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.

.....

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.

Lebanon - Saudi Coup d'État ?

As confrontation grows between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the unexpected retreat of Lebanon's prime minister Hariri while being in Riadh for talks with the Saudi Crown Prince has triggered off rumours of a militant Saudi move to replace Hariri with his hard-line brother Bahaa who might abandon a coalition of national agreement with Hizbollah that is seen by the Saudis as a protegee of Iran, both, in Lebanon where it was acting as a political party in Hariri's ruling coalition and in Syria where the military branch of Hizbollah is fighting side by side with Iranian units.

Animosities between Saudi Arabia and Iran derive as well from Iranian support for Houthi rebels in Yemen who are still being fought by a Saudi-led alliance. Tensions accelerated only recently when a missile from Yemen targeted the Saudi capital of Riadh.

Rumors of the virtual kidnapping of Lebanon's prime minister Hariri, who resigned last Saturday while in Saudi Arabia, have rocked the Arab world; Lebanese officials worry that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS as the 32-year-old crown prince is known, wants to force Lebanon into his confrontation with Iran. Some Lebanese analysts complain that the Saudis treat the Hariri family, who have been bankrolled by Riyadh for decades, almost as a wholly owned subsidiary.

According to well-informed Lebanese sources, the tale began on Monday, Oct. 30, when Hariri traveled to Saudi Arabia for a personal meeting with MBS. With the crown prince was Thamer al-Sabhan, his key adviser on relations with other Arab states.

.....

Lebanese sources believe Hariri’s harder-line older brother Bahaa may be Riyadh’s candidate for prime minister. Other Hariri relatives were summoned to Riyadh last week but refused to go; it’s said that Bahaa was already there. The sources also say that Bahaa sent Safi Kalo, a close adviser, to meet secretly 10 days ago with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt to discuss future strategy for Lebanon, but Jumblatt is said to have left the meeting, refusing to discuss the subject.

The Washington Post article appeared on November 10, 2017, in an English and Arabic version.

لسعودية توقف بالقوة رئيس وزراء لبنان

Saudi [Arabia] Stopped Lebanon's Prime Minister by Force.




Lebanese PM Hariri (l) meeting with Saudi King Salman (r)


ـ"واشنطن بوست": هذه كواليس استقالة الحريري.. وبهاء أرسل مستشاره للقاء جنبلاط

Washington Post: That [] retreat of Hariri .........
and Bahaaa sending his coucillor to [] Jumblatt.

ونشرت الصحيفة الأميركية مقالاً للكاتب ديفيد اغناتيوس باللغة العربية ذكر فيه معلومات قال إنه حصل عليها من مصادر في لبنان

The American journal published an article written in Arabic by David Ignatius where he mentioned information which he said derived from Lebanese sources.

[Lebanon 24 لبنان quoting The Washington Post on November 12, 2017]


أخبار لبنان - رئيس لبنان يقول وضع الحريري "غامض وملتبس"ـ

Lebanon News - The Lebanese president says
the situation of Hariri is "incertain and confuse".

قال الرئيس اللبناني ميشال عون اليوم السبت إن كل ما صدر أو يمكن أن يصدر عن سعد الحريري “لا يعكس الحقيقة” بسبب غموض وضعه منذ أعلن الاستقالة من رئاسة وزراء البلاد الأسبوع الماضي

On Saturday [i.e. November 11], Lebanon's president Michel Aoun said, if all that was published or is possibly being published about Saed al-Hariri is "not reflecting reality", it might be because of confusion over his situation since he declared the retreat from the presidency of the nation's [council of] ministers last week.

[The Horizon News الأفق نيوز on November 12, 2017. News confirmed by Reuters.]

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Recent visitors to "blueprint news" coming from U.S. and Saudi universities:

Trump on N Korea - Strategic Patience Over

Trump says 'strategic patience' with North Korea over
as [Japan's leader] Abe introduces sanctions.

The time for "strategic patience" with North Korea is over, U.S. President Donald Trump said today after winning Japan's backing on his policy of considering all options to rein in the rogue state.

[SBS, Australian news service on November 6, 2017]


报告：朝鲜核试验辐射可随风吹到日本

Report says: The radiation from a North Korean nuclear test
could be blown with the wind into the direction of Japan.

[Epoch Times 大纪元 on November 4, 2017]


Australia conducts naval drills to stop and search
North Korean weapons ships.

Defence Minister Marise Payne said the drills would enforce UN Security Council Resolution 2375, concerning "the interdiction of vessels carrying suspicious cargo".

