China asks North Korea to free seized boat

[Vikrant]

China says it has called on North Korea to secure the release of a fishing boat and its crew seized earlier this month.

Owner Yu Xuejun said the vessel had been in Chinese waters when the 16-man crew were seized on 5 May.

Mr Yu said the North Korean captors were demanding a 600,000 yuan ($100,000, £66,000) ransom.

State-run Xinhua news agency said that diplomats in Pyongyang had been asked for help on 10 May and were working on the issue.

"Upon receiving the call, the Chinese embassy promptly made representations to the... DPRK [North Korean] Foreign Ministry, asking the DPRK side to release the boat and the fishermen as soon as possible," the agency quoted Counsellor Jiang Yaxian of Beijing's embassy in Pyongyang as saying.

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BBC News - China asks North Korea to free seized boat

 

[waltky]

Don't sound like Lil' Kim in a gettin' along mood...

N Korea’s Kim tells military war could break out anytime
Thu, Dec 26, 2013 - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has urged the country’s military to bolster its combat readiness, saying a war could break out “without any prior notice,” state media reported yesterday.

The call comes at a time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula following the execution of Kim’s uncle and former mentor, Jang Song-thaek, in an unusually public purge. Kim visited the Command of Large Combined Unit 526 on Tuesday, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said. “He instructed the unit to put utmost spurs on rounding off its combat readiness ... always bearing in mind that a war breaks out without any prior notice,” it said.

The unit is based in the North’s western port city of Nampo, according to the South’s Yonhap news agency. There are growing concerns over the regime’s stability after the execution of Jang. Seoul and Washington have warned of possible provocative acts by the nuclear-armed North following the purge.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye called for “watertight security readiness” during her trip on Tuesday to a frontline guard post, describing the situation over the border as “ominous.” “We should react sternly and mercilessly to any provocations by North Korea,” she said. In recent days the reclusive state’s propaganda mill has gone into overdrive describing Jang as a traitor, while extolling Kim’s leadership.

Tens of thousands of troops pledged loyalty to him in a mass rally on the death anniversary of his father on Tuesday last week. Meanwhile, satellite imagery suggests North Korea is making “wide-ranging, extensive” efforts to fully reactivate its main nuclear complex, a US think tank said on Tuesday, in line with Pyongyang’s vows to strengthen its weapons program. Recent images show work at the Yongbyon nuclear compound apparently aimed at producing fuel rods to be used in a plutonium reactor, Johns Hopkins University’s US-Korea Institute said.

N Korea?s Kim tells military war could break out anytime - Taipei Times

 

[Unkotare]

Don't sound like Lil' Kim in a gettin' along mood...

Well, he better get in one right quick if he knows what's good for him.

 

[Mr. H.]

Imagine that... China and NK in a big hissy-fit. Someone needs to bitch-slap that fat little North Korean bitch 'till he squeals like a pig.