BEIJING – All 29 Chinese fishermen held for almost two weeks by a North Korean crew were released and returned home on Monday, ending a hostage crisis that had outraged many in China and strained relations between the normally close friends.

China's state-run Xinhua News quoted an official at the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang as saying that they had been informed that the three fishing vessels detained by the North Korean coast guard on May 8 were on their way back to China.

The sailors were in good health "with sufficient food and healthcare" after 13 days in North Korean waters, Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

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The official's statement runs counter to reports by owners of two of the ships captured in the Yellow Sea who said that the crews had been given little to eat and had very little rest since the boats were taken.

The incident came as a surprise because China is North Korea's closest ally, and most important source of food aid and gasoline despite international sanctions meant to punish the country for its nuclear program and rocket launches.

Chinese netizens abuzz over reported boat hijackings by N. Korea

Questions shrouded the affair even as the sailors were set free.

Xinhua and other state media did not report whether a ransom had been paid, although it was earlier reported that the captors had demanded 900,000 yuan ($140,000) in exchange for the release of the vessels and their crew.

It also was not clear whether the North Koreans involved in the kidnapping and reported ransom negotiations were working on behalf of the North Korean government or alone.

Fishermen who operate in the waters where the boats were taken told the Chinese newspaper Global Times about previous incidents.

"The North Korean coast guards took almost everything, even pencils and clothes,” the newspaper quoted one fishermen as saying about a previous robbery. “They also pumped the fuel out of seized boats, leaving just enough for the journey home."

Even as it tried to cover the day’s news, the Global Times appeared to contradict its own reports.

While a news story reported that the latest kidnapping wasn’t the first incident involving North Korea’s coast guard, a Monday editorial in the same paper refuted the fisherman’s story.

"Currently there are rumors about misbehavior from North Koreans in the border areas between the two countries [and that] China does not seem to be taking a tough attitude toward them," the editorial stated. “Both should take effective measures to eliminate such rumors.”

Are China & North Korea happier than America?

But, right after news of this most recent incident broke in early May, Chinese officials ordered hundreds of fishing boats in the area to restrict their operations to 50 miles within China’s territorial waters. 

While the recent hijacking prompted an outraged response online and in China’s highly-controlled state media, on Monday journalists seemed to have reverted to a friendlier attitude, working overtime to dampen anger they had generated and fueled.

For example, the same Global Times editorial urged China to work on improving relations between China and North Korea.

"The case should be a turning point for China in its handling of border disputes between China and North Korea,” the editorial said optimistically. “China and North Korea have a solid geographic basis for their friendship [and] both attach strategic importance to this friendship.”

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BEIJING – In what appears to be a rare public spat between longtime neighbors and allies, 29 Chinese sailors have been kidnapped in the Yellow Sea by North Koreans, according to Chinese media reports.

Three Chinese fishing ships were operating in waters between North Korea and China on May 8 when they were boarded, 29 crew members taken hostage and the vessels hijacked, the reports said late Wednesday. 

The vessels reportedly were then taken to North Korean waters where they have remained since. One fisherman was said to have escaped.  

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One of the ships’ owners, Sun Caihui, said that the hijackers’ ship was a North Korean naval vessel and that some of the men were wearing uniforms of the Korean People’s Navy, according to a report on Netease, a popular Chinese web portal.  

 

How Sun was able to determine whether the hijackers’ ship was a North Korean military vessel, much less whether the kidnappers were working on behalf of the North Korean government or were pirates working independently, remains unclear.  

Immediately after the incident, the hijackers allegedly asked one of the Chinese captains to call Sun to tell him that the hijackers were demanding 1.2 million yuan ($190,000) in ransom for the three ships captured. Sun said he has not been in contact with his crew since that call, but new reports late Thursday suggested that the kidnappers are now seeking around 900,000 yuan ($140,000) for their release.

North Korea’s government has not made any public comment on the case. Likewise, China’s government would not publicly confirm any details about the reported incident. 

China is North Korea’s key international ally, with Beijing having been Pyongyang’s main supplier of food aid and oil despite strict international sanctions over the reclusive country’s nuclear ambitions and rocket launches. 

"China is maintaining close contact with North Korea through the relevant channels and we hope this problem will be appropriately solved as soon as possible," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily briefing. 

"We have also stated to North Korea that it should ensure the legitimate rights of Chinese ship personnel."

