“We will no longer put up with your threats towards world peace and the Republic of Korea,” the South Korean hackers said in a press release late on Wednesday evening, a copy of which was also posted on YouTube.

Anonymous Korea is planning ‘OpNorthKorea’, a coordinated cyber attack on North Korean computer networks it claims will be launched on June 25, the anniversary of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The group says it has found a way to access North Korea’s internal intranet system, and has posted screenshots on Twitter as ‘proof’. The images, however, are from a 2005 Segye Ilbo article, and have been on the South Korean internet for years. Nevertheless, South Korean media outlets have been covering the story throughout the day.

Left: An Anonymous Twitter account uploads pictures of the Kwangmyong network, Right: South Korean media outlets are carrying the images. The screenshots were first posted in 2005.

HACKING KWANGMYONG

This is not the first time doubts have been raised about claims that Anonymous-affiliated hackers have managed to access the North Korean intranet. Although the group successfully hacked North Korean social media accounts and released user information from the Chinese-based Uriminzokkiri website, accessing the Kwangmyong requires more high-level access.

“We happily noticed you questioned how we could be inside Kwangmyong, the country-wide intranet of NK, because we think it’s good journalism to doubt and question things,” the group responded to skeptical media reports at the time.

“There was never any further proof coming to validate those claims and answer the skeptics,” NK News tech specialist Martyn Williams said.

“It will be the same this time. Until we see bonafide proof that this has happened, it has to be viewed as an unverified claim,” said Williams, who has written extensively on North Korea’s internal internet.

The group claims that they brought the KCNA to a halt for “two minutes” on May 12 as proof that they are able to access the North Korean intranet. Such an attack, however, is easily achieved with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that saturate a server with so many requests that it slows or crashes. NK News has been the victim of such attacks in the past.

Undated screenshots that first appeared on the South Korean internet in 2005.

Two Anonymous ‘Hacktivists’ using the pseudonyms “Lee Myung-soo” and “Hwang Yoon-taek” were interviewed by eToday, an online South Korean newspaper, about the planned cyber attacks today. A full NK News translation of the interview is available below this article.

One ‘official’ Anonymous Korea Twitter account threatening NK News servers with a cyber attack after the publication of a North Korean cartoon.

Anonymous has threatened NK News in the past for writing about a North Korean cartoon that suggested the South Korean government was behind the cyberattacks. ”Don’t make us angry,” Twitter user @Anonymous_kr (aka Hwang Yoon-taek, below) said, regarding the cartoon.

“If you do that one more time, we will attack your sites for OpNorthKorea.” One of the changes Anonymous is campaigning for in North Korea is a free and open press.

Anonymous will release more information next week, on June 25. If they are able to release information from the Kwangmyong network, it will be the first time a hacker has successfully obtained information from the infamously closed network.

Additional reporting by Shinui Kim in Seoul

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF ANONYMOUS KOREA INTERVIEW:

Hwang Yoon-taek: “We hacked into the KCNA last May”

Q- Is it possible to hack into the Kwangmyong network? It’s closed.

A- There are 3 routes that connect Kwangmyong to the outside world. One server is located in China, and we’ve already hacked it, and got in that way. We’ve done it. There’s nothing North Korea can do to stop it now. We’ve got all the core information we need.

Q- What exactly do you have?

A- Information regarding missiles, their serial numbers, and North Korean high-ranking officials. We won’t release everything, however –– only some things so we can verify the attack. After that, we’ll hand everything over to Wikileaks.

Q- You could be putting yourself at personal risk by attacking North Korea, why do it?

A- Don’t worry. We use at least 7 shared IP addresses that are based overseas. If you try to track it, it will take years [to trace].

Q. Where is the information now? Do you have it saved at home?

A. No way. It’s broken up and dispersed on the internet.

Q. Is there any way to verify that you really hacked the North Korean intranet?

A. On May 12th, the KCNA system stopped for 2 minutes. That was us. We will release missile serial numbers soon so that you can be certain about this.

Lee Myung-soo:  “We’ve setup a ‘Ninja Gateway’ so that North Koreans can access the world wide web)”

Q. Tell me about your plans for June 25.

A. I can’t tell you the details, but we’ve done 90% of the preparation work.

Q. A ‘Ninja Gateway’, is that possible?

A. Yes. I have information about the Kwangmyong network.

Q. How do you access a closed intranet, how do you approach this?

A. North Korea uses their own operating system, Red Star OS, that’s based on Linux. We obtained that first, then used it to access the Kwangmyong network. The North Koreans will be able to access the world-wide-web soon.

Q. Who’s going to lead the June 25 attack, and what are the targets?

A. Three Korean hackers, some Argentineans, Brazilians etc. –– 10 people in total. We also have support from the global Anonymous movement.

46 websites are being targeted. North Korean websites with internal hosts are the KCNA, the Rodong, Naenara, Voice of Korea etc, 11 sites in total. Websites with external servers [that we are targeting] are Uriminzokkiri, Rygyongclip etc, –– 16 sites in total. [We are also targeting] Nosotek.com, the company that made the Pyongang Racer game.

