Cyber Security Expert: “North Korea DID NOT Hack Sony Pictures”

No, North Korea Didn’t Hack Sony

 

 

 

 

 

” The FBI and the President may claim that the Hermit Kingdom is to blame for the most high-profile network breach in forever. But almost all signs point in another direction.

  So, “The Interview” is to be released after all.

  The news that the satirical movie—which revolves around a plot to murder Kim Jong-Un—will have a Christmas Day release as planned, will prompt renewed scrutiny of whether, as the US authorities have officially claimed, the cyber attack on Sony really was the work of an elite group of North Korean government hackers.

  All the evidence leads me to believe that the great Sony Pictures hack of 2014 is far more likely to be the work of one disgruntled employee facing a pink slip.

  I may be biased, but, as the director of security operations for DEF CON, the world’s largest hacker conference, and the principal security researcher for the world’s leading mobile security company, Cloudflare, I think I am worth hearing out. “

 

 

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North Korean Internet Goes Down For Nine Hours … Hackers Suspected

North Korea Internet Access ‘Totally Down’

 

 

 

 

 

” North Korea experienced sweeping and progressively worse Internet outages extending into Monday, with one computer expert saying the country’s online access is “totally down.” The White House and the State Department declined to say whether the U.S. government was responsible.

  President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. government expected to respond to the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., which he described as an expensive act of “cyber vandalism” that he blamed on North Korea. Obama did not say how the U.S. might respond, and it was not immediately clear if the Internet connectivity problems represented the retribution. The U.S. government regards its offensive cyber operations as highly classified.”

 

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Sony Hackers Tell FBI “You Are An Idiot” … Post Mocking Youtube Video

Sony Hackers Mock FBI: ‘You Are An Idiot’

 

 

 

 

 

 

” The group behind the devastating hacking attack on Sony has apparently posted a message mocking the FBI.

” The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eyes,” the message posted on the file-sharing website Pastebin by a group calling itself GOP (Guardians of Peace) said.

” We congratulate you success. FBI is the BEST in the world.”

  The US federal agency has named North Korea as the force behind the attack on Sony, which led the company to withdraw the comedy The Interview from its Christmas Day release.”

 

Yahoo News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Saturday Steyn

It’s Kim’s World. We Just Live in It.

 

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/am640/oakley-mark-steyn-thurs-dec-18th-2014

 

 

 

” Speaking of North Korea, we were subject to a denial-of-service attack yesterday. But from Iran. Who says there’s no axis of evil?

  At any rate, if you experienced difficulties with our home page and various other corners of the site, we apologize for the inconvenience. I’m happy to say, as we hit those last-minute Christmas shopping days, that the retail end of the SteynOnline cornucopia withstood the assault and remained open for Yuletide business. But there’s gonna be a lot more of this in the years ahead. And whether the Internet as we know it will survive is an open question.

  ~I’ve spent much of the last couple of days on the radio with some of my favorite interviewers. You can hear how my take on the Sony/Kim Jong-Un showdown developed as the scale of Hollywood’s capitulation became clear. Let’s start with Toronto’s Number One morning man, John Oakley. John and I also discussed the other big stories of the week – the jihadist-waiting-to-happen in Sydney and the slaughter of innocents in a Peshawar schoolhouse, Click below to listen: ” (see above)

  As I said to John, a movie about assassinating Kim Jong-Un is an example of Hollywood’s exquisitely calibrated “edginess”: They would have never greenlighted the same kind of schlocko comedy about anything involving a certain word beginning with “I” and ending with “-slam” because that can be deleterious to one’s life expectancy. But Kim was supposed to be the comedy dictator – the one it was safe to make jokes about. Now, as Scaramouche says, expect “a lot more faux-edgy lampooning of safe targets (ones who won’t fight back via the hacking of computers or heads) a la The Book of Mormon“. “

 

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Megyn Kelly Discusses Cuba , Sony And The White House Christmas Party With Jimmy Kimmel

Megyn Kelly On Jimmy Kimmel 12.17.14

 

 

 

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Hackers Reveal White , Male Bastion At Sony Pictures

Hacked Documents Reveal A Hollywood Studio’s Stunning Gender And Race Gap

 

 

 

 

” Sony Pictures Entertainment, one of the largest film studios in Hollywood, appears to have been the subject of a massive, devastating computer hack. The hack, which came to light last week, included leaked full-length versions of five upcoming Sony Pictures films, along with a trove of sensitive internal documents, and a hijacking of Sony Pictures’ corporate Twitter account.

