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Posts Tagged ‘Kim Jong Il’

Russia, North Korea to Hold Joint Naval Exercises

September 14, 2011 2 comments

voanews

A Russian military spokesman says Russia and North Korea are to hold unprecedented joint naval exercises in 2012.

Lieutenant Colonel Igor Muginov told Russian media Tuesday that the bilateral maneuvers will take place next year and will focus on search and rescue operations.

The agreement was reached last month during a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Muginov did not give any further details on the drills.

The United Read more…

Categories: military, North Korea, Russia Tags: , , , ,

North Korea Gets Military Trucks

August 25, 2011 2 comments

the-diplomat.com

North Korea purchased thousands of military vehicles from China that have been transported into the country over the course of the past month, according to the Chosun Ilbo.

The South Korean paper says that between 3,000 and 4,000 Chinese-made military trucks and jeeps entered North Korea last month, at a rate of about 100 a day, according to video clips obtained by the paper.

‘Analysis of the footage suggests the trucks were 6-ton trucks made by FAW Car Limited Company. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited the headquarters of this firm in Changchun, Jilin, during his visit to China in May,’ it reported. ‘The military jeeps were Read more…

Categories: China, North Korea Tags: , , , ,

Kim Jong-il visits Russia for talks with Dmitry Medvedev

August 24, 2011 Comments off

guardian.co.uk

Kim Jong-il's train in Ulan-Ude

Kim Jong-il’s train in Ulan-Ude. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA

Kim Jong-il has travelled by armoured train to eastern Siberia for a summit with the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.

The North Korean leader arrived in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, a Buddhist province near Lake Baikal, Russian news agencies reported. Kim’s motorcade left town in the direction of Turka, a picturesque village on the shores of Baikal.

The Yonhap news agency said the Medvedev-Kim summit was expected to take place on Wednesday.

The talks could focus on a deal for a pipeline that would stream Russian natural gas through the North’s territory to the South. South Korean media said the North could earn up to $100m a year.

There were signs that preparations were being made for Read more…

Categories: North Korea, Russia Tags: , , , , , ,

North Korea’s New Friend?

August 15, 2011 Comments off

Diplomat

A rare visit by a North Korean official to Cambodia raises the faint prospect of more engagement with Southeast Asia. But ties with Phnom Penh are complicated.

The North Korean mission to Cambodia sits on a major thoroughfare in the capital Phnom Penh, in the shadow of a lavish mansion belonging to the country’s Prime Minister Hun Sen. There are usually few signs of life behind the tinted windows of the pale pink embassy building, which only rarely admits visitors. Last month, however, the mission hosted a delegationfrom Pyongyang led by North Korean Deputy Trade Minister Ri Myong San. The official visit was relatively innocuous – Ri spoke with Cambodian officials about the expansion of economic ties – but the rare public appearance of a North Korean official underscored the curious friendship between Cambodia and the reclusive communist regime.The unique relationship between the two countries dates back to 1965, when Indonesian President Sukarno introduced North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung to Cambodia’s mercurial Prince Norodom Sihanouk at a non-aligned summit in Jakarta. At first glance, the Read more…
Categories: Cambodia, North Korea Tags: , ,

N. Korea imports Chinese riot gear

June 22, 2011 Comments off

upi

PYONGYANG, North Korea, June 22 (UPI) — North Korea has imported large quantities of Chinese riot gear, apparently to put down uprisings similar to those in Arab nations, the Chosun Ilbo reported.

Separately, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker, quoting the country’s spy chief, said Wednesday various policy blunders have hurt North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s leadership and affected the prospects of his heir apparent son, Kim Jong Un, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Citing a source it did not identify, the Chosun Ilbo said the North’s riot gear imports included tear gas, shields and helmets from China. The Communist country also is trying to get bulletproof vests and barricade materials.

“The regime seems to be very afraid of popular riots after the botched currency reform and the Read more…

Categories: China, North Korea Tags: , , , ,

North Korea’s new weapon: the hovercraft

May 31, 2011 Comments off

guardian

Marines Land In Kuwait

North Korea plans a fleet of 60 attack hovercraft

Think of the great machines of war, and the hovercraft is perhaps not the first that springs to mind. But Kim Jong-il has clearly done his homework on military history, because North Korea is in the process of building a naval hovercraft base 30 miles off the South Korean coast. The hangar-shaped buildings spotted across the international waters will house 60 “attack hovercraft”, to be used for “infiltration attacks and landing”.

While the first air-cushion vehicle was built in 1915, the modern hovercraft was the work of Sir Christopher Cockerell, who had the idea that boats could be made to float on a cushion of air, reducing water drag. He built several prototypes in the 1950s, but no branch of the military was interested. He eventually received funding and in 1958 produced the SR.N1, the world’s first passenger hovercraft. Military hovercraft went Read more…

Categories: North Korea, South Korea Tags: , , , , ,

Between Sudan and Libya, Critics See U.S. Inconsistency

March 15, 2011 Comments off

nationaljournal.com

Why the rush to use force against Qaddafi when Sudan has suffered more?

 

Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Actor George Clooney helped conceive a project along with John Prendergast of the Enough Project that helps track violence in Sudan.

He went on to acknowledge that in a world full of Read more…

Categories: Libya, Sudan, United States Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

North Korea Warns of Military Response Against South Over Leaflet Drops

February 27, 2011 Comments off

North Korea threatened to take military action if the South continues to drop leaflets fomenting revolt, Korean Central News Agency reported.

North Korea said it will fire at the “source” of balloons containing leaflets and video clips saved on flash-memory devices and DVDs, along with books and one U.S. dollar bills. The leaflets were a psychological plot to “shake up our socialism and break the trust of our military and people,” state-run KCNA said today.

South Korea’s military has dropped leaflets on North Korea that contain information on pro-democracy revolts in the Middle East with the intention of provoking a movement against Kim Jong Il’s regime, a South Korean Read more…

Categories: North Korea, South Korea Tags: , , , , , , , ,

N.Korean Regime Worried About Arab Uprisings

February 21, 2011 Comments off

chosun.com

The North Korean authorities are apparently on full alert as news trickles in about pro-democracy protests in the Middle East despite an official blackout. According to a source, security agents have banned all gatherings, especially of university students, as news spreads about the public revolts in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the Arab world.

The source added that partitions have been removed in restaurants across the country, and security agents break up even small gatherings in open-air markets.

“This is the first time I saw even partitions removed from restaurants in North Korea,” a recent defector said. Students in Pyongyang have begun Read more…

Categories: Middle East, North Korea, Protests Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

New North Korean Space Launch Site Appears Completed

February 17, 2011 Comments off

Steve Herman

voanews.com

Image taken from the Ikonos satellite, January 10, 2011 

Photo: GeoEye and Globalsecurity.org

Image taken from the Ikonos satellite, January 10, 2011

New satellite imagery seen by VOA News shows North Korea has completed a launch tower at its second missile launch facility, in the country’s northwest.  Intelligence analysts in the United States and South Korea are keeping a close eye on the facility, near Tongchang-dong.

The site is seen as a critical element in Pyongyang’s quest to build a missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon across the Pacific.

The satellite pictures were taken during the past month. Most significantly, the photographs reveal Read more…

Categories: North Korea, Weapons, WMD Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,