The owner of another ship involved, named Zhang Dechang, said that during a talk with his ship’s captain on May 9, he was assured that no direct threats had been made against the sailors themselves. However, in an article Thursday in the Chinese newspaper Global Times Zhang said he had received a call from the hijackers on Tuesday threatening to “dispose” of the ships and the fishermen if the ransom was not paid by May 17.

Conditions on the boats are said to be cramped and the fishermen reportedly have not been well looked after. Both Zhang and Sun said their ship captains have told him that they don’t have much to eat and that they’ve had little rest.

Sun said the incident has brought feelings of anger and helplessness. “Relatives of the sailors – parents, children, wives – came to us for their men, weeping,” he said, “We could do nothing.”  

Anger among Chinese 
The incident has raised the ire of China’s netizens, who have wondered why it has taken so long for news of the alleged hijacking to be released and why Beijing has reacted so gently on this matter. 

On China’s Twitter-like service, Weibo, the issue was the top trending topic Thursday. “Has North Korea forgotten how China aided North Korea in the Korean War?” wrote one user. “Why are our fishermen always being arrested by foreigners, our waters always occupied by other countries? Don’t bully us, OK?” 

Others Weibo users were more belligerent. “If they dare to execute hostages, we should immediately destroy them!” declared another. 

In general, there appears to be a growing public frustration in China over the government’s seeming desire to not react to the incidents aggressively, perhaps best summed up by one Weibo user who wrote: “I wish the Chinese government could be stronger and stop chanting slogans like ‘harmony’ and ‘peace.’” 

NBC News’ Horace Lu contributed to this report. 

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This just in: North Korea is not a paradise in some ways — and this news comes from Pyongyang’s official mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency.

On Wednesday, KCNA reported that newly anointed leader Kim Jong Un had visited an amusement park where he scolded park officials for poor upkeep of the park, according to the Yonhap News Agency in South Korea.

The criticism from the young leader was the first publicly reported rebuke since he inherited leadership of the country in December, and a rare occurrence in the history of the normally laudatory "inspection tours" taken by his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather Kim Il Sung, who ruled before him.  

Kim’s criticism of the Mangyongdae Funfair in Pyongyang was strong and detailed, going so far as to describe the state of the grounds by the Viking ride as “pathetic,” Yonhap said.

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He found problems with the roller coaster, the paint on the rides and the safety of the waterpark, the report said, and instructed officials to draw a lesson from touring the site and take it as a warning of the need for a "proper spirit of serving the people."

PhotoBlog: Kim Jong-Un looks at things... and then shoots them

Analysts cited by Yonhap viewed this report as a means of the burnishing the image of Kim, thought to be about 28, as a competent and detail-oriented leader interested in citizens' welfare.

"The aim is to instill an awareness among ranking officials across North Korea that Kim Jong-un is a benevolent leader but also strict when it comes to principles," Jang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University told Yonhap.

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Kim’s apparent efforts to consolidate his position as leader of the country’s Communist Party, government and military has not been entirely smooth.

In April, North Korea attempted a rocket launch — seen as a way of bolstering the regime’s legitimacy — despite protest from the international community. North Korea said the rocket was for putting a civilian satellite into orbit, but its critics said it was a missile test.

The rocket exploded.

The launch attempt prompted the United States to suspend 240,000 tons of planned food aid to North Korea, which is believed to be suffering a severe shortage.

Some North Korea experts are predicting that Pyongyang is planning an underground nuclear test, which likely would further isolate the regime.

Fighting between North Korea and U.S.-backed South Korea ended in armistice in 1953, but the two nations are technically still at war.

Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current leader, was a Communist fighter who emerged as the first leader of the north after World War II.

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SEOUL, South Korea -- More than 250 flights in and out of South Korea have experienced GPS signal jamming since the weekend, with North Korea high on the list of suspects, officials said Wednesday.

Similar jamming in the past was traced to the reclusive North, which last month breached U.S. Security Council resolutions with a failed long-range rocket launch and was blamed for cyber attacks on South Korean financial institutions last year.

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None of the flights, including 11 operated by foreign airlines, was in danger, the Transport Ministry said, with automatic switching of navigation to alternative systems.

North Korea threatens to reduce South Korea's government 'to ashes'

"As it happened at the time of (military) drills in 2010 and 2011, we suspect North Korea was engaged in jamming signals," a government official said.

Lee Kyung-woo, of the Korea Communications Commission, told NBC News that backup electronic systems maintained safety and that it and other relevant government agencies would continue to monitor the situation. 

