-
Most Chinese leaders
still do not know much about North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, Xu Dunxin -- who
formerly served as China’s vice foreign minister and ambassador to Japan – said
at the 7th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity
-
Rocket lunch in April
despite China’s opposition has made Xu more uncertain about Kim Jong-un
-
China agreed to UN Security
Council’s presidential statement condemning the North’s rocket lunch, an “unusual”
move. However China’s stance on the North remain largely unchanged
-
Regarding North Korean
defectors, many of them crossed the border for economic reasons
-
Obstacle in moving
six-party talks forward lies in the distrust between Pyongyang and Washington
-
Pyongyang’s nuclear
and missile tests in the past did not result from the talks. They all took
place while the talks were stalled
South Korea, the
United States and Japan at the 11th Asia Security Summit held in Singapore agreed to
steadily strengthen trilateral defense cooperation to deter provocations by
North Korea
-
South Korea’s Defense
Minister Kim Kwan-jin, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Japan’s
Senior Vice Defense Minister Shu Watanabe
Cambodia’s foreign
minister will urge North Korean leaders to resume six-party talks on nuclear
disarmament during a rare official visit
this week.
-
North Korean officials
are scheduled to attend a regional conference next month in Cambodia
-
North Korea’s late
leader Kim Il Sung was close with Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk,
providing him with a residence in Pyongyang and security guards after the king
returned from exile in 1991
Flame,
a new generation cyber spy tool may attack North Korean cyber world anytime
during the month of June-August
-
Flame, a computer
virus designed to steal information from computers across the Middle East, appears
to be part of the state-sponsored campaign that spied on and eventually set
back Iran's nuclear program in 2010
-
Flame may have
preceded or been designed at the same time as Duqu and Stuxnet
Rep. Lim Su-kyung of
the main opposition Democratic United Party, an activist-turned-lawmaker, claimed
that she was referring to only Ha (Rep. Ha Tae-kyung of the ruling Saenuri
Party) as a traitor for joining the conservative ruling party, and that she
never meant to describe defectors as such
Man arrested
for alleged cyber terror with N. Korean spy
Survey
shows DVDs, CDs are key sources of information for N. Koreans
-
(DO – what survey? by InterMedia?
)
-
China should not join Washington
and Seoul in dismissing the proclamation of North Korea to be a nuclear state,
because it would help them exert pressure on North Korea. However, China should
oppose its intention to legalize its nuclear status
-
The legalization of
nuclear capabilities would lead neighboring countries, including South Korea,
Japan, and more to the point Taiwan, to demand the right to nuclear arms
-
At the moment, the
most urgent thing is to prevent North Korea from conducting a third nuclear
test
-
China needs to make
some adjustments in maintaining its relationship with North Korea in a way that
makes North Korea respects China’s strategic interests
Rep. Chung Mong-joon
of the ruling Saenuri Party, proposed to arm
South Korea with nuclear weapons capabilities in response to the North's
declaration of nuclear state status.
N.
Korean children pledge allegiance to leader Kim Jong-un
-
Tens of thousands of
children have sworn loyalty to North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un ahead of
the massive celebration marking the 66th anniversary of the Korean Children's
Union,
Songbun, Art, and the Chosun Children’s Union (조선소년단)
-
20,000 representatives
of the Chosun Children’s Union have been invited to Pyongyang
by Kim Jong-un to celebrate the group’s 66th anniversary
North
Korean kid: No children in the world happier than us
North Korean party
paper flays globalization
-
All the moves of the
imperialists to exploit and plunder developing countries after binding them to
the old and unfair international economic order are being checked and
frustrated
-
the imperialist
neo-colonialist predatory system is on the verge of collapse
North Korean party
paper flays globalization
BBC Worldwide
Monitoring, Text of report in English by state-run North Korean news agency
KCNA website, June 3, 2012 Sunday
Pyongyang, 3 June: The
neo-colonialist predatory system is hastening the doom of imperialism, Rodong
Sinmun Sunday says in a bylined article.
It is the imperialist
way of existence to live by exploiting and plundering colonies, the article
says.
Citing facts to prove
that the imperialists have made desperate efforts to expand the neo-colonialist
predatory system worldwide under the signboard of "globalization"
since the end of the Cold War, the article goes on: Many developing countries
are now enforcing socio-economic reforms to build self-supporting economy by
expelling multi-national businesses, aware of adverse consequences and danger
of their influence on the development of national economy.
