Asia-Pacific Best Korean News Thread

[Husky_Khan]

North Korea ordered the test of a new type of ICBM, the Hwasongpho-17. First unveiled in October of 2020, it was tested recently over the Sea of Japan.

“The missile, launched at Pyongyang International Airport, traveled up to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km and flew a distance of 1,090 km for 4,052s before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters” in the Sea of Japan, KCNA said.

South Korea’s military had estimated the range of the Thursday launch as 6,200 kilometers (3,800 miles) — far longer than the last ICBM North Korea tested in October 2017.

North Korea's Kim ordered test of 'new type' of ICBM: state media - Breitbart

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the test-firing of the country's "new type" of intercontinental ballistic missile, state media

www.breitbart.com

This was apparently the latest in around a dozen weapons tests done this year so far.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The US Government is offering rewards of up to $5 million dollars for information that can help disrupt North Korea's state sanctioned and supported cybercriminal operations.

The cash will be awarded "for information that leads to the disruption of financial mechanisms of persons engaged in certain activities that support North Korea, including money laundering, exportation of luxury goods to North Korea, specified cyber-activity and actions that support WMD proliferation," according to the Feds.

This includes "information on those who seek to undermine cybersecurity, including financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world, for the benefit of the Government of North Korea."

The State Department announced the cash incentive, which is part of its Rewards for Justice program, on Friday. The bounty comes a day after the FBI blamed Lazarus Group, the cybercrime gang that does the dirty work for North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, for the theft of $620 million from video game Axie Infinity's Ronin Network.

This comes in the wake of a researcher and Professor at Caltech having worked with the North Koreans for years in helping set up and advise their crypto mining operations and even attempting to recruits others in the West to do the same.

Earlier this week, a US court sentenced an American citizen to more than five years in prison, and fined him $100,000, for providing cryptocurrency and blockchain technical advice to North Korea in breach of sanctions.

Virgil Griffith, who has a doctorate in computational and neural systems from Caltech, began instructing the N. Korean government on how to mine digicash and launder the money in August 2018. He proved so popular that in April 2019 Griffith went to North Korea and gave a presentation at the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference titled "Blockchain and Peace."

Feds offer $5m reward for info on North Korean cyber crooks

Meanwhile: Caltech grad earns five years in prison for helping Kim's coders

www.theregister.com

 

[Captain X]

They should have given him way more time.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Kim Jong Un and outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in exchanged "letters of friendship" where the North Korean Dictator apparently thanked the South Korean President for his focus on improving inter-Korean relationships which resulted in several summits and a warming of relations in 2018-19 that also involved the Trump Presidency. This exchange comes as relations between the two Koreas grows more cold largely in part due to the recent missile and nuclear tests North Korea has engaged in.

North Korea's Kim offers rare praise for South's departing Moon

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has thanked South Korea's outgoing president for trying to improve relations, a rare gesture of goodwill but one that analysts said may not be enough to head off growing tension between the two Koreas.

www.reuters.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

Whelp... looks like World War Three has been averted day.



Those darn mistranslations...

 

[Husky_Khan]

North Korea and Syria are looking to cooperate on more fronts in the wake of the WuFlu interrupting their warming relationship. In an effort to combat "imperial sanctions" the two countries will foster economic cooperation in regards to natural resources and other goods and services such as North Korea exporting iron and aluminum to Syria as well as investments in alternative energy. 🤗

North Korea and Syria to work toward reviving economic cooperation: Damascus | NK News

Syria and North Korea have agreed to form a joint committee to revive economic cooperation, according to an official statement by Syria’s industry ministry on Tuesday. Kim Hye Ryong, the chargé d’affaires at the DPRK Embassy in Damascus, met with Syrian industry minister Ziyad Sabbagh in the...

www.nknews.org

 

[WolfBear]

North Korea and Syria are looking to cooperate on more fronts in the wake of the WuFlu interrupting their warming relationship. In an effort to combat "imperial sanctions" the two countries will foster economic cooperation in regards to natural resources and other goods and services such as North Korea exporting iron and aluminum to Syria as well as investments in alternative energy. 🤗

North Korea and Syria to work toward reviving economic cooperation: Damascus | NK News

Syria and North Korea have agreed to form a joint committee to revive economic cooperation, according to an official statement by Syria’s industry ministry on Tuesday. Kim Hye Ryong, the chargé d’affaires at the DPRK Embassy in Damascus, met with Syrian industry minister Ziyad Sabbagh in the...

www.nknews.org

Let's hope that Syria imports some cute Nork waifus as well lol!

 

[LordsFire]

North Korea and Syria are looking to cooperate on more fronts in the wake of the WuFlu interrupting their warming relationship. In an effort to combat "imperial sanctions" the two countries will foster economic cooperation in regards to natural resources and other goods and services such as North Korea exporting iron and aluminum to Syria as well as investments in alternative energy. 🤗

North Korea and Syria to work toward reviving economic cooperation: Damascus | NK News

Syria and North Korea have agreed to form a joint committee to revive economic cooperation, according to an official statement by Syria’s industry ministry on Tuesday. Kim Hye Ryong, the chargé d’affaires at the DPRK Embassy in Damascus, met with Syrian industry minister Ziyad Sabbagh in the...

www.nknews.org

Two of the most messed up countries in the world agreeing to cooperate together.

