N.Korean leader's sister warns Seoul against military drill with Washington
Source: Reuters
SEOUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Sunday that if South Korea carries out a planned joint military exercise with the United States it will damage the resolve of the two Koreas to rebuild relations, state media KCNA reported.
Kim Yo Jong also said a recent decision to restore hotlines between the two Koreas should not be seen as anything more than reconnecting "physical" ties, and that it would be "thoughtless" to assume that summits are around the corner. read more
Her comments come at a time when North and South Korea are in talks to hold a summit as part of efforts to restore relations. Washington and Seoul are due to hold a joint military drill later in August. read more
"Our government and military will keep a close eye on whether the South Koreans go ahead with the aggressive war exercises, or make a big decision. Hope or despair? That's not up to us," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by KCNA.
N Korea vows stronger attack capabilities over allied drills
Source: AP
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ripped South Korea for proceeding with military exercises with the United States that she said are an invasion rehearsal and warned Tuesday that the North will work faster to strengthen its preemptive strike capabilities.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement came after South Korean media reported that the allied militaries will begin four days of preliminary training on Tuesday before holding computer-simulated drills on Aug. 16-26.
Kim said she was given authority to release the statement, implying the message came directly from her brother.
Hours after her comments were published on state media, South Korea’s defense and unification ministries said North Korean officials hadn’t responded to their calls Tuesday afternoon over inter-Korean hotlines, which had been disconnected for a year before North Korea agreed to reopen them in late July. The Koreas then described the move as a conciliatory gesture.
North Korea says it tested new long-range cruise missiles
Source: AP
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it successfully test fired newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months, underscoring how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States.
The Korean Central News Agency said Monday the cruise missiles, which had been under development for two years, demonstrated an ability to hit targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away during flight tests on Saturday and Sunday.
The North hailed its new missiles as a “strategic weapon of great significance” that meets leader Kim Jong Un’s call to strengthen the country’s military might, implying that they were being developed with an intent to arm them with nuclear warheads.
North Korean state media published photos of a projectile being fired from a launcher truck and an apparent missile with wings and tail fins traveling in the air.
North Korea says it fired new 'hypersonic missile'
Published
47 minutes ago
North Korea has claimed that it successfully tested a new hypersonic missile called Hwasong-8 on Tuesday.
State media said the new missile was one of the "five most important" new weapons systems laid out in its five-year military development plan.
They called the missile a "strategic weapon", which usually means it has nuclear capabilities.
Tuesday's launch is another indication of Pyongyang's growing weapons technology amid strict sanctions.
"The development of this weapons system...[has increased] the nation's capabilities for self-defence in every way," North Korean state news outlet KCNA said.
North Korea fires ballistic missile, in 1st test in 2 months
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, its first weapons launch in about two months and a signal it isn’t interested in rejoining denuclearization talks anytime soon and would rather focus on boosting its weapons arsenal.
The launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further strengthen his military capability — without disclosing any new policies toward the United States or South Korea — at a high-profile ruling party conference last week.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the ballistic missile launch “highlights the destabilizing impact of (North Korea’s) illicit weapons program” but didn’t pose an immediate threat to U.S. territory or its allies. It said in a statement that the U.S. commitment to the defense of its allies, South Korea and Japan, remains “ironclad.”
South Korea’s military said a suspected ballistic missile fired from North Korea’s mountainous northern Jagang province flew toward its eastern waters. Defense Minister Suh Wook said the launch is seen as part of North Korea’s military buildup, but that South Korea is analyzing whether it had any political intention.
NKorea claims second successful test of hypersonic missile
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea claimed Thursday to have conducted the second successful test flight of a hypersonic missile, days after leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his military forces despite pandemic-related difficulties.
Wednesday’s launch, the North’s first known weapons test in about two months, indicates the country will press ahead with plans to modernize its nuclear and missile arsenals rather than return to disarmament talks anytime soon.
The official Korean Central News Agency said the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party expressed “great satisfaction” at the results of the missile test, which was observed by leading weapons officials.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. It’s unclear whether and how soon North Korea could manufacture such a high-tech missile, but it was among a wish-list of sophisticated military assets that Kim disclosed early last year, along with a multi-warhead missile, spy satellites, solid-fueled long-range missiles and underwater-launched nuclear missiles.
North Korea fires 2 suspected missiles in 6th launch in 2022
Source: AP
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea’s military said.
Experts say North Korea’s unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores an intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled negotiations aimed at exchanging a release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North’s denuclearization steps.
The renewed pressure comes as the pandemic further shakes the North’s economy, which was already battered by crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and decades of mismanagement by its own government.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons, which were likely short-range, were launched five minutes apart from the eastern coastal town of Hamhung and flew 190 kilometers (118 miles) on an apogee of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) before landing at sea.
