North Korea detains another US citizen

North and South Koreas trade fire over loudspeaker row

20 August

North Korea and South Korea have today fired upon each other for the first time in almost a year, and exchanged artillery shots for the first time in five years.

No injuries have been reported but South Korea has evacuated residents close to the border and the North has threatened more action in 48 hours.

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Accounts of the incident come from South Korea's defence ministry, which says it detected the path of a "projectile" – described variously as a shell or a rocket – which had been fired by the North over the border into the South.

Seoul said it responded by firing "dozens of rounds of 155mm shells" toward the offending gun placement. The BBC reports that there is no indication of what damage the shells may have caused.

There was no mention of the skirmish from North Korea's state media – but it usually comments on events more slowly than the South, says The Guardian.

Seoul said it believed the first shot, fired by North Korea, was meant to hit a stack of loudspeakers which have been playing anti-Pyongyang propaganda over the border for several weeks. North Korea has said the audio barrage must stop in 48 hours or it will attack.

The South began the propaganda offensive after two of its soldiers were wounded by landmine explosions in the demilitarised zone between the two countries. Seoul accused Pyongyang of planting the landmines, which it denied.

The two nations have technically been at war since 1950 because no peace treaty was signed when hostilities ended in 1953. Their occasional skirmishes are comparatively trivial and there has been no fire of any sort since October.

But today marks the first time the two nations have exchanged artillery fire since North Korea killed four South Korean soldiers by shelling an island near the maritime border in 2010, says the Daily Telegraph.

North Korea: how do elections work in a one-party state?

20 July

With precious little democracy normally on show, it's easy to forget that North Korea's full name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Since 1999, however, citizens of the world's least free state have been invited to cast their votes in favour of the government's approved candidates.

On Sunday, North Korea held local elections for governors, mayors and regional assembly members. There was no agonising over the ballot card for the country's 25 million residents – North Korean elections are about affirmation rather than choice, so there is only one name on each paper.

This year's elections returned the selected candidates to office with the unanimous approval of the 99.97 per cent of the electorate who voted (up from 99.7 percent in 2011). These figures might sound like an example of the nation's typical bombastic propaganda, but the numbers may well be accurate. Voting is compulsory in North Korea, with government officials employed to make sure all eligible voters are present and registered.

There is no such thing as privacy in the open voting booths, reports The Economist, with any voter foolhardy enough to vote No required to use a separate ballot box in full view of electoral officials. Abstaining or voting against the proposed candidate is considered treason.

"It is regarded as political offence, so it is taken more seriously than economic crimes," defector Kim Kwang-jin told CNN. He described how residential organisations force their members to perform public celebratory dances on election day, which is a national holiday.

General elections are also held in the secretive state to choose the 687 members of the country's highest legislative body, the Supreme People's Assembly. Once again, only one pre-approved candidate is on the ballot paper for each district.

Even the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, must technically put himself forward for re-election by the public every five years. In last year's elections, the first since the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, he was returned with 100 per cent of his district's vote.

Although North Korea is officially governed by a ruling coalition of the country's three political parties, in practice Kim Jong-un's Workers' Party, which holds 87.5 percent of parliamentary seats, has total domination.

The last parliamentary term has been a particularly stormy one, with reports of mass purges and executions of high-ranking officials. This is seen by many observers as evidence of internal dissent, as Kim Jong-un struggles to assert his authority over the entrenched party elite and replicate the powerful personality cult enjoyed by his father, posthumously declared Eternal President of the Republic.

North Korea: hackers capable of attacks that 'could kill'

29 May

North Korea has the capability to launch cyber-attacks that could destroy entire cities, a high level defector has warned.

Professor Kim Heung-kwang, who taught computer science at one of the country's leading universities, said North Korea had 6,000 trained military hackers and urged the international community to intervene before a serious attack was launched.

His warning comes in the wake of last year's attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was widely blamed on North Korea. Pyongyang denied responsibility for the hack, pointing the finger at its "supporters and sympathisers".

