North Korea Provokes South Korea Yet Again

North Korea has reportedly tested three short-range missiles off the coast of South Korea. The three short-range missiles landed in the sea just 130 miles from South Korea. North Korea has routinely tested missiles and have done so again in advance of celebrating a three day holiday on Monday.

North Korea have been angered by the South Korean military and the United States for various policy initiatives aimed towards the Pyongyang government. In 2013, North Korea carried out numerous military test and made threats to attack South Korea, Japan and the United States of America with nuclear missiles.

In a separate incident on Monday, North Korea said it would repatriate a South Korean man that entered the country illegally. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim Sang-geun entered North Korea through a third country after having unspecified difficulties living in the South. It said Kim asked to live in North Korea and bring his family members from the South but the country decided to repatriate him next Thursday.

About 27,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea to avoid poverty and political suppression since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, but South Koreans defecting to North Korea are uncommon

The history between the two states have been mired in a war and since then cold threats of military assaults. North & South Korea have technically not ended the Korean war, with the last two years of the war saw a stalemate and attrition warfare. The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when the armistice agreement was signed.

Kim Jong-un took over from his father Kim Jong-Il following his death in 2011. At 31 years of age, he is the first North Korean leader born after the country’s founding and the world’s youngest head of state. Recently it was reported that his banker had deflected to Russia. Yun Tae-hyong, a senior representative of Korea Daesong Bank, disappeared last week in Nakhodka, in eastern Russia, with $5m.

The bank is suspected by the US government of being under the control of the North Korean government’s Office 39, which is widely believed to finance illicit activities, including the procurement of luxury goods banned under UN sanctions. The bank was blacklisted by the US treasury department in 2010

The Inquisitr reported that the North Korean leader is a massive fan of Manchester United and was reportedly watching his beloved soccer team illegal.

Do you believe that North Korea should be taken seriously given they boast a nuclear arsenal?

[Image via Flickr]