Page 7 - Kim Jong Un

North Korea increasing repression as people are reportedly starving: UN

North Korea is increasing its repression of human rights and people are becoming more desperate and reportedly starving in parts of the country as the economic situation worsens, the UN rights chief said Thursday. Volker Turk told the first open meeting of the U.N. Security Council since 2017 on North Korean human rights that in the past its people have endured periods of severe economic difficulty and repression, but currently they appear to be suffering both. According to our information, people are becoming increasingly desperate as informal markets and other coping mechanisms are dismantled, while their fear of state surveillance, arrest, interrogation and detention has increased, he said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il closed the borders of his northeast Asian nation to contain COVID-19. But as the pandemic has waned, Turk said the government's restrictions have grown even more extensive, with guards authorized to shoot any unauthorized person approaching the border and with .

North Korean leader slams 'irresponsible' officials as typhoon hits country

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lashed out at "irresponsible" officials for failing to prevent damage from typhoon Khanun that swept through the Korean peninsula last week

Kim Jong Un orders increased missile production ahead of US-S Korea drills

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made another inspection tour of major munitions factories and ordered a drastic increase in production of missiles and other weapons, state media said Monday, days before South Korea and the US begin annual military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. Kim's push to produce more weapons also comes as US officials believe Russia's defence minister recently talked with North Korea about selling more weapons to Russia for its war with Ukraine. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited factories producing tactical missiles, mobile launch platforms, armoured vehicles and artillery shells on Friday and Saturday. During a stop at the missile factory, Kim set a goal to drastically boost production capacity so the facility can mass produce missiles to meet the needs of frontline military units, KCNA said. The qualitative level of war preparations depends on the development of the munitions industry and the factory bears a very importa

Kim Jong tours weapons factories, vows to boost war readiness amid tensions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the country's key weapons factories, including those producing artillery systems and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military's arms and war readiness, state media said Sunday. Kim's three-day inspections through Saturday came as the United States and South Korea prepared for their next round of combined military exercises planned for later this month to cope with the growing North Korean threat. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as the pace of North Korea's missile tests and the joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, which Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals, have both intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle. Some experts say Kim's tour of the weapons factories could also be related to possible military cooperation with Moscow that may involve North Korean supplies of artillery and other ammunition as Russian President Vladimir Putin reaches o

North Korea's Kim shares center stage with Russian, Chinese delegates

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared center stage with senior delegates from Russia and China as he rolled out his most powerful, nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, marking a major war anniversary with a show of defiance against the United States. State media said Friday Kim attended Thursday evening's parade with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese ruling party official Li Hongzhong from a balcony looking over the city's main square. The streets and stands were packed with tens of thousands of mobilized spectators, who roared in approval as waves of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks and huge, intercontinental ballistic missiles wheeled out on launcher trucks filled up the main road. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the parade also featured ceremonial flights of newly developed surveillance and attack drones, which were first unveiled by state media this week as they reported on an arms exhibition attended by Ki

Kim Jong Un meets with Russian defence minister on military cooperation

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss military issues and the regional security environment, state media said Thursday as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of an armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim and Shoigu talked Wednesday in the capital, Pyongyang, and reached a consensus on unspecified matters of mutual concern in the field of national defense and security and on the regional and international security environment. The report did not specify what was discussed. KCNA also said Kim took Shoigu to an arms exhibition that showcased some of North Korea's newest weapons and briefed him on national plans to expand the country's military capabilities. Photos from the exhibition showed Kim gesturing while talking to Shoigu as they walked near a row of large missiles mounted on launcher trucks. In a rare case of diplomatic opening since the start

Kim Jong Un vows to boost nuke capability after observing new ICBM launch

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further bolster his country's nuclear fighting capabilities as he supervised the country's second test-flight of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the mainland U.S., state media reported Thursday. Kim's statement suggests North Korea would ramp up weapons testing activities to expand its arsenals in response to recent U.S. steps to enhance its security commitment to ally South Korea. "The present unstable situation in which the security environment on the Korean peninsula is being seriously threatened by the hostile forces every moment," Kim said, according to state media. "(That) requires more intense efforts to implement the line of bolstering nuclear war deterrent." The Korean Central News Agency disclosed Kim's comments, after confirming the North conducted a successful launch of the Hwasong-18 ICBM on Wednesday. The launch was first reported by its neighbours soon after its liftoff. The Hwasong-18 is a ...

Chandrababu Naidu calls Jagan the brother of North Korea's Kim Jong Un

Jagan has till now ruled the State by simply threatening the people and the public is no longer ready to bear it, Chandrababu alleged

N Korea's Kim Jong-un touts leadership of China's Xi in b'day greetings

Kim also said he is pleased to see Xi's achievements and wished him more success in his "important and responsible work" in leading China

Kim Jong-un voices willingness to build stronger strategic ties with Russia

Kim said the Russian people's struggle to counter hostile forces' move to deprive Moscow of its sovereignty and security has entered a "new decisive phase"

North Korean leader's sister vows 2nd attempt to launch spy satellite

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a U.N. Security Council meeting over the North's first, failed launch. The North's attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit last Wednesday failed as its rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula's western coast. An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council was still convened at the request of the U.S., Japan and other countries to discuss the launch because it had violated council resolutions banning the North from performing any launch using ballistic technology. On Sunday, Kim's sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, called the U.N. council a political appendage of the United States, saying its recent meeting was convened following America's gangster-like request. She accused the U.N. council of being discriminative and rude because it only takes issue with the North's satellite launches while ...