Q. Last April, Anonymous released the a Uriminzokkiri membership list. Why ?

A. Originally, we just wanted to put some pressure on Kim Jong Un’s regime but it grew bigger than we expected. We only did it to demonstrate that we could do it, and to intimated North Korea, but once it spread on Ilbe [conservative South Korean netizen portal], it became an issue.

Q. Still, You could receive personal threats if you attack North Korea. Are you not worried about this?

A. We redirect our IP addresses every time when we use the internet. I can’t reveal more details, but we sometimes hack from our homes. There is no evidence. nothing remains.

Translation by Shinui Kim in Seoul.

The yacht, a Princess 95MY, is possibly a recent purchase – one that could constitute a direct infringement of UN sanctions on the procurement of “luxury goods” by the DPRK. British-based Princess Yachts, the manufacturer of the 95MY, belongs to the luxurious LVMH group that owns Louis Vuitton, Moet Chandon, Christian Dior and over 60 other brands with a reputation for luxury and, above all, expense.

An updated version of the same yacht–the Princess 98MY–sells for over $8.7m, comes with an interior designed exclusively by italian handbag designers Fendi, and has been described by reviewers as “one of the most luxurious craft Princess have ever built.”

The two yachts look almost identical, making the purchase and shipping of Kim’s Princess difficult to track – unlike the 95MY, the newer and larger 98MY is not yet available to buy in Asia, and numbers are few.

“As we suspect, if it is a 95MY rather than a 98MY then the number of vessels is much greater and, given we launched the 95MY some years ago, many of them will have since changed hands on the private brokerage market,” Will Green, Sales Director for Princess Yachts International, which is now conducting its own investigation, told NK News.

The Kim family has a large private compound in the eastern city of Wonsan–that is home to an assortment of private villas, beaches and a large boat shed that was built at some point in the late 2000s– according to publicly available satellite imagery.

Kim family compound in Wonsan, the southeastern borders of which are highlighted in red. Top: the private boatyard in 2007. Bottom: The same location in 2009 after the construction of a larger boat shed. (Photo: US Navy/Google Earth, modified by James Pearson and Curtis Melvin, NK News).

In his longest trip outside Pyongyang since taking power, Kim Jong Un based himself in Wonsan and embarked on an official ten day tour of North Korea’s east coast this May. These visits are often heavily documented by North Korean news agencies and regularly dominate over other events in North Korean print and broadcast media.

During an inspection of the ‘August 25th Fishery Station’, the starboard side of a large luxury yacht was captured in a May 28 KCNA photo of Kim and his generals walking along the docks – indicating it might have been deliberately included in the photo.

Left: original KCNA file photo of Kim Jong Un inspecting the fishery station – the yacht is circled in green. Right: an enlarged view of the yacht. (Photo: KCNA, modified by NK News).

“Compare the details on the hard top roof between this and the Princess 95MY,” a boat broker familiar with Princess boats and luxury yachts told NK News via email. “The opening, the three stainless-steel bar supports under the flying deck roof and the detailing on the radar arch are all identical,” the source, who did not want to be identified, said.

LIKES FATHER, LIKES SUN

“The expansive flybridge deck, generous staterooms and full width saloon and dining area can accommodate up to ten people in elegant style; taking the pleasures of extended life on-board to an entirely new level,” a Princess 95MY brochure reads.

In 2006, the UN Security Council blocked the sale of ‘luxury goods’ to North Korea with Resolution 1718. Despite this, individual member states were able to independently determine what constituted a ‘luxury good’ and a lot of trade, therefore, continued.

In 2009, however, Italy stopped the sale and export of two locally-manufactured Azimut yachts, that were likely to have been destined for the Kim family compound in Wonsan. The Austrian national who brokered the deal was fined by the UN, and Italian financial authorities auctioned the seized boats.

Map showing the route 29.19nm from the Kim Family Compound to the August 25 Fishery Station under KPA Unit 313. (Image: US Navy, modified by Curtis Melvin and James Pearson, NK News).

Kim Jong Il never received his new Azimut yachts, although he still has two large superyachts and a mobile swimming pool moored amongst naval and fishing boats on the other side of Wonsan. Media reports often incorrectly state he was “entombed” with a “luxury yacht”, referring to a small gray naval frigate in the Kumsusan mausoleum that was occasionally used by the late leader.

Kim Jong Un is regularly described by North Korean propaganda as rightfully carrying out the “will” of Kim Jong Il. It is clear, however, that nuclear and missile tests were not the only thing he inherited from his father. Stories of Kim Jong Un’s equally lavish lifestyle are not rare – but evidence proving those stories, is.

Last year, the Choson Ilbo, a conservative Seoul-based daily, published an article quoting a South Korean diplomatic source that claimed Kim Jong Un was negotiating a deal on “two luxury yachts made in the UK through a North Korean trading company operating in China.” Princess yachts is one of the largest boat manufacturers in the UK, along with Sunseeker and Fairline Boats.

The interior of the Princess 95MY (Photo: Princess Yachts)

“The North requested a discount on the yachts,” the source told the Choson Ilbo, “which cost around $10 million USD each.”

New sanctions in march led to Resolution 2094 that, among other things, now explicitly bans the sale or export of yachts and luxury cars to North Korea – for all member states. A final report by the Panel of Experts (PoE) is due to be published later this month.

