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Category: Terrorism (NK)

February 13, 2010

Thailand Deports Crew of Axis of Evil Express

Brokedown Palace is about to lose a few tenants. Thailand has decided to deport the Boratistani crew of the Il-76 caught carrying weapons from North Korea to Iran instead of prosecuting them. The crew may face prosecution in their home countries instead. The plane and the cargo will stay in Thailand for the time being: “We are waiting for the United Nations to recommend what to do with the weapons,” Mr. Panitan said in a telephone interview. “The plane is...

Categories Axis of Evil/Missiles/Proliferation/Sanctions/Terrorism (NK)
January 30, 2010

North Korea Threatens Senders of Leaflet Balloons as Messages “Gain Trust” of North Koreans

Balloon-carried leaflets sent by South Korean civic groups to North Korea are unnerving the North Korean authorities as the anti-Pyongyang messages are gaining trust among North Korean citizens, a local daily said on Saturday. In the past, when the anti-North Korean leaflets were spread in Pyongyang, North Korean residents didn’t believe their contents. However, the situation is different now. According to the Chosun Ilbo, civic groups’ leaflets these days are much more effective than in the past as they are...

Categories Propaganda/Subversion/Terrorism (NK)
January 18, 2010

Great. Now Even the North Koreans Are Doing the Jihad Thing.

I had meant to blog about North Korea’s simultaneous acceptance of South Korean food aid just as it declared a “holy war” against South Korea, but a nasty intestinal virus had other plans for the entire family for the last few days (and how was your weekend?). Still, I can’t less this pass without comment. For those of you who hadn’t heard, North Korea’s latest fit was over South Korean contingency planning for regime collapse in the North. Planning was...

Categories Famine & Food Aid/Terrorism (NK)
January 16, 2010

Ten Years Later, South Korea Questions Suspected North Korean Agent in U.S. Resident’s Kidnapping

The Reverend Kim Dong Shik, a U.S. lawful permanent resident, was kidnapped from China by North Korean agents 10 years ago today. Rev. Kim was there helping North Korean refugees. Somehow, the North Koreans managed to carry Rev. Kim back across the Chinese-North Korean border without any interference from our friends the ChiComs, despite the fact that Rev. Kim was wheelchair-bound (do wheelchairs even exist in North Korea?). Years later, rumors emerged to the effect that Kim was tortured to...

Categories Abductions/Terrorism (NK)
December 31, 2009

Man-Portable Surface-to-Air Missiles Found in Seized Bangkok Shipment

Brian McCartan, a freelance journalist based in Bangkok, has written an exceptionally detailed account of what is know and not known about the North Korean weapons seized in Bangkok. All of the many details McCartan relates are consistent with the better reporting I’ve read in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, but there is one thing in this article that I hadn’t read anywhere else: A search of the plane’s cargo after a tip-off from US intelligence sources found 35...

Categories Sanctions/Terrorism (NK)
December 12, 2009

(Updated) North Korea, Which Was Removed from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism Last Year …

… has been caught smuggling weapons again, in flagrant violation of UNSCR 1874. Update: The AP reports that the cargo included surface-to-air missile components, causing me to write a long, screedy update. Update 2: More updates at the link above. More information suggests that the destination was Iran, and one major newspaper misreads UNSCR 1874, though the confusion is excusable. This appears to be the largest shipment of North Korean weapons intercepted since the passage of UNSCR 1874.

Categories Axis of Evil/Proliferation/Terrorism (NK)
December 4, 2009

Axis, Schmaxis, Part 11: Iran Equipping Terrorists With North Korean Weapons

This Washington Post article, in addition to being an interesting and entertaining read, confirms my immediate suspicions about that shipment of North Korean arms recently interdicted in the Persian Gulf: Inspectors from the United Arab Emirates quickly swarmed the ship and uncovered a truck-size container packed with small arms made in North Korea. Concealed deeper in the ship was the real find: hundreds of crates containing military hardware and a grayish, foul-smelling powder, explosive components for thousands of short-range rockets....

Categories Axis of Evil/Iran/Proliferation/Terrorism (NK)/Terrorism/Iraq/Uncategorized
December 4, 2009

Another Lawsuit Against North Korea in a U.S. Court

Previously, I’ve posted about the lawsuit in a U.S. federal court by the crew of the U.S.S. Pueblo — heroes in my book, who resisted and humiliated their captors despite unendurable torture — and about the efforts of the plaintiffs’ lawyers to find and recover North Korean assets to satisfy the judgment. The plaintiffs took advantage of a 2001 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (see subsection (a)(7)) that allows the victims of “torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage...

