Tag: North Korean

Video: 2 North Korean teens receive hard labor sentence for watching K-Drama

A rare video from North Korea captures the public sentencing of two teenagers to 12 years of hard labor for watching South Korean TV dramas.

The footage, obtained by NBC News from the South and North Development (SAND) Institute, provides a glimpse into the secretive state led by Kim Jong Un.

The teens, clad in gray jumpsuits, stand before hundreds of students in a stadium as uniformed officers criticize them for not adequately reflecting on their alleged mistakes.

Such videos are infrequently accessible to those outside North Korea, where residents are prohibited from sharing evidence of their daily lives with other countries.

The footage underscores the strict control over information within the country, where residents and travelers must adhere to designated routes, and photography is severely restricted.

The video, initially reported by the BBC, was obtained by the SAND Institute, a think tank working with defectors. The institute’s CEO, Choi Kyong-hui, who defected from North Korea in 2001, suggests that the video may have been edited in 2022. NBC News, however, could not independently verify the video or confirm the charges.

Choi speculates that the video aims to intimidate North Koreans, discouraging them from sharing and consuming South Korean entertainment such as K-dramas and K-pop. North Korea has a history of imprisoning residents for engaging with South Korean culture, reflecting the ongoing tensions between the two countries, which technically remain at war since 1953.

In the video, a narrator accuses the teenagers of succumbing to South Korean culture, and their names and home addresses are disclosed.

The strict control over cultural influence is reinforced by the “Let’s Intensify Efforts to Eradicate All Forms of Reactionary and Non-Socialist Phenomena” law enacted in 2020.

This law allows officials to impose severe penalties, including capital punishment, for importing or distributing materials showcasing South Korean culture.

Choi notes that the government’s focus is on halting the circulation of South Korean entertainment. While the crackdown may be a temporary measure, she believes that attempts to suppress South Korean cultural influence will ultimately fail, as people will resume engaging with K-dramas and K-pop once government campaigns subside.

January 22, 2024
North Korean missiles allegedly being used by Russia in Ukraine

The US says that Russia used North Korea’s ballistic missiles and launchers in its war with Ukraine.

John Kirby, who works for the National Security Council, said that Pyongyang’s support for Russia is a big problem and it worries them.

He said that the US would talk about this at the UN Security Council and put more penalties on people who are helping to move weapons.

Moscow said they did not work together in any way.

Hours after the White House accused North Korea, Kim Jong Un said he wants to make more missile launch vehicles in the country.

The leader of North Korea went to Russia in September to talk about working together on military stuff.

The US has accused Pyongyang of giving Russia weapons before, but now they are sharing information about ballistic missiles, which are rockets that can fly by themselves and go up to 900km (500 miles) to hit a target.

During a meeting at the White House, Mr. Kirby said that Russia buying ballistic missiles from North Korea breaks many UN Security Council rules.

“He said we will make sure Russia is held responsible for breaking its promises to other countries again. ”

He also said that the US thinks Russia might buy short-range missiles from Iran, but they haven’t done it yet.

The UK said it really disapproves of Russia using ballistic missiles from North Korea in Ukraine.

“North Korea is facing strong punishments, and we will keep working with other countries to make sure North Korea faces consequences for helping Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” said a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Mr Kirby asked the US Congress to quickly approve more money for Ukraine.

“He said the best way to stop Russia from hurting Ukraine is to give Ukraine important tools for defending themselves, like air defense and other military equipment. ”

Iran and North Korea are supporting Russia. Ukrainian people should know that the American government and its people will always support them.

The White House approved a $250 million aid package for Ukraine on December 27th.

Negotiations for more money in Congress are stuck because Republicans want stricter border security to be included in the aid deal.

Ukraine said that if they don’t get more help from the West soon, it will be hard for them to keep fighting in the war and manage their money.

January 5, 2024
Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man receives red carpet welcome from North Korea

The defence minister of Russia has arrived in North Korea to’strengthen’ military ties with the ‘friendly’ regime of Kim Jong-Un.

The group arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday night under the leadership of Sergei Shoigu, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Shoigu is seen in images provided by official media being welcomed at the airport by Kang Sun Nam, the North Korean counterpart.

‘I am certain that today’s talks will assist strengthen cooperation between our defence departments,’ he said during a meeting with ministers.

The Kremlin said the visit will help to enhance relations and mark “an important stage” in the development of their bilateral cooperation when it first announced it yesterday morning.

The Russian ministry posted on Telegram that this visit “will contribute to bolstering Russian-North Korean military ties and will be a crucial step in the development of cooperation between the two countries.”

