LAST DAYS OF A NORTH KOREAN KOMMANDO

(Credit to Insein Prison Warden)

When I met North Korean Commando Captain Kang Min Chul, it was in 1985 inside Insein Jail. At that time he was serving life sentence without parole.

I talked to him in Myanmar which he could speak and understand

He was missing his left arm, it was amputated just above the shoulder.

I asked him,” How are you doing Captain?”

He said,” Please call me Kang Min Chul, my name, I am not a Captain anymore” with a nice smile

I told him that I was surprised that he could manage Myanmar language very well. He again surprised me with his reading and writing skills of Myanmar language by reciting Buddhist Prayers without looking at text. His Myanmar language writing was excellent too.

The reason for his prison sentence in Insein Maximum Security Prison was his direct involvement in assassination of then ROK President GEN Chun Do Hwan by setting up explosives

What happened was the ROK President initially planned to lay wreath at Martyrs’ Mausoleum on October 9, 1983 at 10.30am. While all the ROK cabinet members and all other dignitaries assembled and waiting for the President to show up, at about 10.25am (3) North Korean Commandos triggered an powerful explosive and killed about (20) dignitaries and seriously injured (46). ROK President GEN Chun Do Hwan narrowly escaped the assassination attempt.

North Korean Commando Group consists of Major Zimmo, Captain Sin Kee Chul and Captain Kang Min Chul. Team leader was Major Zimmo. They departed North Korea port and arrived in Yangon port on August 22, 1983. On arrival, one small boat approached their mother ship and someone said “ Follow me”. There were (2) men. Then Maj Zimmo, Capt Sin Kee Chul and Capt Kang Ming Chul rode in black sedan comfortably while enjoying views of Capital City of Yangon. At the same time they just started to feel he pressure of the responsibilities.

“You will be serving for your Father Country, paying back what was left to do in history. You have to complete it regardless of any circumstances. If you die, you die like heroes” Maj Zimmo was thinking back what DPRK Special Forces GEN Kim Chan Su said prior to their departure from North Korea

The black sedan drove into one of the diplomatic compound on (154/A), 2nd Thiri Yeiktha, Ahlone Township where it was the residence of DPRK diplomatic mission chief Mr Hee and (2) diplomatic members. Someone brought in beers and food. They ate altogether

“We have to stay here in this house until we get our explosives and other supplies. Someone will bring here. You have one and a half month to observe geography and surrounding landscape of the target. You have to mark up all penetration and escape routes. We are here to do the job for our father country, once the job is over, we have to find a way out to get to the rescue ship. The most important thing to is to get it done. The company will honor you all if it is successful, if not we are done”

Major Zimmo was cool and eyes were sparkling when finishing that sentence. Captain SKChul was thinking deep and getting strength. Captain KMChul and him were thinking back and forth about their job and in deep quiet thoughts

(2) days later, they received (2) big wheeled bags. Major Z checked the bags and confirmed that these were all explosives they have been waiting for. They are all familiar with all of this. Major Z divided stuff among them and given to other team members for use

They have been hanging out in Capital City of Yangon for a while, observing, walking along downtown boulevards such as Maha Bandoola, Anawratha, cruising down Pansodan to Jetty street along the Yangon River bank and looked at ocean going ships and said that the escape route should be this way to get to the ocean.

Major Zimmo said” You two mark it up, this shall be your escape route”

Major Zimmo pulled out the map, walk along the bank to Bo Ta Taung. Then get inside the Bo Ta Taung Jetty. Then rent e taxi and went to Pa Zon Taung then walked to Tha Ke Ta, and Tha Ke Ta bridge. Then back to their house

Many many days later after the same routine, they were so familiar with Yangon, and all in/out routes, they felt like they were ready for the job

On September 5th, 1983 9am, Major Z reported to his command and got final ‘go’ personally from MAJ GEN KK Su. Major Zimmo turned back and looked the other two and said proudly, “Commanding General confirmed and approved the plan, we have (2) days and our target will be here in Yangon. Finally we have chance to do the job. We will go and do final check to target area once the target date is closer”

On October 6th,1983 the day of the final check, Captain KMChul was wearing Myanmar dress. The other (2) were wearing T shirts and Batik short pants up to their knees, headed for Shwe Da Gone Pagoda. They went up to Shwe Da Gone Pagoda bypassing Martyr’s Mausoleum. They already have reviewed and observed terrain around Martyr’s Mausoleum so many times so they do not even need a map anymore. Then they went into a KanDawGyi park, sat by lake, came back out, spend some time at tea shop, and from Bahan Circle, coming back to Shwe Da Gone Pagoda, then walking along U WiSara Road, stopped at WaZiRa Cinema Hall and observed Martyr’s Mausoleum 

from there and back to where they lived

“Lets start tonight” Major Z said.

