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North Koreans mark major national holiday amid missile launch fears

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Oblivious to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets Monday to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il Sung.

Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and parents pushed strollers with babies bundled up against the spring chill as residents of the isolated, impoverished nation began observing a three-day holiday.

There was no sense of panic in the North Korean capital, where very few locals have access to international broadcasts and foreign newspaper headlines speculating about an imminent missile launch and detailing the international diplomacy under way to try to rein Pyongyang in, including a swing through the region by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to try to tamp down emotions and coordinate Washington’s response with Beijing, North Korea‘s most important ally.

Foreign governments have been struggling to assess how seriously to take North Korea‘s recent torrent of rhetoric — including warnings of possible nuclear war — as it expresses its anger over continuing U.S.-South Korea military maneuvers just across the border. Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that North Korean officials, fresh off an underground nuclear test in February, are ready to launch a medium-range missile.

North Korea‘s own media gave little indication Monday of how high the tensions are.

The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers’ Party newspaper, featured photos and coverage of current leader Kim Jong Un‘s overnight visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to his grandfather. There was only one line at the end of the article vowing to bring down the “robber-like U.S. imperalists.”

Kim Jong Un‘s renovation of the memorial palace that once served as his grandfather’s presidential offices was opened to the public on Monday, the vast cement plaza replaced by fountains, park benches, trellises and tulips. Stretches of green lawn were marked by small signs indicating which businesses — including the Foreign Trade Bank recently added to a U.S. Treasury blacklist — and government agencies donated funds to help pay for the landscaping.

Braving the cold, gray weather, people lined up in droves to lay bouquets of fake flowers at the bronze statues of Kim and his son, late leader Kim Jong Il, in downtown Pyongyang, as they do for every major holiday in the highly militarized country, where loyalty to the Kims and to the state are drummed in citizens from an early age. They queued at roadside snack stands for rations of peanuts, a holiday tradition. Cheers and screams from a soccer match filled the air.

“Although the situation is tense, people have got bright faces and are very happy,” said Han Kyong Sim, a drink stand worker.

Monday marked the official start of the new year according to North Korea‘s “juche” calendar, which begins with the day of Kim Il Sung‘s birth in 1912. But unlike last year, the centennial of his birthday, there are no big parades in store this week, and North Koreans were planning to use

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News, Politics, Government

S. Korea confirms N. Korea workers not showing up at factory

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North Korean workers didn’t show up for work at a jointly run factory complex with South Korea on Tuesday, a day after Pyongyang suspended operations at the last remaining major economic link between rivals locked in an increasingly hostile relationship.

Some of the more than 400 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone said they planned to stay and watch over their equipment until food ran out.

Pyongyang said Monday it would pull out its 53,000 workers at the complex, which began production in 2004 and is the biggest employer in the North’s third-biggest city. By closing the factory, Pyongyang is showing it is willing to hurt its own shaky economy in order to display its anger with South Korea and the United States.

Pyongyang has unleashed a torrent of threats at Seoul and Washington following U.N. sanctions punishing the North for its third nuclear test, on Feb. 12, and joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea that allies call routine but that Pyongyang sees as invasion preparation. In recent days there have also been worries in Seoul of an even larger provocation from Pyongyang, including another possible nuclear test or rocket launch.

Some North Koreans who worked an overnight shift at Kaesong were still there Tuesday morning, but South Koreans said those scheduled for day shifts didn’t show. A North Korean woman at Kaesong said in a telephone call that she planned to return home now that her night shift was done.

A South Korean worker who remained at Kaesong said that workers normally show up around 8 or 8:30 a.m. “They did not show up,” said the worker, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The worker said he planned to stay at the factory until food runs out. He said he and four other colleagues had been living on instant noodles. “We haven’t had any rice since last night. I miss rice,” he said Tuesday morning. “We are running out of food. We will stay here until we run out of ramen.”

He said he and his colleagues are getting news about Kaesong through South Korean television. There is no Internet connection at Kaesong.

The point of North Korea‘s threats and possible future provocations, analysts say, isn’t a full-scale war, which North Korea would certainly lose. It’s seen instead as an effort to force new, Pyongyang-friendly policies in South Korea and Washington and to boost domestic loyalty for Kim Jong Un, the country’s young, still relatively untested new leader.

