News Report: ‘Tame' Trump - 4.7 Million North Koreans Reportedly Ready to Volunteer for War

Turns out Kim Jong-un wasn't joking around when he said the DPRK would "tame [US President Donald Trump] with fire" last week.

According to Rodong Sinmun, a North Korean outlet, an estimated 4.7 million students and workers indicated they would volunteer to join or re-enlist in the Korean People's Army in the hopes of countering US forces.

Included in the estimates are some 1.22 million women, the outlet reported Thursday.

Kim's latest move backs up a statement he issued last week vowing to take the "highest-level" of actions in response to Trump's United Nations speech, Yonhap News reported.

News Report: Latest US Sanctions on North Korea Will Result in Full Trade Embargo

Eunjung Cho, Jenny Lee

WASHINGTON — The latest executive order signed by President Donald Trump would, in effect, amount to a full trade and financial embargo, squeezing all the revenue channels North Korea maintains to finance its weapons programs, a former senior counterterrorism official said.

On Sept. 21, less than two weeks after the U.N. Security Council approved new sanctions, Trump turned up the heat on the Kim Jong Un regime with an executive order that widens U.S. authority to sanction any bank and company that finance or facilitate trade with the communist country or any individual involved in the North Korean industries, ports and trade.

“To prevent sanctions evasion, the order also includes measures designed to disrupt critical North Korean shipping and trade networks,” said Trump, in reference to a 180-day ban on ships that have visited North Korea or have been involved in a ship-to-ship transfer with a vessel that has visited North Korea from entering the United States. “For much too long, North Korea has been allowed to abuse the international financial system to facilitate funding for its nuclear weapons and missile programs.”

News Report: North Korea Claims US Has Declared War

Margaret Besheer

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Monday the United States has declared war on his country and Pyongyang would take counter-actions if threatened, including shooting down American war planes in the region.

Ri directly linked U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments Saturday night on social media platform Twitter to the threat.

In a tweet late Saturday responding to Ri’s United Nations General Assembly speech earlier in the day, Trump wrote: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!”

On Monday, North Korea's foreign minister responded:

“Given the fact that this comes from someone who is currently holding the seat of United States presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war," Ri told reporters outside his New York hotel. "All the member states participating in the United Nations and the whole world should clearly remember that it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country."

The North Korean foreign minister added, "we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers, even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” he warned.

News Story: White House says U.S. has not declared war on DPRK

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States has not declared war on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the White House said on Monday, in response to remarks of the DPRK's top diplomat.

"Last weekend, Trump claimed that our leadership wouldn't be around much longer. He declared a war on our country," Ri Yong-ho, the DPRK foreign minister, told reporters earlier in New York.

"The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country," Ri said, referring to Trump's tweet message on Saturday.

In response, the White House denied that the United States had declared war on Pyongyang.

"We have not declared war on North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd," White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told a regular briefing in Washington.

"Our goal is still the same. We continue to seek the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," she said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test in Pacific

Brian Padden

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea indicated it may soon test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean after the country’s leader Kim Jong Un warned he would match U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatening words and new sanctions with equally provocative action.

The North Korean leader responded Friday to Trump’s United Nations address this week, when the U.S. leader referred to Kim as a “Rocket Man” on a suicide mission, called the government in Pyongyang a “depraved regime,” and said if forced to defend itself or its allies, the Untied States will “totally destroy North Korea.”

In a statement directly attributed to the North Korean leader, Kim on Friday said Trump displayed “mentally deranged behavior” with his threat to destroy a sovereign nation. He called the U.S. president a “rogue and a gangster,” and promised to answer Trump’s insults with the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.”

“Action is the best option in treating the dotard who, hard of hearing, is uttering only what he wants to say,” said Kim in statement that was released by the North Korean state news agency KCNA. The agency released a photo of the North Korean leader reading the statement.

News Report: US Strategic Command - We Assume North Korea Has Nuclear ICBM

North Korea's Hwasong-14 Ballistic Missile

North Korea’s nuclear program is on the verge of developing accurate nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike the US mainland, according to the commander of US Strategic Command.

Air Force General John Hyten spoke at a Wednesday forum held by the Hudson Institute, a right-wing think tank whose stated goal is to promote "global security, prosperity and freedom." Hyten, whose background is in military engineering and space warfare, said that the United States must "look at [the ICBM] capability of North Korea as a matter of when, not if."

Pyongyang has struggled with the problem of a guidance system that survives orbital re-entry, one of the most challenging aspects of ICBMs. Nuclear warheads are very dense and heavy, and the heat of re-entry can warp the missile and render it totally inaccurate.

But Hyten cautioned that Pyongyang won't be delayed for long. "If you're going down that path, you'll eventually figure it out. You will. So we have to assume, and as commander of Strategic Command I have to assume, that they have the bomb and they will have the capability to deploy it on an ICBM," Hyten said. "And I have to figure out how to respond if asked by the president of the United States."

News Story: Trump, McMaster warn N. Korea of military options

H.R. McMaster (Image: Wiki Commons)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- The United States has not ruled out military options against North Korea, President Donald Trump's national security adviser said Friday, after Pyongyang launched another missile over Japan.

