An American tourist cried hysterically in a North Korean courtroom Wednesday after a judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison with hard labor on a subversion charge, as US officials demanded his release and the White House announced tough new sanctions on the insular Southeast Asian state.
Otto Warmbier admitted to attempting to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel at the request of an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church.
Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial at the North’s Supreme Court.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the sentence was ‘unduly harsh’ and urged North Korea to pardon Warmbier and release him on humanitarian grounds.
‘Despite official claims that U.S. citizens arrested in the DPRK are not used for political purposes, it’s increasingly clear from its very public treatment of these cases that the DPRK does exactly that,’ Toner told reporters, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. (Read more from “U.S. Student Sentenced to 15-Years Hard Labor in North Korea” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-18 00:28:402016-04-11 10:51:26U.S. Student Sentenced to 15-Years Hard Labor in North Korea
Another day, another veiled threat from North Korea. Unlike most, this one was very specific.
State-run television in the People’s Republic reported on Sunday that Pyongyang’s arsenal of deadly weapons now includes a hydrogen bomb that could wipe out New York City and kill everybody who lives there.
“Our hydrogen bomb is much bigger than the one developed by the Soviet Union,” DPRK Today reported, citing nuclear scientist Cho Hyong Il.
“If this H-bomb were to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile and fall on Manhattan in New York City, all the people there would be killed immediately and the city would burn down to ashes.”
The remarks, first reported by the Washington Post, follow a staged show of the country’s military power last week where leader Kim Jong-un was filmed inspecting a silver sphere. The object is believed to be a miniature nuclear warhead or a hydrogen bomb. (Read more from “North Korea Claims It Could ‘Burn Down’ Manhattan With a Hydrogen Bomb” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-16 01:19:342016-04-11 10:51:30North Korea Claims It Could ‘Burn Down’ Manhattan With a Hydrogen Bomb
North Korea threatened “indiscriminate” nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US mainland, as the two allies prepared to kick off large-scale joint military drills on Monday.
The threat to carry out what it described as a “pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice” was made in a statement by the North’s powerful National Defence Commission, citing the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).
It came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country’s nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use “at any moment,” in response to tough new UN sanctions imposed over the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and last month’s long-range rocket launch . . .
While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.
The National Defence Commission described the annual South Korea-US military exercises as “undisguised nuclear war drills” that threatened the North’s national sovereignty, and vowed an all-out offensive in response to “even the slightest military action.” (Read more from “North Korea Threatens Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike on US” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-06 23:46:552016-04-11 10:51:54North Korea Threatens Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike on US
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied for use, the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.
The shift in military posture would allow North Korea to carry out pre-emptive attacks, and deprive “the enemies to sleep in peace till the moment they meet their final end in their land,” KCNA reported, citing a speech by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
KCNA continued: “The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity and keep balance of forces,” he said, stressing the need to “get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment.”
The move follows the U.N. Security Council’s unanimous approval Wednesday of tough new sanctions against North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and long-range missile tests. The resolution contains the toughest set of sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades, Secretary of State John Kerry said.
The sanctions require North Korean cargo ships and aircraft to be inspected before entering and after leaving the reclusive country. They would also prohibit small arms and other conventional weapons sales to North Korea. (Read more from “North Korean Leader Wants Nukes Ready to Fly” HERE)
As many as 80 people were publicly executed in North Korea earlier this month, some for offenses as minor as watching South Korean movies or possessing a Bible.
South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported that the so-called criminals were put to death in seven cities across North Korea on Nov. 3, in the first known large-scale public executions by the Kim Jong-un regime.
A source, who is familiar with internal affairs in the North and who recently visited the country, told the paper that about 10 people were killed in each city.
Eight people — their heads covered with white bags — were tied to stakes at a local stadium in the city of Wonsan, before authorities shot them with a machine gun, according to the source . . .
The common theme of the persecution was crimes related to South Korea — like watching South Korean films — or corruption of public morals, especially sexual misconduct. North Korean law permits executions for conspiring to overthrow the government, treason and terrorism. But the country has also been known to order public executions for minor infractions such as religious activism, cellphone use and stealing food, in an effort to intimidate the public. (Read more from “North Korea Publicly Executes 80, Some for Videos or Bibles” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6538671777_18216f0bfb_o-2.jpg388620Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-02 00:45:352016-04-11 10:52:05North Korea Publicly Executes 80, Some for Videos or Bibles
North Korea has threatened to attack ‘mainland America’ if the U.S. carries out a planned military drill with South Korean troops next month.
