Kim Jong Il

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North Korea Warns South of Nuclear 'Fire Shower'

(Newser) - North Korea condemned a US pledge to provide nuclear defense of South Korea, saying the move boosts its justification to hold onto atomic bombs and invites a potential "fire shower of nuclear retaliation." The salvo in Pyongyang's main newspaper is the North's latest reaction to last week's summit...

US Fortifies Hawaii Against N. Korea Threat

Gates moves anti-missile system to islands ... just in case

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he is positioning defenses near Hawaii just in case North Korea fires a missile across the Pacific toward the island state. Gates says he has sent the military's ground-based mobile missile system to Hawaii and positioned a radar system nearby. Together the systems theoretically could...

Global Insurance Fraud Floods N. Korea with Cash

 Global Insurance Fraud 
 Floods N. Korea with Cash 
INVESTIGATION
Jun 18, 2009 6:54 AM CDT

Global Insurance Fraud Floods N. Korea with Cash

North Korean leader profits personally from fires, disasters

(Newser) - North Korea has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from global insurance giants on often suspicious claims of fires, floods, and other disasters, according to a Washington Post investigation. While insurers have kept mum about their losses, US officials and Korean defectors describe a sophisticated fraud that has provided Kim...

Kim Jong-Il's Son 'Visits China as Heir'

Ailing leader's youngest son meets with Chinese leaders to request aid

(Newser) - The youngest son of Kim Jong-Il is believed to have visited China last week as the heir apparent to North Korea's leadership, Reuters reports. Kim Jong-Un was sent as his father's envoy on the secret visit, according to Japanese media, and met with top Chinese leaders to request emergency energy...

Korean Chef Offers Glimpse of 'Lil' Kim'

Jong-Il's heir unlikely to have dad's clout

(Newser) - Little is known about the young man expected to succeed Kim Jong-Il as leader of North Korea, and what analysts do know has been gleaned from a book by the ruler’s former chef, the New York Times reports. Kim Jong-Un is the youngest of three sons and most like...

Kim Jong Il's Fave Meal: Live Fish
Kim Jong Il's Fave Meal:
Live Fish
Jun 3, 2009 1:37 PM CDT

Kim Jong Il's Fave Meal: Live Fish

Ex-cook says N. Korean leader's dinners were still moving

(Newser) - For a taste treat, North Korea’s leader prefers live fish with wines and brandies, the Sun reports. “He particularly enjoyed raw fish so fresh that he could start eating as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing,” his former cook, who is writing...

N. Korean Successor Likes Michael Jordan

(Newser) - News that Kim Jong Il has settled on his youngest son as eventual successor begs the question, what's the new guy like? Details are predictably scarce, but from his days at a Swiss boarding school, where he befriended the kids of US diplomats, we know that 26-year-old Kim Jong Un...

Kim Names 3rd Son as Next 'Dear Leader'

25-year-old set to rule North Korea when father steps down

(Newser) - Kim Jong-il has designated his youngest son Jong-un as his successor to lead North Korea, according to reports in the South Korean media. It's the latest sign of dramatic transformation in the isolated nation that launched a highly controversial nuclear test last week. It remains unclear whether Jong-un, 25, will...

North Korea's Real Aim May Be to Peddle Nukes to Others

Sale of weapons, info is true threat from secretive regime

(Newser) - North Korea's nuclear test yesterday makes it no likelier that the rogue state will actually launch a weapon of mass destruction, argues AP analyst Robert Burns. What it does suggest is something perhaps even scarier: that the regime may facilitate the nuclear ambitions of other state actors or even...

N. Korea Fires 2 New Missiles
 N. Korea Fires 2 New Missiles 
May 26, 2009 3:28 AM CDT

N. Korea Fires 2 New Missiles

Pyongyang defies international condemnation with fresh missile launch

(Newser) - North Korea raised international tensions even higher today by test-firing two new missiles off its east coast, AP reports. The missiles—one ground-to-air and one ground-to-ship—had a range of some 80 miles, according to South Korean officials, who believe North Korea fired an additional three missiles after its nuclear...

Nuke Test Suggests Leadership Uncertainty
 Nuke Test Suggests 
 Leadership Uncertainty 
ANALYSIS
May 25, 2009 2:45 PM CDT

Nuke Test Suggests Leadership Uncertainty

(Newser) - North Korea’s nuclear test today has spurred speculation that the desperate regime is seeking to fortify itself in anticipation of a potentially problematic succession of leadership, the New York Times reports. Experts believe North Korea is hoping to shore up the confidence of its own people, rather than squeeze...

North Korea Conducts Nuke Test

First test since 2006 draws international condemnation

(Newser) - North Korea announced today it had successfully conducted its first nuclear test since 2006, catching the South and the US off guard and drawing a swift denunciation from Barack Obama. The underground test produced a 4.7-magnitude earthquake, but as with the previous test, it remains unclear whether the North...

US Suspects N Korea Regime Shift

(Newser) - American officials believe North Korea’s increasingly hostile foreign policy is the result of a power shift quietly taking place in the secretive nation, the Wall Street Journal reports. Analysts note that North Korea withdrew from nuclear talks shortly after Kim Jong Il’s suspected stroke, and say the leader’...

US Reporters Languish in North Korea

Regime shuts out diplomats, refuses dialog with Washington

(Newser) - While media and diplomatic pressure on Iran seems to have won the release of Roxana Saberi, two other reporters held captive in North Korea for nearly two months are receiving far less attention, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plight of Euna Lee and Laura Ling has been overshadowed by...

N. Korea to UN: Apologize or It's Bombs Away

(Newser) - North Korea is demanding an apology from the UN Security Council for condemning its rocket test this month, threatening more tests of nuclear and conventional missiles if it is not mollified, the Guardian reports. Pyongyang demanded the council drop its resolutions against North Korean military tests. The South Korean government...

North Korea Indicts 2 US Journos for 'Hostile Acts'

Women were working on refugee crisis story for Al Gore's Current TV

(Newser) - North Korea has indicted two US journalists arrested last month for unspecified "hostile acts," reports the BBC. The women, reporting on the nation's refugee crisis for Al Gore's Current TV, will be tried "on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them," according to state-run...

After Dustup, N. Korea Boots Nuke Inspectors

(Newser) - Following a UN reprimand—and North Korea’s indignant exit from multilateral talks on its nuclear program—Pyongyang has expelled international inspectors, the Wall Street Journal reports. The International Atomic Energy Agency will announce the move shortly. North Korea called the UN statement an “unbearable insult,” but some...

Kim Jong Il Appears in Public
 Kim Jong Il Appears in Public 
Apr 9, 2009 9:36 AM CDT

Kim Jong Il Appears in Public

For first time following stroke

(Newser) - Kim Jong Il appeared in public today for the first time since a suspected August stroke, looking older and frailer, the BBC reports. Kim got a standing ovation as he arrived for the opening session of North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature, which appointed him to a third term as leader....

N. Korea Fetes Rocket, Kim's Imminent 'Re-Election'

Tens of thousands turn up to celebrate rocket launch

(Newser) - Tens of thousands celebrated North Korea’s weekend rocket launch on the streets of Pyongyang today, a day ahead of a meeting in which the communist state’s new parliament is expected to re-elect Kim Jong Il. The satellite launch and the rally are a timed effort to increase support...

Obama Speaks Softly, Carries ... You Know the Rest

President trades macho for cool

(Newser) - President Obama didn't swagger through his European road trip, but that doesn't mean he isn't ready to play hardball. "If George W. Bush was a cowboy, Obama is a group hug," writes Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post. The contrast between Obama, who's still establishing his presidential persona,...

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