  This morning, I received a link to a public Pastebin file containing the documents from an anonymous e-mailer, and have spent hours poring through some of them. I’ll spend more time in the days ahead. But one interesting tidbit caught my eye: a spreadsheet containing the salaries of more than 6,000 Sony Pictures employees, including the company’s top executives.

  One other observation to make about Sony Pictures’ top-paid executives is that they’re almost entirely white. From some quick Internet searching, fifteen of the seventeen appear to be Caucasian, one (Dwight R. Caines) appears to be African-American, and one (Man Jit Singh) appears to be South Asian. (I’ll update these numbers when and if I hear back from Sony Pictures.) In other words, unless I’m missing something, the upper pay echelon of Sony Pictures is 94 percent male, and 88 percent white. “

 

 

Hollywood hypocrisy in action: Diversity for thee , but not for me …

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Shots Fired Between The Koreas

Koreas Trade Fire; Island Residents In Shelters

 

 

 

 

 

 

” North and South Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into each other’s waters Monday in a flare-up of animosity that forced residents of five front-line South Korean islands to evacuate to shelters for several hours, South Korean officials said.

  The exchange of fire into the Yellow Sea followed Pyongyang’s sudden announcement that it would conduct live-fire drills in seven areas north of the Koreas’ disputed maritime boundary. North Korea routinely test-fires artillery and missiles into the ocean but rarely discloses those plans in advance. The announcement was seen as an expression of Pyongyang’s frustration at making little progress in its recent push to win outside aid.

  North Korea fired 500 rounds of artillery shells over more than three hours, about 100 of which fell south of the sea boundary, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said. South Korea responded by firing 300 shells into North Korean waters, he said.

  No shells from either side were fired at any land or military installations, but Kim called the North’s artillery firing a provocation aimed at testing Seoul’s security posture. There was no immediate comment from North Korea. “

 

 

    It’s nice to know that the world is so much more peaceful now that we have elected the “Savior” who wields his “smart diplomacy” like a club and has all the world’s despots quaking in their boots … 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Ronald Reagan understood the way the world works , Obama hasn’t a clue . Tyrants fear strength and are emboldened by weakness . Ask yourselves , which ideal does Obama portray ? 

 

  Read more on the latest strife from the Korean front here 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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US , UK Join That “Illustrious” Group … China , Iran , Cuba & North Korea On List Of Top Internet Censors

You Probably Live In One Of The 20 Worst Countries For Internet Censorship

 

Image Credit: Reporters Without Borders

” While press freedom seems to be in a troubling downward trajectory in the U.S., Internet freedom is not looking much better either.

  Reporters Without Borders recently announced its annual “Enemies of the Internet” list, and it is a real doozy this year. There are some of the usual suspects — China, Sudan, Iran, North Korea and Cuba — but there are also a few surprising additions to the list — especially the U.S. and the U.K.

Take a look at the map … “

 

 

We in the west should be so proud . Look at the details of the map and hang your heads in shame .

 

 

” “How will so-called democratic countries be able to press for the protection of journalists if they adopt the very practices they are criticizing authoritarian regimes for?” asked the report.

  Check out this interactive version of the map for a more detailed look at Internet censorship around the world.”