It's almost inspiring.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

If you're looking for a friend, best place to find one is in the same place you are!

 

[Husky_Khan]

North Korea has apparently launched more missiles (tests) in the span of a day then it has over entire years (with the exception of 2019).

 

[Bacle]

North Korea has apparently launched more missiles (tests) in the span of a day then it has over entire years (with the exception of 2019).

No, what the tweet means is that NK has tested more missiles, this year to date, than any other year but 2019.

 

[Husky_Khan]

No, what the tweet means is that NK has tested more missiles, this year to date, than any other year but 2019.

I think it's one day. Twenty three missiles reportedly launched.

North Korea unleashes biggest 1-day missile barrage; South Korea responds with missile launches

South Korea launched at least three test missiles on Wednesday after North Korea fired off at least 17 missiles. The barrage of fire comes after NoKo threatened to use nuclear weapons.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Bacle]

I think it's one day. Twenty three missiles reportedly launched.

North Korea unleashes biggest 1-day missile barrage; South Korea responds with missile launches

South Korea launched at least three test missiles on Wednesday after North Korea fired off at least 17 missiles. The barrage of fire comes after NoKo threatened to use nuclear weapons.

www.foxnews.com

...oh, Kim really did do a 20+ salvo earlier today.

I think NK likely has had another bad harvest and are trying to get more food aid, or Kim is just tired of Ukraine getting all the media attention.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Three teenagers were executed in North Korea recently.

One for murdering his Stepmother.

“Hyesan residents gathered in groups at the runway,” she said. “The authorities put the teen-aged students in front of the public, sentenced them to death, and immediately shot them.”

Such executions are rare in North Korea, but not unheard-of. Authorities will typically use executions to terrify people into behaving in the way they want them to.

The executions occurred about a week after authorities held public meetings to tell the public that they were going to get tough on crimes involving foreign media, especially from more prosperous and democratic South Korea.

North Korea publicly executes 2 teenagers for distributing South Korean movies

A third teenager is publicly executed for murdering his stepmother – seen as equally evil

www.rfa.org

And two others for watching and distribution of South Korean movies.

The execution by firing squad was allegedly publicized, the presumed criminals allegedly aged 16 and 17.

 

[Husky_Khan]

FBI states that 'The Lazarus Group' was behind a $100 million dollar heist last Summer which affected Harmony Horizon Bridge, stealing crypto assets worth the aforementioned amount. The hackers were apparently able to use malware to find an exploit in the bridge that allowed them to transfer tokens into their wallets. The Lazarus Group is apparently associated with North Korea and reportedly some $60 million of the crypto assets was laundered, the FBI and other authorities apparently able to freeze some of the other assets.

FBI Says North Korean Hackers Behind $100 Million Horizon Bridge Crypto Theft

FBI confirms North Korean state-sponsored hacking group, Lazarus Group and APT38, are responsible for stealing $100 million in crypto assets.

thehackernews.com

 

[Cherico]

Two of the most messed up countries in the world agreeing to cooperate together.

It's almost inspiring.

And it would be frightfully easy to cut off this trade if they ever got a significant power remotely pissed off enough.

 

[Zyobot]

North Korean capital reportedly under lockdown due to 'respiratory illness'

Authorities in Pyongyang have ordered a five-day lockdown due to rising cases of an unspecified respiratory illness, according to a government notice seen by a Seoul-based news site.

www.abc.net.au

Hmm, hmm…

 

[Husky_Khan]

It turns out North Korea's Penal System is improving. This sign of progress is undoubtedly a positive development and a clear indication of liberalization for the regime.

Despite all this, he said it was better to focus on those aspects that had improved – likening it to encouraging a child, saying that focusing purely on bad behavior would not encourage them to change for the better. He said in 2017 he received three meals a day and the same food as the police were eating, unlike in 2000 when his rations were only vegetable soup.

"We were used to being called like sons of bitches back in 2000," he said. "But in 2017, we were called comrades."

After the outbreak of Covid-19 prompted North Korea to shut down its few remaining connections with the outside world, it became harder to know what was happening in the detention centers, Heenan added. While prior to that, some escapees like the one who spoke to CNN, had suggested "limited improvements" with perhaps fewer cases of torture and extrajudicial killings, he cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from this saying there were too many "blind spots."

Actually this is likely the only moment of levity in an article detailing lots of torture where prisoners were treated as animals, eating insects and subjected to regular torture for nebulous reasons.

Torture, forced abortions and insects for food: Life inside North Korean jails, says this NGO | CNN

Extrajudicial executions, rape, forced abortions, jail without trial, torture, starvation rations that leave prisoners so hungry some turn to eating insects.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

Due to a reported rise in suicides in North Korea, upwards of 40%, the North Korean government has supposedly issued a secret order to prevent suicide in North Korea, considering it an 'Act of Treason against socialism' and against Best Korea.

Suicide spike in North Korea prompts Kim Jong Un to issue prevention order

Disclosure of suicide notes criticizing country shocks officials, source tells RFA

www.rfa.org

Its theorized that the main reasons for the suicides are due to ongoing starvation and poverty and thus the new directives from the Government will tackle these issues by placing responsibility on such treasonous suicides onto local community officials.

 

[Typhonis]

How long until Fearless Leader is renamed tubby the fat?