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North Korea issues nuclear threat amid US-S. Korea war games

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North Korea has threatened to turn South Korea and the US into “a heap of ashes through a Korean-style pre-emptive nuclear strike”.

The words come as South Korea and the US begin a 12-day military exercise called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which North Korea has described as an invasion rehearsal.

The exercise involves 25,000 American and 50,000 South Korean troops.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry has described the military exercise as an “unpardonable criminal act” that could bring the peninsula to “the brink of war”.

The country often issues such fiery rhetoric when it feels threatened.

China has also voiced concern about the exercise, with the official Xinhua news agency saying it would make North Korea “more aggressive” at an already sensitive time.

North Korea’s military chiefs said “first strike” units were ready to attack if the US or South Korea showed any signs of invading.

[Sky News]

Senior North Korean diplomat’s defection a ‘unique situation’

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South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joo-hee said on Wednesday North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho defected for the sake of his family and because he was “tired of Kim Jong Un’s regime.”

Liberty in North Korea (LINK) Director of Research and Strategy Sokeel Park said the defection of the senior North Korean diplomat  was a “unique situation,” and could lead to threats of retaliation from North Korea.

“There’s been those kind of things that have happened in the past for very high level defectors: assassination attempts, death threats … there will be protection from the South Korean authorities around this person, especially [in] the short term,” Park said.

Park said the defector Thae was the member of an elite family in North Korea, the son of a high-profile general. As with all high-profile defections, Park said the family still in North Korea could expect to face suspicion and possibly punishment in the future.

Park said it was unusual the diplomat had been with his entire immediate family overseas when he was posted. “That’s quite rare … a lot of the time there will be a son or an immediate family member that’s still back in North Korea kind of as collateral to make it harder for people to defect,” he said.

When asked why Thae may have defected to South Korea, rather than the United Kingdom where he was posted, Park said he may have been offered more incentives. “Maybe he would have better career prospects, for instance, if he came to South Korea, worked with the national intelligence service … rather than staying in the United Kingdom,” he said.

[CNN]

What it’s like for North Korean athletes attending the Olympics

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Imagine if you were in Rio representing one of the most notoriously authoritarian regimes in the world. Would you be proud to show the wider world that your home country isn’t as bad as it’s portrayed? Or would your interaction with other nationalities and experience in another country prompt you to reevaluate your home? Might you even try to defect?

Bear these considerations in mind when considering the 31 North Korean athletes and their supporting team members in Rio for the 2016 Summer Games.

During the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, sports reporter John Canzano tried to find out what the North Korean athletes had been doing outside of their events. He was dismayed by the response. “We’re not allowed to see places of interest,” Wang Ok Gyong, a North Korean swimmer, told him through an interpreter. “No mixing with others.”

Tight control on North Korean athletes may be an attempt to block defections. Foreign sporting events have long seen athletes from authoritarian countries run away or claim asylum–at least 45 members of the Eritrean soccer team have defected during various foreign trips over recent years. During the 2012 London Olympic Games, a variety of athletes disappeared and were later found to have defected. (There have been no known defectors from North Korea during any Olympics in which the country has competed. It’s possible this lack of defections is due to the tight control exerted by North Korean security forces and potential punishments for families left behind.)

From watching the games, North Korean athletes appear to have a real desire to make their country proud. And besides, those who win gold medals may receive considerable rewards from the state. “Successful athletes have done very well in recent years, receiving better housing in Pyongyang and other gifts from the government for their efforts,” Christopher Green, a North Korea analyst based in Seoul, says. “Sports have always been important to the government, but the resources have not always been there to develop talent; now there is more money going into sports facilities for elite athlete development, which is a reward of a sort, too.”

[Washington Post]

North Korea and the Rio Olympics

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North Korea has its first gold medal of the Rio Olympics after Rim Jong Sim won the women’s 75-kilogram weightlifting class. North Korea won four gold medals in London four years ago but started slowly in Rio, with only two silver and two bronze medals before Rim’s win.

Elsewhere on Olympic news, Samsung, notably the electronics giant from South Korea, provided each of the 11,000 athletes competing in the Rio 2016 Olympics with a special edition Galaxy S7 smartphone.

One country, guess which one, refused the gift. According to Radio Free Asia, North Korea prevented its 31 competing athletes from receiving the complimentary phone. Instead, a North Korean official reportedly went to the Samsung office and collected all of the phones that were to be provided to the country’s athletes.

North Korea, a dictatorship and arch enemy of South Korea, has strict rules for its athletes. The Washington Post reported that athletes are not allowed to visit places of interest and are discouraged from interacting with others, although no official reason was released as to why the athletes didn’t receive the phones.