 

 

Enemies of Internet

• ” Saudi Arabia: prime centre of content blocking
• Bahrain: No Internet spring
• United Arab Emirates: Tracking “cyber-criminals”
• USA: NSA symbolises intelligence services’ abuses
• Cuba: Long live freedom (but not for the Internet)!
• Syria: online tracking is a family affair
• Iran: Cyberspace ayatollahs
• Russia: control from the top down
• Arms trade fairs: Surveillance dealerships
• United Kingdom: World champion of surveillance
• Belarus: Apparatus of repression
• Uzbekistan: Welcome to digital tyranny
• Pakistan: Upgraded censorship
• India: Big Brother up and running
• Vietnam: Targeting bloggers
• China: Electronic Great Wall getting taller
• Turkmenistan: News black hole
• North Korea: the Web as a pawn in the power game
• Sudan: Scoring high in censorship
• Ethiopia: full online powers“

 

     The leaders of the US and UK should be absolutely ashamed of themselves to find the homes of the Magna Carta and Declaration of Independence / Constitution / Bill Of Rights in company with the above mentioned dictatorships , oligarchies and theocracies . One can practically feel the earth tremble as the Founding Fathers turn over in their graves .

 

Read the rest 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Kim Jong-un Executes His Uncle Jang Song-thaek

North Korea Executes Kim Jong-un’s Uncle As ‘Traitor’

 

 

 

” North Korea has executed Kim Jong-un’s uncle as a “traitor for all ages” who confessed to planning a coup, state media has announced.

  Jang Song-thaek, previously one of the country’s most powerful men, was accused of everything from plotting to overthrow the state to instigating disastrous currency reforms and dishing out pornography in the report from official news agency KCNA.

  It denounced him as “worse than a dog” and “despicable human scum”.

  KCNA said a special military tribunal had found him guilty of treason and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a photograph of him handcuffed and held by uniformed guards in the courtroom.

  Other offenses cited include halfhearted applause as Kim rose to power and Jang’s “reckless” instruction to security forces to erect a granite block with Kim’s signature in a shaded corner rather than in front of their headquarters.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How Do You Make A North Korean Laugh?

My Week In North Korea

 

 

” To American ears that sounds like the set-up to a joke. The very idea of a North Korean giggling seems absurd. What can there possibly be to laugh about? The country has been ruled for more than half a century by absolute dictators who periodically threaten to blow up the world. It is populated by the children of a 1990s famine, malnourished orphans with oversized heads who never grew. It is forbidden to use the orphans’ nickname: kotchebi, or “little sparrows,” a reference to their habit of flitting around in the dirt looking for crumbs to eat.

Western impressions of North Korean culture are filtered through the prism of their totalitarian government and unrelieved misery. Day-to-day life is usually imagined as one of constant drudgery and fear. In 1965, Robert Jenkins was one of the few U.S. soldiers to defect into North Korea. Escaping four decades later, he wrote, “I did not understand that the country I was seeking temporary refuge in was literally a giant, demented prison.” 

It’s easy to get into North Korea as a tourist. The reason is the most capitalist one possible: They need money. In 1980, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) achieved the dubious honor of being the first Communist nation to default on its loans, ruining its credit rating to this day. The following three decades were hardly better for the DPRK’s international reputation. The 1990s collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe removed most of their strongest allies. President George W. Bush famously included North Korea on his “axis of evil,” and despite Dennis Rodman’s best efforts President Barack Obama will not be calling on Marshall Kim Jong Un any time soon. Like his father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, this dictator is a global oddity. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As Many As 40,000 US Troops’ Personal Info Hacked … Anonymous ?

Hackers Post U.S. Troops’ Personal Details; Collateral Damage From The Korean Cyberwar?

 

 

” Hackers have leaked personal information about 40,000 U.S. troops, including thousands stationed in South Korea, reports said Wednesday, a day after cyberattacks knocked government and news websites offline in Seoul.

Reuters reported the posting, citing an unnamed executive from a South Korean online security form, NSHC. “We have seen the sites where the details were posted and clips that supposedly capture the process of hacking into websites,” the news agency quoted its source as saying.

Reuters said the hackers also claimed to have released the personal details of more than 2 million members of the South Korean ruling political party.

The report came on the heels of what appeared to be a large-scale cyberattack on South Korean government and news websites, that successfully, if temporarily, knocked more than a dozen of them offline.”

