We don't know what #China spends on its military, but we do know Beijing is using the profits from #trade with the #US to expand its military so that it can attack us. Its senior officers publicly express their venomous desire to kill Americans. We're funding our own destruction. https://t.co/QC3QZ97pjx
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) April 6, 2019
"Contain the threat"? How about eliminating it? https://t.co/cZP4qVYcH0
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) March 7, 2019
Gordon Chang is not a fan of the announced Kim-Trump 2 Summit:
On January 18, President Donald Trump met for about ninety minutes with Kim Jong-un’s emissary, Kim Yong-chol, in Washington, D.C. At the conclusion of the session, the White House tweeted that a second summit between Trump and the North Korean leader “will take place near the end of February.”
Let’s hope the February meeting does not occur. Trump had been successful through the middle of May of last year when he was pressuring—but not talking to—the North Koreans. Kim was, uncharacteristically, making all the concessions and Trump was making none. (………..)And there was one more reason for Trump’s success: his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign of interdicting Kim’s revenue. “According to one U.S. government estimate,” the Wall Street Journal stated at the end of last May, “the sanctions regime has cut off half the country’s international revenue.”
The National Interest
Trump, who had the North Koreans where he wanted them, then suddenly changed course. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the administration decided to not sanction almost three dozen parties—some of them Russian and Chinese.
North Korea changes front companies all the time, meaning that not sanctioning new ones hollowed out the pressure campaign quickly. In short, Trump gave Kim de facto relief from the measures. Although there have been scattered designations of entities since then, they have been few in number and mostly inconsequential.
You can read more at the link.
Via a reader tip comes a video of journalist and author Gordon Chang recently giving a speech to the National Press Club about the Moon administration’s attacks on the freedom of speech in South Korea. He also discusses the current security situation on the Korean peninsula.
For those that have been reading the ROK Drop none of Mr. Chang’s comments should come as a surprise. The Moon administration since taking office has made it a priority to consolidate control of the national media outlets, jailing political opponents, and the silencing of media critics.
Harry Harris, during his Senate confirmation hearing, talked about bringing #KimJongUn to his senses and not to his knees. Unfortunately, to bring Kim to his senses we have to bring him to his knees.
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) June 30, 2018
The North Koreans have been getting technical assistance on their weapons programs from somewhere and writer Gordon Chang believes it is China:
China has helped build North Korea’s ballistic missile program by providing important military equipment and technology, a U.S. expert claimed Wednesday.
In an interview on Fox Business, Gordon Chang, an East Asia security expert, said Chinese President Xi Jinping has been “fueling” the regime in Pyongyang with transfers of “very important” weapons, equipment and technology.
“They’re weaponizing the North,” he said, citing the ballistic missile program in particular.
The intercontinental ballistic missiles North Korea fired on July 4 and 28 were transported to their launch sites on Chinese mobile launchers, according to Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China.”
“Those mobile launchers make North Korea a real threat because their missiles can now hide,” he said.
Other North Korean missiles launched in August last year and February and May this year also appeared to be variants of China’s JL-1 submarine launched missiles, according to the expert. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
