Fatty Spoonbanger sabre rattling again - fires missile into Sea of Japan

.....and a few others too, Bonny.  

https://www.rt.com/news/386948-china-north-korea-nuclear/

China has called for all sides in the North Korean standoff to stay calm and "stop irritating each other." It comes just one day after Pyongyang said the US was pushing the region closer to a nuclear war.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called the situation between the two sides "highly complex" and sensitive on Wednesday.

"The urgent task is to lower temperatures and resume talks," he told reporters.

We again urge all relevant parties to remain calm and exercise restraint, stop irritating each other, work hard to create an atmosphere for contact and dialogue between all sides, and seek a return to the correct path of dialogue and negotiation as soon as possible," Geng said, as quoted by Reuters....etc.

Very sensible advice! I suggest the squabbling parties listen to China, not least because it's survived through good and ill times for thousands of years........

OMG....is Ivanka making any deals with China currently?  She better head that advice, Bonny.  

N. Korea issues direct criticism on China amid nuke dispute

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) May 04, 2017 — North Korea has issued a rare direct criticism of China through a commentary saying its "reckless remarks" on the
remarks” on the North’s nuclear program are testing its patience and could trigger unspecified “grave” consequences. Previously it has couched such criticism by referring to China only as “a neighboring country.”

China, North Korea's largest trading partner and main benefactor, suspended imports of North Korean coal in line with U.N. sanctions and has been urging its traditional ally to stop nuclear and missile activities amid U.S. pressure to use its leverage to resolve the nuclear standoff.

The commentary released Wednesday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency said that "a string of absurd and reckless remarks are now heard from China everyday only to render the present bad situation tenser."

The article cited commentaries by Chinese state media that it said shifted the blame for deteriorating bilateral relations onto the North and raised "lame excuses for the base acts of dancing to the tune of the U.S."

"China should no longer try to test the limits of the DPRK's patience," the North Korean commentary said, using its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "China had better ponder over the grave consequences to be entailed by its reckless act of chopping down the pillar of the DPRK-China relations."

The article was not attributed to any government agency or official; the writer was identified only as Kim Chol. Still, it's unusual for the North to directly criticize China. Previously it has couched such criticism by referring to China only as "a neighboring country."

Chinese state media, meanwhile, have recently unleashed regular and harsh criticisms over the North's actions. The Global Times, an outspoken nationalist tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's flagship People's Daily, warned in a Thursday editorial that the North's actions threatened a 1961 treaty of non-aggression between the two countries. It called on the regime to end its nuclear tests.

"China will not allow its northeastern region to be contaminated by North Korea's nuclear activities," the Global Times declared. In recent days, the paper also warned that China was able to strike back "at any side that crosses the red line" and would impose an oil embargo against the North in response to any more tests. The North Korean commentary said it's China that crossed "the red line."

The People's Daily declared Sunday — and again on Tuesday — that the North's nuclear ambitions "put itself and the whole region into dire peril."

"China had better ponder over the grave consequences to be entailed by its reckless act of chopping down the pillar of the DPRK-China relations."

That would be the consequences where China marches into NK, overthrows Fatty who, tragically, is killed by a stray bullet, and installs its own unique version of one-party state capitalism? Which has a great deal wrong with it, but at least manages to feed people?

I saw on the news earlier that Fatty is trying to get a good and close rapport with Russia. It was pre-first coffee time so I didn't actually register the details! LL

He really is desperate, then, if he thinks Russia wants a lunatic letting off nuclear warheads on its border, any more than China does.

If push came to shove, Xi and Putin would grind him into the dust. Which I rather hope they do - it's just the US that can't do it, because then, Russia and China would close ranks behind Fatty.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-03/north-korea-threatens-china-grave-consequences

Comment:

The day Xi wants little Kim dead, his extremely efficient and lethal Ministry of State Security (MSS) will see to it. It will be a bloodless, untraceable, massive heart attack, deemed as such even when scrutinized through the most rigorous autopsy.