Those options are "not only effective but overwhelming," Trump added for his part, after reviewing a military base near Washington.

North Korea launched what appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile over northern Japan early Friday (local time), defying international calls to halt its provocations. Pyongyang fired a missile on a similar trajectory less than three weeks ago.

Trump's adviser, H.R. McMaster, told a press briefing at the White House that there is a military option to deal with the regime.

"It's not what we would prefer to do, so what we have to do is call on all nations, call on everyone to do everything we can to address this global problem short of war," he said, flanked by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

North Korea, according to McMaster, is "one of the world's most urgent and dangerous security problems."

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: US Requests UN Sanctions Vote on North Korea

The United States formally requested a vote of the U.N. Security Council on Monday of a draft resolution to establish new sanctions against North Korea, according to a statement by the U.S. mission, released late Friday.

“The United States informed the U.N. Security Council that it intends to call a meeting to vote on a draft resolution to establish additional sanctions on North Korea on Monday, September 11,” a statement read.

Draft of sanctions

The draft, obtained by VOA, calls for a ban on the sale of oil, as well as refined petroleum products and natural gas liquids to North Korea.

Pyongyang imports nearly all of its oil and gas from China, and without it, experts say, the economy would quickly be strangled.

The U.S. draft also aims to cut off exports of North Korean textiles, which account for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

It also seeks to tighten restrictions on North Korea’s ability to send its citizens to work in foreign countries, where they often are required to send their salaries home to the government.

News Story: DPRK rejects UNSC statement condemning latest missile test firing

PYONGYANG, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday rejected the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidential statement condemning its latest test firing of a medium-range ballistic missile.

A DPRK foreign ministry spokesman said the Pyongyang "categorically" rejected the UNSC's presidential statement.

"We had already warned the United States that we would be closely monitoring its conduct. The intermediate-range strategic ballistic rocket launching drill carried out by the Strategic Force of the KPA (Korean People's Army) this time is only a curtain raiser to the resolute countermeasures to be taken against the United States, as it responded to our warning by waging the belligerent Ulji Freedom Guardian joint drills," said the spokesman.

The spokesman said by holding the joint drills, the United States "had denied the DPRK's proactive measures to defuse the extreme tension and acted with imprudence."

The DPRK on Tuesday conducted a medium-range ballistic missile test firing from Pyongyang, in which the missile flew 2,700 km with an altitude of 550 km across northern Japan and hit its targeted waters in the north Pacific, calling it a prelude to further missile strikes in the Pacific theater against U.S. targets.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: China says N. Korea tensions reached 'tipping point'

China warned that tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached "tipping point" after North Korea Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, but said the United States and South Korea are partly to blame.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged all sides to avoid provocations and repeated Beijing's call for the North to suspend missile tests in return for a halt to US-South Korean military exercises.

The situation is "now at a tipping point approaching a crisis. At the same time there is an opportunity to reopen peace talks," Hua told a regular news briefing.

"We hope relevant parties can consider how we can de-escalate the situation on the peninsula and realise peace and stability on the peninsula," she added.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Experts say negotiation track still best solution to Korean nuclear issue

by Yang Shilong

NEW YORK, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The best solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is still a "negotiation track" as no parties involved can afford a bloody and costly war, experts said.

"The U.S. administration should be in consultation now with Seoul and Tokyo as to what the steps should be after the exercises conclude," said Jenny Town, Assistant Director of the U.S.-Korea Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, in a recent interview via email with Xinhua on the heightened tension of the peninsula.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched three missiles on Saturday, days after the United States and South Korea began their joint annual drills, which Pyongyang deemed as a provocation.

"Can we come up with a coordinated strategy forward, that incorporates the U.S. and our allies' interests, and moves us away from this cycle of escalation?" Town asked.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Most Americans say U.S. should not threaten DPRK with military action - poll

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Americans say that the United States should not threaten the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with military action, according to a new poll.

Nearly six in ten Americans say that the United States should not threaten the DPRK with military action, while 33 percent say that military threats should be issued toward the DPRK, said the CBS News poll released early this week.

Opinions differ largely by party, the poll also found, with 82 percent od Democrats saying the United States should not and 63 percent of Republicans saying the United States should threaten with military action.

However, if the United States fails in its effort to solve the DPRK nuclear issue diplomatically, 58 percent of Americans say that they would approve of military action against the DPRK.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: DPRK condemns U.S. VP's attempt to turn LatAm against Pyongyang

PYONGYANG, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday condemned U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's pressure on some Latin American countries to break ties with Pyongyang, saying this is another example of U.S. interference into other countries' internal affairs.

"This was not the first time for the U.S. to urge the countries which have friendly and cooperative relations with the DPRK to sever the diplomatic and economic relations with it," the DPRK official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs as saying.

On Wednesday, Pence called several Latin American countries to join U.S. efforts to isolate the DPRK.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Tillerson - U.S. still interested in talks with N. Korea

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

By Lee Haye-ah

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- The United States continues to be interested in dialogue with North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday, as the two sides appeared to tamp down escalating tensions over the regime's nuclear and missile programs.

