Displaying items by tag: North Korea

Wednesday, 01 November 2017 06:22

North Korea Missile Claims

  • Pyongyang has warned that the 'entire US mainland is within our firing range'
  • North Korean official threatened 'severe punishment' for US if it 'dares to invade'
  • Country claims to be developing rocket capable of reaching the US East coast

North Korea has warned that nuclear war 'may break out any moment' amid claims it is developing a missile that can reach the East coast of the US.

Pyongyang said the 'entire US mainland is within our firing range' and threatened 'severe punishment' for America if it 'dares to invade out sacred territory'.

The chilling statement comes as a North Korean official claimed the secretive nation was building a rocket capable of travelling more than 6,000 miles.

The new missile would be capable of reaching 'all the way to the East coast' of the US, one of Kim Jong-un's officials claimed.

The official told CNN Pyongyang was not ruling out diplomacy, but that beforehand, 'we want to send a clear message that the DPRK has a reliable defensive and offensive capability to counter any aggression from the United States'.

It comes after North Korea's deputy UN ambassador warned yesterday that the situation on the Korean peninsula 'has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.'

Kim In Ryong told the U.N. General Assembly's disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to 'such an extreme and direct nuclear threat' from the United States since the 1970s - and said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense.

He pointed to large-scale military exercises every year using 'nuclear assets' and said what is more dangerous is what he called a US plan to stage a 'secret operation aimed at the removal of our supreme leadership.'

This year, Kim said, North Korea completed its 'state nuclear force and thus became the full-fledged nuclear power which possesses the delivery means of various ranges, including the atomic bomb, H-bomb and intercontinental ballistic rockets.'

'The entire US mainland is within our firing range and if the US dares to invade our sacred territory even an inch it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe,' he warned.

Kim's speech follows escalating threats between North Korea and the United States, and increasingly tough UN sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country is curtailing economic, scientific and other ties with North Korea in line with UN sanctions, and the European Union announced new sanctions on Pyongyang for developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the North Korean crisis 'will continue until the first bomb drops.'

His commitment to diplomacy came despite President Donald Trump's tweets several weeks ago that his chief envoy was 'wasting his time' trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he derisively referred to as 'Little Rocket Man.'

North Korea's deputy UN ambassador called his country's nuclear and missile arsenal 'a precious strategic asset that cannot be reversed or bartered for anything.'

'Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the US is thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table under any circumstances,' Kim said.

He told the disarmament committee that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - North Korea's official name - had hoped for a nuclear-free world.

Instead, Kim said, all nuclear states are accelerating the modernisation of their weapons and 'reviving a nuclear arms race reminiscent of (the) Cold War era.'

He noted that the nuclear weapon states, including the United States, boycotted negotiations for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was approved in July by 122 countries at the United Nations.

'The DPRK consistently supports the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the efforts for denuclearisation of the entire world,' he said. But as long as the United States rejects the treaty and 'constantly threatens and blackmails the DPRK with nuclear weapons ... the DPRK is not in position to accede to the treaty.'

Source: Daily Mail UK - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4987806/North-Korea-warns-nuclear-war-break-moment.html

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador warned Monday that the situation on the Korean peninsula “has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.”

Kim In Ryong told the U.N. General Assembly’s disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to “such an extreme and direct nuclear threat” from the United States since the 1970s — and said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense.

He pointed to large-scale military exercises every year using “nuclear assets” and said what is more dangerous is what he called a U.S. plan to stage a “secret operation aimed at the removal of our supreme leadership.”

This year, Kim said, North Korea completed its “state nuclear force and thus became the full-fledged nuclear power which possesses the delivery means of various ranges, including the atomic bomb, H-bomb and intercontinental ballistic rockets.”

“The entire U.S. mainland is within our firing range and if the U.S. dares to invade our sacred territory even an inch it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe,” he warned.

Kim’s speech follows escalating threats between North Korea and the United States, and increasingly tough U.N. sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country is curtailing economic, scientific and other ties with North Korea in line with U.N. sanctions, and the European Union announced new sanctions on Pyongyang for developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the North Korean crisis “will continue until the first bomb drops.” His commitment to diplomacy came despite President Donald Trump’s tweets several weeks ago that his chief envoy was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he derisively referred to as “Little Rocket Man.”

