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Sergey Lavrov Meets Kim Jong Un In North Korea

By LokMarg 19th October 2023

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pyongyang.

Russian Foreign Minister is on his official visit to North Korea where he met with various top leaders and ministers of North Korea.

Kim also personally received Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pyongyang.

“President of the State Affairs of the DPRK Kim Jong Un received Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov,” the Russian Foreign Minister posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Earlier in the day, Lavrov attended a solemn ceremony in North Korea’s Pyongyang where he laid flowers at the monuments of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, as well as at the Liberation Monument.

Lavrov also laid flowers at Andrey Karlov’s bas-relief at the Russian Embassy in DPRK, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

The Russian leader also paid tribute to the Red Army soldiers who laid their lives in the fight for independence from Axis Japan’s occupation and laid flowers at the Soviet Memorial cemetery.

Lavrov also met with the North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui and also participated in the signing ceremony of the Inter-Ministry of Foreign Affairs Exchange plan.

Earlier in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un held a meeting at a Russian spaceport.

According to observers, Putin’s visit to Pyongyang will be discussed during Lavrov’s visit to North Korea, according to Yonhap News Agency report. Notably, Putin earlier this month accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to visit Russia.

During his visit to Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Russia will emerge victorious in the fight to “punish the evil forces”, adding that he would “always be standing with Russia”, CNN reported.

He praised Russia for having “stood up against the hegemonic forces” to defend its sovereignty and security – a veiled reference to the US and the West – and said he has expressed “the full and unconditional support to all that Russia does in response”, CNN reported. (ANI)

Kim Jong Un Vows Full Support To Russia

By LokMarg 13th September 2023

Issuing support to Moscow in the ongoing war in Ukraine, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told President Vladimir Putin that Russia will emerge victorious in the fight to “punish the evil forces”, adding that he would “always be standing with Russia”, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Kim said the Russian military and its people will inherit the “shining tradition of victory” and demonstrate their reputation on the front line of the “military operation”.

The North Korean leader added that both the leaders had an “in-depth discussion” on the political and military landscape of Korean Peninsula and Europe.

Kim vowed to establish “a new era of 100-year friendship” between two countries, and proposed a toast to “the great Russia’s new victory” and Putin’s health.

Notably, these remarks come amid concerns of Russia getting into an arms deal with North Korea, according to CNN.

On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the country is considering and discussing some military cooperation with North Korea, CNN reported citing Russian state news agency Russia 1.

“Well, there are certain restrictions, and Russia complies with all these restrictions,” Putin told state-owned Russia 1. “But there are things that we can of course talk about, discuss, think about it. And here too there are prospects,” he added.

When asked by a reporter whether Russia would help North Korea launch its own satellites and rockets, Putin responded, “That’s exactly why we came here”, as per CNN.

Meanwhile, the Russian state media reported on Wednesday, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, that the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were “very substantive,”

“The negotiations between Putin and Kim Jong Un were very substantive,” RIA reported, quoting Peskov. According to RIA, Peskov added that North Korea “shows huge interest in developing bilateral ties with Russia.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his first day of talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “highly productive,” involving a “candid exchange of views” on both regional matters and bilateral relations.

The pair spent around five hours together on Wednesday, according to according to Russian state news agency TASS.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday for a closely watched summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia marks his first foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic as during the pandemic, North Korea’s borders were sealed, reported CNN. (ANI)

North Korea To Launch 1st Military Spy Satellite In June

By LokMarg 30th May 2023

North Korea is all set to launch its first military spy satellite in June. The planned launch is aimed at tracking US military action on a real-time basis, reported Yonhap News Agency as quoting a senior official in charge of the North’s military affairs.

This comes a day after the North Korea notified Japan about its plan of launching a satellite between May 31 and June 11.
Ri Pyong-Chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the governing Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK), said in a statement that North Korea’s scheduled satellite launch is an “indispensable” action to bolster war readiness. The remark was broadcast by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

According to Ri in the English-language statement, North Korea’s spy satellite, which will be launched in June, as well as various reconnaissance tools that are currently being tested, are “indispensable to tracking, monitoring, discriminating, controlling and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts” of the US and South Korea, as per Yonhap.

Without providing any further details, he also vowed to “expand reconnaissance and information means and improve various defensive and offensive weapons and have the timetables for carrying out their development plans.”

North Korea stated earlier this month that it had finished making the necessary preparations to launch its first military surveillance satellite atop a rocket, with Kim Jong-un approving the “future action plan.”

At a key party congress in 2021, the leader of the North Korea pledged to build advanced weaponry, including a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, a nuclear-powered submarine, and a military reconnaissance satellite, according to Yonhap.

Ri blasted the United States and South Korea for inflaming military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, criticising the South’s plans to organise a multinational naval exercise to stop the trafficking of WMDs as well as the allies’ largest-ever live-fire practise.

He also criticised the United States for stepping up its “hostile air espionage activities” after sending out high-profile military surveillance planes over the Yellow Sea recently, as per Yonhap.

Ri said, “We will comprehensively consider the present and future threats and put into more thoroughgoing practice the activities for strengthening all-inclusive and practical war deterrents.”

North Korea’s planned satellite launch was “strongly” discouraged by South Korea on Monday, and Pyongyang was threatened with paying “due prices” if it went ahead with the launch.

As it uses the same technology as ballistic missiles, North Korea’s projected satellite launch would be in violation of many Security Council resolutions prohibiting its nuclear and missile programmes.

Although many questioned the North’s satellite capabilities, experts claimed that a spy satellite will enable the North in staging a precise strike against targets in combat scenarios by improving the country’s surveillance power.

