North Korea - Enforcement of Sanctions

Update added !



Another Taiwanese businessman has been questioned on suspicion of transporting oil to a North Korean buyer in the open seas, Taiwan prosecutors said on Friday.

Chuang Chin-hung, 56, was questioned over the alleged sale of 7,000 tonnes of diesel oil to North Korea in December, prosecutors said. He was released on NT$2 million (US$68,400) bail and will face further questioning.

Ship-to-ship transfers of oil violate UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme.

“We have found that Chuang is the owner of a Marshall Island-registered trading company … and used the Jin Hye oil tanker, which he owns, to sell oil in international waters,” a spokesman for the Kaohsiung prosecutors office said on Friday.

Russia warns totally cutting oil supplies to North Korea would be seen by Pyongyang as act of war. [South China Morning Post] North Korean diplomats en route to Moscow for talks over mutual cooperation, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said. [Reuters]

The spokesman said the tanker was found to have loaded oil from Taiwan in November and transported the oil to a North Korean vessel in the East China Sea in December. But in the port and customs documents, Chuang allegedly wrote that the tanker was transporting the oil to Hong Kong.

Chuang, however, said he was unaware that the buyer was North Korea, but was unable to explain the false information in the documents, the spokesman said.

Chuang is the second Taiwanese national suspected of selling oil to North Korea. Last month, prosecutors placed Kaohsiung-based businessman Chen Shih-hsien and his overseas companies on a sanction list for allegedly selling oil to North Korean vessels in international waters.

The Kaohsiung prosecutors office alleged that Chen, who owns two fishing companies in Kaohsiung, was the dealer behind the transfer of oil to North Korea through the Hong Kong-registered Lighthouse Winmore in the Yellow Sea.

The tanker was seized by South Korean officials after it allegedly transferred about 600 tonnes of oil to a North Korean vessel in October.

[Source: South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Reuters on February 2nd, 2018]

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约旦宣布与朝鲜断交

Jordan declares to cut off diplomatic relations with North Korea.

根据该声明，约旦王室已批准政府这一决定。约旦将不再承认朝鲜驻约旦大使， 约旦也将停止其驻朝鲜大使的工作。

Based on that statement, the Royal Court of Jordan already approved the government's decision. Jordan will no longer recognize North Korea's abassador in its country. It will stop as well the activity of its own ambassador to North Korea.

美国政府去年向一些国家施加压力，敦促它们与朝鲜切断外交和经济联系以孤立朝鲜。

Last year, the U.S. government put pressure on some countries urging them to cut off their diplomatic and economic relations with North Korea in order to isolate that country.

Jordan is therefore joining the regional pro-American alliance in the Middle East as presented by countries like Kuwait that is now hailing the Jordanian decision.

[Source: XinHua 新华 on February 2nd, 2018]

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Newsweek article dating from January 31, 2018.

..............................



美国计划对朝“流鼻血打击” 韩国忧心

The US are planning a "Bloody Nose Strike" on North Korea
South Korea is worried.

[Source: RFA Radio Free Asia 自由亚洲电台普通话, Chinese language site from Washington DC on February 2nd, 2018]

North Korea's Days are Numbered

Just In !

On late January 30, U.S. president Donald Trump in his State of the Union speech made it clear that North Korea's days are numbered.




Ji Seong-ho, North Korean defector and survivor of North Korean torture,
holds up his crutches as symbol of defiance to the North Korean regime
after president Trump details his harrowing journey to freedom.

Comment by Fox News:
History proves time and time again that the yearning for freedom will crush the jackboots of the vilest dictators. Kim Jong Un won’t get much sleep after President Trump’s speech, as he knows time is not on his side. And it took the power of just one man with his old crutches to prove it.





路透：制裁之下，朝鲜通过俄罗斯出口煤炭

Reuters: Under Sanctions ... North Korea is Exporting Coal to Russia.

朝鲜经济特区罗先等待装船的煤炭

In North Korea's special economic zone of Rason, coal is waiting for being shipped.