Monday’s statement about Kaesong came from Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. It did not say what would happen to the 475 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex.

Kim’s statement said North Korea will now consider whether to close the complex permanently. “How the situation will develop in the days ahead will entirely depend on the attitude” of South Korean authorities, it said.

Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea expert at …read more

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North Korea recalls its workers at factory jointly run with South Korea

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North Korea said Monday it will recall 51,000 North Korean workers and suspend operations at a factory complex it has jointly run with South Korea, moving closer to severing its last economic link with its rival as tensions escalate.

The statement from Kim Yang Gon, secretary of a key decision-making body, the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, did not say what would happen to the 475 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex.

The statement comes amid weeks of North Korean war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for ongoing joint military drills. North Korea is also angry over the U.S.-led push for U.N. sanctions over its Feb. 12 nuclear test.

The complex combines cheap North Korean labor and South Korean know-how and technology. It is the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project from previous eras of cooperation.

North Korea closed the border to northbound South Korean managers and cargo last week, though managers already there were allowed to stay. About a dozen of the more than 120 South Korean companies at Kaesong have already shut down because they can no longer get needed supplies.

“The zone is now in the grip of a serious crisis,” Kim said, according to state media. He said it “has been reduced to a theater of confrontation with fellow countrymen and military provocation, quite contrary to its original nature and mission.”

“It is a tragedy that the industrial zone which should serve purposes of national reconciliation, unity, peace and reunification has been reduced to a theatre of confrontation between compatriots and war against the North,” Kim said in remarks carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The complex combines cheap North Korean labor and South Korean know-how and technology. Most of the employees at Kaesong are women. The complex is the biggest provider of jobs in Kaesong, the country’s third-largest city. Shoes and clothing make up 70 percent of the goods produced; the rest are largely chemical and electrical products.

Kaesong is a rare source of foreign cash for North Korea. South Korea‘s Unification Ministry estimates that North Korean workers in Kaesong received $80 million in salary in 2012.

North Korea objects to portrayals in the South of the zone being crucial to the impoverished country’s finances. Kim said North Korea “gets few economic benefits from the zone while the south side largely benefits from it.”

North Korea has unnerved the international community by orchestrating an escalating campaign of bombast in recent weeks. It has threatened to fire nuclear missiles at the U.S. and claiming it had scrapped the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War.

The threats against the United States are widely dismissed as hyperbole — analysts say they’ve seen no evidence North Korea can build a warhead small enough to put on a missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. A direct attack on the U.S. or its allies would result in retaliation that would threaten the existence of the ruling Kim family in Pyongyang. But there are fears the North …read more

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North Korea Nuclear Test: South Korean Official Says He Misspoke About Test Preparations

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday it will recall 51,000 North Korean workers and suspend operations at a factory complex it has jointly run with South Korea, moving closer to severing its last economic link with its rival as tensions escalate.

The statement from Kim Yang Gon, secretary of a key decision-making body, the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, did not say what would happen to the 475 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex.

The statement comes amid weeks of North Korean war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for ongoing joint military drills. North Korea is also angry over the U.S.-led push for U.N. sanctions over its Feb. 12 nuclear test.

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Articles of Interest

North Korea Recalls Workers, Suspends Operations At Factory Complex Jointly Run With South

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Monday it will recall 51,000 North Korean workers and suspend operations at a factory complex it has jointly run with South Korea, moving closer to severing its last economic link with its rival as tensions escalate.

The statement from Kim Yang Gon, secretary of a key decision-making body, the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, did not say what would happen to the 475 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex.