The secret regime said in December of last year that it had carried out an “important, final-stage” test for the development of a spy satellite and had made available black-and-white images of South Korean cities taken by its “test satellite” from space, Yonhap News Agency reported. (ANI)

North Korea Fires Two Ballistic Missiles Toward East Sea

By LokMarg 20th February 2023

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards the East Sea on Monday, the second attack within 48 hours and a day after US-South Korea staged joint air drills, Yonhap News Agency reported.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said they had detected the launch from North Korea’s Sukchon area between 7 am to 7:11 am.
“While strengthening its monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the US,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

This comes a day after the US and South Korea staged combined air drills, involving at least one B-1B strategic bomber, on Sunday, Seoul’s military said.

During the drills, F-35A stealth fighters and F-15K jets from the South flew together with US F-16 fighters to escort the B-1B aircraft entering the South’s air defence identification zone, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), reported Yonhap News Agency.

US and South Korea launched its drill after North Korea confirmed that they had fired ICBM on February 18 in a “surprise launching drill.”

The training this time demonstrated the South Korea-U.S. combined defence capabilities and posture featuring the alliance’s overwhelming forces, through the timely and immediate deployment of the U.S.’ extended deterrence assets to the Korean Peninsula,” the JCS said in a press release.

It added that the air drills affirmed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to the defence of the peninsula and its extended deterrence pledge.

Monday’s launch marks the North’s third missile provocation this year, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued another sharp-tongued threat of “corresponding” actions against the allies’ military drills.

“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S.,” she said in an English-language statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The latest sabre-rattling raised concerns that the North may continue to engage in such provocations as the allies plan to hold a tabletop military exercise against North Korean nuclear threats this week and their springtime Freedom Shield exercise next month, as per the report in Yonhap News Agency. (ANI)

India Condemns North Korea’s Ballistic Missile Test

By LokMarg 6th October 2022

India has strongly condemned North Korea’s ballistic missile launch over Japan and said that these moves affect the peace and security of the region and beyond.

While addressing the United Nations Security Council, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj called for the full implementation of the relevant UNSC resolutions relating to DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).
The 15-member council met on Wednesday after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile on Tuesday that soared over Japan for the first time in five years and prompted a warning for residents there to take cover.

North Korea on Tuesday conducted its longest-ever weapons test, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that flew over Japan, after which Tokyo urged residents to evacuate to shelters.

“India would also like to reiterate the importance of addressing the proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to DPRK in our region. These linkages have an adverse impact on peace and security in the region including India. We hence, reiterate our continued support for denuclearisation towards peace and security in the Korean peninsula,” Kamboj said.

She also reminded the council about the problems that the “global south” has to go through.

“It is, therefore, important to continue to make all efforts to maintain peace and security.

Ensuring peace and security in the Korean Peninsula is in our collective interest going forward we will continue to support dialogues and diplomacy as a means to resolve the issue in the Korean Peninsula,” India’s envoy added.

Earlier, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield also condemned North Korea’s action and said “The DPRK (North Korea) has enjoyed blanket protection from two members of this council.”

According to Kyodo News, early Tuesday, the government issued an alert urging residents in Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido and the country’s northeastern prefecture of Aomori to stay inside buildings.

The White House said that both US President Joe Biden and Japanese Premier Fumio Kishida confirmed that they would continue to closely coordinate their immediate and longer-term response bilaterally, trilaterally with the Republic of Korea, and with the international community.

“They confirmed they would continue to closely coordinate their immediate and longer-term response bilaterally, trilaterally with the Republic of Korea, and with the international community. The leaders discussed the importance of immediate return and resolution of the cases of Japanese citizens abducted by the DPRK and resolved to continue every effort to limit the DPRK’s ability to support its unlawful ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs,” the statement added.

Tuesday’s missile launch was the first such missile launch in years, prompting a warning for residents to take cover in northern Japan.

Last week, North Korea fired missiles in an apparent protest against joint naval drills involving the United States and South Korea. Under the Kim Jong-un regime, North Korea this year has tested a record number of missiles as it expands its weapons arsenal. (ANI)

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile, Ahead of Kamla Harris’ Visit To Demilitarized Zone

By LokMarg 28th September 2022

North Korea fired an apparent ballistic missile on Wednesday evening, just a day ahead of US Vice President Kamla Harris’ visit to Demilitarized Zone dividing South and North Korea.

Notably, this is the second launch from nuclear-armed North Korea in four days, The Japan Times reported.
South Korea’s military also confirmed the launch of an unidentified ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.

After the missile launch by North Korea, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida issued an instruction where it stated that one needs to dedicate maximum effort to gather and analyze the information and provide the public with speedy and adequate information. The second one was to ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels, and other assets. Lastly, “Take all possible measures for precaution, including readiness for contingencies.”

Earlier, on Sunday, North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile for its first major weapons test since early June

This apparent missile launch came as US Vice President is all set to visit the Demilitarized Zone dividing South and North Korea on Thursday, Voice Of America reported.

Harris is spending most of this week in South Korea and Japan, two East Asian nations the Biden administration sees as alternative options in the region as China grows bolder.

Harris was among dozens of foreign dignitaries in Tokyo on Tuesday to pay respects to assassinated former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, who was killed on July 8.

“The alliance between Japan and the United States is a cornerstone of what we believe is integral to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” Harris said. “And this is something we prioritize because we also believe it is in the best interest of the American people in terms of their security and prosperity and we do believe the same for Japanese people,” she added as quoted by Voice of America.

In the last week, Kim Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, accused the US of compelling the DPRK to adopt a law on the policy of nuclear forces.

While speaking at UNGA, Kim Song said, “The United States compelled the DPRK to adopt a law on the policy of nuclear forces in defiance of the US hostile hostility.” (ANI)