These struggles deal
heavy blows at the neo-colonialist predatory system of the imperialists aimed
to bar other countries to achieve their economic independence and turn them
into their bases of raw materials and resources and markets of their surplus
goods.
Developing countries
have made strenuous efforts to reorganize the World Trade Organization and
others to meet their desire and requirements.
Developing countries
are strengthening independence and unity through South-South cooperation.
All the moves of the
imperialists to exploit and plunder developing countries after binding them to
the old and unfair international economic order are being checked and
frustrated.
The contradiction and
conflicts between developing countries and imperialist countries are festering
as the days go by.
All the facts go to
prove that the imperialist neo-colonialist predatory system is on the verge of
collapse. The complete collapse of that system would mean the end of
imperialism.
It is loudly tolling
the death knell for imperialism.
N. Korean children
pledge allegiance to leader Kim Jong-un
2012/06/03 entropy@yna.co.kr
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap)
-- Tens of thousands of children have sworn loyalty to North Korea's new leader
Kim Jong-un ahead of the massive celebration marking the 66th anniversary of
the Korean Children's Union, Pyongyang's state media said Sunday.
A total of 20,000 children have arrived in
Pyongyang on Saturday by air, train and bus from across the country for the
ceremony that will run from Sunday through Friday, according to the official
Korean Central News Agency.
The children pledged their allegiance to
"teacher Kim Jong-un that they will prepare to become the faithful successor
of the revolution," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Sunday.
North Korea said Kim has provided the
celebrations for the union whose members include children of smelters, coal
miners and disabled soldiers. It also said the union members have distinguished
themselves in study and displayed their excellent skills at international
contests of fine arts.
It is the largest-ever
celebration of the Korean Children's Union and it comes as Kim is believed to
be tightening his grip on power following the December death of his father, the
long-time leader Kim Jong-il.
North Korean officials and soldiers have
also repeatedly vowed their loyalty to Kim Jong-un.
On Saturday, the North Korean children
received the delegate certificates at the April 25 Hotel in Pyongyang. Ri
Yong-su, a senior North Korean official, called on the children to hand down
"the certificates as family heirlooms."
"My father and mother said in tears
that I should study hard to live up to the loving care of the dear respected
Kim Jong-un," Ri Jong-ui, a delegate from South Hwanghae Province, said,
according to the KCNA.
Songbun, Art, and the
Chosun Children’s Union
by Marcus Noland | June 3rd, 2012
This past Thanksgiving
we ran a post about Ilkuk
(Evan) Kim, son of Kim Kwang-jin, who most of you probably know
personally or by reputation. Ilkuk is an artist, and has done a
number of paintings about his life and memories of North Korea,
and wrote an essay trying to articulate why he painted the particular
scenes that he did.
His work and the
accompanying essay will be on display 6 June at the American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) in conjunction with the public release by the
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea of the report “Marked for Life:
Songbun, North Korea’s Social Classification System,” by Robert
Collins. According to HRNK, “the North Korean government assigns a
“songbun” status to every citizen at birth based on the perceived political
loyalty of his or her family going back generations. While a small, politically
loyal class in North Korea is entitled to extensive privileges, the vast
majority of citizens are relegated to a permanent lower status and then
discriminated against for reasons they cannot control or change.”
For those interested
in attending, the event will be from 2-3:30pm at AEI, Twelfth Floor, 1150
Seventeenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, two blocks from the Farragut
North Metro station.
To call
the timing ironic would be an understatement of monumental proportions.
The same day that Ilkuk’s artwork is on display, half-way around the world,
20,000 representatives of the Chosun Children’s Union have been invited to Pyongyang
by Kim Jong-un to celebrate the group’s 66th anniversary and add its blessing
to the third generation succession
(LEAD) Chinese paper
urges Beijing to oppose N. Korea's nuclear power claim
2012/06/03 14:45 KST
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap)
-- A leading Chinese newspaper has urged Beijing to oppose North Korea's
nuclear power status proclaimed in its revised constitution.
The Global Times, an English-language
Chinese newspaper under the People's Daily, said in its June 2 editorial
that any legalization of North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons can
stimulate South Korea and Japan, and prod Taiwan to demand its right to nuclear
arms, triggering a chain reaction of nuclear armament in Northeast Asia.