The reason North Korea "has been harassing other countries” is to demonstrate the extent of its cyber war capacities, the professor told the BBC. "Their cyber-attacks could have similar impacts as military attacks, killing people and destroying cities," he said.

North Korean state media routinely boasts of its military and nuclear capabilities, but it "has never publically acknowledged the existence of what foreign officials consider one of its most dangerous weapons: [its] cyber warfare operation," the Financial Times reported last year.

Professor Kim says many of his best students were recruited to Bureau 121, Pyongyang's elite cyber warfare agency that is used to spy on and sabotage its enemies, particularly South Korea. Last year Seoul blamed the bureau for a cyber-attack on its hydro and nuclear power plant in which blueprints and employee data were stolen.

The size of the North Korean agency has increased "significantly" in the last few years, with the military spending up to 20 per cent of its budget on cyber activities, he says.

Kim said he felt saddened that some of the brightest minds he taught had their talents channelled "not into improving our internet culture, but to terrorise other people using the internet".

North Korean defence minister 'executed by anti-aircraft gun'

13 May

North Korea's defence minister has been executed by anti-aircraft weapons in front of an audience of hundreds, according to a South Korean intelligence report.

Hyon Yong-chol was reportedly charged with treason for disobeying orders, falling asleep at a military event and being disloyal to Kim Jong-un, the latest in long line of purges carried out by the North Korean regime.

He was an unknown when he was promoted to the North Korean elite in 2012 and had been in his position for less than a year. However, he regularly accompanied Kim on public events. He was arrested late last month and executed three days later without trial.

As head of the country's military, Hyon was "as close to Kim Jong-un as it is possible to get," says the BBC's Stephen Evans. "Such a public and brutal method of execution as obliteration by anti-aircraft gun would emphasise the cost of disloyalty."

This is not believed to be the first time an official has been publically executed in such an extreme manner. Last month, a human rights group released satellite images taken of heavy machine guns on a small arms firing range at an army training centre near Pyongyang in 2014. The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said the "most plausible explanation" for the image was a "gruesome public execution" by anti-aircraft fire.

Earlier this week, South Korea's intelligence agency revealed the extent of political murders being carried out in Pyongyang, estimating that senior officials were being executed at a rate of one per week. "It all adds up to a picture of a leader in Pyongyang who feels very insecure and who is dangerous in his insecurity," says Evans.

"Every time we hear rumours of more executions, we have to wonder whether it's a sign of authority or an inability to keep things under control," Victor Cha, former White House adviser on Asia under George W Bush, told the Financial Times.

The most notable purge was of Kim's uncle and most senior advisor in 2013. Jang Song-thaek was executed on charges that ranged from distributing pornography to plotting a coup. He was also condemned for "half-hearted clapping" during a ceremony for his nephew.

North Korean submarine missiles 'could reach the US'

11 May

North Korea claims to have successfully launched a ballistic missile from a submarine, in a military breakthrough that has alarmed its neighbours and their allies.

The country's leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the launch from a secret offshore location and hailed the "world-level strategic weapon" as an "eye-opening success", state media reported.

Exact details on the missile technology used, including its targeting, range and level of accuracy, remain unclear. But the successful test poses a new threat to South Korea and Japan, and brings it closer to the ability to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, says The Times.

South Korea described the test as "very serious and concerning", with one defence official warning that the pariah state could have a fully operational fleet within five years. Seoul's allies in Washington also condemned the launch, saying it was in defiance of a number of international laws.

"We call on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations," said a State Department spokesperson.

If verified, the launch would mean North Korea is now able to move its missiles within range of the US, said Victor Cha, a Korea analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"The test shows that North Korea missile capabilities are advancing without any constraints now despite a bevy of nonproliferation sanctions applied by the United Nations," he told Reuters.

Last month, Chinese nuclear experts warned that North Korea's nuclear capabilities had been vastly underestimated and that its arsenal posed a significant threat to international security.

