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North Korea
South Korea’s new elected President Park Geun-hye spoke of a “grave” security challenge from North Korea but called for “trust-based dialogue”.
Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in in Wednesday’s election.
Speaking after a visit to honor late leaders, she pledged again to “open a new era” on the Korean Peninsula.
The North has not yet commented on her victory, but earlier labeled the Saenuri Party “maniacs”.
A dispatch from state media outlet KCNA, released on Wednesday, accused the party of escalating tension on the peninsula during President Lee Myung-bak’s time in office.
“All facts prove that the Saenuri Party is a group of traitors who stoop to any infamy to realize its ambition to seize power,” the story said.
The North launched a rocket that put a satellite into orbit last week, a move condemned by the international community as a banned test of missile technology.
Park Geun-hye, daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, will become South Korea’s first female president.
President Barack Obama congratulated her, calling South Korea “a lynchpin” of security in Asia.
“Our two nations share a global partnership with deep economic, security and people-to-people ties,” Barack Obama said in a statement.
South Korea’s new elected President Park Geun-hye spoke of a grave security challenge from North Korea but called for trust-based dialogue
The election race saw high turnout, with 75.8% of the electorate casting their ballots. With more than 99% of the vote counted, Park Geun-hye had won 51.6% of the vote to Moon Jae-in’s 48%.
Economic issues including welfare spending, job creation and inequality had dominated campaigning, while the national security focus fell on North Korea.
“The launch of North Korea’s long-range missile symbolically showed how grave the security situation facing us is,” Park Geun-hye said after a visit to the National Cemetery to pay her respects to former leaders.
“I will keep the promise I made to you to open a new era on the Korean peninsula, based on strong security and trust-based diplomacy.”
Relations with North Korea under Lee Myung-bak – who linked the provision of aid to progress on denuclearization – have been poor.
Park Geun-hye has promised greater engagement than her predecessor and the possible resumption of aid, but also a robust defence.
South Korea is also one of several nations currently seeking a strong response to North Korea’s recent rocket launch in the UN Security Council.
On the economy, the president-elect said she would work “to make the society share economic benefits without anybody isolated from the fruits of the economic growth”.
Economic growth has fallen to about 2% after several decades in which it averaged 5.5%.
And in an apparent nod to tensions with Japan over a territorial dispute and historical issues, she said she would work for ” greater reconciliation, co-operation and peace in North East Asia based on correct perception of history”.
Park Geun-hye’s defeated rival, former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, also offered his congratulations, saying he accepted the outcome of the polls.
“I feel so sorry and guilty that I have failed to accomplish my historic mission to open a new era of politics,” he said.
Park geun-hye’s campaign was both bolstered and dogged by the legacy of her father, who built South Korea’s economy while crushing dissent.
With the country having split almost equally along party lines, Park Geun-hye will have to work hard to improve relations with her detractors.
Who is Park Geun-hye?
- Daughter of former President Park Chung-hee
- Served as South Korea’s first lady after her mother was murdered by a North Korean gunman in 1974
- First elected to the national assembly in 1998; first bid for the presidency in 2007
- Has promised to redistribute wealth, reform big conglomerates and seek greater engagement with North Korea
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North Korea appears to be struggling to control Unha-3 satellite it put into orbit last week, a space expert has said.
The Unha-3 satellite was launched on board a long-range rocket on December 12, in defiance of sanctions and international warnings.
Pyongyang says the device, the size of a washing machine, is working and is beaming revolutionary songs to Earth.
But US astronomer Jonathan McDowell says it may be tumbling, and does not yet appear to be transmitting.
“Those two things are most consistent with the satellite being entirely inactive at this point,” he told the New York Times.
The satellite was designed to point towards Earth, but Jonathan McDowell said the light coming from it was repeatedly brightening and dimming, indicating it was not yet operating as intended.
“The preponderance of the evidence suggests that the satellite failed either during the ascent or shortly afterwards,” he said.
He told the Associated Press news agency that the device was still completing its orbits, and whether working or not, would remain in space for years to come.
North Korea appears to be struggling to control Unha-3 satellite it put into orbit last week
Stuart Eves, principal engineer at Surrey Satellite Technology in the UK, said it was too early to say that the satellite was dead.
He stressed that any spacecraft would be unstable immediately after launch, and that North Korea could be trying to rectify the problem.
“Depending on how they plan to stabilize it, they may have a problem,” he said.
“We take typically two or three days to get a satellite stable, and we know what we’re doing – whereas this is the North Koreans’ first try.
“It would be prudent to wait a little longer and monitor the tumble rate to see whether there’s any attempt to stabilize it.”
However, critics said the North Korean government was likely to view the launch as a success because the real purpose was to test rocket technology.
The UN Security Council condemned the launch, saying it violated two UN resolutions banning Pyongyang from missile tests, passed after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009
The launch last week was North Korea’s first successful use of a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into orbit – a similar launch in April failed just after take-off.
It appears to mark another step towards North Korea’s ability to field an intercontinental range ballistic missile.
Such a missile could be used to carry nuclear warheads.
The rocket was celebrated extravagantly in North Korea, with a mass rally held in the capital, Pyongyang.
State media credited the country’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, with the success, praising his “endless loyalty, bravery and wisdom”.
Pyongyang has said it will carry out further launches.
The US, South Korea and Japan want UN sanctions to be strengthened.
But China – North Korea’s main ally – says any UN response should be “conducive to peace” and avoid escalating tensions.
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North Korea marks one year since the death of Kim Jong-il in a huge ceremony, days after the country’s successful rocket launch.
New leader Kim Jong-un and his wife paid their respects at the memorial hall in Pyongyang which houses the late leader’s body.
Scientists who worked on last week’s long-range rocket launch also attended, state television said.
Kim Jong-il died on December 17, 2011; his death was announced two days later.
Leadership of the communist state – which remains unable to feed its people – passed to his third son Kim Jong-un.
Under his leadership North Korea has conducted two long-range rocket launches – actions condemned by the US and Pyongyang’s neighbors as banned tests of missile technology.
The launch in April failed, but last week’s attempt appears to have been a success, placing a satellite into orbit.
The US, Japan and South Korea are seeking a response in the UN Security Council, which banned North Korea from missile tests after nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
North Korea marks one year since the death of Kim Jong-il in a huge ceremony, days after the country’s successful rocket launch
North Korea held a mass rally on Friday to mark the rocket’s success and another on Sunday to commemorate Kim Jong-il.