North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador called his country’s nuclear and missile arsenal “a precious strategic asset that cannot be reversed or bartered for anything.”

“Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the U.S. is thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table under any circumstances,” Kim said.

He told the disarmament committee that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — North Korea’s official name — had hoped for a nuclear-free world.

Instead, Kim said, all nuclear states are accelerating the modernization of their weapons and “reviving a nuclear arms race reminiscent of (the) Cold War era.” He noted that the nuclear weapon states, including the United States, boycotted negotiations for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was approved in July by 122 countries at the United Nations.

“The DPRK consistently supports the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the efforts for denuclearization of the entire world,” he said. But as long as the United States rejects the treaty and “constantly threatens and blackmails the DPRK with nuclear weapons ... the DPRK is not in position to accede to the treaty.”

Source: Washington Post -https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-says-a-nuclear-war-may-break-out-any-moment/2017/10/16/1b4e879e-b2c5-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.e55cb5ae5990&wpisrc=nl_az_most&wpmk=1

Wednesday, 01 November 2017 05:32

Iranian Aggression Intensifies

UN ambassador Nikki Haley takes the "outlaw" regime to task.

October 20, 2017
Joseph Klein

Last July, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) military commander and chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, warned that "putting the Revolutionary Guard in the terrorist lists with terrorist groups can be very costly to the United States and its military bases and forces in the region." IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said on October 8th that "if the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world." The next day the Iranian regime warned of a "crushing" response if the United States were to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. President Trump has called the Iranian regime's bluff with his announcement last week that he would do just that.

Designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization and imposing new sanctions for its aggressive actions in the region is not a restoration of the sanctions lifted by the Obama administration as part of its disastrous nuclear deal with Iran. If Iran insists it can do what it wants militarily in terms of missile launches, support of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and arms transfers without violating the nuclear deal, then the United States can certainly act to curb such activities through financial pressure. The U.S. can impose sanctions against the Iranian regime's principal instrument for projecting aggressive, destabilizing force outside of its borders without violating the nuclear deal. The Iranian regime does not see it that way, however.

With the lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions making available billions of dollars to Iran's leaders to further finance the IRGC's exploits in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, the regime is furious that the Trump administration is tightening the financial screws again, even if for reasons not directly related to Iran's compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal. Thus, it is threatening U.S. forces and bases in the region. A couple of seemingly unrelated events this past week point to Iran's positioning itself for more aggressive military actions that could place U.S. forces in harm's way.

On Tuesday, Major General Bagheri landed in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and senior Syrian officials, including the defense minister and the chief of staff of the Syrian armed forces. Bagheri is quoted as saying that his visit's purpose was to "put a joint strategy on continuing co-ordination and co-operation at the military level." Some experts on Iran believe that Bagheri's visit to Damascus at this time is intended to reinforce a message that Iran will continue to supply weaponry to Syria and to reinforce the presence of its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Syria. This will not only serve to bolster the Assad regime, but it also will strengthen Iran's ability to follow through on its threats to the U.S. and its allies, principally Israel.

Meanwhile, following the departure of the Kurds from Kirkuk, Iraq earlier this week, the IRGC's operational Al Qods arm reportedly established a command center and five bases there. According to Debkafile, this constitutes "the first military facility Iran has ever established openly in Iraq." The Kirkuk region holds 45 percent of Iraqi's oil. The Iraqi branch of Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah has vowed that once ISIS is defeated it will start killing Americans, as it has done before.

It is against this backdrop that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley used her entire speech to the UN Security Council on Wednesday to denounce the Iranian regime on multiple grounds. The session was supposed to be devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Ambassador Haley departed from the monthly ritual during which Israel is normally singled out for criticism by other Council members. She went after Iran instead. She explained why the Trump administration decided to take "a comprehensive approach to confronting the Iranian regime," which does not give the regime a get out of jail free card even if it is in technical compliance with the loophole-ridden nuclear deal agreed to by the Obama administration.