South Korea and the US had been considering installing a hugely expensive missile defence shield, "but this would be ineffective if submarine-launched missiles could get under it", reports the BBC.

The latest tests further indicate that Pyongyang is quickly moving towards its goal of having powerful, long-range weapons capable of striking at short notice, it added.

North Korea's nuclear arsenal 'has been underestimated'

23 April

Nuclear experts in China have warned that North Korea may already have 20 warheads and the nuclear enrichment capacity to double that within a year.

This exceeds all previous estimates of Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities and poses a significant threat to regional security, the Wall Street Journal reports. The warning was made in closed-door talks between Chinese and American nuclear specialists.

Siegfried Hecker, an expert on North Korea's nuclear programme, attended the meeting and said that the size of its arsenal would make denuclearisation even more difficult.

"The more they believe they have a fully functional nuclear arsenal and deterrent, the more difficult it's going to be to walk them back from that," he said.

North Korea has carried out several nuclear tests which have alarmed the international community, most recently in 2013. China's warning comes as relations between Beijing and its errant ally continue to thaw following a number of diplomatic incidents.

"The Chinese estimates reflect growing concern in Beijing over North Korea's weapons programme and what they see as US inaction while President Barack Obama focuses on a nuclear deal with Iran," the Journal reports.

Until recently, Beijing had "a pretty low opinion" of Pyongyang's capabilities, said David Albright, a North Korea nuclear weapons expert. "I think they are worried now. "

North Korea: defector launches balloon drop of The Interview

08 April

A North Korean defector says he has sent thousands of copies of The Interview across the border from South Korea, despite warnings from both governments.

Lee Min-bok said he tied DVDs to balloons, along with bundles of US dollars and leaflets criticising Kim Jong-un's regime, and had carried out four separate drops since January.

"I launched thousands of copies and about a million leaflets on Saturday, near the western part of the border," Lee told AFP.

Pyongyang has labelled the film about a fictional CIA plot to kill the North Korean leader a "wanton act of terror" and those responsible for sending them would "pay for [their] crimes in blood" if the films made it across the border.

The film was withdrawn from cinemas before its launch last December after a cyber-attack blamed on the secretive regime.

Lee said he found the comedy "vulgar" and admitted he hadn't watched it all the way through. However, he insisted it was important for North Korean's to see their idolised leader portrayed in a negative light.

"The regime hates this film because it shows Kim Jong-un as a man, not a God," he told CNN. "He cries and is afraid like us and then he's assassinated."

Last month South Korea banned activists from sending the film over the demilitarised zone in order to avoid provoking Kim Jong-un and endangering local residents.

But Lee said the authorities were powerless to stop the balloon drops, which are often done in the dead of night. "The police would have no right to stop me from doing this," Lee said.

Balloon launches have been carried out for years by activists in the south who want to expose people in the hermit kingdom to outside ideas and influences, but the items can have deadly consequences for anyone in North Korea found to be holding them.

North Korea develops a taste for baguettes and cheese

March 26

North Korea has sent its chefs abroad to learn the art of baguette making, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reports.

A team of pastry chefs was sent to France last year in order to learn how to make "world-class" food items, including baguettes and sweet potato cakes, the Choson Sinbo said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also ordered workers to start producing chewing gum, according to Reuters.

This is not the first time officials in Pyongyang have sent chefs abroad to learn new cooking techniques. Last year the government dispatched a delegation to the National Dairy Industry College to master the art of cheese-making after their Emmental-loving leader criticised the quality of the country's cheeses.

However, the school's owner refused their request, the Daily Telegraph reports. "There is no basis to go further with North Korea because such a partnership does not fit into our priorities and strategy," she said.

In North Korea, the state distributes food to people through a Public Distribution System, on which 62 per cent of the population relies. Those not entirely dependent on the system include the country's elite and wealthy classes in Pyongyang, as well as the nation's farmers.

Mass starvation has long been used as political tool in the pariah state. During the 1990s over 2.5 million North Koreans died due to widespread famine, according to the human rights group North Korea Now.

