Threats from North Korea

North Korea's fat little dictator is threatening Japan. Read and view more here.

North Korea stealing from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges

Michelle Nichols reports in Reuters,

North Korea has generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday.

Read the whole thing here.

The "Wise Honest" North Korean ship is now in American hands

NBC News is just now learning about the fact that the U.S. seized a North Korean cargo ship a year ago. The ship was carrying coal in violation of UN sanctions. The ship was named the "Wise Honest." Here is a photo of it.

Read more here, even though I found it to be a little confusing in spots.

North Korea fires several missiles into the East Sea

The Sun in the UK reports that Kim Jong Un has fired several missiles toward the East Sea.


Go here to read the threats being made by the Norks.

$2 million dollar bill from North Korea for Otto Warmbier's "care."

In PJ Media, Claudia Rosett informs us about a $2 million dollar bill from North Korea for Otto Warmbier's "care." Read the whole thing here.

Trump, North Korea, and China

Do you know where President Trump will be tomorrow? Hanoi, Vietnam! Sundance reports in the Conservative Treehouse,

The majority of the political engagements between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un will take place in the overnight hours. Vietnam is 12 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time.

President Trump is in Vietnam for his second summit with Chairman Kim. The two men first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was the first person-to-person contact between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea. The structure of the visible public engagement is to reach an agreement where North Korea will give up its nuclear arsenal and enter the economic world of peaceful nations.



Those who follow China and North Korea closely see a much bigger, non-discussed geopolitical effort and engagement. Within this dynamic a more complex objective is to rescue Chairman Kim from the clutches of oppressive generational control by Beijing, China.

Chairman Xi does not want to give up control and President Trump is leveraging full U.S. economic pressure upon China to break the grip. Technically, President Trump is on the most complex, challenging and historic hostage rescue mission; and the entirety of world’s media cannot see it.

Learning about North Korea

At Washington Institute, Kongdan Oh writes,

Today, North Korea is changing internally. Its citizens have around 3.7 million cell phones and can directly contact people in parts of South Korea, China, and Russia

Anthony Ruggiero adds,

Iran’s missile relationship with North Korea is robust—so much so that the Obama administration took the diplomatic risk of sanctioning Tehran for receiving materials from Pyongyang just one day after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was implemented.

Read more here.

North Korea releases three Americans from a labor camp. Will they die like the last one?

S.A. Miller reports in the Washington Times,

North Korea has freed three U.S. citizens detained for years in the communist country, bowing to another demand of President Trump ahead of his planned meeting with Kim Jong-un.

The three Americans — Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim — were released from a North Korean labor camp and sent to Pyongyang for medical treatment, the Financial Times reported.

Though out of the brutal labor camp, the men remain in the grasp of Mr. Kim’s regime.

They currently are believed to be convalescing in a hotel outside Pyongyang.

“We believe that Mr. Trump can take them back on the day of the U.S.-North Korea summit, or he can send an envoy to take them back to the U.S. before the summit,” said Choi Sung-ryong, an activist pursuing release of North Korea’s political prisoners.

The release of the three Americans marked another significant victory for the Trump administration, which also won North Korea’s agreement to discuss giving up its nuclear weapon program as a prerequisite for the talks.

National Security Adviser John R. Bolton had called for the release of the detainees, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly raised the issue during secret face-to-face talks with Mr. Kim last month in Pyongyang.

Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. Kim Dong Chul is the president of a company involved in international trade and hotel services. He was sentenced to 10 years on espionage charges.

This is what you get when you have a president of the US who is not an appeaser!

Fox News reports,

"From April 21, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles," the Korean Central News Agency said, according to Yonhap News. "The North will shut down a nuclear test site in the country's northern side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear test."

The announcement comes amid preparations for a meeting later this year between President Trump and the North Korean dictator. During the summit, Trump said he expected to talk with Kim about denuclearizing the hermit kingdom.

President Trump tweeted, North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World - big progress! Look forward to our Summit.

Read more here.

"There's no question that Trump has moved the needle."

The big news tonight is North Korea and Trump agreeing to meet with Kim Jong Un to discuss North Korean denuclearization. Fox News Insider reports,

New York Times national security reporter David Sanger told CNN, "I think President Trump deserves enormous credit for ratcheting up that pressure and making sure those sanctions were real. There was no reason the Obama administration couldn't have done that, and they didn't."

Ian Bremmer, the head of the Eurasia Group and a frequent Trump critic, told CBS News

Read more here.

Squeezing North Korea

Another day, but this time a victorious one for the US in the UN.
The New York Times reports,

The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday that significantly choke off new fuel supplies and order North Koreans working overseas to return home within two years, in what may prove the last test of whether any amount of economic pressure can force it to reverse course on its nuclear program.

The sanctions, adopted by a vote of 15 to 0, were the third imposed this year in an escalating effort to force the North into negotiations. China and Russia joined in the resolution, though American officials have charged that in recent months the Russians have secretly been opening new links to the North, including new internet connections that give the country an alternative to communicating primarily through China.

