NK REPORT

Only at NK-MHI News:​ Family reunions won’t happen until 13 defectors returned: N. Korean media, By Dagyum Ji DPRK Today demands repatriation of “abducted” North Koreans N. Korean video details alleged Kim Jong Un assassination attempt, By Chad O’Carroll Uriminzokkiri video claims DPRK national paid by CIA, NIS, and NGO to murder leader Why recent U.S. sanctions target Russia, not China, By Anthony V. Rinna The latest designations suggest the Kremlin is not seen as a useful partner in dealing with the DPRK Lectures and threats: How to read rumors of a North Korea-China breakup, By Adam Cathcart Reports of bellicose lectures in the DPRK’s border regions should be taken with a pinch of salt N. Korean tankers still waiting for oil following new sanctions, By Leo Byrne  The DPRK’s tankers continue to wait following new OFAC designation on June 1 North Korea, Ethiopia to step up bilateral ties: KCNA, By Hamish Macdonald  Cooperation to take place in economics, politics and ‘all other fields’, state media says Top NK-MHI Stories from around the web: NK presses S. Korea to shift inter-Korean policy (Korea Herald) North Korea on Sunday urged South Korea to shift its inter-Korean policy as it called on Seoul to reject the United States’ drive for sanctions and seek national unity. South Korea has turned a deaf ear to North Korea’s call for inter-Korean reconciliation and unity while jumping on the bandwagon of Washington’s hostile policy toward Pyongyang… House lawmakers pitch ban on North Korean tourism (The Hill) Reps. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Thursday submitted a bill that would tightly restrict U.S. travel and ban tourism to North Korea. “Tourist travel to North Korea does nothing but provide funds to a tyrannical regime — that will in turn be used to develop weapons to threaten the United States and our allies,” Wilson said in a statement… S. Korea names new defense minister to counter North’s arms threat (Asahi Shimbun) South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Sunday nominated a former navy chief as his defense minister, the president’s office said, as the government faces challenges tackling North Korea’s rapidly developing weapons program… N. Korea will test-fire ICBM in not too distant future: party’s official newspaper (Yonhap News) North Korea’s official newspaper claimed Saturday that a test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile is not far away. “The series of recent strategic weapons tests show that we are not too far away from test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile,” the Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial… By the Numbers: The Frequency of North Korean Missile Tests Under Kim Jong-un (The Peninsula) We must be prepared to more quickly respond to the advancing pace of North Korea’s missile tests. “Since assuming leadership in North Korea, Kim Jong-un averaged 10.8 missile tests per year in the 2012-2016 period. Though, these numbers are driven up by the higher volume of tests in recent years. In 2012 and 2013, North Korea conducted a total of eight missile tests…”