"We can't talk about stability in the Middle East without talking about Iran," Ambassador Haley said. "That's because nearly every threat to peace and security in the Middle East is connected to Iran's outlaw behavior. The United States has now embarked on a course that attempts to address all aspects of Iran's destructive conduct, not just one aspect. It's critical that the international community do the same. Judging Iran by the narrow confines of the nuclear deal misses the true nature of the threat. Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing, and unlawful behavior. To do otherwise would be foolish."

Ambassador Haley accused the Iranian regime of continuing to "play" the Security Council. "Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior. And we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop."

Ambassador Haley proceeded to list various violations by the Iranian regime of Security Council resolutions pertaining to the transfer of conventional weapons from Iran and the arming of terrorist groups, including the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah. She also pointed to what she called the Iranian regime's "most threatening act" – its launch of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. "When a rogue regime starts down the path of ballistic missiles, it tells us that we will soon have another North Korea on our hands," Ambassador Haley said. "If it is wrong for North Korea to do this, why doesn't that same mentality apply to Iran? "

As for the Iran's supposed technical compliance with its commitments under the nuclear deal itself, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the UN's international inspectors are not able to visit Iran's military sites. Past work on nuclear explosive trigger devices appears to have taken place at one or more such sites in the past. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano admitted last month that when it comes to the IAEA's capacity to check whether Iran was conducting work on a nuclear explosive device, his agency's "tools are limited." The Iranian regime has also attempted to skirt the restrictions in the JCPOA on its procurement of materials, equipment, goods and technology related to Iran's nuclear activities. The Heritage Foundation noted in its recent report on the JCPOA, for example, that Iran was "caught red-handed trying to purchase nuclear technology and restricted ballistic missile technology from German companies."

U.S. intelligence had discovered North Korea's transfer of missile parts to Iran at the very same time that Iran was negotiating the nuclear deal, in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions then in effect. The Obama administration chose to look the other way. Does anybody with a modicum of sense really believe that such collaboration between the two rogue nations is not going on today? Iran is flush with cash, thanks to the JCPOA. It wants to build out its missile and nuclear enrichment capabilities. In addition to covert transfers of materials and technology to Iran in violation of the nuclear deal, the JCPOA may provide a loophole for Iran to exploit in outsourcing some of the development work to North Korea for hard currency, which North Korea desperately needs. They are a perfect match for each other.

Proponents of the JCPOA argue that exiting the nuclear deal unless it is changed to the Trump administration's satisfaction would undermine U.S. credibility with North Korea and thereby kill any chance of negotiations to resolve the crisis caused by North Korea's continued testing of sophisticated nuclear arms and ballistic missiles. "If we want to talk to North Korea now, the possible end for the nuclear deal with Iran would jeopardize the credibility of such treaties," Reuters quoted German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel as saying. Germany is one of the parties to the JCPOA. Other European allies have voiced similar concerns. So have Obama's former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

This argument is absurd on its face. The whole point is to prevent Iran from becoming the next North Korea, not to kick the can down the road as usual. North Korea's aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and of intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads proves that weak agreements full of front-loaded goodies rewarding rogue regimes for elusive promises are worthless.

More at: https://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/

Wednesday, 01 November 2017 05:16

Report: Global Persecution at Historic Peak

Christianity is “the world’s most oppressed faith community,” and anti-Christian persecution in the worst regions has reached “a new peak” claims a new report by Aid to the Church in Need.

“In terms of the numbers of people involved, the gravity of the crimes committed and their impact,” notes the report, “it is clear that the persecution of Christians is today worse than at any time in history. Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, but ever-increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution.”

The report, “Persecuted and Forgotten?”, compiles analysis from a number of sources, including Open Door’s World Watch List and the Pew Forum’s Social Hostilities Index. In 12 of the 13 countries reviewed, the situation for Christians was worse in overall terms in the period 2015–17 than within the preceding two years. The only exception was Saudi Arabia, where “the situation was already so bad it could scarcely get any worse.”

