Archive
U.N. Experts to Investigate Cuban Arms Shipment to N. Korea
REUTERS/Carlos Jasso
An undeclared arms shipment found onboard a North Korean freighter will be investigated by a team of U.N. experts during a three-day trip, the Associated Press reported.
The Chong Chon Gang in mid-July was stopped en route to North Korea by Panamanian officials, who thought the ship might have been carrying drugs from Cuba. A search of the cargo resulted in the discovery of Soviet-era weaponry that was reportedly being transported to North Korea so that the Asian nation could overhaul the equipment before returning it to Cuba.
The U.N. team will consist of six members and is to arrive in Panama on August 13. An initial report will be Read more…
North Korea upgrading rocket launch site, possibly with Iran’s help
WASHINGTON — North Korea is upgrading one of its two major missile launch sites, apparently to handle much bigger rockets, and some design features suggest it is getting help from Iran, a U.S. research institute said Thursday.
A successful satellite launch in December and a nuclear test on Tuesday, both in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, have intensified concern that North Korea is moving toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on an intercontinental missile.
An analysis written for 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, indicates that North Korea has made significant progress since October in constructing a new launch pad and other facilities at Tonghae, on the Read more…
Graphic: North Korea successfully tests 7 kiloton nuclear device
Click to enlarge
North Korea has confirmed that it has carried out its third nuclear test, after international monitors detected seismic activity close to the nation’s nuclear test site.
The North Korean regime said it had “successfully” detonated a miniaturised nuclear device with “greater explosive force” in an underground test.
This is the third test by the secretive regime in the last ten years. The first test took place in 2006, and was estimated to have a yield of only one kiloton.
Today’s test is approximately seven times larger, and the miniaturised design of the device could enable it to fit on long range missiles currently under development.
North Korea tested a three stage rocket last year which has the potential for reaching the far west coast of the US.
North Korea threatens new nuclear test ‘aimed’ at US
Two days after the United Nations condemned North Korea with further sanctions for its December rocket launch, the secretive country vowed to respond with a nuclear weapons test aimed at its “enemy,” the United States.
The United Nations Security Council – including North Korea’s closest ally and biggest trading partner, China – voted unanimously on Tuesday to strengthen sanctions against North Korea for its Dec. 12 long-range rocket launch, which violated previous agreements with the UN.
When the launch took place last month, North Korea stated its intentions were Read more…
Russian Planes Spotted over Japanese Destroyer
Il-38 plane
Two Russian anti-submarine aircraft have flown over a Japanese destroyer preparing to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it passes over Japan’s territory, a Japanese TV channel reported on Wednesday, citing the country’s Defense Ministry.
According to the ministry, the Il-38 planes were seen on Tuesday off the south-west coast of the largest Japanese island of Honshu, where the destroyer is currently based. The ministry said that Japanese fighters accompanied the IL-38s during their flight.
The NHK TV channel suggested that the Russian planes had been collecting information on the multi-purpose combat system Aegis which is installed on the destroyer. Russian patrol aircrafts have been spotted performing reconnaissance missions, without Read more…
North Korea Displays Rocket Ahead Of Launch; Japan Roll Out Missile Defences
North Korea is preparing a long-range rocket for launch, defying international warnings against violating a ban on missile activity.
Pyongyang said last month it would launch what it claims is an observation satellite, the Kwangmyongsong-3 (Shining Star), using a three-stage rocket during celebrations for the 100th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il-Sung’s birth.
Experts say the launch of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket, which is Read more…
North Korean Nuclear Work Poses Greater Threat Than Iran, Amano Says
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano on Saturday said he believes the threat posed by Iran’s atomic activities is eclipsed by the dangers of North Korea’s known nuclear-weapon efforts, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, March 9).
The North’s development of nuclear weapons, which includes two nuclear tests to date, is a “threat to East Asia,” the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said.
“The problem (with North Korea) is serious and its impact on the world is larger” than Iran, Amano said. His organization and a number of governments around the world worry that Iran is seeking a nuclear-weapon capability; Tehran maintains that its atomic development program is strictly peaceful (see related GSN story, today).
The veteran Japanese diplomat said he hopes to dispatch IAEA monitors to North Korea to verify implementation of a recently agreed-to shutdown of Read more…
N. Korea says it is ready for both dialogue and war
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visits a unit under the Command of the Korean People's Army 4th Corps stationed in the southwestern sector of North Korea, in this undated picture released by the North's KCNA in Pyongyang February 26. KCNA/REUTERS
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) — North Korea said Monday it is fully ready for both dialogue and war as South Korea and the United States kicked off joint military drills that Pyongyang claims are rehearsals for a northward invasion.
The Key Resolve, which will last through March 9, involves about 200,000 South Korean troops and 2,900 U.S. troops, according to the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
Separately, the two allies plan to hold the Foal Eagle joint military exercise from March 1 to April 30.
South Korea and the U.S. regularly hold military exercises to bolster their readiness against a possible North Korean invasion. Seoul and Washington say the exercises are defensive in nature.
However, the North, which has a track record of military provocations against South Korea, routinely condemns the military drills in the South as precursors for an invasion.
“The big exercises for Read more…
North Korea ‘Developing Kamikaze Drones’
The North Korean military is developing unmanned “suicide” attack aircraft to target South Korean troops on the northwesternmost islands, a South Korean Army source claimed Sunday. The South Korean military in turn plans to procure all-weather unmanned tactical dirigibles capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions even in bad weather to deploy on the islands.
The source claimed the North is developing unmanned attack aircraft “using high-speed U.S. target drones imported from a Middle Eastern country.” This is presumed to be Syria.
A high-speed target drone is used as a target for testing surface-to-air missiles. The target drones the North imported are believed to be MQM-107D Streakers.
A Streaker target drone believed to be used by North Korea to develop an unmanned attack aircraft (left), and a dirigible South Korea plans to procure.The jet-powered Streakers can fly at up to 925 km/h with a fuselage 5.5 m long and a wingspan of 3 m. They are used by Read more…
North Korea bulks up its military: report
OSAKA, Japan — North Korea doesn’t just do a nice line in belligerent rhetoric; it also has the military hardware to make life difficult for its enemy South Korea, according to a new report.Just as the North risks economic collapse and starvation the regime has diverted funds to its 1.2 million-strong army and its nuclear weapons program, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute in Seoul.
It has also acquired a record number of tanks, warships and air defense artillery, the independent think-tank said in an unsettling report published this week.
“The depressing reality is it would not be entirely wrong to say North Korea’s military is stronger than the South’s based on updated data from 2011,” the institute said.
The best way for Seoul to deter a pre-emptive attack, it went on, is to make it clear that it is ready to Read more…
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