by Nicolas REVISE Dave Clark Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — North Korea’s determined quest for a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the US mainland is the first major US foreign policy challenge of the Donald Trump era. And, less than three weeks before he takes office, Trump has already plunged into these most dangerous of waters with a warning to unpredictable dictator Kim Jong-un. Kim marked the New Year by announcing that […]
Tag: Kim Jong Un
N. Korea plans nuclear push in 2017: top defector
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is planning a “prime time” nuclear weapons push in 2017 to take advantage of leadership transitions in South Korea and the United States, a high-ranking defector said Tuesday. In his first press conference since fleeing his post as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain in August, Thae Yong-Ho said Kim had issued a directive at a rare ruling party congress in May to “complete” nuclear […]
S. Korea rules out flood aid to N. Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea Friday ruled out giving aid to flood-hit North Korea, saying leader Kim Jong-Un would claim credit for any assistance following what Pyongyang calls the “worst disaster” since World War II. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) appealed Wednesday for $15.5 million in emergency funding to help North Koreans. It warned of a “secondary disaster” in the impoverished country unless urgent assistance is provided. […]
North Korea’s Kim guides new rocket engine test, calls for satellite launch
(Reuters) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a ground test of a new rocket engine to launch satellites, the North’s state media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a rapid succession of missile-related tests this year by the isolated state. Kim asked that the scientists and engineers make “preparations for launching the satellite as soon as possible on the basis of the successful test,” the official KCNA news agency said, indicating the […]
N. Korea ready for another nuclear test
Seoul, South Korea—North Korea has completed preparations for another nuclear test in a previously unused tunnel at its Punggye-ri site, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Monday. The North on Friday conducted its fifth and most powerful atomic test, just eight months after its previous one. “We have detected signs that North Korea has finished preparations to conduct a nuclear test at any time in the third tunnel at its Punggye-ri test site,” Yonhap […]
North Korea says sanctions push after nuclear test ‘laughable’
(REUTERS) North Korea said on Sunday a push for further sanctions following its fifth and biggest nuclear test was “laughable”, and vowed to continue to strengthen its nuclear power. The isolated state on Friday set off its most powerful nuclear explosion to date, saying it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile, ratcheting up a threat that its rivals and the United Nations have been powerless to contain. A […]
South Koreans protest against the North’s nuclear test
(Reuters) — South Korean conservative protesters held an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul on Saturday (September 10) to denounce Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test. About 100 protesters gathered in central Seoul, and chanted anti-North Korea slogans while holding up placards bearing a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un . Protesters also burned an effigy of Kim Jong Un at the rally. “South Korean people strongly urge the United Nations and the international community […]
N. Korea leader says missile test was “greatest success”: KCNA
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has declared a recent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test the “greatest success”, Pyongyang’s state media said Thursday. The results of Wednesday’s launch proved the North had joined the “front rank of the military powers fully equipped with nuclear attack capability” and that the US mainland and the operational theatre in the Pacific were now “within the striking range” of the North’s army, KCNA news agency […]
Cold War echoes as inter-Korean diplomacy goes back to basics
by Park Chan-Kyong SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — One year after North and South Korea vowed to resume a constructive dialogue, they have instead resurrected a spirit of Cold War-era antagonism, complete with cross-border propaganda shouting matches, spy messaging and defection dramas. Official contact between the two Koreas has never been easy, but the current situation, with all official lines of communication severed and a host of flash-point issues raising tensions, appears to be particularly […]
N. Korea says missile tests simulated nuclear strike on South
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea said Wednesday its latest ballistic missile tests trialled detonation devices for possible nuclear strikes on US targets in South Korea and were personally monitored by supreme leader Kim Jong-Un. Tuesday’s test firing of three missiles in violation of existing UN resolutions was seen as an angry reaction to the planned deployment of a US missile defense system in the South. The launch of the two Scud missiles and […]
N. Korea leader Kim Jong-Un gets new ‘top post’
by Park Chan-Kyong PYONGYANG, North Korea (AFP) — North Korea has created a new, supreme governing commission with leader Kim Jong-Un as its chairman, underlining the 33-year-old’s absolute control over every aspect of state policy in the isolated, nuclear-armed nation. The country’s legislative body, the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), unanimously voted Kim as head of the State Affairs Commission on Wednesday, the North’s official KCNA news agency said. The new agency replaces the National Defence […]
Kim Jong-Un hails N. Korea’s nuclear power status at party congress
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AFP) – by Simon MARTIN Kim Jong-Un opened North Korea’s first ruling party congress for nearly 40 years on Friday, with a defiant defence of the “magnificent” strides made in the country’s nuclear weapons programme. Hailing the historic test of what North Korea claims was a hydrogen bomb in January, the isolated state’s young leader said it had shown the world it would not be cowed by sanctions or outside pressure. Dressed […]