A floor plan showing the three decks of the Princess 95MY, including crew and living quarters. (Photo: Princess Yachts International).

SHIP SHIPPING

Kim Jong Il’s fondness for smaller luxury yachts might have started as early as 2002.

That August, Russian broadsheet Izevstia reported that Kim Jong Il was planning to meet Putin on a Princess yacht during a summit in Vladivostok, the centre of the Russian Far East.

“Primorskiy Krai press are actively discussing the urgent purchase and transfer of a ‘Princess’ motor pleasure yacht from Japan to Vladivostok,” the report said. “information obtained by Izvestia indicates that the yacht belonged to a British company, and cost £1,113,375.”

NK News contacted various Vladivostok-based brokers who deal Princess yachts, but none were prepared to go on the record. Yachts like Kim Jong Un’s Princess 95MY are capable of deep sea navigation–a trip between Vladivostok and Wonsan being perfectly navigable–but refuelling would be nesseccary.

The Princess 98MY is almost identical to the Princess 95MY, but is 3ft longer.

The Choson Ilbo source, however, points towards a “China-based” company as being behind Kim Jong Un’s yacht procurement and, in the same article, suggests that “North Korea also imported equipment to produce artificial snow and ski lifts” to build what we now know to be the Masik Pass Ski Resort, also near Wonsan.

Over long distances, large shipments like yachts and industrial equipment are normally transported using container ships.

Although impossible to verify at this stage, one such China-based container company that directly deals with North Korea, for example, is Global Unity (GU) Shipping – a Dalian-based shipping company that operates 15 ships and a staff of 242, according to the company website.

“[We] specialize in providing customers in [North] Korea and other countries with a comprehensive shipping service,” a description of the company on the website, in Chinese, says.

“We are currently focused on strategically allocating our versatile and highly cost-effective fleet of boats in order to satisfy the needs of [North] Korean maritime shipping.”

Dalian Global Unity (GU) Shipping employees stand in front of the ‘Miyang 8′, a container ship that regularly travels between Dalian and the North Korean port city of Nampho. (Photo: GU Shipping)

Like other similar companies, GU has a branch in Rajin, the centre of the Rajin-Songbon special economic zone, on North Korea’s north east coast.

Large cargo ships called “Yachtships” are normally used to transport luxury yachts, although they often leave their cargo exposed, and clearly visible to prying eyes.

“In collusion with the client, it would be perfectly possible to place a superyacht in the middle of a wide container ship, then surround it with containers on all sides,” the boat broker told NK News.

“Then a tarpaulin, or another form of cover, over the top would conceal it from aerial view.”

Additional reporting by Curtis Melvin in Washington D.C. and Joe Innes in St. Petersburg. Headline image courtesy Princess Yachts International, used with permission.

The China-based tour agency Young Pioneer Tours announced on their website that a last-minute cruise itinerary taking in sights around Mt. Kumgang could soon be accessible for South Korean tourists.

“While formal approval has not yet been given, we expect to be able to take South Korean citizens on this tour,” a statement published on the Young Pioneer Tours website said.

The four night cruise is scheduled to take place from June 28 aboard the Singapore registered MV Royale Star. It includes four nights at sea, with visits to the Mt. Kumgang tourist facilities taking place during the day.

Neither North or South Korean authorities have officially commented on the announcement yet.

If the tour is approved, it would mark the first time since 2008 that South Korean nationals could theoretically visit the Mt. Kumgang region, an area of immense cultural heritage to Koreans both north and south.

Using a Singapore flagged vessel, an itinerary that includes no overnight stays in North Korean hotels, and focusing exclusively on a region previously accessible for South Koreans, North Korean tourist authorities may be hoping that laws normally preventing South Korean tourist visits won’t apply.

South Korea’s National Security Law (NSL)  normally makes it illegal for ROK citizens to visit North Korea, because the legislation prohibits ‘unauthorized contact’ with North Koreans. Correspondingly, long standing North Korean laws bar South Koreans from visiting the DPRK on tours.

Despite existing legislation, South Korean access to the Mt. Kumgang region was previously acceptable for the two sides – and encouraged.

Over a million South Korean tourists visited the Kumgang region since it opened – during a period of inter-Korean détente – in 1998. Hyundai Asan, the South Korean company that helped develop the region for tourists, invested over $1.5 billion at Kumgang for a hotel, hot springs, a shopping mall, a road, and other facilities.

Trips to Kumgang were abruptly halted there in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was fatally shot by North Korean military personnel. North Korean authorities controversially took over the Hyundai-Asan built development in 2011 when it became apparent that South Korea would not reverse its ban on tourism there.

North Korea views the Kumgang tourist zone as an ideal form of cooperation with South Korea due to the low-risk, high earning revenue stream it offers. Until 2008 it was a major source of cash for the North Koreans, bringing in half a billion dollars over a decade.

The south-easterly location of Kumgang means that visitors from the Republic of Korea are the most logical and natural source. Previous North Korean attempts to compensate for the lack of visitors to Kumgang with foreign tourists have been largely ineffective for this reason, tourist experts say.

Last week Pyongyang was scheduled to talk with South Korea on re-opening the facility, but talks fell apart after the two sides could not agree on the ranking of the negotiators to meet.