A Defense Ministry spokesman told NBC News that he could not confirm or mention what type of measures were to be taken against the North's suspected jamming.  

North Korea has stepped up its rhetoric against the South in recent weeks, hurling personal insults at South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and threatening to reduce the capital Seoul to ashes.

The North is expected to conduct a third nuclear test soon, possibly using a uranium device that would infuriate neighboring countries and the United States, which have been involved in talks to try to rein in its nuclear weapons program.

The North's ability to wage cyber war from North Korea is seen by the South, one of the world's most wired countries, as increasingly sophisticated.

News reports said North Korea operates vehicle-mounted jamming devices that can disrupt signals up to 60 miles away and is developing systems with further reach.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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North Korea could carry out an underground test of a nuclear weapon as early as Tuesday night as the North's reclusive leadership dramatically tries to up the stakes with the U.S. and the West, U.S. officials told NBC News.

U.S. officials say North Korea may already have an arsenal between 12 and a "few dozen" far more advanced weapons, many more than generally believed.

The officials couldn't be specific on a date for the test, but they told NBC News they were "100 percent" certain there would be a nuclear test within the next two weeks or "at any time."

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Tensions between North and South Korea increased this week when Pyongyang threatened to turn Seoul into "ashes." While the North regularly issues such threats, the South seemed to be taking this round of threats more seriously by increasing its security.

U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies have been monitoring test preparations at P'unggye-yok, the North Korean test site near the Chinese border, for the past several weeks. As new evidence of tunneling emerged, officials began to see Army Day celebrations scheduled for Wednesday (Tuesday night in the U.S.) as a possible date for the test.

It will be the first time the country's 29-year-old leader, Kim Jong Un, will get a chance to address the Korean People's Army as commander.

At the high end of the range, U.S. officials and other researchers said, North Korea may already have up to "a few dozen" nuclear weapons that could be fitted atop its vast fleet of ballistic missiles. Currently, North Korean missiles are limited to an intermediate range, capable of hitting cities in Japan or South Korea but not the United States. What the new test could reveal is an improvement in the type of weapons North Korea has.

For the past several years, the U.S. has been monitoring North Korean research into thermonuclear weapons, hydrogen bombs and bombs known as boosted fission weapons, in which plutonium and uranium are combined.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS, a nonpartisan nuclear arms research group, said Tuesday that the tests may also be about ensuring the reliability of North Korea's current weapons design.

"Once you get beyond a dozen, it makes sense to test type and reliability of your weapons," he said.

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Albright said that his group's estimate of North Korea's weapons stockpile is a bit less than those provided by the U.S. officials but that ISIS, too, believes Pyongyang has "missile-deliverable weapons."

North Korea successfully tested nuclear weapons in 2006 and 2009. In both cases, the first word came in statements from the North Korean Foreign Ministry hours before the tests were carried out. No such statement has been issued yet, but a U.S. official said it's possible that this time North Korea wouldn't follow the same protocol.

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Ten days ago, North Korea failed in its attempt to launch an observation satellite, a test the U.S. believed was a cover for test of intercontinental missile technology. In response, the U.S. canceled an agreement that would have provided 241,000 tons of nutritional aid, while the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to "strongly condemn" the failed launch and said it would tighten sanctions against Pyongyang's government.

Albright added that North Korea might not want to test its weapons to their full yield in order to avoid another embarrassment, noting that the geology around the test site is fragile and that a large test could aggravate that issue.

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BEIJING - North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing told Reuters, which will draw further international condemnation following a failed rocket launch if it goes ahead.

The isolated and impoverished state sacrificed the chance of closer ties with the United States when it launched the long-range rocket on April 13 and was censured by the U.N. Security Council, including the North's sole major ally, China.

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Critics say the rocket launch was aimed at honing the North's ability to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States, a move that would dramatically increase its military and diplomatic heft.

Now the North appears to be about to carry out a third nuclear test after two in 2006 and 2009.

"Soon. Preparations are almost complete," the source said when asked whether North Korea was planning to conduct a nuclear test.

North Korea threatens to reduce South Korea's government 'to ashes'

This is the first time a senior official has confirmed the planned test and the source has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the 2006 test days before it happened.

The rocket launch and nuclear test come as Kim Jong-un, the third in his family line to rule North Korea, seeks to cement his grip on power.