The report claims that the United Nations and Western governments failed to offer Christians in countries such as Iraq and Syria the emergency help they needed as genocide got underway. “If Christian organizations and other institutions had not filled the gap,” says the report, “the Christian presence could already have disappeared in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.”

ISIS and other Islamist militant groups have committed genocide against Christians in Iraq and Syria. The militants are being defeated in many areas, though, which is making it possible for some Christian communities to return to their homes. “The defeat of [ISIS] and other Islamists in major strongholds of the Middle East offers the last hope of recovery for Christian groups threatened with extinction,” says the report. “Many would not survive another similar violent attack.”

Christians have also suffered increased violence and oppression as a result of a rise in religious nationalism. In India, persecution has risen sharply since the 2014 rise to power of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The worst persecution, though, continues to occur in North Korea. As the report points out, the “unspeakable atrocities” against Christians include enforced starvation, enforced abortion, and reports of believers being hung on crosses over a fire and others being crushed under a steamroller.

Download the report here: https://www.churchinneed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/persecution-1-1.pdf

Friday, 13 October 2017 12:58

Digital Bibles in balloons

A North Korean defector, Jung Kwang-il, has used 350 helium balloons to send 1,000 flash drives loaded with portions of the Bible from South to North Korea. The flash drives were donated by college and high school students in the United States. Jung said, ‘It was confirmed by GPS that all balloons dropped in the Mount Kumgang area of North Korea. This launch is the last one for the year, because the direction of the wind is due to change.’ Fifty-four-year-old Jung, who was sentenced to three years in a North Korean prison camp, is now based in South Korea and often sends USB drives, SD cards, and other devices carrying Christian material and testimonials from North Korean defectors across the border.

Published in Praise Reports
Tuesday, 03 October 2017 05:36

Prayer for North Korean Refugees

"Rescue those being led away to death"*

We are bringing you this article which was originally to highlight North Korean Refugees Day, which has past, but it brings some informative information to guide our ongoing prayers for this troubled nation…

We cannot allow the latest provocations of the Kim Jong Un regime to divert us from the root cause of this problem: the atrocious violations of human rights being committed by this Kim regime and abetted by Xi Jinping.

Eighty percent of North Korean escapees carry poison so they can kill themselves if they are arrested in China.  They would rather die than be repatriated to North Korea.     China’s “repatriation policy is a death sentence for North Koreans”.**

Why Should We Care?   The situation for North Korean refugees is worse than ever before.  There is nothing that Kim Jong Un fears more than the PEOPLE of North Korea who are the ones who have educated us about the horrible suffering in the DPRK.  Kim will do everything in his power to prevent their escape and China’s communist government will comply with his wishes despite China’s international treaty obligations.  Just recently, a family of five committed suicide rather than face repatriation to North Korea   In this case, a senior member of the North Korea’s Worker’s Party with his wife, son and two daughters begged the Chinese security forces not to force them back to North Korea.  The World Tribune reported: the Chinese police instead followed an order from Beijing to escort them with heavily armed security guards thousands of miles away to the northeastern province of Liaoning which borders North Korea.  Fearing certain torture and imprisonment and possible execution, the family committed suicide by taking poison.

The defectors have repeatedly told us about the close cooperation between the Chinese and the North Korea security forces.

What the Chinese authorities are doing is inhumane, barbaric and illegal.  It is a violation of international law as China is a signatory to the refugee convention which it signed in September of 1982 (The People’s Republic of China signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol on September 24, 1982.)

Consider that the Chinese government refuses to allow the UN High Commissioner for Refugees any access to these refugees but gives free reign to the DPRK’s Ministry of State Security agents to hunt down refugees and to murder those who try to help them.  Even Chinese citizens have been jailed and murdered for helping North Korean refugees.

 Will you take a stand for these men, women and children whose only crime was to try to live?  We will provide you anything you need to take part: a sample letter of petition, posters, videos, prayer points, so you can take part.  If action is already planned in your city, we will connect you with your city coordinator.

Here’s how you can participate – two possible ways.