[Source: VOA Voice of America Chinese language service on January 27, 2018]

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Turkey attacks Kurds in Syria

Today, Turkish forces have started shelling the Kurdish stronghold in Syria in the Afrin region. Latest reports confirm artillery shelling and air raids targeting Afrin. According to BBC, the Syrian regime of Bashir Assad is threatening to shoot down Turkish war planes.



قصف مدفعي تركي مستمر على عفرين

Permanent Turkish Artillery Shelling of Afrin

.....

خبر عاجل :القوات التركية تطلق على عمليتها العسكرية في عفرين اسم "غصن الزيتون"ـ

Breaking News: Turkish forces started their military
operation named "cutting the olive trees" in Afrin.

عملية عفرين ... المهمة و النطاق و الإشكالات السياسية

Operation Afrin ... Mission, Region, and Political Problems.

[Al-Jazeera الجزيرة on January 20, 2018]

China's Fears for 2018

At the beginning of each new year we are inclined to look back at the past year, and we try to predict what trends in political and economic development might become decisive for the year to come.

That's just what the Chinese are doing as well. However, Chinese people are said to be more superstitious than we are in the West. That might be the reason why some Chinese article, published today, is relating the possible dangers to a sound development of China's economy to the influence of nine ominous black swans. The dangers, however, might nevertheless be seen as real.


2018年九大黑天鹅：小心，魔鬼在你背后

In 2018 there will be Nine big Black Swans:
Be careful - The devil might be behind your back !

黑天鹅一号：朝鲜半岛剧变

The 1st black swan: Dramatic changes on the Korean peninsula. [This chapter is referring to the acceleration of political tensions, as observed in 2017.]

黑天鹅二号：石油价格重上100美元

The 2nd black swan: A rise of mineral oil prices above 100 US$ [per barrel].

黑天鹅三号：欧洲复苏失败

The 3rd black swan: Europe's recovering from failure.

黑天鹅四号：美股长牛终结

The 4th black swan: The soaring of US shares might end.

黑天鹅五号：中国通胀再起

The 5th black swan: China undergoing [unstable] expansion.

黑天鹅六号：比特币崩盘

The 6th black swan: A collapse of Bitcoin market quotations.

黑天鹅七号：特朗普风险

The 7th black swan: The Trump Hazard. [What the Chinese call the "Trump Hazard" can be related to the US president's credo of "America first". The Chinese article casually mentions the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), which prioritizes U.S. leadership in military, commercial, and scientific components of space， and which is no exception to the Trump administration’s continued desire to “make America great again in space.” As space evolves into a more globally competitive industry, the economic vitality of the U.S. space sector will support key national security goals to “promote American prosperity” and “advance American influence.” This finally shows how the 2017 NSS can be understood.]

黑天鹅八号：中国房地产崩盘

The 8th black swan: A collapse of real estate quotations.

黑天鹅九号：美联储加息超预期

The 9th black swan: Expectations regarding the US [Federal Reserve's] augmentation of interest.

[Kaixian tv 汉丰网, quoting the Shenzhen journal New Fortune 新财富 on January 3, 2018]

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Visitor from Rome, Italy, and who is interested in Chinese policy.

N Korea on the Brink of Change

Last Update: December 14.

The brand-new article quoted below was published this morning by some usually well-informed however strictly anti-communist Chinese daily, the Epoch Times 大纪元 .



【熱點透視】金正恩翻臉 朝鮮變局走向何方

Hotspot Perspective: Kim Jong-un's sudden turn ...
What's the direction of North Korea's change ?

That article resumes the same position it introduced in an earlier publication some days ago:

In recent days, North Korea showed its rather new inclination to direct talks with its arch-enemy the U.S. administration of Donald Trump.

At the same time it becomes obvious that North Korea's position towards China has changed during the years of fruitless anti-nuclear talks and which finally led to China supporting new sanctions imposed on its former ally.

From there, China has step by step come into the focus of a possible North Korean revenge and which makes China to become just another target for North Korea's nuclear blackmail, even more as many of China's civilian high-value targets are within missile-reach of North Korea.

In the frame of a possible North Korean revenge, the Epoch Times author is considering three potential first level targets like Beijing, Shanghai and the Three-Gorges-Dam, such including the administrative and economic centrals of China.

Further second level targets like China's nuclear power centrals should be endangered as well. Even command operations of North Korean elite troops using biochemical weapons in China should not be excluded.