On Monday, the country’s top leaders gathered at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of both Kim Jong-il and his father, national founder Kim Il-sung, lie.
The ceremony, broadcast live on state television, showed a series of officials bowing before statues of the two late leaders.
On Sunday ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam praised Kim Jong-il’s role in the rocket launch at the giant rally in a Pyongyang sports stadium.
“The successful launch of our Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite is also another victory achieved by our military and people, by faithfully following the teachings of the great leader [Kim Jong-il],” he said.
The UN Security Council last week condemned the launch and said it would continue consultations on an appropriate response.
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North Korean people have gathered in Pyongyang for a mass rally to celebrate Wednesday’s long-range rocket launch.
State television showed huge crowds cheering to mark the launch, which has been condemned by many nations as a banned test of missile technology.
South Korea, meanwhile, says its navy has retrieved debris from the rocket and will study it.
The first stage of the rocket fell west of the Korean peninsula. South Korea’s navy located it shortly afterwards.
It was North Korea’s first successful use of a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into orbit. North Korea said on Friday that more launches would go ahead.
The UN Security Council has condemned the launch, calling it a missile test that violated two UN resolutions banning Pyongyang from such activities passed after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
The US, South Korea and Japan – who believe North Korea is working to develop long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads – want action such as the strengthening of sanctions.
But China – North Korea’s main ally – says any UN response should be “conducive to peace” and avoid escalating tensions.
North Korean people have gathered in Pyongyang for a mass rally to celebrate Wednesday’s long-range rocket launch
In Pyongyang, state television showed pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the control room for the launch, and another of him celebrating with members of the military after it successfully went up.
It also broadcast images of ranks of North Koreans massed in central Pyongyang on Friday to listen to congratulatory speeches.
Kim Ki-nam, party secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, told crowds in Kim Il-sung Square that the satellite was “necessary for the building of our national economy”.
“This is an international trend and the justified independent right of our people,” he said.
“Any hostile forces cannot cling to the insistence that our satellite launch is a ballistic missile launch anymore.”
Ro Gwang-chol, vice-chief of the general staff of the army, said that every soldier in the North celebrated the moment and “have been full of delight and strong emotions”.
There was also much praise for the leader.
“This was achieved thanks to the Great Marshall Kim Jong-un’s endless loyalty, bravery and wisdom,” said Jang Chol, president of the State Academy of Sciences.
The rocket was launched from the North Korean coast early on Wednesday. South Korea says a fuel container was found where the first stage of the rocket separated.
“The Navy’s Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle retrieved the debris of the rocket’s first stage at 00:26 and was delivering it to the Second Command Fleet in Pyeongtaek,” Yonhap news agency quoted a defence ministry official as saying.
It would be “useful material for analysis”, another ministry spokesman said.
On Friday a statement from North Korea’s KCNA news agency said Kim Jong-un had called for more such launches.
North Korea “showed at home and abroad the unshakable stand… to exercise the country’s legitimate right to use space for peaceful purposes”, the KCNA statement quoted him as saying.
The US, meanwhile, said it was holding talks with key players on how to respond to the launch.
“We are working with both our six party partners and with our UN Security Council partners – China is in both of those categories – on a clear and credible response to what the North Koreans have done,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
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A North Korean animated female anchor appears exhilarated as she describes the rocket launch, which was reported by state media as the successful positioning of a weather satellite in space.
The video clip has been watched over 130,000 times on YouTube.
In the U.S., the White House labeled the rocket test a “highly provocative act that threatens regional security”.
North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket, named after the Korean word for “galaxy”, blasted off from the Sohae launch pad in Tongchang-ri, north-west of Pyongyang, yesterday.
Pride in the scientific advancement appeared to outweigh the fear of greater international punishment and isolation, with people dancing in the streets in Pyongyang as vans drove around announcing the news.
North Korean animated female anchor appears exhilarated as she describes the rocket launch, which was reported by state media as the successful positioning of a weather satellite in space
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North Korea has announced an apparently successful launch of a long-range rocket defying international warnings.
The rocket, launched at 09:49 local time, appears to have followed its planned trajectory, with stages falling in expected areas.
North Korea says a satellite has been placed in orbit; the US confirmed an object had been put into space.
South Korea, the US and Japan have condemned the launch as a disguised test of long-range missile technology.
A UN resolution passed in June 2009 after North Korea’s second nuclear test banned Pyongyang from ballistic missile tests.
The US called it a “highly provocative act that threatens regional security”, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was a “clear violation” of the UN resolution.
Japan has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Reports suggested this could take place later on Wednesday.
The launch comes a week ahead of the South Korean presidential election and roughly a year after the death of leader Kim Jong-il, on 17 December 2011.
The three-stage rocket was launched from a site on North Korea’s west coast.
“The launch of the second version of our Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite from the Sohae Space Centre… on December 12 was successful,” state news agency KCNA said.
“The satellite has entered the orbit as planned.”
The rocket had been scheduled to pass between the Korean peninsula and China, with a second stage coming down off the Philippines.
“The missile was tracked on a southerly azimuth [angle]. Initial indications are that the first stage fell into the Yellow Sea,” a North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) statement said.
“The second stage was assessed to fall into the Philippine Sea. Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit.”
North Korea has announced an apparently successful launch of a long-range rocket defying international warnings
The Japanese government, which put its armed forces on alert ahead of the launch, said the rocket had passed over parts of Okinawa prefecture, south of the Japanese mainland.
“The missile that North Korea calls a satellite passed over Okinawa around 10:01. We launched no interception,” a government statement quoted by AFP news agency said.
Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris which infringed on its territory, deploying naval vessels and land-based missile interceptors.
Its top government spokesman called the launch “extremely regrettable” and something that Japan “cannot tolerate”.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, called an emergency meeting of his top advisers. His foreign minister said the government strongly condemned the launch.
The US called the launch another “example of North Korea’s pattern of irresponsible behavior”.
In China – which is North Korea’s closest ally – Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei expressed “regret” at the launch. A commentary from state-run Xinhua news agency called on all parties to remain “cool headed” and engage in “trust-building measures”.
North Korea had said two days ago that the launch could be delayed because of a technical problem, extending the window until December 29th.
South Korea, the US and other nations had urged North Korea not to go ahead, warning that it would constitute a test of long-range missile technology banned by the UN.
Washington and its allies say the rocket launches represent banned missile tests because the basic technology is the same.
North Korea is believed to be working on the development of a long-range missile capable of reaching the west coast of the US mainland.