"Reports indicate that starvation, hunger, malnutrition, and food deprivation and insecurity continue," says the organisation. Last year, the World Food Programme reported that food availability in North Korea fell to its lowest level in three years.

North Korea: balloon drop of The Interview blocked by South

20 March

South Korea says it will stop a planned balloon drop of The Interview into North Korea to avoid provoking its leader Kim Jong-un.

The comedy, which revolves around a fictional CIA plot to assassinate the North Korean leader, was withdrawn from cinemas before its launch last December after a cyber-attack blamed on the secretive regime. Pyongyang had described the film as an act of war and "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism".

North Korean defectors are planning to send balloons carrying 10,000 copies of the movie and propaganda leaflets across the border later this month, but Seoul says there is a "limit" on freedom of expression.

The current political situation demanded "wisdom and prudence", it said.

Last year, a balloon launch sparked an exchange of machine gun fire across the heavily-fortified Demilitarised Zone. Pyongyang has warned that it would respond to any further launches with "not just a few shots of gunfire but cannons or missiles" – an escalation South Korea is keen to avoid.

"If [the launch of balloons] is detected in advance, the government will take necessary measures because it may threaten the security of residents there," South Korean ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-Cheol told AFP.

North Korea has said that the organiser of the balloon launch, defector Park Sang-hak, would "pay for his crimes in blood" if the films made it across the border.

"Nobody can stop it. I will keep sending leaflets into North Korea at the risk of my life," Park told AFP. The launch is scheduled for next Thursday, with the exact time and location remaining a secret.

Balloon launches across the border have been conducted for many years, carrying propaganda leaflets, money, South Korean films – and even erotic photographs – into the North.

But in North Korea, "the information war can have deadly consequences," reports Vice. Getting caught in possession of any of the material will certainly result in a death sentence, say defectors. Last year, government officials were executed by firing squad for watching South Korean soap operas.

North Korea 'fires missiles' amid tensions with the South

13 March

North Korea has fired seven surface-to-air missiles into the sea, under the supervision of Kim Jong-un, according to military officials in South Korea.

"We believe they test-fired different kinds of surface-to-air missiles and the longest range is about 200 km [125 miles]," an official from South Korea's defence ministry told Reuters. "It appears Kim Jong-un observed the firing."

This is the first time North Korea has tested the SA-5, a medium-to-high-altitude surface-to-air missile, which was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, according to the New York Times.

The tests came as the US and South Korea ended the first of two military training exercises, which the countries say are for defence purposes.

"The annual exercises, which Pyongyang calls a rehearsal for invasion, are always a trigger for a surge in tensions between the two Koreas," according to the BBC.

The pariah state has conducted a number of short-range missile tests in recent weeks, including the launch of two ballistic missiles earlier this month when the joint exercises began.

North Korean state media made no mention of the tests, reporting only that the leader had inspected an island military unit with his sister Kim Yo-jong.

North and South Korea are still technically at war, having agreed to a ceasefire in 1953, but never signing a peace treaty.

'Grow vegetables extensively!' - North Korean slogans revealed

12 February

North Korea has released a list of 310 new political slogans, published in its state newspaper. They range from decrying Americans as imperialist scum to the exhortation: "Grow vegetables extensively in greenhouses!"

The language of the catchphrases extends from the "oddly poetic to the laboriously clunky" says the Daily Mail. Peppered with exclamation marks, the list includes:

• Let the strong wind of fish farming blow across the country!
• Make fruits cascade down and their sweet aroma fill the air on the sea of apple trees at the foot of Chol Pass!
• Let the wives of officers become dependable assistants to their husbands!
• Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland by the joint operation of the army and people!
• Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scientific, intensive and industrialized!
• Should the enemy dare to invade our country, annihilate them to the last man so that none of them will survive to sign the instrument of surrender!

The slogans have been produced by party political and military committees to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea – but North Koreans have long been brought up on slogans, says The Guardian.

