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Girl group leader becomes powerful political figure in North Korea

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Hyon Song-wol, the leader of North Korea’s all-girl propaganda band Moranbong Band, is among the noteworthy figures joining the North Korean Workers’ Party’s Central Committee at the party’s recent reshuffle. She now co-serves as an alternate member of the committee’s political bureau, its most powerful body. There have been prior cases of artists joining the party’s Central Committee, as either regular or alternate members, according to sources, Wednesday. But Hyon’s rise still surprised many because she was once believed to have been executed by Kim Jong-un after being embroiled in a pornography scandal in 2013. The sources speculated Kim “highly assessed” Hyon’s loyalty in December 2015 when her band visited Beijing. The band had been scheduled to perform before high-ranking Chinese officials as part of efforts to bolster Pyongyang-Beijing ties. But Hyon called off the gig abruptly and returned to Pyongyang with her band just hours before the performance, after Chinese authorities asked them to modify part of the programme. The authorities reportedly found the programme problematic for excessively idolising Kim. But Hyon refused their request and decided to cancel the performance instead. She reportedly claimed “not a single dot can be taken out of the programme because it is already supervised by our leader”. Kim would promote her to join the Korean Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, Meanwhile, there are growing complaints among senior North Korean officials over Hyon excessively wielding power, the sources said.

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Fear of forced repatriation rising among defectors in China

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North Korean defectors living in northeast China continue to fear for their safety as North Korean and Chinese authorities ramp up efforts to arrest and repatriate them back to the North. Although such individuals have always been mindful of their illegal status, the past year has seen a shift in policy to a point where even the children of defectors are being forcefully repatriated to North Korea. Daily NK has been collecting their stories since June last year and found over 120 instances of forced repatriation of North Koreans residing in areas across China’s northeast, including Shenyang in Liaoning Province, Kunming in Yunnan Province, Changbai, Tumen, and Yanji in Jilin Province, Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province, and other regions. While a considerable number of defectors have already been repatriated to North Korea, many more sit languishing in detention centers in China, awaiting their own deportation. A source in China informed Daily NK that “unlike previously, when defectors could easily pass through these routes simply by blending in, the authorities have stepped up their surveillance and questioning, establishing more checkpoints and generally making it much more challenging. Making their way to third countries like Thailand or Laos has now become much harder than crossing the China-North Korea border itself. International human rights organizations are also sounding the alarm at the increase in arrests and forced repatriations in China. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported earlier this month that in July and August of this year alone, at least 41 North Koreans were detained on suspicion of defection. From July 2016 until this June 2017, HRW recorded 51 separate instances, bringing the total during this period to at least 92 persons, including a newborn baby, an 11 year-old child, and four elderly women.

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US flies B-1 bombers over Korean peninsula again, flanked by South Korean and Japanese fighter jets

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The US military flew two Air Force B-1 bombers over the Korean peninsula in a show of force late on Tuesday amid high tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, South Korea’s military said. The two B-1B Lancer bombers were accompanied by two F-15K fighters from the South Korean military after leaving their base in Guam. The US military said in a separate statement Japanese fighters had also joined the drill, making it the first nighttime combined exercise for the US bombers with fighters from Japan and South Korea. The South Korean military said this was part of a regular exercise to bolster military defences and also to display the alliance between the United States and South Korea. South Korean and US government officials have been raising their guard against more North Korean provocations with the approach of the 72nd anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s ruling party, which fell on Tuesday. US Air Force Major Patrick Applegate said: “Flying and training at night with our allies in a safe, effective manner is an important capability shared between the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea and hones the tactical prowess of each nations’ aviators”. “This is a clear demonstration of our ability to conduct seamless operations with all of our allies anytime, anywhere”, the US release quoted him as saying.

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North Korea: cargo ships tracked in Chinese waters after UN imposes all-ports ban for violating sanctions

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The UN Security Council has banned all nations from allowing four ships that transported prohibited goods to and from North Korea to enter any port in their country. Hugh Griffiths, head of the panel of experts investigating the implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea, announced the port bans at a briefing to UN member states on Monday. Griffiths later told several reporters that “this is the first time in UN history”. He identified the four cargo ships as the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun. According to MarineTraffic, a maritime database that monitors vessels and their moments, Petrel 8 is registered in Comoros, Hao Fan 6 in St Kitts and Nevis, and Tong San 2 in North Korea. It does not list the flag of Tong San 2 but said that on October 3 it was in the Bohai Sea off north China. Griffiths said the four ships were officially listed on October 5 “for transporting prohibited goods”, stressing that this was “swift action” by the sanctions committee following the August 6 Security Council resolution that authorised port bans. Griffiths told UN diplomats that: “is continuing its attempts to export coal” in violation of UN sanctions.

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Kim Jong Un promotes his sister to center of leadership

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Amid claims of U.S.-led assassination attempts on the North Korean leader, the reclusive nation’s administration is now looking at consolidating power. Kim Jong Un on Sunday, elevated his younger sister Kim Kyung Hui to the powerful political bureau of the ruling Workers’ Party. The promotion moves her closer to the center of the leadership, as the North Korean dictator advances towards consolidating his family’s control over North Korea. The move also comes two days before the North Korean regime celebrates the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party, through which the Kim family controls the country. Kim Jong Un, who is chairman of the party among the other titles he holds, said that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are necessary “for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists” Michael Madden, an expert on the Kim family who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch blog, thinks that Kim Jong Un might be positioning his sister as the next heir to the family dynasty.

