North Korea (Superthread)

[OldSolduer]

The "Dear Leader" should become the "Dear Departed Leader".
Let's send Mr. Layton and Dawn Black to negotiate.

 

[a_majoor]

I see I messed up the link When North Korea Falls.

Much of what the KFR ("Kim Family Regime") does is not directed at the United States at all, but rather designed to provoke some sort of positive response from  Bejing, the local superpower. Attempting to get the United States to the table for a "one on one" is just one of the ways the KFR inflates their standing in the region and thus causes Beijing to recalculate.

Kim Jong Il’s compulsion to demonstrate his missile prowess is a sign of his weakness. Contrary to popular perception in the United States, Kim doesn’t stay up at night worrying about what the Americans might do to him; it’s not North Korea’s weakness relative to the United States that preoccupies him. Rather, if he does stay up late worrying, it’s about China. He knows the Chinese have always had a greater interest in North Korea’s geography—with its additional outlets to the sea close to Russia—than they have in the long-term survival of his regime. (Like us, even as they want the regime to survive, the Chinese have plans for the northern half of the Korean peninsula that do not include the “Dear Leader.”) One of Kim’s main goals in so aggressively displaying North Korea’s missile capacity is to compel the United States to deal directly with him, thereby making his otherwise weakening state seem stronger. And the stronger Pyongyang appears to be, the better off it is in its crucial dealings with Beijing, which are what really matter to Kim.

This is not to say that South Korea, Japan, Taiwan or Russia should just shrug their shoulders and ignore the goings on in North Korea, but rather they (and we) need to avoid knee jerk reactions since that is probably what the KFR is aiming for. The real scary part is as the KFR becomes more brittle and unstable, they will be less and less able to deal with internal or external problems:

In other divided countries of the twentieth century—Vietnam, Germany, Yemen—the forces of unity ultimately triumphed. But history suggests that unification does not happen through a calibrated political process in which the interests of all sides are respected. Rather, it tends to happen through a cataclysm of events that, piles of white papers and war-gaming exercises notwithstanding, catches experts by surprise.

Cutting the western lifeline to the KFR will make their nuclear program much more costly in economic terms (if the KFR has to divert food and energy resources away from their military there will be trouble), although Beijing is actually what keeps them afloat. Maybe just cutting our losses will shift the economic burden far enough on China to make them reconsider what they are doing.

 

[CougarKing]

I guess this answers this question, unless, he has doubles like Saddam had. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081004/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_kim_jong_il

Report: NKorean leader watches soccer game
By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 38 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il watched a university soccer game, a state-run news agency said from Pyongyang on Saturday, reporting on the leader's first public appearance in nearly two months.

Kim and other political leaders watched the game held to mark the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the university named after his late father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, the Korean Central News Agency report said.

The university's 62nd anniversary was Oct. 1 but the report did not say when or where the game was held. It also did not say whether Kim, who is believed to have suffered a stroke in August, attended the game in person. There was no mention of his health.

The 66-year-old leader had not been seen in public since mid-August, missing two key occasions — the 60th anniversary of the founding of North Korea and Korean Thanksgiving — amid mounting speculation about his health.

U.S. and South Korean officials said last month that Kim, believed to have diabetes and other chronic ailments, suffered a stroke, citing unidentified sources. North Korean officials, however, steadfastly denied he was ill.

Information about North Korea, one of the world's most reclusive nations, can be close to impossible to confirm.

In Seoul, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said late Saturday that he was aware of the KCNA report but had no additional information.

South Korean officials had said Kim was believed to have improved in recent weeks.

Kim's extended absence from the public eye is not his first, but it is believed to be his longest since assuming leadership of communist North Korea after his father's death in 1994.

KCNA's last mention of Kim making a public appearance was on Aug. 14 — around the time Pyongyang stopped disabling its Yongbyon nuclear reprocessing plant and began reassembling the facility in violation of a multilateral disarmament-for-aid pact.

U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill went to North Korea earlier in the week to try salvaging the agreement, worked out in February 2007 by the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, China and the U.S. in a bid to dismantle the nation's nuclear program.

Hill, who returned to Seoul on Friday, made no mention of Kim.

While the news agency has since reported that Kim sent birthday greetings to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and congratulations to Beijing on a key Chinese anniversary, there had been no mention of him appearing in public until Saturday.

