N. Korea threatens to blow up Seoul over defamation of its leader

SEOUL, April 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea urged South Korea Thursday to offer an apology over the alleged defamation of Pyongyang's milestone festival, a day after its military threatened to blow up Seoul. The latest harsh rhetoric comes amid tensions following the North's failed rocket launch last week. The U.N. Security Council has condemned the launch and called on member states to find ways to tighten sanctions on the communist country.

 The North Korean government accused South Korea of insulting the North's dignity over the celebrations marking the centennial of the April 15 birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un. President Lee Myung-bak said last week the North's rocket launch is estimated to have cost Pyongyang about US$850 million, and the destitute North could have spent the money to buy 2.5 million tons of corn, an amount that is enough to make up for food shortages in the country for six years.

The North's government accused South Korea of fabricating the costs of the centenary anniversary, claiming Seoul's move is aimed at tarnishing the North's image and undermining its internal unity.

North Korea will stage a "sacred war to wipe out the group of traitors unless South Korea immediately apologize for insulting" the anniversary celebrations, the North Korean government said in an English-language dispatch carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

On Wednesday, the North's military also vowed to mercilessly retaliate against South Korea for hurting the dignity of its supreme leadership. Some South Koreans have recently held anti-Pyongyang events in Seoul.

Source and full article at: Yonhapnews

US: Strike on N. Korea Possible if Nuclear Test Held

The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command says the U.S. may launch a surgical strike against missile bases and nuclear test sites in North Korea if it conducts a third nuclear test.

Admiral Samuel Locklear explained the U.S.'s position on Tuesday at a meeting with South Korean defense journalists at the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul.

Locklear said Washington is closely watching the North in relation to the possibility of a third nuclear test, adding the U.S. and South Korea are looking at all options including a surgical strike.

Source: KBS

Iranian nuclear scientists were present at failed North Korean missile launch

A dozen Iranian nuclear experts visited North Korea last week to observe its failed rocket launch on Friday, South Korean state news agency Yonhap's Washington correspondent reported on Sunday.

"On March 31, 12 Iranians of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG) arrived in North Korea. "The Iranians undoubtedly were there to observe the missile launch and receive test data from North Korea," the correspondent quoted a diplomatic source, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying.

More at: Haaretz

North Korean rocket fails, crashes into sea

North Korea said its much hyped long-range rocket launch failed on Friday, in a very rare and embarrassing public admission of failure by the hermit state and a blow for its new young leader who faces international outrage over the attempt. 

The isolated North, using the launch to celebrate the 100th birthday of the dead founding president Kim Il-sung and to mark the rise to power of his grandson Kim Jong-un, is now widely expected to press ahead with its third nuclear test to show its military strength. 

"The possibility of an additional long-range rocket launch or a nuclear test, as well as a military provocation to strengthen internal solidarity is very high," a senior South Korean defense ministry official told a parliamentary hearing.

Read more:    Embarrassed by rocket crash, North Korea may try nuclear test

Video: North Korea puts brave face on rocket failure with mass centenary celebrations

Imminent lift off for North Korea rocket

North Korea's planned rocket launch could happen as early as this morning, defying calls from around the world for the country to abandon the launch.

The rocket launch window opened at 8:00am (AEST), with North Korea saying Monday is the last opportunity to launch the three-stage rocket.

The rocket's flight path will take it south past the Philippines and over central Australia. The United States and its allies have denounced the launch as a disguised ballistic missile test. 

 Source and more: ABC.net  and SMH.com

North Korea says fuel being injected into rocket

The Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket is pictured on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site during a guided media tour by North Korean authorities in the northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Bobby Yip

North Korea said on Wednesday it was injecting fuel into a long-range rocket "as we speak" ahead of a launch condemned by its neighbors and the West.

The launch is set to take place between Thursday and next Monday and has prompted neighbors such as the Philippines to re-route their air traffic just in case.

 Source: Reuters

North Korea 'preparing to unveil missile capable of striking continental US'

Reconnaissance satellites have identified the huge missile at a government research and development facility in Pyongyang, South Korean government sources told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

Analysts estimate the weapon to be around 130 feet long and, equipped with a more powerful booster unit, capable of delivering a warhead more than 6,200 miles.

Unveiling the missile will raise new fears in neighbouring countries, already alarmed by Pyongyang's insistence that it will go ahead with the launch in mid-April of a rocket to put a satellite into orbit. Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believe the launch is a covert test launch of a missile.

South Korean and US officials said they believe Pyongyang wants to show the new missile off at the military parade scheduled for April 15 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birthday of the founder of the nation, Kim Il-sung, or on April 25th, which marks the founding of the North Korean army.

Source: Telegraph UK

North Korea April Rocket Launch Coverup for Iran Missile Test

In mid-April, North Korea intends to launch it’s long range Unha-3 rocket into space while carrying a satellite, sparking concerns in Washington and Seoul that an agreement to halt Pyongyang’s nuclear missile program is in jeopardy.

