Summary: Psychological assessment of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, leadership style implications of Kim’s personality profile, and North Korea threat assessment with respect to U.S. national security.
Summary: A day after the United Nations Security Council agreed to a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction North Korea for a rocket launch in December 2012 that breached U.N. rules, North Korea’s National Defense Commission announced it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its “sworn enemy.”
Summary: Citing North Korea’s development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and its efforts to expand its nuclear weapons capability, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said North Korea will pose a direct threat to the United States within five years if the communist dictatorship isn’t reined in. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 11, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that six NATO service members, including three Americans, were killed in Afghanistan, making it the deadliest day for the international force in more than two months.
Summary: North Korea’s artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong island, in conjunction with the sinking of the South Korean warship “Cheonan” in March, most likely is indicative of a hardline policy shift in North Korea coinciding with the military leadership cementing its control over Kim Jong-il’s successor, Kim Jong-un. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Summary: North Korea showed visiting American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker a vast new facility it secretly built to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration with the prospect that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, in February 2002, shortly after the attacks of 9/11.
Summary: North Korea celebrated the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party founded by “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung and anointed “Young General” Kim Jong-un as “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il’s successor. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraqis took to the streets in parts of Iraq to demand open elections and improved public services, revealing growing discontent among Iraqis.
Summary: North Korea is threatening to launch a “sacred war” against the United States and South Korea at “any time necessary,” based on its nuclear deterrent, in response to so-called “reckless” military exercises by the allies. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 23, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that President Barack Obama, in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House, said the United States would stick to its status-of-forces agreement with Iraq and remove all its troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Summary: Forensic evidence proves North Korea fired a torpedo that sank the South Korean warship Cheonan, while North Korea denies responsibility and threatens “all-out war.” … Psychological evaluation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il by Aubrey Immelman. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared on talk radio with end-times pastor Jan Markell to discuss the “Criminalization of Christianity,” where in the past she held forth on topics ranging from homosexuality to the Second Coming; but this time, her topic was the labeling of Christians as terrorists.
Summary: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea on a mission to win the release of jailed American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and to ease tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear defiance. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 20th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Sunday, August 3, 2008, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning and posted, as a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Part 1 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).
Summary: North Korea is interested in holding direct talks with the United States, according to North Korean ambassador to the United Nations Sin Son Ho. … Psychological Profile of Kim Jong-Il. … One-year retrospective: On the 12th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman traveled to Minneapolis to tape an interview with Ken Avidor for The UpTake, focusing on his background, his reasons for running, and his core issues of national security, law enforcement/public safety, and border security/illegal immigration. In discussing national security, Immelman pointed to lost opportunities after 9/11, specifically “the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, which turned a country that had been militarily contained and led by a dictator hostile to Iran and to Islamic fundamentalism … into a foreign policy nightmare that has consumed our domestic political agenda and squandered our finite resources for more than five years.” (Includes video of interview)