North Korean leader Kim Jong-un celebrated his birthday with a long wish-list of new weapons.
It included more accurate long-range missiles, super large warheads, spy satellites and a nuclear-powered submarine.
The military plans announced during one of the biggest political events in North Korea in the last five years may sound threatening – and it is indeed a threat.
Mr Kim, who has also now been promoted to Secretary General (the highest rank of the ruling Worker’s Party), is struggling to be heard outside his own country amidst the current tumult in the US.
But if the incoming US administration harbours any hopes of preventing Mr Kim’s nuclear ambitions, now might be the time to listen.
“Kim’s announcements no doubt are meant to emphasise to the incoming US administration that a failure to take quick action will result in North Korea qualitatively advancing its capabilities in ways deleterious to US and South Korean interests,” said Ankit Panda, author of Kim Jong-un and the Bomb, adding that Joe Biden’s administration should take this seriously.
Mr Kim and Donald Trump met three times, but they failed to reach any agreement to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme or the current crippling economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang by the US and the UN.
The questions being asked on the Korean peninsula are whether Joe Biden can do any better, and whether he should take Mr Kim’s threat seriously.
“I think the president-elect should take that at face value and, as soon as possible, clarify his perspective on what objectives his administration will seek in potential negotiations with North Korea,” said Mr Panda.
“If Kim sees no shift from the traditional US emphasis on comprehensive and total nuclear disarmament before any sanctions can be eased, I’d think he’ll simply push ahead with testing and other activities,” he added.
In his speech to the thousands of delegates at the Workers’ Party Congress, Mr Kim described the US as his country’s “biggest enemy” – but he also added that he did not “rule out diplomacy”.
The summits may have failed, but they have been glorified in technicolour in the main hall of the party Congress as an “event of the greatest significance in the history of world politics”.
So there is wiggle room if Joe Biden wishes to use it.
But Duyeon Kim, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said the US would have to make the first move and any deal will come at a cost.
“Kim Jong-un’s price for the US is ending combined military drills with Seoul, removing sanctions, and refraining from making human rights criticisms before talks. Washington won’t do these unconditionally,” Duyeon Kim said.
“Even if negotiations resumed, Kim’s price is high for any deal because he’s been suggesting Cold War-style arms control talks in which both sides take mutual and reciprocal steps. But that doesn’t make sense because there’s no parity between US and North Korean nuclear arsenals.”
It is my understanding that Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un came close to a deal at their second meeting in Hanoi in February 2019.
But that deal is no longer on the table, and Mr Kim is now negotiating with a very different president.
What Mr Kim is doing with this speech is trying to prove he has the upper hand.
He’s resetting the starting point for talks – it’s no longer about giving up his current arsenal, it’s about preventing him from building a new and improved one.
More fire and fury?
It’s not exactly a huge surprise that Mr Kim harbours ambitions to expand his nuclear arsenal.
But what came as a surprise to many was that he announced a detailed list of his goals:
- longer-range missiles
- better missiles
- hypersonic missile
- military reconnaissance satellites
- solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles
- new unmanned aerial vehicle
- new nuclear warheads
- tactical nuclear weapons
Of course, any new weapon will have to be tested, and with tests come tension.
Everyone on the Korean peninsula remembers the threat of “fire and fury” promised by Donald Trump in 2017 after three long-range missile tests by North Korea.
South Korea is desperate to avoid a repeat of this ramped-up rhetoric and brinkmanship.
But Mr Kim is laying down the gauntlet and perhaps wondering if he will get a reaction.
In his speech, he even discussed how far he would like his long-range missiles to fly. He wants them able to hit targets up to 15,000km (9320 miles) away.
This range would make Pyongyang more than capable of hitting the US.
North Korea launched what is known as the Hwasong 15 in late 2017 and claimed then that the missile could reach any part of the US while carrying a nuclear warhead.
But it’s not known if it has the technology needed to protect a nuclear warhead as it re-enters the atmosphere to deliver the weapon to its target.
As for the dream of a nuclear-powered submarine, analysts believe that may be a long way off for the regime.
However, North Korea “has proven remarkably resilient in the past”, said Mr Panda.
Kim Jong-un has managed to make significant advances to its current nuclear programme despite a series of deepening economic crises.
“Even if Kim can’t accomplish the entirety of his agenda, we should not bet against his will to push through and begin testing and manufacturing some of the systems he named,” said Mr Panda.
Crackdown amid reports of food crisis
The big question is, how will Kim Jong-un pay for his ambitions as his country faces one of the bleakest economic situations in decades. Could this wish-list be an empty threat?
Five years ago, Mr Kim promised his people economic prosperity. Those plans are now in tatters.
He opened the party Congress with an admission of failure.
The word “sorry” would not have been heard from his father or grandfather – but the young leader is now used to making apologies and was even seen in tears at a military parade in October as he outlined the stark situation facing his people.
