdered at Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport. Pyongyang says it will ban Malaysians from leaving North Korea amid diplomatic disputes over the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother.

Missile tests add pressure on Trump over North Korea

South Korea army soldiers install a tent in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Monday, March 6, 2017. North Korea on Monday fired four banned ballistic missiles that flew about 1,000 kilometers , with three of them landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, South Korean and Japanese officials said, in an apparent reaction to huge military drills by Washington and Seoul that Pyongyang insists are an invasion rehearsal.

Missile tests add pressure on Trump over North Korea

South Korea army soldiers install a tent in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Monday, March 6, 2017. North Korea on Monday fired four banned ballistic missiles that flew about 1,000 kilometers , with three of them landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, South Korean and Japanese officials said, in an apparent reaction to huge military drills by Washington and Seoul that Pyongyang insists are an invasion rehearsal.

Four claims the Trump White House made about its travel ban that now look silly

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Ben Carson compares slaves to immigrants coming to ‘a land of dreams’

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Ben Carson compares slaves to immigrants coming to ‘a land of dreams’

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N. Koreans’ cyber lives rigidly censored

North Koreans have gained unprecedented connectedness with greater access to media and devices like cellphones over Kim Jong Un’s five-year rule. But residents’ embrace of a state-controlled network has opened the way to unparalleled state censorship and surveillance in the long-isolated, totalitarian country.

North Korea fires 4 banned ballistic missiles into sea

A visitor walks by the TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea’s missile firing, at Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 6, 2017. North Korea on Monday fired four banned ballistic missiles that flew about 1,000 kilometers , with three of them landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, South Korean and Japanese officials said, in an apparent reaction to huge military drills by Washington and Seoul that Pyongyang insists are an invasion rehearsal.

Malaysian mission in Pyongyang should be closed: ex-diplomat

A former ranking Malaysian diplomat has asserted that his country should shut down its embassy in Pyongyang as a countermeasure against North Korea’s alleged assassination of Kim Jong-nam, a half brother of the North’s leader Kim Jong-un, a US broadcaster reported Monday. The Pyongyang-based Malaysian mission which is virtually of no use should be surely closed as a strong message to the North that the acts it is now conducting can never be accepted, Dennis Ignatius was quoted as saying in a phone interview with Voice of America.

N. Korea fires more banned missiles

In this Feb. 2, 2017 file photo, a mock North Korea’s Scud-B missile, center left, and South Korean missiles are displayed at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea on Monday, March 6, 2017, fired a projectile into the waters off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, in an apparent missile test that comes days after Washington and Seoul began huge military drills that Pyongyang insists are an invasion rehearsal.

N.Korean ambassador faces deadline to leave Malaysia

North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia faced a deadline to leave the country Monday after authorities here declared him “persona non grata” and accused Pyongyang of trying to manipulate the investigation into the poisoning of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader’s half brother, at a Kuala Lumpur airport. The Malaysian government on Saturday gave Ambassador Kang Chol 48 hours to leave the country after he refused to apologize for his strong accusations over Malaysia’s handling of the investigation into the Feb. 13 killing.

Other mysterious deaths of North Korea’s perceived enemies

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech in Pyongyang in this undated image from video distributed on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — An outcast from North Korea’s ruling family was killed with a weapon believed to belong to North Korea’s chemical arsenal and several North Koreans are wanted for questioning.

UN report shows North Korea using Africa to slip sanctions

A confidential report says North Korean weapons barred by United Nations sanctions ended up in the hands of U.N. peacekeepers in Africa. The annual report by a U.N. panel of experts, obtained by The Associated Press, illustrates how Pyongyang evades sanctions imposed for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs to cooperate “on a large scale” in Africa.

Malaysia Scraps Visa Waiver for N.Koreans

Malaysia on Thursday abruptly scrapped a visa-free pact with North Korea over the assassination of Kim Jong- nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the move was motivated by concerns for national security, according to the Bernama news agency. The North has infuriated Malaysians by denouncing the police investigation after four suspects fled to Pyongyang while two others remain holed up in the embassy.

North Korea ties at worst point in decades, South Korea says

North Korea relations have fallen to their worst point in decades and talks are off the table until Kim Jong Un’s regime is ready to give up its nuclear weapons, South Korea Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said in an interview. “It’s been over 20 years since North Korea’s nuclear threats started, and tensions are at their worst,” Hong, who oversees policy on North Korea, said on Thursday in Seoul.

UN panel says North Korea uses new ways to flout sanctions

North Korea is flouting United Nations sanctions by trading in prohibited weapons and other goods and using evasion techniques “that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” U.N. experts say in a new report. The panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang said that despite strengthened financial sanctions adopted in 2016 the country is still accessing formal banking channels “by using greater ingenuity.”