Picture: KCTV / Video: KCTV

“If the U.S. truly hopes for a ‘world without nuclear weapons’ and wants to alleviate tensions, then it should not miss this opportunity and proactively respond to our broad-minded decision and goodwill,” a National Defense Commission (NDC) statement said, carried by the KCNA.

South Korean president Park Geun-hye discussed the proposal with U.S. president Barack Obama by phone on Monday morning, an unnamed official told Yonhap news in Seoul.

North Korean state media has been on a constant offensive towards the South following the collapse of inter-Korean talks, filing several articles a day that indicate the South was to blame:

Graph showing publishing date and frequency of KCNA articles blaming South Korea for the failure of inter-Korean talks. (Graphic: NK News/KCNA Watch)

(Below: list of articles released since the failure the talks on June 12 explicitly blaming South Korea for letting negotiations fail:)

• S. Korean Papers Blame “Government” for Failed South-North Talks
• S. Korean Authorities Castigated for Torpedoing Inter-Korean Talks
• S. Korean Authorities Accused of Evading Blame for Making Inter-Korean Talks Abortive
• KCNA Commentary Accuses S. Korean Regime of Aborting Inter-Korean Talks
• S. Korean “Government” Accused of Defying People’s Desire
• S. Korean Internet Paper Flays Authorities for Making Inter-Korean Dialogue Abortive
• June 15 Joint National Events Demanded in S. Korea
• KCNA Commentary Accuses S. Korean Authorities of Making Inter-Korean Talks Abortive
• Minju Joson Slams S. Korean Authorities for Making Talks between North, South Abortive
• S. Korean “Government” Urged to Opt for Improving Inter-Korean Relations
• S. Korean Puppet Group Slammed for Calling Off Talks between North, South
• CPRK Spokesman Slams S. Korean Authorities for Making North-South Talks Abortive

TALKS PROPOSAL WITH U.S.

“There is a limit to patience,” the North Korean statement said on Sunday, referring to the Obama Administration’s ‘strategic patience’ policy.

” The U.S. should no longer rely on misleading public opinion and deceiving the world whilst complaining about non-existent [North Korean] ‘provocations’ and ‘threats’,” the three-point statement said, outlining that the U.S. could choose the “time and place” for talks.

On nuclear weapons, the statement said they were a “strategic option take for self-defence in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

“The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should not just mean ‘dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons’, it should mean the absolute denuclearization of the entire peninsula, including South Korea, and the end of U.S. nuclear threats to us,” the statement said.

During a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart in May, Barack Obama made clear that the U.S. is prepared to use its “conventional and nuclear forces” in defending South Korea from North Korean attacks.

Park Geun-hye reminded North Korea that “security does not come from nuclear weapons,” during her address to Congress.

“Our legitimate status as a nuclear power will continue regardless of whether or not it is recognized by others, or until the entire Korean Peninsula is fully denuclearized and external nuclear threats cease,” the NDC statement said on Sunday.

U.S. RESPONSE

“Our desire is to have credible negotiations with the North Koreans, but those talks must involve North Korea living up to its obligations to the world, including compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, and ultimately result in denuclearization,” U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement regarding Pyongyang’s offer.

“We’ll judge them by their actions, not by the nice words that we heard yesterday,” Denis McDonough, Barack Obama’s chief of staff told CBS news.

“The bottom line is they’re not going to be able to talk their way out of the very significant sanctions they’re under now,” McDonough added.

U.S. envoy for North Korea policy Glyn Davies said Washington would “never” accept a nuclear North Korea, indicating talks might only be agreed to should Pyongyang be prepared to put its own nuclear program on the table.

There have been no further statements from North Korea, although the Associated Press in Pyongyang noted that “posters and billboards calling on North Koreans to ‘wipe away the American imperialist aggressors’ have been taken down in recent weeks.”

SINO-NK RELATIONS

Beijing, as well as Washington, was also the subject of North Korean “goodwill” statements this weekend, as Kim Jong Un sent a personal message to Xi Jinping on his 60th birthday.

“The Chinese people have achieved successes drawing the attention of the world in their efforts to achieve social stability, protect the sovereignty of the country, attain sustainable development of the economy and win a new victory in the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the CPC with you as its general secretary,” the message said, a full copy of which is available here.

North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan will visit China on Wednesday for “strategic dialogue,” Yonhap news reported in Seoul. Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s president, is due to travel to Beijing later this month.

Additional reporting by Frank Feinstein in New Zealand. Headline image: NK News

When probed about how western nations – some of which provide significant budget assistance to Uganda – might view Kampala’s relations with North Korea, outgoing Internal Affairs Minister Eng. Hillary Onek said that Uganda is an independent country that has the rights to engage with any country it chooses.

“Unless you are suggesting that we have become a subset of America or there is no independence at all. That whatever they tell you say, yes sir! Yes sir! That is what our forefathers fought for during the independence,” the Minister told reporters gathered in Kampala.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, arrives for senior meetings with Ugandan counterparts.
Friday June 14, 2013 | Photo / Stephen Wandera for NK News

“We are independent enough to make up our own minds, to make friendships with any country and with anybody and we are learning experiences from, other than our colonial masters,” he said.

