The Korean War

Shocking facts about the battles of the Korean War.

China attacks Japan for 'barbarous' past

China's president has sharply criticised Japan's history of military aggression in China and South Korea, during a speech in Seoul that came days after Tokyo changed its pacifist constitution. "In the first half of the 20th century, Japanese militarists carried out barbarous wars of aggression against China and Korea, swallowing Korea and occupying half of the Chinese mainland," Xi Jinping said on Friday at Seoul National University.

China and the Korean peninsula were occupied by Japan in the early 20th century.Xi's speech came on the second and last day of his state trip to South Korea, which had been flagged as a snub to ally North Korea because of his decision to visit Seoul before Pyongyang. But the key issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons was mentioned in a passing reference to the need for a "denuclearised Korean peninsula".

Japan announced this week that its military had the right to go into battle in defence of allies, a major shift in the nation's pacifist constitution. China, Japan, North Korea and its southern enemy are locked in a series of political and territorial disputes. Relations between Seoul and Tokyo are at a low ebb, with governments mired in disputes related to Japan's 1910-45 rule over the peninsula. China is also embroiled in a territorial row with Japan over areas of the East China Sea.

Al Jazeera English

Psy's Anti American Song

In footage at one show in 2004, he performs a song titled Dear American, which features the lyrics, "Kill those f---ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives/Kill those f---ing Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully."
And he smashes a model U.S. tank on the ground during a performance at a 2002 rally on the Korean Peninsula - a response to the death of two Korean schoolgirls killed in an accident with an American military vehicle.

Unicorn lair 'discovered' in North Korea

Normally, North Korea's official state news agency is the place to go for reports ranging from the reclusive totalitarian state's unparalleled scientific achievements to the limitless love which its inhabitants reserve for their successive leaders.

Yet in what appears to be a genuine world exclusive, the inimitable Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has now broken the incredible news that archaeologists in Pyongyang have discovered a unicorn's lair.

Or rather, the report says that they have "recently reconfirmed" the lair of one of the unicorns ridden by the ancient Korean King Tongmyong, founder of a kingdom which ruled parts of China and the Korean peninsula from the the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD.

The KCNA goes on to state that the location happens to be 200 metres from a temple in the North Korean capital, adding: "A rectangular rock carved with words "Unicorn Lair" stands in front of the lair." "The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392)," says the report. Archaeologists from the Academy of Social Sciences at North Korea's History Institute were credited with making the discovery.

The Guardian

Kim Jong-Un Dead? That's The Rumor

In the past few hours, Twitter has exploded with unsubstantiated rumors that the new North Korean dictator died in Beijing today and that a coup is underway in North Korea. So far there is no indication at all that these rumors are true. The rumors originated on China’s twitter-like platform Weibo (fyi: here’s the fascinating Google translated page of original Weibo posts), and quickly got picked up by Gawker.com and retweeted in the U.S.

As the story goes, a couple assassins barged into Kim’s room in Beijing and shot him, before being shot and killed themselves by bodyguards. Twitter user @ChristianJMay posted that the rumor is “based on news that a host of blacked out cars have descended upon embassy in Beijing, where he was visiting.” Nevermind that as far as anyone can tell, Kim wasn’t even in Beijing.

Forbes – Huffington Post – Yahoo! News

UPDATE - Kim Jong-un assassination rumours sparked by Beijing embassy birthday party

Kim Jong-il’s 70th birthday is cause for celebration at the North Korean embassy in Beijing, so much so that building is now abuzz with activity for the multi-day festivities.

Now, along with the planned events, embassy staff can now mark worldwide social-media fuelled assassination rumours down as one of the many tributes for the late Dear Leader.

National Post

 

20th Century Battlefields: Korea

In the fourth episode of this series presented by Peter and Dan Snow sophisticated graphics bring to life the forgotten war of the 20th Century, the battle for Korea. The Snows journey to the border between North and South Korea which is a military frontline to this day, there is still no peace treaty more than 50 years after war broke out between the Communist north and Nationalist south.

Other parts here – 20th Century Battlefields Website

North Korea 'holding 200,000 prisoners'

Amnesty International says new satellite images and testimony from a former inmate show North Korea is holding around 200,000 people in its huge network of political prison camps where torture is rampant and conditions near slavery.

The human rights group based in London released on Wednesday recent satellite photos which show four of six camps located in the impoverished country's South Pyongan, South Hamkyung and North Hamkyung provinces.

North Korea has long been regarded as having one of the world's worst human rights records, but it rejects outside criticism and denies the existence of prison camps. "North Korea can no longer deny the undeniable," Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia Pacific director, said in a statement.

"Hundreds of thousands of people exist with virtually no rights, treated essentially as slaves, in some of the worst circumstances we’ve documented in the last 50 years," Zarifi said. "Conditions in these camps are inhuman and [leader] Kim Jong-il must close them immediately," he added.

Prison camps are believed to have been operation since the 1950s and can be categorised into two: 'total control zones' where inmates are never released without any proper trials; and 'revolutionary zones' where conditions are more lenient, Zarifi said. "These are places out of sight of the rest of the world, where almost the entire range of human rights protections that international law has tried to set up for last 60 years are ignored," he said.

