North Korea: celebrates 72 anniversary in lesser tone. Hackers would have stolen secret plans from South Korea and the US
North Korea celebrates 72 years of the Workers' Party without any new ballistic missile launches. The celebrations for the seventy-second anniversary of the party's founding were contained and kept to a minimum.
Arousing alarm, however, were the words of a member of the Russian parliament, Anto Morozov, according to North Korea he would be in possession of ballistic missiles capable of reaching a distance of over three thousand kilometers, and would be able to launch missiles capable to hit US territory after a process of "modernization". Morozov, who spoke to the microphones of the Russian agency Interfax, after visiting Pyongyang from 2 to 6 last October.
South Korea also kept attention on a possible Pyongyang launch. The last few days have been marked by rumors of turmoil in some places north of the thirty-eighth parallel that would suggest the possibility of a new test by Pyongyang. Recurrences are always sensitive dates for Pyongyang, which last year conducted its fifth nuclear test, on the occasion of the anniversary of the country's foundation.
Instead of launching a rocket, it seems almost certain that North Korea would have managed to get hold of the US and South Korea's war plans on North Korea.
North Korean hackers allegedly stole a large amount of confidential military documents, including a South Korean and a US plan to overthrow the leadership of North Korea: the South Korean news agency "Yonhap" reports, quoting the representative of the Democratic Party Lee Cheol-hee, according to which hackers stole information in September of last year related to the 5015 and 3100 operations plan. The 5015 operation plan concerns "the latest Seoul-Washington scheme to manage an all-out war with Pyongyang, which according to the report contains detailed procedures for dismissing the North Korean leadership ”, reads the agency's report, according to which the 3100 operational plan is Seoul's project to“ respond to localized provocations from the North ”. The South Korean lawmaker said 235 gigabytes of military documents were stolen, with the contents of nearly 80 percent still to be identified. “These also include contingency plans for Southern Special Forces, reports from key Allied commanders and information on major military facilities and power plants.
Meanwhile, the rhetoric between the United States and North Korea does not stop. The US president, Donald Trump, last Saturday, reiterated his tough positions on Twitter, explaining that "only one thing will work" with North Korea, words that would reconfirm the possibility of resorting to the military option against the Kim regime . The Foreign Ministry responded to Trump's latest statements yesterday from Beijing, through spokeswoman Hua Chunying, reiterating the invitation to moderate the tone: a similar message arrived, in the same hours, also from Moscow, via the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who asked to avoid actions that could worsen the situation on the peninsula.
Meanwhile, the British Navy is studying military plans for a likely attack on North Korea. The British navy would also be able to use the brand new Queen Elizabeth carrier as well as an unspecified number of frigates and torpedo fighters.