It has not previously successfully launched a three-stage rocket. Its most recent test, in April 2012, ended in failure, when the rocket flew for only a few minutes before exploding and crashing into the sea west of the Korean peninsula.
The closed communist nation has also carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009. International talks on ending its nuclear ambitions have been stalled for several years.
Officials fear it could be working towards a missile on which a nuclear warhead could be mounted – but it is not thought to have fully developed either the missile or the warheads yet.
North Korea’s rocket launches
- Dec 2012: North Korea launches three-stage rocket, says it successfully put a satellite into orbit; US defence officials confirm object in orbit
- Apr 2012: Three-stage rocket explodes just after take-off, falls into sea
- Apr 2009: Three-stage rocket launched; North Korea says it was a success, US says it failed and fell into the sea
- Jul 2006: North Korea test-fires a long-range Taepdong-2 missile; US said it failed shortly after take-off
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What is it like to surf the internet in North Korea, the most secretive country on Earth?
It seems that North Koreans begin to put their lives at risk just to connect to the outside world.
There’s a curious quirk on every official North Korean website. A piece of programming that must be included in each page’s code.
Its function is straightforward but important. Whenever leader Kim Jong-un is mentioned, his name is automatically displayed ever so slightly bigger than the text around it. Not by much, but just enough to make it stand out.
It’s just one facet of the “internet” in North Korea, a uniquely fascinating place.
In a country where citizens are intentionally starved of any information other than government propaganda, the internet too is dictated by the needs of the state – but there is an increasing belief that this control is beginning to wane.
“The government can no longer monitor all communications in the country, which it could do before,” explains Scott Thomas Bruce, an expert on North Korea who has written extensively about the country.
“That is a very significant development.”
There’s just one cybercafe in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang.
Anyone logging on at the cafe would find themselves at a computer that isn’t running Windows, but instead Red Star – North Korea’s own custom-built operating system, reportedly commissioned by the late Kim Jong-il himself.
A pre-installed readme file explains how important it is that the operating system correlates with the country’s values.
The computer’s calendar does not read 2012, but 101 – the number of years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country’s former leader whose political theories define policy decisions.
Normal citizens do not get access to the “internet”. That privilege is left to a select number in the country, known as elites, as well as some academics and scientists.
What they see is an internet that is so narrow and lacking in depth it resembles more an extravagant company intranet than the expansive global network those outside the country know it to be.
“The system they’ve set up is one that they can control and tear down if necessary,” explains Thomas Bruce.
The system is called Kwangmyong, and is administered by the country’s lone, state-run internet service provider.
According to Thomas Bruce, it consists mainly of “message boards, chat functions, and state sponsored media”. Unsurprisingly, there’s no sign of Twitter.
“For a lot of authoritarian governments who are looking at what is happening in the Middle East they’re saying rather than let in Facebook, and rather than let in Twitter, what if the government created a Facebook that we could monitor and control?”
The Red Star operating system runs an adapted version of the Firefox browser, named Naenara, a title it shares with the country’s online portal, which also has an English version.
North Koreans begin to put their lives at risk just to connect to the outside world
Typical sites include news services – such as the Voice of Korea – and the official organ of the state, the Rodong Sinmun.
But anyone producing content for this “internet” must be careful.
Reporters Without Borders – an organization which monitors global press freedom – said some North Korean “journalists” had found themselves sent to “revolutionization” camps, simply for a typo in their articles.
Beyond the Kwangmyong intranet, some North Koreans do have full, unfiltered internet access.
However, it is believed this is restricted to just a few dozen families – most directly related to Kim Jong-un himself.
North Korea’s reluctance to connect citizens to the web is counteracted by an acceptance that, as with trade, it needs to open itself up slightly if it is to continue to survive.
While China has its infamous “great firewall” – which blocks out the likes of Twitter – North Korea’s technology infrastructure is described as a “mosquito net”, allowing only the bare essentials both in and out.
And it’s with mobile that the mosquito net is most porous.
While there is an official mobile network, which does not offer data connections or international calls, North Koreans are increasingly getting hold of Chinese mobile phones, smuggled across the border.
The handsets generally work within about 10 km (6 miles) of the border between the two countries – but not without considerable danger.
“The level of risk that people are taking now would be unthinkable 20 years ago,” says Nat Kretchun, co-author of a groundbreaking report into the changing media environment in North Korea.
The paper, entitled A Quiet Opening, interviewed 420 adults who had defected from the country. Among their stories was a glimpse at the lengths people would go to use these illegal mobile phones.
“In order to make sure the mobile phone frequencies are not being tracked, I would fill up a washbasin with water and put the lid of a rice cooker over my head while I made a phone call,” said one interviewee, a 28-year-old man who left the country in November 2010.
“I don’t know if it worked or not, but I was never caught.”
While the man’s scientific methodology is questionable, his fear was certainly warranted.
“Possession of illegal cellphones is a very major crime,” explains Thomas Bruce.
“The government has actually bought sensor equipment to try and track down people who are using them.
“If you use them, you want to use them in a highly populated area, and you want to be using them for a short amount of time.”
During his leadership, Kim Jong-il would parade hundreds of tanks through the streets to show himself as a “military genius”.
Many observers say that his son, Kim Jong-un, must in contrast show himself to have an astute technological mind, bringing hi-tech enhancements to the lives of his citizens.
But each step on this path brings the people of North Korea something they’ve not had before – honest information, which can have a devastating effect on secretive nations.
“I don’t see an open door towards an Arab Spring coming that way any time soon,” Thomas Bruce says.
“But I do think that people are now expecting to have access to this technology – and that creates an environment of personal expectation that cannot be easily rolled back.”
North Korean jargon buster
Kwangmyong
This is North Korea’s intranet, a closed system that those lucky enough to have access to can browse. Among the content are news websites, messageboards and other chat functions. Only the “elites” – members of high social standing – are permitted to use it, as well as some scientists and academics.
Koryolink
Koryolink is the official North Korean mobile network. Administered by Egyptian firm Orascom, it boasts over one million subscribers. However, it is not possible to make international calls on the service, nor can users access mobile internet.
Naenara
Meaning My Country, Naenara is the name given to the main information portal on the North Korean intranet, as well as the specially designed version of the Mozilla Firefox browser.
Red Star OS
The Red Star operating system, used by computers in North Korea, is built on Linux, the popular open source software used by many in the wider world. Its introduction music is believed to be based on a classic Korean folk song, Arirang
A South Korean court has jailed a North Korean spy reportedly ordered to attack the eldest son of late leader Kim Jong-il, officials say.