“Lets get out of this can and we position near the target area”

“ We have to plant explosives tomorrow night”

“Lets get out and observe again”

On that night, they spend the whole night in KanDawGyi park, resting on bench underneath a big tree in the park. They went back to house to rest the whole day.

On October 8th night, they were out again. This time they brought the explosives with them. By 2am all (3) went into Martyr’s Mausoleum from south side and climbed onto roof and set the explosives all over. Captain KM Chul was watching for the backs.

“Are you panicking?” Major Z asked Captain KMChul. Captain KMChul confessed so many years later to prison warden ”I have never thought about betraying my country, however, the responsibilities for this job is so tremendously big, that only worries me all the time”

When the daylight came, they left the target area and got breakfast at Myay Ni Gone. About 7.30am they left the food place, walked towards Shwe Da Gone Pagoda and looked around the situation near Martyr’s Mausoleum. Only now They have seen the security personals and the activities around Mausoleum according to assassins. They avoided those securities and walked back to Wazira Cinema Hall. They saw car garage between cinema hall and gas station.

“Lets hang around inside tea shop”

Inside tea shop, no one noticed them that they were on a mission. They drank coffee, and ate without talking and they paid bill and left tea shop about 10am. The walked back to Wazira Cinema Halls again. And then they saw a guarded motorcade passing

Major Zimmo looked at the other two meaningfully and said,” They are coming. We have (5 )minutes. We will split up, you (2) leave together. We will meet up at designated point later”

They shook hands and encouraged each other as they left. Then Major Zimmo left towards Wazira Cinema Hall. Captain KMChul and Captain SKChul waited nearby. Then suddenly, they heard very loud 'boom' from the direction of Mausoleum. The explosion cracked high in the sky above, shook them both, the earth around and underneath. Captain KMChul and Captain SK Chul looked at each other and quickly left the area

The news spread quickly. ROK President GEN Chun Do Hwan did not die. Instead

Seo Seok-jun, deputy Prime Minister

Lee Beom-seok, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Kim Dong-hwi, Minister of Commerce

Suh Sang-Chul, Minister of Power Resources

Ham Byeong-chun, Presidential Chief of Staff

Lee Gye-cheol, Ambassador to Burma

Kim Jae-ik, senior Presidential Secretary for Economic

Ha Dong-seon, Planning Director of International Cooperation Committee

Lee Gi-uk, Vice-Minister of Finance

Gang In-hui, Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Forest, Fishery

Kim Yong-hwan, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology

Sim Sang-u, a member of the National Assembly

Min Byeong-seok, physician in attendance on the President

Lee Jae-gwan, presidential press secretary

Han Gyeong-hui, a presidential guard

Jeong Tae-jin, a presidential guard

Lee Jung-hyeon, reporter of The Dong-a Ilbo

All (17) perished and (32) injured from ROK delegation. They all went back to ROK in coffins and now resting in peace inside their own Mausoleum at Seoul's National Cemetery

Next day, the October 10th, 1983 at 9.45pm residents saw a suspicious person swimming in the PazonnDaung Canal. He exploded the grenade when he was surrounded, caused (3) civilians injured. Port Police apprehended the suspect and found out that was Major Zimmo. The blast caused him both legs, both hands and both eyes

Next day, the October 11th, 1983 at 6am Captain SKChul and Captain KMChul rented a boat. The boat owner notified police in Kauk Hmuu Township. During that interrogation they exploded a device, injuring (3) policemen. During that shootout Captain SKChul was killed by police personals. The other escaped

Next day, the October 12th, 1983 at 7am Captain KMChul was found alive and surrounded. He refused to surrender, a platoon from Myanmar 90th Infantry Battalion tried to catch him alive, he committed suicide by setting off explosive device. The blast caused (3) soldiers’ lives and Captain KMChul was caught alive finally

Final sentence for Major Zimmo was to be hanged by a rope. He was hanged to death by a rope during a month of April, 1985, one and a half years after assassination attempt. We have difficulties to hang Major Zimmo. In order to be hanged, he supposed to be handcuffed, and tied both hands at the back. For lower torso, we had to tie both feets. We could not do none of it because he was missing hands and legs. We had to lifted him up, put the rope around his neck and …hanged him.

Final sentence for Captain KM Chul was life without parole. He stayed in Insein Prison until his death in 2008. During that period, ROK diplomats came to prison and persuaded him for t least (3) or (4) times to come to South Korea. He said “No”. He said he would rather live in Insein forever….until….

