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China deported ‘large number’ of North Korean defectors – Seoul

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South Korea says China has forcibly repatriated a “large number” of North Korean defectors.

This follows recent reports from human rights groups claiming that as many as 600 North Koreans have been sent back.

Seoul said on Friday that the reports appear to be true, but did not confirm the exact number who were repatriated.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the defectors, mostly women, could face imprisonment, sexual violence or even death once back in the North.

Sources in China have reported that hundreds were put on trucks and sent from their detention centres to North Korea on Monday night.

“The government’s position is that under no circumstances should North Koreans living abroad be forcibly repatriated against their will. Forced repatriation against one’s will is a violation of the international norm of non-refoulement,” said Koo Byoung-sam, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry.

Non-refoulement means refugees and asylum seekers should not be made to return to countries where they could face persecution.

Mr Koo said South Korea has protested to China and reiterated its position. He declined to give further details.

UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea Elizabeth Salmon estimates that some 2,000 North Koreans are being held in China for crossing the border without permission.

China does not recognise North Korean defectors as refugees. It claims they are “economic migrants” and has a policy of sending them back, despite requests from foreign governments and human rights organisations to reconsider its stance.

Asked about the reported repatriations, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday there was “no such thing as so-called ‘North Korean defectors’ in China”.

He said Beijing upholds a “responsible attitude” towards North Koreans who enter China illegally for economic reasons, according to Reuters.

Concerns about forced returns of North Korean defectors have grown since Pyongyang announced the reopening of its borders in August, said HRW. Since July 2021, it has confirmed the repatriation of almost 170 defectors in total.

HRW added that the latest returnees were at “grave risk” of being detained in forced labour camps. They also face the prospect of torture, enforced disappearance and execution.

The rights group urged governments around the world to “denounce China’s latest returns and call for an end to future forced returns”.

It also called on Beijing to either grant the North Korean defectors refugee status, or give them safe passage to South Korea or other countries.

Politics, World News

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un exchange letters pledging Russia and North Korea form closer ties against ‘hostile military forces’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the two countries will “expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts,” Pyongyang’s state media reported on Monday, August 15.

In a letter to Kim for Korea’s liberation day, Putin said closer ties would be in both countries’ interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the Northeastern Asian region, North Korea’s KCNA news agency said.

Kim also sent a letter to Putin saying Russian-North Korean friendship had been forged in World War II with victory over Japan, which had occupied the Korean peninsula.

The “strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity” between the two countries has since reached a new level is their common efforts to frustrate threats and provocations from hostile military forces,” Kim said in the letter.

KCNA did not identify the hostile forces, but it has typically used that term to refer to the United States and its allies.

Kim said cooperation between Russia and North Korea would grow based on an agreement signed in 2019 when he met with Putin.

North Korea in July recognised two Russian-backed breakaway “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine as independent states, and officials raised the prospect of North Korean workers being sent to the areas to help in construction and labour.

Ukraine, which is fighting against Russia’s invasion immediately severed relations with Pyongyang over the move.

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North Korea warns South it would use nuclear weapons if threatened

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North Korean autocratic leader, Kim Jong Un, has warned its southern neighbours that he could order the use of nuclear weapons in preemptive strikes if threatened, as he praised his top military officials over the staging of a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, on Friday.

Jong Un expressed his “firm will” to continue developing the country’s nuclear-armed military so that it could “preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

Kim who called his military officials to praise their work at the parade where North Korea showcased the biggest weapons in its military’s nuclear program, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the U.S. homeland and a variety of shorter-range solid-fuel missiles, insisted he would not hold back in ordering a strike on South Korea, Japan, or any country that poses a threat.

North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of weapons launches in 2022 alone, including its first full-range test of an ICBM since 2017, as Kim exploits a favorable environment to push forward its weapons program as the U.N. Security Council remains divided and effectively paralyzed over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

World News

North Korea fires first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile since 2017

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North Korea, Thursday, fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 2017, more than four years after its last release, as world leaders gather in Brussels, Belgium, for a security summit.

The suspected ICBM which flew to an altitude of 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) and to a distance of 1,080 kilometers (671 miles) with a flight time of 71 minutes before splashing down in waters off Japan’s western coast, was personally supervised by the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.