And that would be the best way out of this impasse.

Despite their stage-managed lives, Mr John said it was clear to him that the residents of Pyongyang will be the first to suffer if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula. The Republican-led US House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to impose new sanctions on North Korea this week, targeting its shipping industry and use of slave labor

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4476362/North-Korea-photos-people-suffer-war.html#ixzz4gEsTBGiY
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

That's a good piece; I wish the sabre-rattlers would remember its ordinary North Koreans who are already suffering most under Fatty's dictatorship.

Those poor people didn't ask for any of that..........

North Korea detain fourth American citizen 'on suspicion of acts against the state'.

North Korea said on Sunday it has detained another American citizen on 'suspicion of acts against the state'.

Kim Hak Song, who was detained on May 6, worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, the North's KCNA news agency said.

The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which helps in handling US affairs in North Korea, with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations, said that it was aware of a Korean American citizen being detained recently.

Martina Aberg, deputy head of mission for the Swedish Embassy in North Korea, said: "We have been informed and can confirm there has been a detention of a US citizen.

"He was prevented from getting on the flight out of Pyongyang. We can't comment further than this."

Both countries have recently been trading threats of war and having another American in jail will likely up the ante even further.

North Korea carries out new ballistic missile test.

North Korea has carried out another ballistic missile test, days after a new president took office in the South.

Japanese officials say the missile, which launched from north-western Kusong, reached an altitude of 2,000km.

South Korea's newly elected President Moon Jae-in, who is seeking deeper engagement with the North, said it was a "reckless provocation".

US President Donald Trump has called for "stronger sanctions" against North Korea, while China is urging restraint.    More at link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39911530

North Korea fires medium-range missile in latest weapon test

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) May 21, 2017 — In its latest effort to develop its ballistic and nuclear weapons, North Korea fired a medium-range missile Sunday that appeared to be similar to one the country tested earlier this year, U.S. and South Korean officials said.

The rocket was fired from an area near the North Korean county of Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 500 kilometers (310 miles), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The U.S. Pacific Command said it tracked the missile before it fell into the sea.

White House officials traveling in Saudi Arabia with President Donald Trump said the system that was tested had a shorter range than the missiles fired in North Korea's most recent tests. The missile appeared to be similar in range and maximum altitude to the missile that North Korea test-fired in February, an official from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The missile launched on Sunday reached an altitude of 560 kilometers (347 miles), said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules. More at link.

https://www.mail.com/int/news/world/5210872-north-korea-fires-medium-range-missile-latest-weap.html#.1258-stage-hero1-4

Sooner or later, one of Fattie's fireworks is going to go off-course and land on China or Russia....

S. Korea fires shots at N. Korea after object crosses border.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea fired warning shots Tuesday after an unidentified object flew south from rival North Korea, Seoul's military said. Local media said it may have been a North Korean military drone.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the military broadcast a warning to North Korea in response to the object before firing the warning shots. It said the military also bolstered its air surveillance. The statement provided no other details.

There was no immediate comment in North Korea's state-run media, and no reports that the North had returned fire. South Korea's Yonhap news agency, without citing a source, reported that the South fired about 90 machine gun rounds into the air and toward North Korea. It said South Korea was analyzing whether a North Korean military drone had crossed the border.

The Koreas face off across the world's most heavily armed border, and the two sides occasionally clash. North Korea is also building nuclear-tipped missiles and has greeted new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who wants to reach out to the North, with two missile test-launches, part of a flurry of tests since leader Kim Jong Un took over in late 2011.

In 2014, the rivals traded machine gun and rifle fire after South Korean activists released anti-North Korean propaganda balloons across the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the Korean Peninsula, but no casualties were reported.

Attacks blamed on North Korea in 2010 killed 50 South Koreans. North Korean drone flights across the border are unusual, but have happened before. In January 2016, South Korea said its military fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed the border.

North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, state media said North Korean leader Kim watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target.

In 2014, South Korean officials discovered what they described as several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and low-tech, but were still considered a potential new security threat.