Be a City Coordinator: If you live in a city with a Chinese consulate, the role of the city coordinator is very simple: deliver a letter of petition on Friday, September 22nd to the Chinese embassy or consulate calling on the PRC to stop repatriating North Korean refugees.  You can plan any additional activity you wish.  For example, here in Washington, D.C. the North Korea Freedom Coalition will also hold a demonstration and a candlelight vigil, while in Seoul, South Korea, the Lawyers for Human Rights and unification of Korea are planning a protest, while in Pretoria, South Africa, Ata Gallous is hosting a conference to raise awareness in South Africa about North Korea’s suffering.

Be a Solidarity City Coordinator: Solidarity city coordinators are in cities with no Chinese consulate but who wish to take action for North Korean refugees.  You could host a film screening, a prayer vigil, collect signatures, host any event to raise awareness and raise funds for organizations that rescue North Korean refugees.  For example, in Ithaca, New York, debuNK is hosting an event to educate students at Cornell about the plight of North Korean refugees, while in Traverse City, Michigan, Sally Jo Messersmith is gathering with friends to pray for North Korea at the Korean War memorial there.

Last year 24 cities worldwide took part in Save North Korean Refugees Day from Pretoria, South Africa to San Francisco, California, from Seoul, South Korea, to Paris, France.  For inspiration, you can see the full report of last year’s Save North Korea Refugees Day on our website at www.nkfreedom.org.  If you are interested in being a part of Save North Korean Refugees Day, please reply to this email.  If you would like to support these efforts websites are listed below.

We need your voice to be heard!

ACTA NON VERBA,

*Proverbs 24: 11

**testimony of North Korean defectors during North Korea Freedom Week 2017

Suzanne Scholte - Seoul Peace Prize Laureate

President, Defense Forum Foundation

Chair, North Korea Freedom Coalition

www.defenseforumfoundation.org |www.nkfreedom.org

Please be in prayer for the plight of the North Korean people who have suffered so much under the brutal dictatorship of the Kim family for many decades. Pray for China to change its attitude to North Korean defectors so that they can be welcomed and helped across the border in China rather than be sent back to almost certain death.

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Tuesday, 03 October 2017 05:15

Praying for International Security

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c].. .Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts…He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields[d] with fire… He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (from Psalm 46)

Having witnessed with our facilitation teams the Lord bringing an end to eight wars and ethnic conflicts over the last 20 plus years when His people come together in united, focused prayer, I have full confidence that we could see Him do the same in the current, very scary stand-off with North Korea. We must, however, not lose our sense of intercessory concentration on this most urgent international security threat. God will use our united prayers even more than THAAD high altitude missile defense systems to raise up a shield of 24/7 protection, a virtual fortress so that we do not have to fear as the above psalm tells us. He can make this conflict subside and enable a peaceful solution to be reached if we will continue to cover it in ongoing intercession.

Here is the latest on this worsening crisis:

1) The problem with the military option

An article in the Washington Times today offers this perspective:

“The most detailed analysis of all possible scenarios ranging from a “crushing U.S. military strike to eliminate Pyongyang’s arsenals of mass destruction, take out its leadership, and destroy its military” to “removing chairman Kim Jong-Un and his inner circle, most likely by assassination,” is provided by Mark Bowden in The Atlantic. His conclusion: All these options not only will carry huge human and material costs, but their end results will turn both the regional and the global situation from bad to worse.  

Gregory Treverton, the former chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, agrees that “military options against the North’s nuclear arsenal suffer from two problems: they might not succeed, and Pyongyang has devastating retaliatory options.”  (Washington Times, Sept 29)

Let us pray that these violent military options will not have to be used. They could unleash a destructive retaliation that would cause the deaths of many hundreds of thousands if not millions of people.

2) The danger of provocative actions

“Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera warned Friday that North Korea may engage in dangerous provocations next month. The Japanese defense minister’s call for caution came after South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong made a similar warning the day before.

There are several dates North Korea might choose to mark with its own special brand of fireworks. Oct. 9 is the anniversary of North Korea’s first nuclear test, Oct. 10 is the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean communist party, and Oct. 18 marks the start of the twice-in-a-decade Communist Party Congress in China.” (DailyCaller.com, Sept 29)

Pray that the North Korean regime will be held back from launching provocative operations due to Kim Jong Un’s fear of losing face with his own people or as part of these upcoming anniversaries.