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Kim Jong Un, North Korean Leader, Calls Nuclear Weapons A ‘Reliable War Deterrent’

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

SEOUL, April 2 (Reuters) – North Korean nuclear weapons act as a deterrent to potential aggressors and as a foundation for its prosperity, the country’s leader said in a speech delivered on Sunday and published in full by the country’s KCNA news agency on Tuesday.
“Our nuclear strength is a reliable war deterrent and a guarantee to protect our sovereignty,” Kim Jong-un said in a speech delivered to the central committee meeting of the ruling Workers Party of Korea.
The speech appeared to emphasize a shift to economic development and accused the United States of seeking to drag North Korea into an arms race in a bid to create obstacles to economic improvement. (Reporting by David Chance; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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NKorea calls nukes country's 'life' at big meeting

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One of North Korea‘s top decision-making bodies is setting guidelines that call nuclear weapons “the nation’s life” that won’t be traded even for “billions of dollars.”

The statement Sunday came after a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party attended by leader Kim Jong Un and other officials.

It says nuclear weapons aren’t “goods for getting U.S. dollars” or a “political bargaining chip.” Outside analysts have said Pyongyang raises worries over its nuclear ambitions to spur nuclear-disarmament-for-aid talks.

The statement says Pyongyang will also increase work to build up the economy. Kim has made fixing the moribund economy a focus.

Pyongyang has issued a torrent of bellicose threats in recent weeks over U.S.-South Korean military drills and U.N. sanctions that followed its recent nuclear test.

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South Korea reportedly confirms Kim Jong Un's wife gives birth

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There’s a new Kim in town.

South Korea ended months of speculation by verifying that the wife of North Korea‘s dynastic dictator Kim Jong Un secretly gave birth late last year. The newborn, whose gender is not known, could become the fourth-generation to lead the communist dictatorship but Pyongyang watchers believe the baby is most likely a girl.

“If it was a boy, [the North Koreans] would have made an announcement,” Michael Madden, editor of the online newsletter North Korea Leadership Watch, told the Washington Free Beacon.

Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, was rumored to be pregnant after official photos showed what intelligence analysts said appeared to be a baby bump. She is widely seen as a rising force in the Pyongyang leadership hierarchy and believed to have a strong influence on her husband, who inherited the reins when his father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011 after a 17-year run.

The birth of the latest Kim is considered significant because the communist regime in Pyongyang has evolved from a Soviet-installed Marxist-Leninist regime in the 1950s to an Asian family dynasty where the ruling communist Workers Party shares power with a powerful military clique.

Kim Jong Un, who last week hung out with guest and former NBA star Dennis Rodman, has ratcheted up the saber-rattling his father was known for, with multiple tests of nuclear weapons and missiles, as well as the release of several provocative videos depicting the U.S. under attack. Rodman, who went to North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters and an HBO camera crew, raved about the dictator, who lives in lavish luxury while most of the people in his nation are starving.

On Sunday, Rodman told ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos that the diminutive dictator who recently threatened Washington with “miserable destruction” wants President Obama to call him.

“He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me,” Rodman told the network.

Although Rodman‘s resume is heavy on rebounds and reality TV and light on diplomacy, the mere fact that he spent time with Kim Jong Un makes him unique in the west.

“There is nobody at the CIA who can tell you more personally about Kim Jong Un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary,” Col. Steve Ganyard, former deputy assistant secretary of state, told ABC.

Rodman did not mention Ri, who is believed to be a singer who has broken tradition by appearing in public in short skirts with expensive jewelry. Wives of Kim Johng Un‘s father and grandfather were rarely seen in public.

Ri is believed to be in her early 20s. Defectors say she was trained as a singer and met the future leader in 2010. Kim placed her in his favorite band, the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, with whom she performed in late 2010 before then-leader Kim Jong-Il.

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Holidays, politics seen as clues on NKorean timing

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Without confirmation of when North Korea might carry out its vow to conduct its third nuclear test, the building suspense has prompted outsiders to look at dates Pyongyang has chosen for past atomic tests and rocket and missile launches.

Dates and numbers are important to North Korea‘s government, and Pyongyang has often used what Washington calls “provocative acts” to send unsubtle messages to its main enemies — Washington and Seoul — by staging them around U.S. holidays and important political events in South Korea. They have also used them to give a nationalistic boost to North Korean citizens, favoring significant milestones of the state, party and ruling Kim family.