One defector, Lee Min-bok, said: "We had to memorise a lot of them to show our loyalty, but they slowly lost any meaning for anyone, especially after the famine in the 90s.

"That greenhouse one has been around for decades. The problem is nobody had any plastic sheets of glass to build them, or fuel to heat them."

Some of the phrases acquired unofficial parody versions, said Lee, who is 57 and escaped to South Korea 14 years ago.

The 1998 slogan "Though the road ahead may be perilous, let's travel it laughing!" was changed to "Let them laugh as they go, why are they making us come too?"

While there is amusement in the eclectic nature of the slogans, and in their eccentric English translations ("Play sports games in an offensive way!" urges one), The Guardian says they offer an insight to the "thinking and priorities" of the regime.

The focus on food may reflect the severe famines which have struck the country. One slogan states the need to increase food production to "resolve the food problem of the people and improve their dietary life".

North Korea's internet cracked by NSA 'long before Sony attack'

19 January

The US National Security Agency (NSA) was reportedly spying on North Korea's computer systems long before the Sony Pictures attack, which knocked nearly the entire company's system offline.

The US first gained access to North Korean networks in 2010, says the New York Times, initially focusing on the country's nuclear programme, leadership and attacks aimed at US military forces in South Korea. However, a "highly destructive attack" on South Korea's banks and media companies in 2013 prompted the NSA to focus its surveillance on North Korea's hackers.

US officials told the NYT that the NSA should have been able to spot the first Sony "spear phishing" attacks, fake emails that put malicious code into a computer system if a user clicks on a URL link. But they said that these attacks did not look unusual and investigators only worked out that North Korea had gained access to Sony's systems when it was too late.

Nevertheless, when pictures of skulls appeared on the screens of Sony employees it "did not take long for American officials to conclude that the source of the attack was North Korea", says the New York Times.

US President Barack Obama was quick to condemn North Korea for the attack, although some sceptics continue to suggest that a disgruntled Sony employee was responsible.

But FBI director James Comey says US investigators have linked emails and internet posts sent by the Guardians of Peace, the group behind the Sony attack, to North Korea.

One senior military official said the evidence was so compelling that Obama "had no doubt" the Communist regime was responsible, and the White House has since imposed new economic sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyber-attack.

South Korea claims Pyongyang's 6,000 hackers are mostly commanded by its secretive hacking unit, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which has a large outpost in China.

One former North Korean army programmer who defected in 2007 said the country had spent almost 30 years building "formidable" hacking skills to target specific countries.

North Korean defector kills four people after crossing into China

05 January

Beijing has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint with Pyongyang after a fleeing North Korean soldier killed four people when he crossed the border into China.

The deserter reportedly shot four elderly people in a border village in China's Jilin province during a robbery. He was later shot and detained by Chinese security officials, following a police manhunt. His current condition is unknown, but analysts say it is unlikely that he will be handed back to Pyongyang due to the severity of his crimes.

The attack is said to have occurred last week, but has only just been confirmed by Chinese officials. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Beijing had "lodged representations" to North Korea and "will handle the case in line with relevant laws".

A report by China's state news agency said that the soldier had crossed the border in search of food, but gave no further details, The Guardian reports.

Food shortages on North Korean army bases are common and one resident in the Chinese border town told Sky News that it was "pretty common" for North Korean soldiers to sneak across the border at night in search of food.

The journey across the Tumen River which divides the two countries is also an established escape route for North Korean defectors, but such escapes are becoming less frequent as the pariah state's leader Kim Jong-un tightens security along the 880-mile frontier.

China is one of North Korea's only allies, but this is the latest in string of events said to be placing pressure on the relationship between the two countries, the New York Times reports.

Last month, a retired Chinese general with strong ties to the ruling Communist Party launched a scathing attack on North Korea. "China has cleaned up the DPRK's [North Korea's] mess too many times," General Wang wrote in national newspaper The Global Times. "But it doesn’t have to do that in the future."