North Korea’s borders were closed nearly a year ago to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from neighbouring China.
Pyongyang still denies having a single confirmed case of the virus, although there are many unconfirmed reports which claim Covid-19 has spread within the secretive state.
The border blockade has affected trade with China which is now down by almost 80%.
A series of typhoons and floods have devastated vital crops and houses.
NK News website reported empty supermarket shelves in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang, and the prices of simple goods such as sugar have shot up, according to South Korea’s spy agency.
Diplomatic sources have told me about certain goods piled up at the border, including medical supplies.
At best they are delayed. At worst they are not getting into the country at all. And, of course, strict economic sanctions remain in place.
North Korea is more cut off from the world than ever before.
Internally, there are signs that there is a crackdown on informal markets which had sprung up across the country as households tried to make extra money.
These small signs of capitalism had been tolerated for years – but now the state wants this money too.
Peter Ward, a PhD Candidate at the University of Vienna, studies the North Korean economy closely and said this predated the pandemic and that “some of it dates back to before Kim Jong-un took power”.
“But the level of hostility toward market actors and the emphasis on restoring state retail we have seen since 2019 is notable and worrisome,” he said.
So what can be done?
South Korea has been more than hinting that the Biden administration should signal to Pyongyang that it is willing to talk.
President Moon Jae-in said again in his New Year address that he was willing to meet North Korea’s leader “anytime and anywhere”.
But Kim Jong-un rejected this olive branch, and often dismisses Seoul as a player in these discussions. He batted away suggestions of aid or collaboration on Covid-19 medications and vaccines.
Jeongmin Kim, an analyst from NK News, said it was “time Seoul lowered its expectations”.
“This party congress made it even clearer to President Moon that North Korea is not interested in the symbolic, small stuff like inter-Korean cooperation.
“But as with the US, North Korea did not close the doors completely on Moon’s face, but left it conditional: almost saying, let’s see how you behave.
“It is a tall order, siding less with the US and holding hands with North Korea. Mr Moon can’t do that.
“But because North Korea left it as conditional and did not sever ties completely, Seoul will likely hold on to that hope and probably go ahead with what it can do – continued olive branches about public health co-operation to at least manage the risk of things blowing up, until Moon’s term is over in 2022,” said Jeongmin Kim.
So all roads to a deal appear to lead through Washington. The new administration has a growing and demanding list of priorities; North Korea is just one of them and is struggling to get any attention.
However, most analysts believe that if the US president-elect fails to respond quickly, North Korea will take action, probably by testing ballistic missiles.
Kim Jong-un has set the stage. His message now is, “Your move, Mr Biden.”
Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.
Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:
Latest updates and human impact
- Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
- This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
- Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
- The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
- The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.
Diplomacy
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
- The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
- Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
- Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.
West Bank raids and violence
- Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
- Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
- The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
- The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
- Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
- “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.
Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023
Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.
The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.
The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.
Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.
Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.
As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.
Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.
Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.
UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.
Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.
Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.
“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.
Abhorrent. This is a call to commit a war crime by @yoavgallant. The @IntlCrimCourt should take note.
Quote by @OmarSShakir ⤵️ https://t.co/kKVo6YtpI1 pic.twitter.com/neHQMwnXVn
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) October 9, 2023
Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.
“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.
Grotesque. These threatened acts would amount to flagrant war crimes by Hamas’ armed wing. The @IntlCrimCourt will be watching.
Quote from @OmarSShakir ⤵️ https://t.co/FuNtvHe0YG pic.twitter.com/6cnHODLWyZ
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) October 9, 2023
On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.
Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.
The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.
Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.
US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023
Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.
After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.
He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”
Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.
The world is seeing appalling images.
Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli cities. Hamas terrorists killing not only Israeli soldiers, but civilians on the streets and in their homes.
It’s unconscionable. Israel has a right to defend itself – full stop.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 7, 2023
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”
Accusations of Western ‘double standards’
Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.
The world is seeing appalling images.
Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli cities. Hamas terrorists killing not only Israeli soldiers, but civilians on the streets and in their homes.
It’s unconscionable. Israel has a right to defend itself – full stop.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 7, 2023
Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.
Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.
https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.
https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”
The hypocrisy and double standards of western governments and media platforms dealing with situations in Ukraine-Russia and Palestine-Israel blow the mind. Absolute disgrace.
— Said Yacoubi (@AlyacoubiSaid) October 8, 2023
It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.
Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.
“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.
Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:
“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”
Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”
Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.
https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.
Just to clarify:
Palestine did not mount an attack on Israel. An Iranian proxy militia did. Palestinians are by and large huddled in their homes praying that an Israeli airstrike won't kill them or theirs. Hamas is the culprit here. This isn't a decentralized grassroots thing.
— Romeo Kokriatski (@VagrantJourno) October 9, 2023
Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.
Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.
After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.
Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.
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