Under the new sanctions, oil exports will be limited to their current level, which has already begun to result in shortages around the country. Countries around the world will be ordered to expel North Korean workers, a key source of hard currency. Nations would also be urged to inspect all North Korean shipping and halt ship-to-ship transfers of fuel, which the North has used to evade sanctions.

Read more here.

North Korea behind May cyberattacks affecting 150 countries

Brennan Weiss reports in Business Insider,

On Tuesday, the White House blamed North Korea for a massive cyber attack that destabilized hospitals, schools, businesses, and infrastructure across 150 countries in May.

"This was a careless and reckless attack. It affected individuals, industry, governments," said Tom Bossert, the president's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser.

"We do not make this allegation lightly. We do so with evidence, and we do so with partners," he added.

Bossert said the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan concurred with the US government's analysis. He also called on US companies to partner with the government to help thwart future attacks.

The move comes seven months after suspected North Korean hackers targeted computer systems around the world with WannaCry malware, encrypting vital data and demanding ransom payments in Bitcoin.

The US government says its condemnation is intended to hold the attackers publicly accountable for "malicious behavior" that is "growing more egregious."

Read more here.

North Korea's intentions to use nuclear weapons as a larger strategy

Sundance writes at The Conservative Treehouse,

President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson are asking Chinese Chairman/President Xi Jinping to cut off the oil supply to the DPRK.

If you have not watched the prior ‘deep weeds discussion‘ by T-Rex on the specific reason why the U.S. cannot, ever, accept a DPRK with nuclear weapons, you should. Two very specific reasons why also explain why traditional state adversaries China and Russia are willing to put aside their differences with the U.S. and work to denuclearize N-Korea:

#1) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to use nuclear weapons as a larger strategy, a shield per se’, toward advanced conventional military action in the region. And more importantly…

#2) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to commercialize nuclear weapon manufacturing and distribution, thereby selling completed nuclear weaponry on the global market.

...All indications are the current status is an inflection point.

Read more here.

What is going on re: North Korea?

Just a few days ago the number one story was the missile launch by North Korea. The sexual harassment charges against leading liberal journalists and politicians have pushed the North Korea story out of the picture. So what is going on? There is a Russia/China effort to get the US and South Korea to cancel their scheduled joint military exercises scheduled for December and for North Korea to suspend all nuclear and missile tests.

Yahoo reports,

...In just three months, South Korea hosts the Winter Olympics at a resort just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border with North Korea.

Read more here.

Is North Korea mass producing biological weapons?

Drudge often links to The Sun. I don't know how credible it is. Tonight it has a story about North Korea ‘mass producing biological weapons’ and could unleash smallpox, cholera, plague and anthrax on US troops
This chilling prospect is laid bare in a shocking report which states highly infectious diseases could be spread via a missile, drones, planes and sprayers.



Read more here.

Persuading China to cut financial ties to North Korea

The Atheist Conservative reports,

President Trump may have actually persuaded China to stop all financial transactions with North Korea.

According to the Washington Times –

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin called the head of China’s central bank very early Thursday to alert him that Mr. Trump was preparing an executive order to sanction any financial institutions doing business with North Korea. He asked for the cooperation of China, the main source of North Korea’s cash. Hours later, the People’s Bank of China announced it was directing all other banks in China to halt financial transactions with North Korea.

China is complying with US demands?

Will it really happen? Will the freeze last as long as it needs to?

Mnuchin said the sanctions will be more effective than previous efforts because Treasury now has the authority to “freeze or block any transactions, with any financial institution, anywhere in the world”.

If the US Treasury now has that power and uses it fully, then this is, as the Washington Times report says, “a major diplomatic victory” for President Trump.

It will surely be impossible for Kim Jong-un’s totalitarian Communist regime to survive such sanctions. The regime has been almost wholly dependent on China, and only able to fund its missile and nuke arsenals because China supported it.

So this is an enormously important – as well as extremely dramatic – development in world affairs. Not only because it can defeat Kim Jong-un, but perhaps even more importantly, because it has brought China into compliance with America’s wishes.

If it really happens, it is a towering achievement of President Trump.

What might happen if North Korea tries to launch a hydrogen bomb

Dave Mosher reports at Business Insider that nearly all nations now ban nuclear testing.

...The problem with nuclear test explosions is that they create radioactive fallout. Space detonations come with their own risks, including a more widespread electromagnetic pulse.

Only a fraction of a nuclear weapon's core is turned into energy during an explosion; the rest is irradiated, melted, and turned into fine particles. This creates a small amount of fallout that can be lofted into the atmosphere and spread around.

But the risk of fallout vastly increases close to the ground or water.

There, a nuclear explosion can suck up dirt, debris, water, and other materials, creating many tons of radioactive fallout - and this material rises high into the atmosphere, where it drifts for hundreds of miles.

This kind of Cold War-era fallout killed scores of innocent people in the Pacific, including Japanese fishermen, and is still causing cancer and health problems around the world today.

Read more here.

Kim bragging about EMP attack

Anthony Furey reports for the Postmedia Network,

The news Sunday morning that North Korea had launched what appeared to be its sixth nuclear test and most powerful one to date is troubling enough.

But a statement from the rogue regime took things to a whole new level. The North said it had tested an H-bomb that was “a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals.”