Australian frigates HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Parramatta will undertake the training alongside South Korea's Sejong the Great destroyer ship and USS Chafee, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The training mission came as the Pentagon outlayed the grim choices facing the US and its allies in stopping North Korea, saying that a full ground invasion of the country was "the only way" to be certain it could destroy all of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.

[The Sidney Morning Herald on November 6, 2017]

[Editor's Note: The Pentagon's evaluation of reasonable military options was given as an answer to the request of some U.S. Congressmen and was confirmed by different western sources the day before.]

N Korea - Nuclear Site Collapsed

[ 朝鲜核试验场坑道崩塌 约200人死亡 ]




As many as 200 construction workers are feared dead after the collapse of a tunnel at a nuclear test site in North Korea, according to a Japanese media report.

The tunnel was being built at the Punggye-ri test site when it collapsed, according to a report on Japan's TV Asahi citing an unnamed source in North Korea.

It said that about 100 people were initially trapped in the tunnel and another 100 may have been killed by a second collapse as they tried to rescue the first group.

The broadcaster said the collapse took place around 10 September. The incident should be consistent with recently observed seismic shocks.

[Source: The Independent - The Sun - The Telegraph on October 31, 2017, about two hours ago]

Sea of Japan - Dangerous Encounter

Tupolev TU-95 bomber


俄战略轰炸机遭美日战机跟踪 事发时正前往日本海

Russian strategic bombers encountered U.S.-Japanese fighters
and were followed on their way to the Japanese Sea.

As the Russian Ministry of Defence declared on October 31, two Russian TU-95 MC had been tracked down on their flight near Japan by U.S. and Japanese fighters.

According to a Japanese Joint Staff press release two Russian TU-95 had been observed in the region on August 23, 2017, while surrounding Japan on a flight that took them from Russia's Far East following the South Korean coastline of the Japanese Sea to the entrance of the Yellow Sea and then back home following the Japanese coastline on its Pacific Ocean side.



Another Japanese report from August 24 confirmed the presence of six Chinese H-6 bombers in the same region that day.

[Source: SINA military news 新浪军事 on October 31, 2017]


Editor's Note:

Patrol flights of Chinese Hong H-6 bombers have been earlier observed at the southern border of Japan and near the U.S. airforce base of Guam. Their flight routes are marking the border of China's traditional region of influence in the South China Sea (南中国海) and which is now regularly questioned by the U.S. and their allies.

The following Japanese Joint Staff press release is dating back to July 20 this year when eight H-6 bombers, accompanied by two Y-8 reconnaissance planes, followed a typical route in that region:



Hong H-6 bomber

US Sanctions Crippling N Korea Abroad

Last Update added on October 29.



美国宣布对一些朝鲜人员和机构实施制裁

U.S. announced having imposed sanctions upon some North Korean persons and entities.

新华社华盛顿１０月２６日电（记者朱东阳）美国财政部２６日宣布对朝鲜７名人员和３家机构实施制裁，这些人员和机构涉及朝鲜军事安全部门、驻外使领馆和海外企业。

A XinHua agency report from Washington on October 26, 2017:
On October 26, the U.S. Department of Finance announced that it had put into effect sanctions against 7 North Korean persons and 3 entities. These persons and entities are related with the North Korean military security department, embassies and consulates residing abroad and overseas enterprises.

.....
９月２６日，美财政部宣布对参与支持朝鲜发展大规模杀伤性武器的朝鲜８家银行和２６名公民实施制裁。

On September 26, the U.S. Department of Finance had already announced the application of sanctions against 8 North Korean banks and 26 North Korean citizens for having a hand in the support of North Korea developing weapons of mass destruction.

[Source: Xin Hua 新华社, China's news agency on October 27, 2017, 04:46 Beijing Time]

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Editor's Note:

In a most recent blogspot of "blueprint-news" I mentioned a surprising revelation on China's current attitude towards North Korea and which was made by some Chinese professor from Beijing's People's University, Chong Sho-Hu, in an interview with BBC Radio 4 only some days ago. That interview was quoted by different sources. As it came to my attention that the scholar's name used was a Korean language adaption, I tried to find out his Chinese name adaption which I can tell now is Cheng Xiao-He. From there it was possible to find a relation with another interview professor Cheng Xiao-He already granted one month earlier to the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.

Podcast from the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy introducing People's University associate professor Cheng Xiao-He, Beijing, in an interview on the subject:

Will China Change Its Approach to North Korea ?.
The podcast was published by the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center on September 27, 2017.

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美防长：要朝鲜半岛无核化不要战争

U.S. Defence Secretary: If there was no nuclear armament
on the Korean peninsula, there would be no reason for war.

