Category: North Korea

China to Curb North Korean Money Laundering


Chinese regulators appear to have issued a warning to North Korean banks, cautioning them to operate within their legal boundaries or risk harsh penalties from Beijing.

According to a report by Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, Tanchon Commercial Bank, Korea Kwangson Banking Corp, Korea Daesong Bank and Golden Triangle Bank have received notices from the China Banking Regulatory Commission ordering them to conduct business according to their permits.

China Agrees With US On North Korea Sanctions


The United States and China have reached an agreement for a new round of “tough” sanctions against North Korea, underlining Beijing’s deepening frustrations with Pyongyang after a third nuclear test last month.

According to China’s U.N. ambassador, Li Baodong, the U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Thursday on a draft sanctions resolution, which was agreed to by Washington and Beijing after three weeks of negotiations.

North Korea’s Brilliant Bluff – Why Kim Still Holds All The Trump Cards: George Friedman


For years, North Korea has been using nuclear tests as an existential ‘threat’ against its neighbours and the United States. Yet despite the nation’s weak economy and technologically inferior military, successive leaders have somehow managed to manoeuvre themselves into powerful bargaining positions with the world’s superpowers.

The Time To Re-Engage North Korea Is Now: Dan Steinbock


In the West, North Korea’s recent missile launch has been framed as still another example of nuclear blackmail. The launch, the counter-productive international sanctions, the mounting nuclear threats and Kim Jong-un’s call for “radical turn” suggest a new diplomatic opportunity for Washington and Beijing alike and it should be seized now.

On December 12, North Korea launched its Unha-3 rocket, which Pyongyang sees as part of its peaceful space program. The previous efforts in February 2009 and April 2012 had been unsuccessful.

North Korean Leader Calls For “Radical” Economic Shift, Improved Ties With South


In a rare New Year’s Day address broadcasted on state television, North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-Un vowed on Tuesday to make a “radical turnaround” for his country’s economic policies in 2013; pledging also to improve relations with their southern compatriots, as part of a longer term view towards reunification.

North Korea To Embark On Major Agricultural Reform: Report


North Korean leaders are likely to discuss major economic reforms, including a plan to allow farmers to keep up to half of their agricultural produce, during a meeting of the Supreme Peoples’ Assembly on Tuesday, told an unnamed source to Reuters this week.

Japan and North Korea Hold First Talks in 4 Years


Japanese and North Korean officials meet for the first time in four years today, a latest sign of a thaw in the traditionally frosty relations between the two countries.

The talks are being held in Beijing, North Korea’s closest ally and biggest aid donor.

Related News: China Sees “Great Potential” in Economic Cooperation with North Korea

North Korea Plans to Launch ‘Satellite’ To Mark Birth Anniversary of Its Founder


North Korea has said it will launch a long-range rocket carrying a satellite to mark the 100th birth anniversary of its late founder President Kim Il Sung.

However, the announcement has drawn sharp criticism from the West and its South Korean neighbours who cite the UN Security Council’s resolutions prohibiting the North from any nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

[quote] Last month, Pyongyang had agreed to suspend its long-range missile tests in exchange for food aid from the United States. [/quote]

Wikileaks Confirms EW Korea Argument re Refugees as Key


While we’re not overwhelmed by the whole Wikileaks “thing”, 

a subject on which we’ll have a Feature shortly,

it IS nevertheless interesting that, re North Korea — 

dubbed by people in the region as “The Black Hole” —

the argument we made yesterday — re the centrality for China of 

avoiding a flood of hungry, jobless refugees coming across international borders,

North Korean Nuclear Tensions After Artillery Attack On Southern Island


There have been reports that North Korea and South Korea have traded artillery fire across the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) to the west of the peninsula in the Yellow Sea.

At this point, details are still sketchy. South Korean news reports have reported that around 2:30 p.m. local time, North Korean artillery shells began landing in the waters around Yeonpyeongdo, one of the South Korean-controlled islands just south of the NLL.