North Korea's most powerful woman

She's probably the most powerful woman in North Korea: Kim Yo Jong, the dictator’s younger sister. She’s viewed as an emotionless and shrewd strategist for her brother, the North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un. But just who is the "Red Princess"?

How a Mysterious Ship Helps North Korea Evade Oil Sanctions | Visual Investigations

 

North Korea - All the dictator's men

North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world, but its leader Kim Jong Un has still found the money he needs to finance a nuclear weapons program, despite the country's fundamental poverty and international economic sanctions. This documentary looks at how, and introduces the men who have helped Kim Jong Un keep his dreams of reaching nuclear power status alive. North Korea has not reined in its nuclear program, despite a number of UN resolutions that have tried to force it to do so.

Trump Bragged We Could Stop Worrying About Nuclear War (video)

When the U.S. first discovered that North Korea was creating a nuclear arsenal back in the mid-1990's.  Various means and methods have been sought to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Nothing's worked because its leaders see nuclear weapons as a key to the regimes survival.  Then there its stated foreign policy goals:  End the U.S. South Korea mutual defense treaty, removal of all U.S. military personnel, end all joint training exercises and its most coveted goal diplomatic  recognition by the U.S.   Under Donald Trump several of those goals have been achieved.  The end of joint military training and most importantly recognition of its government by America.  It achieved these because Donald Trump being a complete narcissist and lacking self confidence decided that Kim-Jong un was a "wonderful" person because he was very complementary.  Of course little Donnie's North Korea policy has been a complete failure.         

Is North Korea's timeline to denuclearise for real?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in this month to push stalled efforts.

There is renewed hope of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and a restart of discussions that have stalled over the last few weeks since June's landmark summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.

Trump has welcomed remarks by Kim Jong-un saying his faith in the US president remains unchanged.

Kim is meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in later this month for the third time this year to discuss measures towards denuclearisation.

Is peace on the horizon between North and South Korea?

After the historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea, there could finally be peace on the peninsula.

It was just one small gesture, one small step forward, but the significance of the move by North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un is certainly historic, and will be remembered for years to come.

Kim became the first North Korean leader to vist South Korea since the end of the war between the two countries in 1953.

He was warmly welcomed and embraced by South Korea's President Moon Jae-In.

Both leaders were relaxed and smiling during small talk.

Fire and Fury: Trump's North Korea Crisis (video)

Fault Lines examines what Donald Trump's impulsive leadership style could mean for North Korea, and the world.

As Donald Trump prepared to take office, his predecessor Barack Obama warned that North Korea would be the greatest challenge of his presidency.

But rather than proceed with caution, President Trump responded to a series of intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests with bellicose rhetoric, warning North Korea's threats would "be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen".

Meet North Korea's Winter Olympics cheerleading squad

North Korea's cheerleaders are making waves at the Winter Olympics. The group caught the world's attention during their energetic performance at the joint Korea women's ice hockey match against Switzerland despite their team's 8-0 defeat

Trump just put North Korea back on the state sponsor of terrorism list

Donald Trump announced that he'll return North Korea to the terrorist sponsorship list joining countries like Sudan and Iran.   North Korea was first placed on the watch list in 1988 following the bombing of a Korean Air 747.  The Bush administration removed North Korea from the list in 2008 in an effort to further negotiations on reducing North Korea's nuclear weapons program.  His argument for doing this involves the killing of  Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia. 

 Administration officials also discussed the possibility of calling the brutal death of Otto Warmbier — the 23-year-old US citizen released by North Korea this summer who returned home in a coma — an act of terrorism. However, there was no agreement as to whether or not his death, as horrible as it was, constituted terrorism, the Washington Post reports.

North Korea was on the state sponsor of terror list before. President George W. Bush included the country in his 2002 “Axis of Evil” speech along with Iran and Iraq. But he removed Pyongyang as part of talks designed to get the country to stop its nuclear program. Clearly, that plan didn’t work — North Korea tested a missile capable of hitting most of the US on July 28 — and Trump is, in a way, going back in time.