Here’s a look at the “meaningful dates” North Korea has selected in the past for past tests and launches, as well as future events on which Pyongyang might choose to conduct a test:

U.S. HOLIDAYS AND POLITICAL EVENTS:

Both previous nuclear tests were conducted as Americans celebrated U.S. holidays: Oct. 9, 2006, was Columbus Day; May 25, 2009, was Memorial Day.

North Korea also conducted missile tests during Independence Day celebrations in the United States on July 4, 2006. And just a few months after Obama‘s first inauguration in 2009, North Korea launched a long-range rocket.

Some speculate that Pyongyang might choose the celebration of Washington’s Birthday on Feb. 18, a federal holiday in the U.S., to carry out its atomic threat. South Korea‘s foreign minister suggested President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address on Feb. 12 could be another possible test date.

SOUTH KOREAN POLITICAL EVENTS:

North Korea has used past inaugurations and elections in archrival Seoul to test its missiles and launch rockets. South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye will be inaugurated Feb. 25.

Last year’s successful Dec. 12 long-range rocket launch, which was condemned by the U.N. as a cover for a banned missile test, came just a week before South Koreans went to the polls to choose a new president.

North Korea fired a short-range missile on the eve of former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun’s 2003 inauguration. Days before, a North Korean jet also intruded into South Korean airspace over the Yellow Sea, turning back as warplanes in South Korea scrambled.

In 1998, six months after liberal South Korean President Kim Dae-jung took office, North Korea launched what it said was a rocket carrying a satellite.

NORTH KOREAN MILESTONES:

A failed North Korean rocket test last year fell on April 12, just days before the April 15 celebration of the centennial of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung.

The 2006 nuclear test also came a day before the 61st anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

North Korea has repeatedly sought to link the legacy of late leader Kim Jong Il — Kim Il Sung‘s son and the father of current leader Kim Jong Un — to the development of its nuclear program. His birthday falls on Feb. 16. Two days before that, Feb. 14, is the anniversary of Kim Jong Il being posthumously named Generalissimo.

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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

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South Korea, US begin naval drills amid North Korea nuclear threat

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South Korean and U.S. troops began naval drills Monday in a show of force partly directed at North Korea amid signs that Pyongyang will soon carry out a threat to conduct its third atomic test.

The region is also seeing a boost in diplomatic activity focused on North Korea‘s announcement last month that it will conduct a nuclear test to protest U.N. Security Council sanctions toughened after a December satellite launch that the U.S. and others say was a disguised test of banned missile technology.

Pyongyang’s two previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, both occurred after it was slapped with increased sanctions for similar rocket launches. As it issued its most recent punishment, the Security Council ordered North Korea to refrain from a nuclear test or face “significant action.”

North Korea‘s state media said Sunday that at a high-level Workers’ Party meeting, leader Kim Jong Un issued “important” guidelines meant to bolster the army and protect national sovereignty. North Korea didn’t elaborate, but Kim’s guidelines likely refer to a nuclear test and suggest that Pyongyang appears to have completed formal procedural steps and is preparing to conduct a nuclear test soon, according to South Korean analyst Hong Hyun-ik.

“We assess that North Korea has almost finished preparations for conducting a nuclear test anytime and all that’s left is North Korea making a political decision” to do so, Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters Monday.

The spokesman said he couldn’t disclose further details because they would involve confidential intelligence affairs. Recent satellite photos showed North Korea may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device could be exploded.

On Monday, South Korean and U.S. militaries kicked off three-day exercises off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast that involve live-fire exercises, naval maneuvers and submarine detection drills.

South Korea‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the maneuvers are part of regular joint military training that the allies had scheduled before the latest nuclear tensions began. But the training, which involves a nuclear-powered American submarine, could still send a warning against possible North Korean provocation, a South Korean military official said, requesting anonymity because of department rules.

North Korean state media on Saturday described the drills as a joint exercise for a pre-emptive attack on the country. North Korea has said similar things when South Korea and the U.S. conducted other drills; the allies have repeatedly said they have no intention of attacking the North.

North Korea says U.S. hostility and the threat of American troops in South Korea are important reasons behind its nuclear drive. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

North Korea also has denounced sanctions over its rocket launches, saying it has the sovereign right to launch rockets to send satellites into orbit under a space development program.