A member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo named Li Hongzhong was in charge of a group from his country.

The two delegations will be present at the 70th commemoration of “Victory Day” on Thursday in Pyongyang, which, according to official media, would be marked in a “grand manner that will go down in history.”

A military parade in the capital is set to top off North Korea’s extensive anniversaries celebrations, which have been planned in great detail.

Some observers believe that it may increase its weapons testing in the lead-up to the occasion.

Beginning in 2020, North Korea closed its border to all commerce and diplomatic interactions, including those with its two key trading and political partners, China and Russia.

July 26, 2023
US visitor detained by North Korea for entering country ‘without permission’

Following an unauthorised crossing of the military border, North Korean officials captured a tourist from the USA.

Authorities have confirmed that he came into the nation from South Korea.

The individual allegedly joined a tour to the Joint Security Area (JSA), a border town in the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas where soldiers from both sides keep watch.

The United Nations Command said in a statement on Twitter: ‘A US National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorisation, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

‘We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident.’

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.

July 18, 2023
North Korea declares its readiness to launch first spy satellite

North Korean state media KCNA said on Wednesday that Kim Jong Un, the country’s leader, has instructed authorities to be ready to launch the nation’s first military surveillance satellite.

Kim Jong Un announced that the nation’s military surveillance satellite production has been finished during his visit to the National Aerospace Development Administration on Tuesday. He also ordered the dispatch of “several reconnaissance satellites,” according to KCNA.

Along with his daughter, who is thought to be Ju Ae, he paid the visit. Together with her father, she has already been to a lot of events this year.

Last December, North Korea claimed it had conducted an “important final stage test” for the development of a spy satellite. The country’s space development agency announced that it would finish preparations for the first military reconnaissance satellite by April 2023.

Despite the North Korea claims, recent satellite images of the country’s space launch center show no signs of an imminent launch, said Dave Schmerler, senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the United States.

“But North Korea could launch this via a road mobile vehicle. So were all just waiting to see what they do,” Schmerler said.

North Korea’s recent missile launches, including the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, have come from mobile launchers.

On Tuesday, Kim stressed the role of military satellites as to protect national safety and territorial stability in the midst of escalating military threats and challenges by the United States and South Korea. Kim also spoke about the role of satellites and its strategic value when deploying military force preemptively according to the situation, KCNA said.

Kim said the acquisition of military reconnaissance satellites was “indispensable,” calling them a “right to national sovereignty and self-defense.” He cited tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the need for managing “prospective threats,” KCNA reported.

April 19, 2023
Bodyguard of Kim Jong-un likely to ‘face execution’ for allowing him to go out in a stained jacket

A bodyguard is likely to face slaughter by firing squad for letting North Korean President Kim Jong-un to leave home with white stains on his coat.

Last week, as the supreme leader was scrutinizing a missile launch, propaganda photos caught an irregularity.

Kim’s employees feared they would be penalised for failing to uphold his dignity because his jacket appeared to be covered in white stains.

Michael Madden, a North Korean specialist, said individuals accountable could face promotions or hard labor, but even execution could not be ruled out.

‘But if he got angry about this then a few people will probably get sent to a construction site or a farm for a month or two to think about this minor transgression.’

He added: ‘It is not unheard of to be sent away for execution.

‘There are accounts of the leader’s father, Kim Jong-il, having bodyguards and members of his personal staff sent to prisons and in one case to the firing squad for very minor offenses.

North Korea launches another missile into its eastern waters in ‘warning to US’

Kim won’t be happy when he sees pictures of his mucky coat (Picture: Pen News)

The punishment for his staff could be quite severe (Picture: Pen News)

‘One unconfirmed story is that a member of his personal staff sat at his desk and smoked one of his cigarettes. Kim Jong-il discovered this and had the man shot.’

Mr Madden, who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch website, said the culprits might write a letter of apology to minimise their punishment.

But he said it was also possible that Kim lets it slide ‘since he is far less prone to mood swings and problems with emotional regulation than his father’.

March 22, 2023
Spy who dared to Google Kim Jong-un to be murdered by firing squad

For googling for Kim Jong-un on Google, a North Korean spy received a death sentence.

The unnamed spy risks being executed by firing squad for having the audacity to read about the tyrant from within Bureau 10, the covert organization that keeps tabs on both internal and external communications in the oppressive state.

The person was one of several intelligence officials who were betrayed to the Ministry of State Security by a colleague, sources in Pyongyang informed the South Korean daily Daily NK.
According to reports, the other officers have lost their jobs.

The source told Daily NK: ‘Bureau 10 departments are given access to the internet, which had allowed agents to turn off their search word recording devices and search the web as much as they like without issue.