Kim took office in December and has lauded the country's military might, reaffirming his father's "military first" policies that have stunted economic development and appearing to dash slim hopes of an opening to the outside world.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, which have most to fear from any North Korean nuclear threat, are watching events anxiously and many observers say that Pyongyang may have the capacity to conduct a test using highly enriched uranium for the first time.

Defense experts say that by successfully enriching uranium, to make bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima nearly 70 years ago, the North would be able to significantly build up stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material.

It would also allow it more easily to manufacture a nuclear warhead to mount on a long-range missile.

The source did not specify whether the test would be a third test using plutonium, of which it has limited stocks, or whether Pyongyang would use uranium.

South Korean defense sources have been quoted in domestic media as saying a launch could come within two weeks and one North Korea analyst has suggested that it could come as early as the North's "Army Day" on Wednesday.

Other observers say that any date is pure speculation.

The rocket launch and the planned nuclear test have exposed the limits of China's hold over Pyongyang. Beijing is the North's sole major ally and props up the state with investment and fuel.

"China is like a chameleon toward North Korea," said Kim Young-soo, professor of political science at Sogang University in Seoul. "It says it objects to North Korea's provocative acts, but it does not participate in punishing the North."

North Korea's Kim Jong Un speaks publicly for first time, urges 'final victory'

Reports have suggested that a Chinese company may have supplied a rocket launcher shown off at a military parade to mark this month's centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the state's founder, something that may be in breach of UN sanctions.

China has denied breaching sanctions.

The source said there was debate in North Korea's top leadership over whether to go ahead with the launch in the face of U.S. warnings and the possibility of further U.N. sanctions, but that hawks in the Korean People's Army had won the debate.

The source dismissed speculation that the failed launch had dealt a blow to Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, who came to power after his father Kim Jong-il died following a 17-year rule that saw North Korea experience a famine in the 1990s.

"Kim Jong-un was named first secretary of the (ruling) Workers' Party and head of the National Defence Commission," the source said, adding that the titles further consolidated his grip on power.

North Korean media has recently upped its criticism of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who cut off aid to Pyongyang when he took power in 2008, calling him a "rat" and a "bastard" and threatening to turn the South Korean capital to ashes.

Pyongyang desperately wants recognition from the United States, the guarantor of the South's security. It claims sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula, as does South Korea.

"North Korea may consider abandoning (the test) if the United States agrees to a peace treaty," the source said, reiterating a long-standing demand by Pyongyang for recognition by Washington and a treaty to end the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a truce. 

 

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

North Korea's military has threatened to reduce South Korea’s conservative government "to ashes" in "three or four minutes" – an escalation of its recent belligerent language.

It vowed Monday to launch unspecified "special actions" of "unprecedented peculiar means," an unusually specific warning.

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North Korea regularly criticizes Seoul and just last week renewed its promise to wage a "sacred war," saying South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had insulted the North's April 15 celebrations of the birth centennial of national founder Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Il's 'last will' to son: Make peace, build more weapons

Its latest threat follows U.N. condemnation of North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket that exploded shortly after liftoff April 13. Washington, Seoul and others called the launch a cover for testing long-range missile technology. Pyongyang said the launch was meant to put a satellite into orbit.

Despite launch failure, North Korea celebrates military-style

The North's special actions "will reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, (or) in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style," according to the statement by the special operation action group of the Korean People's Army's Supreme Command.

Terrorist attacks?
Some South Korean analysts speculated the North's statement was meant to unnerve Seoul; others that the North could be planning terrorist attacks.

It seemed unlikely that North Korea would launch a large-scale military attack against Seoul, which is backed by nearly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South, said Kim Young-soo, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul.

However, Dr. Cheon Seong-whun, of the Korean Institute for National Unification, told NBC News that he "wouldn’t be surprised if the North takes some military actions against the South soon given the concrete words announced by the North today.”   

“I believe the North’s statements have passed the rhetoric stage,” he added.

The North's latest threat, which was carried by its state media, comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, with both Koreas recently unveiling new missiles.

The animosity has prompted worries that North Korea may conduct a new nuclear test — something it did after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009. South Korean intelligence officials have said that recent satellite images show North Korea has been digging a new tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test.

We may never know why North Korea rocket failed

South Korea's Unification Ministry said it was examining North Korea's intentions behind the statement; the Defense Ministry said no special military movement had been observed in the North. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

Relations between the Koreas have been abysmal since Lee took office in 2008 with a hard-line policy that ended unconditional aid shipments to the North.