Eng. Onek made the statement while signing a communiqué with his North Korean counterpart, Vice Minister Ri Song Chol, at the Internal Security Ministry headquarters on Friday.

MEDICAL AND MARTIAL EXPERTISE

In the communiqué read by Uganda Police Force Chief Gen. Kale Kayihura, it was revealed that North Korea will continue training Ugandan police officers in martial arts, marine policing and also offer “medical expertise”.

After the meeting, the North Korean delegation met Ugandan President Museveni at his State House in Entebbe.

Vice Minister Ri Song Chol was accompanied by Deputy Director General of the Department of Surveillance and Investigations, Jong Unj Chol, and the Deputy Director of General External Security Affairs, Ri Song Hyok.

Discussions with President Museveni were not revealed to the press, but the Ugandan minister said North Korea would not be providing weapons, according to an agreement, but expertise and capacity building.

Eng. Onek told reporters that those who suggested that having ties with North Korea would affect Uganda’s diplomatic relations with their ally the U.S. are suggesting that Uganda is a “subset” of the U.S.

“Is our relation with DPRK going to affect our relationship with the U.S. and China? No. Uganda is an independent country…We are an independent country and we can choose with whom to relate with,” Onek said.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, right, receives Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, left. Friday June 14, 2013.
Photo / Stephen Wandera for NK News

INTER KOREAN COMPETITION?

Onek denied that the North Korean vist was a result of recent visit of the Uganda President Yoweri Museveni to his counterpart in South Korea.

“We planned this visit over a year ago, and it has nothing to do with the president’s visit to South Korea,” he said.

“This is very exciting partnership that others aren’t giving us. We determine our friends and enemies on the basis of our national interests – not on the interests of another country,” Gen. Kayihura said.

Responding to questions from reporters about what they expect from supporting Uganda, Vice Minister Ri chose to first question journalists gathered at the press conference, before taking questions.

“May I ask you a question? Do you have friends? Don’t you visit them?,” the North Korean Vice Minister said.

“This visit is between friends. President Museveni and the minister visited my country and now we are visiting Uganda. This is quite natural, between friends, we are helping each other,” Ri said.

On the issue of supporting the Ugandan Police Force, he related it to two football teams with two coaches with different skills and after the play one coach reach out to the other to get more skills.

North Korea Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, left, listens to Uganda’s outgoing Internal Affairs Minister Henry Onek, right, during a press conference on Friday 14 June, 2013
Photo / Stephen Wandera for NK News

AMERICAN CONNECTION

North Korea isn’t the only country helping Uganda secure its borders.

Each year the U.S. spends $320 million through its development arm, USAID, to help realize objectives in peace and security. Some of those programs directly involve police training and professionalization.

A 2007 U.S. development aid report explains how American assistance to the Ugandan police force was instrumental in helping bolster community policing and reducing the traffic of conventional weapons.

The U.S. trained 72 ‘special police constables’ and 22 ‘police trainers’, and donated motorbikes to Kampala, according to a second report.

When contacted by NK News, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs refused to comment on the story, or provide any details regarding Ugandan-U.S. cooperation.

COPY OF NORTH KOREA-UGANDA COMMUNIQUÉ

From 10 June to 14 June 2013 Honourable Vice Minister of People’s Security of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea paid an official visit to Uganda and was hosted by the Hon. Hillary Onek, the Outgoing Minister of Internal Affairs as well as General Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police.

This visit is within the context of the existing friendship of the cooperation between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Uganda, and, more specifically, within the framework of the Agreement of Mutual Cooperation between the two countries, which was reached and signed by the Minister of People’s Security of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic in July 2008. The agreement focuses on the Police-Police cooperation. This visit, also, follows a similar visit paid by the Hon. Hillary Onek to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in July 2011.

Indeed, the Uganda Police Force has, as a consequence of this cooperation and friendship, over the years, benefited from the assistance extended by their sister institution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The areas of assistance included basic training in martial arts of our officers and constables, which has greatly improved their personal qualities and skills in policing; specialized training of the Police Marine Unit, as well as provision of medical expertise.

During the five day visit of the Hon RI Song Chol, and his delegation the Vice Minister held discussions with the Hon Hillary Onek, and senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as visiting the Police headquarters, and being hosted by the Inspector General of Police, where extensive discussion were held.

The delegation also visited police establishments, such as the Field Force Unit headquarters, the Police Forensic Laboratory, the Police Training School, Kabalye Masindi, and the Police Marine Unit, Uganda appreciates assistance from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the above mentioned, and other, areas, and expresses our desire and need for further assistance and cooperation mainly in the development of our human resource.

Indeed, during this visit, the two parties have agreed to continue mutual cooperation. In particular, the two parties have agreed to enhance cooperation capacity building especially specialized training in various areas, and the development f the construction capacity of the Uganda Police Force.