Kyoung-il Jeong, a former inmate at a revolutionary-zone Yodok prison, testified that inmates are fed 200 grams of corn gruel and often thrown into a cube "torture cell" where it is impossible to either stand or lie down.

Al Jazeera

North Korea prepared for nuclear 'holy war'

North Korea's minister of armed forces has said its military is prepared to wage a "holy war" against South Korea using its nuclear deterrent after what he called Seoul's attempt to initiate conflict.

Minister Kim Yong-chun repeated Pyongyang's charge on Thursday that the South is preparing to start a war by conducting the live fire drills close to the border of the North.

He was quoted by North Korea's KCNA news agency, which regularly threatens the South, but which had up to now been relatively restrained in its criticism of the miltiary drills.

In a show of military might, South Korea started a major land drill in the Pocheon region on Thursday morning, between Seoul and the heavily armed demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
It also continues with naval live fire exercises 100km south of the maritime border with North Korea.

Al Jazeera - The Guardian - Democratic People's Republic of Korea Official Webpage

North Korea 'tests weapons on children'

Is this war mongering spin?

When Im Chun-yong made his daring escape from North Korea, with a handful of his special forces men, there were many reasons why the North Korean government was intent on stopping them.

They were, after all, part of Kim Jong-il's elite commandos - privy to a wealth of military secrets and insights into the workings of the reclusive regime.

But among the accounts they carried with them is one of the most shocking yet to emerge – namely the use of humans, specifically mentally or physically handicapped children, to test North Korea's biological and chemical weapons.

"If you are born mentally or physically deficient, says Im, the government says your best contribution to society… is as a guinea pig for biological and chemical weapons testing."

Even after settling into the relative safety of South Korea, for 10 years Im held on to this secret, saying it was too horrific to recount.

But with Kim's health reportedly failing, and the country appearing increasingly unpredictable, Im felt it was time he spoke out. Al Jazeera

In video Interview: North Korea weapons threat

North Korea has sentenced two US journalists to 12 years hard labour

North Korea, facing U.N. sanctions for last month's nuclear test, on Monday raised the stakes in its growing confrontation with Washington by jailing two U.S. journalists to 12 years hard labor for "grave crime."

The sentence follows U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warning on Sunday the United States was considering putting the reclusive North back on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, which would further isolate the impoverished country.

The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of U.S. media outlet Current TV, were arrested in March working on a story near the border between North Korea and China. The trial for the two, working for the company co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, opened on Thursday.

"The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing as they had already been indicted and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor," the official KCNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.

ABC News – AlJazeera

Also see: The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps Prisoners’ Testimonies and Satellite Photographs -Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Welcome to North Korea

A documentary that will show you the horrors of what goes on in the "Democratic People's Republic" of Korea.

US military in South Korea ’pushing’ the North

Some analysts argue that the US military presence in South Korea has pushed Pyongyang into an arms race.

LiveLeak.com

The Final Push for World Government

Throughout the history of mankind, the elite have always fought for world empire. Now, using secrecy and international banking systems, they are making their final push for world government. Only an educated and informed public can stop them in their tracks.

Speaker at the beginning: Carl Sagan

North Korea Vows to Bolster Nuclear Arsenal

North Korea vowed Friday to bolster its atomic arsenal in response to what it called Washington's "hostile" policy, even as a special envoy for President Barack Obama traveled to the region in a bid to draw Pyongyang back to nuclear negotiations.

Envoy Stephen Bosworth, in Beijing before heading Friday to South Korea, said the U.S. is ready and willing to talk directly with Pyongyang.

"The United States reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea," Bosworth told reporters after holding talks with senior Chinese officials Thursday. "We believe very strongly that the solution to the tensions and problems of the area now lies in dialogue and negotiation." FOXNews.com

North Korean rocket launch caught on film

A striking satellite image released yesterday shows the moment North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday in defiance of international pressure.

The image was taken from an altitude of 308 miles (496km) by the WorldView-1 satellite moments after the rocket blasted off at 11.10am local time.

North Korea's official news agency said the Taepodong-2 rocket placed a satellite in orbit that is now broadcasting revolutionary songs. The Pentagon claimed the launch failed and the rocket broke up and fell into the Pacific Ocean.

The Guardian

'Satisfaction' from Kim over N. Korea launch

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il expressed "great satisfaction" Sunday after his reclusive state launched a long-range rocket, according to state-run media.

The North Korean government insisted the Sunday morning launch was a peaceful launch of a satellite into orbit, but the United States, Japan and other nations have deemed the move an act of provocation and a violation of a U.N Security Council resolution.

Kim observed the 11:20 a.m. (2:20 a.m. GMT) launch from the command center, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

"Expressing great satisfaction over the fact that scientists and technicians of the [North Korea] successfully launched the satellite with their own wisdom and technology, he highly appreciated their feats and extended thanks to them," according to KCNA.

The North Korean government characterized the act as a successful, peaceful launch of a satellite into orbit. U.S. and South Korean officials condemned the launch as a provocative act. American military sources said the launch was a failure, saying that the rocket's payload failed to enter into orbit.

'Satisfaction' from Kim over N. Korea launch - CNN.com

For more about North-Korea see Daily NK - The Hub of North Korean News

On the Edge of War!