The unidentified man, charged with falsely defecting so as to gather information, was jailed for four years.
The man had spent a decade in China tracking down North Korean defectors before coming to the South, the court said.
South Korean media also said he had admitted trying to organise a hit-and-run accident targeting Kim Jong-nam.
The South Korean court said that the 50-year-old man – who has a son who still lives in the North – became a spy after he was threatened by North Korea’s spy agency.
He defected to South Korea this year, citing poverty, but later told investigators that he was a spy.
Local media reports citing prosecutors say the man also admitted he had been told by North Korean authorities to attack Kim Jong-nam.
He reportedly went as far as hiring a taxi driver to run Kim Jong-nam over in 2010, but the plot went no further.
Kim Jong-nam is thought to have fallen out of favor with Kim Jong-il in 2001 after he was caught trying to sneak into Japan using a false passport
Kim Jong-nam is thought to have fallen out of favor with Kim Jong-il in 2001 after he was caught trying to sneak into Japan using a false passport. He told officials that he was planning to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Bypassed in favor of his youngest half-brother for succession, the eldest son of Kim Jong-il has maintained a low profile overseas. He was quoted by Japanese media in 2011 as saying he opposed ”dynastic succession”.
He was thought to have been living in Macau but media reports indicate he may have moved to Singapore.
The court said that it had taken the spy’s co-operation into consideration. But it said “stern punishment” was required given the extent to which he could have “greatly compromised the country”.
The court added that he “seriously violated human rights of North Korean defectors”, as he was trying to get them to return to their country.
North Korea plans to launch a long-range rocket between 10 and 22 December, KCNA news agency says.
The KCNA agency said the aim was to launch a satellite.
Previous – unsuccessful – launches have been criticized as breaches of a UN ban on North Korean ballistic missile tests.
The announcement is likely to increase tensions with North Korea’s neighbors, with South Korea expressing concern over Pyongyang’s announcement.
South Korean officials called the move a “grave provocation” and a “challenge to the international community”.
The atmosphere in South Korea is especially tense as the country prepares for a presidential election scheduled for 19 December.
North Korea’s most recent rocket launch, in April, was a failure.
The US, Japan and South Korea said the rocket flew only for a short time before breaking up and crashing into waters off the Korean peninsula.
North Korea plans a second long-range rocket launch between 10 and 22 December
Earlier this week South Korea halted a satellite launch minutes before take-off after problems were found during the final checks.
North Korean scientists and technicians had now “analyzed the mistakes” of the April launch, the Korean Committee for Space Technology said, via KCNA.
The rocket will be of the same Unha-3 variety as was used in the April test. It will be launched “southward” from the Sohae base near the Chinese border, KCNA said, implying it would be directed over the East China Sea.
The flight path had been chosen to avoid debris falling on neighboring countries, the agency said.
“Unha” is Korean for “galaxy”, and is the name given by North Korea to the space launcher version of its Taepodong-2 missile, which has an estimated range of 2,200km. The missile has not yet been successfully tested.
There had been recent speculation that North Korea would attempt another launch soon, with a UN Security Council committee on Thursday warning the country against such a move.
Saturday’s statement insisted the forthcoming launch would be for “peaceful purposes”.
The test will be the second to take place under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, who took over leadership of the country after the death of his father Kim Jong-il almost a year ago.
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North Korean historians claim they have unearthed a unicorn lair.
A report released by the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences claims that archaeologists discovered the lair of the mythical animal just outside a temple in the capital Pyongyang.
And, unsurprisingly, the lair – according to the report – means that Pyongyang was the focal point of an ancient, united Korea.
In what appears to be a suggestion of superiority over nearby enemies South Korea, the report says: “The discovery of the unicorn lair, associated with legend about King Tongmyong, proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of Ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom.”
The dubious report, released by the state news agency, says the lair clearly belonged to King Tongmyong, founder of the ancient Korean kingdom Koguryo.
It goes on to say: “A rectangular rock carved with words <<Unicorn Lair>> stands in front of the lair.
“The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392).
“The temple served as a relief palace for King Tongmyong, in which there is the lair of his unicorn.”
Jo Hui Sung, director of the Institute, told KCNA, the state news agency, that the findings is in keeping with the country’s history.
He said: “Korea’s history books deal with the unicorn, considered to be ridden by King Tongmyong, and its lair.
“The Sogyong [Pyongyang] chapter of the old book <<Koryo History>>,” said Ulmil Pavilion is on the top of Mt. Kumsu, with Yongmyong Temple, one of Pyongyang’s eight scenic spots, beneath it.
“The temple served as a relief palace for King Tongmyong, in which there is the lair of his unicorn.”
A report released by the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences claims that archaeologists discovered a unicorn lair outside a temple in the capital Pyongyang
The legend of unicorns is thought to have stemmed from European folklore, in which the animal resembles a white horse with a single horn.
Until the 19th century the beast, considered a symbol of purity and grace, was still thought to exist – even by academics and theologians.
But since then there has been little to suggest that there are lairs elsewhere in the world.
The unbelievable news does however follow a number of bizarre claims to come out of the country.
It has been suggested, however, that the release of the story could be in retaliation against a spoof North Korea related story which tricked a newspaper in China.
Written by satirical website The Onion, China’s Communist party newspaper, The People’s Daily, fell for claims that Kim Jong-un was named as the sexiest man alive.
OTHER UNUSUAL CLAIMS TO COME OUT OF NORTH KOREA
At the women’s World Cup of football in 2011 the North Koreans put their poor performance down to being struck by lightning. Five of their players later tested positive for steroids.
Most of the more unusual claims stem from former leader Kim Jong-il and his biographer.
According to the book he reportedly warned the public in North Korea that he could control the weather with his mood.
He also claimed his birth had been prophesied and was heralded with a double rainbow and a new star in the heavens.
Years late Kim Jong-il was apparently very busy during university writing no fewer than 1,500 books in three years and composing six operas.
But it wasn’t just the arts he took a keen interest in. Apparently, in his first and only ever round of golf he shot 38-under with 11 holes in one.
Satisfied with his performance, he reportedly immediately declared his retirement from the sport.
North Korea has been conducting tests at a rocket launch site, according to recent satellite images captured by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said its analysis of images “indicates that North Korea continues to develop long-range missiles”.
There had been at least two tests of rocket motors since a failed rocket launch in April, it said.
