DPRK

(ZHE) In April 2014, just as the Ukraine conflict (and proxy civil war) was hitting its climax, in the process undermining US-Russian relations for years, some 2,066 Americans were asked to show where the Ukraine was on a map.

(COMMONDREAMS) In a potential sign of escalating tensions, North Korea has accused the United States and South Korea of having conspired to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong-un, with “biochemical agents.”

A two-ship of B-1B Lancers assigned to the 28th Bomb Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, fly in formation over New Mexico during a training mission Feb. 24, 2010. (Photo: U.S. Air Force/Kevin J. Gruenwald)

North Korea’s regime defied an increasingly broader chorus of voices, including the US, Japan, China, South Korea and Russia, saying on Monday that it will continue its nuclear weapons tests, and warned it would “speed up to the maximum” its measures for bolstering its nuclear deterrence in response to the U.S. increasing “aggression and hysteria” against the country, a North Korea Foreign Ministry spokesman says in statement distributed by the official Korean Central News Agency.

(COMMONDREAMS) Saying diplomacy was difficult, President Donald Trump warned Thursday that the United States “could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely.”

(ZHE) A third US citizen has been arrested and remains in custody in North Korea, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

It didn’t take long. After all the talk about stopping US involvement in expensive foreign wars, a new target has emerged – North Korea, the one country no one wants to pick a fight with because you never know what it is likely to do.

US and European interests continue to portray the government and nation of North Korea as a perpetual security threat to both Asia and the world.

The latest round of the DPRK demonization is connected not only with the notorious “murder at the airport” incident, but also with other news, the main of which (as usual, with reference to South Korean intelligence) being information on the repression of the DPRK Minister of State Security, Kim Won-hong.

Against the backdrop of the scandal surrounding the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the author notices two tendencies. From one side, the excitement leads to the introduction of additional sanctions measures, from the other side, it becomes all the more clear that sanctions pressure on the DPRK does not work.