North Korea might be restarting nuclear plant, US institute says - Ex-South Korea leader says Kim Jong-il wanted $10B in exchange for talks

Jan. 2, 2015: U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies shows an annotated satellite photo indicating signs of new activity at the 5 MWe Plutonium Production Reactor at North Korea’s Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center. (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea –  North Korea may be attempting to restart its main nuclear bomb fuel reactor after a five-month shutdown, a U.S. research institute said Thursday.

If true, the finding, which is based on recent commercial satellite imagery, will be an added worry for the United States and the North’s neighbors at a time of increasing animosity over recent U.S. sanctions against the North and Pyongyang’s fury about a U.N. push to punish its alleged human rights abuses.

Activity at the 5-megawatt Nyongbyon reactor is closely watched because North Korea is thought to have a handful of crude nuclear bombs, part of its efforts to build an arsenal of nuclear tipped missiles that could one day hit America’s mainland. Nyongbyon, which has produced plutonium used for past nuclear test explosions, restarted in 2013 after being shuttered under a 2007 disarmament agreement. It has been offline since August.

Possible signs in satellite imagery from Dec. 24 through Jan. 11 that the reactor is in the early stages of being restarted include hot water drainage from a pipe at a turbine building that indicates steam from the reactor and growing snow-melt on the roofs of the reactor and turbine buildings.

The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, however, said that since the recent observation period was only about two weeks, it’s too soon to reach a definitive conclusion about what’s happening and more monitoring is needed. The institute’s website, 38 North, published the findings.

Nyongybon can likely produce about one bomb’s worth of plutonium per year. A uranium enrichment facility there could also give it a second method to produce fissile material for bombs. It is not clear if North Korea has yet mastered the technology needed to make warheads small enough to be mounted on missiles, but each nuclear test presumably moves its scientists closer toward that goal.

North Korea has said it is willing to rejoin international nuclear disarmament talks last held in 2008, but Washington demands that it first take concrete steps to show it remains committed to past nuclear pledges.

The United States also rejected a recent North Korean offer to impose a temporary moratorium on its nuclear tests if Washington scraps its annual military drills with Seoul; Pyongyang claims those drills are invasion preparation. The U.S. called the linking of the military drills, which it says are defensive and routine, with a possible nuclear test “an implicit threat.”

Always rocky ties between Pyongyang and Washington dipped lower because of a recent Hollywood movie depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The U.S. blames the North for crippling hacking attacks on the movie’s producer, Sony, and subsequently imposed new sanctions on the country, inviting an angry response from Pyongyang, which has denied responsibility for the cyberattacks.

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North Korea might be restarting nuclear plant, US institute says - Ex-South Korea leader says Kim Jong-il wanted $10B in exchange for talks

NSA program reportedly helped US finger North Korea for Sony hacking

A program implemented by the National Security Agency to help the U.S. and its allies track the computers and networks used by North Korean hackers was critical in gathering information that led Washington to conclude Pyongyang was behind last year’s cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

The New York Times reported late Sunday that the NSA began placing malware in North Korean systems in 2010. Originally, the purpose of the surveillance was to gain insight into North Korea’s nuclear program, but the focus shifted after a large cyberattack on South Korean banks and media companies in 2013. 

In the case of the Sony Pictures hack, which knocked nearly the entire company’s system offline, investigators believe that the North had stolen the “credentials” of a Sony systems administrator, which enabled them to spend two months familiarizing themselves with Sony’s network and plotting how to destroy files, computers, and systems. The attacks themselves, which Sony first reported to the FBI Nov. 24, are widely considered to be in retaliation for the release of “The Interview,” a comedy that features an assassination attempt against Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Sony hack.

Skeptics have cast doubt on the official story that North Korea was behind the Sony hack, with many suggesting a disgruntled current or former Sony employee was responsible. Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey said U.S. investigators were able to trace emails and Internet posts sent by the Guardians of Peace, the group behind the attack, and link them to North Korea.

Comey said most of the time, the group sent emails threatening Sony employees and made various other statements online using proxy servers to disguise where the messages were coming from. But on occasion, he said, they connected “directly,” enabling investigators to “see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IPs that were exclusively used by the North Koreans.”

A senior military official told The Times that the evidence against North Korea that was presented to President Barack Obama was so compelling that he “had no doubt” the Communist regime was responsible. The White House has imposed new economic sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyberattack. 

