Korean Sota Osa II ?

[Osasto 31]

Uppista keikkaa, peli kovenee: https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/13/inenglish/1552464196_279320.html

CIA implicated in attack on North Korean embassy in Madrid

According to Spanish investigators, two of the men who broke into the diplomatic headquarters have connections to the US intelligence service

Investigators from the Spanish police and National Intelligence Center (CNI) have linked an attack on the North Korean embassy in Madrid on February 22 to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
At least two of the 10 assailants who broke into the embassy and interrogated diplomatic staff have been identified and have connections to the US intelligence agency. The CIA has denied any involvement but government sources say their response was “unconvincing.”

If it is proven that the CIA was behind the attack, it could lead to a diplomatic spat between Madrid and Washington. Government sources say that it would be “unacceptable” for an ally to take such action. Not only would it mean that the US agency had operated on Spanish soil without asking for authorization or informing the authorities, it would also be a violation of the international conventions that protect diplomatic delegations.

What’s more, unlike other intelligence activities – such as cyberattacks, which are characterized by their discretion, the attack on the North Korean embassy was especially violent. On February 22 at 3pm, 10 masked men carrying alleged imitation weapons broke into the embassy, located north of the capital in the residential area of Aravaca. They tied up the eight people inside and put bags on their heads. The victims were beaten and interrogated. A woman managed to escape from a window on the second floor and her screams for help were heard by a neighbor, who contacted the police.

Officers arrived at the scene but when they tried to enter the embassy a man opened the door to them and told them that there was nothing going on. Minutes later, two luxury vehicles sped out of the embassy. The cars used for the getaway belonged to the diplomatic mission and were later abandoned in a nearby street.


Police found the eight victims inside. They had been held hostage for two hours, had had bags placed over their heads, had been beaten and were scared. Two of them required medical attention.

Investigators from the General Information Office (CGI) and CNI ruled out the idea that the attack was the work of common criminals. The operation was perfectly planned as if it were carried out by a “military cell,” said sources close to the investigation. The assailants knew what they were looking for, taking only computers and mobile phones.

The highly secretive investigation will be heard at Spain’s High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, which could order the arrest of the identified assailants. Government sources, however, admit it would be difficult to prove the CIA was involved in court.

Kim Hyok Chol
Sources believe that the goal of the attack on the North Korean embassy was to get information on Kim Hyok Chol, the former North Korean ambassador to Spain.

Kim Hyok Chol was expelled from Spain on September 19, 2017 by the then-Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis given that the nuclear testing that the country was carrying out at the time was in serious breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Kim Hyok Chol, who was declared persona non grata by Spain and was invited to leave the country before the end of the month, is currently one of Kim Jong-un’s highly trusted diplomats, and one of the architects of the failed nuclear summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jon-un in Vietnam. The meeting, aimed at securing North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, ended in failure without any agreement on a timetable for disarmament or on future negotiations.

In February, Kim Hyok Chol also led the North Korean delegation that negotiated a nuclear disarmament plan with US special envoy Stephen Biegun in exchange for sanctions to be lifted.

 

[Mustakuu]

Tuossa video siitä miten helppoa ydin-aseen tekeminen voi olla. Tietenkään kenelläkään ei ole tarvittavaa materiaalia autotallissa. Valtiolliset toimijat sitten ovat omalukunsa.
Korean tapauksessa puhutaan siitä saadaanko tuo sama keksintö pienennettyä jotta sopii ilotulitteen nokkaan.

 

[ctg]

Uutistoimisto Tassin mukaan Pohjois-Korea harkitsee ydinneuvottelujen lopettamista.

Tass lainaa uutisessaan varaulkoministeri Choe Son-huita. Hän sanoi Tassin mukaan lehdistötilaisuudessa Pjongjangissa, ettei Pohjois-Korealla ole mitään aikomusta antaa periksi Yhdysvaltain vaatimuksille tai osallistua tämänkaltaisiin neuvotteluihin.

Tass jatkaa Choea siteeraten, että Pohjois-Korean johtaja Kim Jong-un aikoo kertoa pian virallisesti kannastaan neuvotteluihin.

Uutistoimisto AP puolestaan siteeraa pohjoiskorealaista virkailijaa, jonka mukaan Yhdysvallat hukkasi "kultaisen mahdollisuuden" Vietnamin huippukokouksessa. Virkailijan mukaan Kim saattaa miettiä uudelleen laukaisujen jäädyttämistä.