In its revised constitution, North Korea
proclaims itself as a nuclear armed state, according to its full text seen by
Yonhap News Agency last Wednesday on the North's "Naenara" Web site.
Seoul and Washington have immediately
dismissed the claim, saying they would not recognize North Korea as a nuclear
power.
The Global Times editorial is the first unofficial response from China,
as the Beijing government has kept mum on the issue so far.
"China should not join the two (Seoul
and Washington) and help them exert pressure on North Korea. However, it is
also necessary for China to criticize North Korea's latest move and oppose its
intention to legalize its nuclear status," said the editorial posted on
the paper's Web site.
"China needs to make efforts to deter
North Korea from possessing nuclear capabilities, or at least openly oppose
North Korea's move to attain them," said the editorial, noting that the
historical friendship between the two should facilitate their frank
communication.
The paper went on to clearly say that it is
not in China's interests to be held hostage by North Korea's radical moves.
"At the moment, the most urgent thing
is to prevent North Korea from conducting a third nuclear test, the
consequences of which would be unimaginable for Northeast Asia. Besides trying
to persuade North Korea, China should publicly voice its opposition at
once," it said.
In a related
development, Rep. Chung Mong-joon, a presidential aspirant of South
Korea's ruling Saenuri Party, said Sunday that time has come for South Korea to
arm itself with nuclear weapons capabilities in response to the North's
declaration of nuclear state status.
"North Korea's nuclear armament has
become a reality. We should also equip ourselves with our own nuclear weapons
capabilities beyond the strategy of depending on the U.S. for nuclear
weapons," Chung, a seven-term lawmaker, said in a news conference.
Chung, a former ruling party chairman now
competing in Saenuri's presidential primary, had previously called for the
deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea.
"Paradoxically, peace cannot be
guaranteed on the Korean Peninsula, without our possession of at least nuclear
capabilities," he said.
China must not let
N.Korea go nuclear
Global Times | June
02, 2012
North Korea has
proclaimed itself as a nuclear state in its amended constitution. Washington
and Seoul have dismissed the claim, saying that they would not recognize North
Korea as a nuclear power.
China should not join
the two and help them exert pressure on North Korea. However, it is also
necessary for China to criticize North Korea's latest move and oppose its
intention to legalize its nuclear status.
China needs to make
efforts to deter North Korea from possessing nuclear capabilities, or at least
openly oppose North Korea's move to attain them. The historical friendship
between the two should facilitate their frank communication, rather than be a
historical or ideological burden restraining China's expression of its stance.
If North Korea's
possession of nuclear capabilities becomes "legalized," Japan and
South Korea will inevitably want to have nuclear capabilities too. A chain
reaction may then take place - Taiwan may also demand the right to nuclear
arms. This will lead to the most serious crisis in China's neighboring regions.
It is not in China's interests to be held
hostage by North Korea's radical moves. Beijing should retain the freedom to clearly
express its stance on issues of principle. Both countries should respect each
other's strategic interests and security concerns. North Korea, which
frequently deviates from this track, should return to the basic consensus to
maintain good ties.
More open discussions
about China's relationship with North Korea are needed, otherwise, in the long
run, the two may have strategic misjudgments about each other. We believe their
relationship can be sustained with an honest approach.
At the moment, the most
urgent thing is to prevent North Korea from conducting a third nuclear test,
the consequences of which will be unimaginable for Northeast Asia. Besides
trying to persuade North Korea, China should publicly voice its opposition at
once.
Over the past years,
China has generally pursued a proper policy on the Korean Peninsula. During a
complex competition with the US, it is very important for China to remain in a
generally stable relationship with its neighbor. Due to the changing regional
dynamics, China inevitably needs to make some adjustments in maintaining its
relationship with North Korea.
China needs to be
determined in making such adjustments. It has many more strategic concerns
compared with North Korea. Adopting a sterner attitude on North Korea's
possession of nuclear arms not only protects China's own interests, it is also
a responsible attitude for North Korea and the region. We should have
confidence that North Korea will accept and adapt to China's attitude
Survey shows DVDs, CDs
are key sources of information for N. Koreans
2012/06/03 16:59 KST
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap)
-- North Koreans mostly receive outside information through smuggled DVDs, CDs
and foreign television broadcasts, a survey showed Sunday.
The latest development underscored the
steady influx of foreign information into the isolated communist country
despite Pyongyang's crackdowns.
