Chinese firm sold North Korea 8 military vehicles...

A Chinese firm reportedly sold North Korea transport vehicles that could be used as launch pads for long-range ballistic missiles.

The web version of Canadian news agency Kanwa Information Center reported on Wednesday that the firm provided 8 transport vehicles last year.

The agency, which specializes in China's military activities, said that Hubei Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle Company accepted the order in 2008.

The company is a subsidiary of a major state-run enterprise and manufactures customized military vehicles.

An intercontinental ballistic missile shown off during a Pyongyang military parade in mid-April was mounted on a similar vehicle.

The editor in chief of the news agency says the vehicles were sold for commercial purposes, but suggests the firm may have known they were intended for military use.
(Japan Broadcasting Corporation, 2012-04-26)

40 North Korean soldiers killed, wounded during Yeonpyeong counterattack...

Radio Free Asia says roughly 40 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded during South Korea's counterattack following the North's shelling of a South Korean island in late 2010.

The U.S. broadcaster released the report Friday citing a North Korean source in the North's South Hwanghae Province. The source apparently heard from a North Korean battalion commander that about ten North Korean soldiers were killed and 30 others wounded during the exchange of fire prompted by the North's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

The source said the commander saw a military vehicle transporting the dead bodies and the wounded to a military hospital known as "Hospital No. 11" in Pyongyang run by the North's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Radio Free Asia says this source shares close ties with officials of the Fourth Army Corps, which is known to have perpetrated the Yeonpyeong shelling.

The source, who recently traveled to China and revealed the story, says the North Korean military is apparently frightened by South Korea's cutting-edge weapons and has been reluctant to fight the South since the Yeonpyeong shelling.
(KBS World Radio, 2012-03-02)

North Korea prohibits use of firearm on escapees near chinese border...

A South Korean organization on North Korean human rights says North Korea has instructed its military to not use firearms on escapees. "Good Friends" said Wednesday that the North’s Workers’ Party of Korea apparently ordered its military to take steps so gun shots will not be heard along the North’s border with China. The statement was published in a magazine released by a North Korea research institute that is run by Good Friends. The organization said the recent move was apparently made in consideration of the North’s relations with China. Good Friends said the Workers’ Party instructed that while efforts should be made to boost vigilance along the North Korea-China border, firearms, which could negatively affect friendly ties between the two nations, should not be used. The Workers’ Party instead ordered the military to work together with China’s frontline units to catch North Korean escapees. Shortly after Kim Jong-il’s death late last year, the North reportedly permitted the shooting of people trying to escape the North as part of efforts to boost citizen supervision.
(KBS World Radio, 2012-02-09)