The Times report quotes a North Korean defector as saying that country’s military first displayed interest in hacking in 1994, when it sent 15 people to a Chinese military academy to learn the practice. Two years later, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang’s primary intelligence service, created Bureau 121, a hacking unit that has a substantial representation in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. 

South Korea’s military claims that the North has a staff of 6,000 hackers dedicated to disrupting the South’s military and government. That estimate is more than double an earlier projection made by that country’s Defense Ministry. 

Click for more from The New York Times.

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NSA program reportedly helped US finger North Korea for Sony hacking

Rihanna thinks North West is gorgeous

File- Rihanna

Rihanna thinks North West is “the bomb”.The ‘Rude Boy’ singer gushed over the 17-month old tot – who is the daughter of Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West – when she bumped into Kim, 34, at the Diamond Ball in Beverly Hills recently, and told the reality TV star her child is “one of the most gorgeous babies, ever”.

According to HollywoodLife.com, she said: “North is one of the most gorgeous babies ever. [I] could pinch her cheeks all day.”

The 26-year-old singer also raved about the youngster’s “bad baby” style and asked Kim to help her shop for clothes for her own baby in the future.

According to a source, she said: “And the way you dress her, Kim, she’s one bad baby! When it’s my turn, you’re coming shopping for clothes with me because your girl is the bomb.”

The brunette beauty was thrilled with the compliments and replied: “Aww, thank you Rihanna. That’s so sweet of you to say.”

Kim is also said to have showed the We Found Love hitmaker a number of adorable photographs of North, which prompted her to say: “Does this baby take any bad pictures?” Kim simply replied: “Nope!”

Rihanna isn’t the first person to admire the youngster’s fashionable attire. Earlier this year, North was photographed for former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld’s CR FashionBook in a spread devoted to the ‘Legends’ of the fashion world.

The toddler was shot for the feature by famed photographer, Michael Avedon, sporting a Chanel cashmere sweater and miniature studded handbag, along with the brand’s signature pearl earrings.

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Rihanna thinks North West is gorgeous

North West US$10,000 a month beauty bill

Ap – North West

Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West spend US$10,000 a month on a beautician for their daughter.

Though little North may only be 17 months old, she has a $10,000-a-month fashion and beauty bill, with her costs including baby massages with organic oil and mini manicure-pedicures, as well as a $2,000-a-month hair dresser.

A source said: “Her hairdresser is also in charge of accessorising and works alongside her stylist to ensure that her hair goes with the look.”

North has her own two-person styling team and the stylist and her assistant also spend around $2,000 a month on designer clothes for the youngster, before customising many of her garments.

The source told heat magazine: “North has a tailor who makes clothes for her, such as mini versions of her mum’s designer outfits so she can match Kim. The tailor will often customise clothes too, by embellishing jackets with her name picked out in Swarovski crystals – she even has NW stitched into all her shoes.”

The couple have also arranged for North to have her own 2,000 sq ft wardrobe in their new home, completebr>

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North West US$10,000 a month beauty bill

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s absence fuels speculation about health, coup - VIDEO: Where is Kim Jong-un?

FILE 2013: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits a Mushroom Farm in Pyongyang. There is speculation about the young leader’s health because he has not made a public appearance in over a month. (REUTERS/KCNA)

North Korea’s mysterious leader Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for 34 days and wasn’t on a list of dignitaries at a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party on Friday, sparking speculation that the head of one of the world’s most secretive countries is ailing or has been removed in a secret coup.

An official state media dispatch listed senior government, military and party officials who paid their respects at an event marking the party’s 69th anniversary, but not Kim. It said a flower basket with Kim’s name on it was placed before statues of his father and grandfather, both of whom also ruled North Korea.

State media earlier said that the might of the party “is growing stronger under the seasoned guidance of Marshal Kim Jong Un.”

While his absence is not in itself all that important or unusual — such anniversaries are generally given more weight when they are landmark years, though he attended the celebrations in the last two years.

Even so, because the young leader has not been shown in the North Korean media for the past month, his attendance at the event has taken on more meaning.

Kim, who was last seen in public attending a concert on Sept. 3., had been seen earlier walking with a limp.