North Korea asks UN to investigate 'medieval' CIA torture

17 December

North Korea has asked the United Nations to investigate the CIA's treatment of terror suspects, saying the US is responsible for the "gravest human right violations in the world".

In the wake on the Senate's torture report, which details harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA on terror suspects, North Korea says a "thorough probe" into the CIA's crimes must be launched.

The move comes as the UN Security Council agreed to consider referring North Korea's leader to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The country continues to dismiss allegations of abuse, saying they are designed to discredit the nation.

"The so-called 'human rights issue' in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is politically fabricated and, therefore, it is not all relevant to the regional or international peace and security," said Ja Song-nam, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations.

"On the contrary, the recently revealed CIA torture crimes committed by the United States which has been conducted worldwide in the most brutal medieval forms, are the gravest human rights violations in the world," he said, according to the Washington Post.

Earlier this year, an extensive UN investigation into human rights abuses revealed a shocking catalogue of crimes committed by Kim Jong-Un's regime, including brainwashing, torture, starvation, executions and infanticide.

North Korea refuses to deny Sony hack

2 December

North Korean officials have failed to rule out state involvement in a security breach at Sony pictures in advance of release of a film about an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader.

When asked whether Pyongyang was involved in the cyber attack a spokesman for the secretive state said, "Wait and see."The forthcoming film, The Interview, stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as television reporters sent by the CIA to kill the the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un.

Sony Pictures' website went down on Monday and was replaced by a glowing red skelleton and a short message that read "Hacked By #GOP," which stands for Guardians of Peace, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal, both Sony and the FBI believe North Korea was involved in the attack, and the hackers "used tools very similar to those used last year to attack South Korean television stations and ATMs".

Following the attack, three unreleased films were published online by hackers, including a remake of Annie starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. The remake had been scheduled for release on 19 December.North Korea had criticised The Interview, which it describes as an act of war and "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism", the BBC reports.Asked whether Pyongyang was involved in the attack, a spokesman for North Korea's UN mission said: "The hostile forces are relating everything to the DPRK. I kindly advise you to just wait and see."North Korea often refers to the United States and South Korea as hostile forces.Seth Rogan "remains defiant" about the film, the Daily Telegraph said, posting a Twitter message on Sunday that read: "I personally don't care if it's disrespectful of Kim, because he's evil. But that's not the intent. North Korea has produced tons of propaganda films that portray America's destruction."

The FBI confirmed that it is investigating the security breach in conjunction with cyber-security firm FireEye. The agency warned that hackers may use similar malware to attempt to infiltrate other US businesses.

North Korea: UN pushes for referral to international court

19 November

A UN committee has ruled that the Security Council should consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

The resolution, which passed with 111 votes in favour and 19 against, also calls for targeted sanctions against the North Korean regime. The Security Council is expected to cast its vote in the coming weeks.

China, Russia and Cuba were among those who voted against the move. They say that it was politically motivated and would set a precedent for other nations to be targeted in the future, according to CNN.

The vote follows a damning UN report issued earlier this year which detailed "Nazi-style" atrocities including murder, torture, mass starvation and sexual violence. It said North Korea's human rights abuses "exceed all others in duration, intensity and horror".

A North Korean representative called the vote an "outrageous and unreasonable" campaign by the US and its allies to weaken the regime. He also issued a warning that the move could result in North Korea launching further nuclear tests.

Michael Kirby, who chaired the report, described it as "an important step in the defence of human rights".

"One of the only ways in which the International Criminal Court can secure jurisdiction is by the referral by the Security Council," he told the BBC. "That is the step that been put in train by the big vote in New York."

However, analysts warn that December's vote by the Security Council is likely to be vetoed by China, a permanent member of the council and a long-time ally of North Korea.

"The vote increases political pressure on North Korea but it is largely symbolic," says Reuters correspondent Mirjam Donath. She also suggests that Moscow is also likely to follow Beijing's lead in blocking the referral.