The report said Kim congratulated the two soccer teams from Kim Il Sung University and the Pyongyang University of Railways after the game.

Kim praised the student athletes, saying: "The revolutionary and militant students in our country are good at art and sporting activities while devoting all their wisdom and enthusiasm to the study of science for the country and the people," KCNA said.

___

Associated Press Writer Jae-soon Chang contributed to this report.

 

[tomahawk6]

Probably a double.

 

[CougarKing]

The Yellow Sea- which the PRC considers its own territory as well in addition to the East and South China Seas- was the scene of today's latest saber-rattling event from the DPRK. The fact that it was aimed at the Yellow Sea must mean something- is it a major falling out between Pyongyang and Beijing? Or just another gesture to the West that they are still alive and kicking?

NKorea reportedly fires missile into Yellow Sea

59 minutes ago

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5bCbd3G8qFoX7H4TvQbUWvBQ08QD93LRTGO0

TOKYO (AP) — North Korea has fired a short-range missile into the Yellow Sea, media reports said Tuesday.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted officials as saying Tokyo was trying to verify a report from a third country that the communist nation fired a missile. NHK said the firing did not involve a ballistic missile.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said two missiles were fired Monday. The Japanese daily Mainichi carried a similar report and said it was a routine military exercise.

Japanese officials said they could not confirm the media reports.

In Washington, the Pentagon declined to confirm or deny whether any missile firing had been detected.

"We cannot provide information regarding specific intelligence," said Marine Maj. Stewart Upton, a Defense Department spokesman. "However, our concerns about missile activities in North Korea are long-standing and well documented.

"North Korea's development, deployment and proliferation of missiles and missile-related materials, equipment and technology pose a threat to the region and the world," Upton said.

North Korea often test-fires short-range missiles, including two in March. The country has been under a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests.

North Korea, which conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006, stopped disabling its nuclear facilities in August, around the time reports say leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke. North Korea denies that Kim is ill.

 

[Celticgirl]

The Yellow Sea- which the PRC considers its own territory as well in addition to the East and South China Seas- was the scene of today's latest saber-rattling event from the DPRK. the fact that was it was aimed at the Yellow Sea must mjean something- is it a major falling out between Pyongyang and Beijing? Or just another gesture to the West that they are still alive and kicking?

I'd say it's more likely that the PRC gave consent to President Kim to test missiles in its waters. As for it being a message or "gesture" to the West...perhaps...or it could just be that Kim thinks such activity will go undetected by the West (U.S. in particular). All speculation, of course. No one knows what Kim is thinking or planning, and that is the truly scary thing about it.

 

[Long Sword]

NK is trying to pressure the West for more aid (again). It's been their standard operating procedure for years, and with reactivating the Yongbyon nuclear complex, this is just an extension of that: reactivate their nuclear facilities, and if the West doesn't immediately capitulate, remind us that they have the capabilities to deliver nuclear material. If talks don't give them the aid they want, they'll probably have another test.

Then they eventually get something and we start the whole process all over again!

 

[CougarKing]

Yawn. So what's new?  :boring:

North Korea Threatens to Turn South Korea Into 'Debris'

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444369,00.html

SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korea's military warned Tuesday it would attack South Korea and turn it into "debris," in Pyongyang's latest response to what it says are confrontational activities by Seoul against the communist country.

The threat comes a day after military officers from the two Koreas held brief talks at the heavily fortified border, their second official contact since the North broke off inter-Korean relations in February.

The North threatened to cut off all ties if the "confrontational racket" continues, citing a South Korean general's recent threats to launch a pre-emptive strike against its nuclear sites and the refusal of civic activists in the South to heed Pyongyang's demands to cease distribution of propaganda leaflets critical of its leadership.

"The puppet authorities had better remember that the advanced pre-emptive strike of our own style will reduce everything opposed to the nation and reunification to debris, not just setting them on fire," the North's military said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Relations between the two Koreas have been tense since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration took office earlier this year pledging to get tough with Pyongyang.

Earlier this month, Gen. Kim Tae-young, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a parliamentary committee that his military was prepared to attack suspected nuclear sites in North Korea if the communist country attempts to use its atomic weapons on the South.

North Korea has demanded that South Korea stop activists from sending balloons carrying leaflets critical of the communist regime across the border, saying the flyers violate a 2004 inter-Korean accord banning propaganda warfare.