The 30 m (100 ft) rocket crashed into the sea shortly after take off.
Pyongyang said the launch was aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, but it was widely criticized by the US, South Korea and Japan as a banned test of long-range missile technology.
North Korea has been conducting tests at a rocket launch site, according to recent satellite images captured by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University
“Since the failed launch, the North has conducted at least two, and possibly more, tests of large rocket motors at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station, the most recent in mid-September 2012,” a report on the institute’s 38 North blog said.
The tests appear to have involved “liquid-fuelled, first stage engines” for either North Korea’s existing satellite launch vehicle, or a new long-range missile first seen during a military parade this year, the institute said.
There had also been indications of construction activity on the rocket site’s upper gantry platform “required for future launches of long-range rockets”, it said.
The report suggested North Korea could be planning test activities once both the US and South Korean presidential elections are finished. The South Korean poll takes place in December.
“Whether the testing of large rocket motors or construction at the launch pad are in preparation for such activities remains unclear at this point,” it said.
Advances in the country’s missile technology are watched carefully in both Seoul and Washington because of fears that North Korea could one day use long-range missiles to deliver nuclear weapons.
Ryugyong Hotel, the 105-storey building which dominates the skyline of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, may open next year, 26 years after construction began.
The pyramid-shaped building has become known as the “Hotel of Doom”.
Reto Witter, chief executive of the Kempinski group, which will manage the Ryugyong hotel, said only 150 rooms on the top floors would be used as a hotel.
Reto Wittwer said shops, restaurants and offices would eventually open on the lower levels.
Construction on the building began in 1987.
It is the 47th tallest building in the world, at 330 m, and has the fifth greatest number of floors, 105.
Ryugyong Hotel was scheduled to be completed in 1989 in time for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students.
But construction was abandoned in 1992 when North Korea suffered an economic crisis.
Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang may open in 2013, 26 years after construction began
Its hulking, unfinished presence has long been an embarrassment for the North Korean leadership, analysts say.
Ryugyong Hotel was voted “Worst Building in the History of Mankind” by Esquire magazine in 2008.
The American publication called it “hideously ugly, even by communist standards.”
There are reports of poor construction and the use of inferior materials.
A delegation from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea, which inspected the building almost 15 years ago, concluded it was beyond repair and its lift shafts crooked.
But in 2008 an Egyptian company, Orascom Telecom, which operates a mobile phone network in North Korea, began equipping the building.
It is reported to have spent $180 million on finishing the hotel’s facade.
Reto Wittwer said the hotel will “partially, probably” open for business next year.
But original plans for 3,000 hotel rooms and three revolving restaurants have been greatly scaled back.
Earlier this year, the Beijing-based company, Koryo Tours, which organizes trips to North Korea, was granted a rare glimpse inside the hotel.
Photos taken by the company showed a vast glass-covered lobby and atrium with tiers of bare concrete at its base, resembling a multi-storey car park.
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Ri Sol-ju, the young wife of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, has made her first public appearance in two months, bringing to an end what might have been a period of “home detention” for being too carefree.
Ri Sol-ju had been photographed earlier this year smiling and strolling about in a casual manner when accompanying her husband Kim Jong-un, the newly appointed leader of the secretive Stalinist state.
But then she disappeared from view, provoking speculation that she might be pregnant but more likely because she was not presenting the dour image promoted by her husband’s late father, Kim Jong-il.
Analysts say that despite the young Kim Jong-un’s appointment as supreme commander of the nation, he is still under the control of the military hierarchy who make sure he presents a rigid, authoritative image to the rest of the world.
That means that his wife must remain aloof and untouchable in the eyes of the masses, say North Korean experts.
But now Ri Sol-ju is back in the public eye and fuzzy TV pictures from North Korea show her enjoying the company of her husband at a football match and a musical concert on Monday.
According to the official KCNA news agency, the couple’s appearance at the concert “drew a thunderous cheer from the audience”.
The couple’s attendance also marked the first public appearance in two weeks by Kim Jong-un himself, raising speculation that he has been receiving behavioral advice from the military hierarchy.
Ri Sol-ju made her public appearance joining Kim Jong-un at a football match and a musical concert on Monday
South Korea’s intelligence agency is convinced that the sudden disappearance of Ri Sol-ju from state media since early September is because the nation’s elders had raised an issue over her casual and cheerful demeanor.
“The analysis has been that there was concern over breach of discipline [by Ri Sol-ju] among North Korean elders, plus the speculation of pregnancy,” reported South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, quoting the National Intelligence Service which had giving a closed-door briefing to parliament.
Photos taken at the concert showed Ri Sol-ju in a long cream coat and what appeared to be a thickening waistline, strengthening speculation that she is pregnant.
It was also being suggested Ri Sol-ju had been kept at home as a disciplinary measure because she had been seen in public not displaying a red lapel pin bearing the image, or images, of the two previous leaders.
All senior North Koreans and any working for the government must wear them.
A pin is not visible in the latest photos of Ri Sol-ju but she might be wearing it under her coat.
If Ri Sol-ju is pregnant and she gives birth to a son the Kim dynasty is assured.
If she has a girl, analysts say the hierarchy will insist she “tries again”.
The South Koreans have carefully studied photographs of Kim Jong-un and his wife, published over four pages in the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper. Facial expressions and the people who accompany the couple are all of vital importance to intelligence-gatherers.
It was last July that North Korea finally put an end to speculation about the young woman seen accompanying Kim Ri Sol-ju at numerous events in and around the capital, Pyongyang.
She was, said state media, his wife – and that announcements was seen as a slight lifting of the veil of mystery hiding events in the country.
But just as it seemed North Korea was lightening its hard, reclusive image, the temporary disappearance of Ri Sol-ju has left analysts wondering if anything has really changed there at all.
South Korean activists have sent propaganda leaflets to North Korea, a week after Pyongyang threatened military action over a similar launch.
The group floated 50,000 leaflets in several balloons from a park near the border town of Paju, watched by a heavy police presence.
Local residents trying to stop the move got into minor scuffles with activists.
Authorities prevented a similar launch last week after North Korea said it would respond with a “military strike”.
Residents in the area concerned that Pyongyang would carry out its threat gathered to protest against the release of the balloons.
“Paju residents can’t live properly due to worries. They come here way too frequently,” a local shop owner, Kim Bok-nam, told Reuters news agency.
”Last time the North warned to directly strike here, so we came to protest since we can’t tolerate it anymore.”
