JAPANESE MEDIA REPORTS SUGGEST KIM JONG-UN THE MAN WITH HIS FINGER ON THE BUTTON HAS A DRINKING PROB
JAPANESE MEDIA REPORTS SUGGEST KIM JONG-UN THE MAN WITH HIS FINGER ON THE BUTTON HAS A DRINKING PROBLEM
All reports suggest that North Korea stands ready at Punggye-ri test facility to conduct its sixth nuclear weapons test and that it is likely close to testing another KN-11 Pukkuksong-1 Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM).
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog organization has warned that it sees concrete evidence that North Korea is moving ahead with its next nuclear test in the face of Trump administration and regional opposition. As well, the US-Korea Institute at SAIS has revealed that commercial satellite imagery shows recent activity at the Sinpo South Shipyard facility’s missile test stand. This test stand was used during 2014-2016 for launch systems verification, and the prototype testing of the Pukguksong-1 KN-11 SLBM. Furthermore, the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies has cautioned that some observers believe that the September 2016 nuclear test by North Korea miniaturized a weapon that could effectively be used as a nuclear warhead for North Korea’s ballistic missiles including and Inter-Continent Ballistic Missile (ICBM). This comes as Japanese media are reporting that Kim Jong-un has a drinking problem and tends to punish his military leaders when on the drink. The reports said that after a drinking binge in September, Kim Jong-un in a fit of anger made his aging general staff stay up all night writing statements apologizing for themselves’ and their families’ failures.
Meanwhile a fourth US citizen and second professor at a North Korean university has been detained on charges that they were committing hostile acts against the Kim Jong-un regime. On Friday, it was reported that North Korea accused the US and South Korean intelligence services of attempting to use poison to assassinate dictator Kim Jong-un. There are unconfirmed reports that China warned its citizens resident in North Korea to return home last month. Taking a page from China’s South China Sea handbook, satellite imagery shows that North Korea has developed a series of man-made islands surrounding its Sohae Satellite Launching Station, a missile development and testing site roughly 70 miles northwest of Pyongyang. The islands have been under development for at least five years and are likely launch sites for long-range ballistic missiles.
In another concerning development, one US expert has warned that North Korea could be planning for a surprise attack against the US. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, Executive Director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and Chief of Staff of the Congressional Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Commission has warned that two North Korean satellites, KMS 3-2 and KMS-4 launched by North Korea in April 2012 and February 2016 respectively, are currently orbiting the US and are optimized for a surprised EMP attack on the Continental US. The Former Soviet Union had nuclear warfighting preemptive attack strategies that similarly hinged on EMP attack as a prelude to hostilities. An EMP attack would disguise a nuclear weapon as an observation satellite that could then be exploded in the atmosphere above the US destroying all un-hardened electronically-based systems. The impact to public infrastructure that is unprotected from the pulse would be devastating. Dr. Pry also cites as evidence the April 29th North Korean Medium-Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) test, that was reported by the media as a failure. The test saw the MRBM deliberately detonated at 72 kilometers’ altitude, which is the optimum burst height for a 10-Kiloton warhead making an EMP attack.