 

   Apparently our government is better at mining our personal data than protecting it … Another indicator of the adversarial nature that has been fostered between the people and the STATE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From Controlling The Narrative To Controlling The News … George Orwell Was Unavailable For Comment

The Obama Objective: To Control The News

 

 

 

 

” For awhile, it looked like the White House wanted just to control “the narrative.” But its seizure of AP phone records and surveillance of Fox employees now show its real aim: to control the news.

The Obama political team at the White House has always prided itself on its media savvy. After all, they got a candidate with an otherwise unsalable socialist past elected on a campaign that sold his personality, not his platform.

But it turns out their mastery of the press went a lot deeper than just the political arts. The latest news that the Justice Department investigated Fox News reporter James Rosen and two other newsmen in the normal course of their investigative reporting on a national security matter — coming on the heels of their seizure of Associated Press phone records — suggests an administration obsessed with controlling the news itself with a heavy hand reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Jong-un Regime Sentences American To 15 Years Hard Labor

 

N. Korea Sentences U.S. National To 15 Years Hard Labor

 

 

 

 

 

” North Korea said Thursday its Supreme Court sentenced a U.S. national to 15 years of hard labor for “committing hostile acts” against the country.

The official Korean Central News Agency, carried by China’s Xinhua News Agency, reported the sentencing against Pae Jun-ho, referred to as Kenneth Bae by U.S. authorities.

Bae was arrested last November while “committing hostile acts against the DPRK” after entering Rason City as a tourist, KCNA said. DPRK, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is the official name of North Korea.

The sentencing came despite U.S. appeals Bae be released on humanitarian grounds.”

Related articles

• NKorea Sentences American to 15 Years Hard Labor (voanews.com)
• North Korea Sentences US Citizen to 15 Years of Hard Labor – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• AMERICAN SENTENCED:N. Korea Gives US Citizen 15 Years of Hard Labor (foxnews.com)
• American citizen sentenced to hard labor in North Korea (fsn.typepad.com)
• North Korea Has Sentenced A Detained American To 15 Years Of Hard Labor (businessinsider.com)

 

 

 

 

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American Facing Trial In North Korea

North Korea To Put American Kenneth Bae On Trial

 

” The announcement focused attention back on Pyongyang after a near two-week lull in North Korea’s sabre-rattling rhetoric.

Kenneth Bae (Pae Jun-ho), a 44-year-old ethnic Korean with US citizenship, was arrested last November as he accompanied five Europeans into the Rason Special Economic Zone, a pilot region on the border of China and Russia which is open to foreign companies.

Since then, almost nothing has been heard of him. In January, Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, and Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, travelled to North Korea to try to secure his release but were not allowed to see him.

Mr Bae’s crime is not clear. However, the Korean Central News Agency announced on Saturday that a “preliminary inquiry” had been completed and that Mr Bae had “admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with hostility toward it”. “

 

 

 

 

 

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Anonymous Increases Pressure On North Korea

Anonymous Steps Up Attacks On North Korea

 

 

 

” Hacking group appears to have staged another round of attacks against North Korea.

Hacktivist group Anonymous claims to have launched yet another round of cyber attacks against North Korea, as part of their operation to free the country from online oppression.

The claims come as the group continues to challenge the authority of respective governments across the globe.

Last weekend, they threatened to disrupt Israel’s online access using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, for having allegedly shut off web access to Palestinians in the Gaza strip.

According to The Financial Times, the mere threat of disruption from Anonymous prompted many Israeli websites to shut down for fear of infiltration.”

Related articles

• Anonymous ‘hacks’ North Korea pages (bbc.co.uk)
• ‘Anonymous’ dump details of 15,000 accounts after North Korean infiltration (rt.com)
• Hacker group ‘Anonymous’ takes down hundreds of Israeli websites (imemc.org)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oops … We Weren’t Supposed To Know About Kim’s Nuclear-Tipped Missile Capabilities

Mistake In Classification Led To N. Korea Info Being Revealed

 

 

 

” “Several of us here in the Pentagon were shocked by hearing that assessment read aloud in an open hearing,” one defense official told CNN.

