The United Nations report on the atrocities committed by the North Korean government is slowly being completely released to the public and the latest information shows horrific drawings of torture.
A man who survived two years inside a prison camp gave the sketches to the UN. The drawings show a glimpse into the camp where cameras are forbidden by the North Korean government.
“This was the first thing that I saw: there it said that ‘if you run, you die,'” Kim Kwang-Il told the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights.
“We are supposed to think there’s an imaginary motorcycle and we are supposed to be in this position as if we are riding the motorcycle. And for this, we pose as if we are airplanes ourselves. We are flying. And if we stand like this there’s no way that you can hold that position for a long time. You are bound to fall forward. Everybody in the detention center goes through this kind of torture,” said Kwang-Il, who was able to escape to South Korea.
Kwang-Il was sentenced to 29 months in a labor camp for smuggling pine nuts into the country.
Witnesses say the prisoners are kept starving to the point they would eat rats or snakes that they would catch in their cells or outside their buildings.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is pressing for the International Criminal Court to put North Korean leaders on trial.
South Korea is developing cyber-weapons similar to those used by western governments in their battle against North Korea.
The country’s defense ministry said it is seeking weapons similar to the Stuxnet virus, which infiltrated and damaged Iranian nuclear plants. The South Korean military will carry out missions using the new software. The missions are believed to be focused entirely on North Korea but the information given to the BBC did not specify that.
The Defense Ministry reportedly told the government their plans to use cyberweapons this week.
The cyberweapons are believed to be a response by the South to North Korea’s continued testing of nuclear weapons and missiles. The overall plan by South Korea included using social media and networking for a propaganda campaign against the North.
Computer security experts said they’re concerned about the South Korean plan because it’s impossible to control a virus once it’s been released.
Cybersecurity firms say that hackers who knocked out tens of thousands of South Korean computers earlier this year are now coming after U.S. and South Korean military firms. Continue reading →
North Korea conducted a missile test over the weekend in another attempt to show defiance to the world’s sanctions.
A short-range guided missile was fired into the water off the eastern coast Sunday and three short-range missiles were fired in a test on Saturday. South Korea called the acts “provocations” but noted that no North Korea troops were moving toward the border. Continue reading →
In a joint news conference with South Korea’s leader, U.S. President Barack Obama said that North Korea’s days of receiving concessions from the world by making threats is over.
“The days when North Korea could create a crisis and elicit concessions, those days are over,” President Obama said. “President Park and myself very much share the view that we are going to maintain a strong deterrent, we’re not going to reward provocative behavior but we remain open to the prospect of North Korea taking a peaceful path.” Continue reading →
South Korean investigators have released a report showing that the massive cyber-attacks on television stations and banks was the work of North Korea.
Investigators said they discovered pieces of the code that were an identical match to code in malware previously connected to North Korean spies. In addition to the malware, 22 of the IP addresses were identified as being used by North Korea in previous attacks. Continue reading →
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has expressed serious concern that the problem on the Korean peninsula could become “uncontrollable” as North Korea has warned foreigners to leave South Korea.
“The situation on the Korean peninsula is heading for a thermo-nuclear war,” a statement attributed to North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee read. “In the event of war, we don’t want foreigners living in South Korea to get hurt.” Continue reading →
The Naval vessel USS McCain has entered South Korean waters as the White House sends signals to North Korea to avoid escalation of the current situation with South Korea.
The USS McCain is a destroyer with the AEGIS defense system capable of shooting down missiles. Continue reading →
North Korea has declared a “state of war” with South Korea in their latest round of rhetoric.
Few are taking the declaration seriously as North Korea has been threatening South Korea in some form since a nuclear test in February. Technically the war between the nations has never ended because the armistice in 1953 was never turned into a peace treaty. Continue reading →
North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a “state of war” with South Korea, but Seoul and its ally the United States played down the statement as tough talk.
Pyongyang also threatened to close a border industrial zone, the last remaining example of inter-Korean cooperation which gives the impoverished North access to $2 billion in trade a year. Continue reading →
