DPRK

Almost every time there is an aggravation of the Korean crisis, it is always possible to predict the actions of the majority of the parties involved, to a certain extent. This time, the situation currently unfolding is, once again, following the same course.

The news about the fifth nuclear test in the DRRK have overshadowed some earlier reports on the development of the North Korean missile program, yet the latter should hardly be disregarded because of that.

Summer 2016 was marked by a series of high-profile defections from North Korea. Unlike the story with the waitresses, they can hardly be classified as provocations.

On August 24, 2016, North Korea conducted another launch of a submarine launched ballistic missile. The missile was launched at 5.30 local time and covered a distance of about 500 km and fell into the Sea of Japan (In Korea: the Eastern Sea), having flown 80 km into the Air Defense Identification Zone of Japan.

We have written several times about the “inevitable famine in North Korea” but, regrettably, this discussion arises again and again. This time, the news concerns a sharp reduction in the state ration.

After the scandal of the “escaped waitresses”, South Korean media spread some telling news. According to Yonhap News Agency (citing “an anonymous source well informed about the situation in North Korea”), the North Korean intelligence agencies are preparing to kidnap South Korean citizens via the North Korean restaurants in China at the special order of Kim Jong-un as a “response to the acts of provocation”.

On August 17, the Japanese Kyodo News Agency reported that the graphite reactor in Yongbyon had resumed processing nuclear fuel for the production of weapons-grade plutonium, referring to the Nuclear Energy Research Institute of North Korea. According to the Institute’s report, North Korea is not a member of the Non-proliferation Treaty, and the USA constantly threatens it with nuclear weapons.

On August 10, 2016, a number of media rebroadcast the sensational news by the British newspaper The Telegraph: “The regime’s new crime – North Korean builders who are erecting a 70-story skyscraper in Pyongyang at the order of Kim Jong-un are being force-fed a methamphetamine drug to accelerate the construction process and meet the deadlines”.

On August 3, 2016 at 7:50 am local time, the United States Strategic Command recorded the launch of two North Korean medium-range Rodong missiles from the territory of South Hwanghae Province. One of the missiles exploded right after the takeoff and the second one travelled almost one thousand kilometres and fell into the Sea of Japan (in Korea: the East Sea) within Japan’s 250-kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone.

A scandal that involved thirteen North Korean defectors—a restaurant manager and twelve waitresses, employees of a North Korean restaurant, which was already covered in our previous articles is gaining momentum. Following the public request, the waitresses were required to appear before court. After some details of their detention were disclosed, even the UN human rights authorities decided to step in and investigate the case.