News Report: Seoul's Spartan 3000 ‘Decapitation Unit’ Designed to Strike Fear in Kim Jong-un

A new special forces brigade dubbed Spartan 3000 has been designed by the South Korean Defense Ministry to “make Kim Jong-un fear for his life,” a retired South Korean general said this week.

“The best deterrence we can have,” retired three star general Shin Won-sik told the New York Times, “next to having our own nukes, is to make Kim Jong-un fear for his life."

Special forces teams have been targeting Kim’s psyche for a while and with some degree of effectiveness. Sputnik reported June 16 that Kim has been so worried about an assassination attempt he has significantly scaled back his number of public appearances, stopped driving his preferred car – a Mercedes Benz – to throw off would be killers, and ordered senior North Korean military and intelligence officers to investigate potential “decapitation operations.”

"Kim is engrossed with collecting information about the 'decapitation operation' through his intelligence agencies," South Korean legislator Lee Cheol-woo told reporters upon exiting a briefing with the National Intelligence Service.

News Report: South Korean Intelligence Registers Transportation of North Korean ICBM

North Korean Hwasong-14 Ballistic Missile

South Korea's intelligence service has reportedly registered the transportation of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — South Korea's intelligence service has registered the transportation of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to the west coast of the country and has supposed that Pyongyang is preparing for yet another missile launch, media reported Tuesday.

On Monday, media reported citing sources in the South Korean Defense Ministry that North Korea could start preparations for a new missile launch.

The South Korean Asia Business Daily newspaper reported citing own intelligence sources that on Monday Pyongyang started transporting yet another ICBM created by a specialized military research institution, to the country's west coast.

The news outlet added that South Korea's intelligence service predicted that the launch could be arranged for Saturday, as September 9 is celebrated in North Korea as the anniversary of its founding.

North Korea has carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests in recent months, all of which are considered to be in violation with the UN Security Council resolutions. The most recent ballistic missile was launched by Pyongyang on August 29.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Report: S Korean Intelligence Says N Korea Finished Preparations for New Nuclear Test

South Korea's National Intelligence Service reported Monday that North Korea had completed preparations for a new nuclear test and would possibly carry it out during the US-South Korean drills.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Monday that North Korea has completed preparations for another nuclear test at its Punggye-ri test site, adding that Pyongyang was likely to launch a ballistic missile during the ongoing US-South Korean Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) military drills or on September 9 to commemorate the anniversary of its state's foundation.

"Preparations for the nuclear test have been completed at the second and third tunnels [of Punggye-ri]," the intelligence service's representative told a parliamentary briefing, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

News Report: South Korea Disputes North's Claim of Long-Range Missile Test

Hwasong-14 Ballistic Missile

South Korea's intelligence agency is casting doubt on North Korea's boasts that it carried out a test launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, according to a South Korean lawmaker.

The North said it launched the Hwasong-14 last Tuesday from a mobile launcher from an airport near its border with China, complete with a re-entry vehicle that would allow it to be equipped with a nuclear warhead. U.S. military experts estimated the missile had a range of 5,500 kilometers, putting parts of the northwestern United States at risk of a nuclear attack.

But South Korean Representative Yi Wan-young, a member of the parliament's intelligence committee, told reporters the National Intelligence Service has not been able to confirm that Pyongyang has developed the technology to build an ICBM, given that it does not have any facilities to test re-entry procedures.

Yi also said the agency had not detected any unusual activity at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

This story first appeared on Voice of America & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: N. Korea yet to obtain missile re-entry technology - spy agency

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has yet to fully secure the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as it remains unknown whether the country's recently fired ballistic missile successfully re-entered the atmosphere, lawmakers said Tuesday quoting the spy agency.

On July 4, North Korea fired a ballistic missile called Hwasong-14 which reached an altitude of 2,802 kilometers and flew 933 km for 39 minutes. The North touted it as the country's first successful ICBM launch.

But South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) concluded that the latest missile still lacked re-entry technology although it flew as far as an ICBM does, Rep. Yi Wan-young of the Liberty Korea Party and Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party said following the spy agency's parliamentary report on the July 4 launch.

"Although North Korea claimed that (the missile's) heat resistance was verified, whether it re-entered (the atmosphere safely) was not confirmed and the country has no relevant test facility, making it look like it has not secured the technology," the NIS was quoted as reporting to the parliamentary intelligence committee.