The line came from a seven-page report, “Dynamic Threat Assessment 8099: North Korea Nuclear Weapons Program.”

“The only thing DIA has unclassified is that one sentence and the title,” Lamborn said later Thursday in an interview with CNN. “This is not briefing reports supplied to the committee, this is simply a DIA analysis, a seven-page report in which one sentence is unclassified.”

An aide to the committee confirmed to CNN that Lamborn received the material from committee staff before the hearing.

“We were very careful and checked with DIA. to confirm that was an unclassified section before beginning any kind of conversation within an open setting about it,” the aide said. “We checked to make sure it was not something that was mistakenly declassified.”

“We double and triple-checked to make sure that what was divulged in an open forum was declassified,” Lamborn said Thursday night in an interview on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.”

Related articles

• Now They Tell Us … Jong-un Does Have Nuclear Tipped Missiles … Just , Maybe , Not Very Good Ones (youviewed.com)
• Mistake in classification led to N. Korea info being revealed (security.blogs.cnn.com)
• North Korean Breakthrough? Or U.S. Intelligence Snafu? (nation.time.com)
• US Defense Intelligence Agency: N. Korea can mount nuclear weapon on ballistic missile (israelmatzav.blogspot.com)
• Pentagon: NKorea Can Likely Launch Nuclear Missile. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)

 

 

 

 

 

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The Horror That Is Kim’s North Korea Exposed In Video And Pictures

 

Inside North Korea: Shock Video And Photos Show True Horror Of Kim Jong-un’s Evil Regime

 

 

 

 

 

” Our reporter at the border uncovers the true story of North Korea that warmongering Kim Jong-un does not want the outside world to see.

A child of around 10 sits dying of starvation by the side of the road while just yards away soldiers load enough rice on to trucks to feed families for weeks.

As the young boy slumps on the grimy kerb in his filthy, oversized army jacket, locals stroll past zombie-style without even glancing in his direction or displaying an ounce of pity for his wretched plight.

Nearby his friends scavenge in disease-ridden rubbish tips for scraps of what might pass for food in a land where people are so poor they are forced to eat tree bark or even corpses, according to those on the inside.

And not far away, prisoners are herded from their harsh labour camps to ­frantically dig out crops from frozen ground while trigger-happy troops hover over them waiting for the one wrong move that could end with death.

This is the real North Korea. The one its warmongering leader Kim Jong-un does not want the outside world to see.”

Related articles

• Shock Video And Photos Show True Horror Of Kim Jong-un’s Evil Regime (warnewsupdates.blogspot.com)
• North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is getting out of hand (newsfixnow.com)
• [ALERT] North Korea: Missile Test Could Occur ‘Any Time’ | SKY News (andrewazzopardi.org)
• North Korea Nuclear Missile Test ‘Imminent’ (news.sky.com)

 

 

 

 

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Now They Tell Us … Jong-un Does Have Nuclear Tipped Missiles … Just , Maybe , Not Very Good Ones

Lawmaker Drops Bombshell: North Korea May have Nuclear Missiles

 

 

” The results of a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report indicate that “North Korea now has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.”

That was the bombshell out of a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday.

It came when Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) of Coloradobegan quoting from what he said was an unclassified version of the DIA report, which has not yet been made public.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, the nation’s top military officer, appeared caught off-guard. The Pentagon has in recent days sought to strike a balance between words of warning to the North and attempts to calm the situation. General Dempsey’s reaction suggested that he was not pleased to have the DIA assessment made public, as it could further stoke anxieties over what is already a enormously tense international standoff.

Representative Lamborn read from the report toward the end of a defense budget hearing.

“They say, ‘DIA assess with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. However, the reliability will be low.’ General, would you agree with that assessment by DIA?” he asked

“I can’t touch that one,” Dempsey answered.

The problem was that the report hasn’t been released, he said. “Some of it’s classified, some of it’s unclassified.” 