Bangladesh expels North Korean diplomat over smuggled goods

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Bangladesh has kicked out a North Korean diplomat after he was caught smuggling more than one million cigarettes as well as electronics into the country in a shipping container, Dhaka officials said on Monday.

Han Son Ik, the first secretary of the North Korean embassy in Dhaka, has been ordered to leave the country after failing to declare the goods worth nearly half a million dollars to customs.

“We have asked North Korea to take him back for violating diplomatic norms,” Bangladesh foreign secretary Shahidul Haque told AFP, declining to give details. The goods were suspected destined for the blackmarket.

A senior customs official told AFP the North Korean used his diplomatic immunity earlier this month to import

In March last year, another North Korean diplomat was forced to apologize after he was caught at Dhaka airport trying to smuggle nearly 27 kilogrammes (60 pounds) of gold, worth $1.7 million, into the country.

Last year, a North Korean restaurant in Dhaka was shut down after officials found it was selling wine and drugs such as Viagra without permission.

[AFP]

Rio Olympics give peace a chance

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Two Koreas Olympic selfie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The power of the Olympic Games to connect and inspire is still unrivaled. And sometimes, the most impactful moments can come away from competition, like when gymnasts Hong Un-Jong of North Korea and Lee Eun-ju of South Korea (pictured on right) came together to take a selfie.

A summary of East Asia regional politics and tensions

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Hawkish Tomomi Inada, just installed as Japan’s defense minister, will be watched closely by China and South Korea, where Japan’s legacy of military aggression before and during World War Two remains an open wound.

Japan has already said it is upgrading its missile defenses in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games to counter more advanced North Korean weapons, part of increased military spending in the region that reflects worsening ties.

China is North Korea’s main ally, although Beijing disapproves of Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Japan, and Inada, may reach out to China and others as they seek to neutralize the threat to security posed by North Korea.

Japan and China both claim jurisdiction over islands in the East China Sea. Rather than confront China directly by sailing warships past its man-made island bases in the sea, Japan is providing equipment and training to the Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines and Vietnam, which are most opposed to China’s territorial ambitions.

Lastly, Beijing’s most powerful adversary in Asia is the United States, with its Seventh Fleet operating from bases in Japan and South Korea.

[Reuters]

China and Russia developing their own missile defense systems

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During a regular Ministry of National Defense press briefing July 28, China’s Senior Colonel Yang Yujun said that Beijing is “deeply dissatisfied” and “firmly opposed” to the U.S.’s proposed THAAD deployment. He said, “We will pay close attention to the relevant actions of the US and [South Korea] and will take necessary measures to maintain national strategic security as well as regional equilibrium.”

At the monthly press briefing, Yang indicated that China is developing its own missile defense system. He stated that “to develop suitable capabilities of missile defense is necessary for China to maintain national security and improve defense capabilities.”

Yang’s statements on THAAD and China’s missile defense capabilities suggest that China is preparing to take action in order to shift the regional balance of power in its favor. What is troubling for the US and the ROK is that China may not do this alone.

At the fourth China-Russia Northeast Asia security consultation in Moscow last Thursday, China and Russia agreed to “proactively consider strengthening bilateral coordinating measures” to counter the threat posed by THAAD. During the meeting, Chinese and Russian representatives argued that the deployment of THAAD “will exert negative influence upon the strategic balance, security and stability in the world and in the region.”

At the fifth World Peace Forum held in mid-July, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said that the coverage and capabilities of THAAD would exceed the needs of the Korean Peninsula and undermine the strategic and security interests of other regional actors. Zhang also argued that this missile defense system will “harm the strategic balance in the region” and “aggravate the armament race,” severely impacting regional and global stability.

The US “strengthens regional security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region” with more bombers

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The US Air Force will be sending a force of supersonic cruise-missile capable strike bombers to their bases off the coast of North Korea.

Last week Kim Jong Un declared his secretive nation was now in all our war with America after the world’s leading superpower “crossed the red line” over military buildup near their borders.

Rather than be scared off by this, the United States is doubling down. B-1B Lancer bombers will move into the US Pacific Command’s Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam to replace the fleet of ageing B-52 Stratofortresses currently based there.This will be the first time the Lancers have been on the island in ten years.

Around 300 US airmen will also join the squadron, but the US Air Force has not confirmed the number of bombers being dispatched.

The US Air Force said in a statement: “The B-1 units …provide a significant rapid global strike capability that enables our readiness and commitment to deterrence, offers assurance to our allies, and strengthens regional security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.”

[Daily Star]