Thursday’s launch of the ICBM is North Korea’s 11th of the year, including one it fired on March 16, which was not a complete success.

However, analysts said the recent test could be the longest-range missile yet fired by North Korea, exceeding its last ICBM launch in November 2017.

Japan’s Vice Defense Minister Makoto Oniki told reporters shortly after that the missile’s altitude would suggest it is a “new type of ICBM,” a potential sign North Korea is closer to “developing weapons capable of targeting the United States.”

A statement by North Korean state media confirmed Oniki’s assessment, announcing the launch of a Hwasong-17 missile, the country’s newest known ICBM variant.

Meanwhile, the United States has joined its Asian allies, South Korea and Japan in strongly condemning the launch and called on North Korea to refrain from further destabilizing acts.

According to security analysts, the recent spate of North Korean missile tests would suggest Kim Jong Un is “attempting to show an increasingly turbulent world that Pyongyang remains a player in the struggle for power and influence.”

North Korea refuses to be ignored and may be trying to take advantage of global preoccupation with the war in Ukraine to force a fait accompli on its status as a nuclear weapons state,” Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told CNN.

In response to the ICBM test, South Korea’s military also launched several warning missiles for the first time since 2017, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a text sent to reporters.

“Our military is monitoring North Korean military’s movements and have confirmed that we have the capability and posture to accurately strike the origin location of the missile launch and command and support facilities any time North Korea launches a missile,” the JCS said.

World News

North Korean man sentenced to death for smuggling copies of Netflix’s ‘Squid Game

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The North Korean government has sentenced a citizen to death for smuggling copies of Netflix’s South Korean blockbuster series, Squid Game into the country.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that “Squid Game” was smuggled into the country from China through the use of a USB flash drive.

The news platform, Radio Free Asia (via Variety) revealed that authorities were led to the man after they caught high school students watching the series.

The smuggler faces death by firing squad, while the students involved in bringing “Squid Game” into school are facing prison sentences.

The South Korean series, Squid Game, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk is a survival thriller that follows a group of contestants who agree to participate in a mysterious survival game with a grand prize total of nearly $40 million.

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North Korea is hot and safe!!! READ.

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The North Korean leader said there had been no cases of Covid-19 in the country

North Korea held a rare night time military parade on Saturday, attended by leader Kim Jong-un.

The parade marked the 75th anniversary of the Worker’s Party.

North Korea typically uses its parades to show off new missiles and weaponry. Experts say intercontinental ballistic missiles were evident during Saturday morning’s event.

It is the country’s first parade in two years and comes just weeks ahead of the US presidential election.

North Korea had not featured ballistic missiles in its parades since President Donald Trump and Mr Kim held their first summit in 2018.

According to South Korea’s military, the parade was held before dawn on Saturday. It is not yet known why the event was held so early.

No foreign media or foreigners were allowed at the event, so analysts are relying on edited state-media footage which is being released to assess the parade.

During the parade

Images showed Mr Kim wearing a grey western-style suit, receiving flowers from children.

In a speech, he said the country would continue to “strengthen” its military for “self-defence and deterrence”.

He also said he was grateful that no North Koreans have contracted Covid-19.

“I wish good health to all the people around the world who are fighting the ills of this evil virus,” he said.

Despite claiming the country has no cases of coronavirus, Mr Kim continues to hold high-level meetings to ensure tight restrictions remain in place.

Analysts have said it is highly unlikely that North Korea has not experienced any coronavirus cases at all.

There was no sign of anyone wearing masks during the parade. However there were far fewer people involved in the event than usual, AFP news agency reports.

North Korea closed its borders to the outside world in January to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19 spreading from neighbouring China.

Image captionSatellite imagery had spotted people practicing for weeks

Authorities have reportedly issued “shoot-to-kill” orders along the border and created a buffer zone to stop anyone entering the country.

Last month Mr Kim apologised for the fatal shooting of a South Korean. South Korea said the 47-year-old man was found by troops while floating in the North’s waters. He was then shot dead and his body was set alight, according to Seoul.

For weeks, satellite imagery has shown thousands of people practicing for Saturday’s parade.

Foreign officials in Pyongyang had been told to avoid travelling through the city, going near the event venue and taking photos of the event.

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