SALUTE TO UNKNOWN COURAGEOUS SOLDIERS,POLICE, CIVILIANS WHO HAS GIVEN THEIR LIVES TO THE COUNTRY QUIETLY, VALIANTLY DURING THIS ORDEAL WHICH WAS UNPRECEDENTED IN MODERN WORLD HISTORY

WHATS UP WITH TURKEY

The US military pact with autonomous Kurdistan violates Iraq’s integrity and moves the Iraqi Kurds closer to permanent separation from the rest of the country

In a surprise move, the United States last week signed a military agreement with the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) in northern Iraq which would allow Washington to establish close military and security ties with the region which is seeking independence from Iraq.

The pact, signed by Elissa Slotkin, US acting assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs and the KRG’s interior minister, is unprecedented and breaks new ground in US relations with the Iraqi Kurds.

By and large, the little-publicised but critical partnership deal will have far-reaching implications for Iraq’s fragile ties with its self-ruled Kurdish community.

It is the first time the government of Iraq’s northern autonomous enclave has signed a political, military and financial cooperation pact with a foreign country bypassing the central government in Baghdad.

The pact is a clear violation of Iraq’s 2005 Constitution, ironically drafted under the supervision of the US Occupying Authority. The constitution gives the central government the exclusive power to sign agreements with foreign countries. 

The deal is also in breach of the 2008 US-Iraq Agreement which paved the way for the United States to pull its troops out from Iraq and set the terms for future bilateral relations.

Announcing the deal on 12 July, a spokesman for the KRG said the agreement would allow the United States to provide the Iraqi Kurds with further military and financial support in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Omid Sabah said the main purpose of the agreement was to shore up Kurdish Peshmerga capabilities in preparation for the long-awaited offensive to retake Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul from IS militants.

Iraqi security forces have launched an operation against IS in Mosul and succeeded in retaking some villages south of the city. The US expects Kurdish Peshmergas to take part in the assault by opening another front east and north of Mosul.

Neither the KRG nor the Pentagon released details about the military agreement, but Kurdish officials hailed it as a historic breakthrough for the Iraqi Kurds.

It is “a recognition and appreciation of the value of the Peshmergas’ sacrifices and a contribution to stability and the defense of liberty, democracy and humanity,” KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee was quoted as saying by ARA News. 

Fishar News, an outlet close to Masoud Barzani, the de facto leader of the KRG, reported that under the agreement the US army would establish five military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Fishar News reported that one US air base would be built in Harir some 70 km north of Erbil, the KRG provincial capital. The base would be used to host American jet fighters and helicopters as well as military advisers.

Another military base will be established in Alton Kopri south of Erbil and will be used to store light weapons, while two other bases will be built in KRG-controlled areas in Mosul, the media outlet said.

A stunning surprise is that the US will be allowed to build the fifth military base in Halabja on the border with neighbouring Iran, according to the Fishar News report.

The outlet said the deal had a term of 20 years and could be renewed upon agreement by the two parties.

Kurditan24.net, a Kurdish-language television network owned by the KRG, said Kurdistan would receive some $450 million in financial assistance in addition to unspecified military assistance from the US. 

The Iraqi government has remained tight-lipped on the controversial deal which came on the heels of a previously unannounced visit by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to Baghdad.

Baghdad’s silence has prompted speculation about pressure being put on it by Washington, which is helping the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmergas to retake Mosul from IS.

The United States says its assistance to Iraq and the Peshmergas is essential in gaining ground in the war against IS terrorists and retaking Mosul before Obama’s presidential term expires in November.

Obama clearly hopes the recapture of Mosul will allow him to hand on a more stable Iraq to his successor, even though the US is expected to maintain substantial military forces in Iraq.

While this could provide a summary of the thinking behind the US mission in Iraq, the question remains of how the US-KRG deal could affect the larger picture, including Kurdish aspirations to leave Iraq.

The greatest irony is that Washington has infringed on the same document it signed to ensure its respect of Iraq’s integrity and unity following its exit from the country.

Under the 2008 “Strategic Framework Agreement for a Relationship of Friendship and Cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq,” Washington pledged “full respect for the sovereignty of Iraq”.

The United States also undertook that it “shall not use Iraqi land, sea and air as a launching or transit point for attacks against other countries; nor seek or request permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq.”

Washington may argue that the military deal does not translate into backing for Kurdish independence from Iraq, yet it could certainly spell trouble for efforts to keep the country together.

Barzani has been seeking to secede from Iraq, and he has declared his intention to hold a referendum on separation “before the US elections” in November.

The vote on self-determination could be an attempt to put more pressure on his opponents and sceptics and build up a de facto situation making a case for Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence.

While the United States has supported Kurdish autonomy within a unified Iraq, it has refrained from expressing public support for Kurdistan’s statehood.

Last month, the US reiterated its support for “a whole [and] unified Iraq”. “We believe that a strong, pluralistic, unified Iraq is good for the region,” State Department Spokesman John Kirby said in response to Barzani’s independence plans.