Pohjois-Korean ja Yhdysvaltain ydinneuvottelut epäonnistuivat helmikuun lopussa Vietnamissa. Tämän jälkeen Pohjois-Korea on näyttänyt valmistelevan ohjuksen tai raketin laukaisua.

Kiinan pääministeri Li Keqiang kommentoi perjantaina, ettei Korean niemimaan ongelmia voi ratkaista yhdellä iskulla.

Li kommentoi asiaa tiedotustilaisuudessa, jossa hän käsitteli muun muassa Kiinan taloutta.

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10689992

 

[ctg]

Kim Jong Un will soon decide whether to halt nuclear disarmament talks with the U.S., a top North Korean diplomat said, in the latest sign of fallout from his failed summit with President Donald Trump last month.

Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui told reporters and diplomats Friday in Pyongyang that North Korea blamed the U.S.’s “gangster-like” demands for the breakdown in talks, according to the Associated Press. Choe said Kim would clarify his position on whether to continue his 15-month freeze on bomb and missile tests “in a short period of time,” the AP reported.

“I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger,” Choe said, according to the AP. “We have neither the intention to compromise with the U.S. in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...nking-u-s-nuclear-talks-set-to-make-statement

 

[Osasto 31]

No niin, hommasta vasta kummallinen tuleekin: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0103cf7df9e1

A shadowy group trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un raided a North Korean embassy in broad daylight

Days before President Trump was set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, a mysterious incident in Spain threatened to derail the entire high-stakes nuclear summit.

In broad daylight, masked assailants infiltrated North Korea’s Embassy in Madrid, restrained the staff with rope, stole computers and mobile phones, and fled the scene in two luxury vehicles.

The group behind the late February operation is known as Cheollima Civil Defense, a secretive dissident organization committed to overthrowing the Kim dynasty, people familiar with the planning and execution of the mission told The Washington Post.

The group’s alleged role in the attack has not previously been reported, and officials from the governments of North Korea, the United States, and Spain declined to comment on it.

But in recent days, rumors have swirled about the motivations behind the attack in the Spanish media, including a report in El Pais alleging that two of the masked assailants have ties to the CIA.

People familiar with the incident say the group did not act in coordination with any governments. American intelligence agencies would have been especially reluctant to do so given the sensitive timing and brazen nature of the mission. But the raid represents the most ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections, they say.

“This group is the first known resistance movement against North Korea, which makes its activities very newsworthy,” said Sung-Yoon Lee, a North Korea expert at Tufts University.

The identity of the assailants is a particularly sensitive topic given the delicate nature of Trump and Kim's relationship.

Trump, who began his presidency by threatening the total annihilation of Kim and his country, has shifted to effusive praise for the young leader as he tries to convince him to give up his nuclear program. But in the aftermath of the two leader's failed summit in Hanoi last month, tensions have reemerged, with North Korea's vice foreign minister threatening on Friday to suspend the denuclearization talks.

Any hint of U.S. involvement in an assault on a diplomatic compound could have derailed the talks, a prospect the CIA would likely be mindful of. “Infiltrating a North Korean embassy days before the nuclear summit would throw that all into jeopardy,” said Sue Mi Terry, a former Korea analyst at the CIA. “This is not something the CIA would undertake.”

The agency declined to comment.

According to Spanish media reports, the assailants tied up the embassy staff, put hoods over their heads and asked them a series of questions. They spoke in Korean and appeared to be Asian.

More than an hour into the raid, a woman reportedly escaped and her screams for help alerted a neighbor, who contacted the police. When authorities arrived at the embassy, a man opened the door and told them there was no problem. Moments later, the embassy gates opened, and the assailants dashed out to two embassy cars and sped away, according to local reports. The vehicles were abandoned and found on a nearby street.

Though the incident has attracted a flurry of Spanish media attention, no police reports were filed by the embassy or the victims, according to the reports.

Experts say the computers and phones seized in the raid amount to a treasure trove of information that foreign intelligence agencies are likely to seek out from the group.

“It could have contacts and documents related to North Korea’s efforts to bypass sanctions and import luxury goods from Europe, which was one of the key assignments for Kim Hyok Chol, the former North Korean ambassador to Spain,” said Lee.

Recently, Kim Hyok Chol was reassigned as North Korea’s point man for the nuclear negotiations with the United States, making any information about his previous activities especially coveted by foreign governments.

The assailants also possess a video recording they took during the raid, which they could release at any time, said one person who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive and illegal operation.