North Korea‘s two previous nuclear tests are believed to have been explosions of plutonium devices, but experts say the North may use highly enriched uranium for its upcoming test. That is a worry to Washington and others because North Korea has plenty of uranium ore, and because uranium enrichment facilities are easier to hide than plutonium facilities are.

Diplomats are meeting to find ways to persuade North Korea to scrap its nuclear test plans. New U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-hwan held a telephone conversation Sunday night and agreed to sternly deal with any possible nuclear provocation by North Korea, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea and China met in Beijing on Monday and agreed that they would closely coordinate on ways to stop North Korea from conducting a nuclear test, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry. China is North Korea‘s main ally and aid benefactor.

China has refused to say whether it was sending an envoy to North Korea or whether Pyongyang has informed Beijing about its plans for a nuclear test. China‘s Foreign Ministry on Monday reiterated Beijing‘s opposition to a test, though it did not mention North Korea by name.

“We call on all sides, under the current circumstances, to avoid taking measures which will heighten regional tensions. We hope all parties concerned can focus their efforts more on helping to ease tensions on the peninsula and throughout the region and jointly maintain peace and stability on the peninsula,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily media briefing in Beijing.

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North Korea issues guidelines on how to bolster military

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North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un convened a high-level Workers’ Party meeting where he issued “important” guidelines on how to bolster the army and protect the nation’s sovereignty.

North Korea said last month that it would conduct a nuclear test to protest international sanctions toughened over its long-range rocket launch in December.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday that Kim made a “historic” and “important concluding speech” at a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party. It said the speech served as a guideline for strengthening the military and defending national security and sovereignty. KCNA did not say when the meeting took place.

Analyst Hong Hyun-ik said the move suggests North Korea is preparing to conduct an atomic test soon.

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NKorea issues guidelines on strengthening military

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North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un convened a high-level Workers’ Party meeting where he issued “important” guidelines on how to bolster the army and protect the nation’s sovereignty.

North Korea said last month that it would conduct a nuclear test to protest international sanctions toughened over its long-range rocket launch in December.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday that Kim made a “historic” and “important concluding speech” at a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party. It said the speech served as a guideline for strengthening the military and defending national security and sovereignty. KCNA did not say when the meeting took place.

Analyst Hong Hyun-ik said the move suggests North Korea is preparing to conduct an atomic test soon.

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Singapore ruling party loses by-election

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Voters handed Singapore‘s ruling People’s Action Party its second by-election defeat in eight months, giving the opposition another seat in Parliament and signaling widening discontent over immigration policies and rising income inequality.

Opposition Workers’ Party candidate Lee Li Lian won 54.5 percent of about 29,800 votes cast Saturday in the Punggol East district, beating three other candidates including the PAP‘s Koh Poh Koon, who received 43.7 percent. The Workers’ Party now has seven seats in Parliament and the PAP has 80.

“Despite this victory, the Workers’ Party is still a small party with much to do and improve upon,” party chairwoman Sylvia Lim told reporters.

The PAP has been in power since 1959 but has seen its support decline in recent years, winning only 60 percent of the votes in the 2011 general election — its lowest share since independence in 1965 — as it struggles to stem rising discontent over the high cost of living, an influx of foreigners and rising income inequality.

The PAP “will continue to work to improve the lives of Singaporeans, and present our report card for voters to judge in the next general elections,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement.

Lee had called the by-election after the sudden resignation of PAP lawmaker Michael Palmer over an extramarital affair, adding to a list of sex scandals that have rocked the city-state in the past year.

Lee and other PAP heavyweights had hoped to avoid another electoral embarrassment after the party’s loss in a by-election in May last year.

Analysts say the PAP defeat forces the party to re-examine policies that have brought popular discontent.

“This is a shock for the PAP,” said Bridget Welsh, an associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University. “They went to the polls so quickly with confidence and had expected to win. So, this is a devastating loss. It forces the PAP to have a very serious evaluation of their policies, and what they’ve done wrong.”

Political blogger Andrew Loh said the PAP‘s loss “is a reflection of the uncertainty that Singaporeans have about their future. They also want stronger voices in Parliament.”

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