INTERVIEW – BRUCE KLINGNER – Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia, Heritage Foundation, specializes in Korean and Japanese affairs – analyzed the situation with North Korea.
North Korea news:
- Kim Jong-un unveils 770ft ‘ultra-modern, prestige’ skyscraper complex (with no hot water) in the heart of Pyongyang as dictator orders removal of 600,000 ‘undesirables’ from the city. (Daily Mail) — Kim Jong-un has unveiled a huge new 770ft skyscraper complex hailed by officials as ‘ultra modern’ – despite the most luxurious penthouse apartments having no hot water. Foreign reporters had earlier been warned to expect a ‘big and important’ event in the secretive state today – but it turned out to be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the housing project. Thousands of cheering North Koreans watched on as the dictator opened the sprawling Ryomyong Street development, which includes 5,000 flats. The tallest of the buildings is 70 stories while North Korean Premier Pak Pong Ju insisted they ‘incorporate the latest architectural science and technology, including solar and geothermal technology, and the greening of roofs and walls’. But reporters shown around showpiece penthouse apartments – finished with ice green wallpaper and purple sofas – found that none of them had hot water supplies. It comes amid reports Kim Jong-un has ordered 600,000 residents out of the city to make way for the country’s elite. But there are some suggestions the move was part of Kim’s preparations for war amid heightened tensions with the West and after the US sent an ‘armada’ of warships to the the Korean Peninsula.
- Satellite photos show North Korean nuclear site ‘primed and ready’ (CNN)North Korean monitoring service 38 North said Wednesday the country’s Punggye-ri nuclear site is “primed and ready” for a sixth nuclear test. “The activity during the past six weeks is suggestive of the final preparations for a test,” 38 North analyst Joseph Bermudez told CNN. Their prediction comes as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that North Korea may have the capability to deliver missiles equipped with sarin nerve gas. He and other analysts pore over commercial satellite imagery of the testing site, looking for signs of activity similar to that prior to other tests.
- US Air Force sends message to North Korea with display of air power U.S. Air Force officials made it clear to North Korea they were not messing around, launching a surprise military exercise with full combat air power in Japan Wednesday. The jets in the arsenal of the 18th Wing, which conducted the exercise, include HH-60 Pave Hawks, F-15 Eagles, E-3 Sentries and KC-135 Stratotankers. Military officials call it the Air Force’s largest combat-ready wing.
- Trump weighs sanctions, other measures against North Korea. against North Korea . The Trump administration is weighing the possibility of imposing additional sanctions on North Korea if the rogue nation continues to fire missiles or conducts its sixth nuclear test. “We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, and economic measures in response to the North Korean regime’s continued provocations. North Korea must understand that the only path to a secure, economically-prosperous future is to abandon its development of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other weapons of mass destruction,” an administration official told Fox Business Network. Among the sanctions under consideration reportedly are an oil embargo, a ban on North Korea’s national airline Air Koryo, and a crackdown on companies or individuals who do business with North Korea or lend financial support to its nuclear proliferation program.
- Trump: “North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of.”
- Seth Rogen Warns President Trump: ‘Don’t F**k With North Korea’ Seth Rogen warned “don’t f–k with North Korea” after President Donald Trump tweeted that if China doesn’t help with the “North Korean problem,” America will “solve the problem without them.” In 2014, Rogen and James Franco starred in a comedy called “The Interview” in which tabloid talk show hosts get recruited by the CIA to kill North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.
- China Offers To Defend Kim Jong-un If He Gives Up His Nukes (Daily Caller) – China would be willing to offer the North Korean regime protection if it abandoned its nuclear weapons, a well-known Chinese paper reports. North Korea’s primary reason for developing nuclear weapons is the preservation of the state and the regime through deterrence, yet the U.S. and its allies refuse to accept a nuclear-armed North Korea. Evidence suggests that North Korea may be preparing for another nuclear test this weekend. “This path has no outlet … it doesn’t matter if North Korea tests a few more nuclear bombs or a few more missiles. It will not make any difference,” the Global Times, an outlet affiliated with the state-run People’s Daily, the paper of the ruling Communist Party, wrote Thursday. “Washington does not fear North Korea, and another nuclear test increases the likelihood that the U.S. will use military force.” North Korea’s current course is not sustainable and is putting the survival of the regime in jeopardy. “If North Korea does not end its nuclear activities, this end is inevitable,” the newspaper explained, adding that even if the U.S. does not attack it, sanctions will eventually cripple the North Korean state.
- US could destroy North Korea’s nuclear site this weekend: report (DC Examiner) -The U.S. is well-prepared to respond with military action to any hostile behavior or serious threat from North Korea, including launching missiles at the nation’s nuclear test site, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday evening. While North Korea is warning of a “big event” in the near future — possibly by the weekend — Pentagon officials have mobilized resources to hit back at the dictatorship. “Two things are coming together this weekend,” retired Adm. James Stavridis, former commander of NATO told NBC News on Thursday. “One is the distinct possibility of a sixth North Korean nuclear weapons detonation and the other is an American carrier strike group, a great deal of firepower headed right at the Korean Peninsula.”