Satellite images show activity at North Korean nuclear site
Source: AP
By KIM TONG-HYUNG and JON GAMBRELL
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Commercial satellite images suggest a resumption of construction activity at North Korea’s nuclear testing ground nearly four years after leader Kim Jong Un declared the site’s closure and invited foreign journalists to observe the destruction of tunnels ahead of his first summit with then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
Analysts say it’s unclear how long it would take North Korea to restore the site for nuclear detonations if it intends to do so. The site in Punggye-ri in the country’s northeast was used for its sixth and last nuclear test in 2017.
The sighting of construction activity at the site comes amid a deepening diplomatic freeze since the collapse of the second Kim-Trump meeting in February 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
North Korea has used the pause in talks to further expand its military capabilities, including nine rounds of missile launches in 2022 alone. The unusually fast pace indicates an intent to pressure the Biden administration, which has offered open-ended talks but shown no willingness to concede on sanctions.
North Korea May Test ICBM as Soon as This Week, Yonhap Reports
Source: Bllomberg
(Bloomberg) -- North Korea could launch an ICBM as soon as this week, the Yonhap News Agency reported, in what would be its most serious provocation in five years as South Korea undergoes a presidential transition and the world focuses on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
South Korea and the U.S. have detected signs of an imminent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Yonhap reported Sunday, citing unidentified South Korean government officials. The U.S. said last week that North Korean launches on Feb. 26 and March 4 were intended to test elements of an ICBM that weapons experts believe could be armed with multiple warheads in a bid to overwhelm defenses.
North Korea was most likely to test its ICBM from a transporter-erector launcher, and fire the missile in a lofted trajectory, Yonhap said. This would give spy satellites less time to detect a test, as opposed to the more time-consuming process of firing off an ICBM from a launchpad.
North Korea hasn’t test-launched an ICBM since November 2017, which at the time was a major breakthrough in Kim’s effort to show he can threaten the entire U.S. mainland. U.S. officials have said the recent tests of suspected ICBM components point to a launch of the Hwasong-17, which is believed to be the world’s largest road-mobile missile of its kind. North Korea is banned by United Nations resolutions from conducting any ballistic missile tests.
Seoul: North Korean missile exploded in air in failed launch
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean missile fired from its capital region exploded soon after liftoff in an apparent failed weapons launch on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, amid speculation that the North is preparing to launch its longest-range missile in its most significant provocation in years.
Details of the missile explosion and the possibility of civilian damages weren’t immediately known. But the launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its weapons arsenal and pressure its rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.
The North Korean missile blew up while it was flying at an altitude of less than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), a South Korean military official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t publicly authorized to speak to media on the issue. He said the cause of the explosion wasn’t known.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier said the launch was made from the Sunan area near Pyongyang, the North’s capital, around 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) but gave no other details.
Seoul: N. Korea fired old ICBM, not new big one, last week
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Tuesday dismissed North Korea’s claim to have launched a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile last week, accusing the country of firing a less-powerful existing weapon and fabricating data following an earlier failed launch.
North Korea said it launched a Hwasong-17 missile, its longest-range developmental ICBM, last Thursday in its biggest weapons test in years. Its state media called the launch “a historical event” and released a stylized Hollywood-style video showing leader Kim Jong Un, in sunglasses and leather jacket, supervising the launch.
But South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it has determined that what North Korea fired wasn’t a Hwasong-17 but a Hwasong-15, another ICBM that it successfully tested in 2017.
Both missiles are potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. But analysts say the Hwasong-17 has a longer potential range and its huge size suggests that it’s designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to defeat missile defense systems. Believed to be about 25 meters (82 feet) long, the Hwasong-17 is, by some estimates, the world’s biggest road-mobile ballistic missile system.
North Korea tests new weapon bolstering nuclear capability
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon designed to boost its nuclear fighting capability, state media reported Sunday, a day before its chief rivals the United States and South Korea begin annual drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.
The 13th weapons test this year came amid concerns that North Korea may soon conduct an even larger provocation. That may include a nuclear test in an effort to expand the country’s arsenal and increase pressure on Washington and Seoul while denuclearization talks remain stalled.
The official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un observed what it called the weapon’s successful launch. It released a photo showing a beaming Kim clapping his hands with military officers.
KCNA said the weapon tested has “great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the front-line long-range artillery units, enhancing the efficiency in the operation of (North Korea’s) tactical nukes and diversification of their firepower missions.”
North Korea fires ballistic missile amid rising animosities
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, KIM TONG-HYUNG and MARI YAMAGUCHI
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters on Wednesday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to speed up the development of his nuclear weapons “at the fastest possible pace” and threatened to use them against rivals.