Categories Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Law
September 1, 2009

Commentary on the UAE Weapons Seizure

The shipment of RPG’s and detonators to Iran being akin to shipping snow to South Dakota in February, I continue to be curious about the ultimate destination for those weapons. Like GI Korea, I think it makes sense that Iran might have been using North Korea as a plausibly deniable source for weapons it planned to give to Shiite militias in Iraq, or to al Qaeda. Iran, after all, is a major manufacturer of antitank missiles, including RPG’s, in its...

Categories Axis of Evil/Iran/Terrorism (NK)/Terrorism/Iraq
August 4, 2009

The Bag Man: Bill Clinton in Pyongyang

[Update:  More here, at The New Ledger.  I suspect we’ve come to a fork in the road.  One way brings us to Agreed Framework III, and the other clears a major obstacle toward intensifying sanctions, and an adult response to a crisis that talks without clear benchmarks and objectives have only exacerbated.  Place your own bets.] Former President Clinton is in Pyongyang to ask for the freedom of Laura Ling and Euna Lee. As I’ve said before, it hardly matters...

Categories Abductions/Diplomacy/Ling/Lee Incident/Terrorism (NK)
July 22, 2009

John Kerry Tries, Fails to Stop Amendment Calling for N. Korea to be Re-Listed as Terror Sponsor (Update: Dems Defeat Amendment, 54-43)

Progress on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is always tenuous and remains incomplete. But the regime’s nuclear declaration is the latest reminder that, despite President Bush’s once bellicose rhetoric, engaging our enemies can pay dividends…. Now the president must not prematurely close the books on North Korea’s alleged uranium enrichment activities and nuclear exports. We must ensure there are credible verification and monitoring procedures to ensure North Korea is out of the nuclear business for the long term. —...

Categories Appeasement/Ling/Lee Incident/Sanctions/Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Politics
July 5, 2009

Christian Group Threatened Over Faxes to North Korea

Remember when, several months ago, I published a long list of fax numbers for North Korean entities of various kinds, both inside and outside North Korea? I wondered if any of those faxes would actually get though. I guess we have our answer: North Korea has threatened a Christian ministry to stop sending Gospel messages to the country through fax, saying the consequence will be “very bad,” amid testing of seven missiles on U.S. Independence Day. Voice of the Martyrs...

Categories Activism/Religion/Terrorism (NK)
July 1, 2009

Why Re-Designate North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism?

I make my best case here, at the New Ledger: Almost a year to the day after Bush’s announcement, North Korea threatened to “wipe out the aggressors” — meaning America — “on the globe once and for all,” and to unleash a “fire shower of nuclear retaliation” on South Korea. The nation most recently stricken from the list of state sponsors of terrorism is also the world’s most accomplished at using its official state media as an instrument of terrorism. ...

Categories Terrorism (NK)
June 25, 2009

North Korea Threatens to Wipe U.S.A. Off the Map, Etcetera, Etcetera

The harder KCNA’s writers work on their invective, the more this blog just writes itself: “If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. [Fox News] And of the so-called U.S. nuclear umbrella over South Korea, KCNA offers this new variation on “sea of fire:” North Korea condemned a recent U.S. pledge to provide nuclear defense...

Categories Terrorism (NK)
June 15, 2009

Another day, another North Korean nuclear threat, another post that writes itself

You know, I really should come up with a macro for these posts, or even a bot that posts them automatically. It only takes three easy steps. First, simply copy and paste North Korea’s latest threat(s) to nuke Seoul … KCNA news agency quoted an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying in a statement, “We’ll take firm military action if the United States and its allies try to isolate us. [Reuters] North Korea’s communist regime has warned of...

Categories Terrorism (NK)
June 9, 2009

Another Day, Another North Korean Nuclear Threat

“Our nuclear deterrence capability is a powerful defensive measure to secure the peace and stability of the Joseon (Korean) peninsula and nearby regions. It will become a vehicle for merciless attacks on those who even slightly infringe upon our sovereignty,” said Minju Joson, North Korea’s Cabinet newspaper, through a commentary. [Yonhap] President Bush removed North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008 to reward its regime for promising to give up its nuclear weapons....

Categories Terrorism (NK)
June 4, 2009

Korean Church Coalition to Hold Nationwide Prayer Vigil Tomorrow; News media embargo the T-word

Laura Ling and Euna Lee are having their sham trial as we speak, so if you believe that prayer helps, this would be the time to pray for them: korean-church-coalition-press-release-for-june-5-2009-event.pdf I’m one who tends to think that tracking down and freezing all of their bank accounts would help much more, and Executive Order 13,224 would be a way to do that that doesn’t mix this case up with other sanctions under contemplation for nuke and missile tests. The Administration is...

Categories Abductions/Activism/Media Criticism/Terrorism (NK)