The Cheollima group, which also goes by the name Free Joseon, first came to prominence in late 2017 after it successfully evacuated the nephew of Kim Jong Un from Macau after potential threats to his life surfaced. The nephew was the son of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader’s exiled half-brother who was assassinated in a nerve gas attack in a Malaysian airport in 2017. Kim Jong Nam was widely believed to have been killed by the regime, making his son a likely target.

Members of the Cheollima group transported Kim Han Sol out of Macau with the help of the governments of the United States, China and the Netherlands, which provided travel and visa assistance, the group told the Wall Street Journal in 2017.

For safety reasons, the leader of the group does not disclose his name and his identity is known only to a small group of people.

In March, the group published a manifesto, calling on North Koreans inside and outside the country to resist Pyongyang in ways big and small.

“To those within the system who hear this declaration: We call on you to defy your oppressors. Challenge them openly or resist them quietly,” the declaration said. “To those of like-mind and like-spirit of our diaspora: We call upon you to join our revolution.”

Since the attack on the embassy in Spain, the group has asserted responsibility for the defacing of the North Korean Embassy in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur on Monday. Authorities said four men who wore hats and face masks painted the graffiti. The group has not claimed responsibility for the raid in Madrid.

“In its messaging, the group said they have formed a provisional government to replace the regime in Pyongyang,” said Terry, who is a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They have now shown the seriousness of their intent and some capabilities to carry out operations. We will see in the coming months the extent of their capabilities.”

 

[ctg]

Ei ääntä pelkät kalvot.

In January 2018 a group of hackers, now thought to be working for the North Korean state-sponsored group Lazarus, attempted to steal $110 million from the Mexican commercial bank Bancomext. That effort failed. But just a few months later, a smaller yet still elaborate series of attacks allowed hackers to siphon off 300 to 400 million pesos, or roughly $15 to $20 million from Mexican banks. Here's how they did it.

At the RSA security conference in San Francisco last Friday, penetration tester and security advisor Josu Loza, who was an incident responder in the wake of the April attacks, presented findings on how hackers executed the heists both digitally and on the ground around Mexico. The hackers' affiliation remains publicly unknown. Loza emphasizes that while the attacks likely required extensive expertise and planning over months, or even years, they were enabled by sloppy and insecure network architecture within the Mexican financial system, and security oversights in SPEI, Mexico's domestic money transfer platform run by central bank Banco de México, also known as Banxico.

https://arstechnica.com/information...ow-hackers-pulled-of-a-20-million-bank-heist/

 

[ctg]

North Korea has withdrawn from the inter-Korean liaison office which was opened amid a warming of ties last year to facilitate talks with the South.

Seoul said it was contacted on Friday and informed that the North's staff would be leaving later in the day.

It has expressed its regret at the decision and is urging staff from the North to return as soon as possible.

The pullout follows a failed summit between the US and North Korean leaders in Hanoi last month.

The liaison office, located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, had allowed officials from North and South Korea to communicate on a regular basis for the first time since the Korean War. It is meant to be staffed by up to 20 people from each side.

When the office was opened in September 2018, it was hailed as representing a significant step forward in inter-Korean relations. The two sides had in the past communicated by fax or special phone lines, which would often be cut when relations soured.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47665514

pääsiäisenä rakettikokeita?

 

[ctg]

Marine Chain looked like any other ambitious startup. Its website, which first appeared online in April 2018, had a trendy .io domain name and promised potential investors a way into the lucrative international shipping industry.

By throwing their money into a Vessel Token Offering, an alternative cryptocurrency based on the Ethereum blockchain, investors would be able to own parts of ships and then trade with other buyers. Its slickly produced two-page business plan was designed to capture the imagination of potential buyers. In 2022 the company predicted that five per cent of global vessel transactions would take place on its platform.

But this was never going to happen. Marine Chain was a scam backed by North Korea’s cyber warriors in a bid to trick would-be investors. The website was actually a crude copy of rival business Shipowner.io. Jonathan Foong, it’s chief operating officer, has previously been linked to Singaporean companies that help facilitate North Korean activities.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/north-korea-hackers-apt38-cryptocurrency

 

[ctg]

Pääsiäinen kolkuttelee ovella ja Kimi lupailee yllättävää loppua kapitalistien sanktioille.

Kim Jong-un has vowed to deliver a “serious blow” to hostile countries he accused of using sanctions to bring the regime “to its knees”, according to the country’s state media.

The North Korean leader’s broadside against measures imposed in response to missile and nuclear programmes comes weeks after his second summit with Donald Trump ended in failure after they disagreed on how to match sanctions relief with progress on denuclearisation.