The launch, the North’s 14th round of weapons firing this year, also came six days before a new conservative South Korean president takes office for a single five-year term.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was fired from the North’s capital region and flew to the waters off its eastern coast. It called North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches “a grave threat” that would undermine international peace and security and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any ballistic launch by the North.
The statement said that Won In-Choul, the South Korean JCS chief, held a video conference about the launch with Gen. Paul LaCamera, an American general who heads the South Korea-U.S. combined forces command in Seoul, and they agreed to maintain a solid joint defense posture.
US, SKorea open to expanded military drills to deter North
Source: AP
By AAMER MADHANI and JOSH BOAK
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said after meeting Saturday that they will consider expanded joint military exercises to deter the nuclear threat from North Korea at a time when there’s little hope of real diplomacy on the matter.
The announcement reflects a shift in direction by both leaders from their predecessors: Former U.S. President Donald Trump had considered scrapping the exercises and expressed affection for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And the last South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, remained committed to dialogue with Kim to the end of his term despite being repeatedly rebuffed by the North.
Biden said cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea shows “our readiness to take on all threats together.”
North Korea, which has defended its nuclear weapons and missile development as a necessary deterrence against what it describes as U.S. threats, could well respond angrily to Saturday’s announcement. It has long described joint military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion, although the allies have portrayed the drills as defensive.
Envoy says US, allies preparing for N. Korean nuclear test
Source: AP
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea said Friday the United States is “preparing for all contingencies” in close coordination with its South Korean and Japanese allies as it monitors North Korean arrangements for a possible nuclear test explosion that outside officials say could be imminent.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials have said they detected North Korean efforts to prepare its northeastern testing ground for another nuclear test, which would be its seventh since 2006 and the first since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a thermonuclear bomb to fit on its intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, was in Seoul for a trilateral meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts to discuss the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles programs.
“The U.S. assesses that the DPRK is preparing at its Punggye-ri test site for what would be its seventh nuclear test. This assessment is consistent with the DPRK’s own recent public statements,” said Kim, using the initials of North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
N. Korea fires multiple missiles toward East Sea: source
North Korea 10:11 June 05, 2022 https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2022030500 ... tion=nk/nk
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with new information; CHANGES headline; ADDS photo, byline)
By Kang Yoon-seung
SEOUL, June 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to have fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the East Sea from at least two locations Sunday, an informed source here said.
Earlier in the day, the South's military announced it had detected the North's 18th show of force this year and the third since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office on May 10 with a pledge to get tough on the recalcitrant regime.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) sent a related text message to reporters at around 9:10 a.m. without providing additional details.
The North test-fired a suspected new-type ICBM and two apparent short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on May 25 right after U.S. President Joe Biden's trip to Seoul and Tokyo.
South Korean and U.S. government officials said Pyongyang seems to have completed preparations for another nuclear test.
North Korean leader reaffirms arms buildup in party meeting
Source: AP
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doubled down on his arms buildup in the face of what he described as an aggravating security environment while outside governments monitor signs of a possibly imminent North Korean nuclear test explosion.
Kim’s comments during a major three-day political conference that wrapped up Friday didn’t include any direct criticism of the United States or rival South Korea amid a prolonged deadlock in nuclear diplomacy.
Kim defended his accelerating weapons development as a rightful exercise of sovereign rights to self-defense and set forth further “militant tasks” to be pursued by his armed forces and military scientists, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency. The report on Saturday didn’t mention any specific goals or plans regarding testing activity, including the detonation of a nuclear device.
The plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee also reviewed key state affairs, including efforts to slow a COVID-19 outbreak the North first acknowledged last month and progress in economic goals Kim is desperate to keep alive amid strengthened virus restrictions.
North Korea plans crackdown as Kim pushes for internal unity
Source: AP
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top deputies have pushed for a crackdown on officials who abuse their power and commit other “unsound and non-revolutionary acts,” state media reported Monday, as Kim seeks greater internal unity to overcome a COVID-19 outbreak and economic difficulties.
It wasn’t clear what specific acts were mentioned at the ruling Workers’ Party meeting on Sunday. But possible state crackdowns on such alleged acts could be an attempt to solidify Kim’s control of his people and get them to rally behind his leadership in the face of the domestic hardships, some observers say.
Kim and other senior party secretaries discussed “waging a more intensive struggle against unsound and non-revolutionary acts including abuse of power and bureaucratism revealed among some party officials,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim ordered the authority of the party’s auditing commission and other local discipline supervision systems to be bolstered to promote the party’s “monolithic leadership” and “the broad political activities of the party through the strong discipline system,” KCNA said.