Kim Jong-un believes that having such weapons will prevent regime change by any means.   

It's not like earlier sanctions from the United Nations, Japan or the U.S. has slowed North Korea's nuclear weapons development which has continued apace.  

Fake Kim Jong Un Pranks New York City Times Square!! (10 Hours of Walking - Part 3)

An Inconvenient Border: Where China Meets North Korea | ABC News

Donald Trump Goes To The UN And Gives North Korea The Green Light To Keep Building Nukes

Well, Donald Trump has devolved into or perhaps evolved into a cartoon image of an evil leader hell bent on world domination.  The only thing missing was the twisting of the long handlebar mustache.  Jesus who telegraphs their actual intentions to militarily destroy a nation that realistically isn't a threat to other countries or American allies.  North Korea and Kim-Jong un just wants to survive.

Let's say that Donald Trump ordered a military strike on North Korea, what would the consequences be?   North Korea has 14,000 artillery tubes positioned on its border with the South. Which, if fired would strike Seoul within minutes killing how many thousands if not tens of thousands? Those casualties wouldn't be limited to citizens of Korea. Remember there are large numbers  of American expats living in the Seoul metropolitan area.

How did the world get to this point? Let's face it Donald Trump has no real political or personnel  ideology that involves a wider world view.  His ideology is based upon the promotion of Donald Trump.   No, he isn't a monolith as some my suggest given that he's a racist, white supremacist, a nativist  and xenophobic.  

Given that Donald Trump has given North Korea the incentive to continue its nuclear weapons development programme how will Donald Trump deal with the problem.  Through bombastic language and stupidity.   

North Korea Claims Successful Hydrogen Bomb Test

North Korea nuclear test feared after earthquake detected – live

South Korea calls national security meeting after earthquake of magnitude 6.3 detected near a North Korean testing area

Melissa Davey

Sunday 3 September 2017 06.04 BST

This is Nicola Slawson and I’ll be continuing to update you on the latest news from North Korea throughout the morning.

Here’s the full text of the statement from North Korea on its hydrogen bomb test, which Jonathan Cheng of the Wall Street Journal has posted on Twitter: 

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Jonathan Cheng 

✔@JChengWSJ

Full statement from N. Korea on today's nuclear test.

3:48 PM - Sep 3, 2017

Latest test has yield of up to 100 kilotons

South Korean news agency Yonhap News has just filed this report:

North Korea’s apparent sixth nuclear test was estimated to have a yield of up to 100 kilotons, about four to five times stronger than the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, the chief of the parliament’s defence committee said Sunday.

Citing a report from the military authorities, Kim Young-woo said that the explosive power of the apparent nuke tested Sunday appeared to be much stronger than the North’s fifth one estimated to have a yield of 10 kilotons. One kiloton is equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.

“(The North’s latest test) is estimated to have a yield of up to 100 kilotons, though it is a provisional report,” Kim of the minor opposition Bareun Party told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. “The test will be a very crucial political and strategic inflexion point.”
Kim also pointed out the need for the Moon Jae-in administration to make a decision over whether to stick to its peace initiative that seeks to re-engage with the belligerent state through both sanctions and dialogue.

Earlier in the day, the South’s weather agency detected a magnitude 5.7 earthquake from the North’s Pyunggye-ri nuclear test site in a sign of another strategic provocation. South Korean intelligence authorities have said that Pyongyang appears ready for another nuke test.

Pyongyang carried out nuke experiments in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016.

At a doorstop in Sydney, Australia, the deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, has called conflict on the Korean peninsula “the greatest threat to peace and stability in our region”.

“It is absolutely vital that we continue to see pressure from the international community to support peace and de-escalation of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Right across our region governments have been watching North Korea’s actions with a great deal of concern and trepidation.”

Asked about North Korea’s claim it is capable of fitting a hydrogen bomb to an intercontinental ballistic missile, Plibersek said it was “very difficult to know how much of the North Korean regime’s propaganda is true” and said that reports differed on the likelihood of that claim being true.