North Korea is a tightly controlled society
and its people are officially forbidden from listening to news from the
outside. The North views foreign influences as part of psychological warfare
designed to topple the communist regime.
The survey on 71 North Korean defectors by
the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) found that 21.8
percent acquired outside information through DVDs and CDs, followed by
television (18.3 percent), contact with Chinese people (17.6 percent), radios
(15.5 percent), cell phones (6.3 percent) and leaflets (5.6 percent).
Some ethnic Koreans in China, who can speak
Korean and visit North Korea relatively easily, are believed to be acting as
middlepersons for North Koreans, delivering outside news and money from North
Koreans' relatives in South Korea.
The North Korean defectors, who settled in
the South between 2008 and 2009, rarely mentioned South Korea's private
anti-Pyongyang radio broadcasts, U.S. radio broadcasts and a radio run by South
Korea's military in the survey.
Twenty-two percent of the polled defectors
cited news on South Korea as their favorite content while they lived in their
former homeland, followed by dramas (19 percent), information on how to defect
(10 percent), music (7 percent) and information on Kim Jong-il (6 percent).
About 80 percent of those who were surveyed
said they received outside information either out of curiosity or unspecified
economic reasons.
"The demand for information on the
economy appeared to have risen, as such information could help North
Koreans" who had to support themselves, the KIDA said in a quarterly
magazine.
According to the survey, only 31 percent
said they verbally spread outside information to other people, apparently out
of fear they could face harsh punishment if caught.
The survey did not paint the whole picture
of North Korea as it only polled 71 out of more than 23,500 North Korean
defectors who have settled in South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean
War.
Man arrested for
alleged cyber terror with N. Korean spy
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap)
-- A Seoul man has been arrested on suspicion of colluding with a North Korean
reconnaissance unit in China and distributing game programs infected with
malignant codes to South Korea, police said Monday.
The man, only
identified by his family name Cho, was apprehended after allegedly meeting in
September 2009 with several spies, including a man surnamed Kim, from the
North's Reconnaissance General Bureau in the northeastern Chinese city of
Shenyang and providing tens of millions of won for developing the illegal
software, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said
Activist-turned-lawmaker
under fire for allegedly calling N.K. defectors 'traitors'
2012/06/04 11:15 KST jschang@yna.co.kr
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap)
-- A ruling party lawmaker demanded Monday that one of South Korea's best-known
former pro-unification activists and now an opposition lawmaker offer a sincere
apology again for insulting him and North Korean defectors as
"traitors."
Rep. Lim Su-kyung of the main opposition
Democratic United Party hurled the insult and other abusive remarks during an
impromptu meeting with a defector-turned-college student at a bar on Friday,
according to a Facebook posting by the student, Baek Yo-sep.
Lim, a former pro-North Korea student
activist, became widely known after making an unauthorized trip to the
communist nation in 1989 and meeting with then leader Kim Il-sung, the North's
founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang called her the "flower of
unification" at the time.
She entered parliament as a proportional
candidate of the DUP in April's general elections.
Baek quoted Lim as
denouncing North Korean defectors as traitors and having "no roots."
She also vilified Rep. Ha Tae-kyung of the ruling Saenuri Party, who had once
worked with Lim in the 1980s, as a traitor for his conversion to an
anti-Pyongyang activist, Baek said.
Lim was also quoted as saying she will
"kill the traitor (Ha) with my hands."
Baek said Lim became abruptly upset
following a joke he cracked to her after some Lim aides had Baek's photos taken
with Lim deleted from his phone. After Lim denied she ordered the deletion,
Baek said he joked that in North Korea, doing something at will without
instruction from the supreme leader carries a "death by shooting"
punishment.
Baek said Lim denounced him for working with
Ha to improve the North's human rights situation.
As the traitor remarks drew strong
criticism, Lim offered an apology Sunday, claiming in a statement that she was
referring to only Ha as a traitor for joining the conservative ruling party,
and that she never meant to describe defectors as such.
On Monday, Ha accused Lim of lying and
demanded she sincerely apologize again.
"Rep. Lim holds hostility toward North
Korean defectors and thinks of defectors as traitors," Ha said. "But
she said in the statement that she never called North Korean defectors
traitors, but she said I am a traitor just because I joined the Saenuri Party,
not because I engaged in a human rights movement helping defectors."
Flame set to attack
Pyongyang anytime
June 3, 2012
Flame, a new
generation cyber spy tool may attack North Korean cyber world anytime during
the month of June-August. Though computer users around the world are terming
'Flame' virus as one of the most dangerous cyber crime tools, it is reported in
Western media that the virus was originally created to attack computers in a
number of countries, including Iran and the Middle East. Security experts have
only begun examining the thousands of lines of code that make up Flame, an
extensive, data-mining computer virus that has been designed to steal
information from computers across the Middle East, but already digital clues
point to its creators and capabilities. Researchers at Kaspersky Lab, which
first reported the virus Monday, believe Flame was written by a different group
of programmers from those who had created other malware directed at computers
in the Middle East, particularly those in Iran. But Flame appears to be part of
the state-sponsored campaign that spied on and eventually set back Iran's
nuclear program in 2010, when a digital attack destroyed roughly a fifth of
Iran's nuclear centrifuges.
"We believe Flame
was written by a different team of programmers but commissioned by the same
larger entity," Roel Schouwenberg, a security researcher at Kaspersky
Labs, said in an interview. But he would not say which governments he was
speaking of.
Flame, these
researchers say, shares several notable features with two other major programs
that targeted Iran in recent years. The first virus, Duqu, was a reconnaissance
tool that researchers say was used to copy blueprints of Iran's nuclear
program. The second, Stuxnet, was designed to attack industrial control systems
and specifically calibrated to spin Iranian centrifuges out of control.
Because Stuxnet and
Duqu were written on the same platform and share many of the same fingerprints
in their source code, researchers believe both were developed by the same group
of programmers.
For example,
researchers at Kaspersky Lab tracked the working hours of Duqu's operators and found
they coincided with Jerusalem local time. They also noted that Duqu's
programmers were not active between sundown on Fridays and sundown on
Saturdays, a time that coincides with the Sabbath when observant Jews typically
refrain from secular work.
According to
researchers at Kaspersky Lab, which is based in Moscow, Flame may have preceded
or been designed at the same time as Duqu and Stuxnet. Security researchers at
Webroot, an antivirus maker, first encountered a sample of Flame malware in
December 2007. Researchers believe Duqu may have been created in August 2007.
The first variant of Stuxnet did not appear on computers until June 2009.
Like Duqu, Flame is a
reconnaissance tool. It can grab images of users' computer screens, record
e-mails and instant-messaging chats, turn on microphones remotely, and monitor
keystrokes and network traffic. Even if an infected device is not connected to
the Internet, Flame is capable of spreading to other devices by looking for
Bluetooth-enabled devices nearby or Internet-connected devices in a local
network, according to researchers at Kaspersky Lab.
Flame also shares a
quirkier trait with Duqu: affection for American movie characters. Flame's
command for communicating with Bluetooth-enabled devices is "Beetlejuice."
An e-mail that infected an unnamed company with Duqu last year was sent by a
"Mr. Jason B." — which researchers believe is a reference to Jason
Bourne of the Robert Ludlum spy tales.
It will take more time
for computer security researchers around the world to discover more. Flame
contains 20 times more code than Stuxnet and is much more widespread than Duqu.
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab said they have detected Flame on hundreds of
computers and predict that the total number of infections could be more than a
thousand.
Unlike Duqu and
Stuxnet, security researchers say, Flame is remarkable in that it has been able
to evade discovery for five years — which was impressive given its size. Most
malware is a couple hundred kilobytes in size. Flame is 20 megabytes. "It
was hiding in plain sight," said Mr. Schouwenberg. "It was designed
in such a way that it was nearly impossible to track down."
Researchers noted that
Flame spreads through more conservative means. Researchers say that while
Stuxnet had the ability to replicate autonomously, Flame can spread from
machine to machine only when prompted by the attacker.
Iran confirmed Tuesday
that computers belonging to several high-ranking officials appear to have been
penetrated by Flame.
Researchers are still
trying to figure out whether the virus has Stuxnet-like sabotage capabilities.
Already, some evidence
suggests Flame may be capable of wiping out a computer's hard drive.
Researchers at Symantec, an American security firm that has also studied the
virus, said Flame references a specific file previously associated with a
separate virus, called Wiper, which Iranian officials said had erased data on
hard drives inside its oil ministry last month. Researchers are trying to learn
whether Wiper was not a virus but one of Flame's command modules.