It is anyway regarded as an established fact that China's leadership is sensing dramatic changes being in progress in North Korea.

How else could it be that China is planning camps to canalize possible waves of North Korean refugees from economic disaster and/or the dangers of war.

Even Kim Jong-un seems to be underway in his own country for some reason. According to the Chinese source he should have travelled to the mountaineous region near Mount Paektu which he hadn't visited during winter time for many years and where nuclear installations are in reach.

...............................

The following Chinese language document only recently appeared on the web. It is directly referring to the construction of refugee camps for North Koreans in China's Jilin province.



防北韓難民湧入？　傳吉林正規劃設置難民營

To prevent N Korean refugees from surging in ? Jilin is planning to set up refugee camps.

[ON.CC , HongKong, published December 6, 2017]

HongKong based Chinese language media provided the above shown copy together with a hint at some site near the Chinese - North Korean border named "Duck Green River 鸭绿江" and which is referring to the Yalu River. This border region is known as a former battlefield in different wars since the end of the 19th century including the Korean War in the 1950ies.

A better quality copy of the quoted document and which is available from another web source, is showing the origin of that message as follows:

"China messenger service of Jilin province, BaiShan [city] branch" with Baishan 白山 meaning "White Mountain" and which refers to nearby Paektu Mountain in neighbouring North Korea.

..............................

Most Dangerous Global Security Issue

Update added on December 11.



United Nations envoy Feltman told the North Koreans there can only be a diplomatic solution.



[Time quoting Associated Press AP on December 10, 2017]




朝核讹诈波及北京 学者：中国3种目标或被攻击

North Korea's nuclear blackmail is affecting Beijing.
Scholar: Three targets for probable attack in China.

The article is mentioning the possibility that nuclear blackmail from North Korea could not be restricted to the U.S., Japan and South Korea but as well extend to Chinese targets.

[NTD TV 新唐人 on December 11, 2017]




疑似中移动内部文件 指吉林将设5个难民营

Uncertainty about a problem of interior movement in China.
Indications that Jilin [province] is planning 5 refugee camps.

[Epoch Times 大纪元, an anti-communist Chinese daily on December 7, 2017]

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Trump's Jerusalem Declaration Triggers Violence

Updates added on December 9 / 10.



U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, under siege of protesters on December 10.

Palestine - Days of Rage

After president Donald Trump's declaration to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and such recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, riots have broken out all over Palestine and Gaza, leaving a violence toll of two deaths and more than 750 wounded up to now. Protests emerged as well in Berlin, Istanbul, London, Kairo and Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Indonesia and which is the most populated Islamic nation.

While the Arab world is showing its embarresment and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas refuses to meet with U.S. vice-president Mike Pence on his coming visit to the Middle East, Hamas and Hezbollah leadership are calling for a new Intifada or violent uprise against Israel.

Furthermore, United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on the subject. At that meeting U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is standing alone to defend the Jerusalem decision of her boss. [Summary of news from Al-Jazeera الجزيرة published on December 8, 2017]




14 out of 15 council members voted against the change of position made
by U.S. president Trump in his Jerusalem decision. [CTV News, Dec. 8]




شومان: فلسطين ليست ميراثا لأمريكا وممتلكات «ترامب» لا تشمل القدس

Shouman: Palestine is not the patrimony of America and
Jerusalem doesn't belong to the possessions of "Trump".

Editor's Note:
Dr. Abbas Shouman is deputy director of the famous and influential Islamic University Al-Azhar in Kairo and a partner of the movement United Against Violence in the Name of Religion (UVNR). - By the way, the above quoted Arabic word ممتلكات can be used with the meaning of "colonial possessions".

The quoted Arabic source added in another article that Egypt's government officially rejects the ‘illegal’ US embassy move to Jerusalem.

[El-Balad البلد, Egypt, on December 8, 2017]







وزراء الخارجية العرب يرفضون قرار ترامب حول القدس

Arab foreign ministers reject Trump resolution on Jerusalem.