“We must deal a serious blow to the hostile forces who are mistakenly determined to bring us to our knees with sanctions by advancing the socialist construction to a high level of self-reliance that fits our circumstances and state, based on our own power, technology and resources,” Kim said, according to the state news agency KCNA.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...n-vows-to-deliver-serious-blow-over-sanctions

At a politburo meeting earlier this week, Kim described the current situation as “tense” and repeatedly stressed that “self-reliance” was the country’s best hope of countering international efforts to use sanctions to force it to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Kim’s emphasis on the economy has been in evidence in the past week, with state media publishing reports of his visits to several projects, including a remodeled department store, tourist resorts and an economic hub near the border with China.

Despite Kim’s warning at the start of the year that North Korea could take a “new path” if Washington persisted with sanctions, South Korean officials said they expected him to continue focusing on the economy now that the North has declared itself a “complete” nuclear state.

“We believe that last year’s new strategic line, the all-out focus on economic construction, will remain,” Baik Tae-hyun, a unification ministry spokesman said.

 

[ctg]

Week-old satellite images show movement at North Korea’s main nuclear site that could be associated with the reprocessing of radioactive material into bomb fuel, a US thinktank has reported.

Any new reprocessing activity would underscore the failure of a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in late February to make progress toward North Korea’s denuclearisation.

Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies said satellite imagery of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear site from 12 April showed five specialised railcars near its uranium enrichment facility and radiochemistry laboratory.

It said their movement could indicate the transfer of radioactive material.

“In the past these specialised railcars appear to have been associated with the movement of radioactive material or reprocessing campaigns,” the report said. “The current activity, along with their configurations, does not rule out their possible involvement in such activity, either before or after a reprocessing campaign.“

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/17/north-korea-nuclear-site-shows-signs-of-activity

Yongbyon: Movement of Specialized Railcars May Indicate Transfer of Radioactive Material - Beyond Parallel

DigitalGlobe satellite imagery of North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility acquired on April 12th shows the presence of five specialized railcars near the Uranium Enrichment Facility and the Radiochemistry Laboratory. In the past these specialized railcars appear to have been associated...

beyondparallel.csis.org

 

[Teräsmies]

Pohjois-Korea kertoo testanneensa uudenlaista, taktista taistelukärkeä. Pohjois-Korean valtiollisen median mukaan maan johtaja Kim Jong-un valvoi asekokeita.

Valtiollinen media kertoi Kimin todenneen, että uudet aseet kasvattavat merkittävästi Pohjois-Korean armeijan taisteluvoimaa.

Valtiollinen media ei kuitenkaan kertonut uudenlaisten aseiden yksityiskohdista. Washington Postin(siirryt toiseen palveluun) haastattelema asiantuntija arvioi, että kyse ei todennäköisesti ollut ballistisista ohjuksista.

Pohjois-Korea kertoo testanneensa uudenlaisia taistelukärkiä

Asekoe oli ensimmäinen sen jälkeen kun neuvottelut USA:n kanssa kariutuivat.

yle.fi

 

[aj77]

Jenkkien vuosikymmeniä julistettu punainen viiva on ylitetty ja romutettu eikä tullut kolmatta maailmansotaa, niin seuraava vaihe taitaa olla, että tehkööt mitä haluavat tiukasti pakotteiden alla. Kim taisi pelata sen ainoan korttinsa tekemällä ydinkokeita ja mannertenvälisiä ohjuskokeita. Se meni nyt ja shokkivaikutus siitä alkaa helpottamaan. Pakotteet pysyy ja tiukkeni.

 

[Mortti]

Saa nähdä millainen show Putinin ja Kimin tapaamisesta tulee.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1118839171836203017

 

[ctg]

Pohjois-Korean virallinen uutistoimisto KCNA vahvistaa, että Venäjän presidentin Vladimir Putinin ja Pohjois-Korean johtajan Kim Jong-unin välinen huippukokous järjestetään pian, mutta tarkkaa aikaa ja paikkaa ei ole vielä julkaistu. Tapaaminen voi toteutua jo tällä viikolla.

Kremlin tiedottaja Dmitri Peskov kertoi lehdistölle, että Putin ja Kim tapaavat näillä näkymin vielä huhtikuun aikana.

Arvioiden mukaan huippukokous järjestetään ainakin osittain Vladivostokissa. Venäjän vierailulla Kim pyrkii löytämään tukea taloudellisten suunnitelmiensa toteuttamiseksi.

Putinin tapaamisella Kim pyrkii näyttämään, että hänellä on suhteita muuallekin kuin Washingtoniin, Pekingiin ja Souliin. Lisäksi hän haluaa näyttää, että hänellä on erilaisia vaihtoehtoja.