Dated at this 14 day of June 2013 at Kampala

Signed by

Hon. Hillary Onek

Minister of Internal Affairs

Hon Ri Song Chol

Vice Minister of People’s Security of the DPRK

In a photo taken Thursday June 13, 2013 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, center Barton, during his five day visit to Uganda.
Uganda Internal Affairs Minister said Uganda enjoys cordial relationship with Korea despite it
being at loga heads with China and USA.
Photo / Stephen Wandera for NK News

Since 1988 North Korea has supported the Ugandan police force in martial arts and the training of highly specialized marine units. Now, for the first time since that cooperation began, a high-level North Korean People’s Security delegation has been dispatched to Kampala for a five day ‘courtesy visit’ with Ugandan police chief, Inspector General Kale Kayihura.

Pictured Tuesday carrying a riot tear-gas gun, North Korea’s Vice Minister for People’s Security Ri Song Chol met with Inspector General Kale Kayihura to learn about Uganda’s appreciation of North Korean domestic security initiatives.

North Korean Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, left, with Uganda’s Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, second right, inspects a Uganda Police officer loading a tear gas can into a launcher in Kampala during a five day visit to Uganda, Tuesday 11 June, 2013. | Picture: Stephen Wandera for NK News

“We have a lot of respect for the people of [the] Democratic People Republic of Korea. We admire your steadfast resilience towards the pressure put on your country for years,” Inspector Gen Kayihura said in comments carried by the Ugandan Daily Monitor.

“We have many experiences in how to defend our nation for a long time consistently. We are ready to share our experiences on how we dealt with those struggles,” Vice Minister Chol told Ugandan reporters after inspecting local police barracks and meeting police officers trained by North Koreans in Taekwondo.

Front seat: (L-R) Commandant Masindi Police Training School Kabalye, Moses Kafeero, DPRK Amb. Choe Thae Rae, Vice Minister, Ri Song Chol (centre), Ugandan chief of police Inspector General Kale Kayihura and head of Police Training Commissioner Felix Ndyomugenyi. Behind: police officers (trainers) trained by North Korean officers in Taekwondo at Masindi Police Training School, Wednesday 12 June. | Picture: Andrew Bagala for NK News

With a day left of the tour remaining, the visiting officials–accompanied by North Korea’s Ambassador to Uganda–have already signed a mutual cooperation agreement with the Ugandan police that will focus in further martial arts training and marine assistance, according to a document seen by NK News. North Korean construction units will also reportedly assist Ugandan police in solving what the Kampala based New Vision term a “housing crisis”.

Furthermore, the North Korean delegation will tomorrow travel to Rwakitura – the country home of Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni.  A Ugandan source familiar with the issue told NK News that after the meeting the North Korean delegation will travel back to Kampala to sign a join communique with the outgoing Internal Affairs Minister, Mr. Hillary Onek.

UGANDAN WORRY

Although Uganda witnessed deadly suicide bombing attacks in 2010 and continues to face a terrorist threat from the al-Shabaab movement, there appears little netizen appetite for North Korean policing assistance.

“This cannot get any worse!! Uganda to learn from North Korea??? Did I read it right?? What has the most secluded, authoritarian, closed and alienated country on earth have to offer to Uganda?,” one commenter at the Monitor said.

“Ugandans brace yourselves for the worse Police Brutality now that they are learning from Lucifer,” another commenter added.

The citizens of Uganda might not be wrong.

Though Ugandan President Museveni’s coup army once combated North Korean soldiers dispatched to support former leader Milton Obote, both governments maintained an intimate relation after Museveni came to power, according to a report produced by South Korean Embassy in Uganda and seen by NK News.

In 1987, a year after Museveni’s inauguration, North Korea agreed to provide a military loan worth almost $4 million (USD). Subsequently Pyongyang dispatched 40 military advisors to Kampala and invited 152 Ugandan soldiers to conduct joint exercises. The two countries agreed to trade $4.2 million (USD) worth of weaponry for coffee beans and cotton in 1989.

While military relations between the two states have dwindled in recent years, exclusive images obtained by NK News reveal the internal security areas Uganda and North Korea look set to cooperate in.

What is particularly noteworthy is the equipment on display: tear gas canisters and launchers, used for crowd control and anti-rioting operations.

Uganda’s Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, left, listen to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea popularly known as North Korea Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, right, as tear gas gun is on display in the background in Uganda capital Kampala during his five day visit to Uganda, Tuesday 11 June, 2013. | Picture: Steven Wandera for NK News

SOUTH KOREAN BENEFITS

But while local citizens might be worried about North Korea-Ugandan cooperation, one unlikely group benefiting from the friendly relations could be North Korea’s old foe in the South.

Just weeks ago, South Korea’s Ambassador Park Jong-dae to Kamapala made a point of hailing Uganda for rapid progress in ensuring improved security.

In remarks carried by Kampala’s New Vision newspaper, Park thanked his Ugandan hosts for creating a security climate that facilitated peace and economic growth. He also remarked that the number of South Korean citizens living and working in Uganda was growing steadily, thanks to the improving domestic security situation.

North Korean Vice Minister for People’s Security, Ri Song Chol, left, with Uganda’s Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, right, inspects a Uganda Police officer loading a tear gas can into a launcher in Kampala during a five day visit to Uganda, Tuesday 11 June, 2013. | Picture: Stephen Wandera for NK News

South Korean missionaries, aid-workers and business people make up the majority of nationals enjoying improved security in Uganda, Park said.

“The DPRK’s contribution to the Ugandan national security is only partial. The government’s own effort to promote security and the contribution from UN shouldn’t be underrated,” Park told NK News by phone.