[Al-Quds Al-Arabi القدس العربي, Palestinian Daily on December 9, 2017]


The head of the Arab League has called US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital "dangerous and unacceptable" and a "flagrant attack on a political solution" to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

The statement by Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, the regional bloc's secretary-general, came at the start of an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from 22 Arab states in Egypt's capital, Cairo, on Saturday.

Aboul-Gheit said Trump's decision was "against international law and raises questions over American efforts to support peace" between Palestine and Israel.

The shift in US policy "undermines Arab confidence" in the Trump administration and "amounts to the legalisation" of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, he added.

[Quotation from an Al-Jazeera الجزيرة article published on late December 9, 2017]

Last Exit from War Track

The following news were published only some hours ago on late December 7, 2017.



Reuters news agency report from December 6, updated on late December 7, 2017.



U.S. foreign secretary Tillerson and Russia's foreign minister Lavrov meeting each other
at the Vienna conference on Thursday, December 7, 2017. [The Guardian]



Senator Tammy Duckworth, a decorated veteran of the Iraq War, is scared — scared that the Trump administration may be getting the US into a devastating war with North Korea without much of the public noticing or seeming to care.

“Most Americans,” she says, “don’t realize how close we are to this war.”

Duckworth, who lost both of her legs after her helicopter was shot down by insurgents, has closely followed both aggressive rhetoric from the White House and the way the US military has been approaching the Korean Peninsula. She believes the events of the past six months indicate that President Trump might be willing to actually launch a preventive strike on North Korea, despite the real chance that it could trigger a nuclear exchange.

[VOX on late December 7, 2017]

Korea - Meeting Point of Military Force

While U.S. and South Korean air force and navy units are amassing near the border to North Korea in the greatest show of military strength ever experienced since the Korean War in the 1950ies, China did something it's never done before to warn the U.S. about fighting North Korea when it started its own military drills in the Yellow Sea, close to the Korean Peninsula.

While Russia's navy just ended an amphibious landing operation in Kamchatka and Primorye province near to the country's border with North Korea after deploying hundreds of marines to that region, Russia's deputy foreign minister Igor Morgulov announced that communication channels with North Korea are being held open to "exert influence" on Russia's neighbour and traditional ally in Pyongyang.

Even though Russia isn't amused about Kim Jong-un ignoring UN sanctions in his intention to create an accepted nuclear power, it seems to be still providing the rogue country with oil derivates and which hasn't been declared illegal by the international community up to now.

That comes at the same time when a U.S. Republican senator in Washington DC made his thoughts public that it was now the right time to repatriate family members of U.S. military personnel from South Korea.

As North Korea is still unwilling to join an open dialogue with the U.S. and their partners to solve problems or, at least, show restraint in its nuclear ambitions, there seems to be no room left for any peaceful solution whatsoever.

Therefore, it is no longer a question of whether there will be war, but rather when it would start. One might even be inclined to demand the parties involved in the conflict to come to terms, this way or the other, such that information-mining journalists and bloggers could get some sleep before the really bad news arrived.




核武器常识及其防护

Elementary knowledge on the protection from nuclear weapons.


吉林党报谈核武器防护 朝鲜半岛局势不妙？

A "Jilin Party News" report is discussing how to protect from nuclear weapons.

The situation on the Korean peninsula is far from encouraging.

[DW 多维新闻 quoting the local Chinese daily Jilin [province] Party News 吉林党报 from December 6, 2017]



Inscription stone marking the border of China and North Korea in China's Jilin province.

Some weeks ago, I happened to read a western journalist's report about his trip to North Korea. He wrote that during his journey he once had asked a local North Korean how he considered to survive a nuclear war. That man had looked surprised at him and had allegedly answered: " I think we will win that war ". - Ulysses

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Yemen - Assassination of Abdullah Saleh

قيادي حوثي: صالح قتل بعد توقيف سيارته على حاجز وجثته سلمت لحزبه

Houthi leadership: Saleh was killed after his car had to
stop at a barricade, his remains were saved by his party.

قال قيادي في جماعة الحوثي، إن الرئيس اليمني السابق، علي عبدالله صالح قتل، الاثنين، خلال محاولته الهروب من صنعاء إلى منزل له في ضواحي العاصمة.

