The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is reporting that North Korea has substantially increased the size of their nuclear facilities.
Yukiya Amano, the head of the IAEA, told a 35-nation board at the United Nations that locations which “house uranium enrichment centrifuges, which could make bomb fuel” are showing activity from recent satellite photographs of the area.
“Since my last report, we have observed renovation and construction activities at various locations… particularly at the Yongbyon nuclear complex,” Amano stated.
Amano said the Yongbyon facility had “doubled in size.” Atomic experts say the plant could produce enough enriched plutonium a year for one nuclear bomb.
“These appear to be broadly consistent with [North Korea’s] statements that it is further developing its nuclear capabilities,” Amano added.
Amano said the IAEA will continue to monitor the nuclear sites using satellite images.
Typhoon Goni has slammed into Japan with wind gusts topping 112 m.p.h. and has left as many as 26 people dead and over 100 injured.
Officials in Japan urged more than 600,000 people to flee their homes and to seek shelter.
The storm made landfall around 6 a.m. in Kumamoto prefecture. The storm then crossed over one of the country’s four main islands before heading into the sea of Japan and striking North and South Korea.
The storm essentially paralyzed the country, with air and rail service suspended during the course of the storm. Over 470,000 homes were without power at one point during the storm’s crossing of the nation.
Officials say at least one man is confirmed missing and presumed dead in a landslide caused by the torrential rain. The city of Hiroshima ordered the evacuation of 70,000 because of potential landslides.
The storm had previously left 26 dead in the Philippines with 15 still reported as missing. Thousands of homes were destroyed and hundreds of thousands have been left with no shelter because of storm damage.
The typhoon is beginning to break up as the eye has collapsed but heavy rain is still pouring into North and South Korea. North Korean officials say that at least 40 people have died because of storm related flooding and over 1,000 homes have been damaged.
North Korea has fired artillery across the South Korean border in response to broadcasts made from the South exposing the North Korean government’s brutality.
The North Korean government called the broadcasts “a declaration of war.” The North Korean volley was aimed at the broadcast locations. The attack happened about 4 p.m. local time.
The South Korean military responded with artillery fire. The North did not retaliate but sent a warning that they would carry out military action within 48 hours if the broadcasts did not stop.
“Our military has stepped up monitoring and is closely watching North Korean military movements,” South Korea’s defense ministry said.
The U.S. government, who has about 28,500 military personnel in South Korea, said they are “monitoring” the situation.
“Such provocative actions heighten tensions, and we call on Pyongyang to refrain from actions and rhetoric that threaten regional peace and security,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Katina Adams said.
The nations last traded fire in October 2014 when two patrol boats in the Yellow Sea exchanged fire and was followed by North Korean gunfire later that week.
The first ballistic missile with range long enough to strike within North Korea is now part of the South Korean army’s arsenal.
The first long-range missile was test fired on Wednesday according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
The missile was fired from a vehicle, indicating that the missile is part of a mobile missile system that could be taken anywhere in South Korea. The weapon is part of a system being developed since a 2012 agreement with the United States to extend their weapon distance capability. The South can now create weapons long enough to strike into North Korea but not able to threaten China or Japan.
South Korean media say the new missiles are called “Hyunmoo-2B” and have a range of 310 miles.
“The test demonstrated improved ballistic missile capability that can strike all parts of North Korea swiftly, and with precision, in the event of armed aggression or provocation,” a statement from the country’s president read.
North Korea has a large arsenal of missiles that can not only reach South Korea but also threaten Japan. The country has also claimed a recent test-fire of missiles that can be launched from submarines.
The chair of the council for Justice & Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishop’s conference is speaking out about Christian persecution around the world, saying that 11 Christians are killed every hour for their faith in Christ.
Bishop John McAreavey cited a Pew Research survey showing Christianity is the most prosecuted religion around the world with persecution against them reported in 110 countries.
“Many of these countries have significant trade links with Ireland. Persecution is increasing in China. In North Korea a quarter of the country’s Christians live in forced labour camps. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Maldives all feature in the 10 worst places to be Christian,” McAreavey said. “According to the International Society for Human Rights, a non-religious organization, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians.”
McAreavey said that the persecution of Christians in the Middle East is “a threat to our common humanity” and that the stability of the entire planet is at risk because of the violence in the region. He also condemned Western leaders who are not taking steps to help persecuted Christians.
“Perhaps because of a fear of being seen as less than aggressively secular in their own country,” he said, many governments of majority Christian countries in the West seem reluctant to give direct aid to churches and religious minorities.”