“The cooperation between the DPRK and Uganda is nothing new. Since the incumbent President Museveni came in power in 1986,  they’ve been cooperating on many things,” Park added.

Vice Minister for People’s Security Ri Song Chol inspects Ugandan police, Wednsesday 12 June, Masindi Police Training School | Picture: Andrew Bagala for NK News

In late May, Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni–who has ruled over Uganda for just over 27 years–returned from a high profile meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul. At the meeting, President Yoweri greeted Ms. Park using a Korean greeting he had learned from North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung, before praising her father and former dictator Park Chung Hee’s economic ‘New Village’ movement.

“Uganda and Mozambique in particular are exemplary states that show political stability and rapid economic growth,” a Blue House source told the Korea Herald after Uganda’s President Museveni met with Park Geun-hye in late May.

Additional Reporting by Andrew Bagala & Steven Wandera in Uganda // Subin Kim and James Pearson in Seoul. Headline image: Andrew Bagala for NK News.

“Bae was arrested at the Wonjong border crossing – he didn’t even properly set foot in North Korea or Rason” a source familiar with the case working in the Christian community in the Chinese city of Yanji told NK News. The source wished to remain anonymous.

Although Bae will have visited the Rajin-Songbon Special Economic Zone (SEZ) previously, his arrest at the border indicates that he may have done something on a previous trip to upset local authorities.

“I believe Kenneth Bae was already on North Korea’s watch list – they would not touch a foreigner unless he was doing something to actively try and undermine the regime, especially under the current climate,” Kookmin University’s Andrei Lankov told NK News in Seoul.

The Wonjong [Wonchong] border crossing is the most frequently-used point of entry for merchants, businesspeople and tourists based in Yanji.

OPERATION JERICHO

Kenneth Bae was working as a Christian missionary in Dandong, Dalian and Yanji, NK News exclusively revealed in May. He had originally been dispatched to China by Youth With a Mission (YWAM), an international missionary organization.

“For the last six years,” North Korea said in an article detailing his ‘crimes’, “Kenneth Bae avoided the eyes of the Chinese security services and sought to gather support from various groups, such as as our own expatriate community, the Chinese and Westerners.”

North Korea claims Bae had a following of “1500 people,” and worked with other South Korean missionaries to create an “anti-government coalition.” “Operation Jericho” attempted to mobilize 250 of Bae’s “followers” to enter Rason, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that borders China, and base themselves from the Rajin Hotel, North Korea said in a statement regarding Bae’s trial and arrest.

“Operation Jericho” is a biblical reference to a city closed to outside access. “No one went out and no one came in,” the story says. According to the bible, God “orders “Joshua to lead men around the city,” and “sound trumpets,” after which “the wall of the city will collapse.”

Bae details Operation Jericho and his missionary work in North Korea in the below video, exclusively revealed by NK News in May.

“We are going to send 300 people to pray in Rason. Just as God made people enter Jericho and cause it to collapse without force,” Bae says in a sermon to a St. Louis church. “I hope the wall between us will collapse soon through our praying and worship in the Rason area.”

“I’m now touring churches in the U.S. asking them to send 10 people per church to worship for one week in Rason. Any American citizen may join. Just a few people is not enough anymore, many people should join in this project.”

More exclusive NK News coverage of the Kenneth Bae case:

• Exclusive: Korean-American Imprisoned by North Korean Authorities is ‘Nations Tour’ Owner
• North Korea Confirms Arrest of “Kenneth” Bae
• Detained American was missionary dispatched to China
• The Kenneth Bae story: in his own words
• Kenneth Bae was arrested for plotting “Operation Jericho”
• Kenneth Bae sentenced to 15 years hard labor
• ANALYSIS: Where Kenneth Bae is being detained
• Kenneth Bae will be released, but not for a while

South Korea said the North Korean decision lacked “common sense”, and had acted according to its usual “abnormal practice” by cancelling talks.

A statement carried by the KCNA today called the South “impolite” and “immoral” for its choice of words, something that the South said “distorted the facts.”

“From the start, the South insisted on ministerial-level talks, confirming several times its intention to send the Minister of Unification. However, just before talks began, it downgraded the level of its chief delegate,” the statement from the Committee of the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said.

“This kind of discourtesy and disrespect is unprecedented in the history of North-South dialogue,” the statement said.

DELEGATION PROBLEMS

North Korea said it would cancel talks unless the South sent someone at a ministerial level after South Korea proposed vice-ministerial level representatives would attend.

Both sides swapped their proposed delegation lists on Tuesday afternoon, with the North announcing it would cancel talks later that evening.

The North notified the South it would be cancelling tomorrow’s talks at around 1905KST, via the now-active Panmunjom hotline – liaison officers have now left, and there will be no further discussions today.

Both sides had sent a list of 5 delegates. Kang Ji Young, a chief in the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland had been selected by the North has heading Pyongyang’s delegation.

A graduate of Pyongyang’s Kim Chaek University, Kang had been involved in inter-Korean student activities in the past.

“We requested the North’s list of representatives several times but they wanted to trade lists simultaneously. We wanted a successful conference and therefore accepted the North’s request,” a South Korean Ministry of Unification statement said.