The command of the Houthi community told that former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed on Monday [December 4, 2017] when he tried to escape from Sanaa to his residence in the suburbs of the capital.

[The Middle East الشرق الأوسط, quoted by CNN بالعربية on December 4, 2017]

Abdullah Saleh had been forced to resign as Yemen's president during the Arab Spring. In his final days as a president, he had found temporary shelter in Saudi Arabia. Later Saleh underwent different alliances including a long-standing one with the Houthi tribes and which resulted in civil unrest. When a Saudi-UAE alliance started airforce operations in favour of the new president Hadi and against the Houthies who seemingly enjoyed Iranian support, Saudi bombardment triggered off a bloody war that left the Yemeni people in a desolate state. Now that Abdullah Saleh, once again, changed sides by approaching Saudi positions he was assassinated by Houthi rebels.

[Al-Jazeera الحزيرة on December 4, 2017]

Hwasong-15 Blew Up in Mid-Air

'Blew up and fell apart'

Described by Pyongyang as its "most powerful" missile, the 29 November launch ended up in Japanese waters but flew higher than any other the North had previously tested.

Today South China Morning Post quoted Cathay Pacific’s general manager of operations Mark Hoey as saying on a staff online communication platform : “Today [date unspecified] the crew of CX893 reported, ‘Be advised, we witnessed the DPRK missile blow up and fall apart near our current location.’”

“We advised ATC [air traffic control] and ops [operations] [were] normal.” Hoey added. “Looking at the actual plots, CX096 might have been the closest, at a few hundred miles laterally.”

Cathay Pacific cargo flight CX096 left the company's operational home base of Hong Kong for Anchorage in Alaska at about 11pm on November 28. It was over Japan when the missile was launched, according to flight trackers.

According to a BBC report published this morning, the launch was reportedly also witnessed by two South Korean aircraft en route to Seoul from the US.

N Korea - Potential of War

Potential for war with North Korea increases 'every day'

That evaluation of U.S. president Trump's national security adviser comes only days after North Korea launched its most advanced ballistic missile and which should even reach U.S. east coast townships.

中文：美国总统特朗普的国家安全委员会顾问麦克马斯特H.R. McMaster表示，与朝鲜发生战争的可能性与日俱增。

[Fox News on late December 2, 2017. Report confirmed by CNN.]




数百架先进战机云集韩国 朝鲜放狠话

Hundreds of advanced fighter planes deployed to South Korea
... amid North Korea's wolfish howling.

The Chinese language article is mentioning latest deployment of more than 230 U.S. warplanes including F-22 "Raptor", F-35 stealth fighters and B1-B bombers to South Korean bases.

[DW 多维新闻 on late December 2, 2017]




Alleged CIA recruiting of Korean native speakers on Twitter (November 27, 2017).




Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said the United States is "running out of time" when it comes to North Korea and that pre-emptive war is "becoming more likely" as the country's weapons technology "matures."

中文：今天一个有名的美国参议员格莱厄姆（Lindsey Graham）说的是“驻在韩国的美军人的家眷必需离开朝鲜半岛”！

[Eyewitness News , South Africa, quoting CBS on late December 3, 2017]




Ex-NATO commander: N Korea likely getting help with nukes, rockets from China or Russia.

[The Hill reporting from Capitol Hill in Washington on December 3, 2017]




[Newsweek on November 30, 2017]



La Russie «ne sera pas surprise» si une guerre éclate en Corée du Nord.
Russia "wouldn't be surprised" if a war started in North Korea.

Un conflit militaire sur la péninsule coréenne figure parmi les scénarios envisagés par la Russie, qui calcule les risques afin de ne pas être prise au dépourvu si cette éventualité venait à se produire, a affirmé Nikolaï Patrouchev, secrétaire du Conseil de sécurité russe, dans une interview à Sputnik.

A military conflict on the Korean peninsula counts among the scenarios considered by Russia that is estimating the risques for not being taken by surprise if such possibility became reality. This is what Nicolai Patrouchev, secretary of Russia's Security Council, said in an interview granted to Sputnik.

[Sputnik - France on 1st December 2017]

N Korea - Advanced ICBM Launched

Last update added on December 2.