Maybe it’s gout, unidentified sources tell South Korean reporters, or diabetes, or high blood pressure. A thinly sourced British report says the Swiss-educated dictator has been laid low by a massive cheese addiction. A headline in Seoul offers up the possibility of a common South Korean obsession: fried chicken and beer.

During a surprise visit to South Korea last week to attend the closing ceremonies of the Asian Games in Incheon, three senior North Korean leaders assured their South Korean counterparts that Kim was healthy, but that has done little to calm the rumors abroad that he was unwell.

Paul French wrote in a Reuters’ opinion, “to add to the current coup rumors, Hwang Pyong So, recently appointed director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army (the top political position in the powerful DPRK military), appeared in Incheon in South Korea sparking more speculation that Kim was gone and a coup had occurred.”

U.S. and South Korean officials told The New York Times that there is no immediate evidence that there has been a coup.

“The last time was when everyone was predicting that Kim Jong-un would be pushed aside by his more experienced uncle, and look what happened to him,” a senior official told the paper.

After surviving several earlier purges, Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was publicly shamed and then executed on treason charges in December 2013.

Geoffery Cain wrote in The Global Post that some analysts believe the 31-year-old leader’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong has been running the country in his absence.

“She is one of the only people in that we know has unfettered direct access to KJU. At the present time I would not be surprised if she is sole gatekeeper,” Michael Madden, who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch blog, told Cain.  

The article points out that little is known about the sister, believed to be born in the late 80s, but in March she appeared on state television as a senior official.

Kim, for his part, missed a meeting of the country’s parliament late last month, and was absent again from a gathering this week to mark his late father’s election as ruling party head.

Adding to the uncertainty, Kim has not been seen in North Korean media reports greeting the athletes who returned from the Asian Games — though they were given a lavish reception and heavy media coverage when they returned to the capital.

Kim is usually a near-constant one-man show in state media, but he has kept a low profile before. In 2012, he wasn’t seen publicly for about three weeks, South Korean officials say.

“Such vanishing acts would be most unusual in democracies, but in totalitarian North Korea, Kim is the state. He is free to come and go as he pleases,” Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea expert at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, told The Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s absence fuels speculation about health, coup - VIDEO: Where is Kim Jong-un?

North Korea ship "broke embargo"

29 August 2013 Last updated at 01:04 ET The container ship Chong Chon Gang has been held in Colon since 16 July Panama says an undeclared Cuban weapons cargo found on a North Korean ship is an “undoubted violation” of the United Nations’ arms embargo on Pyongyang.

A draft report by UN experts sent to Panama after the seizure of the ship in July confirmed a breach of sanctions, the ministry of public security said.

Two North Korean diplomats are in Panama to assist the ship’s 35 crew.

Cuba said it shipped the arms to North Korea for repair. It did not say why they were hidden under tonnes of sugar.

A source in the public security ministry said authorities had been given a first draft of the report compiled by UN sanctions panel experts, the AFP news agency reports.

One of two Soviet-made fighter planes found inside the North Korean vessel

The ship, the Chong Chon Gang, was seized on suspicion it was carrying drugs.

The vessel had been navigating the Panama Canal.

Continue reading the main story Departs from Nakhodka in Russian far east (200km east of North Korean border)Arrives at Pacific side of Panama CanalLeaves the Panama Canal on the Caribbean side heading for Havana, but disappears from satellite trackingArrives back at Panamanian port of Manzanillo; later searched for contraband. Weapons uncoveredOfficials found 25 containers of military hardware, including two Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter aircraft, air defence systems, missiles and command and control vehicles.

The statement from the Panamanian public security ministry was released after the North Korean diplomats – from the country’s mission in Havana – visited the crew members at a former military base.

Satellite tracking

They are being detained on suspicion of arms trafficking; an offence which carries a 12-year prison sentence.

The United Nations inspectors completed their work two weeks ago but are yet to present their official findings publicly.

The Chong Chon Gang left Russia’s far east on 12 April and travelled across the Pacific Ocean before entering the canal at the start of June, with Cuba as its stated destination.

The ship disappeared from satellite tracking systems after it left the Caribbean side of the canal, resurfacing on 11 July.

Experts say this may indicate that the crew switched off the system that automatically communicates details of their location.

It was stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal on 15 July.

Under United Nations sanctions, North Korea is banned from weapons exports and the import of all but small arms.

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North Korea ship "broke embargo"