The South Korean government has stopped official propaganda but says it cannot prohibit activists from sending the leaflets, citing freedom of speech.

Defying Pyongyang's demands, South Korean activists on Monday sent helium balloons carrying 100,000 leaflets to the North. Some noted Kim's reported health troubles and called for the North Korean people to rise up against the authoritarian leader.

The North said it also was offended by recent comments by South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee about leader Kim Jong Il's health.

South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a news conference in Washington earlier this month that both the U.S. and South Korea believed Kim Jong Il remained in control, adding: "If we show him too much attention, then we might spoil him."

U.S. and South Korean officials say Kim suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgery in recent months, but the North has denied there is anything wrong with the 66-year-old leader.

The two countries remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The peninsula is divided by one of the world's most heavily fortified borders.

 

[CougarKing]

If that isn't a doctored photo I'm eating my shirt.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5101905.ece

It was intended to be the photograph that settled the matter once and for all — three months after vanishing from public view, and after reports that he had undergone brain surgery following a stroke, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, was alive and well.

But a close look reveals something shady around the ankles of the world’s last Cold War dictator.

While the legs of his soldiers cast a shadow at a sharp angle, the shadow of the “Dear Leader” is dead straight. In addition, there is a black line running horizontally behind the soldiers’ legs, but it mysteriously disappears behind Mr Kim.

Rather than a genuine photograph, there were growing suspicions last night that the image released by the North Korean authorities may possibly be the result of digital trickery. Yesterday the state-controlled North Korean media announced that Mr Kim had attended a musical performance at which he “waved back to the cheering performers and congratulated them on their presentation”. The photographs were first presented the day before — and together they eroded the consensus among North Korea watchers that the leader of the world’s most unpredictable nuclear power had suffered a serious health problem over the past few months.

The pictures show Mr Kim posing for a group photograph with a military unit, wearing a light coloured winter coat, sunglasses and sporting his familiar pompadour. On Sunday, in similarly undated photographs, he was shown apparently attending a football match.

“He expressed expectation and conviction that all the artistes would conduct dynamic revolutionary art activities in the future too, to powerfully encourage the army and people in the drive for accomplishing the cause of building a great prosperous powerful nation,” said yesterday’s report on KCNA.

Mr Kim ceased making public appearances in mid-August but it was only on September 9 that his absence from view became a matter of pressing concern. That was the 60th anniversary of the North Korean state, a day of almost sacred significance, when parades and celebrations were held all over the country. Despite attending the 50th and 55th anniversaries, Mr Kim failed to appear.

There was speculation that he was ill or had even died — an alarming possibility in a country with a million-strong army, nuclear weapons technology, a hungry population and no formal system of succession. The head of the South Korea spy agency, Kim Sung Ho, publicly confirmed media reports from unnamed US intelligence sources that Mr Kim had suffered a stroke and been treated by foreign doctors.

“Although he is not in a state to walk around, he is conscious,” he told South Korean MPs. “We understand that he can control the situation and he is not in an unstable condition.”

If the recent photographs are genuine, then he has made a remarkable recovery — or reports of his indisposition have been greatly exaggerated. It is a big if — and there has been much poring over other images for signs of fraud or fakery. Pictures released last month, for example, were dismissed because the state of the foliage in the background suggested that they had been taken in summer — probably before the alleged stroke.

In the photographs at the football match Mr Kim is not making great use of his left arm, leading to speculation that he was suffering partial paralysis. In the latest pictures of the military, he is seen to be clapping and raising both hands.

North Korea analysts suggested that the release of the news was timed deliberately to coincide with the election of Barack Obama. “He’s sending a message to the US,” says Moon Chung In, a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University, who has twice met Mr Kim in Pyongyang. “They’re saying our leader is alive and well, and we’re ready to talk.”sity, who has twice net Mr Kim in Pyongyang. “They’re saying our leader is alive and well, and we’re ready to talk.”

 

[old medic]

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200811250066.html

All eyes on Obama in dealing with North
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

LIMA--With six-party talks to denuclearize North Korea set to resume on Dec. 8 after a five-month hiatus, Japanese officials are keeping a close eye on U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's position on key issues.

It remains to be seen just how much consideration the incoming Obama administration will give to the thorny question of the North's abduction of Japanese nationals, officials said.

The talks also involve South Korea, Russia and China. Tokyo has refused to provide energy assistance to the reclusive North unless progress is made toward a resolution of the abduction issue.