Tillerson made clear, however, that the ball is in North Korea's court.

"We continue to be interested in finding a way to get to a dialogue but that's up to him," he told reporters at the State Department, referring to the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, after announcing the release of a new religious freedom report.

He did not go into details, but the secretary has previously said the North could signal a willingness to hold talks on its denuclearization by stopping missile tests.

Tensions flared last week after Pyongyang threatened to fire four intermediate-range ballistic missiles towards the U.S. territory of Guam. Kim suspended that plan early Tuesday, saying he would watch Washington's behavior "a little more."

"I have no response to his decisions at all at this time," Tillerson said.

North Korea conducted two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July, sharply increasing tensions in an already volatile region.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: Moon vows more diplomatic efforts to denuclearize N. Korea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that the country will expand its diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve North Korea's nuclear and missile issues, vowing to prevent a war from breaking out on the Korean Peninsula.

"The government will prevent a war at all cost. We must peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue no matter how many ups and downs there are," Moon said in a ceremony marking the 72nd anniversary of the country's liberation from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule.

"The government will further step up its diplomatic efforts to make sure the international community's principle of peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue will not waiver," he added.

Moon's remarks come amid escalating tension between the United States and the North that many here believe may lead to the outbreak of armed conflict if not an all-out war.

Pyongyang says it is considering staging a missile exercise around the U.S.-controlled island of Guam that is viewed as a clear and direct threat to the United States.

Washington has warned that it can move to counter Pyongyang's threats militarily, with U.S. President Donald Trump going a step further saying the option to use force is "locked and loaded" and ready for implementation.

Moon apparently sought to calm both sides, saying no military action should take place without Seoul's consent.

"Military action on the Korean Peninsula can only be decided by the Republic of Korea and no one may decide to take military action without the consent of the Republic of Korea," Moon said, referring to his country by its official name.

Still, the South Korean leader said his country will also enhance its own defense capabilities to ensure peace.

"At the same time, we will keep our doors open for military dialogue to make sure the military tension between the South and the North will not worsen," the president said.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: German FM warns against escalation of U.S.-DPRK war of words

BERLIN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned Sunday that the provocations between Washington and Pyongyang could escalate to a military conflict.

"I am really concerned that the rhetorical escalations and mutual upheaval would end up in a military conflict," Gabriel said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag, a leading Sunday newspaper in Germany.

The nuclear and missile program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a serious threat to global peace, far beyond the Korean Peninsula and the region, added Gabriel.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Philippines rejects US call for North Korea expulsion

By Audrey Morallo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is not keen on expelling North Korea from a regional security forum, bucking the call of its traditional ally the US for Pyongyang to be further isolated on the international stage.

The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said that the ASEAN Regional Forum was the only venue where the international community, including Southeast Asian countries, could tell North Korea its concerns over its missile tests and nuclear program.

The ARF is also the only venue, aside from the United Nations, where North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, the US, the European Union and ASEAN are at the same table to discuss regional security issues, according to DFA spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar.

"The ARF is a forum. We do not have expulsion provisions just like Article 50 of the European Union," the DFA spokesperson said, essentially rejecting calls from the US to remove North Korea from the regional security forum to be held in Manila on Monday.

He added that it was for the North Koreans to determine if they would leave the ARF which, Bolivar said, does not have "hard and fast rules" on members’ exits.

On Monday, it was reported that American diplomats were seeking ways to exclude North Korea from the ARF, which has conflict-free provisions and groups the US, North Korea and 25 other states.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: New sanction deal reached in US congress

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. President Donald Trump is facing an impending showdown as the House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday reached a deal on sanctions against Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"I am glad to announce that we have reached an agreement that will allow us to send sanctions legislation to the president's desk," said Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House two days ago, which will slap tougher sanctions on the three countries, followed by a day of tweaking and barbs within the Congress.

Congress voted 419-3 to pass the bill, achieving an overwhelming two-thirds majority, which means that the House could override a presidential veto.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: U.S. to ban Americans from travelling to DPRK

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said on Friday that American citizens will soon be banned from travelling to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The ban on all U.S. citizens' use of a passport to travel to, through or in the DPRK resulted from "mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention" of Americans there, said State Department spokesman Heather Nauert in a statement to Xinhua.

According to Nauert, the ban was expected to be formally declared next week and would take effect 30 days after the formal declaration.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: DPRK's ICBM test doesn't bring U.S. closer to war - Pentagon chief

North Korea's Hwasong-14 Ballistic Missile

WASHINGTON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday that the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) does not bring the United States and the DPRK "closer to war."

"I do not believe this capability in itself brings us closer to war because the president's been very clear, the secretary of State's been very clear, that we are leading with diplomatic and economic efforts," said Mattis to reporters at the Pentagon.

While stressing that the United States remains "in a diplomatic effort engaging allies and partner nations across the board," Mattis said that the U.S. military stands ready to provide options if they are necessary.

Read the full story at Xinhua