Pyongyang gas price surge: Bad news for Kim Jong Un?

TOKYO (AP) — While world attention has focused on Kim Jong Un's recent missile tests, a month-long surge in gasoline prices in Pyongyang is showing no signs of letting up — a puzzling problem that if allowed to drag on could be very bad news for the North Korean economy.

Prices have shot up to about $2.30 per kilogram, or about $6.44 a gallon, since the surge began in mid-April, when prices were in the $1.25-30 range. That means North Korea now has some of the highest prices in the world for gasoline. For comparison, the price in April last year was only about 80 cents per kilogram.

The cause and extent of the surge remains a mystery. Officially, there has been no comment. There's no obvious sign of less traffic on the streets, at least in Pyongyang, which is more affluent and developed than other North Korean cities. Taxis appear to be operating normally and have not raised their fares.

The North's by now pervasive market economy, which is tolerated by the ruling regime in exchange for its own cut of the profits, has made fuel and the ability to transport goods and people so essential that demand for gasoline is not so sensitive to price.

But many gas stations around the capital, if they are selling fuel at all, have been limiting who they sell it to and how much each customer can buy. The long queues and mad dashes to fill gas tanks and large plastic storage cans that marked the beginning days of the surge appear to have subsided, though stations' operations remain irregular and unpredictable.

North Korean gas stations generally belong to chains associated with large government enterprises or sometimes the military. Gas is also sold through more informal channels, including street-side stalls and the black-market. It is sold by weight in North Korea — thus the "per kilogram" rates.

Without official confirmation or data, it's hard to conclusively say what is going on. Prices also tend to fluctuate from station to station. Several possible scenarios could be in play. It was rumored last month that China had or was about to limit exports. That possibility, hinted at in a tabloid newspaper associated with China's ruling party, could have set off the surge either because of an actual drop in supply or speculative buying in anticipation of a shortfall.

The incentive to hoard remains because of rumors Beijing will implement sanctions if Pyongyang conducts a nuclear test. It is unclear how informed North Koreans are about the possibility of another test soon, but satellite imagery widely reported abroad suggests one could come at any time.

The North Korean government itself might have pulled some of supply out of the market. Pyongyang has been known to divert fuel to higher-priority uses — such as major construction projects or high-profile political events. Gas prices can also rise in tandem with the farming cycle, when more fuel is needed for tractors and pumps. All three could apply right now. North Korea completed construction of a major high-rise residential area in the capital and held a lavish celebration and military parade last month. This is also spring planting season.

The most ominous possibility is that the regime is preparing for some sort of emergency. But there does not seem to be any strong evidence of that or of Chinese action to cut off supplies. William Brown, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and non-resident fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America, said rumor-inspired hoarding is the likely culprit. The more central role played by capitalist-style markets in the North Korean economy, he believes, has amplified the impact of speculative buying and selling and the price-gouging in uncertain times that goes along with it.

It's unclear if prices are also rising for diesel and kerosene, used to heat and keep the lights on in city apartments and machinery working in the fields. An acute sensitivity to even the hint of Chinese sanctions — if that is behind the surge — would be telling.

The Soviet Union supplied crude oil to North Korea in the 1950s through the 1980s. China joined in early 1970s and now provides virtually all of the North's supply. Brown said that includes a 50,000-ton delivery monthly via an 18-kilometer (11-mile) cross-border pipeline that is worth about $20 million at current Chinese export prices.

Beijing doesn't require the North to pay and hasn't included those shipments in official trade figures since 2014. If Pyongyang had to start paying for that 50,000-ton freebie, the profit from sales of what it refines domestically would drop and it would have less money to spend on other things. The resulting scarcity of dollars would hurt the value of North Korea's own currency, leading to inflation.

In any case, Brown said, the volatility of gasoline prices underscores the North's dependence on markets that have expanded dramatically since Kim Jong Un took power more than five years ago. The rise of markets has led to better productivity and use of scarce goods, like gasoline, helping economic growth.