Why N. Korea may have used VX to kill leader’s half brother

SEOUL, South Korea>> Was it a poorly executed assassination or did North Korea want to showcase its stockpile of banned chemical weapons? The use of the highly toxic VX warfare agent to kill the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader has raised questions about Pyongyang’s real motives in one of the strangest killings the world has seen. Some say North Korea, in allegedly bringing a U.N.-classified weapon of mass destruction to kill a man at a busy international airport, intended to show the world what it can do with chemical weapons, which are easily forgotten amid concerns about the country’s advancing nuclear missile technologies.

Korea to conclude land acquisition for THAAD battery this week

South Korea is expected to conclude the land acquisition for the US advanced missile defense system this week with actual deployment to be completed by late June at the earliest, the military said Sunday. The defense ministry said administrative measures to take over the Seongju golf club owned by retail giant Lotte Group will be completed soon.

FM Yun to raise voice against N. Korea’s human rights, chemical weapons issues

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will attend international conferences this week to speak out against North Korea’s human rights abuses and shed light on Pyongyang’s use of chemical weapons, government officials said Sunday. Yun plans to visit Geneva on Monday and Tuesday to attend a session of the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

Failure to launch foundation on NK human rights to enter sixth month

South Korea has yet to launch a foundation to support civic groups’ activities that aim to improve North Korea’s human rights situation even though a relevant law took effect six months ago, government officials said Sunday. The law aimed at improving North Korea’s dismal human rights situation came into force in September 2016, but the foundation has failed to start work as the main opposition party is delaying recommending candidates for board members, sources said.

S. Korea, US moving to use latest detection gear to counter NK chemical biological threats

South Korea and the United States are moving to employ their latest detection equipment to prepare for North Korean chemical and biological weapons in the joint military drill planned for this year, sources said Sunday. The move is in response to Pyongyang being accused of using the lethal VX nerve agent to kill Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, at a crowded airport in Malaysia on Feb. 13. The allies have been conducting the Able Response chemical and biological warfare exercise every year for the past six years.

Skin on Fire: A Firsthand Account of a VX Attack

Police will ask the Atomic Energy Licensing Board to carry out a sweep of the KL International Airport 2 for traces of the highly toxic VX-nerve agent According to the Post , Washington made a decision to cancel the talks after Malaysian police confirmed that Kim Jong Nam was assassinated with VX, a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare and listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction . On Friday, officials confirmed that during autopsy they found the chemical on the face of Kim, who died on February 13 after he was attacked inside Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

AP Explains: What chemical weapons N. Korea possesses

North Korea may have found a new use for its large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, which are meant to attack South Korean and U.S. troops in case of another war. Malaysian police said Friday that a chemical weapon – the toxic VX nerve agent – was used to kill the estranged half brother of Pyongyang’s absolute leader at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. If North Korea’s involvement is confirmed, this would be an unusual and extremely high-profile use of its chemicals in an assassination.

AP Explains: What chemical weapons does N. Korea possess

North Korea may have found a new use for its large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, which are meant to attack South Korean and U.S. troops in case of another war. Malaysian police said Friday that a chemical weapon – the toxic VX nerve agent – was used to kill the estranged half brother of Pyongyang’s absolute leader at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. If North Korea ‘s involvement is confirmed, this would be an unusual and extremely high-profile use of its chemicals in an assassination.

AP Explains: What chemical weapons does N. Korea possess

North Korea may have found a new use for its large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, which are meant to attack South Korean and U.S. troops in case of another war. Malaysian police said Friday that a chemical weapon – the toxic VX nerve agent – was used to kill the estranged half brother of Pyongyang’s absolute leader at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. If North Korea ‘s involvement is confirmed, this would be an unusual and extremely high-profile use of its chemicals in an assassination.

North Korean Assassination: What Is VX Nerve Agent?

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, , sits with his first-born son Kim Jong Nam, in this 1981 family photo in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Nam was attacked by VX nerve agent on Feb. 13. Soon after having his face rubbed with a cloth by two women at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the exiled North Korean complained of facial pain, had a seizure and died.

North Korea calls Malaysian investigation ‘full of holes’

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – After more than a week of silence in its state-controlled media, North Korea on Thursday slammed the investigation into the death of one of its citizens in Kuala Lumpur, saying Malaysia’s probe is full of “holes and contradictions.” The report from the highly-selective official outlet KCNA did not acknowledge the victim was Kim Jong Nam, an exiled scion of Pyongyang’s ruling family, and it largely echoed previous comments by North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia.