South Korea: North Korea has 6,000-member cyber army

Article Source: Yahoo News

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Tuesday that rival North Korea has a 6,000-member cyber army dedicated to disrupting the South's military and government, a dramatic increase from an earlier estimate of 3,000 such specialists.

Without elaborating, Seoul's Defense Ministry also said in a report that North Korea may also have gained the ability to strike the U.S. mainland because of its progress in missile technology demonstrated in recent long-range missile tests. It also said North Korea is advancing in efforts to miniaturize nuclear warheads to mount on such missiles.

There is considerable mystery, and outside debate, about the state of North Korea's opaque nuclear and missile programs, which it has persisted in pursuing for decades despite widespread domestic poverty and heavy international sanctions and criticism.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006, the most recent in early 2013, and experts believe it has a handful of crude nuclear bombs. Many outside observers speculate that it has not mastered the technology to make the bombs small enough to put on long-range missiles, although some say it may be able to arm shorter-range missiles with warheads.

North Korea has conducted several long-range rocket tests, which are seen as covers for banned tests meant to develop missiles that could hit mainland American shores. North Korea says its launches are meant to put peaceful satellites into orbit, and that its nuclear program is crucial to protecting itself from U.S. hostility.

The South Korean Defense Ministry report said North Korea's 6,000 cyber warriors are dedicated to "paralyzing the South psychologically and materially" and have been conducting cyber attacks to disrupt the South's military operations and main government systems. It didn't describe how it made its assessments.

The United States accuses North Korea of a cyber attack on Sony Pictures over a movie depicting the fictional assassination of the North's leader, Kim Jong Un. Washington has slapped sanctions on government officials and North Korea's defense industry. There are doubts in the cyber community, however, and North Korea has denied any involvement in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files.

Former South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said in 2013 that North Korea was operating a cyberwarfare staff of 3,000. South Korea accuses North Korea of conducting at least six high-profile cyberattacks since 2007 and many more unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate computer systems of businesses and government agencies.

The Korean Peninsula is still in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. There are 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South as a deterrent against a North Korean attack.

North Koreans Reportedly Turn to Cannibalism Due to Famine

Source The Atlantic Wire

News out of North Korean in notorious unreliable, but food shortages in the country have gotten so bad and people so desperate that there are now reports of men murdering their own children for food. These startling reports were compiled by independent reporters commissioned by Asia Press, a independent press agency focusing on Asia, and were published by the Sunday Times. And here's one of the most disturbing thing you'll read this morning: 

The source said: "While his wife was away on business he killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: 'We have meat.'

"But his wife, suspicious, notified the Ministry of Public Security, which led to the discovery of part of their children's bodies under the eaves."

And another from Gu Gwang-ho, one of the Asia Press's citizen journalists said:

"There was an incident when a man was arrested for digging up the grave of his grandchild and eating the remains."

The big question here is whether this is all true or new urban legends. Considering this is North Korea and taking into account the country's propensity to keep secrets and publish propaganda pieces—we'll likely never get real confirmation from their end. But Asia Press has worked with citizen reporters in the famine-struck regions of North and South Hwanghae for the past year, and The Independent considers their reports credible. 

RELATED: North Korea Has Found a Secret Unicorn Lair, Apparently

Sadly, this isn't the first time we've heard reports of cannibalism from North Korea. Back in 2003, during another food shortage there were refugee accounts that people in the country began killing and eating their children and then selling their children's corpses. The Telegraph's Mark Nicol reported at the time:

Aid agencies are alarmed by refugees' reports that children have been killed and corpses cut up by people desperate for food. Requests by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to be allowed access to "farmers' markets", where human meat is said to be traded, have been turned down by Pyongyang, citing "security reasons".

And then there's the fact that we know North Korea was devastated by storms and flooding in the summer of 2012. You can't hide a tropical cyclone. Thing have grown so desperate, that they almost took South Korean aid this September, which is a big deal considering the rocky relationship between the two countries and the North's fierce pride of independence. Reports of previous famines have been well documented and Asia Press claims that as many as 10,000 people may have died because of the "Hidden Famine" this year. 

Jesus warned one of the signs before HIS Second Coming their will be an increase of famine in the world in the Last Days. Folks were seeing Bible Prophecy fulfilled right before your eyes.

Matthew 24:7

King James Version (KJV)

⁷ For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.