Lamborn tried asking the question again, heedless of the sensitivity of the topic. “This is public; this is unclassified, so I can make it public.”

“And your question is do I agree with the DIA’s assessment?” Dempsey repeated.

“Yes,” Lamborn responded.

“Well,” Dempsey answered, “You said it’s not publicly released, so I choose not to comment on it.” “

 

 

 

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Related articles

• Congressman: N. Korea can deliver nukes (wdsu.com)
• North Korea may have nuclear missile (q13fox.com)
• Pentagon: North Korea Could Launch Nuclear Missile (world.time.com)
• Pentagon: N. Korea could launch nuclear missile (stripes.com)
• Pentagon: NKorea could launch nuclear missile (newsobserver.com)
• N. Korea Can Put a Nuke on a Missile (abcnews.go.com)

 

 

 

 

 

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North Korea Readies Missile For Launch

Missile Spotted In ‘Launch Position’, United States And South Korean Armed Forces Placed At ‘Vital Alert’ Watchcon 2

 

 

 

 

” NORTH Korea state TV is reporting the country is ready to fire a nuclear missile, Sky News reported.

Pyongyang has kept the world on edge over an expected missile launch while turning its own energies to celebrating leaders past and present amid soaring tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The United States warned North Korea it was skating a “dangerous line”, as South Korea remained on heightened alert for any missile test that could start a whole new cycle of tensions in a region already on a hair-trigger.

G8 foreign ministers meeting in London drove home the message, condemning “in the strongest possible terms” the North’s nuclear activities and threats to the region.”

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Related articles

• ‘Vital threat’ alert issued (nzherald.co.nz)
• S. Korea, Japan raise alert level, as North readies missile test (vietnamnews.vn)
• DEBKAfile: North Korea Update (iamnotashamedofthegospelofchrist.com)
• North Korea Shifts Missile Locations Ahead of Imminent Launch (leaksource.wordpress.com)
• S. Korea, US Raise Alert Levels Over N. Korea Missile Threat (voanews.com)

 

 

 

 

 

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China Flexes Muscles … For Whose Benefit ? US Or NK ?

China Conducts Live-Fire Military Drills Near North Korean Border

 

 

” China’s military and defense ministry on Sunday confirmed that military forces in a border region near North Korea conducted live-fire drills amid tensions between North Korea and the United States.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, canceled a planned test launch of a Minuteman III ballistic missile to avoid further upsetting ties with North Korea.

Intelligence sources said signs continue to indicate that North Korea is planning to conduct a flight test soon of its intermediate-range Musudan missile that has enough range to reach Guam.

Two Musudan missiles have been readied and the flight test may take place around April 15, the anniversary of the birth of the late leader Kim Il Sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un.

Additionally, North Korea may conduct another underground nuclear test in the coming days, the sources said, based on intelligence indicators of increased activity at North Korea’s northern nuclear testing facility.”

 

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Related articles

• China Confirms That They Have Conducted Live-Fire Drills Near N. Korean Border (warnewsupdates.blogspot.com)
• N Korea showing ‘signs’ of preparing nuke test (abc.net.au)
• Diplomatic and missile drama in North Korea (cnn.com)
• N. Korea asks envoys: Who wants out? (edition.cnn.com)
• China Signals it will Back North Korea in War (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)

 

 

 

 

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When Is A Retreat Not A Retreat ? When Obama Says So , That’s When

Obama Inc. Bows To North Korean Threats, Claims It Isn’t Bowing To North Korean Threats

 

 

 

 

” Obama Inc. is absolutely not backing down by cancelling a missile launch. That would be crazy. They’re just scrapping the missile launch to ease tensions which is nothing at all like backing down.

The decision to delay critical U.S missile tests is not a sign that the White House is bowing to North Korea’s “bellicose rhetoric,” a top administration official said Sunday.

During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer said the decision was “absolutely not” a retreat after Pyongyang’s recent aggressive actions against the U.S. and its allies in the Western Pacific.”