“What we know for certain is that the North Korean regime is behaving irresponsibly, aggressively and in a way that threatens peace and security in our region ... [and] that the people most likely to influence with the North Korean regime is China and we continue to urge China to do all it can to urge the North Korean regime to stand down.”

North Korea: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Kim Jong-Un Responds To Donald Trump

Trump threatens 'fury' against N Korea

US President Donald Trump says North Korea "will be met with fire and fury" if it threatens the US.

His comments came after a Washington Post report, citing US intelligence officials, said Pyongyang had produced a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside its missiles.

This would mean the North is developing nuclear weapons capable of striking the US at a much faster rate than expected.

Donald Trump is apparently incapable of dealing with any deviation from his agenda.  Bullying others. Play golf. Rage tweet.  Play golf.  Make everything about himself.  

Is he stupid enough to start a war with North Korea over its nuclear weapons development? Of course. Because he fails to understand what that programme is for the survival of the Kim family and its rule.  In others it's a deterrent.  But Donald Trump the "Two Minute Man" is just supremely stupid enough to think it's all about him. 

"We'll Handle North Korea" Donald Trump

Donald Trump, a man who has little understanding of foreign policy or North Korea is going to "handle" North Korea.   If Trump had any curiosity he'd ask the most simple of questions. What does North Korea want?   As ridiculous as this sounds North Korea wants complete and full diplomatic relations and a peace treaty with the United States. Granted they also want the U.S. to end its military and political alliance with South Korea which every administration has adamantly refused to do.

Does Kim-Jong un really want a war on the Korean peninsula? Of course not. Kim-Jong un is concerned with his and regimes survival.  Kim-Jong un after viewing what happened to Saddam Hussein after giving up his pursuit of nuclear weapons following sanctions placed upon Iraq and various government  officials decided that giving up North Korea's nuclear  weapons programs would lead to regime change.

Is Kim-Jong un a dangerous leader? Yes.  His government has committed crimes against humanity, constructed an extensive system of gulags, sells drugs and other stolen merchandise to help finance the country's nuclear ambitions.

 Donald Trump is more dangerous due to his lack of self confidence, his fragile ego and an inability to actually listen to advice from those known to be experts on the relevant issue.  One can just imagine Donald Trump taking offense at some action by the North Koreans and starting a war.

Pentagon 'worried Trump was going to declare war on North Korea' during today's tweets about military

The US is concerned about North Korea's nuclear programme

Some officials at the Pentagon were reportedly concerned Donald Trump was set to declare war on North Korea when he started tweeting about his plans for the military.

There were nine long minutes between Mr Trump’s first tweet - announcing he had been consulting with his generals - and the second, in which he said he had decided transgender people could not serve in the military.

Donald Trump is so insecure and lacking in self confidence that it wouldn't surprise anyone if he announced on twitter that the U.S. was about to take military action against North Korea given the world's concern over its nuclear programme.   North Korea's army is massed along the inter Korean border along with a majority of its artillery.  With that in mind Seoul would be devastated and ten's of thousands killed  given its close proximity to the border.   Don't underestimate Trump's ability to do the utterly stupid.

North Korean defector tells how he secretly made millions for Kim regime

July 13, 2017 1:00 AM EDT - For three decades, North Korean Ri Jong Ho was one of many men responsible for secretly sending millions of dollars back to Pyongyang. He worked for the shadowy "Office 39" before escaping with his family in 2014. He sat down with The Washington Post’s Anna Fifield to tell his story. (Anna Fifield, Jason Aldag / The Washington Post)

Could North Korea trigger a nuclear war?

After successfully test-firing a rocket at the weekend, North Korea now claims to have a missile with a warhead that could reach the US. Most experts are critical of the claim, and analysts say flight data suggests the rocket could fly 2,800 miles – not even half the way to the US. We take a look back at North Korea’s nuclear dynasty and ask: could the country trigger a nuclear war?