But, he added, it is at the same time "the bane of a socialist government." "Real money in private pockets, after all, is power," he said.

N Korea fires short-range ballistic missile off western Japan.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that landed in Japan's maritime economic zone Monday, officials said, the latest in a string of test launches as the North seeks to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs that can reach the U.S. mainland.

This launch of a suspected Scud-type missile, which the South Korean military said flew about 450 kilometers (280 miles), may also be an attempt to demonstrate North Korea's ability to strike U.S. and South Korean troops in the region.

The missile launched from the coastal town of Wonsan, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It landed in Japan's exclusive maritime economic zone, which is set about 200 nautical miles off the Japanese coast, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. He said there was no report of damage to planes or vessels in the area.

Because Monday's test — the North's ninth ballistic missile launch this year — was apparently of a short-range variety of which Pyongyang has a surplus of reliable missiles, it may have been meant more as a political and military message to outsiders than as a crucial test of not-yet-perfected technology.

https://www.mail.com/int/news/world/5230732-nkorea-fires-short-range-ballistic-missile-western.html#.1258-stage-hero1-10

He's like a dangerous, idiot child launching fireworks at his neighbours.

Kim Jong Nam murder suspect asks her parents to pray for her

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A suspect in the poisoning death of the North Korean leader's half brother wrote to her parents from jail, asking them to pray for her but saying "don't think about me too much."

Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian mother who worked in Malaysia, appeared in court Tuesday along with a second suspect, Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam. Their trial was formally transferred to the High Court as the lower court had no jurisdiction to hear a murder case.

They are the only people who have been arrested in the assassination of Kim Jong Nam at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. The suspects are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim's face in the crowded airport terminal; he died soon afterward. The women have said they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera show.

Yusron Ambary, counsellor at the Indonesian Embassy, said Siti wrote a letter to her parents recently, asking them not to worry about her. "I am in good health. Just pray. Don't think about me too much. Keep healthy and pray at night. I have a lot of people helping me. The embassy officials always come to see me, my lawyers also. Don't worry. Pray for me so that the case will be over soon and I can go back home. Send my love to my son Rio," he read from the letter to reporters outside the courtroom.

Armed escorts accompanied the women, who smiled at their embassy representatives as they were brought to the dock. Prosecutor Iskandar Ahmad said the date for their first appearance in the High Court would usually be within a month. The suspects would then enter pleas and the trial would have to start within 90 days, Iskandar said.

The court was also informed that lawyer Jagjit Singh was appointed by the North Korean Embassy to monitor the case for them. Singh told reporters later that he was engaged to "protect the interest" of the North Korean government. He didn't elaborate.

Police have said four North Korean suspects fled Malaysia the day of the attack. Defense lawyers fear the women will be scapegoats because other people believed to have knowledge of the case left the country.

Siti's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, earlier complained to the court that prosecutors and police have failed to provide them the evidence including airport CCTV footages despite repeated request. Iskandar assured the court that prosecutors will supply the material before the trial begins.

Gooi however, said failure to disclose material evidence to the defense at the earliest opportunity could undermine the defense case. "At the end of the day, what we want is justice, not play hide-and-seek," he said.

Although Malaysia never directly accused North Korea of carrying out the attack, speculation is rampant that Pyongyang orchestrated a hit on a long-exiled member of its ruling elite. Although Kim, who was estranged from his family, was not an obvious political threat, he may have been seen as a potential rival in the country's dynastic dictatorship.

North Korea has denounced such speculation and has never acknowledged the victim was a member of its ruling family.

North Korea fires suspected cruise missiles after US drills.

North Korea fired several suspected short-range anti-ship missiles Thursday, South Korea's military said, in a continuation of defiant launches as it seeks to build a nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental United States.

The projectiles were fired from the North Korean eastern coastal town of Wonsan and likely flew about 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) while reaching a maximum altitude of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. They landed in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, where U.S. aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan participated in joint exercises with the South Korean navy that ended earlier this week.