This is the first time it has publicly mentioned its interest and ability in an EMP attack, a devastating weapon that could have catastrophic consequences for North America, the West and their closer neighbours.

An EMP attack, as I detail in my new book Pulse Attack, is a nuclear detonation that occurs in the atmosphere and creates a waveform that can take down the electrical grid below.

In the worst case scenario, this wouldn’t just shut off the power for minutes or hours, but weeks or even months, due to serious damage to transformer stations and other integral elements of our power infrastructure.

This wouldn’t just mean we couldn’t turn on our laptops and televisions; it would shut down our telecommunications, transportation, water systems, our ability to get food to cities and much more.

Conventional wisdom tells us that North Korea would be incredibly reticent to live up to its threats of launching a missile strike, nuclear or otherwise, on South Korea, Guam, Japan or elsewhere because the retaliation from the United States would be immediate and ferocious, effectively destroying the country and killing all of its leadership.

However, if Kim Jong Un’s first strike is a successful EMP attack against North America, this would largely shut down the ability of the U.S. to respond. While some elements of U.S. military infrastructure have been hardened for resilience against an EMP strike, there is no standardization across the board. Plus, civilian infrastructure is hardly protected, if at all. The United States and Canada would be in the dark and sitting ducks.

A handful of national security experts and legislators in the U.S. have attempted to sound the alarm about this troubling vulnerability but have largely been unsuccessful in getting regulations in place. The utilities industry claims it’s not its problem, but that of the military’s, something experts firmly dispute.

Read more here.

Showing Kim Jong Un

U.S and South Korean fighter jets fly over the Korean Peninsula on Thursday. PHOTO: SOUTH KOREA DEFENSE MINISTRY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jonathan Cheng reports at The Wall Street Journal,

SEOUL—The U.S. sent four of its most advanced jet fighters and a pair of B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula, alongside Japanese and South Korean jets, as a show of force in direct response to North Korea firing a missile over Japan.

The flyover Thursday, which included a bombing drill on a range in South Korea, came at the end of annual joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that have angered Pyongyang.

It is the first time the F-35B jets have been used in such a mission with the B-1B bombers over the peninsula, the U.S. Air Force Pacific Command said in a statement. It said the flyover—which also included two Japanese F-15 and four South Korean F-15K jet fighters—emphasized an “ironclad commitment” to the defense of allies and the U.S., and maintained a readiness to give leaders “viable and ready military options.”

Read more here.

North Korea fires missile over Japan

Fox News reports on North Korea's firing of an unidentified missile over northern Japan today.

North Korea fired a missile over Japan for the first time in eight years, the Pentagon confirmed on Monday, as the rogue nation sent a message of defiance to the U.S. and its allies in the region.

"We are still in the process of assessing this launch. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America. We are working closely with Pacific Command, Strategic Command and NORAD and will provide an update as soon as possible," the Pentagon said.

A senior U.S. official said that there had been some movement suggesting an intermediate missile was being prepped.

The South Korean military said the missile flew about 1,700 miles with a height of 341 miles. That's lower than the 2,300 miles into space an intercontinental ballistic missile traveled in late July. North Korea’s July 4 ICBM traveled some 1,700 miles into space.

The missile was fired from the area of Sunan in Pyongyang shortly before 6 a.m. and flew east, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, according to Yonhap News Agency. It traveled over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and appeared to be the first to soar over the country since 2009, South Korean officials added.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga labeled it an "unprecedented grave threat."

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said that the Japanese government alerted the public to take cover in northern areas of Japan but that the Japanese military did not attempt to intercept it.

South Korea's presidential office convened a National Security Council (NSC) session quickly after the missile was fired.

The move came after North Korea fired three short-range missiles on Saturday -- all deemed successful despite initial reports suggesting failure, according to the U.S. military.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles fired during the weekend from North Korea's eastern coast flew about 155 miles. North Korean missile launches have been happening at an unusually fast pace this year, and some analysts have said the North could have viable long-range nuclear missiles before the end of President Donald Trump's first term in early 2021.

U.S. and South Korean forces began annual military exercises last week, an effort that Pyongyang claimed was a rehearsal for war.

Japan's military has been practicing deploying anti-missile batteries at three U.S. bases in Japan. The U.S. military says the drills will test the ability of Japanese and U.S. forces to work together and assess firing locations at the bases. They will also allow Japan to practice rapid deployment of its PAC-3 anti-missile system.

Earlier this month, Trump claimed that the North would be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if threats from the rogue regime continued.

North Korea has conducted a series of test launches to develop its missile capability and recently threatened to send missiles over western Japan and into waters near the U.S. territory of Guam.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had recently said that he was "pleased to see that the regime in Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we've not seen in the past."

Asked to address those comments on Fox News Sunday, Tillerson said he wanted to continue a "peaceful pressure campaign."

The missile was the 18th to be launched this year by North Korea. This is the third time North Korea has fired a missile over Japan. The last time was in 2009.

A missile was also fired over Japan in the 1990s.

Japan will deploy Patriot missile systems to “several” U.S. military installations in the next few days, the U.S. military said.