N.Korea Scraps Wage Ceiling at Kaesong Complex

North Korea has unilaterally scrapped the legal limit for workers' wages at the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex.

Uriminzokkiri, the official website of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, on Saturday said Pyongyang made the revisions last month. The website said raises will be set every year by the supervisory committee overseeing workers at the complex.

The regulations, enacted in 2003, had stipulated that a North Korean working at the complex should be given at least US$50 per month and raises must not exceed five percent of the monthly figure.

The minimum wage has risen five percent a year to $70.45 now. South Korean manufacturers worry that higher wages could hurt their bottom line.

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ISIS Has Tanks and Missiles Made in N.Korea

The terror group ISIS that is effectively in charge of vast swathes of Syria and Iraq is using North Korean-made tanks and portable missiles, the website NK News claimed Monday.

It cited intelligence sources as claiming tanks used by ISIS in an attack on a Kurdish region in northern Iraq in September were Soviet T-55 tanks upgraded in North Korea, and portable missiles used by militants are of a type manufactured in the North.

Earlier, German intelligence told lawmakers that ISIS has portable surface-to-air missiles that are capable of shooting down civilian aircraft. A photo of an ISIS militant brandishing the weapon was posted on Twitter.

At the time, German intelligence believed the weapon was Russian, Bulgarian or Chinese in origin.

But NK News said ISIS got its hands on North Korean-made weapons by capturing them from government forces in Syria. The two countries maintained close ties since the 1970s and the North exported various weapons to Syria, including the upgraded T-55 tanks and portable surface-to-air missiles.

The Washington Post reported that ISIS got its hands on portable surface-to-air missiles when it attacked a Syrian air force base in Raqqa in the northeastern part of the country in August.

"Whatever effect they may have on the ultimate course of the war, it is certain that even today the influence of [North Korea] on conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere is not to be underestimated."

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N.Korea 'Most Volatile and Dangerous Threat' in Asia

The next commander of the U.S. Pacific Command on Tuesday described North Korea as the "most volatile and dangerous threat" in the Asia-Pacific region.

Admiral Harry Harris was speaking during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He added North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "opportunistic, unpredictable and ruthless as he seeks to acquire nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them intercontinentally."

The Pacific Fleet must be "ready to fight tonight," if required, because of the regime's "uncertain activities," he added.

Harris claimed the North's massive conventional military capability, its tenacious development of weapons of mass destruction and weapons delivery systems, and the regime's consolidation of power are a clear and present threat in the Asia-Pacific region.

He also indicated that he would deploy 60 percent of 286 U.S. warships in this region by 2019 to remove the threat from the North and deal with a rising China.

Meanwhile, in a separate written statement Harris pledged to send two additional Aegis destroyers with a ballistic missile defense system to Japan by 2017 and deploy a fourth nuclear-powered submarine at Guam.

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N.Korea Says 'Wait and See' Regarding Sony Hacking

North Korea said "wait and see" on Monday when asked if Pyongyang was involved in a cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment a month before its planned release of a movie about a plot to kill the reclusive state's leader, Kim Jong-un.

"The hostile forces are relating everything to the DPRK? [North Korea]. I kindly advise you to just wait and see," a spokesman for North Korea's UN mission said when asked about the attack that knocked out the studio's computer network.

North Korea routinely refers to the United States and South Korea as hostile forces.

Asked if North Korea was not involved in the attack on Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, the spokesman for the UN mission said in an email: "I do not know anything about this."

Sony Pictures' computer system went down last Monday. Before screens went dark, they displayed a red skull and the phrase "Hacked By #GOP," which reportedly stands for Guardians of Peace, the Los Angeles Times reported. The hackers also warned they would release "secrets" stolen from Sony, the Times reported.

Technology news site Re/code reported that Sony and security consultants were investigating whether someone acting on behalf of North Korea, possibly from China, was responsible.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday that Sony Pictures was investigating every possibility, adding that no link to North Korea has been uncovered.

North Korea complained to the United Nations in June about the film starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, accusing the United States of sponsoring terrorism and committing an act of war by allowing production of the movie.

"I personally don't care if [the movie's] disrespectful to Kim, because he's evil. But that's not the intent," Rogen posted on Twitter on Sunday. "North Korea has produced tons of propaganda films that portray America's destruction."

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Egyptian Telecom Earns $500 Million in N.Korea

Orascom Telecom Media and Technology of Egypt has earned more than US$500 million from its mobile phone business in North Korea.

Orascom posted the figure in an audit report on its website.

The cash balance of Koryolink, the North Korean cellular network operator in which Orascom owns a 75 percent stake, increased from $510 million in late June to $540 million in late September, according to analysis by accounting firm Deloitte on Sept. 30.

But the blog North Korea Tech said due to currency controls imposed by the regime, "that cash isn't readily available" to Orascom to repatriate.

The company has recently complained that North Korea is preventing it from sending the money to Egypt and is in negotiations with the regime.

In May last year, Orascom said there were more than two million people in North Korea with mobile phones, but it published no official statistics this time.

But North Korea Tech quoted an Orascom executive as estimating the number at 2.4 million.

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Seoul Flags Up Fertilizer Aid to N.Korea

Seoul signaled a possible easing of years of tight sanctions on North Korea with a tentative offer of fertilizer aid.

"If transparency is guaranteed, [the government] could consider various assistance measures to North Korea including small-scale fertilizer aid," Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said in a speech at a local forum on inter-Korean cooperation on Tuesday.

The government banned rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea in 2010 as part of sanctions after the North sank the Navy corvette Cheonan. As recently as this March, Ryoo voiced opposition to plans by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation to send fertilizer aid to the North, so his latest comments fuel hopes in some quarters that the government is willing to shift its stance.

Last month President Park Geun-hye told members of a unification committee that Seoul could provide fertilizer aid to North Korea as part of a grassroots approach to solving food shortages in the North.

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N.Korea Tests Submarine-Launched Missile

North Korea has conducted two or three ejection tests of a submarine-launched missile in Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province.

The tests were conducted from a vertical launch tube on the ground since the missile appears to be in the initial development stage.

A government source here on Sunday said South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies have detected "two or three" such tests, but it seems very unlikely that it is the same intercontinental ballistic missile that the international media have reported the North is developing.

Military authorities believe that the missile is either a new anti-ship cruise missile with a range of 130 km or a new short-range ballistic missile with a range of 240 km.

The rightwing Washington Free Beacon on Friday quoted U.S. defense officials as saying the test "is a sign that the rogue state is moving ahead with plans for underwater missile strike capabilities for a future nuclear-tipped missile."

The launch test site near the Sinpo Shipyard consists of a launch-pad-like structure which is less than 12 m tall and auxiliary facilities on a 35 m x 30 m concrete slab.

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N.Korea Approves Visit from Former 1st Lady

Former first lady Lee Hee-ho, the widow of President Kim Dae-jung, has received the green light for a visit from North Korea.

She will stay at the Baekwhawon State Guest House and visit two daycare centers for children there.

Kim Sung-jae of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center said Friday that his delegation met with officials from North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which handles cross-border affairs, to lay the groundwork for her trip.

Kim said he told the North that Lee would like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and that the two sides agreed to meet again to confirm the date of her visit.

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N.Korea Threatens to Nuke Cheong Wa Dae

North Korea on Sunday threatened Cheong Wa Dae with nuclear destruction after the UN human rights committee last week passed a resolution condemning the North's human rights violations.

The North's National Defense Commission in a statement said, "We ask this question of Park Geun-hye and her gang, who seem to be celebrating and making merry over the UN resolution. Do you think Cheong Wa Dae is safe if a nuclear war breaks out?"

It said the North Korean regime and people "totally reject the UN resolution on human rights drafted by the U.S. and their puppets abusing the UN platform" and threatened a "hardline response."

North Korea has been blustering about its nuclear program nearly every day since the UN committee passed the resolution on Nov. 18 which calls for the referral of top North Korean officials to the International Criminal Court.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry in a response said, "We strongly condemn North Korea's provocative use of language and threats of nuclear war, while failing to recognize international community's concerns and warnings." It warned any provocations from the North "will only result in stronger reaction from the international community."

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N.Korea Threatens Fresh Nuclear Test

North Korea on Thursday threatened another nuclear test in protest against an impending UN resolution recommending referral of the reclusive state to the International Criminal Court for human rights abuses.

North Korea has unleashed a stream of threats after the UN human rights committee passed the draft resolution.

In a statement Thursday, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said the North rejects the "forceful passing" of the draft resolution by the UN committee, adding this makes the North "unable to refrain any longer from conducting a new nuclear test."

"Our war deterrent will be strengthened infinitely in the face of the United States' plot for armed interference and invasion," the spokesman added.

Analysis of satellite pictures suggests that the North has already put a nuclear reactor in Yongbyon back into operation to produce the requisite plutonium.

On Nov. 4, "steam was seen rising from a large cooling tower at auxiliary buildings just southeast of the plutonium separation building," the Johns Hopkins University blog 38 North said Wednesday. "Throughout the summer and into fall 2014 there was little activity at this facility."

"Steam coming from a nearby large cooling tower is consistent with maintenance and testing (as well as possibly the making of chemicals related to reprocessing) and would be one of the first steps taken before commencing operations," the report adds.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo told the National Assembly Defense Committee here, "We believe that the North is always preparing to conduct a new nuclear test. But we don't know whether it's possible in the near future."

The North is evidently upset that the resolution calls for the referral of senior North Korean officials to the ICC, a government official here said. "Nobody can rule out the possibility of the North launching provocations of any type."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il warned, "If the North aggravates the situation with nuclear threats, it will be violating a UN Security Council resolution. We must warn North Korea that it will face a firm response from the international community."

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UN Committee Urges Security Council to Refer N.Korea to ICC

A key UN human rights committee has passed a resolution urging the UN Security Council to consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

The nonbinding resolution, drafted by Japan and the European Union, passed overwhelmingly Tuesday.?

It is based on a February UN Commission of Inquiry that detailed decades of systematic executions, torture, rape and mass starvation in the North. That report also called for the Security Council to refer Pyongyang to the ICC.

North Korea has repeatedly denied committing human rights atrocities, and it accuses the United States and its allies of seeking to discredit and overthrow the leadership in Pyongyang.

Debate on the resolution is expected next month in the General Assembly, where it is also expected to pass. But it is not clear whether it can clear the 15-member Security Council, where China has traditionally protected North Korea, its ally.

Motohide Yoshikawa, Japan's UN ambassador, speaks during a meeting of the UN General Assembly's human rights committee on a proposal to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity on Nov. 18, 2014. /AP

Speaking before Tuesday's vote, the executive director of the nongovernmental Committee on Human Rights in North Korea, Greg Scarlatoiu, said the push to hold Pyongyang accountable will have been worthwhile, even if China vetoes the initiative.

"Let China place itself in the position where it is repeatedly attempting to block initiatives to refer the North Korean case to the International Criminal Court," he said. "Let China place itself in a position where it is clearly and obviously aiding and abetting a regime that is committing crimes against humanity. The political price of doing that is only going to get higher."

Facing the looming UN votes, the Pyongyang government has in recent weeks sought to ease mounting international criticism of its rights record. It has released three detained Americans and expressed a willingness to allow top UN rights officials to the visit the country.

Despite those gestures, Human Rights Watch called for UN members to pass what it described as the? "landmark resolution." Amnesty International and the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights also urged committee members to resist pressure to delete references to accountability for "decades of terrible abuse."

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Hyundai Chairwoman Wants to Resume N.Korea Tours

Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun returned from a one-day trip to North Korea on Tuesday evening.

Hyun was there to mark the 16th anniversary of now-suspended package tours to Mt. Kumgang.

On return she told reporters here that Hyundai will do everything it can to resume the joint venture, whose six-year suspension caused her company about W1 trillion (US$1=W1,100) in losses.

The tours were stopped in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.

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