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• North Korea Readies It’s Missiles … And It’s Hackers (youviewed.com)
• North Korea Needs to Stop ‘Bellicose’ Rhetoric: Pfeiffer (bloomberg.com)
• White House: US ‘absolutely not’ bowing to N. Korean pressure on missile test (thehill.com)
• Missile interceptors deployed in Tokyo in response to North Korean hostility (globalnews.ca)
• Diplomatic and missile drama in North Korea (cnn.com)
• North Korean nuclear test threat discounted (stuff.co.nz)
• An imminent North Korean missile launch? (goatysnews.wordpress.com)
• Japan to shoot down N Korea missile-govt (bigpondnews.com)
• US delays missile test over N Korea tensions (aljazeera.com)

 

 

 

 

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Be Afraid , Be Very Afraid … Or If You Prefer … 두려워 할, 아주 두려워합니다

 

America’s Freedom Watcher

미국의 자유의 감시자

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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North Korea Readies It’s Missiles … And It’s Hackers

North Korea Readies Missile Launch As Fears Of A Covert Cyberwar Grow

 

 

 

” The prospect of a North Korean missile test is causing concern in Japan, which is easily within range. In Tokyo, Yoshihide Suga, a government spokesman, said that Japan was preparing for a “worst-case” scenario, and urged China and Russia to play “significant roles” in defusing tensions. Experts and officials have dismissed Pyongyang’s threats to launch nuclear strikes against the US, given the rudimentary state of its weapons capability. But it could cause widespread disruption with a cyberattack, according to a defector who worked for the regime’s 3,000-member cyberwarfare unit.

The regime’s next move could be to break into US computer networks to steal information and spread viruses, Jang Se-yul, who defected to the South in 2008, told the Observer. North Korea’s hackers are suspected of being behind recent cyberattacks that paralysed computer networks at several South Korean banks and broadcasters.

“It would demonstrate that North Korea is a strong cyberpower,” Jang said. “Their prime target is the US, and they’ve been preparing for something like this for years, including when I was there in the 1990s. I can’t say how successful they would be, but it’s a possibility.” “

Related articles

• North Korea May Be Planning To Strike Computer Networks In U.S (patdollard.com)
• South Korea Says North Korea May Be Prepping for Another Nuclear Test (foxnews.com)
• Japan to shoot down N Korea missile-govt (bigpondnews.com)
• North Korea may be preparing to test missile, South Korea says (foxnews.com)
• North Korean cyber attack on cards, says defector (nzherald.co.nz)

 

 

 

 

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Iran Backs Fellow Lunatic Despot Kim Jong-un

Iran Lines Up Behind North Korea, Warns The US Of “Great Losses”

 

 

” Tehran’s intercession in the Korean crisis on the side of its ally in Pyongyang was predictable, even though the US preferrs to ignore the close interrelations between the two allies.

 And so, on Friday, April 5, Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri stepped forward to point the finger at Washington:
 [“The presence of the Americans in [South] Korea has been the root cause of tensions in this sensitive region in the past and present. The US and its allies will suffer great losses if a war breaks out in this region,” he said, adding for good measure: “Independent countries will not submit to the US mischief. The time for Washington’s bullying and extortion is long past.”

The inevitable convergence of the Korean and Iranian crises confronts America’s three top officials, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with their most challenging international test.

Kerry would be well advised to take a break from his Sisyphean efforts to crack the latest of umpteen Israel-Palestinian disputes, call off his weekend appointments with Israeli and Palestinians leaders and instead fly to Moscow and Beijing.
There, he could start bargaining with Russian and Chinese rulers for preliminary understandings with Washington on Iran and Syria that would make it worth their while to use their leverage for bringing the out-of-control North Korean firebrand to heel.

So long as the Obama administration sticks to its current separate policies on Syria and Iran, Iran and Korea, Moscow and Beijing won’t lift a finger to apply the brakes to Kim Jong-Un before he drives the world to catastrophe. “

 

 

Illustration by Dana Summers

 

 

 

 

 

 

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