One of the activists, Choi Woo-won, dismissed the North’s warning as “empty threats”.
Activists – some of whom are defectors from North Korea – have sent leaflets on many past occasions. North Korea condemns the move but specific threats are rare.
Last week, however, Pyongyang threatened to fire on South Korean territory if activists went ahead with a launch.
South Korean authorities prevented the launch from taking place, as the military went into a state of alert and hundreds of residents were evacuated.
Tensions have been high on the Korean peninsula since the sinking of a South Korean navy ship in March 2010 which Seoul blamed on Pyongyang, and the shelling of a border island eight months later.
North and South Korea remain technically at war following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice. But North Korea has not fired on the Southern mainland since the end of the war.
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Kim Chol, a North Korean military officer, has been executed with a mortar shell blast for disrespecting late leader Kim Jong-il by drinking alcohol during the 100-day mourning period.
South Korean media claim Kim Chol, the secretive state’s former vice minister of the army, was forced to stand on a spot that had been targeted with a mortar on the orders of Kim Jong-un.
Kim Jong-un, who took over from his father after his death in December 2011, demanded Kim Chol was “obliterated”, with “no trace of him behind, down to his hair” in January.
It followed the North Korean regime’s decision to order its 25 million population to abstain from pleasurable activities –including drinking alcohol – in honor of Kim Jong-il.
As an initial crack down on pleasure, anyone found to be not showing extreme distress in the hours after the dictator’s death were dealt with severely by being sent to six months in labor camps, according to reports leaking from the Stalinist nation.
It was claimed that anyone who failed to turn up at organized mourning events within two days of the burial service were sent to a labor camp and punishment was also meted out to anyone who even made a mobile phone call out of the country.
But when the mourning period to mark Kim Jong-il’s burial was over and the strict “no pleasure” 100 days followed, anyone who raised a glass of alcohol was in danger of receiving a death sentence.
According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, Kim Chol was one of those who failed to resist the chance of having a drink.
Kim Chol has been executed for disrespecting late leader Kim Jong-il by drinking alcohol during the 100-day mourning period
And while Kim Chol was the most senior official reported to have been arrested and executed, the South Korea newspaper reporter that a number of other generals were shot after being found guilty of drinking and being involved in sex scandals.
In total, 14 senior party, government and military officials were said to have been “purged” on the direct orders of new leader Kim Jong-un.
It was claimed by sources outside the country that the mourning periods had created a “vicious atmosphere of fear” which have spilled over to daily life almost a year after Kim Jong-il’s death.
South Korean lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun told the Chosun Ilbo paper that the executions were probably not over.
“It seems that the purges will continue for the time being, as Kim Jong-un is tightening his grip on power,” he said.
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North Korea says it has missiles that can hit the United States mainland, in a statement two days after South Korea unveiled a missile deal with the US.
The North Korean statement said US bases in “Japan, Guam and the US mainland” were within its “scope of strike”.
It follows Seoul’s announcement on Sunday that it would almost triple the range of its own missile system.
Pyongyang is thought to be working on a long-range missile, but two recent rocket tests ended in failure.
North Korea’s neighbors said the failed rocket launches – in April 2009 and April 2012 – were tests related to the development of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile system.
The system, which analysts believe is intended to put the US mainland within striking range, has not yet been tested successfully.
North Korea routinely issues strong rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.
But the Communist state does possess an array of short- and medium-range missiles, as well as artillery pointed towards South Korea.
The statement, carried by state-run KCNA news agency and attributed to North Korea’s National Defence Commission, said Pyongyang would match any enemy “nuclear for nuclear, missile for missile”.
It added that the missile deal between the US and South Korea was “another conspiracy of the master and the stooge to push the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the extreme… and ignite a war”.
On Sunday, South Korea announced it had reached an agreement with the US on extending the range of its ballistic missiles.
Under a previous security deal with the US, it had been restricted to missiles with a range of 300 km (186 miles). The new deal extends that range to 800 km.
National Security Adviser Chun Yung-woo said the aim was to curb “military provocations by North Korea”.
The two Koreas remain technically at war following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice.
The US has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea and provides security guarantees for its ally.
South Korea has announced a deal with the US to almost triple the range of its ballistic missile system, saying this will counter the threat from North Korea.
The whole of the North, along with parts of China and Japan, will be within South Korea’s new 800 km range.
South Korea had been restricted to missiles with a range of 300 km under a previous security deal.
It was revised after North Korea tested a long-range rocket launch in April.
The US has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea and provides security guarantees for its ally.
A spokeswoman for President Lee Myung-bak said there was no imminent change of strategy, but the new agreement was a political symbol of the strong alliance with the US and a deterrent to Pyongyang.
“The biggest purpose of the revision is curbing military provocations by North Korea,” said another official, National Security Adviser Chun Yung-woo.
Under a 2001 accord, South Korea had been prevented from developing and deploying ballistic missiles with a range of more than 300 km (186 miles) because of concerns this could trigger a regional arms race.
The new deal puts North Korean military facilities which were previously out of range within reach, as well as parts of China and Japan.
It will also allow South Korea to triple the payload from 500 kg for missiles over shorter distances.
Correspondents say Seoul has for a long time argued for an extension of the range limit, but this took on greater urgency earlier this year.
In April, North Korea conducted a failed long-range rocket launch that it said was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit.
Critics said the launch was a disguised test of missile technology, banned under UN resolutions.
Three weeks ago, the US and Japan agreed to set up a second missile defence system on Japanese soil in response to the North Korean threat.
A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea across the two countries’ heavily armed border, South Korean officials have said.
The soldier said he shot dead two officers before crossing over just after noon on Saturday.
Correspondents say defections across the land border are rare, with the last soldier fleeing in October 2008.
More than 24,000 North Koreans have gone to the South in the last 60 years, mostly via China or SE Asia.
The defence ministry official said the soldier was in protective custody and was still being interrogated.
There has been no confirmation of the North Korean casualties and no unusual activity observed on the North Korean side of the border.
Pictures have emerged showing the inside of the 105-storey pyramid-shaped Ryugyong hotel that has been under construction in Pyongyang for 25 years.
North Korea began building the Ryugyong hotel in 1987, but construction was halted for 16 years when funds ran out.
Although work restarted in 2008, the hotel has become, for many, a symbol of North Korea’s thwarted ambitions.
The 105-storey pyramid-shaped Ryugyong hotel has been under construction in Pyongyang for 25 years
The tour company that took the pictures say the hotel is now due to open in two or three years time.