In Beijing, North Korea's biggest ally, China's top foreign policy official met Sunday with a North Korean delegation and expressed confidence in the country's new young leader, Kim Jong Un. 

NBC News' Julie Yoo, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Think tanks in Seoul have obtained documents that they say are excerpts from the last will and testament of North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong Il, reports said on Thursday.

The documents, which were made public by the Sejong Institute, a South Korean think tank, urge heir-to-power Kim Jong Un to renounce war with South Korea, according to a report Thursday in Japan's Manaichi Daily News.  

In the purported will, the Great Leader, who died on Dec. 17, notes that war on the Korean Peninsula would be devastating, and leave both North and South far behind other nations.

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At the same time, the former dictator urged his son to pursue a military advantage by developing weapons of mass destruction, according to Manaichi.

"Keep in mind that constantly developing and keeping nuclear (weapons), long-range missiles and biochemical weapons is the way to keep peace on the Korean peninsula, and never drop your guard," Kim said in the will, according to the report, which cited a Japanese translation.

That portion of the document was obtained and released by a high-level defector from North Korea, Lee Yun-keol, who heads another Seoul think tank, the North Korea Strategic Information Service Center, the report said.

The pursuit of peace, and eventual reunification with South Korea would have to wait until Seoul replaced its current President Lee Myung-bak, Kim said in the documents, according to a report in the Telegraph, a UK news site.

Lee has advocated tougher policies toward the North and a stronger relationship with the United States, which has more than 28,000 troops bolstering South Korea's military.

North Korea and South Korea have been faced off across a demilitarized zone at the 38^th parallel since 1953. Combat ended the three-year Korean War at that point, but the two sides are technically still at war.

Since the death of Kim Jong Il on Dec. 17, his son Jong Un has been consolidating power and positions in the government, military and party. Other nations continue to study the young leader for signs of policy changes in the isolated totalitarian state. But so far, most Korea experts have not registered any change from past policies.

North Korea attempted a rocket launch on April 13 that provoked worldwide criticism. It ended in failure. Pyongyang said the launch was to place a civilian satellite in orbit, but many believed it was part of ballistic missile development.

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BEIJING – After more than a week in Pyongyang to cover what ended up being North Korea’s failed missile launch, the NBC News team that was covering the story – Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel, producer Ed Flanagan and cameraman David Lom – have left the reclusive country.

But they still had some photos to share from the various patriotic events they were taken to by their North Korean minders as part of the foreign press corps.

---

 

From the unveiling of massive 50-foot-tall statues of former leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Il-Jong to a large military parade, to regular North Koreans snapping family photos, see some of the team’s photos of North Korean pageantry below.

 

 

Click here to see another view of the military parade in Pyongyang on April 15 - what it looked like from outer space. It was so big that columns of soldiers could be seen from a satellite photo.

 

See more striking pictures from North Korea in PhotoBlog.

And a slideshow: North Korea continues celebrations after failed missile  

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first public speech called for a push toward "final victory" Sunday during a massive celebration marking the 100th birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung.

Kim, 29, in the 22-minute speech broadcast on state-owned television, praised his grandfather as tens of thousands gathered in Pyongyang's main square for meticulously choreographed festivities that came two days after a failed rocket launch.

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"I offer the purest respect and the greatest honor to great comrades Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il," he told cheering crowds, referring to his late grandfather and deceased father. Kim called his grandfather as the eternal leader of the country and "founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces."

He also said it was important to keep the military strong and to remember the military is more than rockets.

"Let's go forward toward final victory," he concluded.

Kim also reviewed a military parade as soldiers bedecked with rifles and medals marched and tanks, missiles and other hardware rolled past and military jets flew overhead, the Voice of America reported on Twitter.

The parade included the unveiling of what appears to be a new missile, The Associated Press reported.

While its contents were uncontroversial, the speech itself was a big surprise after many years of silence from Kim's father when he presided over similar events.

Sunday's celebration followed North Korea's attempt to launch a long range rocket, which ended in failure on Friday.

Washington and others had said the Friday rocket launch was a covert test of long-range missile technology.

The state that Kim inherited in December after the death of his father boasts a 1.2 million-strong military, wants to possess a nuclear weapon and to develop the ability to hit the United States with it.

Behind those ambitions are 23 million people, many malnourished, in an economy whose output is worth just $40 billion annually in purchasing power parity terms, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, compared with South Korea's $1.5 trillion economy.

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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