"This is the
third such virus we've seen in the past three years," Vikram Thakur, a
Symantec researcher, said. "It's larger than all of them. The question we
should be asking now is: How many more such campaigns are going on that we
don't know about?"
The new age spy tool:
The Flame computer
virus that smoldered undetected for years in Middle Eastern energy facilities
confirmed fears that the world has entered a new age of cyber espionage and
sabotage.
Internet defenders on
Wednesday were tearing into freshly exposed Flame malware (malicious software)
that could be adapted to spread to critical infrastructures in countries around
the world.
While the components
and tactics of Flame were considered old school, the gigantic virus's
interchangeable software modules and targeted nature were evidence that malware
is a potent weapon in the Internet era.
"We are seeing
much more specific types of malware and attacks," said McAfee Labs
director of security research David Marcus.
"When you talk
about a situation where the attacker knows the victim and tailors the malware
for the environment it jumps out," he said. "That speaks to good
reconnaissance and an attacker who knows what they are doing."
Gathering intelligence
on targets and then crafting viruses to exploit specific networks as well as
the habits of people using them is "certainly in vogue" and is an
attack style heralded by the Stuxnet malware, Marcus said.
Stuxnet, which was
detected in July 2010, targeted computer control systems made by German industrial
giant Siemens and commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power
plants and other critical infrastructure.
Most Stuxnet
infections were discovered in Iran, giving rise to speculation it was intended
to sabotage nuclear facilities there, especially the Russian-built atomic power
plant in the southern city of Bushehr.
Suspicion fell on
Israel and the United States, which have accused Iran of seeking to develop a
weapons capability under the cover of a civilian nuclear drive. Tehran denies
the charges.
"Stuxnet and Duqu
belonged to a single chain of attacks, which raised cyberwar-related concerns
worldwide," said Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky Lab, which
uncovered Flame.
"The Flame
malware looks to be another phase in this war, and it's important to understand
that such cyber weapons can easily be used against any country."
Flame malware was
larger than Stuxnet and protected by multiple layers of encryption.
It appears to have
been "in the wild" for two years or longer and prime targets so far
have been energy facilities in the Middle East.
High concentrations of
compromised computers were found in the Palestinian West Bank, Hungary, Iran,
and Lebanon. Additional infections have been reported in Austria, Russia, Hong
Kong, and the United Arab Emirates.
Compromised computers
included many being used from home connections, according to security
researchers who were looking into whether reports of infections in some places
resulted from workers using laptops while traveling.
While Stuxnet was
crafted to do real-world damage to machinery, Flame was designed to suck
information from computer networks and relay what it learned back to those
controlling the virus.
Flame can record
keystrokes, capture screen images, and eavesdrop using microphones built into
computers.
In an intriguing
twist, the malware can also use Bluetooth capabilities in machines to connect
with smartphones or tablets, mining contact lists or other information,
according to security researchers.
"There is lot of
intelligence gathering and espionage-like behavior from the malware,"
Marcus said. "You can turn that to target any industry you want.
"It looks like
the infection spread is specific to Middle East, but malware is indiscriminate
in a lot of things so it can jump," he continued.
Marcus advised
companies to not only keep network software up to date but to ratchet up
security settings because threats such as Flame are carefully crafted to
"fly under the radar."
For example, Flame
reportedly sneaked back out to the Internet by activating a seemingly innocuous
Internet Explorer online browsing session.
Geographically
targeted cyber espionage and even modular components in viruses have been
around for years, Rik Ferguson of security firm Trend Micro said in his blog at
www.countermeasures.trendmicro.eu.
Flame stands out for
being a malware behemoth of nearly 20 megabytes and for its use of Bluetooth
capabilities, according to Ferguson, who branded the malware a tool, not a
weapon.
"You can't get
around the fact that the thing is gigantic," Marcus said. "Someone
went to a lot of trouble to really confound researchers. We are going to be
ripping this sucker apart for a long time to figure everything it was
doing."
It is anticipated that
the forthcoming "Flame" attack on North Korean data bases and
computer networks would originate from various emails sent directly to that
country's email addresses from various countries. Such emails in most cases
will be containing attachment files, which actually would be loaded with Flame
viruses. Additionally 'Flame' virus loaded flash drive [USB port], CD, DVD and
other computer software may also be "penetrated" inside North Korea
through various establishments in China.
Cambodian foreign
minister to raise six-party talks in rare visit to North Korea
By Associated Press,
Updated: Sunday, June 3
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia —
Cambodia’s foreign minister will urge North Korean leaders to resume six-party
talks on nuclear disarmament during a rare official visit this week.
Hor Namhong told
reporters before leaving for a four-day visit Sunday that Cambodia has always
supported the talks that Pyongyang halted in 2009. His spokesman said last
month the minister would press North Korea to restart the negotiations.
The visit comes ahead
of a regional conference next month in Cambodia that North Korean officials are
scheduled to attend.
North Korea’s late
leader Kim Il Sung was close with Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk,
providing him with a residence in Pyongyang and security guards after the king
returned from exile in 1991
S. Korea, U.S., Japan
to cooperate on North Korea provocations
2012-06-03 20:58 (Yonhap
News)
South Korea, the
United States and Japan agreed to steadily strengthen trilateral defense
cooperation to deter provocations by North Korea, Seoul’s defense ministry said
Saturday.
The agreement was
reached during a meeting of the three countries’ top defense officials held on
the sidelines of the 11th Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri La
Dialogue, in Singapore, the ministry said.
South Korea’s Defense
Minister Kim Kwan-jin, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Japan’s
Senior Vice Defense Minister Shu Watanabe attended the talks.
“The three ministers
concurred that North Korea’s continued provocations including its sinking of
the ROK (South Korea) corvette Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in
2010, and its missile launch in April 2012, pose a serious threat to the peace
and stability of the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia, and the world,” the
ministers said in a joint statement.
“North Korea needs to
understand that it will achieve nothing by threats or by provocations, and that
such behavior will only deepen its international isolation.”
The statement went on
to say that the three ministers reaffirmed the April 16, 2012 Presidential
Statement of the U.N. Security Council, demanding that North Korea comply with
its obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874,
including that it abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs.
The North tested nuclear devices in both 2006 and 2009, with the U.N. making
clear that grave reciprocal action would be taken if the North continues to
disregard international calls for restraint.
“They welcomed that
the Security Council made clear its determination to take action in the event
of a further North Korean launch or nuclear test. The ministers reaffirmed that
North Korea’s provocative behavior threatens all three countries and will be
met with solidarity from all three countries,” said the joint statement. “They
agreed to continue to reinforce trilateral policy coordination in order to
deter North Korean provocations.”
The three ministers
also agreed to reinforce trilateral collaboration for regional peace and
stability and expand the scope of collaboration that includes humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, protecting the freedom of
navigation, and non-proliferation.
Seoul, Washington and
Tokyo said they will formalize defense ministerial talks at future security
summit meetings.
The summits are
arranged by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) with the
first meeting taking place in 2002. The gathering is attended by senior defense
ministry officials and security specialists from 27 countries in Asia, North
America and Europe.
Kim Jong-un still
unknown to Chinese leaders, officials
2012-06-03 21:02 By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldm.com)
JEJU ― Most Chinese
leaders still do not know much about North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, a former
senior Beijing official said, indicating that there has been little high-level
contact between Pyongyang and its only major ally.
Xu Dunxin, a leading
member of Beijing’s Foreign Policy Advisory Group, also said that Pyongyang’s
decision to launch a long-range rocket in April despite its opposition has made
him more uncertain about the young leader.
“I have yet to meet him
even though I met late President Kim Il-sung and (late National Defense
Commission) Chairman Kim Jong-il. I think it is not just me who does not know
much about him. Most Chinese leaders, I think, have not met nor know him,” he
told The Korea Herald last week.
“When it reached a
deal (in February) with the U.S., we thought the situation (in the North) is
good and will continue to be good. But after it was broken, we now cannot
figure out (who he is). It is yet difficult to make any conclusion, and we need
to wait and see,” he said.
Xu was referring to
the so-called Leap Day deal Pyongyang and Washington reached on Feb. 29 to put
a temporary moratorium on nuclear and missile tests in exchange for 240,000
tons of “nutritional assistance.”
The deal, which was
struck as a pre-step for the resumption of the multilateral denuclearization
talks, was broken after the North’s rocket launch, which it claimed was a
satellite liftoff for peaceful scientific purposes.
“We were happy and
welcomed the deal as it was a deal between the two that had the lowest level of
mutual trust compared with other members of the six-party talks,” he said.