Few people have been allowed inside the notorious hotel, which has been variously dubbed the “The Hotel of Doom” or “The Phantom Hotel”.
When conceived, the Ryugyong was intended to communicate to the world an impression of North Korea’s burgeoning wealth.
Few people have been allowed inside the notorious hotel, which has been variously dubbed the “The Hotel of Doom”
But other economic priorities meant that the hotel had to be put to one side, and it remained untouched until a city-wide “beautification scheme” was introduced five years ago.
At that time, external construction was forecast to take until the end of 2010, with work on the inside being completed in 2012 at the earliest.
But the photo of the interior taken by Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based company that specializes in travel to North Korea, shows a vast concrete lobby with barriers around the edge of each floor.
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The South Korean navy has fired warning shots at North Korean fishing boats that crossed disputed borders in the Yellow Sea, reports say.
No shots hit the vessels which retreated, said an Associated Press report citing an unnamed official with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The official also said that no North Korean navy ships were involved.
The South Korean navy has fired warning shots at North Korean fishing boats that crossed disputed borders in the Yellow Sea
Skirmishes are common in the area claimed by both sides on the Korean peninsula.
A South Korean defence ministry spokesman told AFP news that there were six North Korean boats.
“Our naval patrol boats twice fired machine gun rounds at the fishing vessels. Afterwards the North Korean vessels retreated to their territory,” the unnamed official said.
Reports say this was the latest in a recent series of incidents involving North Korean fishing vessels entering South Korean waters across the disputed border.
A senior South Korean military official was quoted as saying that the military will ”promptly and sternly respond, without hesitation” if the boats continue to cross the border, in a Yonhap news agency report.
After almost 60 years, Coca-Cola is on sale again in Burma.
Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most recognized brands, so are there any countries where the drinks giant still remains unsold?
The company says it sells 1.8 billion servings of the drink every day. But for the last six decades, none has been in Burma.
That’s because of US trade sanctions on the military junta which ruled the country from 1962 to 2011.
Those sanctions were suspended a few months ago, as the country began to move towards democratic reforms.
But the company said on Monday its first delivery had arrived and local production would begin soon.
Coca-Cola’s entry into any country is a powerful symbol, says Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in Six Glasses.
“The moment Coca-Cola starts shipping is the moment you can say there might be real change going on here,” he says.
“Coca-Cola is the nearest thing to capitalism in a bottle.”
After almost 60 years, Coca-Cola is on sale again in Burma
Coca-Cola’s rival PepsiCo has also announced plans to resume sales in Burma.
There are now just two countries in the world where Coca-Cola cannot be bought or sold – Cuba and North Korea, both of which are under long-term US trade embargoes (Cuba since 1962 and North Korea since 1950).
Cuba was actually one of the first three countries outside the US to bottle Coke, in 1906.
But the company moved out as Fidel Castro’s government began seizing private assets in the 1960s, and has never returned.
In North Korea – the other Coca-Cola free zone – recent media reports suggested it was being sold in a restaurant in Pyongyang. But Coca-Cola says if any drinks are being sold there, they are being smuggled in on the black market, not via official channels.
The dark fizzy soda was created in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia. From the early days the Coca-Cola company looked to expand worldwide, and by the early 1900s it was bottling the drink in Asia and Europe.
But the big boost came as a result of World War II when Coca-Cola was provided to US troops overseas.
There were more than 60 military bottling plants for Coca-Cola around the world during the war, and locals got a taste for the drink too.
It became powerfully associated with American patriotism, says Tom Standage, and was seen as so crucial to the war effort that it was exempted from sugar rationing.
Dwight Eisenhower, at the time the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe, was said to be a particular fan and he ensured its availability in North Africa.
He also introduced the drink to top Soviet general, Georgy Zhukov, who asked if a special, colorless version – one that looked like vodka – could be made, and Coca-Cola duly obliged for a while, says Tom Standage.
These days Coca-Cola is regularly ranked as one of the top, if not the top, global brands.
“It has always been about the American dream,” says Bruce Webster, an independent branding consultant who has done work for the Coca-Cola company in the past.
But not all countries have embraced the American-ness that seems to be embodied by Coca-Cola.
It was the French who first coined the pejorative term “coca-colonisation” in the 1950s. Trucks were overturned and bottles smashed, says Tom Standage, as protesters saw the drink as a threat to French society.
During the Cold War, Coca-Cola became a symbol of capitalism and a faultline between capitalism and communism, says Bruce Webster.
It was not marketed in the former Soviet Union due to the fear that profits would go straight into communist government coffers, says Tom Standage.
Pepsi filled the gap and was widely sold.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, many East Germans bought Coca-Cola by the crate-load, says Tom Standage.
“Drinking Coca-Cola became a symbol of freedom.”
Other than the former Soviet Union, the main region that Coca-Cola has struggled in historically is the Middle East, largely due to a boycott implemented by the Arab League from 1968-1991, as a punishment for it selling in Israel.
Pepsi picked up a lot of the sales in the Middle East – and many local versions of the drink thrived.
Coca-Cola is not trying to get involved in politics, says Bruce Webster, but as a huge brand so closely associated with the US, it sometimes finds itself tangled up in politics, or singled out for criticism.
“The whole strength of the brand is plugging into a way of life that so many people wanted. As an ideology, it polarizes. And sometimes those associations become unattractive,” he says.
“America itself as brand is more tarnished now. People are more ambiguous towards it.”
In 2003, protesters in Thailand poured Coca-Cola onto the streets as a demonstration against the US-led invasion of Iraq, and sales were temporarily suspended, says Tom Standage.
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to ban Coca-Cola and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez recently urged people to drink locally-made fruit juice rather than drink Coca-Cola or Pepsi.
But 126 years after its birth, Coca-Cola is still pushing forward in terms of sales, with strong growth – especially, it says, in the emerging markets of India, China and Brazil.
Coca-Cola global expansion
• The first Coca-Cola was served in 1886 at a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia
• Canada, Cuba and Panama became the first countries outside the US to bottle it in 1906
• Coca-Cola expanded to Asia, opened a bottling plant in the Philippines in 1912, and then in Paris and Bordeaux in 1919
• By 1930 Coca-Cola was bottled in 27 countries around the world.
• By 1959, it was operating in over 100 countries
Source: Coca-Cola
The floods that hit parts of North Korea in recent weeks have killed 169 people and left 400 missing, the state news agency says, sharply revising earlier casualty figures.