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Kim Jong-un says N Korea has finished development of 1st spy satellite

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has completed the development of its first military spy satellite and ordered officials to go ahead with its launch as planned, state media reported Wednesday. During his visit to the North's aerospace agency Tuesday, Kim stressed it's crucial to acquire a space-based surveillance system in the face of what he called US-led security threats, the Korean Central News Agency said. North Korea says its spate of weapons tests, including its first test-launch of a solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland last week, are a response to joint military exercises between the United States and its regional allies South Korea and Japan. At the National Aerospace Development Administration, Kim said military reconnaissance was crucial for North Korea to effectively use its methods of war deterrence, according to KCNA. Kim said the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 had been built as of April and order

Xi tells Kim Jong-un to bolster 'strategic guidance' over bilateral ties

The remarks came as Kim received a message from Xi as the latter thanked the North Korean leader for congratulating him on his re-election as president of China

Kim Jong-un wants North Korea to make more nuclear material for bombs

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs to put on his increasing range of weapons. The report in state media on Tuesday followed a series of missile launches seven launch events in this month alone and rising threats to use the weapons against his enemies. North Korea's weapons tests and US-South Korea military exercises have intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle, underscoring heightened tensions in the region. Officials say North Korea could further up the ante in coming weeks or months with more provocative displays of its military nuclear program, possibly including its first test detonation of a nuclear device since September 2017. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim during a meeting on Monday with officials and scientists at a state nuclear weapons institute stressed the need to ramp up bomb fuel production to meet his goals to expand his nuclear arsenal exponentially, and issued ..

North Korea simulates nuclear attacks with underwater drone, missiles

North Korea said Friday its latest cruise missile launches this week were part of nuclear attack simulations that also involved a test of a purported underwater attack drone as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make his rivals plunge into despair. North Korea has stepped up its weapons demonstrations this month in a tit-for-tat response to the United States' expanding military exercises with ally South Korea aimed at countering the North's growing nuclear threat. The allies completed an 11-day exercise that included their biggest field training in years on Thursday, but North Korea is expected to continue its weapons tests as the United States reportedly plans to send an aircraft carrier in coming days for another round of joint drills with the South. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim supervised a three-day exercise through Thursday that simulated nuclear counterattacks against enemy naval assets and ports that involved detonations of mock nuclear warheads. KCNA said

As US-S Korea conduct military drills, N Korea launches missile into sea

Japan says North Korea has launched a suspected missile toward the sea. Japan's coast guard said it confirmed that what appeared to be a North Korean missile was fired Sunday morning. Further launch details were not immediately available, it said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited the South's military as saying that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters. Calls to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff were not immediately answered on Sunday. The launch, if confirmed, would be the North's fourth round of weapons tests since the U.S. and South Korean militaries began joint military drills last week. The North views the drills as an invasion rehearsal.

About 800,000 civilians willing to join military to fight US: North Korea

North Korea claimed that about 800,000 civilians have volunteered to join the nation's military to fight against the US, CNN reported.North Korea's state newspaper Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that around 800,000 students and workers alone have expressed their desire to join the military to counter the US.The claim came after North Korea on Thursday launched its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in response to ongoing US-South Korea military drills, reported CNN.North Korea launched the intercontinental ballistic missile, (ICBM) Hwasongpho-17, amid the ongoing South Korea-US Freedom Shield (FS) exercise, which the country has decried as "preparations for a war of aggression" against it, according to Yonhap News agency.After the launch of the missile, North Korea confirmed they had fired it, adding that it was a "stronger warning" to the US and South Korea for their provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills.In the state news agency, KCNA, North Korea ...

Kim accountable for North Korea's human rights violations: US Ambassador

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should be held accountable for North Korea's gross human rights violations as the leader of the country, the US Ambassador to the United Nations has said

Kim Jong Un supervises N Korean artillery drill planning attack on S Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a frontline artillery drill simulating an attack on an unspecified South Korean airfield as he called for his troops to sharpen their combat readiness in the face of his rivals' "frantic war preparation moves," state media said Friday. The North Korean report came a day after South Korea's military detected the North firing at least one short-range ballistic missile toward the sea from a site near the western coastal city of Nampo and raised the possibility that more missiles may have been launched from the area simultaneously. The launch came as South Korea and the United States prepare to kick off their biggest combined military training exercise in years to counter the growing threat of Kim's nuclear arsenal, which he has aggressively expanded in recent years despite the North's deepening economic isolation and pandemic-related difficulties. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim urged his troops during Thursday's