U.S. Defence Secretary Mattis meeting with his South Korean counterpart
at the N Korean border at Panmunjon negotiation center today, October 27.

[Source: Singapore Morning Post 新加波早报 on October 27, 2017]




美防长：绝不接受拥有核武的朝鲜

U.S. Defence Secretary: We can by no means accept
that N Korea is in the possession of nuclear weapons.

[Source: Singapore Morning Post 新加波早报 on October 28, 2017]

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据《朝鲜日报》日文版10月29日报道，中国科学院地质研究所人员在9月曾当面警告来访的朝鲜地质部门官员称，朝鲜核试验基地丰溪里已经难以承受新的核试验，如果还在该地区规划新的核试验，一旦实施，或引发山体崩塌的严重后果，还因此形成巨大的核辐射危害。

According to a South Korean news report, specialists from the geological research institute of China's Academy of Science should have informed their North Korean colleagues about considerable radiation risks when using existing North Korean test sites for another nuclear test.

[Source:DW 多维新闻网 quoting the South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo on October 29, 2017]

N Korea - Last Warning from China

Important Update added !



金正恩为何不敢在十九大试射飞弹 学者给出答案

Why did Kim Jong-Un not dare to test-fire a missile during the
19th Great Congress [i.e. of China's Communist Party CCP] ?
A scholar provides us with the answer !

中国人民大学国际关系教授Chong Sho-Hu对英国媒体BBC表示，如果朝鲜继续导弹试射和核试验，那么这个政权将会死亡。“朝鲜现在正站在深渊边缘，轻轻一推就能使其跌落悬崖。如果朝鲜再试射飞弹，整个国家就会跌入悬崖。”

In an interview with the British medium BBC, Chong Sho-Hu, professor for international relations at the People's University of China, made clear one thing: If North Korea continued to test-fire guided missiles and nuclear tests, that regime will choose to meet with its doom.

"North Korea is just standing at the edge of an abyss. Lightly, one push forward can cause its fall down the cliff. If North Korea test-launches another missile, the whole country could fall into the precipice."

他还对BBC说，“中国没有永远的朋友也没有永远的敌人”，中国与前苏联、越南都曾经关系十分要好，但最后还是发生了战争，而现在大陆与朝鲜的关系还不如当年与苏联、越南的关系。朝鲜试射的行为是“找死”，会使大陆与朝鲜的友谊走到尽头。

He told the BBC as well that "China has neither eternal friends nor eternal enemies". China had undergone relations as close friends with the former Soviet Union and Vietnam, however, much later a war broke out [with each of them] as well. Today now, the mainland [of China]'s relations with North Korea are not like they were that year with the Soviet Union or Vietnam. North Korea's activity of test launches is "seeking death" and could cause the friendship between the mainland and North Korea come to an end.

他续指，北京当局、中国最高领导人都很生气，中国希望惩罚朝鲜。

He additionnally pointed out that, both, Beijing authorities and China's supreme leadership are getting angry. China is expecting to punish North Korea.

[Source: "Forbidden News" 中国禁闻网-禁书网禁书网, Chinese underground news survey on October 24, 2017, quoting an interview only recently broadcast by the BBC Radio 4 with an influential Chinese official, Professor Chong Sho-Hu and who is considered an expert in international relations at China's People's University.]

A related Chinese language tweet was already launched by the editor of "blueprint news" two days before on October 22, 2017. It was targeting, among others, those North Koreans abroad who are able to read Chinese text.

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The FBI is now investigating into the Chinese business structures behind a North Korean weapons deal that was blocked in 2016 when a disguised North Korean ship, the "Jie Shun" sailing under the flag of Cambodia, was stopped in the Egyptian Suez Canal. Hidden under its declared payload of iron ore, Egyptian authorities found about 24.000 rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and other weapons worth some $23 million. Because of Egypt reacting rather reluctantly to an urgent U.S. request to stop the "Jie Shun", the country became immediately suspected of having bought the military load from North Korea for its own armed forces and which is what Egypt's government furiously rejected.

The Chinese Epoch Times, an anti-communist publication, seems to have made its own investigations into HongKong shipping companies probably related to the transport of North Korean boycott merchandise. Here is something they found out:



Excerpt from an Epoch Times 大纪元 article published on October 24, 2017.

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Today on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, U.S. Congress (the House) passed legislation
that seeks to cut off North Korea’s access to financial institutions around the world amid
its nuclear provocations.

“Foreign banks can either do business benefiting N Korea or business with the
United States. They cannot do both,” says the author of the passed bill 415-2.

Source: The Hill political news from Capitol Hill on October 24, 2017.

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