The secretive state has reacted with anger after it was revealed more than 300,000 American and South Korean troops were planning to hold their biggest ever annual exercise following the North’s nuclear tests earlier this year.
It is said the parallel Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises will include a staged ‘pre-emptive strike’ against the North – apparently leaving leader Kim Jong-Un seething.
Pyongyang has said if there is even a ‘slight sign’ of such exercises taking place, it will use all its might to hit back – claiming the first target would be South Korea’s presidential Blue House, while U.S. military bases in Asia and in America would be its secondary targets.
The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by state media: ‘All the powerful strategic and tactical strike means of our revolutionary armed forces will go into preemptive and just operation to beat back the enemy forces to the last man if there is a slight sign of their special operation forces and equipment moving to carry out the so-called ‘beheading operation’ and ‘high-density strike’.’ (Read more from “North Korea Just Issued a Terrifying Threat to the U.S.” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6538671777_18216f0bfb_o-1.jpg388620Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-23 23:10:492016-04-11 10:52:20North Korea Just Issued Another Apocalyptic Threat to the U.S.
Conservative watchdog group Citizens United is calling on the State Department and the Clinton Foundation to turn over details about Bill Clinton’s invitation to a North Korea-connected event in 2012, amid Pyongyang’s latest escalation of its nuclear weapons program.
The North Korean request to Bill Clinton was included in a collection of State Department emails obtained by Citizens United through a public records request last year. The emails concern Bill Clinton’s paid foreign speaking engagements, which had to be approved by the State Department.
But the State Department has yet to release a May 2012 email attachment that contained details about the North Korea invitation, according to Citizens United. The group is calling on the State Department and the Clinton Foundation to turn over the document, in light of the Kim Jong-Un regime’s increasingly aggressive nuclear testing.
“North Korea is a rogue regime that is a threat to the security of the civilized world. Now, with its nuclear test and subsequent rocket launch, North Korea has inserted itself into the 2016 U.S. presidential race,” said Citizens United president David N. Bossie in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon.
“The Clinton Foundation and/or the State Department should immediately release the details of President Bill Clinton’s 2012 ‘North Korea invitation’ that is referenced in the attached State Department email that was obtained by Citizens United through a FOIA lawsuit over the summer of 2015.” (Read more from “State Department Withholding Details of Bill Clinton’s North Korea Invitation” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/817044127_b7cfd0bc6a_o.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-17 22:47:112016-04-11 10:52:33State Department Withholding Details of Bill Clinton’s North Korea Invitation
North Korea poses an increasing danger of using long-range missiles capable of striking the United States with nuclear warheads and is fielding new road-mobile and submarine-launched missiles, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress made public Friday.
The Pentagon is working with South Korea, Japan and other countries to counter “the continued and growing threat from North Korea, its nuclear and missile programs, and its proliferation of related technology,” the report said, adding that the U.S. provides “extended deterrence” through both nuclear and conventional forces . . .
“North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear technology and capabilities and development of intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile programs underscore the growing threat it poses to regional stability and U.S. national security,” the 30-page report states.
“North Korea’s pursuit of a submarine-launched ballistic missile capability also highlights the regime’s commitment to diversifying its missile force, strengthening the missile force’s survivability, and finding new ways to coerce its neighbors.”
North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) program was first disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon. In January, the first successful ejection test of the developmental SLBM was carried out. (Read more from “Pentagon: North Korea Nuclear, Missile Threat Increasing” HERE)
It was one of those moments where both parties came together in a rare showing of collegiality and voted to strengthen sanctions on North Korea. After all, the madman in charge of North Korea just launched a long-range rocket, conducted nuclear weapons testing, and resurrected another plutonium reactor. The Senate responded by unanimously passing a sanctions bill.
Or so the media would have you believe. In reality, these moments of bipartisanship are not rare and are more the rule than the exception. This bill embodies the parties getting along well together precisely because it doesn’t really do much and won’t force Obama to do anything he is recalcitrant to pursue.