The floods and heavy rain in late June and July have also made more than 212,000 people homeless, it says.
Some 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) of cropland were affected.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says it is sending emergency food aid to North Korea after it asked for aid.
The floods that hit parts of North Korea in recent weeks have killed 169 people and left 400 missing
Official media had previously reported 119 deaths in the floods.
On Friday, the WFP said the initial food assistance would provide flood victims with 400 g (14 oz) of maize per day for two weeks, but it did not say when the food would arrive.
UN officials in Pyongyang who visited flood-hit parts of the country to assess damage said the need for aid was urgent.
Damage to infrastructure and farmland has affected the country’s already dire food shortage problem.
More than 8,600 houses were destroyed and another 43,770 swamped, along with some 1,400 schools, factories and healthcare facilities, according to the state news agency.
Residents in these areas need of food supplies, as well as clean water, as wells have been contaminated by sewage during the floods.
North Korea relies on food aid because it cannot grow enough food to feed its people.
Famine in the mid-1990s is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
A UN report released last month estimated that two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million population suffer from a chronic shortage of food.
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North Korea has requested immediate food aid after devastating floods last month, the United Nations says.
UN officials in Pyongyang said the need for aid was urgent after visiting flood-hit parts of the country to assess damage.
North Korea state media said that at least 119 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless.
Damage to infrastructure and farmland has affected the country’s already dire food shortage problem.
North Korea has requested immediate food aid after devastating floods last month
The most badly affected areas are Anju city and Songchon County in South Phyongan Province, and Chonnae County in Kangwon Province, said the UN.
Residents in these areas are in urgent need of food supplies, as well as clean water, as wells have been contaminated by sewerage during the floods.
A UN spokesman in New York confirmed that the North Korean government has asked the UN to release emergency supplies such as food and fuel.
Some international aid groups have already begun gathering supplies and donations. On Thursday, the Red Cross said it would allocate more than $300,000 for flood victims.
Recent images from Anju taken by state news agency KCNA showed houses underwater, flooded agricultural land and people sheltering in the upper stories of buildings.
Kim Kwang-Dok, vice-chairman of the Anju City People’s Committee, told the Associated Press news agency that the flooding was the worst in the city’s history.
The floods – which followed a severe drought earlier this year – have sparked fresh concern over North Korea’s struggle to feed its people.
North Korea relies on food aid because it cannot grow enough food to feed its people. Famine in the mid-1990s is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
A UN report released last month estimated that two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million population suffer from a chronic shortage of food.
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North Korea has strongly denied reports from South Korea that it is planning policy changes that will lead to the reform and opening of the country.
A government body dismissed reports that the present leadership was breaking with the past as “ridiculous”.
Some commentators have speculated that the recent removal of North Korea’s top general pointed to a possible power struggle over economic reform.
Kim Jong-Un succeeded his late father, Kim Jong-Il, in December.
Kim Jong-Un, believed to be in his late 20s, has since adopted a warm public persona, being photographed at fun fairs and pop concerts with his young wife Ri Sol-Ju.
Kim Jong-Un, believed to be in his late 20s, has since adopted a warm public persona, being photographed at fun fairs and pop concerts with his young wife Ri Sol-Ju
That – together with the recent removal of army chief General Ri Yong-Ho – has fuelled hopes in the South that he could be planning to open up North Korea’s closed state-run economy.
However, a spokesman for North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which deals with cross-border affairs, dismissed the speculation in an interview with state-run KCNA news agency on Sunday.
He said that Kim Jong-Un would pursue the “military first” policy brought in by his father and would build a “civilized and comfortable life for the people under socialism”.
“The puppet group (South Korea)… tried to give (the) impression that the present leadership of the DPRK (North Korea) broke with the past. This is the height of ignorance,” the spokesman said.
“To expect policy change and reform and opening from the DPRK is nothing but a foolish and silly dream, just like wanting the sun to rise in the west.”
He accused Seoul of trying to impose capitalism on Pyongyang by “trumpeting reform and opening”, adding: “There cannot be any slightest change in all policies.”
Any reference to reform has always been anathema for North Korean officials and it is a word they associate with victory for their capitalist enemies in the South.
There is also substantial external pressure for change, not least from China, which appears close to Kim Jong-Un and his inner circle and which has pressed for reform in North Korea for more than a decade.
Kim Jong-Un and those around him are being keenly watched for the direction in which they will take the communist state.
More details are emerging in South Korea about Ri Sol-Ju, the woman identified as the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
A lawmaker, quoting intelligence officials, said they believed Ri Sol-Ju had visited South Korea in 2005 and had studied singing in China.
Other news reports suggest that Kim Jong-Un may have spotted her at a musical performance.
North Korea has not given any details beyond saying she was Kim Jong-Un’s wife.
There had been speculation about Kim Jong-Un, who took over as leader of the country after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il last year, after he was seen with a woman on various occasions since June.
State media confirmed for the first time on Wednesday that leader Kim Jong-Un was married.
A lawmaker, quoting intelligence officials, said they believed Ri Sol-Ju had visited South Korea in 2005 and had studied singing in China
An eight-minute report on North Korean radio mentioning Ri Sol-Ju’s name was broadcast at 20:00 local time on Wednesday.
South Korean lawmaker Jung Chung-Rai told reporters following a briefing by intelligence agents that Ri Sol-Ju was from an ordinary family in Pyongyang.
Ri Sol-Ju may have visited South Korea in 2005 as part of the North’s cheerleading team for the Asian Athletics Championships, Jung Chung-Rai said.
The cheerleaders are seen wearing red baseball caps, twirling umbrellas and dancing in the stands with tambourines, television footage of the event shows.
Ri Sol-Ju is also likely to have “participated in several inter-Korean exchange programmes”, reports South Korean news ageny Yonhap.
The paper cited three separate events between 2003-2005 attended by someone from North Korea with the same name as Ri Sol-Ju, including the championships.
It remains unclear when the couple got married. Most South Korean reports suggest that Ri Sol-Ju may have been a singer who caught Kim Jong-Un’s attention during a performance.
A source told The Choson Ilbo newspaper that a singer with the same name as Ri Sol-Ju had performed with the Eunhasu Orchestra until last year.
At least two newspapers, including the Choson Ilbo, say that Ri Sol-Ju has been groomed as the first lady, possibly studying at Kim Il-Sung University.
Ri Sol-Ju’s Western-style dress and short cropped hair have led to speculation over whether Kim Jong-Un has a less traditional, more international outlook than his father.
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