The crackdown suggests Kim Jong Un is looking to silence critics and shore up his regime’s finances in the face of international sanctions https://t.co/1CsX1O0m6m
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 20, 2019
It looks like Kim Jong-un is using the Vietnam summit as a mini-vacation by taking a train trip through China:
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un is expected to travel to Vietnam by train for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, slated for next week, a news report said Wednesday.
Yonhap
Kim is expected to leave Pyongyang later this week for his planned arrival in the Southeast Asian nation on Monday, as it could take him at least two and a half days to travel through China, Reuters reported, citing sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning.
Trump and Kim are set to hold their second summit from Feb. 27-28.
“Kim’s train will stop at the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170 kilometers to Hanoi by car,” the report said.
It will be interesting to see how vigorously this crackdown is enforced:
Police and the justice ministry have launched a rare joint crackdown on undocumented foreign workers and their Korean employers.
Korea Times
The crackdown will last for one month during which officials will scrutinize workplaces known for having many illegal foreign workers. Primary targets include construction sites, massage parlors, bars and other night entertainment facilities.
Illegal foreign workers will be subject to deportation and banned from entering Korea for 10 years. Employers caught hiring them will be prosecuted.
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see what sanctions relief the Trump administration is willing to give and what they get in return for the Trump-Kim II Summit:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned easing sanctions while talking about North Korea and the US’ denuclearization negotiations. In an interview with the press on Feb. 13, Pompeo said that “it’s our full intention of getting a good outcome in exchange for relieving those sanctions. I’m very hopeful that we can do that.”
Hankyoreh
Pompeo publicly indicated a willingness to relieve sanctions just a week or two before the second North Korea-US summit raises expectations about the prospects of the two countries’ negotiations.
The US’ previous position had been that sanctions will not be eased or lifted until North Korea’s complete denuclearization. But leading up to the second summit, the North has called for the easing of sanctions, which it says are incompatible with improving bilateral relations. Pompeo’s remarks suggest that the US has come to terms with the fact that North Korea cannot be persuaded to take steps toward denuclearization without a little quid pro quo in the form of easing sanctions.
You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime and the Moon administration would love nothing more than re-opening the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the joint tourism projects on the East Coast. Both are large cash cows for the Kim regime that have little impact on North Korean society.
But an ideologically problematic step for NK. How does a regime which staked it claim to total control in large part on its resistance to what it always saw as the primary cause of national division – the US presence and influence on Korean soil – thread the liaison needle? https://t.co/WTwmFULqIt
— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) February 19, 2019
It looks like the North Korean military is now dragging their feet in regards to cooperation with the ROK military:
South and North Korea appear to have struggled to move forward their 2018 military accord aimed at reducing tensions and building trust amid a lack of progress in denuclearization and a focus on a second summit between Washington and Pyongyang, observers said Tuesday.
Yonhap
Since the beginning of this year, the two Koreas have held few talks over the implementation of the accord, in stark contrast to fast progress in the first three months after their defense chiefs signed it in September.
Pyongyang has recently been preoccupied with preparations for the second summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, scheduled to take place on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
If the summit produces tangible results, it could help facilitate the implementation of the military agreement and other peace-building measures on the peninsula.
“This year, inter-Korean consultations have rarely been held, though there have been exchanges of documents (about the accord),” a government source said on condition of anonymity.
It appears the North Korean military did what they had to do to create the perception of progress. They are likely not going to do much more until they get what they want such as a peace treaty and sanctions dropped.
I really hope it is true that Kim Jong-un wants to denuclearize, but we don’t know what his definition of denuclearization is:
North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun said there’s not “any room to turn around or go back” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “unexpected and groundbreaking decision to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.” This basically emphasizes that the “complete denuclearization” that Kim expressed during three inter-Korean summits and the North Korea-US summit last year and during his 2019 New Year’s address is an “irreversible decision.”
Hankyoreh
This is the first time the Rodong Sinmun has run a story explaining the significance and background of the “complete denuclearization” that Kim has repeatedly promised. Though the newspaper had emphasized Kim’s commitment to complete denuclearization by printing the full texts of the Apr. 27 Panmunjom Declaration, the June 12 North Korea-US Summit Statement and the Sept. Pyongyang Joint Declaration, it hadn’t run any articles elaborating on their meaning.
You can read the rest at the link because of course the left wing Hankyoreh gets all excited about this news. However, Kim Jong-un’s definition on denuclearization will likely mean an end to the US nuclear umbrella which could lead to the end of the US-ROK alliance. His definition of denuclearization may also mean that North Korea gets to keep the nuclear weapons it currently has and just not develop new ones.
It looks like the Kim regime is not happy with what the Trump administration is offering for the Trump-Kim II Summit and have had President Moon send out his trial balloon guru Moon Chung-in to let Washington know of their displeasure:
Only North Koreans can dismantle nuclear and missile facilities in North Korea, not international experts, according to President Moon Jae-in’s security adviser, Moon Chung-in.
Korea Times
Moon said Washington should offer some substantial concessions beyond opening a liaison office in Pyongyang to make the upcoming second Washington-Pyongyang summit successful.
He made the remarks in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun.
“Only North Korean technicians are able to disband its nuclear warheads safely and completely,” said Moon, special adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security.
“This is because the North Korean experts designed and outlined core specifics of its nuclear facilities and entirely handled the nuclear development. It’s required for the United States to offer a rewards programs to help the regime remain cooperative in the ongoing collective work toward dismantling its nuclear program.”
The adviser didn’t say whether the U.S. officially asked North Korea to hand over a list of nuclear experts who were directly involved in the development of its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as one of the prerequisites to comply with Washington’s repeated calls to disband its nuclear program, verifiably and completely.
North Korea tested its first ICBM ― the Hwasong-14 ― on July 4, 2017, shocking the world by demonstrating advanced capabilities beyond what many believed possible for the rogue country.
The Trump administration initially refused to believe it, but later acknowledged that North Korea had, in fact, launched an ICBM. ICBMs are regarded as a direct threat to the U.S. mainland, though it’s still unconvinced North Korea has mastered warhead miniaturization, re-entry systems and missile guidance due to technological challenges.
The presidential aide told the Japanese daily that North Korea “would be dissatisfied” if the United States only agreed to end the Korean War and open a liaison office in the North Korean capital as these are “superficial and not something relating to actual economic benefits the North want.”
“An early restart of economic projects with South Korea such as reopening of Gaeseong Industrial Complex and other economic projects are needed, as one evident point is Kim Jong-un most wants sanctions relief to revive his country’s dilapidated economy with financial assistance from the restarts of now-halted inter-Korean business projects,” Moon said.
You can read more at the link.