To begin with, the reason Democrats are more willing to go along with sanctions on North Korea than Iran, even though Iran is violating the terms of the nuclear agreement, is because these measures are largely symbolic. Placing real sanctions on Iran would derail the nascent treaty that Obama so fervently supports. As it relates to North Korea, the ship has already sailed because they have already acquired nuclear weapons thanks to a similar process Democrats just supported vis-à-vis Iran. It is widely believed that North Korea has up to 16 nuclear warheads.
H.R. 757 is full of directives that the White House issue reports and monitor behavior of individuals related to the North Korean regime. The only few provisions in this bill that will actually change the current reality and put the screws to Kim Jong Un are full of waivers that Obama will utilize immediately. Section 203 of the bill would require a special license to export any goods or technology to North Korea and would direct the president to cut off all aid to any country that provides “lethal military equipment” to North Korea. This provision specifically targets China. But the bill provides a waiver if the president believes it’s in “our national interest” and an exception if the assistance is “for human rights, democracy, rule of law, or emergency humanitarian purposes.”
Section 206 calls on the State Department to deny visas to anyone involved in assisting the North Korean regime’s weapons program, but this provision and many others are voided out by a plethora of waivers and exemptions in Section 208.
Everyone understands why you would insert national security and humanitarian exceptions into a piece of legislation. But that is predicated on having a president who is looking out for our interests and not siding with our enemies. To pass a new bill with so many waivers after everything we’ve seen from this president is a complete joke.
In December, Congress passed a bill requiring Iranian and Iraqi nationals with European passports to obtain a visa in order to travel to the U.S. Under current law, most European countries are exempt from the visa requirement. But they inserted a national interest waiver into the bill and within just two weeks John Kerry announced that he was exempting Iranians from the extra layer of scrutiny.
Unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that the Obama administration will continue to coddle North Korea the same way it has Iran. Obama’s State Department has refused to list North Korea as a state sponsor of terror and this bill declines to force the administration’s hand. Last year, the Obama administration turned a blind eye to North Korea’s shipment of missiles to Iran in order to protect both of them from sanctions. There is nothing in this bill that will force the hand of an administration that has already demonstrated it doesn’t view North Korea as a threat. And in some ways, Obama views them as a strategic partner in forging his alliance with Iran. Besides, why make his buddies in China mad?
In 2011, Obama did nothing after China transferred transporter-erector-launchers to North Korea. As Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in a letter to Obama, “[U]pon receipt of these vehicles, North Korea modified them with the ability to launch the KN-08, an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States from a road-mobile launch platform.”
It’s understandable why Republicans would jump at the opportunity to get this bill on Obama’s desk, but there was no reason for them to toss Democrats a loin cloth and block all amendments, even those with common sense provisions tightening some of the waivers. Sen. Rand Paul was prevented from offering his amendment (#3301), which would have struck the humanitarian waivers from the bill.
The next time you see Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid back-slapping each other on passing a bill that sounds meritorious, make sure to read the fine print. (For more from the author of “Congress Passes Feel Good Legislation on North Korea, Waivers Galore” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/North-Korean-Ceremonial-Bathrobe-Ceremony.jpg9001600Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-11 19:50:242016-04-11 10:52:45Congress Passes Feel Good Legislation on North Korea, Waivers Galore
North Korea’s ballistic missile test Sunday sparked a now familiar pattern of responses to provocative actions by the Kim regime, with the U.S. leading a chorus of condemnation and calling for a “firm” U.N. Security Council response, and China signaling it wants to apply the brakes.
The launch, which Pyongyang said carried an earth observation satellite into orbit, violated a series of previous UNSC resolutions that prohibit North Korea from using ballistic missile knowhow. It was the sixth time since 1998 that the regime has tested technology which the Pentagon says aims to bring the U.S. mainland within reach of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.
Secretary of State John Kerry said it was time for the UNSC to act, to hold North Korea to account “in a firm and united way.”
But Beijing’s reaction was to express regret, and then effectively call for restraint on all sides.
“The Chinese side hopes that relevant parties could react with calm and caution, refrain from taking actions that may further escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula, and jointly uphold regional peace and stability,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. (Read more from “Yet Again, North Korea Launches a Missile, US Calls for ‘Firm’ UN Response, China Calls for Restraint” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Industry_Hamhung_North_Korea.jpg18902836Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-07 23:46:352016-04-11 10:52:56Yet Again, North Korea Launches a Missile, US Calls for ‘Firm’ UN Response, China Calls for Restraint