North Korea may have not attained the technology to guide a warhead precisely to a target either -- another key ICBM technology -- given that the re-entry technique normally needs to be secured before that, according to the lawmakers.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: S. Korea's spy agency launches reform committee

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's spy agency on Monday launched an in-house reform committee to head its efforts to insulate itself from politics and regain public trust.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) committee set up two task forces under its wing each tasked with probing the agency's illegal involvement in domestic politics and overhauling its organizations, it said.

The reform of the NIS was one of President Moon Jae-in's election pledges. Moon seeks to prohibit the spy agency from meddling in internal politics and make it focus on overseas operations.

On June 1, new NIS Director Suh Hoon ordered a ban on domestic intelligence operations to gather information on government ministries, media and other organizations.

"The launch of the committee will be a historic starting point for the NIS to be reborn," Suh said in a statement.

The move is aimed at regaining public confidence and rebuilding itself as a credible intelligence agency, it said.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: North Korean Supreme Leader Paranoid About Navy SEAL Assassination – Spy Agency

SEAL Team 5 conducts an exercise in a
Combat Rubber Raiding Craft in 2000
(Image: Wiki Commons)

If you’ve been thinking you haven’t seen much of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, you’re right. The 33-year-old is apparently so afraid of being assassinated that he’s cut way back on public appearances, according to South Korea’s top espionage agency – making his latest meeting with former NBA star Dennis Rodman extra precious.

Kim has changed his traveling routines, assigned his top commanders to probe possible ‘decapitation operations’ and even given up cruising around in his own Mercedes-Benz over fear of giving shadowy assassins the opportunity they’re apparently waiting for, a South Korean parliamentarian told the Korea Times following a briefing with the National Intelligence Service (NIS). 

“Kim is engrossed with collecting information about the ‘decapitation operation’ through his intelligence agencies,” lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo of the Liberty Party of Korea said following Thursday’s briefing.

News Story: Moon's policy planning panel calls for sweeping reform of spy agency

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in's policy planning advisory panel on Wednesday called for a wholesale reform of the country's spy agency long suspected of meddling in politics to support the ruling elites.

The State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee received a policy briefing from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), during which it stressed the need to revamp the agency's overall operations, including its management of budgets, personnel and policy divisions.

"Today, we will strongly call for reform and keep on checking it," Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party, a senior member of the committee's subpanel in charge of security affairs, told reporters.

"There are more than 100 things such as personnel, organizational structure and budgets ... We will check each and every one of them," he added.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: CIA's New Korea Mission Center Tries to Fathom 'Unpredictable' Kim Jong-un

The US is "frightened" by the unpredictability of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the CIA's new Korea Mission Center is an attempt to more efficiently gather intelligence about him, Professor Alexander Kubyshkin of St Petersburg State University told Radio Sputnik.

On Wednesday, the CIA stepped up its battle against North Korea with the establishment of a "Korea Mission Center" that will combine resources, capabilities and authorities from across the agency and direct them at Pyongyang.

"Creating the Korea Mission Center allows us to more purposefully integrate and direct CIA efforts against the serious threats to the United States and its allies emanating from North Korea. It also reflects the dynamism and agility that the CIA brings to evolving national security challenges," CIA Director Mike Pompeo stated.

Professor Alexander Kubyshkin of St Petersburg State University told Radio Sputnik that the creation of the center is a reflection of US intentions in the region.

News Story: NKorea might meet with US; Wants extradition of SK's spy chief

A senior North Korean diplomat said Saturday Pyongyang would be willing to hold talks with the United States if the conditions are right.

Choe Son-Hui, head of the foreign ministry's North America bureau, told reporters at Beijing's international airport that her country "will hold dialogue under right conditions" with President Donald Trump's administration.

She spoke as she was returning home from Oslo, where she met with US academics and former US officials including Thomas Pickering, former US envoy to the UN, and Robert Einhorn, the State Department's former special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, Seoul's Yonhap news agency said.

The meeting took place amid a let-up in military tensions on the Korean peninsula after concerns over a fresh nuclear test by the North aimed to mark high-profile anniversaries in April failed to materialise.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: CIA, Seoul Paid Hit-Man $300K to Kill North Korea's Leader, Ambassador Claims

The US and South Korean intelligence agencies handed over about 300,000 dollars to 'Kim', a North Korean citizen, to stage an alleged plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, the country's ambassador to Russia said.

Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on Friday, North Korean Ambassador to Russia Kim Hyun Joong claimed that the US and South Korean intelligence agencies had handed over about 300,000 US dollars to 'Kim', a North Korean citizen, to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Hyun Joong declined to reveal the full name of the failed hit-man, who was allegedly recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) in June 2014, when he worked at a logging enterprise in Russia's Khabarovsk Territory.