Tapaamisella on merkitystä myös Venäjälle: Putin haluaa osoittaa, että Venäjä on merkittävä toimija Korean niemimaalla.

Yhdysvaltojen ja Pohjois-Korean huipputapaaminen Hanoissa epäonnistui helmikuussa.

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10750951

 

[ctg]

EKn kauppalista: 20+ F35A, P-8 Poseidon tai Mars2, 12 AW159 WildCat tai MH-60 R SeaHawk hekoa

Inside South Korea’s military wish list, as it seeks greater control over its forces

South Korea is preparing to spend $8.8 billion over the next five to six years on high-end equipment, much of it American.

www.defensenews.com

 

[ctg]

Kim Jong-un in Russia – in pictures

The North Korean leader arrived in Russia by train on Wednesday, a day before his much-anticipated summit with President Vladimir Putin. He visited with diplomacy over his nuclear programme deadlocked. Kim is travelling to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok for a meeting with Putin on Thursday

www.theguardian.com

Ei ole sama meininki kuin jenkkien kanssa. Tuo mattokin näyttää samalta kuin asemalla. Ehkä niillä on vladivostokissa vain yksi punainen matto.

 

[aj77]

Rohkaiseeko Putin Kimiä haastamaan länttä enemmän. Jotenkin tuntuma, että olemme historiallisen tapaamisen äärellä seurauksien kannalta. Jotain se piru siellä juonii enkä tarkoita Kimiä.

 

[PekkaSavo]

Rohkaiseeko Putin Kimiä haastamaan länttä enemmän. Jotenkin tuntuma, että olemme historiallisen tapaamisen äärellä seurauksien kannalta. Jotain se piru siellä juonii enkä tarkoita Kimiä.

Joku iltapaskan toimittaja otsikoikin jo että "Trumpia näpäytetään"

On ne narratiivit..

 

[ctg]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would require “security guarantees” in order to abandon his nuclear program, following the first ever summit between the two leaders.

Putin and Kim promised to forge stronger ties during a two-hour meeting in the Russian city of Vladivostok, where the Russian president also offered to help break the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

With champagne toasts and performances of Russian folk dances, the meetings seemed deliberately planned to project an image of friendship between the two countries at a time when North Korea’s talks with the United States have stalled.

“We have just had quite a substantive discussion, one on one,” Putin said in remarks following the talks. “We were able to discuss both the history of our relations. We also spoke about the present day and prospects for developing bilateral ties. Of course, we discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula as well.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ir-putin-for-first-time-at-vladivostok-summit

Ei lähtenyt saunaan Puuttinin kanssa.

 

[ctg]

Pohjois-Korea vaati Yhdysvaltoja maksamaan kaksi miljoonaa dollaria amerikkalaisen Otto Warmbierin sairaalahoidosta Pohjois-Koreassa, kertoo Washington Post (siirryt toiseen palveluun).

Lähes puolitoista vuotta vangittuna ollut Warmbier oli vaipunut koomaan, ennen kuin hänet kuljetettiin Pjongjangista ambulanssilentokoneella Yhdysvaltoihin kesäkuussa 2017. Hän kuoli kuusi päivää myöhemmin.

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10755799

Rauhantilanne Korean niemimaalla riippuu Yhdysvaltojen asenteesta, sanoo Pohjois-Korean johtaja Kim Jong-un maan kansallisen uutistoimiston KCNA:n mukaan.

Torstaina Venäjän presidentin Vladimir Putinin tavannut Kim ilmoitti lisäksi kutsuneensa Putinin vastavierailulle Pohjois-Koreaan. KCNA:n mukaan Putin olisi hyväksynyt vierailukutsun.

Kim arvosteli myös kovin sanoin Yhdysvaltojen ”vilpillisiä aikeita” helmikuun huippukokouksessa Hanoissa. Tuolloin presidentti Donald Trumpin ja Kimin neuvottelut päättyivät umpikujaan.

Pohjois-Korea on jo aiemmin syyttänyt Yhdysvaltojen ulkoministeriä Mike Pompeota Hanoin kokouksen epäonnistumisesta. Viime viikolla korkea-arvoinen pohjoiskorealaisviranomainen vaati, että Pompeo siirretään syrjään maiden välisistä ydinaseneuvotteluista, koska tämä ”puhuu roskaa ja on edesvastuuton.”

Putinin kanssa torstaina käymiään neuvotteluja Kim sen sijaan luonnehti "erittäin merkityksellisiksi".

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10755825