The North's missile tests present a difficult challenge to new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal elected last month who has expressed a desire to reach out to Pyongyang. North Korea, which could have a working nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile in the next several years, may also be the most urgent foreign policy concern for the Trump administration, which has been distracted by domestic political turmoil and has insisted China do more to rein in the North's weapons activities. More at link.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/south-korea-north-fires-surface-ship-missiles-47901637

North Korea says it tested new anti-ship missile

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it has tested a new type of cruise missile that could strike U.S. and South Korean warships "at will" if it is attacked, in an apparent reference to the projectiles detected by Seoul when they were launched a day earlier.

The missiles represent the fourth new missile system North Korea said it has introduced and successfully tested this year, sending a defiant message that it will continue to pursue a weapons program that has rattled its neighbors and Washington.

"This new-type cruise rocket is a powerful attack means capable of striking any enemy group of battleships" attempting to attack North Korea and can be used "at will," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

It said leader Kim Jong Un observed the launches and that the missiles "accurately detected and hit" floating targets at sea after making "circular flights." The North's claims cannot be independently confirmed.

https://www.mail.com/int/news/world/5257680-north-korea-tested-anti-ship-missile.html#.1258-stage-hero1-4

US student dies after release from N. Korea.

Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea, died on Monday, prompting President Donald Trump to slam the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement announcing Warmbier's death.

The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the United States decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following news of his death.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."

In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."

Added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."

- 'At peace' -

Doctors last week revealed that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying the college student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests carried out last week in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that given his young age, Warmbier's severe brain injury was most likely caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

- 'No excuse' -

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, focusing attention on an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

The young man's death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record. A Washington-based rights group tied Warmbier's fate to many others "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."

"Millions of unknown North Koreans are subjected to the brutality of the Kim regime," the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said in a statement.

Warmbier's father, Fred, lashed out at North Korea last week, telling a news conference, "there is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long."

In their statement Monday, Warmbier's family said they believed the young man had found a peace of sorts after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.

"The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier's life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists. There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result," China-based Young Pioneer Tours said in a statement.

"Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high. The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated," it said.

Sorry for him and his family, but why on EARTH do Americans insist on going to countries where they are detested?

Incidentally, Fatty should stop wasting money on anti-ship missiles. After the debacle a few days ago, all he needs are some old Greek rust buckets, as US crews can't even look out the window and see giant ships bearing down on them, never mind look at anything as complicated as radar.

North Korea denies torturing American detainee Otto Warmbier

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday denied it cruelly treated or tortured an American student who was detained for more than year and died days after being released in a coma. The comments published by the official Korean Central News Agency were North Korea's first reaction to Otto Warmbier's death in a U.S. hospital on Monday after it released him for what it called humanitarian reasons.

Doctors at the hospital said Warmbier had suffered a severe neurological injury from an unknown cause. Relatives say they were told the 22-year-old University of Virginia student had been in a coma since shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea in March 2016.

His family and others have blamed North Korea for his condition. Warmbier was accused of stealing a propaganda poster. KCNA said the North dealt with him according to its domestic laws and international standards.

The article also criticized South Korea for using Warmbier's case to seek the release of other detainees, including six South Korean citizens. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in an interview with CBS television earlier this week that it was clear North Korea bears a heavy responsibility for Warmbier's death.

"Our related institutions are treating criminals who committed crimes against (our) republic strictly based on domestic law and international standards, and Warmbier was no different," KCNA said. It accused South Korea of tarnishing North Korea's image with "slanderous talk about cruel treatment and torture" while having no knowledge of the "humanitarian" treatment Warmbier received.

KCNA didn't provide details of how Warmbier was treated or what might have caused him to lapse into a coma. It demanded that South Korea return 12 restaurant workers who defected to the South last year. South Korea said the women defected on their own, while North Korea claimed they were deceived and abducted to the South.

The United States, South Korea and others often accuse North Korea of using foreign detainees to wrest diplomatic concessions. Three Americans remain in custody in the North.