South Korea had initially called for ministerial-level talks, and had nominated its Vice Minister of Unification to head its delegation.

“In order to solve outstanding inter-Korean issues and establish a new North-South relationship, South Korea proposed a ministerial-level meeting where top officials with authority and responsibilities could meet and resolve issues,” the MOU statement said.

During working-level talks South Korea requested that North Korea send representatives with the same authority and responsibility as the South Korean Minister of Unification.

“Despite this request,” the statement said, “the North nominated a figure who evidently did not have the same authority and responsibility as someone of ministerial class.”

UNPRECEDENTED?

There has never been an instance where an inter-Korean meeting has been cancelled due to an inappropriate level of delegates, South Korea argued.

Similarly, North Korea argued that the South Korean request that Kim Yang Gon of the United Front Department head the talks for the North side demonstrated its “ignorance of the social system in the DPRK.”

“Never has there been such a precedent in which a secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea officially took part in the talks between the authorities in the decades-long history of the north-south dialogue,” this morning’s statement said.

The Ministry of Unification said it would have accepted any North Korean chief delegate with the “appropriate levels of authority” and did not necessarily insist on Kim Yang Gon.

A full version of the KCNA article and CPRK statement is available via KCNA Watch, here.

Additional Reporting by Frank Feinstein of KCNA Watch. Headline Image: NK News

The page appeared to have been around for at least a month and content included links to KCTV news bulletins on the YouTube channel of the China-based Uriminzokkiri website, photos and stories from the government’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and some “behind the scenes” pictures from the TV station.

It was written as if it was being run from within the TV station in Pyongyang — something that appears to have fooled several major international news agencies — but a series of inconsistencies in the content made it much more likely to be the work of a North Korean fan in the west.

Early this week, after those inconsistencies were highlighted on NK News and South Korea’s National Police Agency said it was looking into blocking the page, the Facebook account went silent. The account was deleted by its owner, Facebook told NorthKoreaTech.

A lot of the media attention on the page focused on its livestreaming of Korean Central Television but, as noted here earlier, the two livestreams offered by the site weren’t actually original.

They were simply embedded versions of two streams that remain available.

The first is being carried by Ustream, a U.S.-based video streaming site, and appears to be provided from Japan by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chosen Soren). The second comes from Unification Broadcasting, a Seoul-based defector-run site that analyzes media coverage on both sides of the Korean border.

“We made an opening call at 9:00 a.m. (local time)…But the North did not answer,” South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said in a brief press statement Wednesday. A further attempt to call the northern side at 4:00 p.m. (local time) was also ignored, the ministry added.

The attempted calls were made using a recently restored Red Cross hotline between the two Koreas. It was severed in March during a period of unusually high inter-Korean tensions.

“The latest move is probably linked to the cancellation of talks late Tuesday,” an unnamed South Korean Ministry of Unification source told Yonhap News. The source added that North Korea may have even disconnected the Red Cross line following the abrupt cancellation of talks.

So far, Pyongyang has not commented on the attempted phone calls or the cancellation of talks.

North Korea called off the talks Tuesday evening after a difference of opinion emerged over who should lead negotiations between the two sides.

North Korea had been expecting Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae to lead South Korea’s negotiation team, but after it emerged Pyongyang would not send his opposite number, Seoul instead nominated Vice-Unification Minister Kim Nam-shik to lead its team.

North Korea said that Seoul’s decision to send Vice-Unification Minister Kim Nam-shik was a  ”provocation” that made a “mockery” of the talks. Its negotiators subsequently told the Southern side  that they would be cancelling the talks at around 1905KST.

“I’m puzzled and saddened that the talks have run aground on the rank issue. It seems over-important to both sides,” long-time North Korea watcher Aidan Foster-Carter told NK News.

“In my view South Korea was right to hold out for government-to-government talks, and North Korea caved in on that. But I don’t see any need for Seoul to say: You must send Kim Yang-gon and no one else/lesser. That sounded arrogant, and insufficiently flexible,” Foster-Carter added.

Because North Korea’s political system is so opaque, the issue of equivalence between DPRK and ROK delegations has always been a controversial issue. However, during the years of the Sunshine Policy, South Korea usually sent its Unification Minister to lead talks – even when the Northern side sent relatively junior cabinet councilors.

After talks were abandoned Tuesday South Korea’s presidential office accused Pyongyang of trying to impose “submission and humiliation” on the rank issue. Office insiders stressed to Yonhap News that although previous administrations had allowed “lower ranking” North Korean officials to sit as chief representatives at senior level talks, the Park Geun-hye administration would no longer accept such practices.

In trying to resolve the situation Yonhap News said Wednesday that South Korean politicians from both sides had been debating workarounds.

Chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party Hwang Woo-yea proposed the two Koreas make a table listing equivalent ranks of government officials from each side in advance of talks. Park Jie-won of the Democratic Party instead suggested the talks be upgraded to the prime minister-level to help clarify the situation.

Following recent tensions South Korea insisted that North Korea should engage in government-to-government talks as a means of encouraging detente between the two states. North Korea subsequently proposed talks on June 6 regarding the resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Kumgang tourism zones.

Photo by Charlotte90T