On the agenda at the chief delegates' meeting, the first since July, is a written agreement on ways to verify the disabling of the North's nuclear program, based on verbal agreements between Washington and Pyongyang.

Pyongyang will likely accept the resumption, which outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush actively pushed during his meetings with leaders of other participants on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum here, sources said.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Taro Aso on Saturday, Bush was quoted as saying that he understood the importance of the abduction issue to Japan, and that he would urge his successor to work toward a resolution.

By arranging a resumption of the talks, Bush is hoping to score a diplomatic achievement before he leaves office in January.

Nevertheless, Bush did not conceal his distrust of the North in a recent interview with TV Asahi, warning Pyongyang against a breach of the agreement.

Japanese officials also are concerned that Obama may go a step further, and seek a more active dialogue with Pyongyang, which could overshadow Japan's stance.

A top Foreign Ministry official also expressed concern that a change of government would lead to a change of negotiators, which could leave verbal promises made by the North hanging.

South Korea, whose relations with the North have chilled since President Lee Myung Bak took office in February, is also cautiously watching how Obama will deal with the issue.

Meanwhile, the six-party talks due next month could be stalled again if Pyongyang adamantly resists having samples of nuclear materials taken out to check as part of the verification process.(IHT/Asahi: November 25,2008)

 

[tomahawk6]

A previously unknown 3d son of Kim Jong Il has become a player,he is 30 something and is a pretty senior officer.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/02/Unknown_Kim_Jong_Il_son_emerges/UPI-62371228238381/

TOKYO, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A previously unknown third son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has emerged as a contender for power in Pyongyang, an analyst says.

The son, whose name isn't known, occupies a powerful position in the North Korean army and could have the backing of the military if there is a power struggle in Pyongyang following the death of the 66-year-old Kim Jong Il, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of international relations at Tokyo's Waseda University and an expert on North Korean affairs, told the newspaper that the third son, believed to be his 30s, joins Kim's eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, and the youngest, 28-year-old Kim Jong Chol, as possible successors to "the Dear Leader."

Shigemura told the Telegraph his sources indicate Kim Jong Il has suffered one and possibly two debilitating strokes and has only months to live. North Korea has downplayed previous reports of Kim's supposed ill health.

Kim Jong Chol is believed to have his father's blessing to succeed him. But Pyongyang's unofficial spokesman, U.S.-North Korea Peace Executive Director Kim Myong Chol, told the newspaper there is no power struggle going on, adding that when the time comes, the most appropriate person will be chosen by the Communist Party.

 

[old medic]

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200812040057.html

Pyongyang must agree in writing
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2008/12/4

Tokyo, Washington and Seoul agreed Wednesday in talks on North Korea's nuclear programs that Pyongyang must offer written assurances on inspection methods.

The representatives to six-party talks agreed that Pyongyang must state in writing that it will allow inspectors to take samples from its nuclear facilities.

The meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo confirmed the three countries will work together to deal with foot-dragging by Pyongyang.

Akitaka Saiki, chief of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, represented Japan. He was joined by his U.S. and South Korean counterparts, Christopher Hill and Kim Sook.

The three will make their stand clear at the six-party talks resuming Monday in Beijing.(IHT/Asahi: December 4,2008)

 

[old medic]

North Korea vows to exclude Japan from nuclear talks
6 Dec 2008
Copy at:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081206/nuclear_talks_081206/20081206?hub=World

The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea vowed Saturday to exclude Japan from talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programs, in apparent retaliation for Tokyo's refusal to contribute to an economic aid package for the communist regime.

The comments carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency came as negotiators prepared to meet Monday in Beijing. The six-nation talks have stalled over how to verify North Korea's accounting of its nuclear programs.

"We will neither treat Japan as a party to the talks nor deal with it even if it impudently appears in the conference room," the agency quoted an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying.

North Korea has issued similar warnings to Japan in the past, but Tokyo has continued to attend the negotiations.

Officials at Japan's Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment Saturday. Top South Korean nuclear envoy Kim Sook told The Associated Press that the talks should include all six nations. He declined to elaborate.

North Korea agreed last year to disable its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid. But Japan has refused to join four other countries -- China, Russia, South Korea and the United States -- in providing the aid until North Korea addresses the kidnapping of more than a dozen Japanese in the 1970s and '80s.