This morning at about 3:00 local time, North Korea launched its most advanced Hwasong-15 ICBM which allegedly should be able to strike the "whole" of U.S. mainland. Its features are as follows:

- The Hwasong-15 is a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile and an upgrade of Hwasong-14.

- It was fired at 2:48 a.m. local time [2:18 Beijing Time] from a mobile launcher in Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province. [Reported times of launch differ according to different time bases.]

- The missile reached a height of 4,475 kilometers (2,800 miles), higher than ever before, and splashed down off the Japanese coast, within the country's Exclusive Economic Zone.

- The missile was fired on a lofted trajectory, where the missile flies very high to cover a relatively short horizontal distance. David Wright, an expert with the Union of Concerned scientists said that if it had been fired on a standard trajectory, the ICBM would have been capable of traveling 13,000 kilometers, or 8,100 miles.

- In comparison with earlier tested missiles, the Hwasong-15 can hold more fuel and payload, and its flight should be more stable due to a more sophisticated propulsion system using two instead of one engines in combination with additional steering engines.



- South Korea immediately responded with a "precision missile strike drill," matching the same flight distance. In a joint operation lasting 20 minutes after N Korea's ICBM launch, one "Dark Warrior - 2" type of ballistic missile, one "Sea Star - 2" ship-to-ground missile and one "SPICE - 2000" missile were fired by allied units.

[Editor's Note: What the Chinese article is calling "Dark Warrior 玄武" and which reminds a legendary tortoise general in Chinese lore, is identical with South Korea's "Hyunmoo - 2" short-range ballistic missile SRBM that makes part of the allied "kill chain" in missile defence.]



Mobile launchers for South Korea's Yunmoo-2c [环球时报]



[News quoted from CNN and XinHua 新华 as well as from other sources]




朝鲜若核攻击死伤会有多少？ 请看这张地图

How many would die or get wounded in a N Korean nuclear attack ? - Look at the map !

After a N Korean 150 kt nuke attack on New York, more than
one million people would die or get wounded within 24 hours.

[Epoch Times 大纪元 on 1st December 2017]


朝鲜不怕经济制裁 反而可能狗急跳墙

N Korea not fearing sanctions; a cornered beast,
however, will possibly do something desperate.

[Voice of America - Chinese on December 2, 2017]

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China Cutting Ties with N Korea ?

Opinion: US-North Korea conflict a '50-50 prospect' One of Australia's leading strategic analysts has warned there is a real prospect of 'serious conflict' between the United States and North Korea next year. The head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, said he's pessimistic about the next six months. 'As we move to the mid part of 2018 the North is going to be that much closer to perfecting the one or two areas of technology it needs to perfect in order to have a reliable and credible nucelar weapon able to attack the United States,' he said. Mr Jennings believes the United States may have to take action before this point, saying diplomatic efforts won't prevent North Korea from improving its technology. [Skynews, Australia, on November 28, 2017] Such information fits with evaluations made by other sources, saying that military preparation for war would take about six months from now.

Important Updates added on November 26.

Is China cutting off traffic to North Korea for further sanctioning and isolating the regime of Kim Jong-un as U.S. president Trump demanded during his recent visit to Beijing, or is China rather decided to avoid getting directly involved in a major military conflict between North Korea and the alliance of America, Japan and South Korea ?



China is temporarily closing its main road connection with North Korea, an official said on Friday.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, or China-North Korea Friendship Bridge, across the Yalu River at the Chinese city of Dandong will be closed while North Korea repairs the approach road on its side.

Geng said that “after the maintenance, the bridge will reopen for passage,” but gave no date for the reopening or other details.

The bridge closure comes after state-owned airline Air China suspended flights Tuesday between Beijing and North Korea due to a lack of demand, deepening the North's isolation amid mounting UN sanctions.

Beijing is North Korea's only significant ally but has grown increasingly frustrated over its nuclear and missile tests that have brought a threat of war and chaos to China's north eastern border.

In what was seen as a bid to improve relations, the head of the ruling Communist Party's International Department travelled to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, last week.

Few details have been released about his itinerary, including whether he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The trip followed a visit to Beijing earlier this month by US President Donald Trump, who renewed calls for China to step up pressure on North Korea to end its missile and nuclear programmes.