“We had already
advised the North not to do that (fire the rocket), but sadly, it did not
listen to our words. We have had friendly ties with the North, but we are not
in a position to order or force it to do anything.”
Xu, who formerly
served as China’s vice foreign minister and ambassador to Japan, came here to
attend the 7th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity. The three-day international
forum ended on Saturday.
After the rocket
launch, China agreed at the U.N. Security Council to adopt a presidential
statement strongly condemning the North, a move which observers say is
“unusual.” Based on this, observers raised the possibility of Beijing
recalibrating its approach to its wayward ally.
Xu, however, said that
China’s stance on the North remains “largely unchanged.”
“There is no big
change as our goal on the Korean Peninsula is denuclearization and peace. We
endorse anything that goes in line with this goal,” he said.
“Some argue that China
is overly protecting the North. But that is a perspective of the past, the
perspective before Seoul and Beijing opened diplomatic relations. China is
different at a time when the Cold War ended and ideological (disputes) do not
exist any more.”
On the issue of North
Korean defectors, he expressed frustration over continuing allegations that
China does not care about their human rights as it sends them back to the
repressive state when caught in China.
“Their reasons for
defection are not that simple: some in pursuit of freedom and others for
survival. To be candid, in anyway, it gives us a serious nuisance,” Xu said.
“As it has good ties
with South Korea, China maintains relations with the North as well. We have our
own law and have to uphold its dignity. When (defectors) violate it, it is an
annoyance for us whatever situation or motivation they have.”
Xu, in particular,
said that many of the defectors appear to be migrants crossing the border for
economic reasons, stressing that mentioning these human rights issues at a U.N.
panel while targeting China is not “sensible.”
“When we look at
defectors, there are many who repeatedly crossed the border after being sent
back, although there is talk of them being severely punished. There are more
people crossing the border due to hunger.”
“China respects human
rights, which have continuously been enhanced within China. It is not right for
people to say that China does not honor human rights.”
Touching on the claim
that the six-party talks it hosted to denuclearize Pyongyang have not born any
fruits yet or failed, he stressed that there was progress in the multilateral
framework. The talks involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, the U.S. and Russia.
He also reiterated
Beijing’s stance that the major stumbling bloc in moving forward the talks is
distrust between Pyongyang and Washington.
“There were outcomes
that came out in steps. One of them is the joint statement on Sept. 19, 2005,
which is the first of its kind within the talks. It is for peninsular
denuclearization, normalization of ties and a mechanism for peace, which the
six parties agreed to,” he said.
“When the talks
resume, they would start based on this agreement. Can we still say it did not
make any progress? On top of that, Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests in the
past did not result from the talks. They all took place while the talks were
stalled.”
Noting that the
relationship between South Korea and China has improved quickly over the last
two decades, he expressed expectation that the relationship will continue to be
mutually beneficial in various sectors.
“If I draw an analogy
between the 20-year relationship and a human being, it is like a person in his
or her 20s ― a stage when we are still in the process of learning each other,”
he said.
“Ten or 20 years
later, I believe more maturity, wisdom and autonomy will be added to our
relationship with bigger aspirations.”
Rep. Lim, a former activist
called ‘Flower of Unification’
2012-06-04 20:36 By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldm.com)
Rep. Lim Su-kyung of
the main opposition Democratic United Party, who came under fire for bombarding
North Korean defectors with abusive remarks, was once a star activist in the
radical pro-unification circles.
Lim became embroiled
in controversy on Sunday as a North Korea defector college student revealed the
verbal insults she made against other defectors and Rep. Ha Tae-keung, a former
activist who recently joined the conservative Saenuri Party.
Student activist Lim
made an unauthorized visit to the communist state in 1989 and met its founder
Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.
Her bold actions
caused stirs in the ideology-sensitive South, but seemingly impressed the
residents of the reclusive state, who nicknamed her the “flower of
unification.”
She was also conferred
by the North Korea government an honorary award for her contribution to the
peninsular unification.
An online newspaper
for North Korean defectors here even described Lim as a first-generation Hallyu
star in the communist state.
After returning to her
home country, Lim was sentenced to a five-year jail term for breaching the
National Security Law, but was granted amnesty in 1999 under former liberal
President Kim Dae-jung.
She has since then
been engaged in social movements until joining the leading liberal party in
April as a proportional representative candidate