McAreavey defined the loss of religious freedom and persecution as something that “can run from subtle cultural exclusion of the religious voice from the public square and refusal to accommodate reasonable differences of conscience to active discrimination, forced displacement, exploitation and loss of life.”
In a landmark judgment against the nation of North Korea, the family of an American missionary who was kidnapped and killed by North Korean agents has been awarded $330 million.
Rev. Kim Dong-Shik, who had been taken by North Korean agents while he was in China, was taken in January 2000 and tortured to death in a prison camp in North Korea. Kim was born in South Korea but a permanent resident of the United States. He had been working as a missionary providing humanitarian aid and religious council to Christians who had fled North Korea at the time of his kidnapping.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia awarded $15 million to Kim’s son and brother along with $300 million in punitive damages.
“This is an important human rights decision that will be utilized in all political abduction cases going forward,” Israel Law Center head Nitsana Darshan-Leitner told The Christian Post.
The court ruled that when a foreign regime abducts an individual, it is the responsibility of the abductors to prove that the person has not been murdered.
“We are grateful that the court has found that once we proved the kidnapping of Rev. Kim by North Korean intelligence and brought human rights experts to testify about the horrific conditions in the political detention camps, the burden must be on Pyongyang to show was still alive after so many years,” Darshan-Leitner said.
Christian watchdog groups say around 100,000 Christians are being tortured and forced into hard labor at North Korean prison camps.
The U.S. ambassador to South Korea is recovering today from an attack by a knife-wielding assailant.
Ambassador Mark Kippert had started delivering a speech when 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong jumped at him and slashed with the knife. Lippert underwent surgery for a cut on his face that required 80 stitches to close.
Doctors told the media that damage to the Ambassador’s left hand could be severe enough to permanently hamper use.
The assailant shouted “no to war training” and later that the two Koreas need to be reunited.
North Korea hailed the attack saying that it was a “righteous punishment” against the United States and showed the residents of South Korea want to be ruled by the North. They blamed the U.S. keeping 28,500 troops in South Korea as a reason for the problems in the region.
President Obama condemned the attack and sent his best wishes to the ambassador.
Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, the head of the 3,000 member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, was scheduled to return home from a visit to North Korea one month ago. No one has heard from the pastor since that time.
“[Lim] left Toronto on Jan. 27 for Seoul, then flew to China and crossed over the northern border of North Korea into the Rajin region,” explained Lisa Pak, official spokesperson for both the family of Rev. Lim and Light Korean Presbyterian, told The Christian Post. “[He] traveled to the Rajin region to continue support for the on-going ministry of orphanages, nursery and nursing homes.”
Pak said that Rev. Lim had traveled to North Korea many times previously and knew how to deal with the political situation in the region.
The Associated Press noted that the country had just lifted travel restrictions due to Ebola.
“Pak said they are not sure why they haven’t heard from him, but noted North Korea just lifted severe restrictions on foreign travel imposed last year to keep the Ebola virus from crossing its borders,” reported the AP.
“The already isolated country virtually closed its borders to foreigners last October, halting all non-essential visas and requiring those few foreigners allowed in to undergo three weeks of quarantine.”
Seeking the Lord for a word for the new year is always a very serious pursuit and this year is even more crucial as we see the “red lights of prophecy” flashing all around us and God’s plan unfolding at breakneck speed. The Lord began to speak to me while we were in Israel, and the word that I give to you I sincerely pray will resonate with your spirit and cause you to be more prepared for these times we see looming on the horizon. Remember that in the midst of all the turmoil there is a promise of His Return and that is cause for great rejoicing! Continue reading →
The FBI announced Friday that North Korea was definitively behind the cyberattack against Sony that released movies, damaging e-mails and other personal information about employees and celebrities.
“The FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions,” the FBI said in a statement on Friday. “[There is] significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. government has previously linked directly to North Korea.”
The investigators say that North Korea’s intentions were to clearly harm not only Sony but the rights of Americans.
“We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there,” the FBI said in its statement. “Further, North Korea’s attack on SPE reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States. Though the FBI has seen a wide variety and increasing number of cyber intrusions, the destructive nature of this attack, coupled with its coercive nature, sets it apart.”
Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton told Fox News that unless the United States responds strongly to this attack, it will be open season on the U.S. from hackers in other countries.
“I think it is correct to treat it as a national security threat because it really could have been in a serious place,” Bolton said. “If we can conclude it was North Korea, we need to put them back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, we need to put all the economic sanctions back in place. If you treat this simply as an inconvenience, other countries will conclude that they can attack and get away with it.”