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China and Russia urge restraint after new round of Trump tweets on North Korea

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Russia and China called for restraint on North Korea on Monday after US President Donald Trump warned over the weekend that “only one thing will work” in dealing with Pyongyang, hinting that military action was on his mind. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: “Moscow has called and continues to call on the parties involved in the conflict and on those who have anything to do with this issue to exercise restraint and to avoid any steps that would only worsen the situation”. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated China’s position that all parties exercise restraint, describing the situation as extremely complex and serious. China hopes all sides do nothing to irritate each other or worsen the problem and speak and act cautiously, she told a daily news briefing. On Saturday, Trump made a similar comment on Twitter about how negotiations have failed for 25 years and said “only one thing will work” with North Korea. Jim Mattis on Monday told the US Army to be ready with military options on North Korea: “There is one thing the US Army can do and that is you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our President can employ if needed. Mattis add: “We currently are in a diplomatically led effort and how many times have you seen the UN Security Council vote unanimously, now twice in a row, to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea”.

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Chinese authorities crack down on North Korean smuggling with checkpoints

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Chinese authorities have set up strict checkpoints near the border regions with North Korea in Liaoning Province, Dandong City, including the mobilization of military dogs. This latest measure appears to be the Chinese government’s attempt to close down smuggling routes that have provided holes in the international sanction campaign against the North Korean regime. According to a North Korean source with knowledge of the issue, Chinese frontier public security officers in military garb are enforcing thorough inspections and crackdowns on smuggling from the Hwanggumpyong Island area to the Yalu River Estuary near Donggang. A Dandong-based source added, “this is the first time we have seen military dogs in the Yalu River area. It looks as if the authorities are intending to crackdown on the vibrant drug trade and other smuggled items that flows through the region”. Daily NK recently reported that many North Korean defectors were boarding smuggling vessels that crossed from Sinuiju City, North Pyongan Province, North Korea across the Yalu River to China. “China is responding sensitively because the world is watching how it deals with North Korean smuggling and defectors”, the Dandong-based source said. “The checkpoints and inspections are aimed at blocking smugglers and defectors, which does not come as good news for North Korean residents”.

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Pentagon chief backs Tillerson’s North Korea diplomatic strategy after Trump tweet undermined it

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Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has tried to clear up doubts about the US administration’s North Korea strategy, backing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s effort to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear stand-off. Defence Secretary Mattis was speaking two days after US President Donald Trump appeared to undermine his top diplomat by saying Tillerson was “wasting his time” by maintaining contacts with Kim Jong-un’s regime. State Department officials insist Trump was not criticising Tillerson, but pressuring North to agree to discuss its disarmament while a diplomatic option remains on the table. Jim Mattis said: “The Defence Department supports fully Secretary Tillerson’s efforts to find a diplomatic solution but remains focused on defence of the United States and our allies”. Tillerson has explained the strategy as one of using United Nations and US sanctions and diplomatic pressure to convince Kim of his isolation and force him to negotiate nuclear disarmament. Trump wrote: “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man”.

 

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Egyptian foreign ministry, Ahmed Abu Zeid, denies buying North Korea arms for its military

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Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid has denied a report by the Washington Post claiming that a shipment of weapons from North Korea seized by Egyptian authorities in 2016 was in fact destined for the Egyptian military. The US newspaper reported that the Egyptian military was the actual undisclosed buyer of $23 million worth of rocket-propelled grenades seized by the Egyptian customs authority in August 2016 in Egyptian national waters after a receiving a tip from US intelligence. In a detailed statement sent to AFP on Monday, Abu Zeid “entirely dismissed” the claim that Egypt was the final destination for the shipment. He insists that “the shipment that was confiscated was not destined for Egypt”. “Egyptian authorities confiscated and destroyed the shipment in the presence of a team of experts from the 1718 committee overseeing the UNSC sanctions on North Korea”, Abu-Zeid told AFP.

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Egypt found by UN

in AFRICA/ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

In an investigation led by the United Nations, it was discovered that North Korea and Egypt had struck a secret weapons deal worth 23 million dollar. The UN investigators revealed that Egypt had ordered 30,000 weapons from North Korea. UN officials and Western diplomats revealed that as part of the deal, Egyptian business executives ordered millions of dollars worth of rockets from North Korea for their country’s military. According to reports, business executives planned to keep the transaction hidden. The investigation also found that its cargo was hidden by large, heavy tarps. The ship entered Egyptian waters, customs agents boarded and discovered a stockpile of more than 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades concealed underneath bins of iron ore. In a statement quoted in the Washington Post, the UN said it was the “largest seizure of ammunition in the history of sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. The Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said Egypt will “continue to abide by all Security Council resolutions and will always be in conformity with these resolutions as they restrain military purchases from North Korea”.

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