[The Independent, UK, on November 25, 2017]


中国海关11月24日消息，中国和朝鲜之间的贸易往来逐渐减少，10月出现大幅下降。当月中国首次没有从朝鲜进口铁矿石、铅及煤炭。此举是中国执行联合国对朝鲜的制裁决议。

On November 24 China Customs reported that trade contacts between China and North Korea have gradually been reduced and dropped in size since October. That month, for the first time, neither iron ore nor lead or coal was imported by China. By that move China has implemented the United Nations' resolution on sanctioning North Korea.

中国石油天然气集团已经从6月停止向朝鲜出售汽油和柴油。

In June China's [market organizations] for crude oil and natural gas stopped selling petrol and diesel oil to North Korea.

[DW 多维新闻网 on November 26, 2017]




[South China Morning Post on November 24, 2017]




制裁能否迫使朝鲜弃核？（环球热点）

Will or will not sanctions force North Korea
to abandon [its] nukes ? (Global Hotspot)

The above photo from April 15, 2017, is showing continued military drills
of joint U.S. and South Korean troops at the border to North Korea.

[People's Daily, Beijing, on November 25, 2017]


以习近平特使身分访问朝鲜的中共中联部部长宋涛，20号返回中国，不过截至20号傍晚，中朝双方都没有通报宋涛是否与金正恩会面的消息，而美国也随即将朝鲜重新列入支持恐怖主义的国家名单。这些现象释放了什么信号呢？

Song Tao, director of the international liaison department of China's Communist Party, visited North Korea as Xi Jin Ping's special envoy. He returned to China on November 20 [in the evening]. Neither the Chinese nor the North Korean side spread information on whether Song Tao had met with Kim Jong-un or not. However the U.S. immediately listed N Korea another time on the blacklist of terrorist states. What kind of signal such proceedings are likely to release ?

[NTD-TV 新唐人 on November 21, 2017]

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North Korean Cyber Crime Mining Foreign Assets

Cyber-crime is now a billion-dollar industry for North Korea. Cracking down on this criminal enterprise presents a strategic opportunity to apply further pressure on the Kim Jong-un regime.

Hard currency generated from cyber-crime is undermining global efforts to impose economic pressure on Pyongyang. As sanctions are imposed against its formal economy, North Korea has increased the scale of its illegal businesses. The massive criminal operation may be equivalent in size to the annual budget of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.

To generate such tremendous returns, North Korean hackers steal bitcoin, hold data ransom, and rob foreign banks, including the brazen heist of a sovereign nation’s central bank that netted $81 million. Evidence suggests the spree of bank robberies continues across Australia’s region, with attacks against banks in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan. The UK government has now also attributed the global WannaCry ransomware attacks that in May crippled thousands of computers to North Korea.

North Korea's leadership views its cyber-capabilities as a unique advantage that it can deploy without fear of retribution. North Korea is one of the least ‘connected’ countries in the world, while its adversaries (countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the US) are internet dependent. And that dependence makes for vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

In the event of a conflict, North Korea likely believes it could remotely attack and degrade the financial systems, telecommunications infrastructure, energy utilities, and media networks of the US and its allies. Pyongyang has previously demonstrated this capability against South Korea, while WannaCry came perilously close to threatening human lives in hospitals around the globe.

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China is, of course, key to any success with North Korea. To encourage China's leadership to take action, any legal case must present evidence of North Korean activity taking place on Chinese soil. The Chinese may find it difficult to support such criminality, especially when it threatens the stability of the global financial sector or undermines Chinese commitment to global law and order. China may be willing to bring charges of its own or deport those responsible for the attacks.

[The Interpreter, published by the Australian Lowy Institute on November 26, 2017]


朝鲜 Lazarus 团伙黑客工具分析

Analyzing the hacking tools of N Korea's "Lazarus" group mates.

Source link included to 电锋网, Chinese special interest website on November 16, 2017

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Singapore visitor to "blueprint news" reminding an official missile alert
transmitted by Japan's NHK TV while some North Korean rocket was
just passing above Japan's northern region of Hokkaido.



Visitor from Washington DC interested in president Trump's diplomacy of name calling.