The governments of South Korea and Japan confirmed on Tuesday that communist North Korea fired a projectile believed to be carrying a “hypersonic warhead” and potentially capable of striking the American island of Guam.
South Korea’s latest defense white paper referred to North Korea as the “enemy” for the first time in six years, citing Pyongyang’s violation of bilateral agreements, missile tests, penetration of South Korean airspace with drones, and growing stockpile of weapons-grade nuclear material.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Monday he has asked the Biden administration for a move active role in managing nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula, in part because the South Korean public is growing increasingly uneasy over North Korean aggression.
North Korea launched at least one ballistic missile in the direction of Japan on Wednesday, drawing a formal protest lodged by Japan via China.
The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), the military of the communist regime in North Korea, said on Monday that last week’s provocative and illegal missile launches were a dry run for “mercilessly” attacking American and South Korean targets, unless Washington and Seoul halt joint military exercises.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful and influential sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, threatened to use nuclear weapons against South Korea on Tuesday after South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook discussed his military’s ability to “accurately and swiftly” strike targets in the North.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on Wednesday ordered the cross-border hotline to South Korea restored, indicating a willingness to resume peace negotiations with Seoul. However, Kim said he had no desire to speak with the “hostile” and “cunning” U.S. government.
South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said on Friday that North Korea is stepping up readiness activities for its air and artillery units, for no apparent reason.
An Iranian rocket that was reportedly carrying a telecommunications satellite blew up on the launch pad at Imam Khomeini Space Center on Thursday, marking Iran’s third failed satellite launch of the year.
According to international watchdog CTBTO, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, two of Russia’s nuclear monitoring stations went dark two days after a mysterious missile test explosion on August 8 that was originally portrayed as a non-nuclear incident. Adding to the uneasy parallels with the infamous Chernobyl incident, doctors at a Russian hospital complained on Sunday they were not informed that casualties from the explosion had been exposed to radiation.
Chinese forces based on disputed islands in the South China Sea announced over the weekend that an area also claimed by the Philippines would be closed to outside traffic for five days to accommodate a military drill. The U.S. military detected “concerning” tests of anti-ship missiles during the drill.
South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told his parliament on Monday there is no sign of an imminent missile launch from North Korea, despite some provocative activity spotted by satellite at the rocket launch facility in Tongchang-ri.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said on Tuesday that North Korea is rebuilding the Sohae missile launch facility, a site it pledged to dismantle last year during the early stages of negotiations with the United States.
Signals from North Korea remain as difficult to read as ever. Wednesday brought news that dictator Kim Jong-un has ordered the reactivation of a hotline to South Korea that has been dormant for nearly two years, but also that he has ordered the construction of North Korea’s largest missile ever, with an eye towards launching it on the 70th anniversary of the Communist regime in September.
Reuters cites a report from Russian media on Tuesday that North Korea has informed Russia its ballistic missiles require only a bit of “modernization” to strike the continental United States.
Passenger jets flying over North Korean territory are currently “at risk” of becoming a casualty of a potentially disastrous wayward missile launched by dictator Kim Jong-un during one of his surprise tests, analysts have reportedly warned amid fears of a miscalculation by Pyongyang.
In a Friday editorial, North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency described America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, as a “political prostitute” who threw a “hysteric fit” when she said Pyongyang was “begging for war.”
Center for Security Policy President for Research and Analysis Clare Lopez blamed political mismanagement stretching back for decades, rather than a failure of intelligence-gathering, for the shock of North Korea’s latest nuclear test on Monday’s special Labor Day edition of Breitbart News Daily.
North Korea’s ability to acquire banned technology in defiance of sanctions has long been recognized as a serious problem, but according to a new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the “astounding progress” in North Korean missile technology over the past two years is largely based on Russian rocket engine technology.
North Korea lashed out with the expected venom and threats of violence after crushing new sanctions were imposed by a unanimous vote of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday. Although the unanimous vote means North Korea’s patrons in China and Russia agreed with the Trump administration’s push for heavier sanctions, Pyongyang’s ire was focused largely on Washington.
Hawaii’s emergency management agency is rolling out a public information campaign to deal with a potential North Korean missile attack.
South Korea’s government announced a formal diplomatic overture to North Korea on Monday, the first of President Moon Jae-in’s term and potentially the first serious discussions between the two Korean governments since 2015. If North Korea accepts, the talks will be held on July 21st in the village of Pammunjom.
Iran announced on Thursday that another underground missile production facility is up and running, as it vowed to continue developing missile technology despite warnings from the United States and United Nations.
On Wednesday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said “there is a high possibility of a military conflict” with North Korea, even as he pledged to restore dialogue with the North.
On Monday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement of defiance against international pressure to halt its nuclear weapons development, insisting it will instead accelerate nuclear testing.
A North Korean website has published a propaganda video that shows an American aircraft carrier and Washington D.C. targeted with crosshairs and then exploding in balls of fire.
China seems to be having second thoughts about indulging the deranged Kim regime in North Korea for so long, but it will not be easy for Beijing to downplay the amount of assistance it has given Pyongyang’s nuclear missile program over the years.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday, President Trump elaborated on a Twitter comment that he offered Chinese President Xi Jinping a “far better” trade deal if China “solves the North Korean problem.”
Satellite photography reportedly shows that North Korea is preparing its Punggye-ri nuclear test site for another detonation, probably timed to coincide with celebrations of national founder Kim Il-sung’s 105th birthday this weekend.
At a news conference in London, Secretary of Defense James Mattis was asked about his 2012 assessment of Iran as the greatest threat facing the United States. He turned to North Korea instead, suggesting Pyongyang has displaced Tehran as top threat in the Trump administration’s reckoning.
Fox News reports: Iran removed a powerful missile from a launchpad east of Tehran within the past few days, Fox News has learned, as U.S. and Iranian officials continued trading public barbs about the Islamic Republic’s missile tests. The Pentagon
Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force boasted that Iran is now capable of designing and producing all the missiles and aircraft it needs, the state-supported news agency Tasnim reported.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un claimed in a New Year’s Day address that his military is close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
TEL AVIV – A senior Iranian missile force commander claimed that U.S. officials are secretly instructing the Islamic Republic to keep its ballistic missile tests on the down low so as not to alarm the region, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.
The Times of Israel reports: The recent Iranian tests of ballistic missiles are a “gross violation” of a United Nations resolution that supported last year’s nuclear agreement with Tehran, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the Security Council