But Washington’s military agreement with the KRG has cast doubt, if not eliminated, that commitment altogether. With this deal, the political influence of Baghdad in Kurdistan is now expected to wane in favour of increasing Kurdish separatist tendencies

Oil is the name of game in Iraq _January 31 2016

In a surprise move, the United States has announced that it will deploy a new force of special operations troops to Iraq to combat the Islamic State (IS) terror group which has seized swathes of the country and neighbouring Syria.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter wrote in the US publication Politico last week that soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division would soon deploy to Iraq to join the fight against IS “with a clear campaign plan to deliver the barbaric organisation a lasting defeat.”

Though Carter did not give details about the deployment, he said the troop mission was to destroy the IS “parent tumour in Iraq and Syria by collapsing its two power centres in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria.”

“Our campaign is to deliver IS a lasting defeat,” Carter wrote.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said “the government of Iraq was of course briefed in advance of secretary Carter’s announcement” and the two sides would work out details about the new deployment.

Joseph F Dunford Jr, the US top military officer, also said discussions between Washington and Baghdad had begun on how American forces would “integrate” with Iraqi military units to take back Mosul.

The move is a sharp departure from US President Barack Obama’s previous strategy that the US would not deploy “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Syria and would continue instead its current air campaign and military assistance to the Iraqi government.

Baghdad has not yet made it clear if it had agreed to let the US troops into Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has repeatedly said foreign ground combat troops are not needed in Iraq. Leaders of the country’s Shia groups have warned that they will consider such a presence a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.

If the statements by top American officials are any indication, the United States is now gearing up for war with IS, including in the battle for Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city which was captured by the terror group in spring 2014.

Analysts believe that the US-led coalition against IS needs to take back Mosul where Saddam's Hussein sons Uday and Qusay were captured and killed back in 2003, a sprawling city of more than two million people, and the US military shift signals Washington’s readiness to engage IS strongholds with ground combat operations.

Iran's Fast Attack Small Boats

Iran Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said the speedboats manufactured in Iran can sail at a much higher speed than the US vessels.

"Our fast attack craft fleet is often twice as fast as their American rivals. The plan is to make them go even faster,” Navy Spokesperson told the state-run TV

Referring to the US official remarks that Washington is aware of the scope of IRGC's missile tunnels and vessels along the Iranian coasts, he said, "The Americans don’t know everything about us and the things they know is what we, ourselves, have shown and wanted them to know it."

"Their unknown is twice the realm of their known," he added.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

Iran Navy announced back in May that plans to mass-produce missile launching speedboats with the speed of 80 knots per hour are on the menu.

"Based on the fifth five-year (development) plan, we should materialize our objective of mass-producing military speedboats with the speed of 80 knots per hour. This is a formidable speed in the world's navies," Iran Navy said.

"Therefore, we should try to mass-produce speedboats that can traverse at the speed of 80 knots (per hour) and are equipped with missiles with a range of 100km; the vessels no one can catch," the IRGC commander added.

Commander also said that the IRGC Navy is equipped with laboratories and pools in which the country's experts can design and test speedboats with the speed of 120 knots per hour.

Three Men You Miss in Mid East Peace Process

Philip Charles Habib (February 25, 1920 – May 25, 1992) was a Lebanese-American career diplomat, known for work in Vietnam, South Korea, and the Middle East. After his death, The New York Times described him as "the outstanding professional diplomat of his generation in the United States

Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat, magazine editor, author, professor, Peace Corps official, and investment banker.


George John Mitchell, Jr. GBE (born August 20, 1933) is an American lawyer, businessman and politician. A Democrat, Mitchell served as a United States Senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995 and as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995.

I hope someday to live near ocean. What should I look for in buying property there?

Q. I hope someday to live near ocean. What should I look for in buying property there?

A. Firm ground. Coastal Maine would be ideal bet. The dense metamorphic rock of much of the Maine shore is stable (within the human time frame) and hard ideal footings for a house. Make sure the site is far enough inland to avoid high surf, storm surge and tides. If the winters in Maine do not appeal to you, coastal Florida might make a choice. If you insist on building on a barrier island, make sure your home is on the mainland side of the southern end. Parts of the Pacific coast are all right, but local variability on the active margin makes some knowledge of the geological history of the area would be very valuable. For example, some parts of the San Diego shoreline is eroding about (3) meters (10 feet) per year - hardly a solid investment.  

ACTIVE  MARGIN

 In plate tectonics, a convergent boundary also known as a destructive plate boundary (because of subduction), is an actively deforming region where two (or more) tectonic plates or fragments of lithosphere move toward one another and collide. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_margin

BARRIER ISLAND

a long narrow sandy island (wider than a reef) running parallel to the shore

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

METAMORPHIC ROCK

Sedimentary rock (formed by debris) that has been compressed and heated

www.museumnetworkuk.org/materials/glossary.html

Gullah People