North Korean leader Kim Jong-un receives an applause at a meeting of the country’s parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), in Pyongyang on June 29, 2016, in this photo captured from the North’s Korean Central TV. The SPA newly created the “commission on state affairs” and appointed Kim as its chairman, strengthening his one-man rule. (Yonhap)
North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-un (seated) and military officials are elated after watching what the country claimed as a successful launch of its ballistic missile Hwasong-10 in this photo released by the North’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on June 23, 2016. The North claimed success in the June 22 launch of the missile, known as the intermediate-range Musudan in the outside world, saying it flew the targeted 400 km and re-entered the atmosphere after soaring to an altitude of 1,413.6 km. If true, it would mark significant progress in the North’s missile technology. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
I would like to see him try because Japan and Okinawa already have Patriot and Aegis missile defenses while THAAD was deployed to Guam specifically to defend against the Musudan missile threat. I will be more concerned if they successfully develop an submarine launched ballistic missile capability:
Leader Kim Jong-Un threatened US military bases across the Pacific after North Korea’s test of a powerful new missile triggered emergency UN Security Council talks on curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
Kim, who personally monitored Wednesday’s Musudan missile test, applauded a “great event” that significantly bolstered the North’s pre-emptive nuclear attack capability, the official KCNA news agency reported.
“We have the sure capability to attack in an overall and practical way the Americans in the Pacific operation theatre,” Kim was quoted as saying.
A Korean-language version of the same report had Kim referring to “the American bastards.”
The Musudan has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres (1,550 to 2,500 miles), with the upper estimate covering US military bases as far away as Guam.
After a string of failures in recent months, North Korea tested two Musudans on Wednesday, one of which flew 400 kilometres into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
KCNA said the missile had been fired at a high angle to simulate its full range, and had reached a maximum height of more than 1,400 kilometres.
The test “marked an important occasion in further strengthening the nuclear attack capacity of our state,” Kim said. [AFP]
You can read more at the link, but this picture released by North Korea shows how much Kim Jong-un had invested in the successful development of the Musudan:
North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-un (R) and Ri Pyong-chol, a member of the ruling Workers’ Party central committee, hug each other in joy after the North’s self-claimed successful launch of its ballistic missile Hwasong-10 on June 22, 2016. Ri is a former chief of the North’s air force and had accompanied the leader on most of the previous missile tests. This and other photos released by the party’s newspaper Rodong Sinmun on June 23 showed that Gen. Kim Rak-gyom was still the head commander of the North Korean military strategic forces in charge of missile operations. He was rumored to have been demoted for failed previous launches. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution)
These two looked happier than Lebron James winning the NBA Championship.
It is amazing how gullible people keep falling for these fake news stories they see pop up in their social media feeds and don’t bother to read the article. This recent example of a false news story saying Kim Jong-un was killed by a suicide bomber even impacted the Korean stock market:
A false news story that claimed Kim Jong Un was assassinated caused tremors in South Korea’s foreign exchange market on Friday.
The story published on fake news outlet East Asia Tribune alleged the North Korean leader was attacked by a female suicide bomber and killed in an explosion in Pyongyang.
The article also claimed the report was from Pyongyang’s state television network KCTV.
While the report was quickly dismissed on social media, on Friday morning in Seoul the story affected movements in the currency market, local news service Financial News reported.
The exchange rate for the South Korean won spiked to 1178 won to the U.S. dollar, before closing at 1172.7 won.
Defense stocks also rose momentarily on Friday but once rumors were dispelled trading resumed normal levels, according to local press. [UPI]
It just makes me wonder where all the money is coming from for the Kim regime to build up their nuclear, ballistic missile and conventional military strength like this? Here may be the most important modernization that did not require any money to get:
Joseph S. Bermudez, an expert on North Korea’s military, told The Washington Post: “I get a sense that when Kim Jong Un came to power, he looked around and said, ‘We have all these old guys running things who haven’t been in the field for 15 or 20 years. We need people who know what they’re talking about.'”
“Before, you had leaders of special forces who couldn’t run a mile. Now, we see artillery division commanders that actually have an artillery background,” Bermudez continued. [Business Insider]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the remodeled Mangyongdae Children’s Camp in Pyongyang in a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo had some unsurprising things to say about Kim Jong-un:
Young, rash and impulsive.
A frank assessment of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by South Korean Defense Minister Han Minkoo.
Speaking exclusively to CNN on the sidelines of a defense forum in Singapore, Han says it’s a combination that concerns him greatly.
“Kim Jong Un was just 28 when he came to power with very little time to prepare. Add to that, he is very young, he lacks experience.”
Kim certainly seems to be in a rush to perfect his nuclear and missile capabilities, the intensity of testing this year alone is unusual even for North Korea.
“If you look at his father, Kim Jong Il, during his 18 year reign, there were about 18 missile tests. During Kim Jong Un’s four year reign there (have been) 25 missile tests,” says Han.
Han is not convinced North Korea can miniaturize nuclear weapons or fit a nuclear warhead onto a missile, as claimed by Pyongyang, but acknowledges that practice makes perfect.
“If they continue to progress with the miniaturization technology, we think it may be possible to deliver it in other ways such as an artillery shell or in the form of a nuclear mine.” [CNN]
You can read much more of this interview at the link to include his commentary on why South Korea needs the THAAD missile defense system.
It looks like Kim Jong-un is not setting a very good example for North Korea’s recent anti-smoking campaign:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) holding a cigarette with his right hand in a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 4, 2016. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution.) (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is known to be a heavy smoker, has held a cigarette for the first time in months in public, a photo released by the North’s mouthpiece newspaper showed Saturday.
A snapshot of him smoking at the remodeled Mangyongdae Children’s Camp in Pyongyang was published in Rodong Sinmun. Kim was there to promote “Pyongyang Speed,” a term referring to the North’s rapid industrialization, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He was last seen smoking more than 80 days ago at a test evaluating the heat stability of a homegrown North Korean rocket.
Experts speculated that Kim may have refrained from smoking in front of cameras because the North’s media have been campaigning against that behavior. Rodong Sinmun, in fact, published several stories reiterating the harmful effects of cigarettes between April and May. At one point, local women appeared on the Korean Central Television to denounce smokers as “imbeciles who upset their surroundings.” [Yonhap]