U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill has said he expects the upcoming talks to be difficult and indicated the meetings will focus on working out a detailed plan for verifying the North's nuclear programs.

"We need a situation where when we begin the verification there are no surprises," Hill told reporters after arriving in Seoul on Saturday for talks with his counterpart, Kim Sook.

Hill said he would speak with Kim later in the day about providing fuel aid to the North. He leaves Sunday for Beijing, where he plans to hold a series of meetings with envoys from South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Though it agreed to disarm, North Korea has denied that it ever said it would allow inspectors to take samples from its nuclear complex -- a key process to verify its accounting of past nuclear activities.

Hill held two days of talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan in Singapore earlier this week but appeared to have failed to make any significant progress on the verification issue.

In 2002, North Korea acknowledged having kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens and allowed five to return home, saying the remaining eight had died. Japan, however, has demanded proof of the deaths and a probe into additional suspected kidnapping cases -- an emotional issue that has slowed progress in the nuclear talks.

Japan and North Korea struck a breakthrough deal in June under which North Korea pledged to finally resolve the abductions of Japanese citizens. But no major progress has been made since then.

"We did have a discussion about the need for (North Korea) to do more to meet Japanese concerns, especially on the abduction matter," Hill said.

Japan "has neither justification nor qualification to participate in the talks. On the contrary, it only lays a hurdle in the way of achieving the common goal," KCNA quoted the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

Other countries beside the six parties have expressed willingness to give economic aid to North Korea in place of Japan, the official said, without elaborating.

 

[old medic]

South Korea denies involvement in alleged Kim plot
By Hyung-Jin Kim, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea denied North Korea's claim it hired an agent to track its leader Kim Jong Il in what the North suggested was an assassination plot.

The North's Ministry of State Security made the claims late Thursday, saying it recently arrested an agent it alleged was trained by the South to gather information about Kim's movements.

The sensational allegation came amid a serious worsening of relations between the divided Koreas, as well as intense speculation about Kim's health since he was reported to have had a stroke and brain surgery in August.

"The (South's) organization sent him speech and acoustic sensing and pursuit devices for tracking the movement of the top leader and even violent poison in the end," the North Korean ministry said in a statement, carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

It said the "terrorist mission" was ordered by a South Korean intelligence organization "to do harm to the top leader."

South Korea's National Intelligence Service flatly denied the North's accusations.

"This has nothing to do with us," said an agency official on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

He said the comment represents South Korea's official position on the issue.

The North's statement did not mention Kim Jong Il by name but South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said the North's state media has used such wording before in reference to him.

Kim of the Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said he was in no position to confirm the report.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have run high since the pro-U.S., conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul in February with a pledge to take a tough line on the North.

Ties worsened earlier this month after the North restricted traffic at the countries' border, expelled some South Koreans from a joint industrial zone and suspended a tour program to the ancient North Korean city Kaesong.

The North's statement also said authorities recently arrested unspecified agents who tried to gather soil, water, leaves and dust in the country's major munitions industrial area to gather information on its nuclear program.

Earlier this month, international talks on the North's nuclear development ended in a stalemate over its refusal to put into writing any commitments on inspecting its past atomic activities.

Though it was impossible to verify the North's espionage claims, the divided states - which fought the 1950-53 Korean War - are known to actively spy on each other and have carried out plots to assassinate each other's leaders in the past.

South Korean experts said it was rare for North Korea to issue a statement on an alleged assassination attempt and were divided over the claim's authenticity.

Yoo Ho-yeol, an expert on the North at Korea University, said it appeared to be aimed at justifying the North's recent rhetoric and actions against the South, adding it was highly unlikely Seoul would have carried out such a plot.

Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Dongguk University, also thought the South was likely not behind a plot.

"I think such an attempt was made though I'm not sure whether that was committed by the South," he said.

South Korea trained a group of ex-convicts to kill Kim Il Sung - Kim Jong Il's father and North Korea's founder. But in 1971 the plot was aborted and the commando forces killed their trainers, fought their way into Seoul and blew themselves up.

South Korean security forces in 1968 repelled an attack by North Korean commando troops near the residence of then-South Korean president Park Chung-hee.

North Korea has denied the 66-year-old Kim was ever ill, recently churning out reports and photographs depicting him as healthy and active. KCNA reported Thursday that Kim inspected a machine plant - the latest dispatch on his public appearances. The report, however, did not say when he made the visit.