On Monday, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the scheduled launch is intended to assist the Iranians in testing their long range rocket technology, because Tehran believes conducting such a launch inside the Islamic Republic would aggravate western nations as the two sides head into negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program next month.

“There’s nothing surprising in this. Iran has, for roughly 20 years, used every ruse possible to avoid it’s international obligations, leaving it’s pledges in bilateral and multilateral frameworks. If they were to test through North Korea, it would just be another example of that,” said Gerald Steinberg of the BESA Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.

President Obama, who is in South Korea for a nuclear security summit, spoke in the capital of Seoul on Sunday.

“North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations,” he said.

“We are preparing measures to track the missile’s trajectory and shoot it down if it, by any chance, deviates from the planned route and falls into our territory,” said South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Source: Algemeiner

Obama warns North Korea

Staring into the void ... Barack Obama peers across the demilitarised zone into North Korea after arriving in Seoul for a nuclear security summit. Photo: AFP

SEOUL: The US President, Barack Obama, has warned North Korea that it will achieve nothing with threatening behaviour and risks deepening its isolation if it proceeds with a planned long-range rocket launch.

''North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations,'' Mr Obama said during a news conference yesterday in the South Korean capital, Seoul, where he is attending a nuclear security summit.

Read more: SMH

Korea to Aim Missile at Australia, Obama Threatens Strong Response

• North Korea to test new rocket on April 15 [the 8th day of Pesach]
• Likely to have bigger payload, power
• US warns "aimed toward Australia"

A senior United States official says a long-range missile which North Korea plans to test next month will for the first time be aimed towards South-East Asia and Australia.

See: North Korea to aim missile test at Australia

SEOUL: North Korea will face a "strong response" if it launches a long-range rocket next month despite international calls to desist, a special adviser to US President Barack Obama said on Friday.

"If they go ahead anyway, we will want to work with our allies and partners for a strong response," Gary Samore, arms control coordinator at the National Security Council, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency in an interview.

The North's planned launch sometime between April 12 and 16 will be a key topic on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Seoul next week.

See: US warns of 'strong response' if North Korea launches rocket

North Korea's link to Terrorism in the Middle East

While the death of North Korea’s leader in the past 17 years, Kim Jong Il, may seem like it is not connected to Israel, Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner who heads the Shurat HaDin organization, reminded on Monday of the connection between North Korea and terrorism in the Middle East.

Source: Israel National News

Korea and Rabbi Nahmani's prophecy

As the world is put on Nuclear alert as Little Kim to rule North Korea ......

North Korea last night dramatically marked the sudden death of its despot leader Kim Jong-il by firing a short range missile, putting nervous world leaders on nuclear alert.

......10Rainbow reminded me of this scary prophecy about Korea from Rabbi Levi Saadia Nahmani zt"l [check out the date on the video..... exactly 17 years ago]

Korea 5771 in Bible Codes

Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson shows where the words "Korea, atomic holocaust, Barack Obama, Seoul, war, 5771" are encoded in the Torah -

Korea: Fulfilling the Prophecy ??

Flashpoint . . . smoke billows from houses on Yeonpyeong island after the North Korean artillery barrage. Photo: AFP

NORTH KOREA has burnished the leadership credentials of its 26-year-old dictator-in-waiting with a deadly artillery attack on South Korean territory, causing its neighbour to return fire and scramble F-16 fighters.
Two South Korean marines died, and at least 12 were wounded. There were reports of civilian injuries and houses were set ablaze as scores of shells fell on Yeonpyeong island.
A North Korea expert at Beijing's Central Party School, Zhang Liangui, told the Herald that Kim Jong-un was deliberately destabilising the environment in order to mobilise the military and consolidate his power.

[The following is authored by Dan S]

It is just beginning here in November 2010, the month of Kislev:  click to read North Korean Attack

Zohar Va'era

In the future the children of Yishmael will stir great wars in the world. And the children of Edom [the West] will gather against them, and make war with them, one on the sea, and one on the land, and one near Jerusalem; and each one will prevail over the other but the Holy Land will not fall to the hands of the Christian nations.

During that period of time, a nation from the "edge" of the world (note where North Korea is located geographically) will be awakened against wicked Romi. And it will make war against her for three months, and many nations will gather there, and they will fall by her hand, until all the children of Edom will gather against her from all corners of the earth. And after, G-d will awaken Himself against them, as it says, a "a sacrificial slaughter for the Lord in Batzra", and it says, "to shake the corners of the Land."

Zohar HaKadosh:

A nation will arise from one end of the world (North Korea) against the wicked Rome (Christian nations led by Obama) and will war against them for 3 months. Other nations will join in this war and will fall into the hands (of the nation from edge of the world), till all Edom will unite against this nation. Aterwards, Hashem will 'arise' against them, as it says, A gigantic massacre in the land of Edom.

Note: Immediately following this 3 month war, the evil leader of Edom (America) will spread out his rule over the entire world. Nine months into that move called the final tribulation and birthpangs of Mashiach, he will get up and destroy all the enemies of Israel and mankind.

[And thank you to Bramy for reminding me of this video below]