‘But after a new bureau chief took over, even these previously routine issues have turned into major incidents.’

Greg Scarlatoiu, director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said the purge speaks to how the regime is increasingly struggling to maintain its iron grip on the flow of information into the country.

Internet access in North Korea is strictly controlled, with even high-level officials requiring clearance before accessing online search resources.

The Bureau 10 agent sentenced to death is understood to be among a group recently targeted by a purge within the secretive agency.

Experts say the Kim Jong-un regime’s iron grip on the flow of information into North Korea is weakening.

Mr Scarlatoiu said: ‘Even the most trusted agents of the Kim regime are now attempting to access information from the outside world.

‘The Kim family regime has stayed in power through overwhelming coercion, punishment, surveillance and information control.’

He added: ‘The regime continues to see the very limited information entering the country from the outside world as a grave threat to its grip on power.

‘Despite the regime’s efforts, the North Korean information firewall is slowly, but surely and steadily, crumbling.’

The intelligence officials caught up in the recent purge of Bureau 10 are all understood to have been young, having joined the agency not long after graduating last year.

They were mostly of mid-to-high rank at the organisation, charged with developing programmes for controlling the country’s information firewall, according to Daily NK.

March 14, 2023
South Korea scrambles warplanes after detecting 180 North Korean aircraft

South Korea mobilized 80 military aircraft in response to the large presence of North Korean fighters and bombers.

South Korea scrambled 80 military aircraft, including advanced F-35 fighter jets, after detecting 180 North Korean warplanes flying within North Korean territory – the nuclear-armed country’s latest defiant show of military strength.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea said on Friday that North Korean warplanes were detected in various areas inland as well as along the country’s eastern and western coasts, but they did not fly particularly close to the inter-Korean border.

None of those planes breached the South Korean military’s virtual “tactical action” line, which is designated to be located 20-50km (12-31 miles) north of the two countries’ land and sea boundaries. The action line is for monitoring purposes to give the South enough time to respond to provocations or attacks.

The South scrambled 80 of its warplanes, including an unspecified number of F35 fighters, but there were no immediate reports of incidents involving the two air forces.

The JCS said South Korean forces were “maintaining a firm readiness posture for further provocations” and monitoring the situation in coordination with the United States.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from the South Korean capital, Seoul, said some of the North Korean aircraft movements had been close enough to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas to trigger the scrambling of South Korean jets in response.

“The South Korean military has announced that during the day – from late morning local time through to mid-afternoon here – they have been detecting flight by around 180 military aircraft of different types in North Korea – right across the breadth of the North Korean part of the peninsula,” he said.

The Korean People’s Army Air Force holding a military drill in an undisclosed location in this photo released in 2013 by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency [File: KCNA/AFP]

Months of tension between North Korea and allies South Korea and the US appears to be reaching a new level as Pyongyang moves to demonstrate its opposition to ongoing military exercises south of its borders, while also showcasing its new military firepower.

‘Uncontrollable phase’

North Korea had warned Seoul and Washington that their decision this week to hold the “Vigilant Storm” joint military air drills would receive a response.

When South Korea and the US announced on Thursday they were extending the Vigilant Storm exercises by a day in response to North Korea’s earlier missile launches, an official in Pyongyang warned that the situation had entered a dangerous phase.

“It is a very dangerous and false choice,” Pak Jong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, said of the decision to extend the drills.

“The irresponsible decision of the US and South Korea is shoving the present situation, caused by provocative military acts of the allied forces, to an uncontrollable phase,” he said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

The Vigilant Storm drills – which began on Monday and are now scheduled to end on Saturday – involve some 240 fighter jets and other military aircraft conducting about 1,600 joint missions. The air drills followed after the South Korean military wrapped up the 12-day Hoguk 22 field exercises, in which an undisclosed number of US military personnel had participated.

North Korea is vehemently opposed to such training exercises, saying the military drills are preparing for an eventual attack on its territory.

In a visit described as “highly choreographed” amid the tension on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Minister of Defence Lee Jong-sup toured a US airbase on Thursday with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Yonhap reported.

Austin and South Korea’s Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup talk in front of a B-1 bomber during a visit to Andrews Air Force Base on November 3, 2022 [Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP]

The tour by the defence chiefs of the US Air Force’s Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which is home to nuclear-capable B-1B and B-52 bombers, was an opportunity to “highlight America’s military might amid evolving North Korean threats”, Yonhap reported.

During the visit, the US defence secretary “underscored Washington’s ‘ironclad’ security commitment to the defence of the South”, Yonhap said.

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November 4, 2022