 

[CougarKing]

So he's alive and still constipated.  He didn't die from some STD from one of his Swedish prostitutes. :

(btw, it's up to the mods if they want to merge this with the North Korea superthread)

Agence France-Presse - 12/19/2008 2:46 AM GMT
Kim Jong-Il alive and in control: US Pacific commander
Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is alive and in control of his country despite reports that he is ailing, the commander of the US Pacific command said.

"He's alive and he remains in control of the North Korean government," Admiral Timothy Keating told a press conference, adding he had no specific details about the 66-year-old North Korean leader's medical condition.

"I think he's relatively in control of his faculties," Keating said.

Since reports began circulating in September that Kim had suffered a severe medical setback, possibly a stroke, Pyongyang media have reported numerous trips by the leader and released dozens of undated photographs of him.

Kim's health is the subject of intense interest since he has not publicly nominated any successor and has a history of diabetes and heart disease.

He was last seen in public in August, but it was not until September 9 when he failed to appear at military parade for the communist regime's 60th anniversary that a flurry of reports of his ill health began.

US and South Korean intelligence believe he suffered a serious health crisis in mid-August, and South Korean officials have said he underwent brain surgery but was recovering.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso said in late October that Kim was probably in hospital but still capable of making decisions.

The Tokyo Broadcasting System, citing a US intelligence source, reported November 9 that Kim had a second stroke in late October, affecting his speech and causing him difficulty moving his left hand and leg.

The North Korean government, which vehemently denies the reports of Kim's illness, released photographs Wednesday of Kim touring a library in the city of Kanggye in the northern province of Kagang.

He is shown in a fur cap and heavy winter coat, watching people use computers at the library.

Earlier, undated photographs have shown him visiting military units and watching a football match, appearing in good health with a full head of hair. In one set of photographs he was shown clapping his hands.

But the authenticity of the photographs have been viewed with skepticism outside of North Korea, keeping doubts alive about Kim's condition and his degree of control over the country.

The State Department appeared perplexed when it noted that reports of Kim's ill health coincided with a toughening in the North Korean position towards six-country negotiations for its nuclear disarmament.

In a television interview on September 23, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice figuratively threw up her hands when asked whether his reported poor health was hurting the negotiations.

"Something is going on in North Korea. I don't think any of us know precisely what. We are reading all of the reports that you've talked about," Rice said.

Christopher Hill, her chief negotiator with North Korea, acknowledged a day earlier that the troubles in the negotiations may be linked to intelligence leaks that Kim had suffered a stroke.

"It's hard to tell," Hill said.

 

[DBA]

If that isn't a doctored photo I'm eating my shirt.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5101905.ece

The people to the immediate left and right have heels together and pants that widen at the thighs. He has legs apart and straight pants. The second person to his right with straight pants and heels together has a fairly straight shadow. The missing stripe can actually be seen in other photographs and is just a feature of the center part of the stage. The distance each is standing away from the stage also changes the shadow. Looks ok to me, or at least the V and ll shadows aren't indicators of a cut and paste job.

 

[CougarKing]

Greatttt...so in 40 years if the DPRK is still around, we're gonna have another spoiled brat at the helm of this pariah state.  :

Report: NKorea's Kim taps 3rd son as successor

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has named his youngest son to succeed him as head of the Stalinist nation, a South Korean news agency report said Thursday.

But another report said his eldest son was poised to step in as a figurehead, reflecting uncertainty over who will succeed Kim, who turns 67 next month.

Rumors have swirled for years that Kim would nominate one of his three sons as a successor, following the tradition begun when he inherited the leadership from his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung.

Reports that Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke in mid-August heightened speculation about a successor.

Kim will hand leadership over to Swiss-educated Kim Jong Un, who is in his mid-20s, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified intelligence source. The powerful Workers' Party was informed about a week ago, the report said.

Jong Un was born to Kim Jong Il's late wife Ko Yong Hi. Ko had another son, Kim Jong Chol, but the father reportedly doesn't favor the middle son as a possible leader.

The National Intelligence Service, Seoul's top spy agency, said it could not confirm the report.

Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea specialist at the independent Sejong Institute, said the reported choice of Jong Un seemed to be a feasible scenario.

"Jong Un has leadership (qualities) and a desire to grab power," Cheong told The Associated Press, adding that he thought he was the most qualified of the three sons to lead North Korea at a difficult time.

Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, however, reported earlier in the day on its Web site that Kim's eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, is expected to serve as a nominal head of state, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence sources.

Kim Jong Nam, 38, had long been considered the favorite to succeed his father — until he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, reportedly telling Japanese officials he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

His mother is the late actress Sung Hae Rim.

Yomiuri said Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law, has been assigned to look after the eldest son and is playing a central role in building a collective leadership system to back him up.

Kim Jong Il took over as leader when his father died in 1994 in communism's first hereditary power succession and rules the country with absolute authority.

North Korea has denied that its leader was ever ill, and since early October has sent a steady stream of photos depicting an active and healthy Kim making visits to farms, factories and military units. The photos and reports typically are undated, and South Korean officials say they cannot confirm the visits.

AP

 

[old medic]

N. Korea says it has 'weaponized' its plutonium stocks
A U.S. scholar who met with officials in North Korea says the amount is sufficient to build four or five nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, its army issues a new threat against South Korea.
By Barbara Demick
January 18, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-nuclear18-2009jan18,0,7624184.story

Reporting from Beijing -- North Korean officials claim they have "weaponized" their stockpile of plutonium, a U.S. scholar said Saturday, in a development that could badly complicate talks to end the regime's nuclear weapons program.

Selig Harrison, speaking to reporters after he arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, said that the North Koreans had considerably hardened their negotiating positions and that the prospects for President-elect Barack Obama to make a breakthrough in talks were "gloomy."

North Korea's belligerent mood was underscored by a fresh threat Saturday against South Korea.

A North Korean army spokesman warned in a statement delivered over the official media that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his "puppet military war hawks" had "driven our revolutionary armed forces to take a strong step to wipe them out."

The North's blustery propaganda machine issues so many threats that they are normally shrugged off, but this one was unusual in that it came directly from the army, which does not usually issue statements.

Harrison believes that hard-liners within the North Korean military have strengthened their hand recently because of the poor health of leader Kim Jong Il. The 67-year-old is reported to be recovering from a stroke suffered last summer.

"He is now making the key decisions, but he is not dealing on a day-to-day basis with details," Harrison said. "This helps to explain the shift to a much harder line on nuclear negotiations."

Harrison is a former journalist who has sometimes been used by Pyongyang to relay messages to Washington. He has traveled frequently to North Korea since 1972 and is one of the few who has interviewed Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and father of the current leader.

Among the officials Harrison met with over four days in Pyongyang were Li Gun, a senior Foreign Ministry official, and Ri Chan-bok, a general and spokesman for the military.

The North Koreans told him that they had already "weaponized" their stockpile of 67.8 pounds of plutonium. The amount of plutonium is sufficient to build four or five nuclear warheads to be mounted on missiles.

In October, North Korea had disclosed the amount of plutonium in its stockpile, but it had been hoped that the plutonium had not yet been developed into weapons and therefore could be more easily given up in negotiations.

"The North Koreans are saying in effect that 'we are a nuclear weapons state' and you have to deal with us on that basis," Harrison said.

The North Koreans also told him that they wouldn't consider dismantling their nuclear program until after the United States normalized diplomatic relations; that they want construction to resume on a light-water nuclear reactor to provide electricity; and that they would demand inspections of U.S. military bases in South Korea if they allow inspections in their own country.

"They have raised the bar," Harrison said.

 

[Sonnyjim]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090118/korea_military_090118/20090118?hub=World

For anybody interested.

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea said its army remained on alert Sunday, a day after North Korea threatened military action in response to Seoul's hard-line stance against its communist regime.

The latest harsh rhetoric from the isolated regime appeared aimed at heightening tensions on the divided peninsula and could be a test for Barack Obama days before he is sworn in as the new U.S. president.

The North's Korean People's Army called South Korean President Lee Myung-bak a "traitor" and accused him of preparing a military provocation, according to a statement carried Saturday by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Pyongyang said it was adopting "an all-out confrontational posture" and warned of a "strong military retaliatory step." South Korea immediately put its forces on alert.

 

[a_majoor]

The Army directly issuing propaganda and threats? This sounds like the start of the end game predicted by Robert Kaplan in the October 2006 issue of Atlantic Monthly: When North Korea Falls.

Who is going to answer that phone at 0300hr? (And more importantly, what will they say?)