3) China’s key role and the important use of sanctions

Successive rounds of U.N. sanctions have cut off more than 90 percent of North Korea’s publicly reported exports — including coal, iron ore, seafood and, most recently, textiles — and have restricted the regime’s ability to earn foreign currency income by sending workers abroad.

China accounts for roughly 85 percent of North Korea’s external trade and is seen by many as the key to forcing Pyongyang to at least freeze its nuclear and missile programs.” (Washington Post, Sept 29th)

“China and the United States have developed a closer relationship due to North Korea’s antics, which former U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus describes as genuinely disgusting and frustrating to Chinese President Xi Jinping.” (Breitbart, Sept 29)

China is absolutely the key factor for the peaceful resolution of this crisis. Pray that China and the USA will work closely together to solve this great international security problem. Pray that China will continue to effectively shut down their trade and business connections with North Korea and that any smuggling or bypassing of this new embargo will be strictly prevented so that the North Korean regime’s economic ability to wage war is choked off.

4) The perilous connection with Iran

“Failure to stop North Korea will almost certainly lead to a failure to stop Iran. In the past, Pyongyang has transferred nuclear and missile technology to Iran, resulting in similar missiles appearing in military parades in both capitals. Iran is now much more developed in science and technology, and is likely to improve on North Korean systems.

Furthermore, Iran can keep within all the restrictions imposed on it by the nuclear deal and still develop and test its nuclear weapon and missile program in North Korea.” (Algemeiner.com, Sept 29th)

Let’s pray that the relationship of North Korea and Iran will be cut off and that as North Korea is dealt with, Iran’s capacity to build up nuclear weapons and missile program will also be curtailed through similar sanctions and united actions by the international community.

Thanks for continuing to cover this alarming situation in your prayers.

John Robb, IPC Chairman

Friday, 29 September 2017 11:22

North Korea: pray for Christian mission

In the 1940s, Christianity enjoyed tremendous growth in North Korea. By 1950 there were 2,850 churches, 700 pastors, and 300,000 Christians; Pyongyang was nicknamed ‘the new Jerusalem’. But the rise of Kim Il Sung to power changed everything, and religion was outlawed. There are stark similarities between Christianity and the Juche philosophy indoctrinated into every North Korean from birth. Replacing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a trinity of Kim Il Sung, his mother Kim Jong Suk, and his son Kim Jong Il. National laws are written in a style that resembles Mosaic law. Children are taught to give thanks to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il for their food. Photos of the two adorn every house, as reminders of who supposedly cares for their needs. The World Centre for North Korea Missions connects people with North Korea, and facilitates mission training and projects.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 08 September 2017 10:09

North Korea: nuclear test

On 3 September Pyongyang conducted an underground nuclear test of a hydrogen bomb, and claimed it can now mount a thermonuclear weapon on a missile capable of striking the USA. The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said Kim was ‘begging for war’ and urged the Security Council to adopt the strongest sanctions measures possible to stop Pyongyang's nuclear programme. On 5 September President Vladimir Putin voiced the fears of many when he warned that the escalating crisis risks developing into a ‘global catastrophe’. While speaking to the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa, Putin said that imposing further sanctions would be useless and ineffective, and that Kim would rather starve his people than see his regime overthrown. He also urged against ‘military hysteria’. At the time of writing South Korea’s PM said they expect the North to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile on 9 September.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 08 September 2017 10:07

South Korea: US training assassins?

US Navy SEALs who purportedly killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden will train South Korean commandos to take out North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the event of war, according to the Times of London. ‘We are in the process of conceptualising the plan; I believe we can create the unit by 1 December’, said the South Korean defence minister. The US has also decided to waive restrictions on the size and range of South Korean ballistic missiles, allowing it to develop and drop bunker-busting bombs on the underground headquarters of the North Korean leadership in Pyongyang. President Trump told Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe that the US is ready to use the ‘full range’ of capabilities, including the nuclear arsenal at its disposal, in dealing with North Korea.

Published in Worldwide