NK REPORT

Only at MHI-NK News: Petrol prices up by 43% in North Korean capital: source, By Chad O’Carroll Prices have increased by more than 160% since April, when initial pricing spike occurred Petrol prices in Pyongyang increased by 43% on Thursday, an informed source told MHI-NK News, a significant and sharp spike upwards that builds upon a longer-term surge which kicked off in mid-April. The increase follows the recent passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2375, which introduced major new restrictions on exports of oil and gas. South Korea approves plan for USD$8 million in aid to North Korea, By Dagyum Ji  Supplies will be delivered via UNICEF and the WFP The South Korean government on Thursday approved plans to send over USD$8 million in humanitarian aid to North Korea via international organizations, the Ministry of Unification (MOU) announced. The unification ministry will provide USD$4.5 million to the World Food Program (WFP) for projects providing nutrition-enhancing foods for children in daycare facilities and pediatric wards. U.S. missile defense could destroy North Korean ICBMs: Boeing CEO, By Leo Byrne  GMD missile defense system’s record is patchy, however, with tests done under ideal conditions The CEO of Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security division on Wednesday said the U.S. was already able to defend against intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) attacks from North Korea, using the company’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. Leanne Caret answered unequivocally “yes” when asked by CNBC if the GMD system could defend the United States from North Korea. Pressure, not dialogue needed on North Korea: Abe, By Leo Byrne Japanese prime minister tells the United Nations General Assembly that time is running out Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday that pressure, not dialogue was the best option to denuclearize North Korea. Abe dedicated the majority of his UN address to the threat from the DPRK, calling it “unprecedented” and saying the nuclear non-proliferation regime was about to be dealtime. Bearing witness: valuable, and underrated, North Korean defector memoirs, By Fyodor Tertitskiy From unique insights to alleged fabrications, many accounts have been neglected by historians All North Korean scholars know who Hwang Jang-yop was. A Dalai-lama-style picture of him sitting with a sad smile and crossed fingers has been featured again and again in articles on high-ranking North Korean defectors. There are, however, people who are at least equally (and, in my humble opinion, more) interesting.

Top MHI-NK Stories from around the web: S. Korean president invites N. Korea, world to PyeongChang Olympics in New York gala (Yonhap News) President Moon Jae-in put on his second hat Wednesday, inviting the world to the Winter Olympic Games to be held in his country early next year. The honorary ambassador of the 2018 PyeongChang Games also extended an invitation to North Korea,saying its participation will highlight the possibility of peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. “Tensions are high now, but that is only the reason why we more need peace,” the South Korean leader said in a special event in New York aimed at the upcoming international sporting event to be held in PyeongChang, located 180 kilometers east of Seoul. “If the South and the North can join together at a time like this, it will be a great opportunity to send a message of reconciliation and peace to the world,” he added. Mattis: Diplomacy still leads in effort to denuclearize N. Korea(Korea Herald) US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that diplomacy will still take the lead in efforts to denuclearize North Korea. Speaking at a military conference near Washington, Mattis said the Pentagon “fully supports” that campaign by ensuring military options also exist. “It is still a diplomatically led effort,” he said, pointing to the UN Security Council’s recent adoption of two sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang. “You see it as a primary effort of the United Nations General Assembly meetings going on this week in New York,” he said. “We continue to press on the diplomatic level. That includes economic sanctions. But at this time we must also recognize the somber reality that military options must be available in order to protect our allies and ourselves.” North Korea has ratcheted up tensions by firing a series of ballistic missiles and conducting a sixth nuclear test earlier this month. On Tuesday, US President Trump said in an address to the UN General Assembly that the US may have no choice but to “totally destroy” North Korea if it is forced to defend itself or its allies. In U.N. speech, Abe says time for talk is over on North Korea (Asahi Shimbun) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that countries need to unite to enforce sanctions and apply pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs. “Now is not the time for dialogue. Now is the time to apply pressure,” Abe told a gathering of investors at the New York Stock Exchange, remarks he later reiterated in an address to the annual United Nations General Assembly. On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea in his speech to the U.N. that the United States would “totally destroy” the country if threatened. In contrast, Japan’s Asian rival China, and Russia, have called repeatedly for a return to international diplomacy and talks with North Korea to resolve the crisis over Pyongyang’s weapons programs. Trump team’s battle with North Korea has a glaring omission on the front lines (Washington Post) Eight months into Trump’s tenure, he has yet to officially nominate a U.S. ambassador to South Korea. “In some ways, Trump and his White House aides are personally compensating for that absence. On Thursday, Trump will meet separately with Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.The three leaders also will hold a trilateral discussion on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the second time the three have done so during Trump’s tenure. Moon, who took office in May after Park Geun-hye resigned in scandal, also met with Trump at the White House in June for two days of meetings, including a working dinner. But behind the scenes, Korea watchers in Washington say they are perplexed about the lengthy delay in filling the State Department’s top Seoul post. Since the spring, the leading — and perhaps only — candidate said to be in consideration has been Victor D. Cha, a former George W. Bush administration Asia policy aide who is the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Save North Korean Refugees Day: This Friday, September 22nd, By Joshua Stanton (One Free Korea) What sort of place could be so horrible that a family of five would choose to die together rather than be sent there? The answer, of course, is this place, or this one, or this one, or this. Here is the story of a family that made that choice… A North Korean family of five, including a former senior official of the Workers Party, committed suicide last week after they were caught by Chinese police and faced deportation to the North. They were heading to South Korea. Activist Kim Hee-tae told the Chosun Ilbo on Sunday, “Fifteen defectors who were on their way to South Korea were caught by police in the Chinese province of Yunnan a week ago.” “They killed themselves by taking poison after they were taken to Shenyang, Liaoning Province three days ago and faced deportation to the North,” he added. They were a 50-something senior official of a regional agency of the Workers Party, his wife, son and two daughters. “Right after they were caught in Yunnan, they tried to bribe their way out through a local fixer, but once they were taken to Shenyang they probably lost hope and killed themselves,” Kim speculated. [Chosun Ilbo] The story was also reported by Radio Free Asia. Otherwise, the U.S. and foreign press almost completely ignored the story.