N. Korea may have up to 200 mobile launchers: report

by Staff Writers

Japan PM aide bids to meet Kim Jong-Un uncle: reportTokyo (AFP) May 17, 2013 - An aide to Japan's premier is trying to meet Kim Jong-Un's uncle, a key figure in North Korea's power elite, during a controversial visit to the country, a report said Friday. Isao Iijima, a senior adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is attempting to arrange a meeting with Jang Sung-Taek, who is seen as a close confidant of the inexperienced Kim, Fuji TV said, without citing sources. Iijima, a political fixer, is visiting Pyongyang in an unannounced trip that the Japanese government has refused to discuss, despite coverage of it by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). South Korea dubbed the trip "unhelpful" to international efforts to forge a united front, while the United States expressed its surprise and urged Japan to share information. Iijima was a senior aide to Japan's former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, and is known to have played a role in organising his trips to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004 for talks with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. The North's state media showed footage of Iijima's talks Thursday with Kim Yong-Nam, North's Korea's ceremonial head of state, according to Japan's national broadcaster NHK on Friday. In it, Kim said he appreciated Iijima's work on bilateral relations. "I am well aware that you have made efforts for a while. I value it highly," Kim told Iijima in Korean, according to NHK. Kim's translator was also seen saying in Japanese that Iijima returned to Pyongyang with an extremely important mission, NHK said. Japanese government ministers, from Prime Minister Abe on down, have refrained from discussing Iijima's visit to the North, including its purpose and the length of his stay. Local media had previously said Iijima could leave the North as early as Friday, but Fuji TV said he might extend his stay in order to meet Jang.

North Korea is now thought to have around twice as many mobile missile launchers as previously estimated by Seoul, a report said
Friday, quoting a state-run military analysis unit.
Yonhap news agency said the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) had revised its figures after seeing a related Pentagon document.
It now estimated that Pyongyang had up to 50 medium-range missile launchers and 150 for short-range projectiles.
Seoul had previously estimated the North had up to 94 mobile launchers, Yonhap said, quoting a KIDA researcher as saying the US document showed North Korea had been expanding its missile programme despite its economic difficulties.
KIDA officials were not available to comment on the report, which came after the North's apparent decision to cancel an expected medium-range missile launch.
A US defence official said last week that two North Korean missiles that had been primed for firing as tensions on the peninsula flared in the run-up to the North's national celebrations on April 15 had been moved from their launch site.
US and South Korean officials had been worried that any test of the Musudan missiles would trigger a fresh surge in tensions, which escalated after the North carried out a nuclear test in February.
N. Korea leader removes high-profile military figureSeoul (AFP) May 17, 2013 - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has pushed out a high-profile military figure who once played a key role under his late father -- the latest in a series of top-level personnel changes.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) identified a new figure, Jon Chang-Bok, as first vice-minister of the People's Armed Forces Ministry in a report Thursday which detailed Kim's trip to an army food-processing factory.
The People's Armed Forces Ministry is essentially the defence ministry and comes under the control of the powerful National Defence Commission.
KCNA did not say when Jon, a relatively little-known figure, was appointed to the post, but he replaces Vice Marshal Hyon Chol-Hae.
Hyon, 79, was regarded as one of the North's top military figures who helped support the young leader following the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in December 2011.
But Jong-Un has reshuffled his military top brass in an apparent attempt to secure his leadership since taking over the reins of power.
In changes disclosed on Sunday, Jang Jong-Nam, a relatively young field commander believed to be in his mid-50s, replaced hawkish defence minister Kim Kyok-Sik.
Kim Kyok-Sik, appointed six months ago, had been seen as a hardline choice given that he was widely believed to have directed the 2010 shelling of a South Korean border island.
Jang, who will now have Jon as his number-two, is not the most senior figure in the Korean military. The National Defence Commission is chaired by Kim Jong-Un as supreme commander.
And despite the shake-up, other old-guard figures remain in influential positions in the commission and other leadership bodies.
The changes come as the Korean peninsula emerges from a period of highly elevated military tensions that followed the North's nuclear test in February.